We're HERE!!  We FINALLY moved down to Debre Zeyit on Thursday!  We left at 6:30 am and the
Campbells (Humanitarian Couple in Addis) met us here to change all our locks.  Our furniture arrived at 2:30 pm.  We had the four elders from Debre Zeyit and the Preators here to help us unload the truck.  We are about 1 1/2 hours - 2 hours from Addis Ababa.  (Only 1 hour and 10 minutes on a Sunday morning!)  It is nice here and we are so happy to be on our own after 7 weeks of living in the upstairs of Elder and Sister Preator's home in Addis.  They have been SO good to us! But we are excited to get involved in the branch here and teach some Institute classes in Debre Zeyit and hopefully in Kaliti too (Kaliti is 1/2 hour from us in good traffic).  We have attended all 6 branches and one group in the past 7 Sundays.  Since we cannot get General Conference here : /   (only later online) tomorrow is Fast Sunday for us here. We are going to see what we can get of the Saturday sessions tonight from 8:00 pm on....

Our home is nice, but we are having plumbing problems, no hot water and hardly any water pressure. Our gas stove is not hoooked up (and we have NO clue having never had a gas stove before).  Our washer is not hooked up yet either.... There are paint splatters on most of the tile and wood floors and all over the railing of the stairway so we have been working hard cleaning and getting organized today.  We decided to take a break around lunchtime and go for a drive to see if we could find a few things we need.... We took a new road and ended up at a COOL resort called Kuriftu around Lake Kuriftu! (There are 7 lakes around Debre Zeyit, so there are many resorts.)  It was SO nice! We got a guided tour and I took some photos.  Then we decided to treat ourselves to the buffet lunch there.  YUM!! Ü

Multi-colored bougainvillea were at the entrance.

This is the Reception Center where we paid for our lunch.

This fountain was near the entrance.
The gardens were BEAUTIFUL!

Lake Kuriftu

This is one of the rooms.
(A group of Chinese tourists had just
arrived and EVERY room was taken
so we couldn't see inside.)

The Cinema Room with couches to sit on while
you watch a movie!

Looking toward the lake

Us at our table right next to the railing overlooking the lake
(Don't worry ~ we couldn't eat all that food on our plates!)

The lake from our table

Bob's enjera ~ the main staple here made from
the grain teff.  It's very healthy we hear!
They tear off a piece and pick up their food
with it (instead of using utensils ).

Just HAD to take a picture of our dessert plate since we have
seen VERY few dessert-type sweets here!  We had the
YUMMIEST bread pudding, carrot cake, pudding, banana
cream pie, blueberry cheesecake and fresh fruit!! 

From the railing in front of us you could see
the extra bungalows around the lake that
also belong to Kuriftu Resort.

The bamboo ceilings were amazing!!

There was free kayaking with the price of the buffet lunch,
but even though it is P-Day, we had our missionary
clothes on and decided that would not be a good idea... : /

There are the most INTERESTING trees, plants and
flowers here! Look at the thorns on this tree!!

Here's another prickly bush and cactus.
We can't believe how much cactus there is
in Ethiopia with ALL the greenery and rain!?

HUGE bougainvillea are all over the resort.

We passed this morning glory bush on the
way home.  The bushes here are HUGE ~ lantana
vinca,  bougainvillea,  even poinsettias are 10 feet high!!

More PRETTY flowers....

This is a shot of the buffet tables and the COOL ceiling!