Beauty, Beasts, and others

The child on the right is Lozina, 7 year old daughter of Rui and Bendita and among my favorite people here.

Quelimane has an enormous population of large fruit bats.  They are truly rodents of unusual size.  They can always be seen flying around in the duskish hours but we have never seen them in repose, until we came across this tree in the city this week.

Abel and Adozinda were among the first people to join the church in Quelimane and Debbie and I are working with them to prepare for the temple (for non-lds, this is a significant rite of spiritual progress) and will go with them to Johannesburg in February.

If you have read this blog for a while, you will have noted that I often speak with some pride of our creative effort in the design of our local baptismal font.  It has served us well and actually is being considered by the /Area leaders as a possible economical solution throughout Mozambique.  This time however, for the baptism of George above, things went a bit awry.  Neither the performer nor recipient of the baptism was instructed well on the technique to use and both slipped, went under (shades of Alma and Helam) hit a head on the edge and got cut.  In the end, we did not have to send in a dive team to recover bodies--there was blood, but not too much--but it was not the most graceful nor spiritual of moments. 

I don't know what to say to describe this view, but it seemed photo worthy at the time.

This is what a full mango tree looks like, the mangoes hang from long rope-like stems.  Mango trees are big, and there is no picking equipment, so most every mango that you can buy has fallen from a great height and gotten bruised up pretty badly.  Nevertheless, I love them.

Let it be noted, that when I am thoroughly lost, I do ask for directions.  These women however, did not speak Portuguese, but only the dialect of Sena.  But determined people can usually figure out a way to get a message across and we did make it home in the end.

Look please at page 66 of the November Ensign Magazine. Published at last!! Actually, it is a very sweet thing for us to see our little group's picture go out to the world.

A Little More Christmas Cheer....

We held our second annual Christmas Eve church party on Monday evening.  During the afternoon we had enlisted the young women to decorate the church and they had a lot of fun with it.  We had a women's choir that sang "Noite Feliz"  (Silent Night), Toby preached a little about the Savior and we watched a Christmas video and had refreshments.  I had put together little goodies bags for the kids that were a hit as usual.  We had cake and tons of soda and I think it was successful.  I had made the assignment to the Relief Society to bring four cakes.  I made one and on a whim asked the Elders to make one for back up.  The Relief Society brought drinks.  We will work on delegation some more   We were told by many that we had started it too early (at 6pm) , but we are always concerned for people walking home in the dark.  So of course, we took a truckload home ourselves!  Here are a few pics of the day:

We had hanging snowflakes, stars and balloons.

The is our women's chorus.  I learned that you must have a DIFFERENT capulana
for each event.  I wanted them to wear the ones I had bought for the day
the branch was formed and I was told in no uncertain terms that we needed Christmas ones.

My Santa hat didn't fit too well, but I told them I was Mama Noel.  In Portugeuse that meant "the breast of Christmas". I meant to say Mae or mother Noel.  Anyway, as usual I blundered along
in my humiliation and hoped nobody understood me.  The treat bags were understood
by all!

Our decorators always looked for another photo op.

Some of the kids are holding special glow in the dark toothbrushes courtesy of a dentist
in Holladay, Utah.  I took the outside int he dark to demonstrate and they were
quite amazed by the light emitted from the brushes.  Surely that will make dental
hygiene more exciting for them.

Santa hats are a favorite everywhere.  I liked these two brothers in theirs.

These are the guards.  The Night guard, the day guard and the Sunday night guard.
They all put on a tie for the party, which I must say surprised me greatly and
asked for their picture to be taken.  It cracked me up.

And so this is Christmas...

A picture record of our Christmas day in Quelimane.

We had the elders over early for a nice waffle and scrambled eggs and bacon breakfast.

This highly color coordinated outfit represents my Christmas gifts from Debbie--capulana pajama pants and a soccer shirt in the colors and design of the Mozambican flag.  She wouldn't let me leave the house.

Debbie's gift to the 15 elders of northern Mozambique was these fine capulana aprons.  They looked good I thought and the elders seemed to like them.

 

WE had a lunch invitation at the new mud home of Amizade and Lourdes.  We were served a mystery meat that still has us scratching our heads.  Our outside lunch was served under a blue tarp in the yard of their brand new home.  The tarp was meant to supply shade which it did but also provided shelter from an enormous thundershower that interrupted our lunch mid way.

Debbie gathering children prior to throwing them down the open well.

After lunch we went caroling--which I am pretty sure has never before been attempted in Quelimane.  We had a good time.

Not content to sing only to the people we visited, the six young missionaries began to sing from the back of the truck as we drove as well.

Never ones to skip a meal, we had the elders over for Christmas dinner in the evening.

After dinner they performed this very authentic reenactment of one of Arnold Frieber'gs famous paintings.

36 years

On this the longest day of the year (assuming everyone is living in the southern hemisphere), we celebrate 36 years together.  We have yet to find any Mozambicans who are legally married for a longer period--so most are greatly impressed by the accomplishment.  We trust that the world will not end today.

Quick but not dirty

We have been tied up the past few days with the preparations and logistics  of a zone meeting of the missionaries of Northern Mozambique--which includes fetching some of them and housing and feeding many others. The weather for this event was horrific with temperatures high and humidity even higher.   Herewith some photos, likely only of interest to mothers of missionaries pictured (well, except for the first one that I thought was a very beautiful picture).



Madonna and child

I'm not quite sure what the word "seraphic" means, but this is new-mother Paula, looking very much so.  We stopped by for a quick visit, somewhat expecting some post-partum blues and physical suffering only days following childbirth, but she was happy, energetic and glowing with enthusiasm for life and the gospel which she is learning.  Baby Debra also shown above, is less serene, but still beautiful, and continues to grow to look more like her namesake every day.

Here are the fourteen young missionaries of the Quelimane Zone (excluding the old missionaries, us, who also are a part of it).  Always being a fan of competition, I created a Christmas scripture trivia challenge for this group.  It was interesting to note that the African missionaries from Cabo Verde were  much better scriptorians than their American counterparts.  The defeated took their humiliation peacefully and philosophically.  As an interesting sidenote, the answer to the question "what did the decree from Ceasar Aufustus require?" is different depending on whether you are reading the bible in English or Portuguese.

Elder Osborn holding forth professorially.

What are the odds of 15 men showing up for a photo shoot all wearing the same tie?  They were fifts from President and Sister Kretly shown to our left.  Which reminds me, I have been giving sartorial instruction to these young men, instructing them that wearing a tie that does not reach your belt shouts to all that you are not to be taken seriously.  (It was my father of course who so instructed me).

We emerged from a lesson the other day to find the back of our truck filled with the neighborhood kids.  A regular problem is for kids, even very very small ones to try and hop on the back of our car as we are driving through rural neighborhoods.  I have a practice which I call "aversion therapy"
 which helps them to break this dangerous custom.

.

And the days were accomplished...

We have been teaching Paula and Julio for a couple of months now and giving her a ride to church because of what we have thought for months was her eminent delivery.  Well, yesterday they called us in the evening and asked for a ride to the hospital (using the term "hospital" very loosely).

This is the front door to the maternity hospital.  I'm not certain that there is a doctor in attendance.  When we took them there, the staff asked us to go home bring back some hot water--so we did.  The place was simple but clean and it had mosquito netting over each hard bed.

And a healthy baby girl was delivered.  Coming in at about 9 lbs, which from the 100 lb Paula was an accomplishment.  It is interesting to note that her longish hair is wavy and smooth.  Mom and dad tell us that they will cut it so it will come in properly kinky.  The child, by the way, is named Debra.



Paula, Debra and Debra--we took them home from the hospital this afternoon.  Upon arrival, Paula scooped up her three year old in her arms and started carrying her.  This place reminds me a bit of Pearl Buck's "The Good Earth" as far as their no-nonsense and non-pampering childbirth model.

We had Quelimane's first young women's outing on Monday, taking our four young charges to Zalala beach.  We served them bbq chicken sandwiches and actually had a delightful time with them.  It was sort of cute, each quietly asked Debbie if she would mind if they shed a few of their street clothes to go in the water.  This is not something that the very very poor (and three of these girls are very very poor) have a chance to do many times in their lives here.

Happy 12/12/12 to you.

Two days ago, I was startled by the doorbell at about 1:00 in the morning.  It was our night guard informing me that we had had two masked and armed intruders on the property.  He scared them off.  A couple hours later I got a call from the young missionaries down the street, telling me that their locked porch had been broken into (crowbar making quick work of the lock) and two thugs had attempted to break into the house--but had finally been scared off by Elder Bradford beating on the door (which they were trying to force) with his baseball bat.  We did a security review the next day and have begun some remedial work (and we bought more baseball bats).  I spoke with a neighbor who is ex-military and associated with the police department here (in whom he is sorely disappointed).  He explained that there was a gang that he was sure felt like they "owned" this neighborhood and he was sure would return the next night--so he wanted to organize a neighborhood watch and sting.  I bought whistles for the effort (and was disappointed he did not want my physical presence).  I did contribute my day and night guards however.  To my surprise, when morning dawned today, six robbers, who had been patrolling the neighborhood with machetes and crowbars had been apprehended by our little taskforce and were in jail.  It really was quite impressive.  Had I known there would be so much action, I would have stayed outside to watch.  We are still putting a steel door on our personal space and concertina wire on the outside wall.

One last noteworthy event.

I received this letter yesterday from Pedro, who was recently baptized.  He is a young man of 23 and a couple of months ago was robbed and lost every single possession, including his clothes.  He came by the church and I gave him 500 meticais or about $20 to buy some clothes.  I thought no more about it.  But the letter above is a thank you note.  I have never even heard of such a thing being sent here (it is also articulate and sincere).  Sometimes, I lose a little faith in humankind here--but other times, I am full of hope for the future of this place.

Early Christmas Spirit from Quelimane

Location:Quelimane, Zambézia, Moçambique

Going Native

The style and cut of Debbie's new dress is definitely African dressy (more prosperous local women will wear dresses like this to church or to work--but the fabric is a little less traditional african than most (traditional would have more brown and black).  I thought it looked great. 

Perhaps you had to be here to appreciate the experience.  First of all,  this represents a milestone.  It is the first ever Relief Society Visit in the province of Zambezia, Mozambique.  This is our Relief Society presidency, making their first visit to a sister whose home was surrounded by water from a recent deluvial downpour.  They are trying here to avoid stepping into the rainwater-sewage mixture.  They did not fall in.
 

They look like a relief society presidency don't they?  Adozinda, on the right is the president and she graduated from high school this week.  In Mozambique, adults can always go back and finish school, and she did after a break of 20 years or so.  Adozinda is prosperous--Bendita far less so.  Adozinda is not from here so she does not speak the local dialect of Chuabo.  Bendita does speaks it so much that it overlaps with her portuguese a bit.  They actually make a great team--both women of substance and strength.  Debbie and I took an afternoon and showed them where all the sisters of the branch live--and then waited in the car while they visited.

This is the complete family of Julio and Paula.  Paula who is "with belly" or quite pregnant.  Also featured prominently is the church printer from Marromeu which was broken and about to be thrown out--but I took it to Julio who fixed it for very little cost.  This is actually a great picture of a typical main room of a local mud hut.  Water jugs, little furniture, "Pilao" for pounding rice or crushing grain and reed mat for sitting or sleeping. 

Not all babies here are scrawny and malnourished.

 

I pay tribute today to my dear friend Don who passed away yesterday.  I heard of his illness and called him in hopes of having a last conversation, but missed that by just a few hours I think.  Don was among the finest men I have ever known and someone who quietly taught me a great deal.  We served together in the church and became good friends though at least 20 years separated us.  I would like to have Don's chances at celestial glory.



This is what the middle of nowhere looks like..

We had a short, 24 hour road trip this week into the jungle to take one new missionary into Marromeu and to bring another one out to be transferred to Maputo.  The road was in such bad shape that we had aches and pains upon our arrival.  But we love being with the Elders and always find something interesting to share along the way.  Here goes:

These thriving young men escort these partially blind women around the truck
stop begging for money.  They are always there and often quite annoying.  We hesitate to
give out money, but they let me take their picture and I do feel like rewarding anyone
who figures out a way to earn money.

This is Elder Francisco, who is a Mozambiquan Elder in the mission.  Interestingly enough, his grandparents live in a tiny village on the way to Marromeu, so we stopped in for a visit.  They spoke in Sena, the
local dialect, so we don't know what was said, but the smiles told us it was a good visit.

The Elders all wear these rings made of hippo teeth.  Elder Francisco's grandpa makes them to sell
in the tourist market in Beira.  I found some small ones and know some grandsons are going to be pretty excited by them.
This Elder is 26 years old and joined the church about 5 years ago and is a very positive missionary.

Toby has longed for a piece of ebony or,  pau preto, as it is called here.  Grandpa had some beautiful wood
that we cut for Toby to take home to create something wonderful. My sisters will note that this is what
their nativities looked like before they were carved, by his grandson, Vasqo, from who we bought them.  Such a small world!

At the truck stop I came out of the restroom and saw this man cutting up meat.  I "asked
him if it was a goat and he said "no, it was an animal from the mato:.  This means it was
caught in the jungle and is probably a gazelle.  He hacked away at that hind quarter with his
catana for quite a while.  I don't know where the good meat had gone.

We often have the pungent smell of fish drying come through the open car windows.  The fisherman
drag their nets in the shallows, get these small, herring like fish, then toss them onto the
sand to dry them.  They are sold in the markets by the cupful to add to the pounded leaf
mixture that people eat everyday.  It is the most common source of protein for people.  The
fish are so small, I guess a little oil and protein are available, but not much.

Birth of a custom

It is interesting to see how customs and cultural habits begin (both productive and un)--often without intention or design.

 

A month or so ago when we started using the new expanded chapel here in Quelimane, we had a children.s choir perform in our Sacrament Service (LDS principal worship meeting).  We had the kids sit in a front area which (due to the shape of the building) is sort of apart and whose seating is perpendicular to the remainder of the seats.  Ever since that day, the children of Quelimane have believed that to be the children's seating area and gravitate toward it--sitting without parental supervision and (for the most part) quite well behaved.  We really do want families sitting together (not a natural custom here, not even for husbands and wives), so we will work to alter this nascent and cute little custom.  As an interesting side note, the two young girls dressed in blue, have no parents that come to church, but they show up most sundays, perfectly behaved and fully participating.

I love this picture.  These are the young men of Quelimane--ages 18 to 23, all possessors of the greater or lesser priesthoods.  They look good don't they?  They are all recent converts, all of them.  But they have all consciously adopted the manner of the missionaries who taught them.  They dress like them, they meet for companion scripture study, have backpacks like them, carry little planners in their pockets and strive to be like them in every way.  It is really quite a sweet and wonderful thing that has begun and each new convert is naturally led by the others in this direction.  They could do far worse.

This picture and the one following are not mine, but they speak to a custom we are trying to begin here in Mozambique.  Marriage is such a daunting difficult endeavor, and the family demands of extravagant and unaffordable trappings and parties is a huge financial impediment and disincentive to tying the knot.  In The city of Beira, they recently tried to get people to plan for a single wedding day, with the church facilitating and funding a very nice reception.  They had eight couples (who were each limited to 20 wedding guests).  It turned out wonderfully we understand and the natural result on the following day is shown below--with all of them, and their children finally being allowed to join the church.
 

This is Paula, who is well into her tenth month of pregnancy.  She and her husband, Julio are being taught b Debbie and I.  He repairs small appliances and makes a decent living (just fixed a fan of ours that was stuck in low speed like its owner).  They are poor but have enough to eat--Issa, thir daughter is shown.  She cannot walk the 4k to church, so I have been giving them a ride lately.
 

If ever there was a celestial food, it has to be a large chilled mango (or "manga" here. which is also the word for sleeve).  Manga season is full upon us and they are plentiful so everyone on the street is seen eating mangas--and I am having at least a couple a day as well.  These are beautiful perfect mangas.
 

Santo continues to be quite cute.