Thursday, June 26, 2014

9 - 15 Jun 2014 YaraLumianaBaking,Beach,MaxixePlan,FathersDay

We took Elder Tidwell’s glasses in to be fixed early Monday morning, and by 3 p.m. we picked them up.  The one lens is pretty scratched up, but he is making do.

Yara needs to earn money for her mission, so she asked if I would help her with baking items she and her sister could sell.  Monday afternoon  was our baking day with both Yara and Lumiana. It was fun to make brownies and cupcakes with these young women!  Both items sold well!



As if not having the Internet for our Family History classes wasn’t enough…this week, right before we left to go teach our Magoanine consultant about online FamilySearch, the electricity in our apartment went down!  This does not happen very often!  The chapel still had power, but no Internet, so again we are delayed finishing up the training for that branch’s consultants.  That night we had cold cereal for dinner – the power returned about 8:30pm!

It has been predicted that June 2014 will be a record-breaking month for baptisms in the mission.  June 2013, when Angola was still part of the Mozambique Maputo Mission, there were 115 people baptized.   Well, it is the 2nd week of June and at Staff Meeting it was reported that there have already been 101 baptisms!

On Thursday morning we went with the office elders as they purchased mosquito nets for missionaries in Swaziland.  It was very interesting to accompany them to the open market and listen as they talked to vendor after vendor trying to negotiate a good price for the 20 mosquito nets we needed.

The weather has been cooler lately, but on Friday the wind died down and we decided to walk to the beach in the morning. 









On Friday we learned, by reading our names on the Branch Conference agenda, that we were going with a counselor in the mission presidency to Maxixe to help with their Branch Conference! This was a total surprise to us!!  An email confirmed it, though.   We were anxious to know what our part was, so we found out more from a phone conversation with him on Saturday morning.  Maxixe is a city on the coast half-way between Maputo and Beira!  Elder Tidwell had gone to Maxixe once before, with Elder Hobson. I was excited to see more of Mozambique, but knew it would be a lot of work to prepare.

We attended a baptism on Saturday morning.  Since a wedding was also planned for that morning, the baptismal service was held upstairs in a classroom.  The family being baptized showed a lot of perseverance that morning, I thought.  The weather was a little chilly that morning, the water in the font was especially cold and especially deep.  The wife had such a distressed look on her face as she entered the font and slowly descended the stairs into the cold water.  Their 9 year- old daughter couldn’t touch her toes to the bottom of the font, so she stood on the bottom step to be baptized.









We next attended the wedding, which was in progress in the chapel.  It was President Smith’s first.  There was lots of singing and dancing and Elder Tidwell took lots of little movies we will share. 




I got a chance to explain, in Portuguese, to the women who were sitting in back of us, why the phrase “Latter-day Saints” was in the name of the Church.  I love getting little chances to explain parts of the gospel.



During the baptismal service, which followed the wedding, Elder Tidwell received a call from the counselor in the Mission Presidency.  When he came back to the chapel he wrote down “We are not going to Maxixe.”  Another couple was going instead.  Well, one less thing to plan for!  I was rather looking forward to the trip, but Elder Tidwell was relieved.

Sometimes the family in back of our building has a long into-the-morning-party with loud music.  Such was the case on Saturday night. 

Well, hold onto your hat!  We found out we ARE going to Maxixe.  Elder Tidwell received word from President Gonçalves before he went to bed on Saturday night.  We'll be leaving at 6 a.m. Friday morning with President Gonçalves and returning Sunday evening.  Later in the week we received the details about our assignments.
  • Sister Tidwell - Teach R.S. "Tithes & Offerings"; be prepared to bear testimony on Family History and Temple Work; Talk in Sacrament Meeting Sunday.
  • Elder Tidwell - Teach Rapazes & Moças (Young Men / Young Women) "Blessings of the Priesthood";  be prepared to bear testimony on Family History and Temple Work; Talk in Sacrament Meeting Sunday. 


Sunday we invited the Hobsons and Solomon Smith for Sunday dinner in honor of Father’s Day.  We had chicken, baked potatoes, zucchini, a delicious and beautiful tossed green salad Sister Hobson made, homemade Parkerhouse rolls and an apple pie and ice cream for dessert. 



Both Elder Tidwell and I were happy to share this meal with other fathers and remember the important roles our fathers played in our lives.   




Richard enjoyed the calls and Skypes received for Father’s Day!

I had been working all week to pull together a Father’s Day surprise for Richard – his Minha Familia booklet filled out!  I had all the dates on my Ancestry Quest computer files and found many pictures of his ancestors on FamilySearch.  Since I have to print using his computer, it was a little tricky to find a time I could initiate a print job without him being right there watching.  Friday afternoon the opportunity came and I quickly brought up the page of photos I needed to print out, sent the print job, successfully ejected the flash drive and then quickly went downstairs to get the print job!  Success!  I had what I needed!  I glued in the pictures on Saturday morning, when Richard was gone to an early meeting.  Then I decided that I could put together a Treasure Hunt for him to find his Minha Familiar booklet.  I wrote each of the 10 clues on a plastic lid and then put everything away until I could work the activity into our Sunday evening.  When the time came, I had Richard step outside of the apartment in the stair well.  The only trouble was that I got SO mixed up putting out the clues.  I was taking such a long time to set it up, that I had to assure Richard that it was coming….  You see, Peter and Paul are the kings of Treasure Hunts in our family!  By following the clues backwards, I was able to be sure that everything was set up.  I remember Treasure Hunts at home, in our 280 East house and yard.  We’d let each of the kids have a turn to find the next clue, read it, and then lead the “pack” to the next location.  There were lots of giggles and excitement!   Richard’s Treasure Hunt was very calm in comparison!  He was very surprised and pleased with the Treasure.  



He had wanted to begin the booklet, but has been so busy he hasn’t been able to do it.  Now, he has only a few pictures to find and stories to write up before Zone Conference.  Each elder, sister, and each of the senior missionaries are to have their booklets completed as much as possible before Zone Conference which will be July 1st for the Maputo, Matola & Swaziland Zones.

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