These are rubber trees on the Firestone rubber plantation. All of the members of a branch we visited today live on the plantation in company housing. They have no inside plumbing. These are some of the few good jobs in the country and the workers seemed grateful to have them.
These are some of the primary Children of the Harbell branch.
This is right after sacrament meeting. All of the chairs were full during the meeting. Notice the fans on the ceiling and the walls. No Air conditioner. It was a little toasty inside. The worship service was wonderful. I could understand about 50% of what they said, which was enough to piece together the meanings. Cheryl and I were asked to come up and give our testimonies. The two meeting speakers spoke on the second coming of the Savior and the millennium. They were doctorally sound. They also confirmed two new members. The two missionaries here teach a lot and baptize a lot.
We went for a Saturday run. Part of the run was on the beach. These men and boys were going out fishing. The boat is filled with nets.
We live in a pretty nice place. Here is our pool. That's me in the water.
We visited three continuing humanitarian projects. This one is a small school where we are refurbishing a well, putting doors on the classroom, putting on a new roof, and building a second classroom building.
The roof leaks so bad that when it rains they cancel school. It rains a lot. No textbooks in the school. The student sit three to a desk.
We are also refurbishing a health clinic. It is the main provider of health services in that area. Even on their slow day the place was packed. They deliver babies, check for tuberculosis, do typical medical screening and intervention here. No doctors. Only nurses and Physicians assistants. We will be replacing the roof, replacing all the electrical wiring, adding new benches in the waiting room, and providing water drainage on the building exterior.
Driving here is so bad it seems unreal. This video understates the confusion on the road. Motorcycles are everywhere and go all around you and sometimes even go towards you on the wrong side of the street. They have three wheeled taxis called KK's that dart in and out all around you. People don't pay attention to the lines in the street. There are about three traffic lights in the entire country so to make a left hand turn you just slowly inch your way into traffic and get people to stop. Congestion is everywhere in the city.
The only safety feature is that you only average about 15 to 20 miles an hour so accidents aren't too bad. The church building we went to today was 35 miles away and it took us an hour and 30 minutes. Luckily traffic was light on a Sunday. We have a brand new truck and it's probably the only vehicle in the city that doesn't have dents in it. I am told it will happen very soon. Out in the countryside it is not so bad. However, the roads there have a lot of potholes. It's good we have a four-wheel drive truck.
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