19 - 25 Aug 2013 Home&Office,Routines,JardimTunduru

Monday we continued compiling a spreadsheet about the 23 apartments where the 88 missionaries live.  Since it was “P” day, I was able to talk to almost every one of the companionship's in the morning. We had also planned to train on the Church’s IMOS system, but the training site was down. 

In the afternoon we walked to a nearby fabric store to get fabric for the window in our bedroom.  The 60” wide bolts of fabric, of all types and colors and weights, were wound on long cardboard rolls stacked on tables and along the walls.  The prices displayed were for one meter (about a yard) of fabric.  There were also many “capulanas” for sale; they were hung on lines from the ceiling.  There were lots of “helpers” in the shop, so whenever I stopped to look at something, they were right there wanting to know if I wanted to have them take the roll to the measuring table. I finally found the color of blue fabric I wanted.  I really don’t know what kind of fabric it is – if Lyn or Emily were here either one could tell you in an instant!   The helper put the roll on the measuring table and the person there rolled out the fabric and found there was 2.4 meters left on the roll.   We said we’d take the whole piece, although I only needed 2 meters.  It was 40 MT/meter, so the total was 96 MT, less than $3.00.  When we got home, I draped the fabric over the suspension rod in our bedroom and presto, we now have some color coordination in the bedroom!

Tuesday through Friday we were in the Mission Office during the day.  Here are some pictures of our office which is on the 2^nd floor around the corner from the Mission President’s Office. 

Richard has a brand new computer and we found out this week that it has Windows 8 on it, so it has been a challenge to find the Desktop – but once he’s there, everything seems to work normally.  We don’t have Microsoft Office yet, so all of our work, except for IMOS training, is done on my laptop which I take back and forth every day. 

I turned my desk so I can look out the window into the trees and every once in a while this week we have seen a gorgeous bird, with a slender black beak and black wings and a green iridescent head, eating seeds on old tree blossoms.  It is some kind of a sunbird; we’ll try to get another look and perhaps even take a picture so we can make a better identification.

We bring our lunch with us to the Mission Office and eat it outside in the garden whenever the weather allows.  One day I saw three black white-striped lizards; they might be the common flat lizard (Platysaurus intermedius), a species of lizard in the Cordylidae family.  

The soil here is apparently very fertile.  One afternoon we watched the gardener prepare long shoots of a noded plant into equal portions, angle a hole into the soil with his trowel, and put the sprigs in the hole and cover them up.   He explained that he had put most of the grass in using this method.   

We continue to see beautiful orange-sun sunsets and one evening, when we were going home quite late, we saw a huge full moon whose light shone over the dark water.  One late evening, on the way home, the water was very turbulent; along the beach there were fairly large waves.  Little fishing boats anchored off-shore were really being jostled by the waves; in some places, the white spray rose up over the wall and splashed onto the road.  There are some beautiful tile pictures along the road next to the water and Richard took a short movie of them glittering in the lights of the passing cars. 

Another thing we’ve learned how to do is to input the convert baptisms into the Church system.  Elders who live close, give the hand-written paper baptism records to the AP’s for inputting and filing.  Most of the Elders live far away, so they go to an Internet café and send a digital copy to the AP’s who print out a copy for inputting and filing.  Eventually, at Zone and District conferences, the original paper copy replaces the digital copy.  Some of the copies of the digital records are blurry; it reminds me of trying to decipher an online parish record.  Baptism records are important documents and we feel thankful to be able to help input this important information.

We found out that a letter mailed from Mozambique through their postal system costs about $3 and it may take 2-4 weeks before it is delivered in the United States.  So, we will continue to send email birthday greetings to you throughout our mission; we haven’t found any African greeting cards here anyway.  We might try designing our own using Word Publisher – and you can print them out there!

I have so wanted to see some interesting bugs to report to the grandchildren.  My desire came out in a dream I had the other night of an elongated black beetle.  I stepped on it ever so lightly to stop it so I could collect it and describe it better - and then I woke up!  We have seen flies, of course, a couple of small spiders, and a couple of mosquitoes - we are glad we're not seeing many of those because they are the carriers of Malaria :(   We don't go out after dark as that is when mosquitoes are out!

On Saturday we went grocery shopping and furniture shopping with the Hobsons.  There is a very modern furniture store not far from our apartment and we ordered a cabinet to put in the bathroom.  It will be delivered some time in September.

Whenever we're out we see people selling things from little booths by the side of the road or on the sidewalks.   Here are some examples. 

The colorful bottles on the long boards are bottles of nail polish; you can get your fingernails and toenails done right on the street! 

I love this one of a cute little girl with her purse!

This group of craftsmen have a regular spot at one of the intersections.

We are very thankful for the elevator!  Then there is the washing routine for fruits and vegetables; they must be washed in a bleach solution for 30 seconds, then rinsed and dried.

 

Our regular Sunday schedule is to attend 5 hours of Church.  We go to all of the meetings for the Maputo 2 branch (8-11), and then stay for the last 2 hours of the Maputo 1 branch (10-1 p.m.).   I go to Primary and Dad goes to Priesthood and Sunday School.  In Primary, they teach everyone together in one big group instead of separating for classes.  They are teaching from the Primary 3 manual.  Are any of you grandchildren on the “Forgiving One Another” “The Lord Helps Missionaries” or “I Can Be a Missionary”?  In singing time, I bet most of you grandchildren are practicing for your Sacrament Meeting program.  That is what the children in these two branches are doing.  I am anxious to print out the music and Portuguese words to the songs "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" ("Se ao Meu Lado Estivesse Salvador") and "If I Listen With my Heart" ("Se Eu Escutar come o Coracão").  I want to learn the children’s names, but when I ask their name, I don't understand what they say. I have to have them write their name down and some of the littlest ones don't know how to write their name yet!  The 1^st counselor in the Maputo 2 branch is going to get me a list next week.

In sacrament meetings this week: A young single adult convert told how the gospel came into her life at a time when she needed it and her life was changed.  A young man told how his testimony grew as he saw unmarried couples being married and then all dressed in white with their children to be baptized.  The high councilor reminded us that though times change, the gospel remains the same.  A sister spoke of the importance of serving our neighbor.  Sister Kretly spoke of how we can endure our trial by putting faith in a loving God.  President Krety spoke of welcoming new members and investigators into the church where we support each other.  He encouraged parents to bring all children to church even though it takes patience.  We are helping the children to set patterns for their lives; step by step children learn  the gospel, grow to be strong youth who become missionaries, marry and have children of their own and the cycle continues.  Come to church and find peace and recharge your batteries.  God knows our hearts. 

On Sunday afternoon we went on a long walk.  We ended up at Jardim Tunduru Botanical Gardens which were "designed by the renowned English gardener, Thomas Honney, in 1885.  

The design of the garden was based on the gardens of the Sultan of Turkey and the King of Greece. Entering the park, a visitor will find a statue of Samora Machel, the first president of Mozambique. The gardens are filled with ferns, cycads and other exotic species of plants."  The gardens are exquisitely laid out, but are overgrown. Think Central Park but in Maputo. Here are some historical and some present pictures of the garden.

While we were in the park we heard this chattering sound in the trees.  I thought it was birds, but I couldn't see them.  Then we went to another part of the park and the chattering was louder.  I saw some bird-like things flying in the tall trees and then landing to join a big clump in the branches.  Then I saw one of them and it was hanging!  Yep, it was bats!  These pictures show the clumps in the trees, but we didn't get a picture of them flying.  Their wing spans were about 15" or more.  The pictures aren't very good as it was in the late afternoon and the park was pretty dark because it was overcast. 

We didn't stay around too long after that and made our way home to the apartment.  

12 - 18 Aug 2013 Cooking,BanksCouple,HelpingHands,Branches

This week’s all around lesson has been to be patient if things don’t happen or can’t happen as you thought they would or should.

We were able to get the Internet hooked up on Monday, a day earlier than we’d expected.

We discovered the roof our building is a safe place to get some walking exercise in the morning! 

On Monday evening, we had the Hobsons over for dinner, welcoming them home from their over-the-weekend trip to Maxixe.  We had chili and cornbread.  Since we didn’t have an oven yet, I learned you can cook cornbread in the Microwave.  The corn meal here, since it is made from white corn, is a very light yellow, so the cornbread looked anemic, but it only took 7 minutes and tasted great!

Thanks to the expertise of Elder Banks, our washing machine and dryer were hooked up on Tuesday.  Elder & Sister Banks are the Humanitarian missionaries who went home this week.







We love the email updates from and Skypes with our families!  Here is a poem Klaesara wrote and sent to us this week:

In Mozambique

So you’re arrived in Mozambique

With new people to meet, and new things to eat.

There’s a new experience every day,

Like how in the world do people drive this way?

You might even see an elephant who,

It seems has wandered too far from the zoo.

Or maybe you’ll show someone the way

To true happiness: a brighter day.

I bet you’re needed there more than you know.

And that what you learn there will help you to grow!

We love you; you’re always in our prayers!

Remember Christ knows how to comfort your cares.

Love, Klaesara

We’ve had a working refrigerator since Thursday afternoon (the first one froze everything!).   We are so thankful for cold milk and unfrozen fresh vegetables!

We celebrated my Birthday by going to the Mission Office to work with the files there.  I brought banana bread, which I’d cooked in the microwave, for a treat for the elders to have after Staff Meeting.   It didn’t get brown and crunchy on the outside (I do so like the end pieces on oven-cooked banana bread), but it tasted good and it only took 4 minutes to cook!  Thank you for everyone’s birthday wishes, songs and videos!   I love how technology is keeping us connected!

On Thursday the mission purchased us a counter-top oven – so now we have a fully functional kitchen. 

President Kretly has given us some assignments to work on in the Mission Office.  We have hitched rides with the AP’s, bring a sack lunch, and return home to fix dinner.   They usually take the road (rua) that goes right by the water.  We’ll try to get a better picture one of these days, but here is one that’s pretty good.

Sometimes we have time for a quick errand up to the “Chinese” store not far from us.  For instance, we bought a dish we could cook the cornbread in; another evening we purchased an oval casserole dish so we could cook rice pudding in our new counter-top oven.

We participated in another “Helping Hands” clean-up project on Saturday morning.  Lots of members and missionaries came. 

At one point in the project I noticed this part of the sidewalk.  What does this image say to you?  It says to me, “Put your bottle caps here!”  When things are cleaned up, it sends the opposite message:  “Clean is Beautiful; Let’s Keep it Clean!”

The one young lady, Laudi, saw us working and stopped to help us.  She is here in Mozambique for a month teaching all kinds of music at a primary school and will be returning to Argentina next week.  She talked about how music feeds our soul!  The older gentleman pictured is Brother Castelo Branco.  His birthday was Saturday and he turned 83!

After the project, the Hobsons invited us to go dutch-treat to Mimmos, which was right across the street from the white modern building you see pictured below, for lunch.  Even though the building on the right is old, it is certainly more colorful and a woman, on one of its balconies, noticed us looking up at her, and she waved to us!   Mozambique people are genuinely friendly.

This Sunday we attended both the Maputo 1 and Maputo 2 branches.   

I went to the Primary in both branches.  I met a few of the children and learned their names and some of the leaders’ names while waiting for Sacrament Meeting to begin.  Dad came with me to Primary for the last group of meetings.  They asked us to introduce ourselves, and then, the leader had the children greet us in unison, “Bem vindo, Elder e SisterTidwell.”  During their lesson, the teacher asked Dad to share with the children an experience about obedience!  He did a great job!!  We really enjoyed singing the Primary songs with the children.  Especially touching was singing “Meu Pai Celestial Me Tem Afeição” (“Heavenly Father Loves Me”).  It was one of the songs they were practicing for their Sacrament Meeting presentation.   Here is a picture of the Maputo 1 Primary and a picture of little Heringues Pedro Yessa and his mother Margarida Sustino Yessa.

Being in their Sacrament Meetings takes us back to our New York City experience.  At the beginning of the meeting the one conducting the meeting says, “Irmãos e Irmãs, bom dia!”  The congregation responds with a hearty “Bom dia!”  Every speaker does the same at the beginning of their talk! “Bom dia!”

Remember the bells we said we’d heard bells and we didn’t know where they were coming from? Sister Hobson pointed out a church down the street where she thought they may be coming from.  However, the bells we had heard seemed to be really near.  They reminded us of the bells we heard when we stayed in Mühlhausen, Germany.  Only the German bells kept ringing and they were so beautiful.  Well, we continued to hear the bells at random times.  This week we solved the mystery!  It was Dad’s phone’s ringtone!  He had wondered why he had missed calls when we hadn’t heard it “ring”.   Needless to say, we changed the phone’s ringtone!!

4 - 11 Aug 2013 NewMissionaries,Driving,Beach,MoveApt

Last Sunday evening we ate dinner at the Hobsons with the office elders.  The Hobsons, if you haven’t gathered already, have been our lifeline on many occasions! 

The office elders told us that 11 new missionaries were expected on Monday evening.  Since President and Sister Kretly would be out of town until late Tuesday evening, Dad and I we were asked to host the new missionaries until they returned.  Monday morning we found out our role would be a little more extensive.  We were asked to plan, buy and make Monday evening snack, 2 breakfasts, and 2 dinners for 16 missionaries. So, we made menus and we were off to Premier again, but this time following Elder Hobson, who volunteered to lead us there, as he also had to go to the store for a few things.  Our shopping took a couple of hours, which was great, because it helped us become really familiar with the store. We returned safely from the store and were surprised that Isabelle Guilamba, the Kretly’s maid, had prepared a dessert and bread. She helped me bake a chocolate cake for Tuesday dinner dessert, too.

The missionaries in this group are exceptional!  Susie, Karen, and Sharon, do you remember the Poyfairs from Vancouver?  Well, one of the missionaries was Elder Poyfair from Spokane, Washington.  His uncle is Ed Poyfair and his grandmother is Penny Poyfair, who is married and lives in Utah!  Small world!  Another Elder in this group is Elder Boone Christianson, grandson of Helen Christianson and Moreno & LaVinia Robins in our ward.  Here are a few pictures of our group of missionaries at the Mission Office on training day, at Mundos Pizza for lunch, and later enjoying the spaghetti dinner.

After much agonizing over driving, Richard talked to President Kretly. President Kretly offered that the mission could find an on-call driver to take us in our vehicle where we needed to go. He also said that instead we could have the Secretaries or the Assistants to the President give us rides as they were available. Rather than managing a driver and a vehicle, Richard preferred for us to take rides as available from the missionaries.

We walked down to the water near the Mission Office and found a little stretch of beach.  We’ll be going back soon, I hope, to find a longer beach front to walk.  Of course, I found a few shells!!

I am loving seeing the different flowers and trees they have here, including Bouganvillea Hibiscus. 

At the end of the week we got into 5th floor apartment on Avenida 24 de Julho.  We have been doing lots of shopping, moving furniture and other possessions, the missionaries moved furniture and other possessions and cleaned the apartment for us!  Friday the office elders moved our suitcases to the apartment and we were “home” to stay.  It was like being newly married, unpacking the new pans and silverware and other things the mission purchased for our apartment.  Making meals here feels like I am playing house.  After lots of organizing, but we have most everything in place, except for hooking up the washer and dryer.  Electricity has been pre-paid, for we think about 2 months, and we’ve signed up for the Internet, which is supposed to be installed Monday morning.

 

This is a country of contrasts; and it is very humbling.  Here we are in a large apartment building and as I wash dishes and look out of our large kitchen windows, I see other families.  One woman is also washing dishes outside of her tin-roofed home next to her clothes line filled with clothes.  Another woman is adjusting the blanket of a toddler who is on the ground being tended by an older child.  Three geese waddle around; children play in and out of the pathways in between the shelters. Several times a day we hear the Muslim call for prayer, on Saturday evening this week we hear loud music way into the early morning hours, and we’ve also heard bells, but we don’t know where they are coming from.  Most stores and apartments have security guards (government buildings have armed guards).  Some streets are neatly covered with pavers all in place and the street is immaculately cared for; on other streets the pavers are broken, missing, and they are littered with garbage.

President Kretly realizes it is quite the culture shock for Western young people and couples who come to Mozambique to serve missions.  He emphasized, when talking to the new missionaries:  We are not here to help the people materially; we are here to help them spiritually. It makes no difference, eternally, if you have dirt or tiled floors, what makes a difference is how you live your life.  Are you following Christ, his gospel and his example of how to treat each other? Are you applying the principles of faith and repentance? Are you preparing to live again with Heavenly Father?  He urges us not to look at the trash or poverty, but look at the people as Christ would look at them. 

Saturday & Sunday we attended Maputo District meetings.  The front of the chapel was draped with colorful capulanas.  We feel we are very blessed to have been here for a district conference, since they aren’t held very often. President Kretly spoke about not needing to be commanded in all things and not tiring of doing good.  President Cook of the South East Africa Area Presidency talked of the purpose of physical facilities:  (1) provide places of worship and feel the Spirit, and (2) present the image of reverence and dignity in the community.  He reminded us that we should bring people to feel the Spirit at the Church rather than to just visit the Church. He said the growth of the Church in South East Africa is greater than the traditional plans for buildings can keep up with.  He described a modular approach for temporary church buildings in 2014 that would allow more flexibility and put more churches in areas close to members’ homes.

Sister Kretly gave 6 points to strengthen our families: (1) make our homes like a temple; work towards making covenants in the temple; (2) refrain from arguing; it takes 2 to argue; don’t be a part of it and it will stop; (3) a child who sings can feel the gospel; (4) be generous with our hugs – sometimes we only need a hug to feel support; (5) read the Book of Mormon; live what they teach, not just know them; (6) our home can be a piece of heaven.

In the Sunday youth meeting, President Kretly said that the future of the Church is in the hands of the youth.  Youth need to prepare now to serve missions, gain education (including Seminary) to be able to support a family, marry in the temple and serve in Church callings. The only thing you keep is what is in you; you can’t take your cell phones, your video games, or headphones and music with you.  Use your time to do important things that matter eternally.  He also emphasized the importance of understanding and following the standards outlined in “For the Strength of Youth” pamphlet.  You can’t live with one foot in the world and the other foot in the Church.  You reap what you plant.

In the general session, there were about 1,000 people present – the large chapel room and two over-flow rooms which had video and audio.  The District President told about the growth of the district since the last conference in February.  Almost fifty men were sustained to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood.  He also said that soon there would be 13 full-time missionaries serving from the district, the highest ever for Mozambique. The gospel is going forth like the rock cut out of the mountain (Daniel 2:44-45).  He encouraged members to share the gospel and put their arms around the new members.  We heard the confident testimonies of selected youth and newly married and newly baptized couples.

Sister Kretly spoke about raising families unto the Lord.  We don’t want any empty chairs (cadeiras vazias) in our eternal family.  President Kretly gave a strong testimony of the growth of the gospel in Mozambique.  Twenty missionaries were added to the mission this week, the largest number ever.  Moses parted the Red Sea for the children of Israel to escape from the Egyptians. Some people explain away this miracle – that it was only a huge wind that parted the waters.  Satan tries hard to deceive us; we must try harder.  The Savior will win!  We need to recognize the miracles in our lives.  The eyes of the Lord are on Mozambique and we are experiencing miracles here.  President Kretly closed his talk by showing the “It’s a Miracle” video we shared with you earlier this week via email.  This video is also linked on this blog and on President Kretly’s blog.

We felt the Spirit in the talks, testimonies and music in the meetings. The saints and the choirs, which for the conference consisted mostly of young people, sing the hymns with vigor and enthusiasm.

Here are some pictures of missionaries and members in the Maputo District.  The women in purple capulanas were one of the choirs. The little girl in the last picture was dressed in a Cinderella shirt and a red tutu.  Here name is Melody and her Mom is Angelina.