Our First Week Celebration

We have been here 1,um, whole week. Wow! Now that went by fast.  The first thing we did was look into the pump problem. We found a bad switch which fixed part of the problem.
 Last week in church was so delightful and we were introduced to the branch. We are in Maputo 2 branch. 2 branches, Maputo 1 &,2 meet in this building. It is so awesome to see the active families that come with all their young men in white shirts. It is also fun to see the Elders and their investigators. There are 6 elders just 3or 4 doors down from us. One is from Chile. He is really blown away by this country even with the poverty he knows from chile.
I will try to get their pictures.

Our room nicely decorated

We had a senior couples conference this last week. It was in vilanculos. The conference was nice.We met the other couples serving in Mozambique. They are from lef,t us from spanish fork, the Banks from Chino,Ca., The Ross's from South Carolina, the Belini's from Sao Paolo, Brasil, the Spendloves from St George, The Hall's from Idaho Falls and the Osborne's from Alaska.I was so surprised how young the sisters and Elders were who were serving. Sister Banks and Sister Osborne are in their early 50's sister Spendlove is in her 40's. They are great people, so dedicated and more are needed.  It was fun to get to meet them. Some of them have only been here a month longer than us and are way out in the  middle of nowhere. Because of our welfare call we will travel and will get to visit them more often.
The beach resort was very interesting.  The tides are very strange here and fluctuate at very odd intervals. It can be a very low tide for a very long time and the next thing you know it it high tide. In an hour or so  later it is low tide again. and vice versa.


The drive up and back were interesting as well. IT was good for us to learn more about the country and culture. We were gone 3 days 2 of which were driving. We were driving home on Thanksgiving and so we stopped at a Kentucky Fried  Chicken ,if you can believe that... i never go there. That was an experience.

women selling things outside a city.

This is a Taxi. This one is very empty. It is raining all day.

In a small city

villages along the way

I learned the villages are much cleaner than the streets of Maputo and some other small cities you go through.

Little villages are just  out in the trees along the way. There are stands and places people just sit up and down the road trying to sell whatever they grow or find or purchase to sell.

  All along this 10 hour stretch there are people just walking or carrying things or riding a bike with a package way out in the middle of nowhere (or so it seems).

When we returned to Maputo we got back to work on water and  found each morning our tanks were empty. We think the guards are  selling our water to the neighbors below in the night. Every morning our 5000 liter tank is empty.
So they now know we are back and we have been  watching  and they know they will get fired if they get caught so last night for the first time our water did not disappear. That was important as today is Sunday and we need it for the bathrooms in (rather out) of the chapel.


I am including some pictures of my neighbors who live below us.   They loved me taking their pictures. They love to catch the water come out of the pipe from the font (we have an outside font) after a baptism. 

Today at church in R. S. I signed up for Christmas party to bring food and be a secret sister. We will have a gift exchange. Problem. What do I give as a gift?   I can also sign up to model a capalana. I passed on that one. 
I Love the Relief Society meetings. They are so spiritual.  I can not understand everything but the teachers give the lesson just holding the manual and going through it with the sisters. Their discussions are very spiritual. Each comment is so humble \ I can feel the spirit and love in those meetings so strong. One sister , Sister Castanhada  (not sure how to spell it) is the district Pres. wife. (like stake pres.). She is so sweet and comes each week with her 6 children in sunday best. She has 4 boys the oldest being  11 and they come in suits and white shirts and her 2 girls are dressed  so cute. She lives out in the jungle.   One day she said to me ' One day you will come out to the jungle and we can be in my home and talk about you having  8 children and me having 6children'. ? Does she Sound familiar to anyone?
It also was the Primary program. It was universal and wonderful. What I mean is that all the same things hold true as in our own ward. Boys don't want to sing, Some kids are just a hoot, Some just started to cry and all the parents had their eyes and hearts glued on their kids. It was wonderful. Different was this ...the kids all wore a Capalana of some kind, even the boys, with a hair piece also. They all matched And The parents took pictures before sacrament mtg in the chapel.

SO john and I are spending this first week cleaning out every closet in this Apartment. It was so full of saved items from many past mission presidents and missionaries that the clutter is in the way of the work. We emptied out every closet and cupboard one at a time. So our living room is full of  all sorts of things from binders of projects from 2001, an Old projector, broken printers,  an old Franklin 2E computer monitor to broken food processors, blenders over purchased office supplies,and a closet full of first aid kits. And we have 10 copies of Mr. Krugers Christmas  on VHS and more.
So this week we need to hustle as we have to get up north again as soon as we can to check a well.
Wish us luck as you know how well we organize. Where is Mandy, Katy and Alejandra when you need them.

outside of Maputo Chapel.and 4th floor is distribution.

3rd floor is our apt.4th floor is very small.

back yard of church property well kept.

Back of Chapel showing baptism font uncovered.

font

bathrooms are outside. Inside ones not working. Main doors were stolen off bathrooms.

 I know this seems like a travelogue but this first week was spent doing a lot of getting to know people and surroundings. When they kept pounding this into us at the MTC I thought it would be unimportant. I thought 'Not John and I. We will just hit the ground running'. Ha. ha. ha. So much to learn about your new life and people. It will take time. But we LOVE it.