ALOT of baptisms!

Hey y'all,
 Things have been hectic so I haven't been writing anything down and I don't remember much. 

I'm just going off of the pictures I've taken....
 

 But first....!!!

 HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY, AUBREY!!!!!!!  Woohoo!!!!!

 Here are some of your well-wishers: 

 

 The Manga Zone missionaries:

Beira Zone missionaries 

    Hope you have a wonderful Honduran birthday, Aub!!!!

Ok, back to the week-
 

 Last Tuesday, I passed the Primary room, on my way to my English class, and saw Tomazia cleaning and fixing up the room. She's the Primary president (she's 18). The room had been sadly neglected. She was hanging gospel art kit pictures on the wall and sharpening pencils that the Branch President had just bought for the Primary. She was stoked to have them!
 

 Two of my students had earned a Book of Mormon. One is a non-member named Marçio. He's 16, quick-thinking and quick-witted! Plus, he's really a nice guy. I really enjoy him. His aunt is a member and told him about the class. He's the one on my right. Mario is on my left. He's 30, been a member for 7-8 years (long time by Mozambiquen standards), and wants to get married so bad. I tried to fix him up with someone but it hasn't taken yet...
 

 The requisite 'crazy' picture:
 

On Wednesday, your dad and I went with Dilles out to Manga to visit President Camalizane at his home and check how he was doing. We first stopped by the church to pick up some carvings that the Tidwells had ordered. Here's the woodcarver, Vasco, with his son, Domingos. We ordered a few things too.

 

  Then off to Pres. C's house. He's the one that had the emergency appendectomy. He seemed to be doing better. Still weak and in pain but not feverish, so that was good. The doctor had told him that he could only have liquids for 15 days so Dad looked it up on the internet and showed him that it was ok to eat. After not eating for 15 days, anybody would be weak! Oh Africa....
 

 Us, Pres. Camalizane, and his wife, Graça in the living room/bedroom. Their mattress was on the floor. The chest refrigerator was in the room too. His house is a humble one...

 

 These are the showers for the houses in the area. Much nicer than the grass ones we've seen.
 

 This turkey was tied up in the yard in front of the houses. When I pulled out my camera for the turkey, all the kids came running. They LOVE pictures! I know you can't feel from their faces....
 

 Larry checked Pres. C's incision while Sandi and I talked to his wife, Graça. I really like her! She's smart, faithful, and has good common sense and a fun sense of humor. She's great!

  I asked about the house that they are building and she asked if I wanted to see it. I told her absolutely! I asked Sandi and she also wanted to, so we told the guys that we were going and they decided to come. Pres. C. was too weak to walk and there wasn't enough room in the truck for all of us, so your dad and Larry drove with Pres. C., and Sandi and I walked with Graca.
 

 Here's their house. It's a mansion by area standards. It has 4 bedrooms, a sitting room, a kitchen (inside!), and TWO bathrooms (inside!)!! I asked Graça if any other houses in the area had an indoor bathroom. She said "No", like "Of course not."

 Here's a house that we passed on our walk over to their house. Yup, a family is living in it.

 

 On our way back, we saw the missionaries on their bikes and stopped to say 'hi'.

 

 On Friday, Sandi and I headed to the capalana shops to buy a few of them to get some things (presents!!!) made. Here's one of the shops. Hey! He's wearing pink too!!

   We swung past the tailor that's making our matching African dresses - full-on, full-length authentic ones. They weren't done (no surprise there) but we found out that he's married with four kids and they were all there, so I asked if I could take a family picture. His wife and kids sit on a grass mat on the ground while he sews on the machine behind them. Love their baby!

 Here's where the shop is:

 

 Close-up of the roof. Wonder what Provo City Building Dept would think of it?

 

 Later that night, Dad and I went to dinner at our favorite (ie, only) bakery/pizza place. Right outside of the front door, they had a canopy set up for a wedding. It was a fancy wedding and they had the reception on the second floor where it was decorated really nice. I don't know why they didn't hold the wedding up there too - it was three feet away from the door into the restaurant. So, I walked outside and took this picture.

  

 Then I motioned for the cute little girls standing behind the bride to get together for a picture. They obliged - all while the vows were being said. Oh Africa....
 

 Later on, the Zone Leaders called to tell us that they had some baptisms scheduled for Saturday - 24 people, including five families!! So Saturday, we headed over to the church. We were the chief photographers for all the missionaries (juggling 7 or 8 cameras), but after we took their picture, I asked if we could jump in and get a picture with all of them. We've been to a some bigger baptisms, but I think this was a record!

 

 Look at the woman on the right. She had her capalana tied around her baptism jumpsuit - because they were pants. ;) 

 

 These little girls were at the baptisms. I was trying to get a picture of the two sisters on the left and the girl on the right jumped in. ;) Aren't the sisters adorable?

 

 There were too many people to fit them all in the room where the font is, so I suggested that the elders take the people in a branch at a time, and set up the TV and play church videos in another room for the people that were waiting for their turn. It was a good missionary tool too because there were a lot of non-members there from the two weddings that were held just before the baptisms. The people loved it. Most don't have TVs and it kept their attention. Except for this little guy...

 After the baptism, we gave some of the elders a ride home - crammed in the backseat of the truck.

 

 That night, we watched the first session of Gen. Conference online. It was so good! I loved Elder Hamula's and Elder Wong's talks. What an amazing thing that we can simultaneously watch the session taking place in SLC while we're sitting in our apartment in Africa!

 Sunday, we visited a new branch in Munhava. The earlier branch was just starting, so we went into their Sacrament Meeting, then went to the second branch's Sunday School (Dad) and Primary (me), followed by their Sacrament Meeting. Both had great testimony meetings! A family with five kids that was part of the group that were baptized yesterday, so there were quite a few confirmations at the beginning of the meeting. This little girl was confirmed and she was all dressed up for it!

   That's the week! Here's some random pictures:

   The butcher at our grocery store. Yeah....exactly....:( The Health Dept. would have a field day!

  Things out of the car window:
 

 Boys getting ready to play soccer behind our apartment bldg. We were surprised that one team had actual uniforms!

   These boys were playing jump rope 

 

 Lots of bananas! Doesn't look like a comfy ride though...

 The guy is drilling spikes onto the top of the fence around our apartment building. One of the apartments was robbed and the burglars climbed the fence. This should discourage future robberies - hopefully.

 

  I sure do love you guys!! So, so much!!! 
 "Be good and you'll be happy." ~ Mom