"Home Sweet Home" again‏

     I wrote this last week but y'all didn't get it, so it's a week behind...sigh....
 
 Hi kiddos,
    I'm back home again - well, sort of... Guess home is where your heart is yada, yada, cliche, cliche - well, 

I guess it's where your dad is at least... So, I'm back in Mozambique. I was kinda curious before leaving 

what adjustments I'd have going back to the U.S. and/or coming back here again. There were a few. And

 maybe not 'adjustments' per se, but some definite differences. It started in Johannesburg when I 

landed and the people around me spoke English. 

#1 Then I ate at the airport restaurant and asked the

 waitress if the water was safe. She laughed and said, "Of course! it's crystal clear!" So, I had ice-water

 with my meal.

 #2 Then while I was waiting for it, a lady that I had seen in the line for Customs stopped 

by my table and asked if she could sit with me. She was from England and nervous about her flight so

 she wanted a quick drink but the restaurant didn't serve alcohol. I offered to watch her things while she 

went to buy some. She thanked me and left all of her belongings.

 #3 Later at my gate, I was charging my

 phone and ipad when I realized that I needed to buy water for my LONGGGG flight to Atlanta so I asked

 the woman sitting next to me to watch my things while I was gone. (Keep in mind that I was assaulted here

 when I took my phone out in public, and have been extremely cautious with my phone since that happened.)

 #4. I boarded the plane and the woman next to me was from the U.S. and spoke English.

 #5  All the media  and materials were in English, including a plethora of movies that I'd never heard of. 

I watched Frozen and a bunch of other movies! It was a movie feastival!!! (Yeah, I made that word up.)

 #6  When I landed in Atlanta, the Customs people said, "Welcome back to the USA!" I wanted to kiss them! 

 #7 When Josh picked me up, I started to get in on the left side of the car. It took a few times to get used to that one. 

#8 I saw Brooke and the kids.Grant is in pre-school and can name all the books in the Book of Mormon

 (I can't even do that), Ellory has gone from a newborn to a funny, clever 18 month old, and I met Rockwell 

for the first time! #9   And that was all just in the first day! - well, it's a 30 hour trip, so technically the first day 

and a half. It was kinda surreal and everything was enhanced. Like the smell in Brooke's house and outside. 

It smelled wonderful! Clean!!  And the food was so good I couldn't quit eating. I pretty much grazed all day, not 

because I was hungry, but because there was so much variety and it all tasted so good! They had a new Costco 

bag of 'veggie straws', which I think I tried once pre-mission and didn't like all that much. Well, I ate the whole,

 giant bag! (Sorry Grant and Ellory!)  When I cooked, I looked for the water purifier the first couple of times before I got

 the hang of just turning on the faucet. The roads were smooth and I didn't see any garbage. There were beautiful

 buildings, houses, and stores. And don't get me started on the grocery stores. I just kept thinking, "Boy, we 

wouldlove that in Mozambique." I got chocolate chips and Triscuits for your dad and Mexican seasoning for cooking.

 We ate out one night. Yum!!  I'm thinking that dad and I will be eating out every night for the first few months 

after we get home. The public restrooms had toilet paper. The internet was fast and never went out. When the

 kids and I went for morning walks, I could relax and not watch over my shoulder. And I didn't have to worry about 

tripping on the broken sidewalk, or dodging bikes, cars, dogs, garbage, and dangling electrical wires. It was quiet. 

No dogs barking ormusic blaring all night. I heard birds chirping.  It was quite wonderful. But for all that, when 

I went to church the first Sunday, I announced in Relief Society that if anyone had clothes to donate, 

I'd take them back for our local missionaries, especially women's. When someone asked me about sizes, 

I thought of Carlotta going to Portugal, a size 8, Dalica, a size 5, Fatima, a size 12+, and Mariana, a size 7. 

I started to cry (yeesh!) and said that they needed all sizes and are so poor that we would appreciate anything 

and make it work. I started laughing, as tears are running down my face, and said how ironic that I've waited

 over a year to be in the U.S.  and here I was getting homesick for Mozambique. So nutty!!   Well, the truth is

 that I love the people here. They're my friends and I care about them - not just as a people, but as individuals. 

I'll wonder how they're doing  after we come home - whether Mario got that teaching job, how Joao Chuva is 

doing in his new calling, if those new couples stayed active, did Emila graduate from her engineering program, if

 they got their mission calls, did Lordelos, Simoes, and Margarida get into BYU-Hi, did Rodrig and his wife

 get baptized, and did my 'fix-up' work and are Vicky and Mario dating now? Well, enough yammering....

here are a few pictures from VA. and the 4 days since I've been back:
 The reason I went - baby Rockwell:

  
On the beautiful quilt Grandma Snelson made for him 

 (Thanks Charlene!)

 Feeding Ellory lunch

   
Tired girl after church, Grant didn't wanna pose...:(

 Love Grant's birthday present!! I've missed my tramp...
 

 Kinda tricky to jump while holding an 18 month-old. And no, she's not giving me a piggy-back ride...

  Grant's teacher asked me to talk about Africa to his preschool class. Keeping the attention of four-year olds was a challenge but Grant and I gave it our best shot!

 Trying on Halloween costumes. It's Wizard of Oz this year!

  At the baby shower that Brooke's friends did for her - it was so nice!!

 

 The sister missionaries in Brooke's ward. The one on the left went to THS and was in acapella with Aub - small world...:)

 I had made an announcement the first Sunday I was here, asking for clothing for the local missionaries. The ward responded and I got a bunch of stuff. I had a suitcase and a half but still couldn't take everything so I had to prioritize. So hard because I wanted to bring everything!

 And Marsha sent me some personal hygiene kits that she and some of the Riverside sisters had made for me to being back to Mozambique. Such a great thing and so nice of them to do this!! (Thanks Riverside!) My suitcases were stuffed to the gills!
 Here's one of them:
 

That night, I called the parents of one of our elders, Elder Oryang. It took a few 'tender mercies' to connect with them - including a text to Charisse who got us their phone number. The next Tuesday, they took off of work and drove over an hour each way to meet me and give me a package for their son. I had to put the things in my carry-on because I was over my weight (and space) limit. The Oryang's are originally from Uganda and were (are) the warmest, most delightful people. We had a good - 3 hours! - visit. A lot of laughing!

  The a night before I left, we went to a REAL RESTAURANT! I'd forgotten how good the food is in the U.S. - it was a treat!

 We zipped home because the Bishopric came over for Rockwell's baby blessing:

 The day I flew out, there was a 'Sisters Conference' at the church for all the sister missionaries in the Richmond Mission. The ward's sisters had invited me and I was curious to see what it was like, so I went over for a hour, thanks to Brooke's friend who stayed with Ellory while Brooke went to pickup Grant for school.

 Here's the group - 130 sisters! We only have a total of 120 missionaries in the whole country of Mozambique and Swaziland!! And just 12 sister missionaries, which have only been I. The country since we arrived.

  Here's the clothes swap:
 

 Then it was off to the airport! I had used up all my American money so I couldn't use a skycap and had to finagle 3 pieces of luggage to the ticket counter. I guess necessity IS the mother of invention! Brooke snapped this after I hoisted my carry-on on my back:

 On the airplane, I sat next to an 18 year-old, Justin, who was headed off to the Marines. Turns out he's an inactive Mormon. Hmm, what are the odds...? We talked about the church and I gave him a For Strength of Youth pamphlet - in Portuguese...;)

  I knew I was back in Africa when I saw this in the Johannesburg airport:

  And this bathroom stall:

 
And this li'l feller:

  Two days after I got back, we had our monthly teacher training for our seminary and institute teachers. So I was up Til 1:30 making a cake and getting a lesson. Your mama was one tired, jet-lagged mama!

 This is Joachim! He just received a call to Johanessburg. He's an orphan and has worked his guts out to get the money to apply for a mission. So excited for him to finally be going and to learn English! He's a scrappy, hard-working, far-thinking, goal-oriented guy - rare qualities here. He's gonna go places!

 I called Elder Oryang on the way to our class and asked he if he could meet me at the church. Boy, was he super surprised when he got there and I said that I had some things from his parents. He kept saying, "When did you see my parents??!" "How did you know where I lived?" He was totally gob-smacked and it was pretty funny! But, oh was he excited and happy!!

 When I went to church on Sunday, I had a bunch of people come up and hug me and ask how my trip was, including one of our guards Moses, who's trying to become active again. It was fun to show them pictures of the kids. They all said Brooke is "very beautiful"! Two of 'my girls' got their passports while I was gone so they're close to getting their mission papers in. It felt good to be loved. I'll miss them all when we leave for good...

Here's some of my girls. All but the second girl are trying to go on missions and have their passports - very big accomplishment. Here's two sisters headed into church in their pink dresses:

 Last night, we had Larry over for dinner because Sandi is in Victoria Falls with their daughter and her mother. I made lasagna and as African meals go, it's one of our favorites. I experimented with a peach cobbler recipe. It was quasi successful...;)

 That's my American/Mozambique week!  Sure love you guys!! Lots and lots and LOTS!! ~ mom