A visit to the village of Lefkara

There is a quaint little village 45 km from Limassol. In fact our mission president's family is from there. President Charles was born in England but has an older brother and many cousins who live in the village. The name of the village is Lefkara. It is famous for two things. 1- Silver and 2- Lace handmade tablecloths, runners, napkins, shawls, and other beautiful items.

Sylvia and I visited there yesterday on our P-Day. We did not spend a lot of time there, but we did enjoy the drive through the windy narrow streets and a walk around to take pictures. While I was shooting pictures a very nice woman started to talk to Sylvia and invited us to her shop. She showed us some beautiful lace handmade tablecloths, runners and other things. Of course we bought a couple of things.

When you come to Cyprus to visit us we will take you to this little village in the foothills of Cyprus. there are two sections of the village, one is Pano Lefkara and the other is Kato Lefkara. Pano means "upper" and Kato means "lower".

Cyprus Zone Trip

Missionaries in the Greece Athens Mission are transferred every 90 days, or at least one of the missionaries in the companionship is transferred. So, all the missionaries in the zone will go on a zone trip together sometime during that 3 month period. On P-Day, September 21st, the Cyprus Zone missionaries, 10 young missionaries and 3 senior couples, went to the Troodos Mountains. The tallest part of the mountian is Mt. Olympus. It is 1950 meters, which is about 6338 feet above sea level. In the winter there is snow and they have a ski resort. It is a very beautiful mountain resort. We hiked to the Kaladonia Waterfalls, which as the sign says, was a 2 km round trip. It was a great hike, unless you ask Sylvia. (This is Sylvia speaking: It was supposed to be a little 2 km hike. It was pretty steep in spite of what Paul says, and the slick rock crossings weren't too good for old people. I have to admit though, it was beautiful!) It was not too steep, but had lots of rocks and 5 creek crossings where we had to step on wet slick rocks to get across. When we finally made it we enjoyed a beautiful flowing waterfall. After the hike we went higher up the mountain to a picnic area and enjoyed a sloppy joe lunch.

Aphrodite Rocks near the town of Paphos

Greek legend and mythology say that Aphodite was born out of the foam near the rocks which you see in the pictures. She is the goddess of love and beauty. She is also the mother of "Cupid." Roman legend calls her "Venus." So whatever her name, we all now know where she was born.

Pictures

South toward the Mediterranean

North view from the veranda with the Troodos mountains in the distance

Our building from street level

The Cyprus Experience

We have a few minutes so we have started a new blog. We will update with pictures, articles, and interesting places we have visited. We will include a history of where we go, people we meet, the good times, and the not so good times. So here goes!!!

Our flat or apartment, as it is called in other parts of the world, has two bedrooms, bath, large living room which doubles as a dining room, and a study. It has a large kitchen with a clothes washer (which drains into the kitchen sink). The flat is on the fourth floor of the building. It is numbered as flat #31. The ground floor is numbered as "0". This is the case in all buildings in Cyprus. The ground floor of all buildings is always numbered "0", so if you are on an elevator and want to go to the 5th floor you would push the number "6" button, and when you come down to the ground floor you would hit the "0" button.

We have a beautiful view from our dining room/living room/study area. It looks out over the northern part of the city toward the Troodos mountains. We are high enough to see the beautiful red roof tops and sandy colored stucco buildings which flow up toward the foothills of the city. As we look south we can see a small glimpse of the Mediterranean Sea between the buildings.

As you look at the pictures of the buildings you will see white round tanks on the roof tops. These are water storage tanks. You will also see heating panels next to the tanks. The panels collect heat from the sun to warm and heat the water. The tanks are filled every other day. We have had no problem having enough water, but we can use the clothes washer only when the water is filling the tanks. Enough for today. I will attach some pictures. The pictures are not uploading, so I will try another time. Love you all.

Elder and Sister Kennedy