and so it goes ...

another new batch!

well, time is a funny thing here.  i will be saying something to Diane like, 'last week when we ...' and she'll say, 'that was two days ago!'.  i'm not sure whether that means days are passing quickly or not but it happens to me frequently!  with that in mind, it was transfer week again!  i know you think you've seen this picture before but this is the new batch of 21 missionaries ... our biggest yet!  the ritual of the trainer/trainee match-up never gets old to me!  everyone in the room is so excited!  it's a really fun day.  but i can't believe it has been six weeks since the last batch came in.  time really is flying for me.  we've had four missionaries in the hospital with everything from a collapsed lung to amoebic dysentery.  the latter happened to one of the new fresh happy faces in the picture ... quite the welcome to your life for the next 2 years! happy to report they are all on the mend.

 
while doing deliveries yesterday, we happened on about 50 cyclists that must have been in some type of road trip.  (thought this would be a good place to remind you of what traffic on the two-lane main road looks like here -- remember, this is one lane!)  

we had a scary incident.  we were stopped in traffic and in typical fashion, motorcycles squeeze into the space of the one yellow stripe that divides the lanes to pass.  it is terrifying as buses and other vehicles are coming the opposite direction.  anyway, a cyclist decided to travel down the center stripe and had to slow down so much he lost his balance one foot from my door while an 18-wheeler was coming the opposite direction.  i screamed as he was grazed and thrown into our car and then to the ground.  we had just heard about the after-math of a trike accident that resulted in a death and horrific injuries.  i was so scared but THANKFULLY, he got right up and i helped him gather his things.  he was scraped up quite a bit and i'm sure he is hurting badly today but a fellow cyclist was on the scene quickly and helped him to the side of the road.  imagine 20 cars, trikes, jeepneys, buses, motorcycles honking for us to get out of the way.  it was awful.  everyone just wanted to be on their way.  there are many nail-biting moments on the road but this was my scariest by far.  sister epperson holds her breath and puts on her imaginary brake often as i try to squeeze by jeepneys that pulled (sort of) off the road to pickup/dropoff passengers.  i forget the side mirrors stick out another foot on either side!  haven't lost one yet though!

the last picture is just some comic relief!  these men spent two days power washing the parking lot of our complex this week ... in the rain.  one sprayed the ground while the other one scrubbed.  none of us could figure out why they were doing it but ... it's clean now!  we also have a man who comes every monday morning and washes our cars ... in the rain!  it goes along with the national past-time of sweeping (usually just the dirt on the side of the road).  these little quirks in the culture make us smile!  hope you have many many things that make you smile this week as well!  love you more than you know.