Monday, July 22, 2013

Shrimp week!

This was a hard week, but ended up good. 
 On Monday, we went for a power walk on the beach
 and saw some fishermen pulling in their nets and stopped
 to watch and take pics. 
 
 
  Then the guy, Armando, asked if we
 wanted to buy some fish so we asked if he had shrimp and
 he said maybe. We waited and when the nets came in they
 did catch some so we asked how much and dad thought he 
said 40 metacaiz and all the fishermen laughed and he said,
 "nao, nao, nao.  400 metacaiz and wrote it in the sand. 
 So we calculated and it worked out to be 75c per shrimp and 
these are LARGE shrimp. 
  I had just had some at a restaurant
 and they were $20 for 5 shrimp so we said ok and sprinted
 home for money. 
We tried to cook them like the restaurants do, which is to split the back and grill tummy side down with the shell on. It was kinda tricky and took awhile to prepare but they were so good! Look how HUGE they were!
On Tuesday, we worked all day to move out the old Sr couple apt. There are 2 apts that we have to empty and dispose of the unwanted furniture because they got 2 newer apts , of which we are in one - or will be when the furniture gets here. It's been hard work with all the moving, hauling to storage, cleaning,etc. Dad and I will both be super glad when it's all done in a couple weeks. Then we went back to the old apt to have the Internet. 

On Wednesday we did big moving with another Sr couple (the Banks) that drove 3 hours to come and help us and another family that's here came. The wife is from Alpine and he's from Brazil (the Buenos). He works here for Care for Life, a humanitarian organization started by a past mission president's wife (and is Pres Kretlys counselor). Well, that was a long day that got longer - we got a call about a sick elder and had to drive 30 minutes to pick him up in another city and drive back to our city and take him to the clinic, and then back to his house and back home. We got to bed at 1 am.
Then Thursday the water shut off at noon and didn't get fixed. We went to the old apt where the Banks were staying and worked some more and then I made quesadillas for us and they came to our place and she taught me how to download pics from my phone. Then we left to the Buenos in another city for dinner. It was really good! - an African dish, made with cabbage. The wife made bananas flambé, which was so easy and delicious! I'm gonna add it to my recipes.
We got home and the water was still off- used makeup wipes for the first time in my life....The water ended up not getting fixed until the next day (Friday). It was awful! I had a ton of laundry from the move ( I'm up to 10 loads now). We had to go buy 2 cases of water to drink. I talked to the site manager (who's named Nelson and doesn't speak a word of English)and he turned it on for 5 minutes and I ran around and filled up any big container - a garbage can, bucket, plastic bins, so we could flush the toilet. It reminded me of the hurricanes in Mississippi. Then they got it working at 8 pm and I started my laundry but the washer didn't work - still doesn't....
 So yesterday we went for a quick walk in the neighborhood and saw 2 fisherman and asked if they had shrimp. They did and told us it was 260 mtz a kilo and to follow them to a house to weigh it ( at least that's what dad thought they said). So we followed these guys for 50 minutes and finally dad asked how much longer and they said 20 minutes so we said we'd just buy them w/o weighing them and they pulled out a scale and weighed them. (????) and we offered them less to buy the whole batch of 3 kilos. We have no idea where they were taking us...... We still didn't have water so I just boiled the whole batch and made shrimp salads from the veggies we bought from the vegetable stand lady ( that I had to bleach).

Then we went to a double wedding with 2 couples at the church. Here, the people just live with each other because they can't afford the wedding so then they can't get baptized. So some Elders and local leaders got together and came up with the idea of combining the marriages and having the church pay for a simple celebration. That was cool to see and the couples were so cute! It seemed like they were happy to have us there and while we took pictures of them, their guests took pictures of us.

The church has sent wedding dresses from DI and a couple of missionary moms have sent some for them to use so they usually wear wedding dresses donated from the US.


THEN, we got a call that the elder was getting worse so I googled online, decided on a antibiotic, and dad called the clinic to see if we could get the prescription w/o bringing him in, to save time. They said perhaps, so we went in and dad showed the nurse pics of his foot and I showed him the article on my iPhone and he gave us the meds and we went to 2 pharmacies but they were closed so we went to the other city, got the elder and his companion so they could show us where a pharmacy was that was open. Late night again. Then church at 8:30 today. It went better this week. We're starting to know the people, and they asked me to say the prayer in RS and when I thanked Heavenly Father for our families I started to cry, which was awful but oh well. They also asked me to play the piano in SS meeting but I told them that I'm terrible plus it'd be hard because I don't even know what the song is until we start singing because I can't read, so the chorister (a YW) said, "Ono, dos, tres" and we all sang acapella. Then after church, the 2 couples were baptized!
So, it was a LONG week with ups and downs but I'll sleep good tonight!



Sure love all you!

 











Sunday, July 14, 2013

1 month Anniversary!

We hit our 1 month anniversary last week. Can you believe that we've already been here a month??! I now understand what that sister meant when she said that the "days are long but the months are fast." On one hand, the month has flown, but on the other hand, it seems longer because we've done so much. We've only had a bit of a break this weekend. So I'll go back to the week before last and catch y'all up. Sit back and get comfy - there's lots to tell.....
Our visas took longer so we didn't get to Beira until midnight, July 3. The Kretlys (president and wife) came with us and we ran all over getting rental leases, bank acct, etc. They left on the 5th and two days later we spoke at a training meeting for S and I (seminary and institute) teachers (where I blubbered terribly and it turns out that they don't cry here....awkward) and then they had 7 branches of seminary and institute kids come for an activity. They had a devotional - which we spoke at and that was a surprise - , then an activity outside, a scripture trivia game that got the kids very competitive and excited, and then a meal of cheese and VERY pink (Red dye #3) bologna sandwiches and pop. We were there from 9 am until 8 pm, then we gave 5 of the teachers a ride home.  Here's the funny part: They planned the activity after their training meeting and got the food after that (with us driving them 20 minutes into town) and when I asked about leaving the kids, they said "it's not a problem because the kids can watch a video." (The Other Side of Heaven). Dad and I just laughed.  We couldn't imagine our stake YM/YW leaders not having plans for an activity with 130 kids! Here, planning ahead isn't something they do - they just roll with it.  The kids had a blast though and lingered at the church until we left at 8 pm.
The next morning, we got up at 4am (Ugh!!!) and drove with the country director 3 hours over partial dirt roads (I got carsick, even with sea bands, and had to lay down in  the backseat for the ride) to go to a small branch and visit their Seminary and Institute kids. It was a tiny branch (70 people) and the group of seminary kids was really small.
Dad and I and the director spoke to them. Then they had refreshments- right off the tree!

 (The 5th guy from the left is the country director and he's awesome! 31 with 2 kids. The man sitting down is the first counselor in the branch presidency. The girl on the left was wearing a shirt that says "I love the Jonas Brothers" and when I explained who they were, she laughed.)

 
 We left Monday morning for the 3 hour drive back and that's when I took this picture of the 4 beggar boys outside the hotel.  The kids were so funny there! I didn't see any kids but when I took a picture of their mother, the kids came out and they were fascinated by the camera. Another mom brought her kids over, and they loved it when I showed them their pictures.


  The street kids break my heart. I told dad if they were in the US, the first kid would be a successful businessman because he had some savvy, and the third kid would be a child model because he's so handsome.  But they're in Mozambique, not the US......
     
Look how bloated the little girl's stomach is from malnutrition.  Her brother was really cute with her and tried to get her to put her shirt down. The older girl is chewing on sugarcane. 


   On Monday, we went and got the electricity hooked up and moved everything over to the president's new apt. After the electricity went out 3 times, we went back to the old apt to spend the night. :(   The rest of the week we've spent shopping for groceries and supplies, moving things out of the old apt, and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning!! After cleaning non-stop for 6 hours on Friday, I laid on the couch and didn't move. That was date night with our first home cooked meal and first movie!!
We also explored and went to the beach and had a delicious meal of prawns.




And today we went to the home branch in Beira (8 am- we don't know why they start church so early!) and when the teacher asked me a question - she said it 3 times before I realized that she was talking to me - I answered (in Portuguese) that I was sorry but I only spoke a little Portuguese and I didn't understand what she was saying.  She talked a lot more after that, so I think maybe she'd been a little intimidated by me but when she realized that I couldn't understand a word she was saying, she relaxed and ignored me. It was a sterling moment.  But after RS, a lady came up and said that she spoke English because she was from Zimbabwe and we could be friends.  I said "Sure!", cuz I could definitely use an English-speaking friend.  And then after church, she asked if we wanted to come to her house for lunch.  We've been told to NEVER eat at the members houses but I didn't know how to say no, so we said yes..... I gave her my number and told her that I'd bring something.  We came home and I pulled out a cake mix that I'd bought and then saw that all the directions were in Portuguese and metrics so I had to type it all in google translate and it took for forever!  Just as I was going to put it in the oven, she called and said to meet her at the church and she'd direct us.  I told her I was just going to put the cake in the oven and should I bring it to her house to bake? She said "No, no I don't have room."  and I realized that she probably didn't have an oven...... So we put the batter in the fridge, grabbed a carton of juice to share, so we wouldn't have to worry about the water, and went off.  She walked down the street, got in the car and we drove just a block and got out to a row of teeny cement houses hooked together, surrounded by garbage and debris.  Their "door" was a strip of blue material.  The kitchen/all-purpose room was about 8x8 feet we barely had room to sit at the small round table. She had a hot plate on the ground and we wondered what in the world we were going to eat! It was rice (safe!), fish (not so safe), and shrimp samosas and salad ( really, really not safe!) Oh well, what do you do?  She had a pitcher of warm water from the stove that she pored over our hands into a bowl for us to wash before dinner and served everybody while a small TV played just behind the table.  Dad was kind of lost, so I cut the heads off our fish and deboned them. We still had to use our hands to get the smaller bones out but it was ok because everybody else was too.  She told her husband to get a roll of toilet paper for us to wipe our hands on and they didn't open our juice but had 2 water bottles just for us.  Dad and I split one.  There were only 3 plates for the 5 of us so the kids and wife ate out of bowls. It actually tasted pretty good - it was just tricky to eat. It was very humbling. We found out that they were just baptized 4 months ago! They showed us their wedding pictures and played a video of it for us. We took pictures of them and she gave me a wedding picture of them but I told her that I didn't want to take her nice picture and I could take more pictures with my phone so we did and they loved it.  Dad just grinned and shook his head at me when we got in the car and said something about never doing that again- but what an  experience!! I did have us take a pepto bismal to coat out stomachs when we got home.  We'll let you know if we end up at the local clinic...... So, now you're caught up with our latest escapades.  
We sure love you!







New Apartment


As of Tuesday, July 9th, we have unpacked our 6 suitcases and slept at a new apartment !!

Our next and final move, will be across the hall when our own apartment is completed. The building we are in has 8 apartments + 1 main floor retail space. The building is very secure, brand new and has been built with very good quality materials.

So far we are the only ones living in the building. Everything is new and clean, which is very unusual in Mozambique.

We have been asked to not give any money to the poor beggars but we can give them food. Mom will buy extra bread or oranges to give to them when we are approached.

Isabel, has been the District Relief Society President for the past 5 years. She works as a maid and works for 4 hours for $5 !! Yes, $1.25/hour. The cost of food, gasoline and rent is more expensive here than at home, but the cost of labor is extremely cheap.

Today, we attended the Beira 2nd branch. This is perhaps the strongest branch in the Beira District. There were perhaps 200 people present with a lot of children. Their block of meetings begin at 8 AM ! 




Mom met a woman there from Zimbabwe who speaks English. This woman invited us to dinner and we went to this small block building in which the front door was only a curtain! At dinner we learned that their family joined the Church in March of this year. The family has 2 children living with them, so with us there were 5 people, but only 3 plates. The two children used bowls. We had rice, fish, salad, somossa, banana and bottled water. We left feeling very humble and appreciative of our beautiful apartment. 

I was reminded of this poem:


Today, upon a bus, I saw a girl with golden hair.
I envied her, she seemed so gay, and wished I was as fair.
When suddenly she rose to leave, I saw her hobbled down the aisle.
She had one leg and wore a crutch.
And as she passed... a smile.

Oh God, forgive me when I whine.
I have 2 legs, the world is mine
I stopped to buy some candy. The lad who sold it had such charm.
I talked with him, he seemed so glad.
If I were late, it'd do no harm.
And as I left, he said to me, "I thank you, you've been so kind.
It's nice to talk with folks like you. You see," he said, "I'm blind."
Oh God, forgive me when I whine.
I have 2 eyes, the world is mine.
Later while walking down the street,
I saw a child with eyes of blue.
He stood and watched the others play.
He did not know what to do.
I stopped a moment and then I said,
"Why don't you join the others, dear?"
He looked ahead without a word. And then I knew,
he couldn't hear.
Oh God, forgive me when I whine.
I have 2 ears, the world is mine.
With feet to take me where I'd go.
With eyes to see the sunset's glow.
With ears to hear what I'd know.
Oh God, forgive me when I whine.
I've been blessed indeed, the world is mine........
~ Red Foley

We are trying to plan for Chanelle to come visit us from Uganda. Even though Mozambique and Uganda are both on the East part of Africa there are no direct fights between these countries. Don't worry though, if Mom wants something done, she will find a way to make it happen !!

Love ya lots!