Repentance and faith on Jesus Christ..."his most Beloved"‏

What a blessing it is to repent. 

In the words of Nephi: “..we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ..that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” (2 Ne. 25:26)  As king Benjamin said: "I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ" (Mosiah 3:17). 

Jesus Christ is the only source for a remission of our sins.

Jacob explained to Sherem, the anti-christ “..none of the prophets have written, nor prophesied,  

save they have spoken concerning..Christ.” (Jac. 7:11) 

Jacob also wrote: “..for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory..and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but  also all the holy prophets which were before us. Behold, they believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his name..”  (Jacob 4:4-5)   

The chapter heading of Helaman chapter 8 reads: “Abraham, Moses, Zenos, Zenock, Ezias, 

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lehi, and Nephi all testified of Christ..” 

And like all of the holy prophets before him, President Gordon B. Hinckley also testified of Jesus Christ in the December 2002 First Presidency Message entitled “A Testimony of the Son of God.” 

President Hinckley states:  “We honor Him, we worship Him, we love Him as our Redeemer, the great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New Testament. 

The entire thrust of the testimony of the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants declares our living Lord before whom we kneel in humility and faith. .. we sing His praises and speak our words of faith and gratitude and love. It is His influence in our lives that stirs within us more kindness, more respect, more love, more concern. It is because of Him and His teachings that we reach out to those in trouble, 

distress, and need wherever they may be.” 

The Prophet Mormon wrote: “..that they may be persuaded that Jesus is the Christ, the 

Son of the living God, his most Beloved..” (Mor. 5:14) 

Alma declares:  “..cast off your sins, and not procrastinate the day of your repentance” (Alma 13:27). In these verses Alma the younger is speaking to the people at the city of Ammonihah. Earlier in verse 21 it states: “..Alma..stretched forth his hand unto them  and cried with a mighty voice, saying: Now is the time to repent, for the day of salvation draweth nigh;” Amulek while serving as Alma’s missionary companion in Ammonihah used very similar words: “I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance..” (Alma 34:33) 

   

As you will recall Alma the elder as a “young man” (Mosiah 17:2) was serving as one of the false priests of King Noah. He elieved the words of Abinadi. He was “cast out” and hid himself” and “being concealed for many days did write all the words which Abinadi had spoken”(Mosiah 17:3-4). Alma “repented of his sins and iniquities” and “went about privately ..to teach the words of Abinadi” (Mosiah 18:1). Alma organizes “the church of Christ”(Mosiah 18:17) and  “Alma having authority from God, ordained priests..and he commanded them that they should teach nothing save it were the things which he had taught, and which had been spoken by the mouth of the holy prophets. Yea, even he commanded them that they should preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord, who had redeemed his people” 

(Mosiah 18:18-20). 

Alma the Elder had ‘repented of his sins and iniquities’ and had taught those who he ordained as priests to ‘preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord’. Repentance and faith on the Lord are not separate concepts. Repentance is only possible by having faith on the Lord. 

  The bible dictionary states: “..by faith one obtains a remission of sins..” (B.D. pg. 670- Faith)  and  “repentance comes to mean a turning of the heart and will to God, and a renunciation of sin to which we are naturally inclined” (B.D. pg.760 -Repentance). 

"Repentance is an act of faith in Jesus Christ--an acknowledgement of the power of His Atonement." (True to the Faith, Repentance, page 133)

  Elder Neal A. Maxwell has spoken several times about our will. On one occasion he said: 

“..the submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s alter. The many other things we ‘give’, brothers and sisters, are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our 

individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give!” 

(“Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, pg.22) (Mosiah 15:7) 

Salvation is "unto all who would repent of their sins and receive the Gospel" (D & C 138:31).

We are the only religion that believes "that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel" (Articles of Faith, No. 3). 

Here is some background to D & C 138 that I thought you might find interesting:

“Section 138 describes a series of visions of the postmortal spirit world seen by President Joseph F. Smith on 3 October 1918. President Gordon B. Hinckley called it “a document without parallel” and said, “There is nothing quite like it in all of our sacred literature” DEATH haunted mankind in 1918. The Great War, or World War I, was in the process of claiming more than 9 million lives. That staggering figure paled in comparison with the number of those who died in even less time due to a global influenza pandemic. Worldwide, the virus reaped a grim harvest of perhaps 50 million souls. It killed more than 195,000 Americans in October 1918 alone, the deadliest month in American history—the month the Lord gave the visions recorded in section 138. Joseph F. Smith was president of the Church during a time of widespread intense suffering. His life’s experiences equipped him to grasp the enormity of death and its implications. His father, Hyrum, had been brutally shot to death when Joseph was five. “I lost my mother, the sweetest soul that ever lived,” he wrote, “when I was only a boy” (“Status,” 5:92). His first child, Mercy Josephine, died at age two, leaving Joseph “vacant, lonely, desolate, deserted” (Smith, Life, 456). His beloved eldest son, Hyrum Mack Smith, died unexpectedly in January 1918, creating what President Smith called his “overwhelming burden of grief.” In between these untimely deaths, President Smith buried a wife and eleven other children (Smith, Life, 476). Few people have tasted the bitterness of death more frequently. As general conference approached in October 1918, President Smith himself was less than two months from the end of his own mortal life. Very ill, he surprised the Saints by appearing at conference on 4 October. He spoke briefly, saying, “I have dwelt in the spirit of prayer, of supplication, of faith and of determination; and I have had my communication with the Spirit of the Lord continuously” (CR, 2). Indeed he had; the Lord had revealed to him this vision of the redemption of the dead just the day before. After conference he dictated it to his son Joseph Fielding Smith....The revelation declares in verse 58 that the dead can repent and be redeemed through the same gospel of Jesus Christ that saves the repentant living. The determining factor was not death but AGENCY. Individuals were not saved or damned based on when they lived or died but on what they decided to do with Christ’s offer of salvation when they learned about it. Section 138 restored and expanded Bible doctrine. In doing so it reinforced the Bible’s wholeness and truthfulness and its compatibility with the Book of Mormon and the Restoration. President Smith saw Adam, Eve, and Old Testament patriarchs and prophets, Book of Mormon prophets, Joseph Smith and others from the last dispensation, all unified by the Savior and his unbounded gospel. The vision gives coherence to God’s perfect plan for the redemption of his children; a wholeness that is lacking from most theologies. The devastating toll of death at the time the visions recorded in section 138 were given and had people understandably looking for answers. This vision of the redemption of the dead answered that need to know. On 31 October 1918, an ailing President Smith sent his son Joseph Fielding Smith to read the revelation to a meeting of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. They “accepted and endorsed the revelation as the Word of the Lord” (Talmage). The Deseret Evening News published the revelation about a month later. In the meantime, President Joseph F. Smith passed from life to death, knowing what he could expect on the other side of the veil.”  (Written by Steven Harper)

I love you,

Dad

A few photos from this week:

Snail race! 

Lady walking her goats

Elder Rameka (in the suit coat) returning to New Zealand.

The Balanga family moving to Angola. Both husband and wife are returned missionaries and very strong members. He was just released as the 2nd counselor in the Beira District Presidency.

Last Saturday, May 31st, we attended a combined marriage ceremony for four couples followed by a baptismal service for eighteen (18)!

The Mozambiquens show very little emotion.

The is Zeca Canamala receiving his missionary call. He is the first missionary to leave from the Dondo Branch. Called to Durban, South Africa, leaving September 4th but he really wants to see if he can leave sooner.

Elders Figueiredo and Maezane both from Maputo have finally received their Visas and can leave to serve in Angola. 

Elder Sergio Rasso from Munhava has been called to serve in Brazil. He will serve in Nampula, Mozambique while he awaits his Visa. The other three young men and Marianna are all waiting for their mission calls.

Elder Fernando Cambarame will serve in Maputo while he awaits his Visa to Brazil. 

Large crowd at the airport waiting to greet a victorious basketball team

Elders Peckham and Hales leaving for Swaziland. Both have served as Zone Leaders in Beira.

From our front window yesterday, we noticed this man on a narrow ledge cleaning the air conditioner. Not sure how the ladder three stories below will be able to help him.

Close up of the man on the ledge.

I Smell a Rat

Hello Dears!

Monday, Mariana called to see if she could drop by for a visit. She came over and I was just getting ready to eat lunch, so she joined me. I miraculously had some celery (it's rare for the stores to have it) and was eating it, so I asked her if she wanted some. She had never seen celery before and didn't know what it was. So, I fixed her some celery and peanut butter. She thought it was weird but liked it.

I gave some to Isabel the next day and she hated it and thought it tasted awful. I love letting them try American food and seeing if they like it or not! 90% of the time they love it. 
Monday was also transfers so we made some trips back and forth from the airport.

Elders Thomas and Hatfield saying goodbye:


Getting their luggage Saran-wrapped so stuff doesn't get stolen. It costs $3.00 a bag - a good investment!


We got four Brazilians in. They have been waiting for their visas for a YEAR, so they're seasoned missionaries.  Here is Dad with two of them:

    I dropped and broke my nice U.S. flatiron :( so I had Hobsons buy me a  new one there in Maputo and sent money with one of the elders that was being transferred to Maputo. They sent the iron to me via one of the elders that we picked up that day. Since there's no mail, to speak of, it's kind of like the "pony-express" here. If you know someone is coming or going to Maputo, you get stuff together to send or have them pickup for you. 

    Tuesday, Isabel came to clean and brought her youngest daughter with her, Jessica. She is 4 years old and a little pistol. I got her some paper and crayons and a ball. But she got bored after awhile so I thought of my exercise ball. She LOVED that!! We had a four-year-old bouncing this giant ball around, but she was happy. I sat on the floor and we rolled it back and forth.

With her mom:

  Isabel told me that Mariana had been robbed on the way home from one of her English lessons and they took her phone and 200 metacals (almost $7.00 - a lot of money for them.) that Isabel had loaned her to buy some electricity. I was so bummed for her!  Just as she was getting ahead.....

    That night at my English class, I saw Mariana and asked her about being robbed. She told me that she was walking home and passed the marketplace downtown  (it's called "Go To" market, funny huh?) and some guys came out of the shadows, held a knife, and told her to give them everything. She handed over her phone and the 200 mtz.  They asked about her bag. She told them it was just her books, but they grabbed it and dumped it out. Then one guy, who she thinks was drunk, said 'Let's take her over there.', meaning out of sight.  But another guy said 'No.' and they left after that. She said she is fine and was pretty calm about it, but she is not teaching those two students anymore. They can only do it at night, after work, and the chapas quit running at 8:00pm so she would have to walk home at night and it's just not safe. So, she's lost 660 mtz a week from not being able to teach those guys. That's ALOT of money! It's about $22.00 but when the average salary is $1.50 a day, that is a lot of money for 6 hours of work.  Ooh, it frustrates me sometimes how careful you have to be here! At home, when I exercise outside, it's my 'veg out/relax' time. But here, I have to constantly be aware of what's gong on around me and literally look over my shoulder. I learned that the hard way when I got assaulted. I had gotten careless, wasn't paying attention, and he snuck up on me. It could be worse but it's definitely one of our challenges - well, mostly mine - they leave dad alone...:(

 

       I have had lots of "firsts" here - first time speaking Portuguese, riding a chapas, visiting an African village, preparing - and eating - strange foods, seeing crazy things, etc. 

On Thursday, I had a different "first."   

    Sandi and I took Isabel shopping for food for some weddings that were going to be Saturday. When we pulled into the grocery store parking lot, there were tons of people walking about. There are always a lot of people on the streets, but that day was insanely busy because there was a grand opening for a new store. Anyway, as we pulled into the lot, there were people walking close to the truck but they got (mostly) out of the way. 

    There was a guy that followed us and tried to get my attention through the window on my side of the car. I said 'no thanks' because it happens all the time with salesmen and beggars, so I waved him off. Sandi pulled up to the front of the store and dropped me and Isabel off while she found a parking place. As we walked in, we saw some elders coming out and stopped to talk to them.  While we were talking, I commented to Isabel that Sandi was taking a long time and that maybe we should go check on her.

   As we walked back to the lot, I saw some store guards by the truck but I didn't see Sandi. That made me nervous. While I scanned the lot, Isabel pointed to the opposite side and there was Sandi walking up. I asked her where she had been and then noticed a guy following her - the same one that had come up to my car window.

     She said that she had run over the guy's toe and was going to buy him some medicine and bandages. I asked to see it. When I bent down, I saw that it was just skinned up a little on the side. It was something that I would maybe put a band aid on if one of you kids had come to me. I told her that it was nothing and he didn't need anything. She said that he had wanted her to take him to the hospital and she had told him 'No' but that she would buy him medicine for it.  The two elders were still standing there and Sandi asked them to stay and translate for her, so they came into the pharmacy with me, Sandi, Isabel, and the guy.

      It takes a lot to get me mad, and I have never gotten mad at anyone here. I have been befuddled, bemused, frustrated, and disappointed but never mad.  

    But when I looked at the guy, I could tell that he was running a scam.  Something snapped and "Ba-boom!!" I lit into him. I told him that he was fine and he didn't need anything. I said if my child had that, I'd tell them that they were ok and send them back out to play.  I told him, "You know that you're ok. This is not right. What you're doing is bad - very, very bad." I wasn't very quiet about it.  He was sheepish and looked down the whole time and didn't say anything. I was so ticked off! When the people at the pharmacy counter brought out a bunch of things, I told them that we didn't need anything but a bandaid and pushed the stuff back to them.  Sandi said that Larry could use the disinfectant so she bought that and a small roll of gauze. I said I would bandage the guy while she paid for the stuff and proceeded to clean and wrap the dirtiest toe ever, shaking my head with a disgusted look on my face - not at the toe, but at what he was doing.  

    He knew I thought he was being a louse.  Isabel just sat and didn't say a word the whole time. The elders didn't do much, (I guess I didn't give them a chance! ;), but one took pictures of me wrapping the toe.

That's not blood, it's just the disinfectant. It really was just a scrape. Wish the elder would've gotten the guy's face. I'm holding the wrapping while they cut the tape. 

     Here's Sandi with the elders outside of the pharmacy:

After all the hullabaloo, we went into Shoprite and I wondered if Isabel thought I was hard-hearted and harsh with the guy because she hadn't said a word the whole time.  I asked her if that was normal to buy medicine for such a small scrape. She said something and it took me a couple of minutes to figure out what she was saying. It was this: "Sister, the guy was walking on the left side of the car so his right foot was next to the car.  But the toe that was hurt was on his LEFT foot.  The car didn't do that."

      Ah-ha!! I KNEW it!! My instincts were right - the guy wasn't just trying to get a 'sympathy payoff' for his little scrape but he was totally scamming us! I wish I would've realized that fact when we were in the pharmacy. I would've called him out and told him to take off.  It was the first time that I've ever gotten mad at a local person and I had wondered if I'd gone too far but when Isabel said that, I was like, "Holy cow! I was dead-on!!"

       When I told dad about it, I laughed and said that I guess my Portuguese is good enough, and I'm feeling comfortable enough here,  to chew out a 6 foot Mozambiquen man in a public place. Actually, my Portuguese was probably junk, but my tone said it all. ;). Just another day in Africa....

Loading 15 kgs of potatoes at the register - their are no conveyor belts so you have to put stuff on a little at a time. 

    Here we are at the second store (and I use that term loosely...) to buy rice and chickens!  Where you see the chain- link fence is the sidewalk. So, it's really just an 8x10 space with a couple of freezers and some rice and a few other things.

Isabel paying for it.

After we finished shopping, we took all the food to the church to drop it off. The elders were having a training meeting for the new elders that had just arrived.

    Sandi and I went home and I got ready for my English class. I taught a lot of concepts that night so I had them practice with each other and walked around to listen to them. I'm giving them a triple combination in English as a reward when they've attended 20 classes.  (Sticking with something is not their strong suit.). After class, Simao (one of my favorites and one of the three guys that had asked me to teach the class) came up and said "Sister, you need to mark the roll yourself and not pass it around because people mark it for their friends even if they're not here." The reward is scriptures!  Oh goodness.... So now I mark the roll.  Dishonesty is part of the culture and it's a hard mindset to change. 

    On my way out, Isabel asked me to take a cake home and out it in our frig cuz she had made five cakes and there wasn't room in the church's frig.  She decorates them by putting the frosting in a small plastic bag with the corner cut out. She spends a lot of time on them. Here it is along with all the women that prepared the food for tomorrow. 

     Friday I went walking by myself cuz dad was busy and four dogs up the street came after me. It scared the bajeebies out of me! When I stamped my foot, two of them backed off, but two others came after my leg. So, I hurried and looked for something to throw, grabbed a couple of rocks, and chucked them.  It worked. Whew!!  I guess I was in "feisty" mode this week...;)  Good thing - I needed the adrenaline!! Hahaha!
       The elders told me about a seamstress that they had used so Sandi and I went there cuz our old one, Manuel, takes 2 months to make something and it got ridiculous to go back five or six times only to be told that our things weren't ready. 
    That's normal procedure here, but he was extreme.  Anyway, we went to check out the new guy. Our directions were, "Across from the Chuhascarrea, down the alley by the red building, turn left by the bar, and keep walking until you see it."  
   We had to ask directions at the bar. (A bar here is just a small shack with booze and chairs (sometimes) set out front for people to sit and drink.)  After wandering a bit, we found it. The two seamstresses, both men, were sitting on the ground eating shima (corn mush) with their hands. We apologized for interrupting their lunch. We told one of them what we wanted and he took our phone numbers to call us (Wow!) and said he'd have it ready in 5 days (another Wow!!)  We'll see....   
   All the sewing machines are the old heavy treadles that they power with their feet. 

Getting fitted:

  Here you can see the whole "shop". It's really just a run-down patio with two tiny 5x6 foot rooms. The closest door is for the two seamstresses (both men) and the second door belongs to a guy that fixes electronic things. I saw a few VCRs - remember those??

   The weddings were Saturday. All went well except when we got to the church, Isabel was lamenting cuz the coils in the frig had dripped down on the cakes and ruined the frosting. She was trying to do damage control but she was bummed. :( 

     Here are the couples.

Me and the happy brides. ;) I know you can't tell from their expressions, but they thought this was funny...

   This little girl borrowed her dad's glasses. It was so funny watching her put them on! At one point, they were upside down. ;)

 After the reception, they changed their clothes and all got baptized. (Sorry, I can't find the picture...) 

    On the way home, we saw all these people by the side of the road wearing white.  I told dad that I thought they were having a baptism. So we circled back around and sure enough, a church was having a mass baptism in the ocean. They had laid out all the baptism clothes on the sea-wall. This particular church is called the "Good Day Church" and the women only wear white on Sunday when they go to church. They also wear a white hat that reminds me of the temple. It's very interesting.  And it was interesting to see their baptism after just coming from the one at the church. The women on the right has her baby on her back. 

    Sunday, one of the newer members blessed the sacrament for the first time. He and his wife have a little toddler boy. When the dad stood up to do the sacrament, the mom let the son down and he toddled over and held onto the dad's leg during the prayer. Not how it should be done but it was kinda funny to watch. 

     Ok, I'm signing off. Keep praying for us and we'll keep praying for you!!

  We love you so, so much!! ~mom

"I Love to See the Temple" (Children's Songs-95)

 This year will be our 35th wedding anniversary. Perhaps in five (5) years for our forty year anniversary, we can have all five (5) of our children and their spouses, attend the temple together with us! We would be hard pressed to receive a greater gift than this!

What a blessing to have temples throughout the world. How great would it be to have family temple travel trips. I'm smiling just thinking about it.....

The First Presidency said: "Temples are literally houses of the Lord. They are holy places of worship where the Lord may visit. Only the home can compare with temples in sacredness. Throughout history, the Lord has commanded His people to build temples. Today the Church is heeding the Lord’s call to build temples all over the world, making temple blessings more available for a great number of our Heavenly Father’s children. Ordinances for the Living The principal purpose of temples is to provide the ordinances necessary for our exaltation in the celestial kingdom. Temple ordinances lead to the greatest blessings available through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. All we do in the Church—our meetings and activities, our missionary efforts, the lessons we teach and the hymns we sing—should point us to the Savior and the work we do in holy temples. One ordinance we receive in the temple is the endowment. The word endowment means “gift,” and the temple endowment truly is a gift from God. The ordinance consists of a series of instructions and includes covenants we make to live righteously and comply with the requirements of the gospel. The endowment helps us focus on the Savior, His role in our Heavenly Father’s plan, and our commitment to follow Him. Another temple ordinance is celestial marriage, in which husband and wife are sealed to one another for eternity. A sealing performed in the temple continues forever if the husband and wife are faithful to the covenants they make. Children born to parents who have been sealed in the temple are born in the covenant. These children automatically become part of an eternal family. Children who are not born in the covenant can also become part of an eternal family once their natural or adoptive parents have been sealed to one another. The ordinance of sealing children to parents is performed in the temple. If you have received temple ordinances, always remember the covenants you have made. Return to the temple as often as you can. If you are a father or mother, teach your children the significance of the temple. Help them prepare themselves to be worthy to enter the temple. If you have not yet received temple ordinances, begin preparing yourself now. As circumstances allow, attend the temple to participate in baptisms and confirmations for the dead. Ordinances for the Dead People who have died without essential gospel ordinances may receive those ordinances through the work done in temples. You may do this work in behalf of your ancestors and others who have died. Acting for them, you can be baptized and confirmed, receive the endowment, and participate in the sealings of husband to wife and children to parents. You should actively search for the records of your deceased ancestors so temple work can be performed for them." (True to the Faith, Temples)

This woman and her young child preparing to sweep sand. The child holds the small hand broom.

The child still plays with the broom while his mother uses her hands to sweep the sand in the street onto a plastic bag.

 The final result!

Mom talking with Elder Oryang & Elder Larsen.

 Elder Oryang, Elder Larsen and Mom

I love you!

"I do not know the meaning of all things" (1 Ne. 11:17)‏

On Monday night, May 12th, Mom and I watched a movie We Are Marshall. It is a 2006 American drama film, that depicts the aftermath of the 1970 plane crash that killed 37 football players on Marshall University Thundering Herd football team, along with five coaches, two athletic trainers, the athletic director, 25 boosters, and a crew of five. It also addresses the rebuilding of the program and the healing that the community undergoes.

While clearly not the main focus of the film, one thing that struck me was how the new coach dealt with various difficult questions by simply telling the people, he didn't know the answer. This then allowed the people to figure things out  for themselves. 

When Nephi was asked "Knowest thou the condescension of God?" He responded: "I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things" 

 (1 Ne. 11:16-17).

What a blessing in our lives to know that no matter what "all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things" (2 Ne. 2:24). We pray to a Heavenly Father that "knoweth all things".

Perhaps, we will be alive during the glorious millennium "in that day when the Lord shall come, he shall reveal all things--Things which have passed, and hidden things which no man knew, things of the earth, by which it was made.." (D & C 101: 32-33)

Photos of the week......

Women are able to carry all kinds of items by balancing them on their heads.

 

These women have just purchased some supplies.

 
They have probably chosen this road to walk on because it is somewhat level and has asphalt.

 

Here two men labor to transport a load of sand. Normally, this is a three man operation.

 

 This women is walking by and asks if she can help.

 

They consent and she helps move the work along.

 

Another cart being brought to the sand market.

 

I Love You!

"Dia de Mulheres" - Day of the Women‏

      It was so fun to talk to our kids for Mothers Day. When we hung up, Dad had a grin on his face and I asked what was up. He said he just liked hearing all y'all laughing and cutting up. Reminded me of our family trips or when we stay up late and get punchy. Anyway, it was fun and I'm so glad the internet kept working!  It's been terrible lately - so slow we couldn't even open an email for a few days - so we had been praying that it would be fast enough for all the Mother's Day calls. On Thursday, it picked up and was still slow but fast enough to get through on Saturday and Sunday. About 10 minutes after the last Elder left last night, it dropped down again. Those are the behind-the-scenes divine kind of helps we see here in the mission. 

This Monday was one of the biggest holidays in Mozambique - "the Day of the Women."   The Beira 1 branch was having an activity to celebrate and the RS president had called and invited me and Sandi to come and also asked Sandi to demonstrate how to make the crochet bags and me to demonstrate how to embellish flip-flops.
     They print special capalanas for the day, and Sandi wanted one for the activity, so we headed to town. We were pretty sure all the shops would be closed - which they were - but thought we could maybe find someone selling on the street - which we did. Wish I could've taken a picture of the street sellers but it's not safe for me to pull my phone out on the street unless Dad is standing by me keeping watch. But here's a picture of a guy, through the car window, who tried to sell me some fish:

 Anyway, we got the capalana and got ready for the activity. When we got there, I asked the ladies to show me how to put on the capalana because mine kept falling off.

 We didn't really know what they would be doing, but we have learned to prepare for anything. We didn't know if they would have food or not, but I decided to make a big batch of rice pudding - like a roaster pan full. That's it on the left:

   Sandi made a batch of another kind. Good thing we did because it was a pot-luck lunch!! These people aren't very communicative, so we just have to guess about what's going to happen and do our best to prepare. The food was interesting, as always, but the chicken was good and they make a cabbage salad that I like. Sandi was afraid to eat the food, but I told her that she had to get something so they wouldn't be offended. So she got a few spoonfuls and played with it. I was reminded of the 'widow's mite' because some people brought a group serving size of something, and others would just bring a small plate with a single serving of something. They brought what they could... But I was amazed at the overall quantity of food - it was a lot!  Especially for here....

  They loved the rice pudding!! It's so funny that they eat a ton of rice, but they had never heard of rice pudding. Several asked me how to make it so that was a trick to convert all the ingredient names to Portuguese and the measurements to metric and then explain the directions. I quickly realized that few to none have stoves (or ovens) so they couldn't bake it like I did. So I converted the recipe to 'how to do it in a pot over the fire'. ;)

  Luisa's daughter, 4 yr old Callista, wanted to play with my phone, which would not be a good thing so I told her that it was off and didn't work. She told me that I needed to buy "credilec", or phone credit for it. She's a little pistol - smart and precocious! She showed me that she still remembered "Do as I'm Doing" that I had taught the kids when we were in that ward 6 months ago. 

  
 Before we ate, Sandi and I did our craft demonstrations for the women. I thought it was funny that we wouldn't eat first while the food was ready but the RS President was insistent that the demo be first. I wondered if she was afraid that people would leave after they had eaten - a definite possibility at any activity.:)

After crafts and food, we danced!! They had two of the single guys there with a pretty nice sound system and they played songs and the ladies danced in a circle. They also joined in a big line and did their version of the Bunny Hop.  It was fun!! Luisa got tired of her girls wanting to dance with her and sent them to me. Dancing and twirling two preschoolers is a good workout!

  
When it was done, the women loaded up their bowls, plates, or whatever they had brought their food in, with the rice pudding. There was half a roasting pan when we finished eating but when we left, there wasn't a speck left.
      
 When we got home, Dad and I walked to the Elders' apartment close by us to see some chameleons that they had called us about. They thought we would want to see them and we did, so we went chameleon hunting in the dark. I dropped this one - accidentally - when it hissed at me. 

But I then I got brave and let Dad put this one on my shoulder. They all assured me that he wouldn't move. Wrong!! When he crawled up to my hair, I told them to get him off quick!!!
   

 This one's giving Dad a high-five!

 And here he is with the gang of Elders:

   
The next day I taught my first English class. Some of the young adults had asked me to teach one so I told them I would start after Zone Conference. I can teach people how to read but teaching English is a whole different ball game, especially when my Portuguese is so marginal, but you do what you can. I am teaching on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30 - 5:00pm. It was supposed to be an hour, but after the first class they asked about doing an hour and a half. We have to finish at 5:00 on the dot because some of the kids have class at 5:30 pm. The school schedules are crazy here. They have morning, afternoon, and night school times.  We see little kids walking home from school at 8:00 at night. 

  
One day, two of the Elders came over to have me help them set up visiting teaching in their branch. I suggested that they write a letter 'inviting' the sisters to visit teach and listing their assignment. The reason was two-fold: written invitations mean a lot to the people here and if it's not written down, they will forget. They might forget anyway, but it's an extra help.:)

   Saturday, we had our Seminary & Institute training with our teachers. I decided to teach the concept of "by small and simple things, are great things brought to pass" and told them that when they do a small act of kindness or service, it adds up to great things. Then I played the birthday video that y'all made and showed how one picture by a lot of different people added up to a wonderful surprise for me. They loved it!! Mariana asked me to show her how to make one.....ummm, Shutterfly in Africa - nope!
 Here's our only married teacher sitting next to Dad with her baby:

 I made a jello cake for them and that was a BIG hit!! One teacher told me, "Sister Snelson, this isn't good, (pause) this is marvelous!" They're so easy to please when it comes to food. Haha!

 Here's the last teacher, Julio, that we dropped off after the training. I told him that I wanted to take a picture so that you could see his bright pink shirt  and the bike repair shop behind him.

After the training, I went with Sandi to another "Dias de Mulheres" activity at the Beira 2 branch. The Elders were at the church meeting with the Beira 1 RS president about the visiting teaching and asked me to help them, so I sat down with them while Sandi went to check out the activity.

     After about 20 minutes, the Beira 2  sisters came out. I asked if they were all leaving and they said 'yes'. They said they were going to visit someone that had just had a baby two weeks ago and her husband died the previous month. :(  That was a good thing, but I wondered about the women that would show up for the activity and not find anybody there. Oh well....that's just how they do it here. Plans change and maybe you find out about it and maybe you don't..... Isabel was part of the group and said that she would text me when they got back to the church, so Sandi and I went home to wait.
      Two hours later, we went back. When we walked in, the ladies were all sitting in a circle around the room. I threw my hands in the air and joked, 'We are here now, so the party can start!" I know I wasn't grammatical, but they got the gist and started laughing. I'm always trying to get a stoic Mozambiquen to smile or laugh. It probably helps that my Portuguese is gibberish.  It makes your dad laugh but he's good about disguising it.  ;) 

 For this get-together, they had food but not as much and it was more of the small plate or bowl/single serving variety. You really could just take a spoonful of some things. And they only had 3 plates because they had taken them to another branch for a district activity so they ate on the lids or containers from the food that they had brought. No utensils either - they ate with their hands.  But they found a fork from somewhere and Sandi and I shared it along with a plate.  I had made a jello cake for this activity and it was gone in a flash. My tea-party girls:

  
Amalia is in this branch and she came and sat by me because I had told her that I had some fund-raising ideas for the YM/YW to do. All of my ideas were things for the YW to make and I mentioned that we needed some ideas for the YM.  Amalia said that they had thought about doing a car wash at the church.  I turned to her and said that hardly anyone had a car. (There aren't more than 2-3 cars on a Sunday.)  She answered, "Yes, this is the problem."  So classic!  And understated...;)  She was being serious but I wanted to crack up. That phrase could be used to describe so many things here!!   

Here I am with Amalia on the left and Isabel on the right, modeling their head-wraps:

 I forgot to take a group shot of us in our capalanas. I remembered when it was just our little group left.

 

   After we got home, Dad and I went to buy bread for tomorrow for primary. I walked into the bakery and there was a big line that wasn't moving. After waiting a few minutes, I asked a guy behind the  side counter what was going on. He said the people were waiting for the bread to come out of the oven. Then he said he would go check and see how long it had left. I thanked him and he took off. A minute later, he came back and asked me how many I needed. I told him how many and he took off again. When he came back grinning with two bags of hot rolls, I started laughing and told him he was a magician. He laughed. I gave him a 10 metacaiz tip - about 33 cents. That's probabaly what he makes per hour. He was a happy guy!      Sunday we had 43 kids in Priamary so when it came time to pass out the bread, we were about 10 pieces short. So, we broke them in half and passed those out and then took what was left, broke those in half, and passed those out. I felt like it was the Feeding of the Five Thousand! Haha!! Those kids are hungry... 

Pouring water:

 The lesson was on families and I taught them the song, "We are a Happy Family" and had some kids come up and be the "family". It was a spur of the moment idea, so I borrowed a tie from my secretary (fortunately he had one on, not all of the guys have a tie) and got a bandana out of my bag and tied that on a girl. The kids knew immediately who the mom was because they see their moms wear a head-wrap every day.I'm not sure what she did with it for the picture:

  
 I showed them the photobook from our Christmas last year in New Orelans and they were fascinated. The only problem was that the secretary and other teacher walked around to the front of the book to see it and blocked all the kids. ;) It's the funniest thing - I'm always having to remind them to stand back when I teach because they often stand right in front of me and the kids can't see. It's just one of those, "This never happens at home." moments and you kinda wonder what they're thinking.  "Bless their hearts!!"  Guess it shows that they haven't had a lot of visuals, games, or object lessons in their own lives (even though they are 16 and 17 yrs. old) and so they are as interested in everything as the kids are. Sigh....
      Funny/surreal moment: Today while the other teacher was teaching, a little 2ish yr old boy started walking toward the door.  He stopped about two feet shy of being outside and proceeded to squat down and go to the bathroom on the floor - through his pants. Ten months ago, I would have done something, but now I just watched him and smiled as his big brother picked him up and put him on his hip when Primary was over.  That's the brother on the left. The girl on the right has her baby sister.  The moms all send their babies to Primary with the older siblings so it's a circus! ;) 

"Be good and you'll be happy!"  
For real...  I love, love, love y'all!!!!