Latest from Mozambique

Dear family,
We are growing!  Our stake has incorporated some interesting things to help the wards to grow.  This is a picture of the missionaries home in Boane.  It takes not quite an hour to get here from Maputo in our truck.  Most people coming to church must ride a chappa.  That takes much longer.  The stake President and councilors decided to have the Boane members meet at the missionaries' home.  We were told there are so many coming that there are not enough chairs for everyone.  Now this group is a break off of one of the Matola wards.  They are still members of the Matola ward but are meeting in Boane.  This change is to encourage people to come to church by making the way there easier.  This is working.  But of course!!  When it is inspiration, it will work!

This Catembe bridge has been under construction the whole time we have been here in Maputo.  It is scheduled to finish in Dec. 2017.  Now, the Catembe people must ride a ferry into Maputo for any dealings here.  We have many members of our congregation, the Polana Ward, that live in Catembe.  The Stake President and counsilors have a place for the Catembe members to attend in their area.  They will start meeting there in April.  They will still be a part of the Polana ward but will meet in Catembe.  This will cut our ward in half.  We will only have 45 attending in each area.  What a great challenge to increase our numbers even to fill the positions to run a ward.  Are we up for the challenge?  Yes!  We are.

 

 I have been enjoying my wheelbarreling!  This is a strange phenomena!  These pictures show the progress of the garden.  The first garden produced some vegetables.  However, these last two pictures, the fruit has not been set or harvested.  Strange!  What do you think is going on?

termites and lizard

The vine like thing growing up the trunk of this tree is not a vine like you would see in the Ozarks.  This is a protection for the termites to climb up this tree.  From what I understand, the termites don't like sunshine.  They build this protective tunnel so they can climb up during the sunshine and not get hot.  Not vines.  Yes!  Termites!

Isn't that lizard beautiful.  THey do a kind of dance too.  They push up to their own rhythm.

Isabel is the baby I am holding.  She is the daughter of our housecleaner, Teresa Guilamba.  Teresa passed away two weeks ago and left this newborn baby and a 6 year old and a husband.  She died of complications from Tuberculosis.  What a shock this was.  How we must rely upon the promises of our Heavenly Father.  She was a good member of the church.  Her six year old, during Teresa's convalescence, did not want to stay home.  He asked to go to church with his aunt.  Teresa was a good teacher of her children.  She was a good example of living the principles of the gospel.  The promises are sure.  There are many details and arrangements having to be made to fill the gap left by Teresa's passing.  She is missed.

 Some interesting sights.  A woman carrying bread she just bought at the grocery store.  She will take that out to people who can't get to the grocery store and sell it for pennies a loaf.  What a living.  There are lines down around the circumference of the store waiting for this subsidized bread.  When they finaly get up to the counter, they buy all they can carry.  AS you can see, they can carry a lot of loaves.

This last picture is a school boy playing with a top.  There are not many surfaces that a top could be played on but this school has a nice smooth cement pad that this top is twirling on.  So much fun!  School is a good experience.