Everyday Life in Sri Lanka

Western foods are hard to come by here. We now eat Mexican food with kidney beans and rotti (a Sri Lankan flat bread) . A little different! But as close to Mexican food as we can find. It is amazing how anything even a little similar becomes extremely exciting. We found a store that sells m and m’s today. Which was very exciting! I never eat m and m’s in the states and honestly am not even a really a chocolate fan. I know weird. But here I am an addict haha. Ben and I also joined a “gym” in order to meet new people in the community and get out of the house. Our new gym is at a local Catholic school that allows people to come work out after school is over (5pm-9pm). The equipment is quite comical due to its archaic state but we find it very exciting. The trainers at the gym are very amused by the gym’s two new WHITE members. They follow us around to each machine we go to and tell us how to use it. When we are finished with one machine they ask us what we are going to do next and how long we plan on doing it. It is very comical. Sri Lanka is extremely community oriented and the Gym experience is no different. So we are quickly making friends...haha. Ben and I have a lot of alone time. Most days we rarely leave the house. We work from home and so our normal outings are to the market (which I love...it is fun to see what they have in stock this week) and now to the gym. We also visit coffee bean about once a week because it is far away and our favorite Italian restaurant (Ben is Italian if you didn’t know) Echo, which is a strange name for an Italian food restaurant but it has amazing food. AMAZING!
Ben and I are praying we will find more people to hang out with soon but are truly enjoying the time we are given to read, study God’s word and hang out with each other. It is an extremely different from our busy lifestyle in the States and was hard to adjust to but has become a true gift from God. Ben’s best friend has become the neighbor boy across the street. He rings our doorbell at least 5 times a day asking Ben to play cricket. He is currently on holiday for a month (schooling is year round here) so I think we have about three more weeks of continual door bell ringing. But it is nice to have the company haha.
Ben and I went for a run the other day on the beach near our home (Watch our u-tube video of the walk from our house to the beach if you want to see what I am talking about, Not all you-tube videos are posted on our blog but you can just search Applebees4peace and find them all on the you tube website) The experience was an interesting one to say the least. I think I have said this before but, Ben and I rarely see any other white people here. I have never been so aware of my whiteness. People constantly yelled and said hello or just laughed as they watched us run. Although this is a daily occurance it was magnified by the fact that we were running. I guess this is a very funny activity. An interesting and embarrassing experience.
Monte and the rest of the Resplendent Hope team arrived. It is so good to see familiar faces and truly feels refreshing. I am truly enjoying talking and spending time with all of them. It is just what Ben and I needed a little encouragement and community. My health has been very poor lately and I feel extremely frustrated. I have ulcers as many of you know and from the day I arrived in Sri Lanka my stomach acid has been very high and heartburn has been a daily occurrence. I feel extremely frustrated. It seems like I cannot process any food correctly and feel sick daily. Please pray for healing. I am trying to stick to a very strict diet but nothing seems to help. Please continue to pray for Ben and I as we continue on this journey. God is good despite the challenges we are facing and we are learning how to fully rely on him. This is a challenging lesson but a very rewarding one. We are so grateful to have a special time of community with Monte and the resplendent hope team. This is a huge blessing! Please pray for their safety and their trip!