Spring flowers

It has been amazing.  When we first got to our apartment, these trees were leafless.  The Ponds said they trimmed the trees with machette's just before we got here so they were bare.  Now just in the past few weeks, the leaves have come out and now there are blossoms coming out.  I was surprised.  They looked like Mimosa trees but these blossoms don't look like that.  The shape of the tree is unique as well.

feminine shaped tree

These trees are planted in the island dividing the traffic in front of our apartment.  I just didn't expect these beautiful trees to blossom.  Spring is wonderful.

We have been "transfered" to attend another ward.  There is a branch that will become a ward November 1.  We have been asked to attend that new ward and support the leadership there.  Pres. Koch visited the ward we were attending and gave it a "clean bill of health'.  Their leadership is doing a great job.  Polana branch (soon to be ward) meets at the Chamanculo Ward building just behind our apartment.  We will be able to walk there.  That will save us driving 20 minutes one way to church each Sunday.  Maybe I can help members who want to play piano now that we are right here.  There were at least 6 people who came up to me from the T-3 ward wanting me to teach them piano.  We were making arrangements but hadn't quite gotten there yet.  (THeir church organ isn't good.  The electrical keeps shorting out and other things. The Bishop is ordering a new organ/piano.)  I have noticed there is a lot of talent but not many musical instruments.  If we were to teach piano, the only piano they could practice on would be the church organ.  I have promised I could dedicate my Sunday only to do church support kinds of things.  We will see how I can help here.  I am sure Stan can be a great support for their leadership as well.
[Stan] There is a former missionary who is a Mozambican that works for the church now handling all the visas and legal work for the mission.  He wants to take some pictures of our projects and prepare a presentation to some of the officials here to try and ease their minds about what missionaries are doing here in the country.  Our job, as welfare services missionaries is not proselyting in nature.  We don't even work very much with public affairs although we can do a few things together.  He is hoping to be able to positively influence these officials to make it easier to get visas.  We will see.
We are having a wonderful time and appreciate all the prayers in our behalf.  We are learning so much and are grateful for this opportunity.  

my dad, grandpa, mom, 2 sisters and me standing on the farm

Memories of my dad, his dad, my mom on the ranch.  My grandpa is holding a fighting chicken.  We are standing in front of the chicken pen at the old yellow house we bought from the Cluffs in Chandler, Az.  My dad was born just 4 miles from where this old yellow house was that we lived until I was 12.

Grassa Machel, first lady of Mozambique. 70th birthday

This amazing lady married Machel who was the pride and joy of Mozambique, leading them to a victory in their civil war over the Portuguese.  He became the first President back in the 70's.  I guess everyone did not like him because he was martyred.  She then went on to grow in her abilities and eventually married Mandel of South AFrica.  Then she outlived him.  She has a special place in her heart for Mozambique, her homeland.  She attended a benefit held at our church in Matola yesterday.  We were looking forward to meeting her.  She is a real champion.  They had a cake and helped celebrate her 70th birthday.

Stop Hunger Now in progress

 Here is a picture of some of the volunteers (Helping Hands being one of them)being instructed on how to assemble the packets of soup.  They have rice, soup mix, vitamin packet and flavoring.  It is a soup mix for 6.  THe first 40 minutes, they had 1500 packets assembled.

We talked to the leader of the "Stop Hunger Now".  His philosophy was good.  He has supporters and those that donate to his cause.  He hopes wherever he does his projects that people will follow the example and give of their time, and their means to "Stop Hunger Now".

It almost sounds like he hopes to inspire people to give 10 percent of what they make to stopping hunger.  Tithing? Fast Offerings?  It is nice to know there are other groups out there who are working for the welfare of Africa.  We have run into several in just the very few contacts we have made.  We look for Non Government Organizations with similar welfare goals to partner with to create projects.  "Stop Hunger Now" was a great example of one.

Getting home in the rain

Our first real rainstorm that we were out in happened tonight.  This truck was taking people home from Maputo.  This was taken in Matola, the bedroom community of Maputo.  Amazing.  We hoped they got home quickly.

We were wondering if there were ever thunder storms in Maputo.  Benildo, our interpreter, told us just yesterday that they do have thunderstorms.  Now we have experienced one.  This was amazing!  Almost like Missouri.  We are enjoying the sky lit up and the rumble of the thunder as the rain comes down.  The world is getting a good bath.

On the way back to our apartment, the vendors in the street were still out selling in the rain.  These are boys from 14-16 usually.  This one was probably 15.  He had a variety of small packages of  potato  chip assortments.  The cardboard box was cut off so all the chips were exposed to the view of the vehicles that passed on both sides of him.  It is dark and the rain is reflecting on our windshield and this young man is selling 1 package of chips as the traffic begins to move.  The vehicle that wants a package pulls off to the side of the road but we could not pass for fear we would hit the vendor.  We waited and watched.  The vendor took the money with one hand (the other one holding the big box of chips), put the money in one pocket and took change out of the other all the time balancing the box of chips.  He did that while traffic was passing him on one side and he was holding up traffic on the other.

We went out to dinner.  We found some interesting hot sauce. We have been missing Mexican food.  So when we found this hotsauce, we laughed.  I wonder if there is Mexican Food in Johanessburg, South Africa.  We haven't found it here.

hotsauce

Mexican?

 

Can you see?  "Seriously hot chille sauce made south of Mexico in Africa"

Isn't that cute?  The top did not have a lid on it.  They covered each of the four flavors of hot sauce with a piece of tin foil. 

The flavor was good, not hot but a good flavor.  There was a red sauce and a Habenero sauce that we did not eat.  The pizza and salad were good but different.  The pizza reminds me of the pizza I ate in Italy.  There is not much yeast dough in the pizza crust.

Avacado pizza

The avocados were cooked on top of the pizza.  There was chicken meat on the tomato sauce with cheese.  It was kind of sweet.  We ate it all.

Oh my goodness!  Did this video really download onto here????  I have tried many times to download a video and now, I think I have learned how.

This is a short video, not what I had hoped to get, of one of the sisters at our ward wrapping her baby in her capalana on her back.  It is a most amazing process.  As you can see, this baby is fast asleep during this whole process.  I have watched this little one grow in the past 2 1/2 months.  She is such a doll.

Let me tell you what I have found.  THere are many benefits to a "capalana baby holder".  It definitely leaves their hands free.

I thought wrapping their babies onto their back would confine their babies.  The baby would want to get out of that tight wrapping and move around.  The babies would consider this confinement negatively.  I am finding out that is not necessarily so.  I compare the "capalana baby holder" to a swaddler.  A baby enjoys being wrapped up tight.  There is some security in this tight wrap.  I know the baby feels the warmth of the mother's body and can hear her heart beat.  These are all good things for a baby, especially in the beginning.

I was watching one baby,a 20 month old or so.  She was running around enjoying herself during a wedding and then she came over to her mother.  I wasn't exactly sure what she was doing but she crawled between her mother's back and the back of the chair.  The mother wrapped her up in a capalana right there in the wedding ceremony.  The baby loved it. 

 I watched another mother nurse her baby and then put her on her back wrapped tight rocking back and forth in her seat at church and the baby just went to sleep wrapped tight in the capalana.  I have a new appreciation for the "African" way of carrying a baby. 

My Dad, Dwight Bert Rice, just passed away.  He has been in a coma for several days and been moved from the ICU to a nursing home.  He lived in Visalia, California.  He was 87 years old.  He will be missed.  I am so grateful for his great tutelage to me.  I have been such a blessed daughter to have him as my Dad.

We are serving in Mozambique, Africa on a mission that he wanted to go on in 1995.  Mom and Dad put their mission papers in to go to Zimbabwe.  Because of circumstances, the church could not send them there at that time.  But here I am  here where he wanted to be.

There are so many memories, very wonderful memories.  I will always remember him as the great science teacher.  His knowledge of geology, of animal science, of the natural sciences was amazing.  I could always count on him to have an answer to my many questions.  As we would go on our summertime excursions, he always knew why that mountain looked the way it did or why the clouds formed such a way or why the deer lived in the brush etc.  Milking the cow, feeding the calves, pigs, chickens, bees, etc. was such a blessing to me.  He was a great photographer as well and taught photographer as a part of his classes at the Junior High School he taught in Chandler, Arizona.

Another memory is his ability to follow the straight and narrow.  He held the banner high and expected other to do the same at home, at school, in scouts, etc.  His work ethic was commendable.  I have learned to love work and much of that learning is from him.

His testimony of the gospel was strong and firm but just budding.  He continually learned and applied the gospel in his life.  I want to be just like him.

Dad Paul Bunyan

Staying hydrated at school.  These are sandwich bags with liquid frozen in them.  Bite off the corner and suck.

 

Momma carrying water home with baby

This is a very common picture.  Women with a baby tied on with their capalana and another capalana helping to make the top of their head flat carrying a load on their heads.  I watched as she put this load on her head with her baby strapped to her back.  I asked her to turn so I could take a picture of her, her load, and her baby.  She slipped the baby under her arm to her front so I could take the picture facing her.  They also slip the baby from the back to the front when the baby needs to nurse.  The capalana makes a great nursing shield.  This water container is just over 5 gallons of water.

doors and windows of new posible project

Aren't these darling kids?  I am looking at them through the door and window frames.  We hope to get a project approved that will help install windows and doors so we can secure the classrooms.  If we can help them do that, we can provide desks for these children to sit in instead of sitting on the floor. There are 1500 students in 6 classrooms in three sessions a day.  In those 6 classrooms, there are 22 teachers in three shifts that have no desk to do their work on.  There are some classes that are held outside during the dry season.

classroom outside with assignment on the chalkboard.

There was no teacher yet the kids were quietly copying into their notebooks what was written on the chalkboard.
The Government has promised six new buildings.  The school has been in existence for 6 years and the only buildings built have been from the community.  We can't build new buildings but we can refurbish.  Lots to do.

Tiago, us and Senda

We were so excited to meet a man, Alexander Senda, who was a part of Tiago's district.  He used a plan that sustained new desks for 7 years.  After 7 years, these desks look like new.  We hope to implement his plan to every school we work with in hopes "the plan" will catch on and promote self-sufficiency, maintainability, and sustainability even after we are gone.  "If and when something is given, keep it nice."

Senda's new school

Because of Senda's ability to maintain the gift of desks he was given, he was promoted to this school.  See!  The Govenment can build nice things.  This is a brand new school.!