My Friends from the Congo!

Today I went with Brooke Tanner (from our stake) for a visit with our Refugee Family.  Here, Miriam (in the orange) and Gloria had just braided my hair.  Gloria is a friend and was born here, so she speaks English.  Both were super cute and enjoyed braiding my hair with their fingers that were apparently covered in chocolate!  (They'd been eating it before they started braiding, and it wasn't until I took my braid out later, that I smelled chocolate!!  Too funny!)  Little Gloria was a talker and wouldn't stop asking me about my birthday and birthday cake.  (I made the mistake of telling her I had a birthday last week.)  She couldn't get over the fact that my cake had candles on it...I guess they don't do that in their culture.  (Her dad was a refugee from The Congo and came over here 7 years ago.)  Gloria was also very interested in my glasses and insisted on trying them on and getting a picture with them.  Miriam is 8 and we just got her registered for the 3rd grade and Gloria is 4.  It was a sweet experience today to just relax in Kito's apartment (Miriam's mother) and just get to know them.  Kito has a beautiful smile and can speak more English than I'd originally thought.  She has a cute personality and is so calm and relaxed.  These people have been through so much, it's amazing to me that they can be so strong and come to a new country where they don't know the language or the culture.  It's still very hard to communicate, but we did OK today!  I'm glad they have some friends here in this strange country where they've only lived for less than 2 1/2 months!