The elections have been peaceful so far

 It's been 4 days since the election and no riots, fires or disturbances. Only 25% of the results are in so maybe when all  the votes are counted some of the losing candidates will claim fraud and start some disturbances. Our only precautions are to stay away from any crowds and come into the apartment a little bit earlier each night.  Unfortunately the preliminary results look like no one will get a majority and so the top two candidates will have a runoff in about a month. That means we will go through intensive campaigning and marches all over again. We have sat in a lot in traffic because there are usually so many marchers and campaign vehicles that they block part of the street.

This is typical Liberian operations. The local politician arranged to have the hospital get a second ambulance. It is the large one on the right. Because it's so much bigger it uses a lot more gas and the hospital cannot afford to run it. So it just sits there and they use the small one. It has the politicians name on the side of it. This expensive purchase was made even while the hospital can not even afford sheets for their beds and gowns for their patients.

There is no utility company to supply electricity in the area where the Buchanan Hospital is located. They have to supply their own power using generators and solar panels. This works well for the dry season but the rainy season doesn't get much sunlight so the hospital is dark a lot. As part of our project we're going to provide them a new generator. 

This is a picture of the generator building. During a past rain storm so much water and mud flowed into the building that it pushed out the back wall. Now the wall isn't even resting on the foundation. The new generator that we're going to buy for them needs to go inside of this building. Luckily the two side walls look like they're sturdy enough to support the roof.  There is now a drainage ditch to divert the water and mud.

This is our grocery store. It's about 1 mi from our house. It's just like home only about 1/2 of the selection. Some of the prices are about 50% more but some are the same.  Cold Cereal is amazingly expensive. A box of Cheerios is about $12. It has an amazing Butcher and Delicatessen area. The hamburger, chicken breasts and sliced cheese we get are better than home. Not a huge variety but what they have is pretty good. 

Milk is not refrigerated and comes in a box. It's actually drinkable, which is a surprise. Eggs in Liberia are actually cheaper than back home. Fresh fruits and vegetables are a little lacking but the oranges and grapefruits are above average. They take our groceries out of our cart, bag them and carry them to our truck.

They were having trouble keeping animals out of the church outer Courtyard where they hold Relief Society and Primary classes. The landlord put chain link around it to keep them out.

Today the branch president was the concluding speaker. His talk admonished the members of the branch not to riot when the election results are released. He said that good members of the church do not riot or hurt other people. He spoke about our duty being to bless the lives of other people rather than hurt them. I was a little surprised that those things had to be said. The election results should be finalized in a few days. The preliminary results indicate that they will probably have to be a runoff and so everything will be prolonged for another month.

This is Elder Epling on the left and Elder Cea on the right.  They are the two new missionaries in the Dolo's Town Branch. Elder Epling is from a small town near the city of Vancouver in the state of Washington and Elder Cea is from the Philippines. Elder Cea is a very young looking 19 years old.