I don't remember growing older...

We did a bit of outback driving this week, spending one night in Marromeu before heading out the next morning on a new (for us) 300 km dirt road through the jungle and countryside to eventually make it down to Beira.  We carried the two Marromeu Elders with us for the last leg.  All in all it was an interesting drive, about seven hours of which were on some pretty rough road.  We were glad to have had some work done on the car, which included getting rid of obnoxious rattles (the wonders of rivets we discovered) and getting our air conditioner recharged and functioning again.  It made the trip considerably more pleasant.  I think that new shocks and struts are next on the list.

This creature should not have been where we found it.  We are quite accustomed to finding baboons and vervet monkeys on the trip to Marromeu, but we saw this creature lope across the road from a distance and knew that it didn't quite look like either of them. When we arrived at the spot of its crossing it turned and faced us and was like no other primate I had ever seen, even in a zoo.   An internet search informed us that the critter turns out to be a  "Blue Monkey" so named because it is in fact a blue monkey.  It is found in Mozambique, but not allegedly where this one was.  Actually, it was quite a beautiful creature.

Speaking of beautiful creatures... On a brief stretching break.  Please forgive the lack of a tie--I am a weak man and sometimes can,t stand to wear one on the long road trips.

 

 

We arrived in Beira for a conference and training by Elder Renlund, one of the LDS general Authorities (for the non-LDS, among the central leadership of the church--and president of the Africa Southeast Area comprising thirty something countries).  Some of the senior missionaries had dinner with him and Sister Renlund on Thursday night.  Finding myself seated across from him, I couldn't keep myself from asking about a far-fetched plan that had recently occurred to me.  To my surprise, he didn't immediately brand me a heretic, but rather liked the idea and didn't see any problem with proceeding forward.  More on this later--we will see if it "has legs" or not in the coming weeks.  Debbie and I were both very very impressed with Elder Renlund's manner and message (though not for the first time).  At the conclusion and as we were gathering to go, he asked us to pause and wait for a moment and very soberly and quietly, and in behalf of the church and the prophet, thanked us all for our service and sacrifice.  It was a surprisingly touching thing for us.



Our group of missionaries (young and old) gathered in Beira for the conference--comprising a little more than half of the missionary force in Mozambique.

Elder Renlund's wife is Ruth, with whom I was very good friends and dated for years of my youth--and also a friend of Debbie.  I calculated that this week marked forty years since we had met and we concluded that we were both physically unchanged since that time. She also spoke and provided excellent training at the conference and it was fun for me to see her in that role. It was Ruth who was the first to encourage Debbie and I to consider a mission to Mozambique when we visited in South Africa a couple of years ago.  With a smile, I claim that she has sent me off on two missions.