a piece of string

We have known a young mother named Dina for as long as we have lived in Mozambique.  She was long ago converted to the faith but had life changes that were difficult and some growing up to do.  Debbie and I have been teaching her again for the last few months--and following some soul searching, she was baptized on Saturday.  Among the most prepared investigators that we have seen.  The service was wonderful and inspiring to all that attended.  We had other investigators attending who commented that they wanted their baptism to be just like it.



 

After the baptism, we immediately climbed in the car and headed for Marromeu, for continuing travel to Beira, where we were promised a computer, printer, desk and file cabinets to set up the branch office.  Before, we left, I had a very interesting impression that I must bring along a meter-long piece of thin nylon cord that was sitting in our room.  The road to Marromeu as I have often commented here, is a very rough one where the car seems to shake itself apart.  We were in the middle of nowhere when a horrible sound brought me screeching to a halt.  Upon examination, this is what we saw.


The feeder tube to the gas tank (the one generally affixed to the side of the car and covered by a cap and hinged little door) had been shaken loose (the bolts had torn out of the car body) and become wedged between the tire and the running board.  We were without tools and were quite stumped for a time--when suddenly, I remembered a yard-long piece of string I had brought.  With that, and with only a smidgen in excess length, I managed to tie the tube in place and continue our journey.

 

We dined that evening in Marromeus's only restaurant with the Elders Heaton and Francisco there.  They shared with us the provenance of one of their dinners that week.  The took a stick, heavy string and a hook with a piece of meat and dropped the bait into a drain pipe.  Here was their catch--which they ate.  Debbie was so disappointed that we had not arrived in time to share.

 



This is a monitor lizard. They get much bigger, but this one seemed to be plenty big for them.

We preached and counseled and interviewed and tried to do good and rushed out the next day in a deluge of rain--in hopes of completing the 8 hour trip to Beira before nightfall.  The road was awash in water and deep dips quickly became full.  We did the dirt road part of the trip in 4 wheel drive and a couple of times saw our hood become submerged as we pressed through the flood.  We made it to pavement eventually, though that particular road is so full of deep potholes as to make it slower going than the other.  En route, our alternator died necessitating compression starts aided by compassionate Mozambicans along the way.  As we approached Beira, we heard something of an explosion behind us and found the following.

Luckily we had a jack and a spare and a little mozambican foot trafficon the  road that helped us push the car to start it again.

The stars aligned for our benefit and we were able to find an opening at the Nissan dealer in Beira the next day to get all our problems fixed while we spent at least part of the day with the Halls, a couple from Idaho Falls, at the Rio Savane in the water and sun.

Our branch office supplies were all awaiting us as promised and we stuffed them in the truck--trying to pad them as best we could for the ordeal of the return trip.

We stopped to buy three bags of charcoal (carvao) on the return trip--the price on the road being just half of what it is in the city.  (three dollars instead of six each--but for many, that is a huge difference)

This was another group of young vendors along our return road.  These small animals they killed with spears they said, and they call them Gazelles, though that is a generic term that is thrown around pretty freely.  Debbie was not in a meat-eating mood at this particular time for some reason.

a little fall of rain...

Mozambique is in the throes of its rainy season--which may yet last for a couple or three more months.  We have had some heavy downpours here in Quelimane which have inconvenienced and caused a little bit of damage--but the southern part of the country has had some major flooding.  Maputo, we heard had three feet of water on the ground in some areas and widespread power outages.  We are planning to go to Marromeu this weekend and then on to Beira for a day.  We understand that the Zambezi river is flooding so we will check out road reports before we get stranded in the jungle some where.  The dirt road to Marromeu can get downright nasty after significant rain.
The mood changes here in Quelimane when it rains heavily.  The main roads become traffic free.--pedestrians and bicyclists hole up for a while.  People do not venture out much.  But in the rural areas kids especially come out and frolic in the rain--and often use the water to wash themselves and clothes.  Herewith a few pictures:

Boys using roof water to take their shower.  When we leave the city, we often find people on the road following heavy rains, washing their laundry on the pavement and making use of the free clean water in various states of undress.

Some homes becomes islands in the flooding.  Unfortunately, as all these mud homes have outdoor toilets at ground level, these lakes are never clean.  In addition, a mud home deluged by rain water from above and below, quickly washes away.

  

We came across these cutest of children today as we were approaching a house to teach.  They were hiding a bit in their doorway from the rain.

Nofre on the right is the son of our investigator couple Paula and Julio.  He has warmed up to us in recent weeks and is seen here in one of the numerous puddles in front of his house.

Mafalda and Nantingue above are our newest investigators.  Both are teachers.  Both can read and think pretty clearly (that is just a little bit unusual among the rural folk where Debbie and I usually spend out time.  He is the brother of Julio and when I gave him a ride the other day with Julio (he had just purchased a TV), he insisted that I make an appointment to come and teach him and his wife.  Our first and second visits were very good.

We had a gathering over to the church last night to teach investigator families of the Family Home Evening program.  We taught them songs and games and taught with fun object lessons and we had carrot cake and all enjoyed it.  Debbie and I took the role as parents for the evening.

This is Nurse Debbie practicing a little unlicensed medicine on Tinoca who had an infected abscess  on the sole of her foot.  A couple of days later, she was walking again and amputation was averted--though I had sterilized my Leatherman to be ready.  It is my personal opinion that Neosporin is one of the great inventions of the modern medical era. We brought plenty and have used quite a bit here.

Toby vs the Quran

Standing next to me is Aziza, who is the owner of the home that the young missionaries rent here (pictured below) in Quelimane.  She is Muslim as are a high percentage of landlords here.  A few months ago, she approached us for a loan to build a security wall around the property.  As the elders have been periodically robbed or threatened, additional security had some appeal to us and I got the loan approved and negotiated with Aziza an ongoing discount on the rental payment to repay the church and make it work our while.  Well, the sum borrowed wasn't sufficient to finish the project so she approached us again for an additional loan--and I was again supportive of the idea..  Endeavoring to be completely honest and clear with her, I explained how I would compute the new rent discount and the interest rate implicit within that calculation.  She returned to me today, saddened because she could not proceed with the project, because I had indicated that there would be interest on the loan--which is forbidden by the Quran.  I then commenced my quick song and dance routine--apologizing for my use of the word "interest", which of course was not correct--but was my poor-Portuguese substitute for the word "discount".  She was satisfied and we proceeded.  I have read previously of the gyrations that are often performed in the Arab world to somehow avoid charging "interest" while still addressing the reality of the need to provide for the cost of capital--but this was my first up-close and personal view of the situation.  Forgive my too-short tie today.

Here is the nearly completed wall in all of its glory.  The metal gate for people and cars are the final costs to be purchased now.

I can't claim this picture and the following two as my own, but Elder Peckham  took these on a little p-day hike this week.  Though a bit creepy, there is a certain colorful design and symmetrical beauty to these spiders.  Shelob they are not, but they are pretty good sized.   With the recent heavy rains here, bugs large and small have been out in force.

This is Debbie engaging with the neighborhood as we walked back from a visit today.  The interesting thing was that these people were giving her a language lesson--in the dialect of Chuabo rather than Portuguese..

Tinoca above, celebrated her 18th birthday yesterday.  We are quite attached to Tinoca, who we taught and baptized, and we invited her out to dinner with us.  She has a beautiful smile, and told us that she had been in a restaurant one other time in her life.

This is Debbie at lunch with Irmao Balanga, who is the head of physical facilities department for the church in Mozambique.  He was making a long awaited visit to Quelimane to check out our situation.  It was sort of fun to make a wish list of all the things that we want in order to improve the functioning of the church here.  He sounded like he would provide a great deal of what we need.  A computer, desk, chalkboards, and second bathroom being among the top items on the list.

Reproving betimes with sharpness...

We were in Nampula this last weekend--we think that it is our last visit there.  As always, we do alot of teaching and training while there.  I was asked to speak in church and was still in the opening throes of my talk when I noticed that there were many young children running up and down the isles, playing and screaming with wild abandon--unrestrained by parental influence.  It created such a din in the echo chamber that is the Nampula chapel so as to make it impossible for anyone to hear (and to not be able to hear a discourse as good as mine is a terrible tragedy).  I stopped my talk and asked the congregation if this was how they always managed their children there.  I may have come on a little strong--but I lectured and hectored for a bit and suggested that a little parental responsibility might be appropriate.  I saw many in the audience (the non-parents of course) nodding in agreement ("You go Elder O!!").  At the close of my tirade, parents from all over the congregation arose and gathered their children (often from the other side of the chapel) and a remarkable silence filled the room--and I continued my talk.  An impressive thing about Mozambicans is that they rarely become offended.  One can say most anything without hurting feelings or creating enmity. 

With the advent of the rains here, the bugs have been out in force.  We found this one in the yard the other day--on the large side with an interesting retractable stinger on its hind end.  We decided to not invite it in.

As we previously mentioned, we took the young missionaries to the beach last Monday and had a great time with them.  We go to a very remote location about 50 kilometers from Quelimane.  When we arrived the beach was a vast expanse of emptiness--with not a soul in sight.  Literally within five minutes of having arrived, we had fifty or so people milling about in around us.  They are not obnoxious nor demanding nor even particularly intrusive, but it is clear that we are an attraction and they choose our immediate location to be where they choose to recreate.  We have, in the past, moved away to create a little more space, but the crowd invariably migrates with us.  As Debbie has often commented, it will be hard to return to the states and not be the center of attention any more.

How many candles is that?

Well, this was my birthday weekend, a birthday I have no desire in thinking about or contemplating.  But it came anyway, so there you go.  This is my third consecutive birthday in Africa   For the first, I was on safari in Tanzania and the waiters in our tented camp sang to me in some language, no idea what, and made me a banana cake.  Last year, we were here in Quelimane and the Elders sang my favorite hymn and wore funny hats and generally made me feel happy.  This year, we traveled to Nampula on the weekend and returned home about 7pm.  The Elders showed up at 8 with a pan of brownies and another song.  We had all just watched "The Sound of Music" of New Years Eve, so they appropriately sang "Edelweiss" and then a verse they created about me.  It was so funny and sweet.  My husband had created a way for many friends and family to send birthday greetings, so it was a good day despite having one foot in the grave, so to speak.  One child said that serving this mission in Africa made me seem younger.  I love the comment, but at night I often feel like it has made me feel older.  It is a liberating to feeling to not need or want anything but to hear from family and friends, so I was granted my birthday wish without even blowing out a candle.
As far as the work in Mozambique goes, here is a little photo essay of the last few marvelous days here in Quelimane and environs.


This is Jazila and her daughters, Alura and Joyce.  We love them so much and have watched them grow slowly in their
testimony of the gospel.   Jazila really wanted her teenage daughter to obtain a testimony, so she
waited for her.  It was worth it.  They radiated happiness and light the whole week.  Jazila has found the
Church website and listens to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas music every night at home! 



This is Primary in Nampula.  They have started an interesting tradition of having everyone
clap when someone answers a question.  I smiled and thought, "only in Mozambique".  There was a lot
of clapping and I am sure the kids felt very proud of themselves.

Every Primary needs a sleeping mat!  The kids would just go over and play when they
needed a break of their mom needed to teach.  



On Sunday I was asked to teach Relief Society.  This is very intimidating to me as I really have
to read my translated lesson.  This is the third or fourth time I have taught this group and they
are very receptive.  We talked about Christ like attributes from Preach my Gospel.  The President
thanked me for a "marvelous" lesson.  Theses women are good for my soul.



These Elders are the best. Elder Santos on the left doesn't really speak much English, but
he was a good sport and pretended to sing.  The Cabo Verde Elders are very kind to me
and very impressive young men.



It was our 6 week mark and time for the beach again today on P-Day.  The Elders started
a standing broad jump competition among themselves, but soon had an audience.  This
was the most creative jumper of all, he ran and did a flip or two and then jumped.  It was a lot of
fun.



Today there were some very "native" natives on the beach with us.  I thought
this girl had a sort of regal look and captures the look of young women
in Quelimane quite well.  She was thrown in the water continually by the young men there
and pretended to hate it, but like all young women, loved the attention.

Us doing our thing

Look at the head of hair on Debra here--not my Debra, whose hair was just cut and dyed by her incompetent husband, but little Debra, who has an amazing amount for being just weeks old.  She looks unfortunately like her father.  But I still find her cute (both of them).  We were on babysitting duty as we were taking her parents to get documents to enable their wedding.

Mormons (which, interestingly is an unknown nickname of the church in Mozambique) have the custom and practice of  "naming and blessing" babies on the first sunday of the month.  It is similar in many ways to the Catholic or Protestant christening.  Baby Debra became on Sunday past, the first infant to be blessed in the LDS church in Quelimane--the problem having been a dearth of infants (we have been slow to teach people here that Mormons are to breed like rabbits).  It was great to bless a baby again--and it was fun to show our local members an aspect of the church heretofore unknown to them.

We often notice and remark upon the sorry state of the young missionaries white shirts--many of them not appearing in any way white.  Mozambique is hard on white.  I took a new white shirt from the package today (having kept a couple for the "last days" and here hold it next to an old one.  Yes, the old ones are dingy--but not intolerable bad.  Someone here takes pretty good care of our laundry (you would think that I would return the favor and do a better job on her hair).  Speaking of last days, today completes fifteen months on our mission with three remaining.  We have much that we want to accomplish before we leave and too little time.

These two pictures were of Debbie engaging in our morning activity.  Students are getting ready for school to start in the next week or so.  We, through our little foundation, help some of them with tuition and supplies for school.  Debbie is here in the office supply store buying stuff for Edma and Aissa.  Aissa, is starting technical college so, we are hitting a previously unheard of level of tuition (still a bit of a bargain at about $1200 for an 18 month program).  PEP, shown below is the WalMart clothing store of southern Africa.  I waited in the car as the ladies did their thing within.

We have learned alot about the local school system the last few weeks.  It is common, we understand, for teachers to approach students and demand money for passing grades--failure being the penalty for non-payment.  Tinoca, one of our members, was told that she must attend a school out of town for the next year--and move there--or, as an alternative she can enroll in another local school if she can bribe the principal--the required sum being 900 meticais or about thirty dollars.  The Osborn Literacy Foundation will be picking up the tab for that.

local kids up to no good.  Behind them you can see small plastic sacks of charcoal, which are sold for 5 meticais apiece or about 18 cents.  That is enough to cook a meal or two on a small charcoal stove.

somewhere in my youth...

On New Year's Eve, even backwoods and remote Quelimane drinks itsef into something of a very unhealthy stupor. So we advised the young missionaries to get off the streets relatively early. We invited them to our home to play a couple of games and watch a movie to celebrate the new year.

I don't suppose you can tell which movie it was from this screen shot, as a hint, Debbie and I did find ourselves singing along and twirling with outstretched arms as if in an alpine meadow from time to time. The Elders had a good time and so did we.
On Wednesday we were primed to meet the mission President and Elder Cook of the Seventy (major church honcho for non-lds). This was the first ever visit of an lds general authority here so we were excited, as were our local members for his planned meeting with them. Well, his flight was cancelled so his very tight schedule fell to pieces. We had to cancel his meeting with the members which was a major disappointment. I finally picked him and his wife and daughter up at 2:30 a.m. the next morning.




I found myself called to translate for Elder Cook for an hour or so while others spoke in Portuguese. I don't have a lot of experience with live translation and it is definitely a skill that takes some work to acquire.
Despite the logistical challenges, the zone conference with the missionaries was very good. The young ones revel in the opportunity to rub shoulders and "sit at the feet" of and learn from good men like President Kretly and .elder Cook. We put on a very American lunch for all of pizza, potato salad and fresh fruit salad.





Though he missed the member meeting that was planned, Elder Cook kindly invited my counselors and I to meet with him over lunch ( he didn't comment on the improvised table made of speakers and a desktop). This was a rich experience for Amizade and Rui to get some training from someone far wiser and a far better teacher than their branch president. We then rushed our visitors to the airport, having spent only about 11 hours on the ground with us.

Miracle of miracles, Debbie and I were eating lunch out one day this week and we discovered that our little restaurant had actual ice cream. It has been months and months since I have had a taste. The experience was enhanced by the fact that it was unbearably hot and humid (as it has been somewhat constantly of late). Very very nice.
Last night I was sitting at our desk and I felt something crawl up my leg, inside my pants. I confess, that I would have freaked out had it been a cockroach. But it being only a lizard, I did not scream like a little girl.