Today was very slow. We didn’t have much work to do so the work day went very slow and boring. One of the missionaries, Liezel, Carol, and Stephanie flew out with some cargo today so that we wouldn’t have so many flights tomorrow to get everyone and everything out. I took a lot of pictures of the kids (Jiri) today as they were watching a slideshow of old pictures on a missionary’s computer. The older boys wanted me to take some pictures of them by the plane, so I happily obliged them. Then an elder Palawano man insisted on having some younger girls take pictures with Gerry, and it was a very awkward situation. The girls couldn’t refuse because he was an elder, yet they were very embarrassed and shy.

We had mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, fried tuna, rice and cucumbers for dinner. Sam, Andy, and I washed the dishes and talked about girls. Andy thought it was so strange how American guys have so many girlfriends and kiss girls before they marry them. Later in the conversation, Sam mentioned that he knew he was going to marry a girl that was already his friend. A female missionary chimed in and said that “she wasn’t eavesdropping” but she knew exactly what he was talking about and it was true for her and her husband also. They “just knew” when they met each other that it was the one God wanted them to be with.

The missionary downloaded all of my photos on his PowerBook and then showed us a lot of the pics from his iPhoto library. It was very interesting to see how he and his wife looked when they first moved here 26 years ago. Their girls are grown now, and look just like their mom.

After dinner and the picture show, Andy and I played a game of chess. I took his queen early in the game (probably on my 3rd or 4th move) but then made several mistakes that led to him winning. I can’t say it was only my mistakes that led to my defeat because he is a very good player. It’s very frustrating to lose when I used to be so much better. It’s only the second time I’ve played chess since I was 13 or so. That’s 14 years ago! It’s clearly an issue with my pride because I feel the same frustration when I try to play basketball and can’t go more than one point without having to stop for air. It’s like, I know that I would be able to beat the person if I were in good shape. However, I’m not in shape so I lose and that’s hard for me because I grew up winning all the time. But what do I expect? I don’t practice, so I’m not good. No surprise there. I just have to get used to not being an athlete anymore.

I have some weather numbers that I wanted to write down. One of the missionaries has an electric thermometer that also measures humidity. On Wednesday this week in the sun it was 107 degrees F with 47% humidity. In the house (shade) it was 92 degrees F with 85% humidity. Quite a climate to work in. That was the normal afternoon climate on days that it didn’t rain or wasn’t cloudy. It made work on the roof less desirable than in the house, but thankfully God gave us a pleasant breeze every once in a while on the hot days, and even a few rain baths that were blessings in disguise.