Safari!

Hello!
   Well, somehow last week I lost my gigantic email before I sent it and then we didn't 

have enough power to send it later so I'm even more behind than usual....  Oh Kim, oh Africa......

   Two weeks ago, we took a little vacation to South Africa. It was a birthday/anniversary/mostlyforsanity

 trip and it was AWESOME!!!  We thought Africa was Africa and were amazed at the difference 

between the two countries.  Where one has buildings crumbling from disrepair, the other 

has modern, gleaming buildings; one has narrow roads with potholes and sinkholes when

 paved, and dirt roads otherwise, the other has smooth asphalt roads with wide shoulders; 

 one has garbage everywhere, the other is clean and garbage-free; one has a perpetual 

coating of dust and dirt, the other was fresh and green.  The contrast was startling and 

we kept saying things like, "Look at these roads!" or "Wow, what a nice building!" or 

"It's so pretty here!"  And going shopping for food (first time I've ever bought food as a trip souvenir...) was 

overwhelming.   I told Dad that I felt like I was on "Supermarket Sweep" and I had 10 

minutes to decide what things I wanted very most out of the whole, huge store. We wanted

 to bring back the whole produce section.  I bought nuts because I miss my morning almonds. 

 Dad bought, what else? chocolate chip cookies.   They didn't sell chocolate chips - you had

 to go to a specialty baking store for them - so he bought cookie mixes and cookies. 

It gave us a small taste of how weird it'll be when we come home.  Hmm...
   But I'm yakking too much. :)

 Here's what we did: 

 On Monday we flew to Maputo, where the Hobsons picked us up, and then drove to Kreuger Park. 

It's about a 3 hour drive from Maputo and the scenery was really beautiful along the way.
 

It was too early to check in, so we went and got something to eat. Food is probably the number one thing we miss - besides consistent water and electricity - so we were stoked. Our first 'real meal' was at a Wimpys Burger. We had chicken wraps and I had a salad and Dad had a chocolate shake. We felt like we had won the lottery. Then we drove to Kreuger Park to drive through on our own, but it closed in an hour and it was $50 to go in, so we decided to wait for the next day. Then we checked into our B & B and that night we had BBQ ribs. Ka-ching!!! By Outback standards, they were so-so but for us they were fabulous.
We crashed early because our safari started at 5:45 am. 

The next morning, we rolled out and and climbed in the safari jeep. We had a family from France with us - parents and two boys. They didn't speak English, so we didn't talk too much, but our guide was Becky from England. She likes wildlife so 3 years ago, she came to Africa and now is a guide through the park. Wow!! There is nothing like being one car-lane away from an elephant or a giraffe! It was so cool!!! 12 feet away from us!
These guys were fighting!

Love this pose!

Hippos 

 

Zebras

Baboons

This mother baboon was struggling to get her baby on her back. Dad said that she needed a capalana!

Pumba

Waiting for the water buffalo to cross the road.

Impala

Beautiful countryside!

 

There's a herd of elephants down below us.

That night, Dad said that he wanted to go back into the park on our own the next day. So we got up at 5:15am the next morning and headed back to Kreuger. We didn't see as much as we had seen the day before, but we did see a mother giraffe and her baby and I decided to get a few pics WITH the animals.

 You're not supposed to get out of your car but I thought 'when am I ever going to get a chance like this?' So when we saw this giraffe so close to us, I told Dad I was going to get out. He took my picture (from the safety of the car) and while he was taking it I heard movement in the brush and thought "LION!!" so I dove in the backseat of the car. It was just another giraffe coming out of the trees, but it got my heart pumping...

Me and the Zebras

Me and your Dad ;)

 

It was still darkish here, but this is a mother giraffe and her baby.

This guy was watching us for awhile before he ventured super close to eat. It was so fun to watch him!

After Kreuger (and a trip to the giftshop ), we went back to the B & B, packed up, and headed to Nelspruit. It's only an hour and a half away. It's such a nice city - so pretty, green, and clean. We loved eating yummy food! I had fish 3 times and we both had lots of salads because we miss them so much. And soup! They don't know how to make soup here. It's so weird!! They only make one kind - a very watery potato soup that they call vegetable soup. So, we had a food marathon!! 

  It was kind of like being on a cruise because we ate whether we were hungry or not just because we could. :)

I felt like I had just eaten Thanksgiving dinner the whole time but didn't want to miss a meal because I knew it was my only chance for a long time. Burp! I mean, sigh....
And I got my hair cut so it's not so lop-sided (it's still going to be a few months until it's even). 

Here I am with Lydia from South Africa who worked on a Greek cruise ship a few years ago for the heck of it.

Another big, big difference between the two countries is the cost of things. In Mozambique a regular hotel room is $225, pension is $125. Our room at Kreuger was $80 and Nelspruit was $90. A meal that would cost us $15-$20 in Mozambique was $7-$10 in Nelspruit and it was delicious!! We kept saying, "This is so good - and so cheap!" 

They have a botanical garden in the middle of the city so we went there one morning.

  

 Here's Indiana Jones at the waterfalls.

Only a few flowers, but we spied this gorgeous one.

 We left there Friday morning and drove back to Maputo where we met the Tidwells and went to the Arte Parque where local craft people sell their things. They were closing but when they saw us coming, the ones that were still there swarmed us.

We got a few things and then headed to - where else? - get dinner. Maputo has some good restaurants and this Mexican one is owned by an American and would give Cafe Rio some competition. We were still so full, we could only eat half so we got it to go and took it on the plane with us. It made a great lunch the next day. Later, I told Dad that I wish we would have gotten a couple of meals 'to go' for Beira. It was fun hanging out and visiting with the Tidwells! We compared notes and swapped stories. They're troopers!

Then back home to Beira. Saturday was mega laundry day and food shopping. Party's over.....
Sunday, the new teacher (and none of the presidency) showed up so I scrambled to get a lesson together. We have two teachers so someone is supposed to teach the first hour, then I do singing time, and then the other one teaches the second hour but they are so unpredictable, I'm just going to start preparing the whole enchilada and if somebody shows up, it's a bonus!:)

Well, that was our super fun week!
Sure do love all of you!

Faith and lots of it!‏

Hello!

I'm still behind and didn't write last week because half of y'all were in China and the Internet was sketchy.
Monday we gave the neighbor girls a ride to school because their mom and dad were out of town. Here's a picture that I took last week when they came over to show me that they had dyed their dog's hair with food coloring. ;). They are completely opposite, physically and personality-wise. The one on the far right is Christiana and I've helped her with her homework a few times. She's cute and outgoing. Her older sister in the middle is more shy. 

After we dropped them at school, we headed to pick up Elder Antonio who was flying to the Brazil MTC to serve a mission in Brazil. The visas to Brazil take so long that they go ahead and have the elders get set apart and start serving their missions here while they wait for their visas.  Elder Antonio is one of those and he's also the guy that we gave the English proficiency test to just a couple of weeks after we got here in Beira.  He has the cutest personality and is so sweet. He wants to learn English really bad and practices if he feels comfortable with you. When we took Valentines treats to their apartment, he sent me a text later that said,

 "Thanks so much, sister Snelson. was delicious and drives me crazy. This is elder Antonio." ;)  

Well, he's got a ways to go....  I got him an English Book of Mormon when we did the proficiency test,  and he's been reading in it every day, along with his Portuguese one.

On the way to the airport, me and dad talked to him about the flight and told him what to expect.  This is the first airplane flight for most - if not all - of the local elders, so they are usually nervous.  He was very nervous.  We told him how to pop his ears, find his seat, go through security,etc.  When we got to the airport, three of his friends were there waiting. It was so sweet to watch as he gave each of them something.  They were excited for the hand-me-down white shirt, a book, etc.   They stood and watched him the whole time while he checked in and then they all said their last goodbyes. The kid on the far right is one of our seminary teachers and the littlest, skinniest guy. 

       While we stood in the check-in line, I told Elder Antonio that he looked nice in his suit. He said it was new and he had just bought it a few weeks earlier on the street.  I noticed that his suit pants had safety pins in the hems to make them shorter. When we got home, I called Sandy Tidwell and asked if she would hem them for him when he got to Maputo before he flew to Brazil and she said she would. 

  When E. Antonio went through security, he didn't understand to put his stuff in a bin and then he didn't understand how to go through and retrieve it. Dad and I were calling to him through the doorway but he didn't get it.  Then a guy from our building came for that same flight and he saw that we were trying to help him, so he talked to Elder Antonio and helped him through. A tender mercy.

 Later that day, I sent the pictures that we had taken at the airport and got this email from him:

 

thank you Elder and Sister  Snelson.  obrigado pela buleia . quando o aviao estava a subir  para o ar fiquei com muito medo , pensei que  ia  cair , mais  nada  aconteceu . cheguei muito bem . obrigado pelas fotos  que mime  enviaram . now  i miss munhava. i will miss  Elder  and Sister  Snelson . have good p day.   Elder Antonio 

Translation:

thank you Elder and Sister Snelson. thanks for the ride.  when the plane was climbing into the air I got really scared, I thought it was going to fall, nothing happened. I arrived very well. thanks for the photos you sent me. now i miss Munhava. i will miss Elder and Sister Snelson. have good p day.    Elder Antonio 

Isn't that the cutest??   It took some faith for him to get on that plane. ;)

The next day, we went and got a new apartment for some elders - the ones that have been without water so often - 10 days one time. This new apartment is way nice and they are so excited to be moving.   

That night, Mariana dropped by because she got a call on her ad!!  Actually, she got two calls: one from a guy that wants her to teach him English and one from a newly immigrated Indian woman that wants Mariana  to teach her Portuguese.  I was making pancakes for dinner, so she helped me and then ate with us. Afterward, Dad went to move the elders and she and I planned her lesson topics.  I made copies of some of my MTC sheets and loaned her a vocabulary book that I have.

    After we planned her lessons, she pulled out a plastic bag and handed it to me.  She bought me a capalana,  a necklace, and two pairs of earrings. It was so nice of her, I was totally surprised! She said she got it as a thank you for my help.  The guy that wants her to teach him English paid her for the whole week in advance. I felt kind of bad that she spent money on me but it was so, so sweet and fairly unusual. The people here don't usually express gratitude. 

     So, here's the lesson I learned.  I had helped Mariana write and print the ads and then practiced interviewing with her to go and apply at the new Chinese resort.  She was hired on the spot at the resort and was so excited about it. But when she went to work the first day, she found out that she would have to work on Sundays and she told them that she could work every day but Sunday. They said she had to anyway so she didn't take the job.  When she told me, I was a little hesitant because jobs are SO hard to find here but she was adamant and said, "But Sister, it's Sunday!"  I had figured out that she would make 50 cents an hour at the resort.  With her teaching jobs, she's making almost $2.00 an hour with the Indian woman and $5.00 an hour teaching Portuguese to the man.  So, she had more faith than I did and really got the blessings for it. 

  On Friday,  two of our elders finished their missions - Elder Ensaldo, who was a ZL and Elder Anderson from New Zealand, who I always got a kick out of. We picked them up and took them to the airport. 

After the airport, we stopped to pick up a wedding cake that some elders had made, to the church for them, then stopped by to pick up dad's Pday clothes that I'd had loaned to another elder when we did their laundry (they had no water) and helped them with their apartment, and then we went looking at apartments with another group of elders because their landlord is raising the rent 30% so they need to move. Long day....

 

   Sunday was the best Primary yet! The teacher was actually prepared and taught the first hour - Woot!! I've learned that these kids need visuals to understand the concepts. The lesson was on repentance so I did the rocks in the backpack demo but used canned food with labels of different sins on them - being unkind, stealing, lying, etc. I had kids come up and pull one out of the bag and read it. Then I gave them a scenario and asked if it was good or bad. At least they said 'bad' on all of them....they're starting to catch on. ;)  I asked how they could fix the wrong choice and showed how the bag went from heavy to light, just how we feel when we repent and get rid of the heaviness of guilt and shame.  They got it. 

     Then I told them if they tried really hard and learned a new song, I had a special demonstration for them. So we sang and then after,  I held up a glass pitcher of water and told them the water was a symbol of them - when they were good, they were clean. Then I had someone read the ' sins be as scarlet' scripture and put red food coloring in the water while I named the sins on the cans. Then I asked what they could do to be clean again and they said "repent" so I said 'pretend this is repentance'  and put some bleach in the water. 

    When I stirred it and it turned clear again.  They were floored! I felt like David Copperfield. Haha! It was the quietest that Primary has ever been - not a peep. Afterward, the two guys in there - the teacher and secretary - asked me how I did it and when I told them they were amazed. There was a little group of 4 or 5 kids waiting for me outside and they asked me to tell them how I did it, so I did. It's fun to do stuff or cook something for the people here because it's all new to them and they are easy to entertain.  Life doesn't have much variety for them.  So, I'm trying to have an object lesson for every lesson from now on. 

That's the week!! We love you and are praying extra hard for our 3 world travelers!

Xoxoxxoxoxox, mom

Spiritual Crocodiles‏-Beira, Mozambique

On Monday this week we were invited to a youth fireside/FHE for the Inhamizua Branch. The branch president is a 21 year old missionary, Elder Jacob Lake from Burley, Idaho. The theme was centered on the video Spiritual Crocodiles by President Boyd K. Packer.  Due to technical difficulties and several power outages, we were not able to show the video on the back wall of a member's home.......

First attempt to set up the projector.

 

  

 Elder Thurston and Mom

 

 

     The family well

 

 

   Elder Toyn and Elder Lake working on the screen

 

 

   Elder Lake teaching the 35 youth!!

   

There were 35 + people in this room for about 2 hours. We were sweating for most of the time.

In the April 1976 General Conference, President Boyd K. Packer said:

"Those ahead of you in life have probed about the water holes a bit and raise a voice of warning about crocodiles. Not just the big, gray lizards that can bite you to pieces, but spiritual crocodiles, infinitely more dangerous, and more deceptive and less visible, even, than those well-camouflaged reptiles of Africa.

These spiritual crocodiles can kill or mutilate your souls. They can destroy your peace of mind and the peace of mind of those who love you. Those are the ones to be warned against, and there is hardly a watering place in all of mortality now that is not infested with them.

On another trip to Africa I discussed this experience with a game ranger in another park. He assured me that you can indeed hide a crocodile in an elephant track—one big enough to bite a man in two.

He then showed me a place where a tragedy had occurred. A young man from England was working in the hotel for the season. In spite of constant and repeated warnings, he went through the compound fence to check something across a shallow splash of water that didn’t cover his tennis shoes.

“He wasn’t two steps in,” the ranger said, “before a crocodile had him, and we could do nothing to save him.”

It seems almost to be against our natures, particularly when we are young, to accept much guidance from others. But, young people, there are times when, regardless of how much we think we know or how much we think we want to do something, that our very existence depends on paying attention to the guides.

Now, it is a gruesome thing to think about that young man who was eaten by the crocodile. But that is not, by any means, the worst thing that could happen. There are moral and spiritual things far worse even than the thought of being chewed to pieces by a monstrous lizard.

Fortunately there are guides enough in life to prevent these things from happening if we are willing to take counsel now and again.

Some of us are appointed now, as you will be soon, to be guides and rangers. Now we don’t use those titles very much. We go under the titles of parents—father and mother—bishop, leader, adviser. Our assignment is to see that you get through mortality without being injured by these spiritual crocodiles.

All of the training and activity in the Church has as its central purpose a desire to see you, our young people, free and independent and secure, both spiritually and temporally.

If you will listen to the counsel of your parents and your teachers and your leaders when you are young, you can learn how to follow the best guide of all—the whisperings of the Holy Spirit. That is individual revelation. There is a process through which we can be alerted to spiritual dangers. Just as surely as that guide warned me, you can receive signals alerting you to the spiritual crocodiles that lurk ahead.

If we can train you to listen to these spiritual communications, you will be protected from these crocodiles of life. You can learn what it feels like to be guided from on high. This inspiration can come to you now, in all of your activities, in school, and dating—not just in your Church assignments.

Learn how to pray and how to receive answers to your prayers. When you pray over some things, you must patiently wait a long, long time before you will receive an answer. Some prayers, for your own safety, must be answered immediately, and some promptings will even come when you haven’t prayed at all.

Once you really determine to follow that guide, your testimony will grow and you will find provisions set out along the way in unexpected places, as evidence that someone knew that you would be traveling that way."  (Boyd K. Packer, Spiritual Crocodiles, April 1976)

 Here is a photo of us with two other senior couples. On the left is Sister Ann and Elder Daryl Hobson, Elder Larry and Sister Sandi Dille and Us:)

 I Love You!

 

Gratitude "which thing I never had supposed"‏

This week Mom and I were permitted to take an extended P-day of sorts, as we flew to Maputo and drove to Kruger Park and Nelspruit in South Africa.

We were gone from Monday through Friday. We had a wonderful trip, with many tender mercies along the way...

The main lesson I learned/relearned, is about gratitude to The Lord. While I may be able to locate various scriptural references on gratitude, (which I'm sure to include a few in this letter) it has been some time, since I have thought so deeply about so many different things I am grateful for.

Beira, Mozambique compared to Nelspruit, South Africa, is perhaps even more dramatic than Tijuana, Mexico compared to San Diego, California.

When returning to San Diego from Tijuana we all feel a certain short term sense of gratitude. This is quite different than what I felt after living in a 3rd world environment for eight months and coming to know so many good, yet incredibly poor people.

Part of the reason for the great impact on me, was that I had not realized there was any difference between Africa and South Africa "which thing I never had supposed." (Moses 1:10)

A revelation states: "Thou shalt thank The Lord thy God in all things...And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments." (D & C 59: 7,21)

Moses records: "When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes,....Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; 

Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God,.... 

Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; 

Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; 

And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. (Deuteronomy 8:10-18)

The experience to South Africa has given me a glimpse into what I will feel when we return home from our mission.

Here is Manuel Jose Vasco, holding his certificate from completing a course in air conditioning repair, he is 16 years old.

 In 2004, when he was seven years old, he had a dream in which he was walking past a tree and there appeared an Angel who spoke about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and asked him some questions. He was Catholic at this time and he went to ask his minister but the minister could not answer them. He then went to a Baptist, Methodist and several other denominations trying to find the answers. 

After several years of searching he concluded that no one had the answers. In November 2012, a friend invited him to Church to listen to a rebroadcast of the April 2012 General Conference.

While listening to President Thomas S. Monson's talk "The Race of Life"  all three of Vasco's questions from eight years earlier were stated and answered. He received a strong Spiritual witness that this was the only true Church. On January 5, 2013, he was baptized and is the only member of his family.

President Monson said: "In our times of deepest reflection or greatest need, the soul of man reaches heavenward, seeking a divine response to life’s greatest questions: Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where do we go after we leave this life?

Answers to these questions are not discovered within the covers of academia’s textbooks or by checking the Internet. These questions transcend mortality. They embrace eternity." (The Race of Life)

Here are a 
A few photos of Kruger Park

I love you!

Zone Conference and Visitors - Go, Go, Go!

   This week we had Zone Conference. We just had Z.C. At the end of December 

but we had an early one because  Elder Hamilton was here.  It was shorter however, 

because Elder Hamilton did most of the training.  But the best part was that the whole 

meeting was in English - it was awesome!!  (E. Hamilton is from California but speaks 

French.)  We only have about 6 non-English-speaking Elders so other elders sat by 

them to translate the meeting for them. I definitely got more out of it than most Conferences

 because I could actually understand it - yippee!!!  It was good. Elder Hamilton is a good speaker and teacher. 
    He did take the group picture 20 minutes early though, so Dilles didn't make it in.

 They were bummed. :(   This was one of those times when I was grateful that your 

dad wanted us there 30 minutes early......;) 

We had a great lunch! The restaurant owner was out of town last time during our December conference and it didn't turn out very well but we talked to her and she did awesome. The Elders were in absolute food heaven!!! :)

After the Zone Conference, we went home and Sandi and I cooked dinner for us, the Kretlys, and the Hamiltons. We had eaten so much just a few hours before so we went lighter:
Chicken soup, fruit salad, cornbread, and key lime pie. Mine was the "Southern" half - pie and cornbread. Here we are with the Hamiltons and then Pres. Kretly tried out his newest gadget - an extention pole that clamps to your camera so you can hold it away from you and snap your fingers to take the picture. It took a few tries but we finally got it. The picture quality was kinda wacky though...

The whole gang - Kretlys, Hamiltons, Dilles, and us.

We collapsed in bed that night....

The next morning, Dad came in the bedroom while I was still asleep and said, "Kim, someone wants to talk to you." And held up my ipad where my gal pals were singing Happy Birthday to me! Oh boy! What a surprise!!! 

 

I told them they had to leave the room so I could put clothes on to talk with them. ;) And then, talk we did! It was so much fun!!! But alas, after 30 minutes the power went out and I lost them. It was fun while it lasted....

Here's a close-up.....;)

But then the power came on about 10 minutes later so I hurried and texted Lisa M. because Isabel had come over and I wanted her to see FaceTime. Everybody had already gone (it was like 1 am their time - bless their little hearts!) but Lisa was a great sport and said to call her. And she called Megan (another great sport!) who zipped back over and they Face-Timed with me AND Isabel. She LOVED it! 

 

I told her that Megan was the YW president and Lisa was the RS president and she said, "Tell her I'm the District RS president."I So I did and in true Lisa style, she bowed down to Isabel and that just cracked her up!! Getting an African to belly-laugh is no small feat! Anyway, it was really great to talk to my best buds and kinda feel like I was hanging out in Utah for a little bit.

Then some elders called and said their water had been out for 4-5 days and asked if we could do their laundry. We said yes and dad went and picked it up so Sandi and I did some laundry. 

 

But then Brooke Face-timed us with another AWESOME surprise - the video of all the fun birthday pictures she had gathered.

 

 She asked Lisa if she wanted to join in and Lisa went to town and rounded up a bunch of people. It took a few tries, but Dad and I had a blast watching it!!! Thank you again, kids - especially Brooke (and Lisa & co.) for doing that. It made my whole day/week/month!!! And yes, I cried a little but they were happy tears....

 

click to view video!

Dad bought shrimp, so that night I made ratatouille and shrimp. Well, I tried to. The power went out as I started cooking the shrimp so I couldn't finish it. But the ratatouille was done so we just ate that - with our headlamps. (Thanks again, Jas!)

When we delivered the laundry to the elders later on, they said they had a surprise for me and gave me some caramel popcorn that they'd made and the sweetest letter.

Still no power or water when we got back home, but it was a great birthday anyway!!!

We did burn up during that night without the A/C and we had Jaime (our cute country director from Maputo), one S & I guy from S. Africa, and one from the US coming in 2 days, so we decided to go to a hotel the next day so we could shower and get a good night's sleep. Most of the stores were closed that day because they didn't have power either and no generators. I had to cook for these guys so I was wondering how that was going to work out but fortunately it came back on the day they arrived. We picked them up from the airport and had a short training with them.

The next day, Saturday, we had a training meeting with all the branch presidents. Dad and spoke along with the visitors.

 Look at the guy looking at me...;)

Then we had training with our Seminary and Institute teachers. Dad and I did most of that because the men wanted to observe us. Oh boy...

 

Here's what our van looked like after the meetings. We gave rides to our teachers to save them the cost of the chapa. When I asked them how much the chapa cost - was it 5 metacaiz? (because that's the price in town), they quickly said, "No Sister, it's 10 metacaiz!" That's 33 cents, which is a significant amount to them....

(Last Sunday, we gave this bunch of girls a ride home after a fireside. I felt bad because 2 boys had asked dad for a ride but then some girls asked me and it snowballed to 17 girls! We couldn't fit the boys in and the girls get priority because it was night and safety is more of an issue for them. We had driven our truck so they had to cram in the backseat and the bed of it.)

The whole gang when we dropped them off.

On Sunday, the guys came to our branch, Dondo, that's 45 minutes away, and afterward we visited some youth who are struggling. We drove down some crazy back roads but it was fun to go in their homes. The one home had a freezer in the front room where we sat and there were a ton of flies swarming around it and us. We're thinking that with the city power outage, they probably had spoiled food in it.....yikes. They brought plastic chairs for us to sit on but the family - dad, mom, 3 sisters, and a cousin sat on a grass mat on the floor. The institute teacher came with us and we each took a turn speaking.

I knew the one sister was a good singer and told the men, so the guy from the US asked them to sing. They sang "I'm a child of God." and then we joined them singing in English while they sang in Portuguese. It was good. The dad said the family was going to come back to church and asked me to say the closing prayer. I told him ok but I only spoke 'poco' Portuguese. That got him to laugh. :)

 

We didn't go in this house but they brought chairs outside for us to sit on. They sat on coconut shredders and a stump. We were visiting three girls, so when it was my turn to speak, I showed them pictures of you 3 girls and told them about y'all. They loved the pictures and hearing about you. I told them how much I loved my kids and that I wanted them to be happy more than anything and that I knew, without a doubt, that the Gospel was the only way for you - and them - to be happy now and forever. Good spirit was there.

And a really fun neighborhood. Here are their next door neighbors. The ladies dozing on the mats and those are ducks and ducklings under the mosquito nets.

And here's a little boy going potty - he kept standing up to inspect his progress....

 

The neighbor kids crowded around dad when he brought his phone out.

And then me:

After our 4 hours of visits, we dropped the men off at the hotel and we dashed home so I could cook dinner. Dad then picked them up and brought them back over and we had lasagna, garlic bread, corn, and chocolate mousse. We had a good visit with them, took them back to the hotel, and fell dead into bed.
That was our FUN BIRTHDAY, HOT couple of days, and super busy weekend week!

Love you bunches!!!