19-25May2014 HotWater,Fatima,Inspect,Crislerio&Joanna

Since it had been two weeks since we did our shopping, we ran up quite a bill at the grocery story this week.  The celery we purchased was heavy on the greenery, so I decided to take Sister Dille’s advice and dry the leaves in the oven.  Now I have crushed dried celery to use for flavoring.  I have looked for celery salt, but haven’t been able to find any here.

By Monday evening we had a functioning water heater!

During our lesson with Milo and his wife, their little boy Mileno had fun playing with the fabric ball I made him.  This week I have been preparing visual aids for the Salvados to use in teaching.

I’ve been busy this week with baptismal fichas.  We had a total of 60 baptism so far for May; we will hear the numbers of the last week in May at Staff Meeting on Tuesday.

This week we received a letter from Zoe she wrote on 26 April.  She included her journal entry for the last day of Easter Pageant.  Her letter conveyed the Spirit so strong.  We are so thankful that she and her family have had this great experience.

I finished my Minha Familia booklet this week.  I hope to add the short histories on FamilySearch this week. 

Family History classes are becoming a little tricky.  Since we teach on Sunday afternoon and Wednesday evening, we never know who is going to show up for each day.  This week, David, one of our students who has had all of the lessons, arrived first.  After we started showing him some “extra” FamilySearch how-to videos, Crislerio’s family, who are investigating the Church, arrived.  [They had come for the Sunday class, so I didn’t think they would come on Wednesday night, too!] I was uncertain what to do, so I continued to show the how-to video on adding Photos to FamilySearch.  It was exactly what David needed.  He recalled that his family had group photos taken at marraiges and other important events that he had seen at his relatives’ houses.  He didn’t know you could add group pictures to FamilySearch and tag the individual people!  Then, while looking at the roll, I asked Crislerio and Joanna if they would like to have the rest of Lesson 1.  They had had only one part of it on another day they attended.  It turned out to fit the situation.  David said he wanted to stay, even though he had had that lesson.  We had a great lesson on “Why do we do Family History?” and answered a lot of questions.  Sister Hobson wanted a picture for the mission history, so we staged this one!

Staff Meeting was on Thursday this week.  Elder Cummings gave the spiritual thought on one of the 10 principles he learned from his Dad before he passed away from colon cancer:  “The Broken Window Effect.”  If you come upon a house with a broken window, you might have the attitude that it’s okay to break all of the windows.  If everyone in the town had a similar attitude, the town would become run-down and no one would want to live there.  If, however, you came upon the house and had the attitude to fix the window, and if everyone had that same attitude the town would be beautiful and well-kept and everyone would want to live there.  It is all in your attitude:  If you think you can, or, if you think you can’t – you’re right!  This principle also emphasizes the Power of Example.  At Staff Meeting we talked about an exciting change in the mission, but it isn’t official until tomorrow.  So, stay tuned!!!

Right after Staff Meeting, one of the AP’s told me that a lady was outside wanting to see me.  It was Fatima – she was the housekeeper in the house right in back of the Mission Office.  When she would come outside to hang the clothes, she and I would wave to each other.  She had such a nice smile! One of the days she was out, I called to her out the window and asked her name and she told me it was Fátima.  Well, the next week I noticed that she wasn’t coming out anymore and I asked the guard if he knew why.  The guard knew Fatima and explained that the family she worked for had moved and Fátima didn’t have the job anymore.  I asked the guard to say “Hello” to her if he saw her again.  Well, the guard saw her this week and made it possible for us to officially meet each other.  Smiles and "Hello" waves really do have power to unite people!

We made our first surprise missionary house inspection this week in Matola.  The President wants us to do a return visit before transfers the first of June to see if they have followed through with the suggested we gave them.  Missionaries are trusted to keep their houses/apartments clean. “We teach them correct principles and they govern themselves.”  When that trust is broken, then the trust needs to be reestablished.

On the way back through the neighborhood, the AP's drove past this beautiful tree and I had to have them turn around so I could take a picture of it.  As you see, it is covered in big white blossoms.  I've looked in the Africa Tree book I purchased, but can't find anything quite like it.  That's OK.  I can still enjoy it!   I wonder if the Tree in Lehi's (and Nephi's) Vision of the Tree of Life first had beautiful white blossoms before the white fruit formed? :)

Another 12-year old was sustained to receive the Aaronic Priesthood today in Sacrament Meeting.  The Branch President commented on the large group of Deacons and said they are our future missionaries. Here is a picture of the Deacons and Teachers in the Maputo 2 branch.

After Church we took these photos of Crislerio’s family: Tynara, Crislerio, David, Joanna.

This weekend we have had Elder Biddulph with us while he recovers from being sick.  He helped straighten up our “storage room” so he’d have a place to sleep!

I organized Brother Castel-Branco's family history papers this week.  His direct line on his father’s side goes to India and then Portugal and then to Spain in the 1600’s!  

12 - 18 May 2014 OpenHouse,Dilles,FHTraining,JuniorDeacon

Before I begin this week’s blog, I wanted to add that during our Mother’s Day calls Emily’s family sang to us “Love One Another,” “A Child’s Prayer,” and “I Often Go Walking.”  Zoe’s families sang to us “Mother, I Love You” and a new verse of “The Army of Helaman” for Mother’s Day:

Our mothers know the scriptures are true by their example we learn in our youth.

Their faith is strong, so ours too will be.  Our mothers know it and so do we!

The Hobsons were In South Africa, so we didn’t go shopping on Monday.  I spent most of the day preparing to teach the Salvado couple who have been called as the Family History Consultants/Teachers for the Magoanine branch.  It went very well!  They have a darling family:  a baby girl, Helaine, and a little boy, Miléno.  This week I also helped one of the office elders expand his Family Tree by adding generations which already existed on FamilySearch and hadn’t been connected properly.  All of the missionaries have been given the assignment to fill out their own Minha Familia booklet before the next Zone Conference.  A few minutes of their Mother’s Day call was to be used to get some of the information and ask their families to send them more information.  I have been working on my booklet, too.

This week’s major concern has been our broken water heater.  We stayed home on Tuesday and Wednesday hoping that the people, who the building manager said would come to look at it, would come!  Well, we stayed home for nothing, because no one came!  I must admit that on Tuesday I was pretty put-out about the waiting thing.  I guess I failed the “Be grateful in your circumstances” as we were admonished to be by President Uchtdorf in his General Conference address.  I promised to do better on Wednesday, and I did.  We had kept pretty busy with our work here at the apartment, but we were anxious to be back on our regular schedule.  Thank goodness for the Hobsons who lent us a key to their apartment so we could shower at night – they were in South Africa for a Humanitarian Missionary Training Conference.  On Tuesday we attended Staff Meeting via “GoToMeeting” software.  On Wednesday, Richard went with the elders to purchase a washing machine and refrigerator for the new apartment for the sister missionaries.  I went to the Distribution Center and helped Maria organize boxes.  She was very grateful for my help.  For our Wednesday night class, we helped the two students with their Minha Familia histories.

Here is one solution to full dumpsters:  set fire to them!  New dumpsters were in place by the next morning!

As we were waiting for the Elders to pick us up on Thursday morning, the building manager and an assistant wanted to see our water heater.  So, Richard took them up.  When they came back they told us that the water heater couldn’t be fixed – it would have to be replaced.  Well, not to go into all the ins and outs of that, I will give you a sneak peek to the next week’s events.  The mission hired someone to replace the water heater and it was accomplished the next Monday.

This week we prepared our visual aids and our presentation about Family History and Temple Work for the Matola Open House we would be involved in on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings.  Our presentation centered around the Minha Familia booklet.  Since neither of the office elder duplas was going to Matola for the Open House from 4 p.m. – 8 p.m., the office elders hired a taxi for us!  The taxi driver was very personable and, in addition to being paid his 800 MT about $27, we explained about the Church and gave him a Minha Familia pamphlet!   

The attendance at the Open House was slow.  We’re glad we were involved though, because those who did come to our room were very interested.   It reminded me a little of our MTC experience when we “taught an investigator” about a particular topic we were assigned.   However, this time we got to choose our topic and it was shorter than the MTC scenario.  We figured out about a 4-minute (Portuguese, of course) presentation, which included a short video, that we did “missionary style” – each of taking turns talking.  I thought it was fun!  We got home pretty late that evening.  The elders being stopped for about a half hour by the police on the way home didn’t help!  Guess who ended up with a Minha Familia booklet?!!

On Friday morning when I was in the kitchen getting ready for the day, I looked over on the sidewalk and saw a boy who was playing with his shadow.  He was dancing, walking, waving his hands and doing kicks and jumps.  He was having a wonderful time with his shadow!  I remember loving to play “Shadow Tag” with my neighborhood friends.  If you stepped on someone’s shadow they were “It” so they tried to get into the shade where there wasn’t any shadow.   This might be a fun activity for your family!

Elder and Sister Dille, the Medical couple in the Mission, arrived late Friday morning at the Mission Office to receive Family History Training from us on Friday and Saturday.  The first day of training I went over the Family History materials and the 4 lessons we teach.  It’s a good thing we didn’t need the Internet for that part of training, because the Internet was down at the office.  The Internet usually comes back soon, but not that day.  We took a break for lunch at President and Sister Kretly’s.  She had made delicious beef to put over rice, along with tossed green salad, chicken salad for sandwiches on homemade bread which Isabel had baked.   We continued our training at the office afterwards.  Elder Dille and President Kretly were called away to help one of the missionaries, so we delayed going to the Open House until they returned.  When it was apparent they would be delayed longer, we went to our apartment to finish training, because we needed the Internet for a few things.   On the way we stopped to watch the sun go down with Sister Dille.  The sunset really was magnificent!

By the time we got home it was 5:30.  Since the day was getting late and the traffic was now bumper to bumper, we realized it would take us about an hour-and-a-half to get to Matola.  At that point, there would only be an hour left of the open house, so, we decided we’d call the elders and tell them we wouldn’t be coming. 

On Saturday morning we continued our training at our apartment and Sister Kretly joined the Dille’s.  This was the day for online training on FamilySearch.  We learned all about FamilySearch accounts, using the Helper Access Number, and how to add Minha Familia information to FamillySearch and photos, histories, and documents.  

Richard and I made a delicious dinner with chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, cole slaw, jello salad – peanut butter bars for dessert.  We concluded the day by participating again in the Matola Open House.

Which one is the moon?

Sunday was a better experience than usual.  I brought my Kindle with the English version of the Teachings of Joseph Fielding Smith.  Following along with the Portuguese version, I understood a lot more than usual.  I should have tried this method weeks/months ago!  In the lesson the teacher recalled an African song/chant which she knew and I asked one of the sisters to write it down for me.

Aleluia, Agradeço a Deus me deu uma coisa muito importante.

Tudo podem levar, mas a minha fé, não podem levar.

Hallelujah, Thank God who gave me a very important thing.

You can take everything, but you cannot take my faith!

I’m going to ask a group of sisters to sing it for me so I can record it!

Months ago Brother Castelo-Branco in the branch explained that he had many family history papers and he wanted some help to sort them out so that he would know what he should do next.  I offered to help him and prayed that he’d be able to find the papers.   Every few weeks I asked him if he had found them.  Well, this week he asked if I had received them?  He had given them to one of the counselors in the branch presidency.   Well, we tracked the papers down and I will be going over them this week.  I am anxious to get started!

We had a unique Sacrament Meeting.  After the opening song and prayer, announcements, and sustainings there were 9 confirmations!  Then the Priesthood administered and passed the Sacrament.  Then the branch president asked the most recent couples who joined the Church to share their testimonies. Brother Anselmo, the husband of the couple who have been faithfully attending Church and participating in all of the programs for a year, testified of the unifying effect the gospel has been to their family.  He thanked the branch members for their support and good example to them as they came every week to Church.  The rest of the planned speakers were asked to give their talks next week, and the meeting was closed with a song and prayer.

One of the people sustained Sunday was Junior – he turned 12!  He has been waiting for this day!  Here is junior (on the left) and his friend Zacarias after Junior received the Aaronic Priesthood and was ordained to the office of a Deacon.

For our Sunday evening Family History class, we had one family come, Crislerio and Joanna.  They brought their little baby David with them and I got to hold him and he didn’t cry!  The lesson went well!   Each Mozambican family has many challenges they encounter when they try to trace their ancestry.  We continually stress that “we do what we can” and then depend on the Lord to prepare a way to accomplish this great work of exaltation.  1 Nephi 3:7 “I will go and do the things which the Lord commandeth, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way, that they may accomplish the things which he commandeth them." 

It's fall here in Mozambique and the chrysanthemums are in bloom just like they bloom in the fall at home!

5 - 11 May 2014 TransferBoard,AnselmosMarried,HotWater,MayFair

This week’s Staff Meeting spiritual thought was about choosing the “best” things to be engaged in every day.  Elder Poyfair began with Alma 32 and related how Alma began teaching one group of people and then another group asked him a question.  That question conveyed to him that this second group was more prepared for his message, so he turned his attention to them.  (Alma 32:7)  Because of him being so in tune with the Spirit, Alma gave this humble (and us) the important message about planting and nourishing the word of God.  Elder Poyfair also quoted Elder Oaks’ talk about “good, better and best.”  We can fill our time with many “good” things, but it is our challenge to prioritize and spend our valuable time doing the “best” things – things of lasting worth.

This week we continued to develop the training for the new missionary application process.  Also, we updated the portion of the transfer board that displays Mozambicans who have been called to serve missions.  There are currently 40 who are serving or have received calls to serve.

We had a very successful Family History class on Wednesday evening – we finally had Internet access!!!  I showed how photos and documents can be added to FamilySearch. 

The other day on the way to the office, we saw a man carrying a tall stack of hats he was selling.  It reminded me of the children’s book Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina.  Sorry, couldn't get the camera out quick enough!

When I see the people carrying their coolers, boxes, and other supplies to their corner selling areas, my mind goes back in time and I remember Zoe and Joseph when they would take their things to sell at Wymont Terrace.  The “chova” are metal carts which look much like pioneer handcarts.  You see them being pulled and pushed – they hold lots more than our traditional American wheelbarrow!

African Seasons:  We are now in Autumn – not distinguished by changing colored and falling leaves, however, but by the milder climate.  If you are interested, here is a look at African seasons:

Summer	Fall/Autumn	Winter	Spring
1 Dec  - 28 Feb January = Mid summer	1 March – 31 May	1 June – 31 Aug July = Mid winter	1 Sep – 30 Nov

[I just looked (27 August 2014) at a different website and it noted the seasons as:
Summer - mid Oct to mid Feb
Fall - mid Feb through April 
Winter - May through July
Spring - August to mid Oct]

With Mother’s Day coming up, I knew that if I was home I would be busy baking treats to have for the grandkids when they came to visit.  Since there were missionaries coming on Sunday to telephone and/or Skype with their families for Mother’s Day, I decided to keep my tradition alive and make treats!  So, on Thursday evening I made the dough for Kookie Brittle and Peanut Butter Bars.  I baked the treats on Friday in the mission office kitchen oven.  I also made cinnamon rolls on Saturday night.

Next week Elder and Sister Dille are coming from Beira to be given training in Family History.  I have planned the two-day schedule and hope it goes well.  I’ve never trained a consultant is such a short period of time.

On Saturday morning, we attended a planning meeting for an Open House to be held in Matola next Thursday, Friday, and Satrurday.  Elder Tidwell and I will prepare a room about Family History and Temples.  That’s the same weekend we’re doing family history training for the Dille’s, so we’ll have another very full week ahead.

We attended a beautiful wedding on Saturday afternoon.  This couple, Justino and Cacilde Anselmo, have been coming to Church and been faithful investigators for a year!  It has been a major challenge for them to get their marriage process approved.   The bride is a seamstress and made her and her daughters’ dresses.  The chapel was beautifully decorated.  There was an archway and a red carpet strewn with red and white rose petals which led the bride and groom to their places.  A special group of singers prepared songs complete with chants and dance steps which were sung while they entered the chapel, while they signed the documents, and when they left the chapel.  Following the wedding, the wedding party traveled to Matola for their celebration party.

We discovered our water heater was leaking on Saturday.  We caught it before we had a major flood, but because it happened on the weekend, it could not be reported until Monday. Notice it hangs from the ceiling.

Saturday late afternoon the Smith’s picked us up and took us with them to the May Fair 2014, which was like a carnival, at the American school.  There were craft booths of all kinds with things for sale, a stage where they were reading off winning numbers for a raffle, other entertainment, including face painting,  and lot of food and beverages for sale.  The playground was full of kids of all ages.   As we walked to the car we noticed the big moon.

Sunday was a busy Mother' Day.  Before we left for Church we took this picture of a collage of pictures of my Mom and my grandmothers and great grandmothers with the violet I had purchased in memory of my Mom. 

We attended a baptism, before Church, for the bride and groom who were married on Saturday.  Two children were also baptized and another single young man.  President Kretly performed the baptism for the groom. 

Following those services, Elder Tidwell and I went with President and Sister Kretly to the T-3 branch where President Kretly was to do Minha Familia training.  It is always a pleasure to accompany them; and it is a privilege to witness another masterful training on Minha Familia.  The 100 booklets were brought were all distributed and more are needed!  Good thing we received a large shipment of them so we can get more booklets to them very soon.  We remained for their Sacrament meeting before returning home to have dinner.

In the afternoon we attended another baptism of a family from the Maputo 1 branch.  Guess who was asked, out of the blue, to give the opening prayer?!   It was a pretty anxious time for me, but I did it! During the meeting, their youngest daughter sang a solo of both verses of “Families Can Be Together Forever.”  It was precious!

In the evening, some of the sister missionaries came to our apartment to call and Skype with their families for Mother’s Day. Of the treats (cinnamon rolls and peanut butter bars) I made, they liked the peanut butter bars the best, but Richard liked the cinnamon rolls!  

It wasn’t until after 10:15 p.m. that we were free to receive calls from our family!  Maybe we didn’t have “quantity” time with family, but it was “quality” time.  We were able to connect with everyone [Lyn had called a couple of days earlier] and we so much enjoyed the Mother’s Day wishes, special songs from the grandkids, and special remembrances.  Thank you everyone, so much for calling and Skyping.  It was so great to hear and talk to everyone and to get caught-up on all the wonderful things you are doing with your families.  We feel so blessed to have each one of you!  Earlier we had watched a beautiful Mother’s Day sunset!

28 Apr - 4 May 2014 GenConf,ChurchPictfromBalcony,Bananas

The subject of Sister Snelson’s spiritual thought in this week’s Staff Meeting was faith.  She reminded us of an important article on faith given by President Boyd K. Packer entitled “The Edge of the Light” (BYU Magazine, Mar. 1991)

Shortly after I was called as a General Authority, I went to Elder Harold B. Lee for counsel. He listened very carefully to my problem and suggested that I see President David O. McKay. President McKay counseled me as to the direction I should go. I was very willing to be obedient but saw no way possible for me to do as he counseled me to do.

I returned to Elder Lee and told him that I saw no way to move in the direction I was counseled to go. He said, “The trouble with you is you want to see the end from the beginning.” I replied that I would like to see at least a step or two ahead. Then came the lesson of a lifetime: “You must learn to walk to the edge of the light, and then a few steps into the darkness; then the light will appear and show the way before you.” Then he quoted these 18 words from the Book of Mormon:

“Dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.”

Those 18 words from Moroni have been like a beacon light to me. Let me put them in their setting:

And it came to pass that Ether did prophesy great and marvelous things unto the people, which they did not believe, because they saw them not. And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith. (Ether 12:5-6.)

During the 29 years following that experience, I have learned over and over again that all of us must walk by faith—near the edge of the light. Like Nephi, who said, “I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do” (1 Nephi 4:6), each of us must learn to take a few steps into the darkness of the unknown.”

This is an important concept, so I hope someone who is reading this is also benefited by our including it this week.

Every week at Staff Meeting this month, the AP’s have announced the number of baptisms and confirmations that occurred in the past week.  Every week has been from 20-30 baptisms, so it wasn’t surprising that the total for this month was over 100!!!  Every branch is experiencing growth and ¾ of the baptisms represent Families!  Since I am the one who entered the baptismal “Fichas” on the CDE program, there has been a steady stream of Fichas to enter into the computer.

The number of Mozambican Missionaries who have submitted their missionary papers is increasing and several have received their calls to serve.  Richard and I are helping Tualuo to review applications. 
 

A new form is now required for missionaries to submit, so we have been working together to get training materials to the Branch Presidents so they can begin using the new form.

We went on a quick errand to the GAME store with the elders on Wednesday.  Just inside the door was a beautiful display of flowers and a sign reminding customers that a week from Sunday is Mother’s Day, and that flowers were a perfect gift.  In addition to bouquets of colorful flowers, there was a pretty display of African Violets….  My Mom’s favorite flowers were African Violets, so it is funny, but true, that at that instant I made the connection between African Violets and Africa!!!   African Violet is the common name for Saintpaulias, which according to Wikipedia, are native to Tanzania, which is the country to the North of Mozambique, and southeastern Kenya.  This flower gets its name from the German nobleman who first discovered it in 1892, Baron Walter von Saint Paul-Illaire.

I really have been missing children and grandchildren lately, so the call from Lyn, movies from Emily and Tad, Skyping with Zoe, Paul and Peter, and a call from my sister Sharon have really meant a lot!

Thursday was a Mozambican holiday.  In the morning, we went to the chapel to view the Saturday afternoon session of conference, which we were unable to view last Saturday.

Attendance wasn’t the best, but it was good to sustain the Leaders of the Church and to hear the speeches again from Elders Nelson, Scott, Zivic, Zwick, and Cook.  I especially enjoying hearing Elder Cook’s talk again about Family History.  It gave us some ideas we can use to stimulate interest here.

One of the mission goals is to have as many Mozambican missionaries serving missions as we have missionaries serving in Mozambique.  Currently we have 39 Mozambican missionaries serving or have received calls to serve.  The application process has recently changed and Richard is coordinating training for the Branch Presidents.  So, we have been busy preparing charts comparing the previous and the new process, a checklist of documents, and a PowerPoint presentation.  We also are involved in reviewing the completed packet of documents from the branch presidents before sending them on to the Southeast Africa Area Office.

In all of the many times we have walked to the Maputo 2 chapel from our apartment, I don’t think we’ve included a picture so you can realize how very close we live to the chapel.  This picture is taken from our small kitchen balcony.  The Maputo 2 chapel is the building with the tall dark windows, about in the middle of the photo. You can see it better in the close-up.

We have been watching the industrious labor of one of our backyard neighbors.  He finished the brick wall around his home and then proceeded to put a metal roof on it.

I was going to wait until the height of the zucchini season to post this picture, but decided to share it this week.  In the grocery store, we often see (and purchase) tiny zucchini.  Having grown zucchini for many seasons, I know how difficult it is to catch zucchini at the 5-6” stage!  I figure it must be a way different variety than the ones we plant in Utah!

While out in the yard at the mission office the other day, I was intrigued watching a dragon fly perch on the end of one of the cactus’s succulent leaves.  The bananas are doing well!

Here is this week’s featured sunset: