survey

I apologize for the recent lack of posts but this one will be a long one to make up for it :-).

Last night we came back from a trip to an island that might be our future place of ministry. It is a lot smaller and less populated than the island we live on now.

Our purpose for taking this trip was to just to see the area and get a feel for it.

Our organization is thinking about reopening their work there in the near future. It was closed down due to riots (because of religious and political problems) some years ago.

It took us three short flights to get there - by now Alia is a pro at flying and she could do the safety announcements in the beginning of the flight

The first day we just walked around down town in incredible heat

There are not a lot of whities in the city so everybody wanted to take pictures of Alia.

This lady really wanted a picture of Alia and her son - Alia was ok with that for 2 seconds, then she wanted to get away...

before you get to see the beauty of the island - just some reality check pictures of the river

who can spot the rat?

our first meal out

before the meal - still existed to try some local cuisine

Then we were served this - the consistence is exactly what it looks like (they also use it as glue)

Erlend was brave enough to eat almost a whole bowl - but later he said he felt like there was a rubber ball in his stomach

After a long day walking through the city we went to the beach 

Alia got to swim in the ocean for the first time

We also found some pretty cool creatures 

that thing was big and looked like a stick

On Saturday we decided it was time for some snorkeling and chilling at a beach further away

Daniel asked some locals if they could fry up some of the fish they had just caught that morning if we would pay them

 A few hours later we were presented with this amazing meal, tuna, rice and a really nice dipping sauce

 The fish was so fresh and it had a lot of meat

 The Norwegian excited about fresh fish

and for dessert - coconut, yummy!

 the locals were very friendly and hospitable

 Alia loved playing with the kids

The guys with their no-moustache-beard styles because then the diving masks sticks better

The night before we left Alia got eaten by mosquitos - literally eaten! We counted around 300 bites

All in all we can say that we were impressed with the beauty of the place

that we definitely can see the need for ministry there and we are considering moving there

 and that we have learned that traveling with a one year old is not easy