Sunday thoughts from Amy

Happy Sunday to all of you. Today was our first trip to church. We arrived early in order to secure one of the 7 parking spaces available and did fine except for the security gate closing on our van because we didn't know the code. Minimal damage. We are grateful for the "full coverage" we signed up for. We were very welcomed at church. People have a hard time pronouncing our name, they want to say, "Lehman," so it reminds us of Pennsylvania. Of course we can't pronounce any of their names either and don't remember any of them. The congregation is about 7/8 black African and 1/8 white African. We were 8 of the 11 Americans there. The other three were visiting. Lydia made herself at home and went and sat with several families who had little kids during Sacrament Meeting. Her nursery class is her and three adorable little black African boys. When you ask her about her class, she says she has class with, "her boys." She seems to be acclimating well. The church is very nice and the chapel is air conditioned!!! We will be fully active in church activities! I mean that as I sit here and sweat! The kids each have several kids their age, and we look forward to getting to know them better. Youth activities are on Wednesday nights, so we will venture out then. It is exciting for us to see the Restored Gospel alive and well halfway across the world. The saints here are enthused and genuine and have a wonderful spirit about them. The adult Sunday School teacher speaks English, Afrikaans, French, Greek, and Latin fluently. It was quite a lesson. My last thought for today is on a more secular note, and I couldn't resist. The grocery shopping here is quite different. No BB's, no WalMart and although prices are quite reasonable and the food is very fresh, organic, fancy etc., people don't have large families and so bulk items do not exist. Everything is "small, classy and a little bit sassy." Kind of like our friends the Goates!!
We love you, more soon.
Amy