Manga 15th Week – November 25, 2013

Monday we were able to do email and it was really good. I always love it. However, one sad thing happened. Somehow the computer completely wiped my memory card. All of my pictures from the start of my mission until now are lost. Luckily any pictures I emailed home are still saved. When I insert the memory card into a computer or my camera it says I need to format or wipe it. I haven’t done that in hopes that maybe the pictures are still on their and can be saved. After email, we did a little shopping and headed home. On the way home, the tchopella got pulled over. When we arrived home, we did some studies and went out to our area. The best part of the area was Family Night. We did “Star Tripping” with some Jovens, they absolutely loved it! Then we played “I Have Never”. They get really intense on that one. They always get us out fast by using things like “I’ve never been to America” or “I’ve never been to the MTC” or “flown in an airplane”. So we usually get out quickly but it’s a lot of fun.

We helped push start a truck and got a ride in it. I was thinking how odd it is to me. How many times did I try much less succeeded hitchhiking at home? Try: 0 – Succeed: 0. On the mission? Try: A lot – Succeed: At least three to five times a week if not more. It’s just normal here but still odd to me.

We were walking with M-------. His phone ringtone was a song by Ellie Goulding. It was weird for a split second, poof, I was back in Mesa, Arizona. It happened again when we walked by a house that had “Paradise” by Coldplay playing. Music is a truly interesting and powerful thing. I love it but it’s odd to think on the different effects it can have on you.

In one of our lessons, we were teaching and a neighbor walked up. He was quite drunk. When he sat down we saw that at some point he must have fallen over and hit his head pretty hard. He had a goose-egg the size of my fist and dried blood down his neck and on his shirt. I was worried that he might have a bad concussion or be really hurt. We told him he needed to go to the hospital but he would not.

Wednesday was elections so we had to stay in the house. After studies we cleaned, slept, played Uno and Monopoly, slept, ate, talked and rested. Thursday everything was back to normal but a lot of lessons fell through. We walked with J------ C----. He is waiting for his mission call. I cannot wait to find out where he is going. Thursday I also got flipped off for the first time on my mission. It was a tchopella drive. We got a really nice Belea (hictchhike) by a Portuguese man who has lived in Mozambique for 52 years.

Friday it just sprinkled the entire day until we were about 10 minutes from our house. Then it opened right up. We got soaked… Gotta love it because it is probably going to be wet and raining for the next couple of months. The Mocambicans say that rainy season still hasn’t started. They say it starts in December. We walk our area in rain boots.

One weird thing with the rain while walking in our area, we saw a crab. I have no idea why he would be so far from the ocean or any other body of water but it was cool

We had some lesson drop again but had a baptism and it was so good. J------- C----  is 19 and getting ready for his mission. He is ward mission leader and teaches gospel principles. He baptized his sister D----- and her friends J---- and T-----.  

 

 

 

 

We also had a super good plan of salvation lesson with c------- and J-----. Almost their entire family voluntarily sat with us. Elder Schachterle fell into puddle (basically a small lake). We were avoiding the water going around the corner of a building. He was using a metal bar that held up the roof to swing around. The bar was literally just holding up the roof. It wasn’t attached to anything including the roof or the ground. So when Elder Schachterle tried to swing around it he went down.

In church this week, we had our Primary Program. . It was good and the kids all sat very reverently and sang very well. During the whole thing there was a 2 year old or so sitting next to me. He was being rather loud and active. Later he started to try to eat my back-pack. I am not sure why but he was gnawing away on the strap of my backpack. I thought that was funny. Sunday night there was suppose to be a small get together at J------- house to celebrate his sisters baptism but every single ward missionary was their with friends and family. It was a lot of people but it was good and we had good food. All of the Mozambican’s favorite cake is Elder Schachterle’s banana bread! That night a really nice guy gave us a Belea. He was born here and grew up here but his mom;s sice is chineese and his dad is Portuguese. He is a college chemistry teacher and complimented us on our Portuguese.