Robert and Kenna

Foot Patrol in Sha Joy.

Meeting with a Village Elder, going over projects that need to be completed in the area.

Crowded Bazaar in Sha Joy. (A bazaar is a permanent merchandising area, marketplace, or street of shops where goods and services are exchanged or sold.) Everything here is built out of mud, so when it rains the mud can be knee deep. They are hoping to pave this area to allow for a proper gutter and drainage system.

"Acoff, where the heck did you get a watermelon?" Acoff says, "Sir, I hope it's ok. . . I've been craving me a melon!" :) Rob told me the story of the picture above. I was laughing so hard because of the way he told it! I had to post this because I think it is such an adorable picture and it makes me smile when I think of Robs reaction to him having a watermelon!

Rob found an easier way to send me pictures! These are the first 4 of hopefully many that he will be able to send over. He tries to take a significant amount of video of their missions , which he then uploads and is able to take snapshots of the video and send them by email, to me. The picture quality isn't the greatest but I told him I'd take what I could get! :) Anything was better than nothing! So I am excited because I think that I should be able to post pictures of him at least once a week, as long as he keeps them coming!

The election is this week which means an expected increase in violence. Robs leave has now been decreased to only 7 days from what used to be 14 days. He isn't even sure when he will be able come home. There was talk of September but with the elections going on this week, he is thinking it will continue to get pushed back. I will keep everyone posted!

I have been sending him at least one box a week. This week I sent 5! (See post below) I know he doesnt like to eat a lot of the food over there so I mail him snacks to munch on in between meals, along with lots of protein to keep his body mass up so he will have the strength and endurance needed to get through his daily missions. He continually asks how things are back at home, how friends are doing and what his family is up to and why they haven't kept in contact. He said that he did receive a letter from a lady who was a pen pal of the soldier that was in Rob's position before he arrived in Afghanistan. When the previous soldier returned home, he passed on the soldiers information that would be replacing him, which happens to be Rob. :) This sweet lady sent him a letter and package with some M&Ms and popcorn. I thought that was the cutest thing that a complete stranger would send something to show her appreciation of his efforts over there! What a blessing it is to have good people like that in this world! Thank you to whoever you are. . . :)

Upon receiving his popcorn, we realized there was no way for him to cook it. The base does not have a microwave. . . so I decided I'd try to find one that was small enough to fit in a flat rate box but still had enough "juice" to cook a decent sized meal. So. . . I found this microwave at Costco. I am going to try to ship it to them so that the guys at his base can have a microwave to cook the food sent from loved ones back at home. We all know that a guys idea of dinner is anything that they can stick in one of these right?? :) I'm positive it will get some good use! :)