Hiatt's in the Congo

 In general, Halloween is not celebrated here.  The Congolese do not celebrate it, but the expacts do.  The Belgium school, where Luan and Simi go, was having a Halloween party and the kids had to come in a costume. Sisca did a fantastic job coming up with costumes, seeing as how they don't sell them here. These two are DARLING!!!!!!!!!

 We got rain!!! It is actually the second day this week that it has rained but the first one was just a sprinkle.  Cory and I were sitting in the family room and Cory goes, "I think it's raining" and we went outside and it was!!  It was enough to have puddles and clean all the dust off the trees!  First real rain since April!

 Sunday, we celebrated Trent's birthday at the compound. We had a Braai at Sisca's house.  They did a lamb roast and I brought chicken and steak bites. Sisca made her delicious potato bake, Leonie made her pasta salad and birthday tart, and I made bread.  Once again, we pulled out the corn hole and just enjoyed each others company and good food! Trent's family flew in for his birthday and it was fun having them there. The kids had been swimming all morning and Lawrence, Trent's son, was tired so he laid down on the ground and Penzi went and laid by him! Simi looks DARLING in her summer dress!! 

 Saturday's are the day to get things done around the compound.  We ran out of water so I went to fill up the tank. After about 25 minutes, I tried to wash dishes and there was still no water!  Cory was over helping Darius with his air conditioners so I went over and told him the tank wasn't filling up.  They both came over and discovered the pump had an error and wasn't pumping the water up to the tank.  Darius climbed up to the tank and Cory was with the pump in the room behind his head.  They got it figured out and I finally had water! (This is outside in our backyard) While Darius was up on the tank, he could see Trent's avocado tree was full of them, so he climbed up on the fence and got us some. I had already cleaned off the branches that I could reach.  What I love about these avo's they don't go bad as quick.  I can cut one and eat half of it and the other half won't be brown the next day!

 Friday, Schalk told us he wanted to host a braai at the yard.  It gave us something to do!  Sisca, Darius and myself all wore the same shirt! When we first got there, it was still quite hot so we sat in the shade of VACC's shed, next to the pond. People played corn hole, fished, and just relaxed!

 It has been an adjustment not watching conference live. I loved every minute of it and the songs really spoke to my soul this time! This is our schedule:  Saturday Morning Session: Watched at 6:00 PM in Lubumbashi Neil L. Anderson (Logan, Utah): The Triumph of Hope Emily Belle Freeman (Lehi, Utah): Live Up to your Privileges Karl D. Hirst (United Kingdom): God's Favorite Dale G. Renlund (Salt Lake City, Utah): This is my Gospel - This is My Church David P. Homer (Salt Lake City, Utah): Trusting Our Father Gregorio E. Casillas (Tijuana, Mexico): God Loves All His Children Dallin H. Oaks (Provo, Utah): Following Christ Saturday Afternoon Session: Watched at 8:30 AM Sunday morning in Lubumbashi D. Todd Christofferson (American Fork, Utah): Burying our Weapons of Rebellion Jose A. Teixeira (Portugal): Bonded to Jesus Christ - Becoming the Salt of the Earth Juan Pablo Villar (Chile): His Hand Ready to Help Us Patrick Kearon (England): Welcome to the Church of Joy David L. Buckner ...