August the month of Birthdays, Babies, Baptisms and Bye Bye's

I am not sure we will ever get used to this season switch! it is Winter when it should be summer and summer when it should be winter. Summer is coming and people are getting ready for the holidays.It is just too Wierd.

It seems weird for it to be Cold on My Birthday in August. Birthdays come and go but today I got an unexpected surprise and a visit from my friends.

Elders and Albertina surprise us with treats and a long Portuguese birthday song.

 Ujembes made me a batch of Foises and came for a visit.

Me, Manassa, Naldo, Benildo (Naldos brother), Paulo

I am sure these two were behind all of it.

BUT STARTING WITH TODAY!

 I will start with our day yesterday September 1st and then tell you about August.
Yesterday was Zone Conference but a very special one (again).

President Renlund,our area Seventy and President of the South East Africa Area, was here. He and his wonderful wife came to our Zone Conference and will visit a branch today and tonight we have a special devotional with them for the entire district. He did the same in the northern district last week.

Our Zone conference meetings were wonderful and our new president, Presidnt Kretly, wants us senior missionaries in attendance and has one of the missionaries translate for us.

 Departing are Ellsworth, Stewart, Jeffs, Leake and Nauman.

It was an amazing conference. The messages to the missionaries were wonderful and we learned so very much that will help us  in our mission.
One thing so touching was to hear the testimonies of the Elders who are leaving next Monday. We are really going to miss these guys. They are great. (Side Note: All us senior couples  have been helping to make arrangements for a special experience for the Elders  with the President before they return home. You will have to ask Elder Ellsworth what it is when he arrives home ;) We are soooo excited.

These guys will leave with Elder Workman in one week.

Especially Elder Ellsworth. He is from the Spanish Fork South Stake and it has been so great to get to know him better and then to hear his testimony. Wow! He has learned so much here. I hope the members of our Stake are able to hear this young man speak when he returns home. Just the lessons he has learned about himself on this mission are lessons for all of us.

 Elder Workman...We will miss this one. He is great.

 To Listen to Elder Renlund was so wonderful. A Special Witness of Jesus Christ.
We learned many things but one story he told stood out in my mind.
He was teaching us about the importance keeping the Sabbath Day Holy of taking the Sacrament Each Week.

Pres. and Sister Kretly, Pres. and sis. Renlund, E/S wollenzien and E/S Hall

They are over south east area Africa. The country of Rwanda was having some troubles and so the branch was disbanded because the country authorization was denied and the contracts for the buildings were denied.
The people were without a place to meet for about 8 months. He and Sister Renlund made arrangements to go visit the members. A week before they left for Rwanda , miraculously the authorization was given back to the church, they were able to rent their building again and Elder and Sister Renlund were able to start the branch again in Rwanda. The first Sunday they met together since the disbanding of the branch, he told us that the people came to the meeting 'So Hungry and Thirsty for the Sacrament'. It was so overwhelming to him he hung is head to think of how he has so often taken for granted the blessing of the sacrament each week and the opportunity to take it. He wanted to feel every week how these people were feeling at that time.
This one act each week is the ordinance we need to keep us on the right path to return to our Heavenly Father. It is what we need each week to 'keep us Un-spotted From The World'.

I know that we will be blessed with strength to endure the trials of life as we follow the savior and remember him by partaking of his gift of the sacrament and renewing our covenants with him.'
 

elder Hoffman, Keck, Adamson, Tanner.

After The conference we drove down the Marginal as the waves were going crazy because of the wind storm. So we had to take pictures.

Elder Bonds and Buddy

Elders on the marginal.

Well Today as I began to write about August I thought about birthdays as I have some pictures of my birthday from the first part of August.  So many people I know are born in this month. This month a week ago it was Two special birthdays on the same day!
First it is Bryce Christensens birthday and to us that will always be a special day.
We love you Bryce. Happy Birthday!

And second but Most Important to us is our Grand daughter Ellie's birthday was the same day.
                                                                      
We have been thinking about her a lot this month not that we don't think of each of our grand children every day but this last month Elle was on our mind.

When Elle was born I remember my daughter Mandy was able to be in attendance. When I arrived at the hospital to see the baby Mandy expressed how scarey it was that Elle was born so Blue and not breathing. She explained about the doctors reaction and Elle beginning to breathe.



This happens to many babies when they are born and we are so blessed to be in a country with such great healthcare and the birth doctors and nurses know exactly what to do and in most cases the baby is fine.
Not so in Mozambique.

This lack of knowledge is one of the highest causes of infant mortality in this  country.
Usually the baby is just laid aside while the mother is taken care of and it dies. Or it is resuscitated too late and suffers with other problems.

This simple procedure will sometimes be all it takes.

This month of August was mostly spent finishing and carrying out a great and successful  HBB project in Quelimane.
It is similar to Neonatal Resuscitation and I know you have all heard about the program. A team of specialistas come to teach (along with in country doctors if possible and this time it was) birth attendants from the area the procedures they need to know to save these children and help them set goals to train more in their area .
 
The Church donates all the equipment necessary for the training and more for a small supply to each hospital or clinic.
The simple procedures they learn are things done to  our babies here for many years.
This is why we thought so much of our ELLE.   
Happy Birthday Elle!

Heidi and Natercia training.

It
was
wonderful  because of the great people who came from the U.S. to train and the wonderful Birth Attendants, Nurses and Doctors form the outlying villagers and cities in Zambezia Province who came in to be trained.

Autumn and her group. Many in traditional dress.

We were also very fortunate to have two Women Pediatricians from Mozambique who were able to teach the training also.

Natercia. Pediatrician from Maputo.

It was successful because over 100 participants came and we made many contacts and friendships with people which will help the HBB program here in the future.
Here is how it went.

John and John. J and J. Sounds like a gas station.

Heidi McSweeny and John McSweeny are our specialist team.

John McSweeny and the desk

Father and Daughter. Heidi is a wonderful Nurse Practitioner in Provo. She helped us set up the plans for the training.

Heidi training and checking on students.

She brought another Nurse, Autumn Vetter, From Nashville, Tennessee.





They arrived on Thursday August 10th and we began the tying up loose ends. (She also brought a huge load of goodies from our children.That was awesome. Nothing is as good as U.S. candy.P.S The Elders are thankful for the Ginormous bag of TOLLHOUSE chocolate chips.). Heidi and her team arrived in country with all their luggage at one time. THAT is a miracle by the way.

We had a great meeting with Dra. Nazira, Deputy Minister of Health, which will help Heidi so much in the future here in Mozambique. We had certificates signed by Dr. Mouzinho,  copies made, packed up the last of the HBB supplies in our suitcases and just all the details that needed to be finished for the project that couldn't be done until they arrived.

Autumn Vetter training .

Saturday we flew to Quelimane with all our suitcases and African bags full of HBB supplies. It was another Miracle in that they let us get on with very minimal cost with all these bags. One lady attempted to come up and say something about to us  but then she just turned and walked away. We arrived in Quelimane again with everything safe and accounted for. Another Miracle.


SIDE NOTE: Earlier in the month we sent the biggest load of HBB supplies to Quelimane by way of the Osborns.  Another Miracle was that we received every box from customs with no fees 2 days before the Osborns were leaving to head up to Quelimane and thus get there the very safest way. A Big Miracle.

Last Night of Dinner with the Osborns and all.

Osborns picked us all up at 11 PM . What a guy. Our plane was delayed for 3 hours. (A common occurrence with in-country travel in Mozambique) Those Osborns are the greatest.


We realized Sunday Morning we were there...all the stuff was there...we had a place to have the training and it was going to happen. Now we just hoped the people on the list the Province submitted would show up .
The plan was 30 participants each day for 4 days. Our goal (John and I ) was 100 people.  We ended up with 112! We were very pleased.

Sunday before the training we went to church in Quelimane again where Heidi was asked to speak. It is always a treat to go to that "GROUP". They are growing so fast. It will not be long before they are a branch. They are outgrowing their chapel.
After Church Debbie Osborn fed us and we were off off see the building for the training and to have a review training for the two doctors from Mozambique to help them feel more secure about the teaching.

Dra. Nelia, In Country Pediatrician . Great Lady!

So Monday the training began.
The training lasted from 8:00 until 4:30 each day with breaks in between.
They have Pequeno Almoco in the morning, Almoco is big lunch and then lunch at 4:30 which is tea and snacks. If they don't have their food the people will leave so the catering is an important part of the training.

Boy did we have the food!

Our member Flavia and her team Agostinho and Yolanda did a great job.

This is another simple procedure.

The people who came to the training varied in qualifications and experience. Some were birth attendants from the villages, some were nurses from hospitals and clinics, some were doctors from bigger hospitals.

Natercia,Incountry Pediatrician,training.

But the course is for all of them. It is amazing. The people who were taught and trained each day made commitments or a plan of action to go into their area and teach at least 5 more birth attendants.

It was so interesting to watch the women and men work together. In order to  certify they have to teach one another in the training itself. We had fun helping John McSweeny and taking pictures and making sure everything was running OK.
We don't do the training or even get to hold a real baby. But we hear the stories and it is amazing.

 

Autumn, Dra. Nelia and Heidi.

At the end of each training there is a ceremony for participants to receive a nice certificate and exchanges of comments from those who are over the training, Heidi, Health Ministry and Province Ministry.


There were some wonderful comments made by the province.
The last day there were some tears and a warm traditional thank you from the group.

Great Work Flavia and Agostinho.

It was wonderful to know if each one delivered one baby with this condition 124 babies would be saved.

Flavis and Family and Agostinho.

It is so interesting to see all how the people  are affected in these trainings. The workers around the buildings, the owners of the bakery for the cakes, the people at the airport, people attending other trainings in the building and the people in our trainings.
It is easy to forget that each of us here with a missionary tag is a representative of Jesus Christ. Some how the people around us recognize this and notice. This is one of the greatest things I have learned on my mission is the power of the missionary calling.

Dinner at the end of our first training day!

Friday before our plane we were able to go on a tour of the Maternity Section of the Province Hospital Central and the NICU and Pediatrics Area. It was very humbling. We are indeed very fortunate.
We had to go to Zalala Beach for a walk and then to Delicias for some last minute food and off to Maputo.

John and John at Zalala beach.

Huge Fish on Zalala beach.

Kruger!

We returned to Maputo and then took our specialist team to Kruger Park.  John drove them all in the mission chappa.

Kudo. Dad's favorite.

It is always fun to see those animals in real life. Kruger is great. Heidi and her dad and Autumn went on an early morning safari but my John wasn't well that day so we stayed at the lodge.
(John and Brielle's dream come true. A wonderful lodge with meals cooked by the owners who are culinary artists)

Hippo Families.

I could just walk along crocodile river and see the crocodiles and sooo many hippos.
I think they are my new favorite animal. So funny to watch. I will get my movies of them downloaded.

Crocodiles all over the banks of the river like this.

It was sad to see Heidi go but it was a relief to have the project over and to be home again for a little while.
 




Catching Up!


The month we have been catching up on the distribution center book work and helping prepare for the visit from President and Sister Renlund.
We also had 11 people baptised this last Saturday of August.  That is just in this district. That brings the number of new members in Mozambique this month to just about 40.
Kitercia Ujembe is one of those. She is Naldo's sister. Naldo now has 1 sister and 2 brothers members of the church. He still has his mother and 3 more brothers to go.
They are a great family and a big strength to their Branch and the District.

Kiki (Kitercia)

We have been making the arrangements to begin our water project on the Ilhe de Idugo . Elder Wollenzien and Naldo finished making a traditional hand dug well on Naldos property so they will know exactly how this will go.

Learning the ropes of traditional hand-dug wells.

This well is joint effort on Naldo Ujembe's property.

Naldo's Well...Good Practice.

Cement forms have been made, a steel and rubber tire handcart, purchasing supplies like lids for wells, buckets, pulleys, contracts written and signed, training and so many things to get ready but we are almost ready to go. We will head back north to Quelimane again to begin the wells. We will let you know how September goes.

But for today it has been wonderful.

Our Special missionary session with Elder Renlund was wonderful.

Sunday He gave a special devotional. So many came to our chapel in buses.
He had so many good messages for the people everywhere he visited. Many of the youth commented on feeling the power of the words he spoke and how they could feel that he really cared for them

On Sunday the message he said after talking about repentance and forgiveness hit me so strong. I knew this but he said it and it was like so very real.
After talking about Forgiving others, not holding offense, jealousy, or envy. 
He said many things about this subject but really brought it to light for me when he said, 'President Hinckley said  'Holding a 'Grudge' is like drinking POISON and hoping the other person dies'.
Isn't That The Truth?
People will know ye are not his disciples if ye have not love for one another.
It really made me think. He reminded us all that after Baptism we must keep doing the same thing we did before ....prepare to live a better, more spiritual life and be ready to go each week to the table of the Lord's Sacrament.
This has been some very busy days.
Month 10 here we come !

Somebody's Tired!