And here is our local Home Depot!  Ha!

Grocery shopping here is kind of a challenge, as it is so limited.  Where's a Costco when you need it?  If you are looking for eggs, don't look in a cooler.  You will find them in plastic bags in groups of 6 or 10 sitting on the shelves.  I have yet to see any beef, and chicken is frozen solid and with limited availability.  No sour cream, no cream cheese, no canned soup. (to name a few of the missing goods) Veggies and fruits are sold in separate little markets or by people in the streets.  In fact we even bought our cheese from someone on the street.  There are also people with multiple cartons of eggs stacked on their heads trying to sell them to passers-by, but I have yet to try eggs from those vendors.  Following are photos of my 2 main sources of food.

This is Chez Shiva, the store where get most of my dry goods.  It is run by a nice Indian woman.  

The other one is Bon Prix which has a fresh fruits and vegetables market next to it.

On Sunday, the mission president came to Bujumbura to split the branch.  Now there are 3 branches in Bujumbura and one across the lake in Uvira.  The Church is so new here that he spent a lot of time teaching about what was going on.  He explained about callings, about keys, about how we raise our hands to show we will support the new leaders, not to vote for them.  He explained how we serve in a calling for a period of time and then someone else is given the opportunity to learn from that calling.  Anyway, it was fun to see the Church growing.

In East Africa, the Church also has a humanitarian arm that works very hard to help the communities.  Right now in our little area the Church's humanitarian division is building new latrines at two schools and teaching basic hygiene facts there.  These are some photos taken at the sites of those projects.

Here are the cute missionaries celebrating birthdays following zone conference.

On Saturday we got to go out to dinner with the Mission president and his wife and the Cahoon's, the couple we will be replacing.  The Cahoon's are a great couple from Canada.  He is a physics professor and his wife is a spunky, politically active, outspoken woman from Australia.  We went to dinner to a restaurant right on the banks of Lake Tanganyika.  It seemed so good to listen to the waves come in and feel the breeze off the lake.  Where we live the air is stagnant, humid and warm.

Somehow Rami's photo didn't post so I'll try again. If all goes well, it will show the picture of a box of malaria tests also.

Following I will show you photos of our kitchen and bathroom  We have not had hot water since we arrived, so showers are invigorating!  There is no air conditioning so we sleep with a fan inside our mosquito netting every night.  The rooms in our place are quite generous in size except for the kitchen.  It is the smallest room and not the most user friendly kitchen I've ever seen!

The next picture makes me laugh because it is what I see when I stand in front of my bathroom mirror.  (That is the top of my head you are looking at!)

Yesterday was a zone conference for the missionaries.  There were 8 of the young men missionaries and 6 of us old whiteys that met.  The young men were sharp---smart, prepared and enthusiastic.  When we sang hymns, they absolutely filled the chapel with sound.  They sing harmonies that are not written 

on the page and with gusto.  It started at 9:00am and went until 4:30pm.  The Church here is in its infancy.  Most of the branch presidents have only been members for 2 or 3 years.But, watching the members and the missionaries makes me remember how lucky I am to have the gospel in my life and how beautiful and simple the truths of the gospel are.

This is a picture of our gate and our gateman, Rami.

  

Rami opens our gate for us both leaving and returning.  He also takes care of the small front yard here.  We have 4 missionaries who are living upstairs from us.  Gary managed to get Rami a mattress and install a shower head for him out by his living quarters.  

Here are some photos of our place.  It is surrounded by walls which are topped by barbed wire and all the windows and doors have metal bars.

Notice the mosquito netting.  Malaria is a constant threat.  In fact, Rami thought he had malaria so we had to give him a malaria test.  They are small and easy to administer, requiring several drops of blood in the tester.  Happily, he didn't have malaria.  Just sick.

A few words about the hospital system in Burundi.  If someone is in the hospital, a friend or family member must take food to that patient a couple of times a day, as no food is provided.  There is no bathroom for the room, but a communal bathroom down the hall.  There are no showers, and if you should want your sheets washed, you must do it yourself and let them dry on the lawn out front.  If you cannot pay your bill, you are moved to a guarded wing and kept there until your bill is paid in full.  If you should die while in the hospital, they will not release your body to your family until the hospital bill is paid in full.  There is no health insurance, and even if there were, no one could afford it.  Makes our system look pretty good!

Here are some photos of our "estate."  This is a picture of our street, Murembwe Avenue.