Pajama Party!

    On Tuesday, we had our usual staff meeting and Isabel came to clean. 

 As you know, Dad loves yogurt so if there is any at the store, we stock up big time. 

But he made an exciting discovery: Tuesday is "Yogurt Delivery Day." 

So, our shopping day is now on Tuesdays and we get some looks when we pile

 7 or 8 big containers in our cart. There's definitely a "scarcity" mentality here. 

We've learned that just because you see it once, doesn't mean you'll see it again 

so we tend to stock up on stuff we like.
    We did talk on the phone to the Sr couple that's coming in a couple of weeks. 

 He's a nurse so he is going be the mission nurse and they are going to live in the same

 building that we are in, so we will have somebody to hang out with. 

On Thursday, Dad mixed up some preomethrin and sprayed the apt because we had 4 very big cockroaches and they freak me out big time! Of course, it was always me that found them - one ran over my foot while I was in the bathroom! Yuck!!
Then later, Mariana (seminary teacher that's the med student) came over for me to teach her how to make flower barrettes and brownies for a YW activity that they were having on Friday night. 

 She is the one that wanted to learn how to make brownies so she could get a husband. :) Anyway, we made them and it was like she was at Disneyland, using all the kitchen stuff like the mixer and oven - even the rubber spatula amazed her! When I explained the tradition of licking the beaters and the bowl and asked her if she wanted to, she said, "Yes!! That's a very good tradition." I burned the top of the brownies because I converted the Fahrenheit to Celsius wrong :( but she said it didn't matter, the girls would love them anyway.

When I took her home, she said, "Sister, would you come to the pajama party?" I said sure and asked her if the leaders were wearing pajamas or not. She said she wasn't sure. She wasn't going to because she didn't have any pajamas. So...
On Friday, I met her at the market by her house, and followed her down the narrow dirt path to her house. Oh, that reminds me - I forgot to include the picture in the last letter that we took when we went with the elders to their investigator's house that night.
Mariana's neighborhood is similar to this one. When we got there, the YW president and the other counselor were getting the coal fires ready and preparing the food.

  A few girls were taking turns cutting the cabbage and potatoes. One would sit and cut the cabbage into a basket on her lap and then when she got tired, she'd pass it to somebody else.  Mariana got 3 grass mats and laid them outside and the girls sat on those, because her little kitchen/dining/living/storage area was way too small for everybody and SO hot!! 

 One pot is rice, one is spaghetti, and the chicken is on the small stand on the ground.

  They had 27 girls! The girls sat on the mats and played hand-clap games. Even the older girls played. After the food was prepped, Mariana gathered the girls together on the mats and told them that it was time for a spiritual message and I was giving it. We had talked about it while we were walking to her house. {Side note: The people often don't ask you in advance to do something. We went to a baptism last Saturday and waited and waited for the branch president to come. When it finally started, the man conducting it announced that I was leading the singing and dad was saying the opening prayer. He had had plenty of time to ask us while we were waiting but didn't.}
 Back to the story: so I told her that she could go first and then I'd go but she'd have to help me because she understands a lot of English, even though she doesn't speak very much. She rolled her eyes and then got her scriptures and talked about the Holy Ghost (one of the few words that I recognized.). When I spoke, I told them about coming to Mozambique and how hard it was to leave my family and home but that I knew it was right because God had told me it was through the Holy Ghost. And I shined a small flashlight in the dark and told them He was like a light and would show them the way if they asked for help with anything. They got the gist. Then they sang songs.

On Thursday, Mariana had asked me if I had any ideas for games and I had told her about Mafia and explained how to play. So after the singing, she taught them how to play Mafia and boy was it funny watching them play!! Because I knew the game, I knew what was happening, even though I couldn't understand what they were saying. They LOVED it and really got into it!!
At 10:30, I went home because that was the latest that dad could stay up to give me a ride. The food still wasn't done.....
On Saturday, we went to a baptism. I saw the YW district (like stake) president at the church. The "Pajama Party" was a district activity being held on a ward basis, so the YW district presidency had come to visit us - naturally, just as I was starting to give my message so they heard my gobbledygook Portuguese. Anyway, they visited all 7 branches and I asked her how it went and what time she got home. (She's from Zimbabwe and speaks great English -yay!) They got home at 7AM!! It took them ALL night to visit each branch! I couldn't believe it. 
 While I was talking to her, a woman came up and handed me a baby boy. I recognized her from one of the branches but had no idea what her name was. So, I took him into the baptism service with us and figured she'd come and get him when she was done doing whatever she was doing. 

  But she never came. We went outside to take pictures of the couple and still no mom.
We took the baby in the picture with us.....

Dad held him while I lead the singing and he was super good. When he fussed, he rocked him and he feel asleep. Still no mom. After the service, we stood up and the man who was baptized walked up to me and took the baby. 
It was THEIR baby! And they hadn't said a word - not during pictures, while we were waiting, during the baptism, nothing. Dad and I just laughed - it was so typical. Good thing we brought him in the picture, he was one of their twins!
 

 They also had a Helping Hands activity that day. It was at the hospital that's right by apt. We had just gone there the previous week to visit a sick member and oh what a sight! There were broken windows inside the building and we said if you weren't sick before, you would be after you went there. All the records are kept on paper, not computer, and they file the patients by the day they come in, not by their name, so we had a heck of a time trying to find the guy we were trying to visit.

About a week ago, the branch president of the branch that we usually attend asked to meet with us and the missionaries in that branch to learn what to do about callings. He had several members, including his 2 counselors and the Primary President, who weren't even coming to church regularly, much less doing their callings. Dad told him that he had to do the hard thing and release them and that it was very important to have strong people for the auxiliary presidencies. Well, he took it to heart because on Sunday, they called 2 new counselors in the branch presidency, a new elder's quorum presidency, a new Primary presidency, and a new Sunday School president. Wham, bam - all new! We've learned that the people really listen to what you tell them, so we're very careful about what we say. But it had to be done so there's a lot of training to be done. I went in the primary, like I usually do and told the women that I'd help but my Portuguese was terrible/non-existent. They weren't doing anything so I tried to teach a song while they set up but I don't know the Portuguese titles to find the song. They didn't know either. So I finally went and got an elder to come in and translate while I did sharing time. I told David and Goliath again (a favorite) and Nephi and the brass plates. The women just watched. Then I resorted to "Do as I'm Doing" because the elder didn't know the primary song names either. The ladies liked that one and laughed at me doing the motions. After primary, I walked to the branch president's office with the primary president and her first counselor to put away the songbook and CD player (everything, even pictures, has to be kept in his office or it "disappears".) I asked them how long they had been members. The president - 1 1/2 months! Her counselor - 3 months. No wonder they didn't know the songs or have any idea what to do! The branch president has asked me to train them so next Sunday I'll attempt to teach them how to run Primary in Portuguese. 


After church, I made lasagna in the crockpot.....and it worked! I was pretty stoked! And that was the rest of our week!
We love you guys and pray for each of you every day and every night.