3rd Stake Conference

3rd Stake Conference choir

3rd Stake Conference nice building

3rd Stake Conference choir and Stake Presidency

  One of the goals of the Mission President, President Koch, was to help create a new stake in Munga.  That should be complete soon.  We are also hoping a new Stake in Swaziland and in Maputo will be created before the end of our mission.

I wanted to show you this nice building.  This is the only building the church has built here in Maputo although there are 4 wards in Matola and 5 wards in Maputo.  These wards make up the Maputo Stake. 

There is a new building to be dedicated next week in Maputo.  The wards that will be attending that building are the Polana Ward and the Sommershield Ward.  We attend the Polana ward right now so we will be attending the new building. 

The church has had to really watch their properties they have purchased here in Mozambique.  If the owner does not improve their piece of property, the Government will confiscate it.  Elder Ellis was here a few weeks ago to argue our case on confiscation to see if we could get the properties back that the church had purchased.
Our participation in stake choir has been quite an experience.  You know I love to go to choir and sing.  Stan is a great singer and musician but does not have the same drive I do to participate.  When we first were invited to sing, we went to practice and waited around for 1/2 hour for more than 3 people to show, even the choir director.  Then we didn't even open a piece of music for 45 minutes.  Then we practiced for 4 hours.  I was very tired but Stan was irate.  When I went to choir without Stan the next time, the member of the Bishopric that is a great musician approached me on why Stan was not singing any longer. I referred him to Stan to explain.  Stan explained that choir should start when the starting time is and he won't sing longer than 1 1/2 hours.  After that, the choir was there (Interject: Someone was just hit on the street.  I heard this screeching tires and a baby crying and lots of commotion.  We ran down to see if we could help.  We saw a Chapa driver out over loudly talking to a mother with a baby of about 1 year and 1/2 in her arms.  She was rubbing his head. They finally pulled over out of the traffic.  I hope she takes him to the hospital. Traffic in Maputo is horrendous.  I am surprised there are not more accidents.  And kids....how do they survive.  Amazing!!)on time and we were late.  Stan has supported the choir without complaining.

This past week, we had an assignment dropped into our laps.  Both the Stake Choir Specialist director and the musician mentor were going to be gone for the performance today.  They said to Stan and I that we needed to help the Stake choir director and the Stake pianist for the performances.  At practice last Sunday, our last practice before we performed, we went thru the songs.  They sounded pretty good on one song, a Sally De Ford arrangement of "I Need Thee Every Hour".  The other 3 songs were not good.  I suggested they just sing the hymns strait out of the hymn book without anything fancy.  We were able to get those songs pretty good but another arrangement of "Whenever I hear the Song of a Bird" needed some help on the final verse.  I suggested we just have a duet with two people who knew the parts instead of trying to teach everyone their parts in this one practice.  We chose one Mozambiquan who is a soloist and a sister missionary.  I worked with them this week on one extra practice.  They sounded good!

Then, President Koch, our Mission President told the missionaries they could only sing on Sunday, not for the Saturday session.  Wouldn't you know it!  "Whenever I hear the song" was to be sung on Saturday and we had chosen a missionary to sing.  No one would give.  Pres. Koch's directive stood and Pres. Castanhiera's directive that this song be sung on Saturday rather than Sunday stood.  So, Saturday comes to sing this song and we fell apart at the part the duet should be.

However, the Sunday performance of "I Need Thee" was so amazing!  I felt like the angels were there singing this song.  It was so amazing.
Talking of driving, I remember a chase scene in a movie that shows the one being chased going down the wrong side of the road and eventually driving on the sidewalk and thru little tiny alleys.  I saw that now that I have experienced Maputo driving and found it amazingly similar to daily driving here, although not at those speeds.  Even this morning, there was someone driving down the wrong way as we went to church.  You are not safe walking on the sidewalk.  People drive on the sidewalk and park there too, forcing the walkers to walk the roads.  Crossing traffic is wherever you want to cross.  I call it challenging the gauntlet.  People cross one lane at a time and stand there while the next lane charges past you until that lane has a little opening and then cross one more lane.  The problem with that is that there are motor bikes that charge through the traffic unaware of lines or lanes at all, so just when you think you are clear for one lane, you need to watch for the motorbikes.  There are many alleyways, mostly not paved that are used for roads too. 

vendors selling to passing cars.

Here is a picture of streets in Maputo.  Parking in the median, vendors selling to cars driving in the street.

Parking job

Parking is amazing or not at all.  Very little space to park.  We would rather leave our car in the apartment garage and walk.  Often it is faster and more fun to do it that way.  If we don't have to carry too much.  I haven't got the "wrap it up in a capulana and put it on my head" syndrome yet!  Hum!

At one point, Maputo was known as the City of Acacia trees.  You can see one of these old Acacia trees in the median that has caused a challenge with this guy's parking!!!  Poor tree.  The city is just not set up for the amount of traffic it has and the traffic is growing!  Even at the church building this morning, the parking was totally crazy.  The architects have not allowed for the members who have cars.  The number of members who have cars is growing but the parking lots are not.

Beira

Dear family and friends,
We just returned from a trip to Beira.  We had 3 assignments there.  The first was a final inspection of the vision project we helped to complete.  The church provided hardware and some software for a computerized patient records system.  We found all well and the vision department very happy with the time saved and the increase in patient services.  The second was 2 surveys we were given concerning 2 previous projects there with equipment donated.  The church wants to know after a few years how things are being utilized and what areas they need improvement in.  We were able to complete both surveys since these projects involved the hospital.  The 3rd was just a hope we might be able to connect with someone there to discuss issues with the Helping Babies Breathe project.  We had emailed contacts, but did not hear anything.  As it turned out we were able to have a few minutes with Dr. Wing, a pediatrician who also is an administrator.  His insights were very helpful.  We will see how things turn out. 

The rest of the time there we were able to enjoy with Elder and Sister Wilkins.  He was a mission president in Brazil a few years ago.  They are from Utah.  They were such wonderful hosts.  They showed us around Beira and we had a great time.  They are CES coordinators/trainers and are doing a marvelous job there.  (This picture was actually taken in Swaziland a few weeks ago where we had a couples conference/training. It is a good picture of them so we included it here.) The rest of the pictures are of our sights and visits.  Beira has a different feel all together.  It has a more rural feel to it; a more "African experience" if you will.  We enjoyed good food; I ate lots of seafood and it was awesome!  We don't know when we will get back to Beira, but we loved it up there.  It is about in the middle of the country, while Maputo is in the very southern tip. 

This is what is left of the Grande Hotel Beira.  It was a luxury hotel/resort.  After the Portuguese were kicked out it deteriorated and is now just a slum for squatters.  Every piece of wood, metal, wiring, plumbing, etc. has been ripped out and sold or burned.  All that remains is the concrete and steel.  There is concern that some of it may collapse and people will get hurt or die. You can go on the internet and look it up to see pictures of it when it was at it height in the 60s.  This is not the only building like this there.  We saw several.  This actually is quite common here; not just in Beira.  We see similar things here in      Maputo, but the contrast is more visible in Beira.

This is a little piece of the market just outside the church gates. 

Here are gardens planted on the church property by members.  Nice produce they share with one another. 

We rose early one morning and took a walk along the beach.  This is a functioning lighthouse, but is being phased out.  We found someone near by and asked if we could go inside.  He left and then came back shortly with someone who had keys.  They opened it up and gave us a tour.  We walked the circular stairs all the way to the top.  It was fascinating!!  Afterwards they asked for money.  I gave them what I had; 200 meticals.  They were hoping for more, but that is all the cash I had.  We had spent the rest of it on capulanas (fabric) in town the day before.  Presently, 200 meticals is about $3.00.  

Sand crabs will be boiled and eaten

Drying fish.

This shoe washed up on the shore

Our walk along the beach produced some interesting sights.














This was a grouper that I thoroughly enjoyed. 

Woodcarvers kids

This week we hope to have a visit with a member of the Ministry of Health to let them know what we are doing and find out more about their priorities and how we might be able to support their efforts.  Right now, after getting the feedback we did from Dr. Wing in Beira, it seems that there are many other organizations working in the same area and it may not be in our best interest to try and put together a project that everyone else is doing.  The coordination with the governments officials is just too much for them to handle.  We want to help them; not cause more problems.  So we will see where all this leads. 

We bought this floating bird

Wood carver in Beira

Last week we visited 5 schools in the Kamubukwana district.  We want to work with a couple of them to improve the facilities and conditions for the students.  Determining who is going to make the best partner is a challenge. 
We are so grateful to serve this mission.  Our eyes have been opened to many things and it has given us and continues to give us growth opportunities.  I am learning more things about myself; some good and others not so good.  Change is difficult, but it is necessary and in the end it is what this life is all about.  I am grateful for Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for me.  His perfect example is the anchor of my life.  My hope is that all my children and grandchildren will seek to know Him and exercise their faith in Him.  This church is His church and is being led by true prophets of God.  What an awesome  blessing that is in this troubled world!!
Love to all,
Elder Petersen, Stan, Dad, and Grandpa