Dear Family and Friends,
We have had another adventure in Mozambique. The thing that comes to mind is rivulets of perspiration, no sweat, coming from our bodies. I have never been so hot in my life. As we taught in that auxiliary training meeting my hair became soaked and water was dripping from my head to my feet and every place in between. I was still wonderful. It was very exciting to be there as the church has had missionaries there for only 5 years, and we had 500 people at that district conference, and this year they will have baptized 800 people. The missionaries were outstanding and I really felt a fondness for the assistants who were with the women every minute taking us wherever we wanted to go...sometimes to meetings and sometimes shopping. They reminded me of my sons so much and I guess that is why I enjoyed them so much. There were so good at what they did and they were fun and they were loved by all the people around them. ....the shopkeepers as well as the members. They were wonderful. It was wonderful to be with Elder Bateman of the First Presidency of the Seventy. He is wonderful. He is a masterful teacher and so smart. He remembered every name and every detail of the church in all of Africa. It was fun to travel with him. He was a wonderful sport as sweat dripped off him too. The country is tropical and beautiful and right on the he Indian Ocean.....sometimes it is deceiving to see the coastline and the beauty of nature and then you see the poverty. They are a happy people. They are not hungry like the people of Kenya because there are so many natural resources. For our grandchildren, I want you to know I saw children playing with big leaves again. They are huge leaves, tropical leaves with a large stem that they take turns pulling each other on. It is like having a wagon without wheels. It is easy to pull because the earth is sand. I also saw some children making dolls out of mud and sand. They molded their little families into people and made eyes and mouths out of little rocks. I also saw children that had old wire rims.....maybe from an old bicycle that they would roll with a stick and chase it all over. They were very good at it. I also saw some children dancing to music on the street....little children....age 18months up to 6 or 7 years old. They were having a wonderful time. When you don't have toys, it is amazing what you can do to find things to play with. We loved the people even though they speak only Portuguese. The missionaries were such wonderful translators that it was easy to communicate and I've found it is pretty easy to communicate with my hands and heart.
We have had another adventure in Mozambique. The thing that comes to mind is rivulets of perspiration, no sweat, coming from our bodies. I have never been so hot in my life. As we taught in that auxiliary training meeting my hair became soaked and water was dripping from my head to my feet and every place in between. I was still wonderful. It was very exciting to be there as the church has had missionaries there for only 5 years, and we had 500 people at that district conference, and this year they will have baptized 800 people. The missionaries were outstanding and I really felt a fondness for the assistants who were with the women every minute taking us wherever we wanted to go...sometimes to meetings and sometimes shopping. They reminded me of my sons so much and I guess that is why I enjoyed them so much. There were so good at what they did and they were fun and they were loved by all the people around them. ....the shopkeepers as well as the members. They were wonderful. It was wonderful to be with Elder Bateman of the First Presidency of the Seventy. He is wonderful. He is a masterful teacher and so smart. He remembered every name and every detail of the church in all of Africa. It was fun to travel with him. He was a wonderful sport as sweat dripped off him too. The country is tropical and beautiful and right on the he Indian Ocean.....sometimes it is deceiving to see the coastline and the beauty of nature and then you see the poverty. They are a happy people. They are not hungry like the people of Kenya because there are so many natural resources. For our grandchildren, I want you to know I saw children playing with big leaves again. They are huge leaves, tropical leaves with a large stem that they take turns pulling each other on. It is like having a wagon without wheels. It is easy to pull because the earth is sand. I also saw some children making dolls out of mud and sand. They molded their little families into people and made eyes and mouths out of little rocks. I also saw children that had old wire rims.....maybe from an old bicycle that they would roll with a stick and chase it all over. They were very good at it. I also saw some children dancing to music on the street....little children....age 18months up to 6 or 7 years old. They were having a wonderful time. When you don't have toys, it is amazing what you can do to find things to play with. We loved the people even though they speak only Portuguese. The missionaries were such wonderful translators that it was easy to communicate and I've found it is pretty easy to communicate with my hands and heart.
Elder Bateman and Elder Nelson were traveling together and before we went to Moz. we were with them at a Mission President's Seminar. I loved that. Those mission presidents and their wives are so wonderful and we loved being with them and learning with them. We had a department for the wives which turned out well, I think. We feel blessed to be here. We're having spiritual experiences and funny experiences and educational experiences and all kinds in between. Especially after last year, I feel so blessed to be here....to have my health and energy. We miss you all and think about you often. I even talked about one of my grandchildren in this last conference and the people loved it.....how do I know that? ...they smiled and laughed with me. Someday, I'll tell you who and what I said. We love you all. We love your e-mails. Please keep them coming.....they are wonderful.
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