Electricity - you've either got it or you don't........‏

Hi chick-a-dees,
   I've learned to really appreciate a lot of things since being here -

 grocery stores, garbage cans and garbage pickup, air-conditioning, etc. 

 But the thing I'm most grateful for is electricity. Without it, we have no water, 

no A/C, no way to cook our food, do laundry, charge our phones and iPads,

 light the house at night, etc. I LOVE electricity! Well, Monday, we still didn't

 have any. :(  We were so tired from the night before because we had to get up 

every few hours to get a drink of water from the fridge that we were trying to 

keep closed. Transfers started that day so we made a trip to the airport. 

But that night, we had a birthday party - in an air-conditioned restaurant. Yippee!!
   It was Freeman's birthday. He turned 31.  He's a go-getter, just like his 

sister Amalia, the YW president that got her doctorate. He's got an MBA from

 Zimbabwe and works for RioTinto Mining, which has a big operation here in 

Mozambique.  He was just called as the second counselor in the district 

(like a stake) presidency and is married to Sue, that I did the RS activity with.

 There are a few up-and-comers here and he's one of them. 

Look at his cool cake:
 

It's a shirt and tie. The desserts here are like the ones in Mexico - not sweet and pretty bland. But this was the best cake we've had here. It was a vanilla cake with pineapple juice on the bottom of it. Yum!!
The next day, we had a a lot of transfers so we made 3 or 4 trips to missionary apartments - getting elders/dropping off elders - and then back and forth to the airport. One of the transfers was a Zone Leader that's been the ZL since we got here. Elder Martinez: a quiet, humble, diligent guy. We were sad to see him go.... So, we took him some birthday cake and said our goodbyes before we picked him up later for the airport.
 (No makeup because of the eye infection - ugh!)

Here's a new group coming in - they were excited and ready to go! The guy on the left is from one of the branches and happened to be there dropping something off to be air-mailed so we told him to jump in the picture.

One of the elders that came in is the cousin of my teacher in the MTC. When I went to class one day, he happened to be there, so my teacher introduced us but I hadn't seen him since we got to Mozambique. Now he's in our area so I took a picture to email to my teacher/his cousin.

It's rainy season so the roads were kinda crazy.

And we had our first experience with a train crossing. It was raised and lowered by hand - no electronic sensors or lights on this one - in fact, it would be pitch-black if our truck lights weren't shining on it.

 
Here's one of the elders' apartments. Very typical. They always have something drying outside. With the humidity, it takes 3-4 days to dry clothes inside the house.

Friday, one branch had six weddings! This was an interesting one. Most of the couples had been married in the 'traditional' way, but not legally with a marriage certificate, etc. When the church first came to Mozambique, it accepted the 'traditional marriage' as sufficient for baptism. But a couple of years ago, the policy was changed and they required that the couple be legally married prior to baptism. The couples that were already baptized were given time to be married - I think a year. Some did, some didn't. Many of the ones that didn't, still came to church but weren't able to advance in the priesthood, hold callings, etc. Nothing was done and the couples stayed in limbo.
A couple of months ago, an elder was called to be the branch president and he's 'grabbing the bull the horns' and getting things turned around in the branch. One of the things he's tackled, are these couples.

 So these couples were all legally married and one of the couples has been called to be the new Seminary teachers for that branch - the first time we've ever had a married couple do that.
  Another couple is the RS president. This was a second marriage for her. Her first husband left her and their three children when she joined the church. She's the sweetest woman and smart with a good job. She's also albino.

  
And I saw Ana Maria, whose been working out of town for a few months. She's the widowed mother of 8. I've been so worried about her daughter, Celia, who's been home with the kids and is only 17. So when Ana Maria told me that she was back for good, I burst into tears. I told her how worried I had been and she grabbed me and kept hugging me and wiping the tears off of my face. These are the people that I'm going to miss when it's time to go......

After the weddings, it started to pour rain. Another set of elders had a wedding and had made the cakes for it. They asked us if we could go to their apt and pick up the cakes and bring them to the church so we headed over there. Here's a picture of some kids playing in one of the huge potholes filled with rain.

 When dad slowed down for me to take a picture, they took off running so it's not the best picture but you can get an idea of what it's like.
Here's the front yard of some houses. The orange speck on the back right is their laundry hanging out to dry. Some people wear rubber boots but most just carry their flip flops and walk through the muck.

Saturday and Sunday were District Conference. Elder Hamilton, of the Seventy, was visiting. Saturday, we started at 9 am and didn't finish until midnight. It had been raining that day and the electricity went in and out so we didn't have the microphone or lights for some of the meeting and it was really hard to hear. Sister Kretly had asked Sandi and I to have lunch ready for the Hamiltons to eat in between the training meeting and the adult sessions. We got it ready before the first meeting, but couldn't bring it to the church because the fridge doesn't work very well and it has roaches in it anyway. The first meeting went over by 30 minutes and we didn't want to get up in the middle of it, so when it ended, we drove like maniacs back to the apt, loaded everything up, and floored it back to the church. They had 15 minutes to eat before the next meeting... We felt bad, but it was one of those 'rock and a hard place' situations. We had to take the food back to the apt after lunch and when we came back, I saw this in the parking lot of the chapel. One of the members must be a chapela driver. So I hopped in for a picture.

After the adult meeting, we took some elders home. There were 6 of them so 3 rode in the back cab of the truck. A woman from the Dondo branch asked for a ride, so she and I shared the front seat with me on the emergency brake for the 45 minute/"but felt like an hour and 45 minutes" ride. When we finally got home, we had to wait for a flight of a new elder to come in. An hour later, we got back in the car, drove to the airport, picked him up, then dropped him off and headed back home. I got to bed at 1:00 am but woke at 4:30 am cuz the power went out and it was so hot. Long day - longer night!
Here's the delivery of the new elder. 

It was so late, the other elders were in their PJ's but they all woke up to welcome him.

Sunday was worse, electricity wise, but great spirit wise. It was pouring rain! The electricity cut out for most of the meeting but there were over 1000 people at the Sunday meeting and 43 men were made elders! And our little group, Dondo, was made a branch! That was exciting! So now the people can be called and set apart for their callings, instead of just being asked to do something. It was a good meeting and it's awesome to hear the people continue on, power or no power. When the choir sang and the power quit, they just kept singing and the organist would join in whenever the power came back on in spurts.
At the start of the meeting, a member came and got me, saying that Isabel wanted me. I went out of the chapel and there were Isabel and Mariana standing in the entrance to the chapel totally drenched from the rain. They wanted me to take their picture. Crazy girls! But I went and got my camera. Here they are, soaked to the skin.

Long week and next week is going to be longer with Zone Conference and Seminary and Institute leaders visiting from S.Africa and the US. I better eat my Wheaties!
Love you kids a bunch!!!