FROM AFRICA TO AUSTIN
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| Texas state capital from the graffiti wall |
We
arrived in Austin just before Eileen's birthday. Spent our first week
enjoying a surprise visit from daughters Liz and Emily and trying to
learn our way around the city which is very confusing with crazy traffic
24/7. We did our best to keep Austin weird by adding to our famous
graffiti wall.
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| A man's home is his castle |
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| Hangout for young people |
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| Liz touches up a painting |
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| A Friendly Dragon |
We've
spent most of our time trying to find the African members in Shoal
Creek Ward. It is quite the challenge. Many in the same family have
different last names. Many live outside the ward boundaries. Many have
nonworking phone numbers. Others have moved to who knows where. Some do
not speak English which makes getting work difficult. Others have visa
issues so they can't work legally. Others have very little education and
don't read or write well. So we have our work cut out for us.
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| Daniel and Ricky are two of our new friends from Liberia. They're cousins. |
Christmas
day was very quiet for us. Spent the morning relaxing, worked out at
the gym, talked with family members for a few hours by the time we
reached everyone. Had a great Christmas dinner with our Bishop's family.
Barbecued briskit (this is Texas after all where barbecue is always in
style).
Christmas
night found us at Casa Marianella, a refugee shelter that invited us to
their Christmas celebration. We had no idea what to expect but it was a
great experience. We first met 3 men from Somalia. Then a guy from
Ivory Coast. Another from Peru and his friend from Ethiopia. There was
lots of food from various countries. We didn't know what much of it was
but it was tasty! Soon they cranked up the African music and people
started dancing in a big circle. It looked very tribal even though there
were people from non-African countries and staff members and volunteers
as well. It was lots of fun. And for mom the best part was when a woman
from Somalia gave Eileen her tiny little boy to hold while she danced.
The little guy went right to sleep and was snug as a bug in his little
blanket.
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| Delicious food from many countries |
We
stood out from the crowd with our black name tags, my white shirt and
tie and Eileen nicely dressed. People were curious to talk about us. A
woman from Congo said she had been to our church before and wanted to
come again. The man from Ethiopia was very proud that his country has a
long history of Christianity. He asked me for a Book of Mormon so I went
to the car and got him one. But perhaps the best thing was that we got
to visit for several minutes with the Executive Director of Casa and
even longer with their grant writer and development person. They both
gave us lots of good information and no doubt we will be looking to them
as a resource in the future. It was a great night and we felt very
productive.
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| BFF's from 3 different countries! |
