Does this Country make me look fat?

Yesterday was my first church service in Cua! They had a nice welcoming meal for me after the second service. It was good to see some old friends and meet some new ones as well. Apparently I have put on some weight since I was hear left. One of the ladies remembered me from my time here as an intern and her first words to me were: Wow, you have some more fat in your cheeks since last time! (rough translation) I forgot how brutally honest Latinos can be! Yes, they notice things like hair, weight, clothes, and they aren't afraid to tell you about it. Today is our day off so I went downtown with Chris (team leaders wife) to run some errands. I had to cash a check at the bank to convert dollars to bolivares (Venezuela's currency). The bank works a little bit differently here than in the states. First as you walk in you go to the old "take a number" machine. Then everyone stands in one large blob and you watch a screen flash up numbers in a seemingly random order. When the sign displays your number you walk to the teller assigned to you. I had to show my passport as a form of identification to cash my check. This was followed by a picture. After endorsing the check, I had to include my thumb print directly beneath my signature. Talk about security. We then went to the cell place in the mall to get my cell phone! Cell phone plans are prepaid down here so you just buy a card with a certain amount of minutes, and then purchase more as needed. Unfortunately minutes cost quite a bit so everyone sends text messages instead. Man, I am not even good at texting in English let alone Spanish! Purchasing the phone also required a print from my thumb as well as my index finger. Ah yes, there is nothing quite like being 24 and relearning how to do everything all over again. This really is a high adventure life style and one that takes some patience as well! Tomorrow we have an office day at one of the churches. This coming Sunday I am leading worship at the Cua church! Well, I will write more as I have more to share!

God Bless,

Matt Johnson