Goodbye Georgia

Once again we find ourselves hurriedly organizing, thinning, and preparing for packers.  Piles everywhere!  We have decided to vacate the apartment before we leave for our long awaited Israel tour.  We booked this tour back in January and did not buy trip insurance.  Lesson learned!  So Roy is determined to go and encouraged how well he did on his recent birding trip.  To visit the Holy Land has been at the top of our Bucket List for a long time.
Thankfully I had finished Hashtag's  (Scout's nickname for this wonderful surprise sibling) baby quilt before this craziness hit.

Once again we find ourselves saying hard good-byes to wonderful people.

The incredible sister Missionaries in the Tbilisi Branch

Sister Pam and Elder Ed Dousch - Humanitarian Senior Missionaries from Tennessee

Bechtel goodbye dinner at the Holiday Inn
(Roy, Jim Feiler, Moe Orfi, Scott Marko; Al Adams, Deb, ?, Rod Anderson)

Roy's team plus Rod Anderson (Security) - Roy, Scott Marko, Rod Anderson, Habid, Atalay, Uluc, Ozgur, Moe, Ken Lupi, Jim Feiler, Dr. Demna (who helped so much when he was ill)

Our favorite drivers, Dado Nozadze and his Giorgi

packers

my favorite fruit stand 

Our time in Tbilisi was interesting.  The country is struggling to survive their break with Russia. The old people wish they were still part of the Soviet Union; jobs were plentiful.  The young people welcome the freedom.
The Church is slowly growing there.  The small branch welcomed us and were genuinely sad to see us leave. The language was definitely a barrier but the Gospel is true in English, Georgian, or Russian.
The project was extremely hard.  BP was the client and their consultant HSE people were insanely demanding.  The Bechtel project manager had a terrible temper that never helped the situation. The work week was 10 hours a day,  6 days a week.  I truly began to fear for Roy's health and wondered if the experience and extra pay would be worth it in the long run.  And I guess the Lord answered by unspoken prayers.  Home we go.