July

The rains bring out more and more beautiful insects.  There are lots more butterflies but they won't sit still and be photographed. 











Billy is still as adorable as ever but has been caught killing the neighbours chickens.  This isn't going down too well and attempts have been made on his life.  I don't know how this is going to be resolved.  :(

 As the rainy season progresses travel becomes more difficult.  Buses break down more often and people tend to travel less which means we have to wait longer for the bus to fill up and leave.  I was on this bus nearly one and a half hours (this isn't normal though, I was going off the beaten track a bit).  We have huge bats here which fly in the daytime and they were flying around a mango tree just behind these buses, they're fascinating to watch.  I'll have to get more information on them but I know they eat chicks.    

This was the first time I'd seen a graveyard.  They're everywhere but usually behind higher walls than this.  I saw a funeral procession one day this month for the first time.  I thought it was a football crowd as it was just a huge group of men walking down the road.  After a while I saw a coffin in the middle of them all.  I asked the guy I was sitting next to one the bus if women ever attended funerals.  He told me that the women, including the wives of the deceased stay at home.

As you can see there are more and more breakdowns.  This bus only drove a few meters and broke down in the puddle.  It had to be pushed out and then bump started.  I was on a bus that was driving behind a car.  The car drove into a puddle, stopped, decided he couldn't go any further and reversed back out and crashed into our bus.  The bus had a kangaroo bar (of course we have a BIG kangaroo problem here) but like everything else here it was old and rusty and it collapsed and damaged the radiator.  It was so funny to watch them trying to fill it up with more water as it poured out all over their feet.  We had to get a bus back to the station and start again.  The saga went on and on but eventually we were on the road again and pulled in for diesel.  This green bus was also there, full of passengers with guys sitting on the roof, having a tyre change. 

We pay for our seat on the bus, no matter what else we have with us.  Sometimes a lady will get on with small children and will ask the other passengers if they would take a child on their knee so she doesn't have to pay for a seat for them.  I've never seen anyone object to this and I love being handed a baby to cuddle.  Sometimes it goes beyond that though.  Terry got on a bus and sat next to a lady and child and two more people got on behind so there were four in a row, the lady next to the window and a guy at the other end next to the door.  After a while the lady asked the driver to stop but instead of getting off she passed the child along the row to the man at the end and told him the child wanted a wee.  He had to get out and help the boy  with all the other passengers waiting patiently.  When they had finished they got back on and the guy said "He must have been hanging on a long time, nearly caused another flood"!

Ben has a study in a bar.

We have to travel to the meetings in flip flops and change shoes when we get there.

Ramadan has caused more changes.  Some food in the market doubled in price overnight.  The mosques are much louder at 5 in the morning.  Because the people are fasting they are a little more grumpy than usual.  Preaching is more difficult in the rain and first call becomes impossible.  We usually meet up and do return visits and studies. I'm not pioneering during August, I'm resting to prepare for September and catching up on jobs in the house.  You can imagine that with the heat and rain the garden is growing like crazy so I need to do a little every day to keep on top of it.  Some of my studies have been away and  one has stopped for Ramadan and will continue later in August.  I was studying with a 17 year old girl but her family have stopped her.  They say she doesn't want to study but she was crying and hugging me, she loved what she was learning.  They made her give me the book back but she whispered that she still had her magazines and will keep reading them.  One day she showed me a VERY well read magazine that she had been given in 2010 and had kept.   I don't know how this situation can be resolved but it's in Jehovah's hands.

Preaching in the rain.