What the world needs now is love, sweet love....

We are having such a myriad of experiences while living in Africa.  But as I think about most of them, they have to do with people needing love.  Love comes in many forms here, but it seems easy to give because it is a commodity in great demand.  I see love for little children here by everyone.  It is fun to see how kind grown men are to little children,  how women help children who are not their own, how I often see African  nannies with their Arab charges walking hand in hand down the street.  Even when beggars drive me crazy, I recognize that they just need a little love.  That is why I have always loved the Church's program for children, Primary.  Kids can feel the love of the Savior there through songs and stories and personal attention.  That is the same the world over.  Here is a little sampling of people who needed some "sweet love" this past week.


This is Isabelle. She is famous already on our blog for thinking that my husband had a more elevated
title than Elder . (remember Pai Celestial) She comes by several times a week. But she isn't your traditional beggar.
One day she had a branch of a tree. I asked her if it grew fruit and she said "no" it is just an
embellishment for my yard. Truly, she used that word, saying her home would look better with a tree. One
day she came by and asked me about the capulana's the ladies wore in church. I carefully explained
that they were to wear in church to sing and not to take home. She repeated it all to me and asked when she could sing.
I told her she couldn't come everyday asking for food, she said okay. She reads the pamphlets we
give her and wears a lot of wooden crosses around her neck, but she is delightful to me because
she comes and just wants to chat like a girl friend.

This is Sister Bata, the wife of the branch president in Marromeu.  She asked me to help
her learn to sew.  The branch has this Marshall treadle machine, that is made in China.  I bought a new
cord and tried to download some instructions on threading it off the inter-net.  We still cannot make it
work.  So, I bought this fabric and showed her by a sort of "charades" method how she could make an easy skirt
by hand.  We had a lot of fun, she also always seeks me out to talk.  One day we just sat at the organ
in the chapel and sang our favorite hymns together in Port. while our husbands were in a meeting.



We might call this trash, but it is her treasure.  I asked if she was setting up a little
restaurant and she said "yes"..Tuna cans full of sand are on her menu.  You notice her little
brother on her back,  it is always kids taking care of kids here and they are so sweet with them.  I
love how they don't need a Fisher Price kitchen to play with.



I did the sharing time in Primary on missionary work in Marromeu this weekend.  I
found these darling, very realistic missionary tags on-line and printed them off for the
kids.  They had help filling in their own names and were so proud to wear them.  We talked about
how we should act if we have the name of Jesus Christ on our tag.  After church all the young men and
women came and begged for a tag also.  Don't they all look like future successful missionaries?

. 

This was the cemetery gathering after a long funeral that we went to today.  This young man, who was about 30 went to the Zalala Beach festivities this weekend, got drunk and drowned.  It was very tragic.  His sister, Aissa,
was one of our first converts and someone we are very close to.  There was lots of beautiful African singing,
with a cantor leading out and the women (mainly) following.  This songs are all learned in the Catholic church and there seem to be a million.  There were many acts of kindness,  a single flower dropped on the grave, a collection
plate and handshake.  About 250 people came and we took a truck load with us to the burial.

A


This is President Bata and his wife with us at our favorite restaurant, maybe the
only one in Marromeu.  They are both school teachers, have two sons, 8,13 and are the
backbone of the church here.  He loves to just counsel with and visit with my husband.  It gives him a
lot of strength.  I think he gets lonely out in the jungle, so to speak.  A couple would be such a great
asset to this area, but we are not volunteering.  The evening was lovely.

All in all I have learned to love the people of Mozambique very much.  Yes, it is hard and lonely here, but we are needed and we have great love in our hearts to share.  I think of the song from "Wicked"  that goes something like this: because I met you, my life is changed for the better.  That is so true.  My life will never be the same after  knowing and loving the people of Quelimane.  It seems simplistic, but people do have the same needs everywhere.  To be loved and respected and treated with kindness.  That is what we do as missionaries and we love it.