Looking fabulous.... 

Beautiful baby... 

Making dinner? 

Shanna with mothers and kids in Mozambique. 

Mozambique

We just returned from Mozambique and our six days were very unique on many levels and we were very busy every minute. We had a great time and there are images in my mind that I'll never forget. The first day we did auxiliary training with all three organizations represented. It was great to watch our General RS President, Bonnie Parkin, teach and do her thing. She is very good at what she does and is very entertaining as well. I trained with her part of the time which was fun also. We went to church in the chicken coop on Sunday and it was great even when everything was in Portuguese. A darling little black boy gave at talk....luckily we had missionaries behind us translating. We then went to a missionary meeting, a fireside, and then dinner at the Mission Home and then back to the hotel to bed. From then on our schedul with the Red Cross was crazy. They had us on a bus going many places and it was great. We got to know some wonderful people who spend their lives serving others.Those Red Cross people are smart, compassionate and loads of fun. They also are very impressive professionally. We went to an orphanage with children whos parents have died of Aids. It was not clean. It was poor and those 80 children were very subdued as they sang to us. I think because there just isn't much stimulation there. They at least get gruel 2 times a day that is cooked over an open fire outside. They mash the soy beans with a long pole and add mashed peanuts when they have them for protein. They made something for us to eat that was deep fried in the back pot of grease that was on an open fire in the dirt. We graciously gave it to the children!!! All preparations were outside in the dirt with water from a well and all prepared in the open air as they don't have a kitchen. As least the children get some food and a roof over their head at night. We did use disinfectant afterwards as we had high fived the kids and shook hands and squeezed the children. I was hoping not to get scabies or ring worm or some such thing...but the interaction was worth it. We attended the measles campaign in several different locations and it was one of the most touching things I've ever seen. Up to a million children in Africa are dying of measles every year. Many that don't die have brain damage from the high fever, including many cases of cerebral palsy. This project is slowly eradicating the deadly disease. To us it is an incredible miracle and I'm proud that President Hinckley wants money spent this way. We saw lines and lines of children waiting to get their polio medicine and measles's shot. Some of the children were crying but most were stoic. At one place it was mothers with their babies on their backs and holding the hands of their other children. The mothers and children were clean and dressed in their best for the occasion. It was a sight I'll never forget. They were coming on trust as at first many though the needles might be tainted with the HIV virus and much education with radio and TV spots were used. There were posters every where. The church member spent 20,000 hours going door to door to teach about the event. They did a tremendous service as many don't have the media in their homes and the turn out was wonderful....93-94% of all children were inoculated. It is a modern day miracle to eradicate that deadly disease. At another location it was just children without their moms. Many children including 5-6 year olds were carrying a baby on their back. We sang with them...high fived, shook hands and touched heads again. They are too darling not to touch and they love the attention. We saw a school where HIV training was going on. It was being taught by the students WHO had been trained....with our interpreters it was fabulous. We went to a place where a well had been dug by the church and the Red Cross. It of course is a life changing project and we saw the five women who are in charge of the well take it apart and service it and then put it back together. It was quite a sight. Leave it to women!!!! It was a great experience to be part of life changing events. We are blessed to be in Africa.

Funeral

Dear Family, I must tell you about the funeral I
attended yesterday. Last Sunday as Bro. Malumalu was
teaching his Sunday School class he had a stroke and
after 2 days on life support he passed away. He was
about 6'2", handsome, articulate, and one of the best
teachers I've ever heard in my life. He was 50 years
old. It was a shock for the entire ward where he was
bishop at one time. He left a wife and 5 children
ranging from 10 to 18 years old. He was loved. The
funeral was Saturday and it was a very moving
experience. It started 1 hour late because they had
to wait for the body to be brought from the mortuary
and the family who were with the body. About 40
family members came in following the casket with much
wailing and crying and sobbing.....it was very loud.
I learned from my So. African friend who was sitting
next to me that some of those crying and wailing were
hired to do the sobbing. After they sat down, all was
reverent and quiet for a moment and then the 17 years
old daughter started waving her arms and crying and
sobbing out loud in anguish. That went on for 2-3
minutes and then she stopped. She had run away from
home 2 months before and had come home the night
before her father died. That was a blessing....they
made peace, but it was hardest on her. Then the
funeral began and the one conducting asked that the
visitors not smoke or drink on the grounds and he also
asked that there would be a reverent service. The
first 2 speakers were so eloquent and they were so
touching. They gave such peace a comfort to the
family as they spoke. Then the 5 children sang , "I
know that My Redeemer Lives". The boy played the
piano and the 4 girls or I should 3 girls sang...the
4th was just too overcome and had to sit down. Then
there were 7 or 8 testimonials by family members from
Congo....they were mostly in French...some had
translators and some didn't. One was speaking and
asked his friend on the spur of the moment to come up
and play the piano and sing.....he wasn't fabulous but
it was from his heart and as he sang many in the
sudience sang the song softly with him.....it was most
touching. Then the 15 yearold spoke about an essay
that she had just written for an english class....it
was about her father and how she loved and respected
him and that her dream was one day to be able to buy
him a landrover so they could take the family on trips
into the bush and have a great time. She said I
didn't know that he would be takin a different ride.!
It also was so touching. After the closing prayer the
widow who was sitting on the front row started shaking
her arms high above her head and she wailed and sobbed
and cried and then the casket went out to the Relief
Socity room and all of the family followed wailing and
screaming and crying and sobbing....including the paid
mourners. As they did this very very slowly then
every second or two someone would rise from the
audience and would give a loud cry or wail and it
seemed to it was to let that mother and family know
that they were deeply mourning with them. When they
got to the RS room you knew when they had opened the
casket for viewing as the wailing level went up 100%.
I truly was touched that they were able to mourn in
such a way that many of us have felt at times, but
because of our traditions we seem to keep bottled up
except in private. I was really in awe at the new and
old traditions coming together. There was the proper
service as well as the part of mourning that I'm sure
these people had seem their mothers and fathers and
grandparents do. It was very touching to me to bring
every aspect of mourning and learning and comfort into
the realm of the day.They were ALL in African or
Congolese dress as that is where his home is. That
was a magnificent sight. I felt it a privilege to
know him and learn from him. The flowers were so
simple....something that of course I would notice.
Two little glasses of yellow daffodils were put on a
stand and then they brought another little glass of
purple sweet peas to compliment the yellow. It was so
simple and lovely and appropriate to the
circumstances. The women of the ward fixed a feast
for everyone who came. That toowas sooooo touching as
many of these people can't afford to feed themselves.
We didn't stay for the viewing or the food but I truly
felt it a privilege to be part of such a poignant day.
Incidentally, he was teaching about life after death
when he collapsed. What irony.