Happy Birthday! "we lived after the manner of happiness" (2 Ne. 5:27)‏

Today, on my 57th birthday, I am thinking about the phrase 'Happy Birthday'. Mom organized a surprise birthday party on P-Day. We went back to the light house and hiding on the back steps were forty (40) elders!!

In our family we have often said: "Be Good and You Will Be Happy". This phrase comes from Abinadi who said: "If they be good...happiness" (Mosiah 16:11) 

Nephi says: "we lived after the manner of happiness" (2 Ne. 5:27). Earlier he explains what they did, "we did observe to keep..... the commandments of the Lord in all things" (2 Ne. 5:10).

Keeping the commandments of the Lord in all things results in living after the manner of happiness. 

Moroni explained to Zerahemnah that: "the maintenance of the sacred word of God, to which we owe all our happiness" (Alma 44:5). Happiness comes from maintaining or keeping the commandments.

The word 'happiness' does not appear in the Bible. It occurs thirty (30) times in the Book of Mormon. Interestingly, while Alma is counseling his wayward son Corianton he uses the word 'happiness' thirteen (13)  times. 

Alma was successful in encouraging Corianton to repent. He explained that "wickedness never was happiness" (Alma 41:10). At the last day "one raised to happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires of good" (Alma 41:5). In other words, it is by being good that one becomes happy. One cannot be happy without being good.

Photos of the week......

Last Saturday, June 21st, as part of our monthly training for the Seminary and Institute teachers we were asked to administer a test. The test was very difficult. These six (6) teachers did very well with a combined score of 88%.

 

  

After the teacher training, Mom attended a youth fund raising craft show preparation activity.

 

Mom teaching primary in Dondo. Great class participation!

Teacher with a lot of energy....

 

Photo from the surprise birthday party!

 

 

Sure love you!

 

Mother's Day and Goodbyes‏

   I'm still trying to get caught up with past weeks, so yeah, this is 

the week of Mother's Day.....what do you do? ;)

   Monday - after the worms came out - I felt totally fine - Whew!! 

That afternoon we went with Larry and Sandi to meet the woodcarver 

to pickup some things that we had him carve for us. 

 

He's a member of the church and we met him at the church because he lives WAY far back in the wilds, which is like a dirt forest. I don't know how to describe the rustic, out of the way places that some of the people live. They go into a swampy/foresty place, cut down a few trees on the plot for the house, and then try to make the dirt level-ish, and build a house. Except they can't afford to build it all at once, so they build one or two rooms and then add and finish the inside in piecemeal, as they can afford to. 

 

 

 While we were at the church, we saw Carlotta, who just got her mission call to the Portugal/Lisbon Mission. She is so excited!!

 

Tuesday, Dad and I went for a quick walk on the beach before the staff meeting. Isabel was there and I started talking to her. Dad had gone outside but I didn't realize it. Then Isabel suddenly said, "Sister, come here. Look." and pointed out of the window. I looked down and there was your dad, sitting on the fence below. Isabel started laughing and told me to take a picture of him. She thought it was hilarious! I didn't even know he had left the apartment.... Poor dad.

 

When I taught my English class that day, I had a record number. They are getting better at English - and I am getting better at Portuguese. We translate and teach each other.

 

Wednesday we had Mariana over for a farewell dinner because she is leaving next week to go back home. School is over and her parents want her to come home until she leaves on her mission. I was so bummed when she told me that. :( I wanted to help her get ready for her mission and see her off at the airport. I have gotten close to a number of people but I am closest to her than anyone. She calls me 'Mom' and I call her 'Daughter' or 'Child.' She's pretty amazing. I'll miss her...
Anyway, we invited Sandi and Larry too. Here we are eating:

 

Dad and I w/Mariana:

I modeled her the dress that I had made from the capalana that she gave me.

Thursday, Sandi and I got up bright and early to go and inspect all the the elders' apartments. The couple before us used to do it once a month but we have been so busy, we have not done it since we got here. Some of the elders have been sick due to cleanliness issues so President and Sister Krelty asked us to go there and take a look and tell them what they needed to do better.
It's not the funnest job to be the enforcer, but a necessary one. And the elders that are clean want us to do it so they are not the only ones keeping the apartment clean. Most were pretty good but one of the apartments was really gross. I felt sorry for the 'clean' elders that lived there because the dirty elders were really dirty....
Here's the neighbor's house by of one elders' apartments. They are cooking their lunch over a coal fire inside a tire rim. It's actually a pretty clever design and beats bending down on the ground, which is what most people do.

This little girl was playing hopscotch by some elders' apartment so I asked her mom if I could take her picture. That's rice that they have harvested drying on the ground.

 

In our travels to the apartments, we saw these women coming back from the 'chamba,' -their word for farm, but it's really just a field of whatever they have planted. Sometimes they have the hoes on their head.

 

We also saw a 'rock shop.' This is not the kind of shop like the ones we stopped at with you guys on family trips. It's just a bunch of women selling a bunch of rocks by the side of the road. They dig them up out of the dirt and separate them into piles by size. People buy them to build their houses. Larry had grown an avocado plant and he wanted some rocks to put in the bottom of the pot to plant it. So we stopped to buy some. Sandi pulled up and the group of women swarmed my window. I rolled it down and asked how much a small sack of rocks was. They asked what size. I pointed to the size we wanted. She said 20 mtz (66 cents). I handed her a grocery sack (we always keep a few under the front seat for buying fruits and veggies, etc.) and she filled it with rocks, handed it back, and I paid her 66 cents. It was a drive-through purchase unlike any in the U.S. Then Sandi decided that she wanted a couple of pictures. Here are the rock ladies:
When I took Sandi's picture through the window, this gal didn't want hers taken. The other ones wanted it, but not her!

Sometimes the older ones don't want their picture taken if they are working and don't feel like they are dressed nice enough.
Then I decided I wanted a picture with them. So I got out of the car and said that I wanted a picture for my 5 kids at home in the U.S. That usually softens them up.....not always, but usually.
We shared some laughs...

And then we were friends and she posed next to me. ;)

After the inspections, we went home and I had to zip to get ready for my English class. When I got home from that, Dad had already gone to District Council Meeting and the power was out. :( So I put on my head-lamp and got some crackers and cheese, and an apple to eat for dinner because I couldn't warm anything up. Thank goodness my Kindle was charged. I sprawled on the couch and read. The power came on later - yippee! I love electricity!!

Friday, we bought 50 rolls and I made a big sheet-cake to get ready for all the missionaries coming to call home for Mother's Day. Then we visited the Balangas. They are moving to Angola so we went to say goodbye. He is the one that was in charge of Physical Facilities for the church and Anastasia was the one that bought me the funky pants from S. Africa and got deathly ill with tyhoid fever. 

Anyway, we really like both of them and we are sad to see them go (I cried when Balanga told us...). I made some jello cake and brownies and Anastasia ate four pieces of the cake right then. She has lost so much weight with the typhoid that she is skin and bones, so I was glad to see her eat but thought all that cake was going make her turn green!
They had to run errands so they followed us out. I was trying to get a picture of the 'once beautiful/but now decrepit' stairwell but you can't see it very well. Anastancia took the cake with her to eat more in the car. I would be sick for sure!

We had seen a group of girls on the stairs on our way up to their aptartment and the girls were still there and followed us out too. They stood watching us while we visited outside so I finally asked them if they wanted a picture taken. They did.

Saturday the gang of missionaries arrived in waves and our apartment sounded like a telemarketing room with 3 elders talking at a time and the others shooting the breeze.
And we got to talk to you guys!! Yippee!! So fun to talk to everybody at once!!! Made me a little homesick but we loved it, especially hearing y'all laugh and carry on. ;)

Sunday was supposed to be Fast Sunday because they watched General Conference last week, so we didn't buy bread for the Primary kids. But when we got there, they ended up not having Fast Meeting. I guess they thought that they could only hold it on the first day of the month and since they didn't have it last week, they would just skip it. Oh Africa... It takes awhile to teach everything so we have snafus all the time, but this was a pretty big one. Oh well... We just keep trying. After church, the Relief Society president asked if we could give a group of ladies a ride to go visit another sister in the branch. She has malaria. Another sister has it too. We told her that we couldn't because we had the missionaries coming over to call home, so we had to hurry back because it is a 45 minute drive. We had a Saturday repeat with the elders calling, and then they were finally done, had their rolls and chocolate cake, and went home. I laid on the couch and called it a week! 

We love you guys so much! 

What do you believe? "Believe in Christ" (2 Ne. 33: 10)‏

I have been thinking about the conscience act of choosing to believe and what causes people to become less active.

Even though members, like the 2,060 stripling warriors are "taught to believe" (Alma 57:26) what causes people to continue to believe what they were taught ? 

We all believe something. In missionary work or dating or simply trying to get to know someone, it is important to ask others what they believe.

A common pattern in missionary work is used by Ammon and Aaron as they teach the gospel to the Lamanites. As Ammon teaches Lamoni he asks: “And Ammon began to speak unto him with boldness, and said unto him: Believest thou that there is a God ?...And Ammon said unto him again: Believest thou that this Great Spirit, who is God, created all things..? And he said: Yea, I believe..”(Alma 18: 24-29)   

 “I believe all these things which thou hast spoken” (Alma 18:33) Ammon then tells Lamoni’s wife the Queen that her husband “is not dead, but he sleepeth in God, and on the morrow he shall rise again..And Ammon said unto her: Believest thou this? And she said unto him..I believe..”(Alma 19: 8-9)

However, our beliefs can change over time, depending on our actions. Even though we feel that our belief or testimony has grown from a seed into a tree we should continue to "nourish the tree" 

(Alma 32: 39, 41)

Samuel the Lamanite prophesied five years prior to the Savior's birth that there would be no darkness for about 36 hours(Hel. 14: 4). After seeing this indisputable physical sign of "no darkness in all that night" (3 Ne. 1: 19) three years later the people “began to forget those signs..began to be less and less astonished at a sign..insomuch that they began to be hard in their hearts..and began to disbelieve all which they had heard and seen” (3 Ne. 2:1).

Elder Henry B. Eyring said: "...one of the effects of disobeying God seems to be the creation of just enough spiritual anesthetic to block any sensation as the ties to God are being cut. Not only [does] the testimony of the truth slowly erode, but even the memories of what it was like to be in the light [begin] to seem...like a delusion" (Henry B. Eyring, A Life Founded in Light and Truth, BYU Education Week, August 15, 2000).

What do we believe?

“Jesus said unto her [Martha], I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world” (John 11:25-27).

As Jesus said: "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). likewise the measure of our belief is found in our willingness to repent. "if ye believe on his name ye will repent of all your sins, that thereby ye may have  a remission of them through his merits" (Hel. 14: 13).

Being good, loving Jesus and believing in Him we naturally repent of our sins and when we receive forgiveness we are truly happy. Hence, "Be Good, and you will be Happy".

Aaron travels to the city of Jerusalem and “entered into one of their synagogues to preach unto the people, and as he was speaking unto them, behold there arose an Amalekite and began to contend with him..” (Alma 21: 5) in order to determine their sincerity and level of interest he asks:

“Believest thou that the Son of God shall come to redeem mankind from their sins? And the man said unto him: We do not believe..” (Alma 21: 7-8) “Therefore, when he saw that they would not hear his words, [because of their unbelief] he departed out of their synagogue..” (Alma 21:11)

This becomes a good pattern for us in missionary work or even in dating relationships.  When investigators don't progress it is best to stop teaching them and look for others. Likewise, in dating relationships when we see that someone does not believe we should "depart..out of their synagogue".

A few photos from this week....

On Tuesday, June 17th, we went to the Immigration office to renew our Visas as well six (6) other missionaries. The cost per person is $640 and must be paid in cash. Inasmuch as their largest bill is only $30 this makes for a large stack of money to add up to $5,120. 

While we were at the Immigration office we noticed two (2) girls from the Branch. Fatima who is in the process of applying for a passport and her friend Dalica who is waiting for her passport. As Dalica removed her receipt I noticed that it was quite worn. As I looked closer at her receipt I saw that she had paid for her passport on August 26, 2011. This poor girl has been waiting almost three (3) years for her passport........I took this photo and sent it to Tualufo the mission secretary to see how we could help her.  

 This is Dalica, she currently serves as the Primary President.  On Thursday, June 19th just before Mom's English class, we met Dalica to receive her biometric identification and two (2) new passport photos. While Mom taught class I went to the airport to send these via Portador Diario (our version of Federal Express) to Maputo. Hopefully we can help her resolve her passport issue so she can serve a mission!

 

This man has collected some empty plastic bottles.

 

 Mom out delivering cornbread!

 

 

This is the Beira District Presidency: President Freeman Dickie- 31 years old (2nd Counselor), President Alfredo Geraldo Camalizene- President,  President Gil Joaquim Lange Huò (1st counselor)

 I explained that the first counselor sits on the right of the president so they changed seats.

  

Sure love you!

Golf and Worms!

Hi Kids!

So, this week we had a couple of new experiences, well, I did anyway. One was fun, one was not so fun.

     On Monday I got a call from Amalia, the District Young Women president saying that 'Reeve' was in town and I could come and meet her. Reeve is part of a humanitarian group called Eyes 4 Zimbabwe. She was a professional golfer, and now is a golf coach for professional golfers on the European tour. She grew up, and still lives, in Zimbabwe. She's in her 40's, never married, and has more zest and energy than the Ever-Ready bunny. Eighteen years ago she and one of the golfers that she coaches (from South Africa) started a non-profit called Eyes 4 Zimbabwe when they paid $20 for a blind girl to have a cataract operation that restored her sight. Since then, another golfer (from Norway) has joined them and the three of them do charity golf events to raise money for all kinds of charity work. They were the ones that gave all the donated items for the YW camp and YM's camp here in Beira (our city) last year. They do AMAZING things!! Three single women going to the scariest - and neediest - parts of the world giving food, supplies, immunizations, medical help, etc.  

  Me and Amalia w/the three blondes

  

The church gives them a lot of the supplies that they give away like the hygiene kits, blankets, etc.  Oh yeah, they are on a first name basis with President Uchdorf (well, at least he calls them by their first name) and other church authorities.  And they are a total crack-up!!  Reeve and CeeCee (the one from Norway) have ADHD for sure! Ok back to the story:

     I got to know Reeve because when the supplies were donated for the church camps, I asked Amalia who did it and told her that I would send pictures of the girls to thank them.

   I sent the pictures to Reeve, along with a thank you note, and that's how I got on an email list that she sends out to the donors and other people. So, I have emailed her and gotten to know her a bit through the emails but never met her. I was so excited when Amalia called because I had been curious and wanted to meet her! Your dad was less so. The three women, Reeve, CeeCee, and Lolly were at the local golf course - which is more like a plowed, muddy field, depending on how much rain we have had. They were giving golf lessons to VIPS, like the guy that oversees the port, to help grease the wheels and get the donated things into the country. Dad dropped me off there. I walked through the mud and finally found them out on a putting green, of sorts.

   Some TV news people were there filming and interviewing them. They are chalk full of stories and enthusiasm!

  
 When they were wrapping up, I called Dad to come and get me. He came over to meet them and we took a picture with everybody. 

     Then they asked if your dad and I wanted to come to lunch with them so we said 'sure' and we all headed to a restaurant. 

  
The humanitarian work has become a family affair and Reeve's parents and her younger sister, Rachel, and Rachel's two sons were there because it was a school holiday. Rachel is the delivery gal and drives the things into some pretty scary areas. 

   Here's Rachel passing Costco candy out to kids at a playground across the street from the restaurant. 

 

It was so fun  and interesting to visit with them and hear their personal stories, their adventures, and about all the things that they have done throughout the world. As Dad said on the way home, "It's pretty amazing that three single women can band together and accomplish so much good." They really have done things that we all dream of being able to do and they are making it happen despite the red-tape, graft, safety issues, and huge odds against them. Doing good in a third world country, especially sustainable good, is very difficult to do. 

 

     The next day, we found out that the apartment across the hall from us was robbed last Sunday at 2am. Fortunately, the guy was out of town but we have decided to be more cautious about using our deadbolt all the time. 

 

     Wednesday, Sandi and I went back to our new seamstress to pick up the things we had ordered. I tried my dress on and it was too big so he altered it on the spot but it took another try-on until he got it right. Here is where they cut the clothes out - on the ground...

     Thursday, two girls from my English class, Elizabeth and Antonia, stopped to visit with me. (I love the names here. They are either totally African - like Takunda or Zeka - or they're European, like Elsa, Olga, Antonia.) But I was editing a paper for Chanelle and had to finish it before class so I gave them my ipad and showed them how to play videos on lds.org and they watched  movies while I edited. I was in such a hurry that I forgot to take their picture.... I finished the paper and they rode with me to class.

 

     Saturday I was stir-crazy, so when Dad had to do stuff in town I went along and had him drop me off to go browsing. I can not go into the heart of town by myself, but I felt safe enough on the main road. I went to a couple of capalana shops and got the fabric to make your African outfits. Get excited for our African Christmas picture!!! It is going to be great!! I promise.....cross my heart. ;)

 

      Sunday I woke up so sick! I had been feeling progressively yucky all week and thought it was a case of the flu, but I didn't have any symptoms other than a really upset stomach. After some WebMD/do-it-yourself research and diagnosing the night before, I decided I might have worms. I told Sandi and they stopped by before they went to church and gave me de-worm medicine. (I thought of the dog we had growing up.;)  They said it starts to work and flushes you out pretty fast and that I better stay close to a bathroom  (blech!) so I stayed home from church. I took the pill and waited. Nothing happened... Still nothing happened.... I went to bed that night and still nothing.

    The next morning I woke up and boom! No more worms and no more symptoms - yippee!! It's really unbelievable that one little pill could get rid of a bunch of worms and make me better just like that!  Poof!  Gone!  It is one of the things that is so lacking here - basic medical care.  One of my 'tea-party' girls comes to my English class and one time I noticed that she didn't feel good. I asked her what was wrong and she said that she had a really bad headache. So I gave her an ibuprofen.  In about 20 minutes, the grimace on her face was gone.  It was a miracle to her! Such a simple thing. If we get a bad cut, we put Neosporin and a band-aid on it and it's better in a few days. Here, it gets infected from the dirt and contaminated water and turns septic and they get sick, lose a limb, or die. We do not get typhoid in the U.S. because our water is clean, malaria because we spray for mosquitoes, or go blind because we do not have the crazy eye infections that they have here, and we can get cataract surgery easily. There are so many things that we take for granted at home and access to medicine and medical care is one of them.  Ok, I'm done musing and am happy to report that I am worm-free!!

 

    Well, this email had a lot of talking and not many pictures so here are some random ones:

Elders Oryang and Probst taking their full propane tank home. These things are so heavy! All the missionary's stoves use propane and they have to exchange them for a full one when they empty out.

      

    Overturned truck in the middle of the highway. No tow-truck in sight - all the cars got backed up and had to take turns going around it...

Doing sharing time in our "outintheback garage" primary room. 

'Sitting on the porch' in Africa is not like it is in the U.S. - for one thing, you are sitting on the ground; for another, you get eaten alive by mosquitoes...but these guys do have electricity!

   
   This is Costancia with her daughter.  She was just released as the Relief Society President. She is sweet and faithful. 

This is one of the few dumpsters around. Some of the garbage makes it in and some not. And sometimes people are IN the dumpster going through the garbage. I tried to take a picture of the big swarm of flies flying about this one, but they do not show up in the photo. Take my word for it - they are there!

These guys were playing in front of this house and they jumped in the picture. I wanted a picture of the front door. It is a shack but the flip flops are taken off and lined up at the door. 

The older boy horsed around and put his bottle up like a pair of glasses. 

You can not tell, but this street is really more like a wide dirt path through the neighborhood. It was not even wide enough for us to turn around on. The wall of a building was right next to my window and this boy walked past with his baby brother on his back. So I rolled my window down and asked if I could take his picture. 

Ok, that's it! We love you more than you know, and even more than that!! 

Hastening the Work- A Day to remember!‏

Today is a historic day in Beira! As you may recall, prior to today, the Beira District consisted of eight (8) branches. Today, four (4) new branches were created for a total of twelve (12)!! 

Besides this, five (5) of the existing branches changed their name to reflect the name of the suburb they are located in. 

Based on the new boundaries, five (5) of the current branch presidents no longer resided within their branch boundaries, therefore, nine (9) new branch presidents were sustained. On July 27, 2013 when Chanelle was visiting us we attended the marriage/baptism of one of these new branch presidents.  As amazing as this is, the man sustained today as the new branch president  in Munhava was baptized last month!!

Clearly, this is a day to remember!

On Wednesday, June 11th, Mariana Da Graca Augusto opened her missionary call to Atlanta, Georgia! She is to report to the MTC in Provo on October 7th.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell said: "Basic scriptures can guide us as we seek to manage ourselves wisely. As King Benjamin counseled, “See that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength” (Mosiah 4:27).

A revelation was given to the Prophet Joseph Smith at a time when he must have been exceedingly anxious to finish the important and urgent translation of the Book of Mormon:

“Do not run faster or labor more than you have strength and means provided to enable you to translate; but be diligent unto the end” (D & C 10:4).

Thus, the Lord has given us what might be called the “wisdom and order” and “strength and means” tests. Unwisely, we often write checks against our time accounts as we never would dare do, comparably, against our bank accounts. Sometimes we make so many commitments that they become like the vines in the allegory of Jacob, threatening to “overcome the roots,” including the “roots” of family relationships, friendships, and relationships with God.

On my office wall is a quote from Anne Morrow Lindbergh: “My life cannot implement in action the demands of all the people to whom my heart responds.” For me, it is a needed reminder. A few years ago, already weary, I foolishly went late one afternoon to two different hospitals to give blessings to three individuals who were dying of cancer. Not only was I worn out, but worse, the last person really didn’t get much from me. Things had not been done in “wisdom and order.” I was running faster than my supply of strength and energy on that occasion. Those blessings would have been better given over two or three days, and I would have had more empathy and energy." (Wisdom and Order, Ensign, June, 1994) 

I love you!

Photos of the week....

This man is carrying large yellow containers that are used to haul water. We have two of these.

Here is the view after he rides by:

Mom and I went to visit a light house and in the ocean by the light house are the remains of a large ship.

Mom and the lighthouse.

These are brothers that each received their mission calls this week. The one on the left is called to Columbia and his brother to Durban, South Africa.

This is Marianna getting ready to open her call. 

Marianna called to serve in Atlanta, Georgia! Appears she is the first sister and second ever called to the US 

We often see these two boys in the parking lot of Shoprite (our one and only semi-large grocery store). These boys try to help carry our groceries in order to receive some type of tip. We often give them a small roll. On this day, the one on the right pointed out that the bananas were discounted because they were old. The entire sack of bananas cost $.15. While you can't tell it in the photo, they were very appreciative.