Meeting with Branch President

Today, is our 3rd fast Sunday ! We only have 15 left....time has gone by somewhat fast.

This has been another great week. 

On Wednesday night, August 21st, we together with the six full time elders met with the Branch President of Beira 1. President Chivale, began by reading from Exodus 18:14-24, about the importance of delegation, otherwise,  "Thou wilt surely wear away". It appeared that even his counselors were not completely active.....We suggested that he release those that were not performing their duty and call new ones.

Well today, the District Presidency conducted District business in which his two new counselors and an executive secretary were sustained as well as an entire new Elders Quorum Presidency. 

Next, President Chivale conducted the Branch business in which an entire new Primary Presidency and Sunday School Presidency were sustained as well as changes in YW !!

Wow, he sure took our suggestion to heart !

Now we will try to assist the District to train these newly called members.

Pajama Party!

    On Tuesday, we had our usual staff meeting and Isabel came to clean. 

 As you know, Dad loves yogurt so if there is any at the store, we stock up big time. 

But he made an exciting discovery: Tuesday is "Yogurt Delivery Day." 

So, our shopping day is now on Tuesdays and we get some looks when we pile

 7 or 8 big containers in our cart. There's definitely a "scarcity" mentality here. 

We've learned that just because you see it once, doesn't mean you'll see it again 

so we tend to stock up on stuff we like.
    We did talk on the phone to the Sr couple that's coming in a couple of weeks. 

 He's a nurse so he is going be the mission nurse and they are going to live in the same

 building that we are in, so we will have somebody to hang out with. 

On Thursday, Dad mixed up some preomethrin and sprayed the apt because we had 4 very big cockroaches and they freak me out big time! Of course, it was always me that found them - one ran over my foot while I was in the bathroom! Yuck!!
Then later, Mariana (seminary teacher that's the med student) came over for me to teach her how to make flower barrettes and brownies for a YW activity that they were having on Friday night. 

 She is the one that wanted to learn how to make brownies so she could get a husband. :) Anyway, we made them and it was like she was at Disneyland, using all the kitchen stuff like the mixer and oven - even the rubber spatula amazed her! When I explained the tradition of licking the beaters and the bowl and asked her if she wanted to, she said, "Yes!! That's a very good tradition." I burned the top of the brownies because I converted the Fahrenheit to Celsius wrong :( but she said it didn't matter, the girls would love them anyway.

When I took her home, she said, "Sister, would you come to the pajama party?" I said sure and asked her if the leaders were wearing pajamas or not. She said she wasn't sure. She wasn't going to because she didn't have any pajamas. So...
On Friday, I met her at the market by her house, and followed her down the narrow dirt path to her house. Oh, that reminds me - I forgot to include the picture in the last letter that we took when we went with the elders to their investigator's house that night.
Mariana's neighborhood is similar to this one. When we got there, the YW president and the other counselor were getting the coal fires ready and preparing the food.

  A few girls were taking turns cutting the cabbage and potatoes. One would sit and cut the cabbage into a basket on her lap and then when she got tired, she'd pass it to somebody else.  Mariana got 3 grass mats and laid them outside and the girls sat on those, because her little kitchen/dining/living/storage area was way too small for everybody and SO hot!! 

 One pot is rice, one is spaghetti, and the chicken is on the small stand on the ground.

  They had 27 girls! The girls sat on the mats and played hand-clap games. Even the older girls played. After the food was prepped, Mariana gathered the girls together on the mats and told them that it was time for a spiritual message and I was giving it. We had talked about it while we were walking to her house. {Side note: The people often don't ask you in advance to do something. We went to a baptism last Saturday and waited and waited for the branch president to come. When it finally started, the man conducting it announced that I was leading the singing and dad was saying the opening prayer. He had had plenty of time to ask us while we were waiting but didn't.}
 Back to the story: so I told her that she could go first and then I'd go but she'd have to help me because she understands a lot of English, even though she doesn't speak very much. She rolled her eyes and then got her scriptures and talked about the Holy Ghost (one of the few words that I recognized.). When I spoke, I told them about coming to Mozambique and how hard it was to leave my family and home but that I knew it was right because God had told me it was through the Holy Ghost. And I shined a small flashlight in the dark and told them He was like a light and would show them the way if they asked for help with anything. They got the gist. Then they sang songs.

On Thursday, Mariana had asked me if I had any ideas for games and I had told her about Mafia and explained how to play. So after the singing, she taught them how to play Mafia and boy was it funny watching them play!! Because I knew the game, I knew what was happening, even though I couldn't understand what they were saying. They LOVED it and really got into it!!
At 10:30, I went home because that was the latest that dad could stay up to give me a ride. The food still wasn't done.....
On Saturday, we went to a baptism. I saw the YW district (like stake) president at the church. The "Pajama Party" was a district activity being held on a ward basis, so the YW district presidency had come to visit us - naturally, just as I was starting to give my message so they heard my gobbledygook Portuguese. Anyway, they visited all 7 branches and I asked her how it went and what time she got home. (She's from Zimbabwe and speaks great English -yay!) They got home at 7AM!! It took them ALL night to visit each branch! I couldn't believe it. 
 While I was talking to her, a woman came up and handed me a baby boy. I recognized her from one of the branches but had no idea what her name was. So, I took him into the baptism service with us and figured she'd come and get him when she was done doing whatever she was doing. 

  But she never came. We went outside to take pictures of the couple and still no mom.
We took the baby in the picture with us.....

Dad held him while I lead the singing and he was super good. When he fussed, he rocked him and he feel asleep. Still no mom. After the service, we stood up and the man who was baptized walked up to me and took the baby. 
It was THEIR baby! And they hadn't said a word - not during pictures, while we were waiting, during the baptism, nothing. Dad and I just laughed - it was so typical. Good thing we brought him in the picture, he was one of their twins!
 

 They also had a Helping Hands activity that day. It was at the hospital that's right by apt. We had just gone there the previous week to visit a sick member and oh what a sight! There were broken windows inside the building and we said if you weren't sick before, you would be after you went there. All the records are kept on paper, not computer, and they file the patients by the day they come in, not by their name, so we had a heck of a time trying to find the guy we were trying to visit.

About a week ago, the branch president of the branch that we usually attend asked to meet with us and the missionaries in that branch to learn what to do about callings. He had several members, including his 2 counselors and the Primary President, who weren't even coming to church regularly, much less doing their callings. Dad told him that he had to do the hard thing and release them and that it was very important to have strong people for the auxiliary presidencies. Well, he took it to heart because on Sunday, they called 2 new counselors in the branch presidency, a new elder's quorum presidency, a new Primary presidency, and a new Sunday School president. Wham, bam - all new! We've learned that the people really listen to what you tell them, so we're very careful about what we say. But it had to be done so there's a lot of training to be done. I went in the primary, like I usually do and told the women that I'd help but my Portuguese was terrible/non-existent. They weren't doing anything so I tried to teach a song while they set up but I don't know the Portuguese titles to find the song. They didn't know either. So I finally went and got an elder to come in and translate while I did sharing time. I told David and Goliath again (a favorite) and Nephi and the brass plates. The women just watched. Then I resorted to "Do as I'm Doing" because the elder didn't know the primary song names either. The ladies liked that one and laughed at me doing the motions. After primary, I walked to the branch president's office with the primary president and her first counselor to put away the songbook and CD player (everything, even pictures, has to be kept in his office or it "disappears".) I asked them how long they had been members. The president - 1 1/2 months! Her counselor - 3 months. No wonder they didn't know the songs or have any idea what to do! The branch president has asked me to train them so next Sunday I'll attempt to teach them how to run Primary in Portuguese. 


After church, I made lasagna in the crockpot.....and it worked! I was pretty stoked! And that was the rest of our week!
We love you guys and pray for each of you every day and every night.

3 Weddings

On Friday there were 3 weddings in Beira. Two of the couples were baptized yesterday (Saturday) the third couple should be baptized this coming Saturday. The missionaries continue to bring good families into the Church. 

The shopping and food preparation take many hours, in effect a salmon fry each week.....

The district president writes a check for $66/couple being married. To cash the check it takes 2-3 hours to go to the bank and wait in line.  

Next, is the shopping which takes about 3-4 hours to drive to 3 or 4 different places to buy  chicken, rice, potatoes, eggs, flour, sugar, oil, charcoal, salt and vegetables. 

A separate wedding cake is made for each couple (ingredients alone cost $16). The Church has an oven, which it appears none of the members have. The cakes are made the day before as the weddings are scheduled for 1 PM (but usually don't begin until about 2 PM). 

The missionaries clean and set up the tables and chairs, wash the plastic dishes from the week before and help with all the preparations. This is a very involved process....Additionally, the missionaries have spent many hours over a period of several weeks, just to obtain the marriage license !! Oh well, that's Africa !

This week we met with the branch president and the 6 elders that are assigned to the Beira 1 branch. The branch president is a great man, but he desperately needs assistance. It appears his counselors are not fully active among many other leaders in the branch.

Today, Mom worked with the Primary President as the 2 of them were the only adults in Primary.

Visit with Elder Cook

Last Sunday, I mentioned about Elder Carl B. Cook's visit to Beira. On Monday, prior to leaving Elder Cook called us and invited us to meet with he and his wife for 30 minutes.

It was very interesting how Elder Cook used the scriptures to teach us and bring the Spirit into the discussion. It is always very strengthening when we can associate with the General Authorities. The Church is clearly led by Prophets, Seers and Revelators.

Today, we visited a small branch called Munhava. They meet in a rented building that is very inadequate but somehow they make do. There were perhaps 80 people in Sacrament meeting. The members are very warm and friendly. Every week we are able to understand more and more.

Now that we have finally moved and unpacked. We are able to schedule our time better, and create Holy Habits and Righteous Routines !!

Sure love you!

Our First Transfer Week

Last week was crazy so we were hoping that this week would be calmer and it was - mostly.........
On Monday AM, we got a call from Elder Cook asking us to come to the hotel a half hour earlier to meet with he and his wife before we took them to the airport.  Dad was excited! It was a cool experience. They are very humble, down-to-earth and coincidentally, we have a lot in common with them - like we were married 2 weeks apart, both have 5 kids, and both men worked in real estate development. Funny, huh? Anyway, we studied the scriptures and visited with them for a half hour and even though we were sitting in a hotel lobby, the spirit was very strong and Elder Cook and I were both very emotional. It was an interesting, but good experience. Then we took them to the airport. I made chicken pasta for dinner that night, but just before we ate, the guard brought a man to our door selling shrimp.  We bought 4 kilos, or 8 pounds!! We got worn out after we'd done half, so we froze 1/2 and prepared the rest.  Then transfers started that night with a trip to the airport to pick up an elder.
On Tuesday, we went back to the airport and picked up more elders, dropped a couple of them off to their apts., picked one up and took him to the chapa station, and then went back for 2 more elders and a refrigerator, and took them (and the fridge) to their apt in a new city that's being reopened. It was a LONG day but really fun to meet all the new elders. Boy, we've got some good ones!! They are smart, diligent, and hard-working. We've been really impressed by the caliber of the missionaries. Here's a few of them:

On Wednesday, we did more moving and unpacking and that night we went with 2 elders to visit a couple that they are teaching. They asked us to come with them to help them teach about marriage and the importance of the family.  It's hard to describe the house and area.  Dad said it was like the favelas (ghettos) in Brazil on his mission and they weren't allowed to teach in those areas.  So, we drove to this neighborhood and got out of the car and started walking down a dirt road. Then we turned off of the road and were essentially walking on a small, single-file muddy path between shanty houses and trees.  It was strewn with decaying garbage, leaves, and food and was extra gross because of the rain. It's pitch black and we can't see where we're going and the elder says, "Watch your step here because there's a lot of poop on this path." I stepped in a mud/garbage puddle and decided to use my phone to light the way.  We finally got to the house, which was essentially a concrete room with a single, 40 watt bulb dangling from the ceiling and we studied and talked with the couple and their 2 month old baby.  I finally asked to hold the baby because he kept crying and the wife couldn't pay attention. I had brought a few pictures of our family and of dad and I in front of the temple and I talked about how much I loved my husband and family and wanted to be with them eternally.  Dad read from the Proclamation on the Family and shared some scriptures and talked about how we need to be responsible for our own actions and not allow our spouse's actions to cause us to react negatively.  The were really cute and when dad asked if they understood, the husband smiled and said, "Yes, yes, I understand."
Friday was more moving and unpacking and then I followed dad in the car to take 1 of the cars in to the mechanic. I'm not afraid of many things but there are 2 things that I'm afraid of here and that's roaches (and I'm not actually afraid of them but they gross me out big time!) and driving in this city.  The whole driving on the right side of the road/right side of the car/ people and bicycles within inches of your car, because they totally aren't afraid of cars, scares the daylights out of me. Oh and there are no lines on the road so people drive all over the road to avoid potholes.  I said a prayer and told dad to drive really slow so I wouldn't lose him and gripped the steering wheel the entire way.  I'm still here and the car's in one piece. :).
 Saturday we walked on the beach and saw 4 girls taking pictures. I went over and offered to take pictures of the whole group and they were so excited. Usually, the people are shy when we talk to them, but not these girls! They practiced their English and when I told them that they looked so pretty, all dressed up, they told me I looked pretty too and we took a picture together.  ;) Not your typical Mozambique "tween". They were funny!!  

We went out to dinner that night and when we asked what the soup was the waiter said, "Abobora."  Dad didn't know what that was so we played 20 Questions (is it fish? no. is it a vegetable? no. is it meat? no.) until the waiter said, "Um momento." Then he came back with.........a pumpkin.  Never would've guessed that one! So we had pumpkin soup and stuffed crab.
Today, we went to a tiny branch that the president asked us to visit and check on.  They were in this old building, right on one of the narrow dirt roads in the middle of the neighborhood, next to a bar. The elders quorum met outside on a patio and the Primary met in a separate building that was stifling hot. But the branch was awesome! They had the Primary organized with singing time and sharing time.  They laughed when I stood up with the kids for "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." I told them I was small and a child too, which made them laugh more. Dad said the Elders quorum teacher did a great job! This is the branch that the 4 couples were from that were married last week so it was fun to see them. Here's the 7 month member branch president. He's in his late 20's. Their toddler's name is Rosie.
  

 The boy isn't theirs.  I didn't quite understand, but he's a relative of some kind.  We have noticed that people often have relatives raise their kids.  We don't know all the reasons, but for example, If they can't afford them or move away, they have their child live with a relative.  Anyway, for such a new convert, this branch president is on the ball.
Here's a picture of the YW in our regular branch. We were at the church when they were having an activity - decorating the bulletin board with cloth hearts that they were cutting out - and their leader, Mariana - our little seminary teacher, came and asked me to come and take pictures of them.  

Mariana's so tall and dad cut her off.....oops!:)
 It's past my bedtime, so I'm zipping this up.
I sure love you!
 

District Conference and More!

  So Monday we took Chanelle to the airport and said our goodbyes.  Sorry to see her go - it was a short 4 days. Then we went grocery shopping, which is always an adventure because you have to go to 2-3 stores to get different things and there's no guarantee that any of them will have what you need.  We've gotten a little creative in what we eat and the crockpot and rice cooker have become kitchen essentials.

  On Tuesday, It was an African dish that I had the maid teach me how to make.  She comes on Tuesdays for 4 hours and I don't have enough for her to do because it is a small apt so I've decided to have her teach and cook a meal with me. First we walked abut 20 minutes to the vegetable stand and bought the veggies. 

Then we came home and bleached them and prepared them and then we shredded the coconut.  She brought her coconut shredder (every african kitchen has one) with her and I did it and it was hard!  I only lasted about 10 minutes and got barely anything so she took over. I thought we were putting the coconut with the cabbage, but nope! she poured water over the coconut and I squeezed it and squeezed it to make coconut milk.  She had me do it 3 times and my hands got a workout!

Then we put everything in a big pot and cooked it all for awhile and voila! Couve!, which means cabbage but it's not like our cabbage.

   That afternoon, we picked up the director of S and I for all of southeast Africa and the guy, Jaime, that oversees us, and they came to our apt and trained us and then I fed them dinner.  We ate it over rice and it was really good!  While we were eating, a man came to the door with a sack of shrimp for sale.  Dad had seen him on the street the week before when he was selling fish and told him if he ever had shrimp, that we would buy it, so he remembered and asked the guard where we lived and the guard brought him to our door. We negotiated a price and ended up buying the whole 3 kilos from him, which dad just told me is 7 pounds.  So after we took the men back to the hotel, we fixed the shrimp. It was ALOT of shrimp to dead-head, shell, clean, and prepare for cooking and took us awhile to do!  

  Wednesday morning,  we met at the church to do S and I training with the branch presidents. I led the music and Dad and  I spoke (and I cried of course) to them before the directors did.  The men are so humble and good. And so young!! One branch president was 27 years old!! But they're faithful. They're a more stoic people and I joked with one of them that its so embarrassing when I cry because the African people don't and they just stare at me, expressionless, when I do.  I acted it out for him and he laughed and laughed when I said that!

Yes, I was the only woman..... After that meeting, we came back to the apt and I fixed shrimp, potatoes, and corn.  I asked Jaime if he liked shrimp and he said no, so I fixed him couve from the day before. But then he tried a couple and said he liked it and had seconds and both men asked for the recipe for their wives. So the Yankee cooking was a hit....haha! Later, at 4:00, we did training for the S and I teachers and we spoke then too.  

    On Thursday, we went shopping again and prepared for the Kretlys to come. On Friday AM, the Kretlys came and we had to get ready for the district conference on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was a leadership meeting and the chapel was full. On Sunday, the Kretlys did a fireside for the youth at 8 am and I wondered if we would get good attendance that early, but the church was packed all the way to the stage!  Dad and I wondered where they were going to put the adults when they came at 10:00 am.  At 10:00, the place filled up!! There were over 1,063 people there. They had to sit on the stage, in the aisles, and they had an overflow room.  The church hired 5 buses to bring the people from farther away.  It was amazing!  63 elders were sustained and when they all stood up, Dad and I cried.

The mission has made a video "It's a Miracle", about the weddings, and subsequent baptisms, that have taken place in the last 9 months. It's based on the talk Neil Anderson gave in general conference.  President Kretly showed it in the Sunday session of district conference and it was very touching.  The people loved it and were very moved by it and the spirit was very strong in the meeting. 

 It's about 15 min. Here's the link:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwh5EhQHa0Y

We love you, think about you, and pray for you.

Eventful Week!

 This was an eventful week.

 On Monday, the missionary that was having foot trouble got worse so dad

 took him back to the clinic (4th trip!), while I stayed and waited for the cable guy because we had been

 trying to get cable for 2 weeks and they were coming to hook us up. We decided that he was worse and 

recommended that he be sent to Maputo to see a Dr there. So we brought him back to our place,

 fed him pancakes, and put him on a plane.  He ended up having surgery the next AM. 

 On Tuesday, we had the 4 ZL's in our area over for training with Pres K via Internet and 

I made breakfast for them.  On Wednesday, Chanelle came in!! Her trip was crazy! We didn't

 realize it when we planned on her coming that it was such an ordeal for her.  She had to take

 a bus, a matutu (those packed van taxis), and  a boda (scooter), to get to a hostel, where she slept over, 

and then take a shuttle to the airport.  We were waiting at the entrance to customs and I panicked 

 some because we could not see her.  A nice passenger that spoke English asked if we were looking for our 

daughter and said that she was being held up because her paperwork wasn't right. So I asked/told

 the customs guy that we needed to come in because our daughter was in there and he let us in. 

 (Sidebar: eg. African thinking - when I tried to come in the grocery store that I'd just exited 10 min before,

 they wouldn't let me because they were closing. I told them my husband was inside and pointed him

 out to them. No, I could not go in, but a secure area like customs, they were ok. Oh Africa....). 

It turns out that she needed an address to put on the customs form and she didn't know it.  Anyway,

 a broken printer, 20 minute wait and we were clear!  

 Thursday AM we went to Gorongoza Park for a safari and stayed overnight. It's a small park and doesn't really have many animals. We hadn't made reservations and the safaris were full but dad had made friends with the guy that took us to our room and he asked dad if he wanted him to get someone to do it. So he got Simba, who is a guide there and spoke English. We did see an elephant, which the morning safari didn't see so it worked out good.

Saturday, we got up and went for a walk on the beach and looked for shrimp. The catches weren't good that day and none of the fishermen had any, but we saw Armando, who was our first seller and he had some. Then we came home and went to a wedding at the church. The missionaries had asked me to play the piano so I played hymns - God Speed the Right was the wedding march. ;) I told dad they would not know the difference, but the members might have recognized a few songs.... Chanelle made friends with the 2 little daughters of the couple getting married and held them during some of the wedding.

 Afterward, dad dropped Chanelle and I at the market in town, while he got a haircut, and it was the dirtiest, craziest market that I've ever been in.

  We were the only white people there and got a lot of stares and calls. It's the only time I've been called to since we got here. Probably not a place I'd wanna go to alone but it was interesting. We got some used pants from India for 50c a pair.

  Then Sunday, Chanelle and I went to Primary instead of Sunday school and it turned out that no leaders were there - not the presidency, a teacher, nobody. The elders were trying to figure something out so I told them that I'd do sharing time and singing time but I'd probably need a translator. So an elder from Portugal translated while I told the story of David and Goliath and The Good Samaritan. Then we did singing time and I tried to teach them Popcorn Popping in English. That was a flop! So I taught them Smiles in Portuguese. 

 

 That was tricky....trying to learn the Portuguese words myself while I taught them w/o any music. That was moderately successful but then I decided to do "Do as I'm Doing" in English and they loved that. I asked the elder to take a picture and he ended up recording about 10 minutes. Chanelle and I were cracking up when we watched it at home! The classic line is when I turn to the elder, after singing Popcorn Popping, and say, "I think they know this song!" when not one child has made a peep. I guess it was positive thinking or maybe stress-induced delusion. Ha!
 

After church we made a yummy lunch of sautéed shrimp, crockpot potatoes, green beans, and salad, all purchased from the vegetable market. Later on, Chanelle dyed my hair. I had to text Crystal for instructions, which surprised the heck out of her.  Chanelle did a really great job, which made me even more afraid for when dad and I have to do it ourselves..... 

 

 

 This AM, we took Chanelle to the airport and she headed back to Uganda via the long route. Dad gave her a blessing so I could not be so, so worried for her. And that's our week!!  Love you!!!!