Timor Leste

Wow- where does the time go?! It seems like yesterday I was leaving to get on the ship and now I'm sailing on my way back home, it went by WAY too fast and at the same time I am SO ready to be going home.

Timor Leste was a beautiful country. It was a bit odd to have UN vehicles everywhere and armed guards around but the people were so friendly and welcoming. We were able to do a lot of good work there. I don't really have too many crazy stories from Timor, in the end it was kind of a nice gentle way to end the trip.

One of my highlights though was the opportunity to go with the chaplins on 2 different community relations projects. The first was to visit a whole pile of kids at a local orphanage. It was so much fun to get to meet them, play with them, and just be around such happy people. The kids had so much fun coloring, doing puzzles and playing soccer. We had the opportunity to leave them with school kits provided by Latter-day Saint Charities which was great to be a part of.

The second visit was to a women's shelter for women and girls who have been the victim of sexual abuse or assault. Many of the girls were in their teens and now had children as a result. The shelter was run by an organization who teach the girls work skills, give them an education and a place to live as many are outcast by their families or have to leave an abusive situation and have no where else to go. It amazed me though that the babies who were born into this situation almost have it better then many of the other kids on the island, they get food, medical care, their mother's are taught to care for them, they get an education (almost all of the kids spoke both Portugese and native Timorese and a few even spoke English). The women who run the organization were such a positive inspiration. I was also very impressed with how much these moms just loved their babies- many times babies concieved under such circustances aren't well recieved by their mothers but that was not the case here. All of the moms were so attentive and clearly wanted only what was best for their little ones. All in all it was a really amazing day and I came away really uplifted.

It seems like every country that I go to I come away thinking "That one was my favorite" and Timor was no different. It was great to see such a new country that is starting to get it's feet on the ground.

:)