Arrested
What a time. This week was pretty good. Also that hurricane I mentioned apparently hit very hard in another smaller city. So for other people it was far from disappointing.
I wanted to start by talking a little about transportation here in Mozambique, it is pretty interesting. To go in between cities it basically by airplane or bus. Buses take forever so we use planes. It is crazy because some missionaries need to use them for zone conference because they live in a different city.
As far as local transport they are a quite a few options. First is basically just a truck bed, they have some weird name for it I don't remember. They are super cheap and pretty common in small towns. However as missionaries we aren't allowed to use them, because they are not very safe.
Next is Chapelas. We don't have them in Nampula unfortunately. I think in India they are called TookTooks. They are tiny three wheel car/motorcycle things. They have room for three people. They are nice because they will take you exactly where you want to go. They are a lot faster then Chapas but also cost about 120 MT ($2) a ride.
Next is motorcycles. Pretty simple. We can't use them as missionaries. There are tons of them here in Nampula and in Mozambique.
Finally taxis. Basically just some old car someone drives people in. Very expensive, we only use them when we absolutely need to or when we can get refunded for them, which is basically just for transfers.
And now what actually happened this week:
This was Elder Icaro's last week here so we didn't work as much. It was kinda unfortunate. But it was his last week. All the members and friends you worked with just want to wish you well and give you stuff. Our last day Elder Icaro got like 6 capalana (African fabric, it is pretty cool).
But some cool stuff happened. Monday was pretty wild, during P-Day Elder Icaro and Elder Langkilde got captured by the police. Like literally. The police stopped them and asked for their visas and they had left them in the house so the police took them to the police station. So Elder Thornock and I had to ran back to house and grab them. They ended up waiting at the police station for about two hours before they were let go. If we hadn't been able to get them they would have gotten deported or imprisoned. It was pretty crazy but also a little funny afterwards. Now I make sure to always have a copy of my visa on me.
We still had some pretty cool lessons this week. We visited the Victorino family and their grandma was they. She is really old and only speaks Makua (an African language), so only the father can actually talk to here. She is super polite and always shakes our hands. She usually is there for our lessons (which she probably doesn't understand). Anyway, we had taught the Plan of Salvation (God's plan for us) and we asked if anybody wanted to say something. Nobody did except the grandma. So the dad talked to the grandma for a bit. Then the dad told us this super cool testimony the grandma had about missionaries. It was super cool and unexpected.
Elder Icaro left for Beira Friday morning so I was with Elder Thornock and Langkilde for the day, it was pretty fun and we did a lot of walking.
I guess it was just preparing me for Elder Alberto. He is from Beira and has actually been out on the mission less than me. But because this is only my second transfer here, he is my trainer. He is super cool though but he absolutely loves walking. The only time he uses chapas is when we need to get somewhere fast. It has already been pretty fun. But I have already done a lot of walking. On Saturday we even got lost and ended up in an area covered by different missionaries we probably spent about 40 minutes just getting back to the main road. It has been fun.
My time here is honestly been super wild, every once and a while I take a step back and realize this is nothing like anything I have seen before. All of it so different and new. And in some ways it also feels normal. The roads, the houses, the people, all are just a part of being here. One thing that has remained constant throughout is the gospel. The messages we share and the good we do is universal. It goes beyond a location or a people or a language, it is the work of Jesus Christ. Being an example of love, kindness, charity, patience and so much more. None of us our perfect at it, but we do it just the same. One of our friends said it best "Following Jesus Christ is the right way." A scripture that says this perfectly is 2 Nephi 25:29 "And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul..." I am far from perfect and fall short a lot, but I am working hard.
I wanted to start by talking a little about transportation here in Mozambique, it is pretty interesting. To go in between cities it basically by airplane or bus. Buses take forever so we use planes. It is crazy because some missionaries need to use them for zone conference because they live in a different city.
As far as local transport they are a quite a few options. First is basically just a truck bed, they have some weird name for it I don't remember. They are super cheap and pretty common in small towns. However as missionaries we aren't allowed to use them, because they are not very safe.
Next are Chapas, basically it is just a van that is retrofitted to maximize the amount of people it can fit. They are generally pretty old and usually the only working parts are the steering wheel and the pedals. There also seems to be no limit to the amount of people you can fit inside. There are tons in the city and they all take a certain route through the city (they are similar to buses). They cost 10 MT (about 20 Cents). We use them when we need to go somewhere kinda far away.
Next is Chapelas. We don't have them in Nampula unfortunately. I think in India they are called TookTooks. They are tiny three wheel car/motorcycle things. They have room for three people. They are nice because they will take you exactly where you want to go. They are a lot faster then Chapas but also cost about 120 MT ($2) a ride.
Next is motorcycles. Pretty simple. We can't use them as missionaries. There are tons of them here in Nampula and in Mozambique.
Finally taxis. Basically just some old car someone drives people in. Very expensive, we only use them when we absolutely need to or when we can get refunded for them, which is basically just for transfers.
And now what actually happened this week:
This was Elder Icaro's last week here so we didn't work as much. It was kinda unfortunate. But it was his last week. All the members and friends you worked with just want to wish you well and give you stuff. Our last day Elder Icaro got like 6 capalana (African fabric, it is pretty cool).
But some cool stuff happened. Monday was pretty wild, during P-Day Elder Icaro and Elder Langkilde got captured by the police. Like literally. The police stopped them and asked for their visas and they had left them in the house so the police took them to the police station. So Elder Thornock and I had to ran back to house and grab them. They ended up waiting at the police station for about two hours before they were let go. If we hadn't been able to get them they would have gotten deported or imprisoned. It was pretty crazy but also a little funny afterwards. Now I make sure to always have a copy of my visa on me.
We still had some pretty cool lessons this week. We visited the Victorino family and their grandma was they. She is really old and only speaks Makua (an African language), so only the father can actually talk to here. She is super polite and always shakes our hands. She usually is there for our lessons (which she probably doesn't understand). Anyway, we had taught the Plan of Salvation (God's plan for us) and we asked if anybody wanted to say something. Nobody did except the grandma. So the dad talked to the grandma for a bit. Then the dad told us this super cool testimony the grandma had about missionaries. It was super cool and unexpected.
Elder Icaro left for Beira Friday morning so I was with Elder Thornock and Langkilde for the day, it was pretty fun and we did a lot of walking.
I guess it was just preparing me for Elder Alberto. He is from Beira and has actually been out on the mission less than me. But because this is only my second transfer here, he is my trainer. He is super cool though but he absolutely loves walking. The only time he uses chapas is when we need to get somewhere fast. It has already been pretty fun. But I have already done a lot of walking. On Saturday we even got lost and ended up in an area covered by different missionaries we probably spent about 40 minutes just getting back to the main road. It has been fun.
My time here is honestly been super wild, every once and a while I take a step back and realize this is nothing like anything I have seen before. All of it so different and new. And in some ways it also feels normal. The roads, the houses, the people, all are just a part of being here. One thing that has remained constant throughout is the gospel. The messages we share and the good we do is universal. It goes beyond a location or a people or a language, it is the work of Jesus Christ. Being an example of love, kindness, charity, patience and so much more. None of us our perfect at it, but we do it just the same. One of our friends said it best "Following Jesus Christ is the right way." A scripture that says this perfectly is 2 Nephi 25:29 "And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul..." I am far from perfect and fall short a lot, but I am working hard.
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| Elder Icaro and I with some members |
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| Elder Alberto and I out working. |
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