Hello!

 It's been 1 week- crazy huh?? Things are good but we're still in limbo in Maputo. We  don't have our residents visa that we were supposed to get yesterday.  Things move VERY slow here.....! We were with the other Sr couple for a few days but we're at the mission home now and its been a crazy week. On Wednesday, 8 elders and 3 sisters came in from the U.S. so we were helping to get them fed and settled temporarily because they need to wait for their visas.  So the president's wife and I had a lot of cooking yesterday and then orientation.  Then today was Zone Conference so we had meetings from 10-5 at the church with all the newbies and the rest of the zone. 

 Then tonight, after the conference, we had 6 departing elders that leave on Monday, come to the mission home for a farewell dinner and they'll sleep over the weekend so I helped the president's wife with that. So it hasn't been what we expected but its been busy! It's been good to get to know the president and his wife and the missionaries in this area before we go to Beira but I'm ready to get in our place and quit living out of a suitcase.  Africa is a country of contrasts!!  There's some sad stuff, funny stuff,  and beautiful stuff!

  We love the missionaries and it's so fun and exciting that we have more than one sister in the country now! They are great!! Our CES trainer is so cute and sweet to us. He's so happy to have us  here to help him. Dad's good to go with the language, but my Portuguese has a long way to go before I can teach a class.  For our first teacher training, he has made my assignment to call on 3 teachers to recite something.  Obviously, he predicted that speaking anything was out of the question but that was his way to include me......;) 

We LOVE You!

We made it!!

33 hours, multiple plane changes, and one yotel later, we finally arrived in Mozambique. The best part was that all of our luggage made it too!  We first stayed with another senior missionary couple (I'm inventing a new name for couples), the Hobsons, who are from Utah, and then stayed with President and Sister Kretly, who are from Brazil.  We had to wait for our visas so we had a chance to look around Maputo for a bit but we were busy with CES (church educational system) training, a Zone Conference, and waiting 5 hours for our visas.  Nothing moves fast in Africa - except for maybe the gazelles....Three days after we got here, 7 elders and 3 sisters arrived from the U.S.  Sister missionaries are coming to Mozambique for the first time!

Eating lunch with the Hobsons

     

            


 

     With President and Sister Kretly

   

All the new missionaries - they are so great!

                Maputo Zone Conference

Serving lunch at Zone Conference

        

 They have nice stores in this city but you can buy some crazy things right on the street.  Need nail polish? Stop the nail polish guy who carries a long sample rack that you can try on colors from before you make your purchase. ;)

          

   Fruit vendor - the cart is big as he is!

                     


Maid uniforms for sale

Toilet paper!

Yotel in London

It's a 33 hour trip from Utah to Mozambique so we decided to take advantage of our 8 hour layover in London and.....go see a play, no.  See Buckingham Palace, no. We went to a "yotel". Yeah, we didn't know what it was either. It's one of those teeny, tiny efficiency hotels that rent by the hour for travelers that need to sleep between flights.  This one was set up like a space station....the check-in desk was called "Mission Control" - which was kind of ironic, given our destination.

Outside our "yotel" room!

                           Inside our cubicle.

On our Way!

  Today we got up early, packed the last minute things, and loaded our 6 suitcases (carry-ons not included) and flew to Mozambique, Africa. Chad and my brother, Greg, helped us haul everything to the MTC to catch our shuttle ride to the airport.  Thank you! A HUGE thanks to my friends who knew that I wasn't going to be ready in time and came over the night before and helped me pack, ran errands for last minute things, and even cleaned my house (including bathrooms - yikes!!) I have great friends that I'm going miss..... Goodbye family, goodbye friends, goodbye house, goodbye Provo.....we're off on our Africa adventure!!

Chad, Kim, and Brian 

See you in 18 months!

We loved the MTC- the energy of the missionaries infectious! I was skeptical about how much we'd learn and how beneficial it would be but it really was a great learning experience. Guess it just goes to show that you CAN teach an old dog(s) new tricks......;)

MTC Reflections

Due to the high concentration of so many "noble and great ones" (Abr. 3:22) the Spirit is very strong in the MTC. One evening we went back just to watch the young elders and sisters. They are all so excited and it certainly appears that they are all worthy and willing to serve. 

They have strong personal testimonies of the restored Gospel and are anxiously awaiting the time when they can: "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." (PMG, purpose)

Among the 50 questions that Alma asks in Alma 5 is:  "..have ye spiritually been born of God ? Have ye received his image in your countenances ?...I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances ?" (Alma 5: 14,19) 

Clearly, these 18-20 year old missionaries have the image of God in their countenances. The Savior taught in both Jerusalem and Bountiful that: "The light of the body is the eye; if, therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." (Matt.6:22 & 3 Ne. 13:22) 

As we looked into their eyes we could see the light of Christ. 

Living the Gospel causes one to be  'full of light'. This is contrasted with those that "seek not The Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world" (D & C 1:16) 

How blessed we were to be able to spend a few days in the MTC !