We were without power for 80 hours straight past week.  (Wednesday night to Sunday afternoon.)

Then it came back for about 8 hours and then cut out again.  We are in the dry season right now.  This year the dry season started 1/12 months early with extra warm temperatures.  Power is "iffy" during the dry season because electricity is generated at small dams near the mountains and during the dry season, the water level in those dams drops too low to provide needed power.  On the bright side, humidity is lessened, so I don't feel like I am running around in a sauna all day long.  One draw-back to the dry season is that people throughout the city start burning their own trash.  The air is full of smoke and haze and it smells!  Our neighbors behind us burn their trash in their back corner so we get the benefit of the nasty smoke which comes in our windows and settles nicely on all of our floors and furniture.  the smoke does make for colorful sunrises and sunsets.

     Two of the 3 candidate missionaries who live in our backyard have received their mission calls!  It's so exciting when a call comes.  It is delivered to our house by DHL.  We give it to the branch president who then gives it to the missionary.  They have all been waiting so long for that day.  Remy, one of the young men in our backyard, has been called to serve in Benin, a small French-speaking country on the west coast of Africa, and Fiston, another one from our backyard, has been called to serve in the newly created Brazzaville Mission here in Africa.  Such excitement, so many smiles!  It's fun to be a part of it!

     One of our missionaries called and said he was sick, so we grabbed our malaria test kit and went to see him.  I guess Gary drew the short straw because he was the one who had to prick the poor boy's finger to get blood for the test.  This was the first time in his life Gary has tried to get blood from someone.  (Run, young man, run!)  The 1st prick we couldn't get enough blood for the test kit no matter how much we milked and massaged it.  So we had to go in for another try.  This time we had him try to pump up his circulation by swinging his arm in circles.  I got that technique from Brooke when she has to get blood out of my finger!  Gary stabbed him again and this time we got  bit to use for the test.  Results were negative for malaria.  Yay!  Patient will live but has very sore finger.  Somehow I don't think he'll be calling us again when he's sick, probably preferring to suffer in silence rather than risk another finger prick from Dr. Neeley!