Osborns in Africa: The other couples

We had some financial training in Beira this week and enjoyed some relaxation as well while we had our truck serviced at the Nissan dealer there. We have a unique situation here where we disperse money through a petty cash system. Each couple is responsible for the petty cash in the areas where they oversee the work. Petty cash is used for housing repairs and supplies, travel and other things specific not personal to missionary work. Each month we and the Elders in our areas have to give an accounting of the money sent, complete with receipts and reconciliation. Then we disperse the next months funds. All of this then has to be sent to the area office in South Africa. Then a check for the new balance is sent to us through DHL. All in all, we have to do more accounting here than Toby has done since college. It is a team effort, so I am learning as well. (no jokes about me and money management, please. I am careful with the Lord's money, you can be sure.) So we learned the IMOS (Internationale mission operating system) forms for recording and also learned how to record and deposit tithing (our church donations.)
I thought I would talk about the other couples and their assignments. The Bonini's are from Brazil and are CES missionaries. They train the other seminary and institute teachers as well as do teaching themselves. He is also in the mission presidency. They also help with the any Elders in Beira with transportation and logistics. They are very busy and have been traveling this month doing Seminary graduation in the various branches. The Halls, who are the shorter couple in the group pictures, are the office couple. I feel like they are in charge of everything. They are the "go to" people when anyone needs anything. They are in charge of all the finances for the mission, no easy task. When we cannot find something here, they find in for us in Maputo. They also gather and store the packages for the missionaries and try to get them in the right car going the right direction for their areas. The Banks, Elder Banks is a really tall guy, have a similar assignment to ours. They live in Chimoio and have eight hours drives to their other branches. They are about a year ahead of Quelimane as far as church growth goes and should be made a branch soon. They have activities almost every night in their building (which is also their home) such as family home evening, seminary, English classes, etc. They have a big group of young women, as well, who are starting work on personal progress. Elder Banks loves the area for its agriculture as that was his subject as a teacher. So he is helping a few people with getting better chickens, etc. for a better economy. Sister Banks often calls me for a Sunday night to visit, which is great. The two other couples in the mission are the Wollenziens, who are the new humanitarian missionaries and they work in the distribution center in Maputo. ( a headache in and of itself). The Ross's are here on their second mission. The were in the office but he is in charge of building a house in Marromeau for the Elders to live in next to the chapel. It will have a room for couples visit's as well. This is a huge project using returned missionaries for laborers and we will write more about it later. So, you see you can find your niche as a couple missionary here. We do not have any new couples in the pipeline and the Ross's are going home at the end of April and the Bonini's in December, so there is still time for some of you to apply. Here are some pictures of our days together: