Written by Lonny (January 13, 2010)
It has been hard for me to sleep at night. I think it's a combination of my body getting used to being on a reversed schedule, and having my mind swimming with ideas, problems, and possible solutions. So I only got about 3 hours of sleep before my alarm went off at 6:30am. I dragged myself out of bed and got ready for the day.
Joseph and I rode with Joe Morrell to Debre Zeit to check on our recipients and to deliver supplies to Dr. Tamrat. Joe dropped us off at Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center while he went with Ashaber to visit a construction company. My son Joseph has struggled digestively since we've been here, so he lost his breakfast on the way there. Fortunately, he felt better when we arrived. Dr. Tamrat had me check one of the pregnant cows that was under the weather, and she is doing a little better today. We talked about the condition of the animals and their feeding program. His animals are in very good condition, and there is a new PhD student that is doing a synchronization study, so Dr. Tamrat is going to use those animals for embryo recipients. He will flush two cows, and transfer all the embryos fresh, and then put frozen embryos in the rest of the recipients.
Joseph and I had a snack while we waited for Joe to pick us up. I had a wonderful fresh orange. The produce here is fantastic! On our way through Debre Zeit, we stopped at the construction site of the new LDS chapel being built there. It will be a huge three story building, right off the main road. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw how big it is. I have a feeling that the church is going to grow very fast in Debre Zeit. Dr. Tamrat rode back with us, so I was able to ask him a lot of questions. He is working as an advisor to dairymen as they purchase cattle, which service costs 50-100 birr per cow to have an advisor go along with them to market.
Joseph was wiped out by the time we got back at 2:00pm, so he went straight to bed and slept all afternoon. Lloyd was already sleeping, and Evan joined them. I worked for an hour, and then tried to take a nap but couldn’t sleep, which was ridiculous considering how little sleep I had had the night before. This jet lag is really a hard thing on our bodies, and takes many days to get out of your system.
For Christmas this year, Erika gave me a book entitled "The Mormon Way of Doing Business: Leadership and Success Through Faith and Family" by Jeff Benedict. {Click here to see this book on Amazon.com.} I was going to leave it at home because I am reading other books, but Erika handed it to me as I was packing my suitcases out the door, so I brought it along, and started reading it today. I have really enjoyed it so far, and I am learning a lot of good principles. It teaches how very successful men can do well in all aspects of their lives, if they focus and work hard enough at it. I think it will be very helpful to me.