Malta - Week 10

Shopping, Furniture, and Fireworks!  Three of my favorite things!

This was a crazy week!  There was a lot going on.  

First off, we got a new car!  We really loved the Toyota Corolla that we had, and it was in great shape, so we weren't that excited to get this new larger car.  It is a Hyundai.  It is nice that it holds more luggage, but it is a little larger, which isn't exactly a benefit in this country where the roads are so crowded and congested.  However, we are enjoying the new car smell and the Android Auto with the new screen works a lot better.  It will just take a little getting used to.

We got a lot of practice driving it this week, as we ended up taking 3 more trips to the airport!  Sister Hobby needed to fly back to Rome for a Leadership Conference just three days after she arrived here.  So, we ended up taking her first thing Monday morning.  We then returned to pick her up when she came back on Wednesday morning.

This is the first time that the Italy Rome Mission has had two sets of Sister Missionaries in Malta.  The sisters live in a nice big 2-bedroom 2 bath apartment with a study room and laundry room.  It is large enough for all 4 of them, but they didn't have enough furniture to accommodate all of them.  So, we made 5 trips to and from two different stores on the southside to see what we could find for them.  We ended up buying two desks, 2 chairs, a bed, bedding and several other miscellaneous items.  We couldn't fit them all in our car at the same time, so it was necessary to take several trips to the store.  I love shopping and haven't been able to get a shopping fix since I came on my mission, so for me it was fun!

All of the furniture needed assembling!  That's where Steve came in handy with his building skills.  He assembled two desks and two chairs for the sister's apartment.  Then I decided I needed a desk for our apartment, so we went back and got that as well.

This is Steve assembling my desk. 

Monday Night English Class

One of our students brought us these little treats.  We have never had them.  We cracked it open and found a baby dinosaur, I think?  Interesting.  So sweet of him to bring it to us.  It was cute, but the chocolate tasted like wax.

There is no parking lot by our church.  We have to drive around trying to find a parking place.  Then we have to walk several blocks to get to the church.  We've recently noticed these cute roosters on the wall by the sidewalk where we walk.  

On Wednesday, we met with the Christian Bruno, the Church FM Representative from Rome.  We took him through the church and he was pretty shocked at how much upkeep was needed for our small chapel.  We met with some contractors and he is working on getting some improvements made right away.  We went up on the roof of our building and he was pretty horrified when we saw this worker on the building next door to us just sitting on the edge of the wall, 4 stories up, having his lunch.  It certainly didn't look very safe and I know OSHA would never allow that in the United States.  I snapped his picture and he looked like he was pleased that I did!

After looking at our building, we went and looked at some other properties for building a new chapel.  We need something larger for our growing congregation.  Then we dropped off Christian for his flight back to Rome, making it our third trip this week to the airport. 

Wednesday Night English Class

There is a huge holiday next week.  They have been decorating the town.  Some people decorate their balconies, like this one.

The street is lined with enormous pillars like this one. Their size is impressive, and I have to wonder where they store these for the rest of the year.  The amount of work that goes into the decorating the town is pretty amazing!  It's just like Christmas!

The town truly comes alive! In Mosta, the town square becomes the heart of celebration as all the roads are closed and tables are set out in the streets for the restaurants. It's incredibly fun and festive! Although the actual holiday is next week, the festivities have been in full swing throughout this week.

Following our English class, we strolled to the square to enjoy the band concert. We mingled with the crowd and chatted with many people there. The locals are incredibly welcoming. It was a delightful evening.

Doesn't this just remind you of a Hallmark movie?

Every single night ends with fireworks.  In the United States, the firework shows start and go straight for about 20 or 30 minutes.  But here, they go on for hours!  I love fireworks so I watch them each night from our apartment balcony.  Steve doesn't really love them, so he just stays inside and wishes they would go away!

I love this town square and the Mosta Dome looks amazing!

We ended the week by inviting the missionaries to dinner on Sunday.  We always love feeding them!