On Monday we went on errands instead of grocery shopping,
since Hobsons were in Beira. I agreed to
teach the Relief Society sister how to crochet, so I needed to find another store
that sold yarn, plus I didn’t know if the one store I had purchased yarn also
sold crochet hooks. We also wanted to
find some fabric to make a curtain for the laundry room at the Mission Office. A colorful capulana would be just the right
size! We couldn’t find the capulana
store Yara & Lumiana had taken me to a few weeks ago, so we went to the
large fabric store and looked at capulanas there. On the way we stopped at a PEP store. PEP stores are all over the city. They are like a Shopko with an emphasis on
clothes. I found a skirt I liked and 2
blouses! As we checked out, we gave a
pass-along card to the cashier, who looked questioningly at our name tag.
Missionary opportunities come up
regularly. At the fabric store, we
purchased a capulana and, when I checked out, I asked the cashier if there was
a store nearby that sold yarn. She was a
beautiful Indian lady and she explained that
I would find yarn at Retrosiria Fakir, a store just around the corner on the
same block! This little shop was
pack-full of sewing notions of all kind.
There was a button wall (like the one at the Valencia store in
Nelspruit); yarn and crochet thread (up high above the button wall); rows of
ribbon, lace, elastic, trim; sewing thread, etc. It was pretty claustrophobic in there, but we
wended our way and a helpful man helped me find 2 balls of heavy-weight crochet
cotton. Another young man showed me
their collection of crochet hooks. Since
I hadn’t made the final decision on what the sisters would make for their
beginning project, I didn’t purchase yarn or crochet hooks. Next, we went to the fabric store way down
Avenida 24 Julho and I found a piece of super fun fabric for the laundry room
curtain – it had colorful pictures of fruit on it!
Monday afternoon Yara came to make brownies and Vanessa came
to make cinnamon rolls. Richard is SO
glad I am helping them with cookies, because it means a couple of brownie pans
to lick and cinnamon rolls for us!
Maybe it won’t happen until the grandchildren go to a
third-world country, but I hope they get some kind of idea by the things we
write in this blog, how very blessed they are to be born into the families they
have. Young people here have a very
difficult life. Yara, for example, who
is preparing her mission papers, has little if any encouragement from
her parents. With blessings come
responsibility and when you see a young person in Mozambique preparing to
serve, you know it is for the right reason. They feel so grateful for the
knowledge of the gospel, they want others to know the transformation the gospel
has made in their lives. While we were
waiting for brownies to cook, Yara and I sang songs. She was especially interested in learning “Come,
Come, Ye Saints.” I explained about the pioneers and their great sacrifice to
get to the Salt Lake Valley. “Why should
we mourn and think our lot is hard? ‘Tis
not so! All is well!” She said, “This is my song today!”
4 new missionaries arrived from the Provo MTC on
Tuesday. That evening Sister Gimo brought the dress she
needed lengthening. The one dress she
had asked about had multiplied to 2 dresses and one flared skirt which needed
lengthening!
On Wednesday, our main project for the morning was to put up
the new vinyl map on the President’s Transfer Board. Remember, we purchased the map in
Nelspruit. It was quite a process, but
we did it. The new map is very
professional, includes both Swaziland and Mozambique, and highlights the 3
mission centers of strength: Maputo,
Beira, and Swaziland. While the map was drying, we inventoried missionary
proselyting pamphlets. Here is the before, during and after!
During the 2 hours it took to get to the office I had sewn most
of the curtain rings on the curtain I had finished that morning. The
new curtain looks great!
Pick-up times and arrival times back to our apartment in the
evenings have varied greatly the past couple of weeks!
On Saturday, I brought one of my green sandals to the
shoe-repairman who sets up shop on Josina Machel, the same street as the Maputo
2 chapel. Yes, he assured me, I can fix
it! I did this Portuguese conversational
feat all by myself, as Richard had gone to the chapel. Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles, he
understood me! I would return on Monday
with another slipper which needed repairing!
We went to lunch with Hobsons to Café Sol on Saturday. I tried a new item: Ratatouille, a vegetable stew served with
rice. It was very good. On Saturdays, there are craft booths at Café Sol
and Ann and I looked at the beautiful things which were for sale. The creativity of the things in the Ruth Hanon booth
caught my eye: water-color paintings,
cards, clever zipper necklaces, pins, rings, bibs, stuffed animals, purses,
bags, and a children’s book with her illustrations.
I bought a pin, which I think I’ll use as a pin cushion, and
a copy of the children’s book: "O Coração
Apaixonado de Embondeiro" ("The Passionate
Heart of the Baobab"). The book is a
collection of six Mozambican stories about the Baobab tree. I am anxious to spend some time translating
it so I can relate these stories to my grandchildren. Ruth
autographed the book “Para Tidwell netos, com muito carinho! Espero que gostem
delas historias moçambicanas. Ruth, Maputo, agosto 2014.”
On the way home we went to the Central Market and bought
some delicious green grapes! We haven’t
seen grapes at Premier for a long time. I almost purchased a mango, but the young man
at the booth said that it wasn’t the sweet variety we have in Mozambique. This one was from Israel – plus it cost 300
MT (10 USD)!!! Outside the market are
lots of walking venders. I saw a blue
and white capulana I liked, so soon we were surrounded with other vendors who
wanted to get their share of our money! We
also stopped by the bay on the way home.
I spent most of the rest of Saturday sewing – lengthening two
dresses and a skirt. The skirt was of
shiny slick material and I knew it would be very tricky to do, especially for
the 160” around the hem! I ended up
having to borrow Sister Kretly’s machine, from Sister Hobson, to sew it. I watched a couple of YouTube videos and I learned the trick of sandwiching the
seam in between strips of tissue paper -
otherwise the machine wanted to eat the fabric!
By the evening I was conqueror!
On Sunday at Church we sat by Sofia, the waitress at the Chinese
Restaurant. I learned her birthday is
September 27, so we had the President and the Secretaries make a note of
it! That afternoon we called Brother
Jambane and asked if we could go visit him.
Since we didn’t know if we’d be able to find out way there alone, he met
us down the street and he led us to his home.
Brother Jambane loves plants and animals and he has lots of rock doves
which live in boxes on his patios.
We had a good time sharing our recent trip to the
Lowveld Botanical Garden, Nelspruit. He
told us about a park we should visit here in Maputo. We talked about morçegos (bats), pangolim
(scaly anteater), and got seeds from his Maravilha plants (Four o’clocks). He has lots more cages full of rabbits than the last time we visited. He gave us a Massala fruit (of "Lion King" fame) to take home.
Do you know what you call flowers which open in the morning
and close at night? Well, Brother
Jambane calls them “Bom Dia Flowers!” -
very appropriate name!
Friday through Sunday was the first Youth Conference held in
the Beira District. 200 young people
participated!
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