Snelsons in Africa!: Easter Week and my First African Funeral {but probably not my last :( }‏

Hello!
This week's highlights:
On P-day we went to a going-away party for Elders Bigelow and Lake who were going home next Friday. This idea was

cooked up by the Manga ZL's. So I made a giant jello cake

(my dessert choice of late) and the Dilles bought rolls and

we all went across the street to the beach. We were late

getting there because Dad had to go to the bank that

morning but we finally made it.

 Group shot:

Sandi and I pretending that we're playing soccer.

Convincing, aren't we??

Later that day, we found out that one of the ZL's, Elder Cummings, was being transferred to Maputo to be the new AP so when we picked him up that night, we teased him that he'd organized the party for HIS going-away.

Here's a crazy huge spider that lives on the bush outside of the elders' apt. He caught himself a big dinner!

At the airport:

Tômásīa had called me last week and told me that her brother had died. The funeral was on Tuesday and I wanted to go, so when Isabel came to clean, I told her that I'd go with her. Dad was off moving some elders into a new apartment so he couldn't go. I was cooking and didn't watch the time so when Isabel quit early and said it was time to go, I told her at I wasn't showered and dressed. She said, 'No problem. Just put a capalana on.' I said 'Really?' and she said 'Sure.' So I hurried and put one on and off we went. We had to walk because Dad was off with the truck but it was just at the hospital about 6 blocks away.
We were quite the picture - a white lady in a capalana with Isabel - hurrying down the street. Walking fast, in the equivalent of a sheet wrapped around your waist, is not an easy thing. But we made it! And then we waited.....and waited....and waited.
So, here's how it works: when somebody dies, you can have the service at a church or at the hospital. The mom is not a member (Tômásīa is a the only active member in the family) so she opted to have it at the hospital. When we walked in the gates of the hospital grounds, there were about 200+ people standing around. I was the only Caucasian that I could see.

Each family is given a time to be there for their funeral. Ours was 1:00 pm, the hottest part of the day. Apparently, there's a list with the names and times, but people pay bribes to be bumped up on the list so you could be first on the list but the last one to be called. Oh boy....
At 2:30, somebody said it was our turn next, so we moved across the street to be closer to the place where the funerals are held. The 'chapel' is a cinder block garage with a raised concrete alter-like thing in the center. Each family has about 15 minutes to use the room. When our turn finally came about 45 minutes later, a truck with the body pulled up to the entrance, the body was unloaded, and we all moved into the room. The preacher said a few words and a group of people sang while everyone filed around the body and out the door of the building. The body is in a black coffin and covered with a white cloth pulled up to the mouth. It was all so strange but I still got teary and sad for the family.
Death is so common here and when it happens, they often don't know what the cause is. They don't question the doctors, if they even had the money to see a doctor, which they often don't, so they never know why the person died. They're such a stoic people and most don't shed a tear but there were a few mothers/wives that got hysterical. I watched a mother being carried from the building by five other women while she wailed in grief. Another woman being carried was limp; I guess she had passed out. It was very sad. Apparently, cameras are not used at funerals, which is so different from our culture where we take pictures to have memories of the funeral. But I did take a picture of these people all climbing into the truck that has the body in it to ride out to the cemetery.

They will ride hanging out of the truck all way the way to the cemetery just to get a ride there. I couldn't go because I had to teach my English class so I walked back home by myself. I hurried to get ready for class and had to drive the van because Dad wasn't back yet. Yabba dabba do!

On Thursday, we went with Larry and Sandi to the elders' new apartment, which has already sprung a leak. :(

This is Elder Sip making the greasiest - but puffiest - eggs I've ever seen:

We stopped at a plant seller for Larry to buy a pot for an avocado plant that he's growing and then tore home for my English class. I played the song, "Hot, hot, hot!" for them because we were learning pronouns and it has all the pronouns in the chorus ("I'm hot, she's hot, he's hot",etc) but something got lost in translation and they didn't really get it. Oh well...just trying to liven things up a bit. ;)
But at the end of class, I showed the Easter video, because it only has written words, so they could practice reading. I showed it first in English and then in Portuguese. They loved that! One of my better students raised his hand and said he understood all the words except "outcast." That was a little tricky to explain. I acted out a fishing cast and then explained the context and they got it.

Friday, we had to take the two elders to the airport at 6:00 am, not my finest hour, especially when I'd stayed up til 2:00 am the night before and 1:30 am the night before that editting for Chanelle. (I love my kids SO much!!) So I was operating on 2 cylinders.....
It was a bummer goodbye for these guys - they were ZL's together.

After they left, we had to wait around for new group of elders that were flying in. Here's the newbies arriving in their first area: I gave them the "It takes awhile to adjust so if you're kinda freaked out, it's totally normal." talk. The third elder from the left is from Laie!

When we got home, I crashed while Dad went to help the elders move some more stuff. That night, we went to dinner. On the way back to the car, I saw a homeless person sleeping in a alcove. After we got in the car, I decided to go give my take-away (What do we call that at home? I'm losing my English...!) to the man. I was kind of nervous because you never know, so I put it down and scooted it across the cement to him. Boy, was I surprised when he turned over and then started to sit up!! It was a girl! I told her the food was for her and she had the blankest look on her face. Then I got back in the truck and watched as she opened it up and started to eat. I waved to her as we pulled away and she smiled and waved back. Wonder how long it'd been since she last ate...

Saturday we went to the church for baptisms and then went to buy rolls for Primary. They were hot so we had rolls with honey when we got home. YUMMM!!!!

Sunday was Easter but here's the thing: not one child knew it was Easter - not one. They celebrate it here. We saw people walking around with palm fronds the week before but these kids have next to nothing so it was just another day for them. They do like our new "bread" tradition. I taught about the life of Christ and then showed them the Easter video. They were mesmerized. I wish they were that quiet every Sunday! ;)

Well, that's our Easter week. It was kind of sad and not much variety in pictures, so here's some random ones for y'all:

Me and the local clean-up crew:

Pizza delivery - on their heads. It must have been a big order cuz a line of 7or 8 guys went past us with pizzas on their heads. Notice the rag wound beneath so they don't get burned.

Here's the big market in town opening up in the morning. The guy is spreading the tarp over the top for rain or sun. Not the sturdiest thing to be walking on.....