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!