The Cyclone Strikes Back
This week was fun. The missionary work was pretty different because Elder Alberto was gone this week to go to the Temple in South Africa. I was with Elder Langkilde and Thornock which was super fun, but it was super hard to cover both of our areas. I also had my birthday this week.
Our last p-day was actually really cool. We basically decided as a district to go visit a zoo one of the members told our district leader about. The total cost was expected to be about 350 MT or about $6. We had heard some good things about this place and it looked pretty legit, so we went. After a long chapa ride out of the city we arrived at the zoo, except it wasn't actually a zoo. It was a crocodile reservation. But what that actually meant is that it has a giant lake with ~1000 crocodiles and a really cool and pretty park next to it. The park was the real reason to go and it was just really well groomed and pretty. There was tons of cool plants, paths and buildings to go explore. They also had a pretty small zoo, it had two Emus, one Ostrich, some geese, ducks and other weird birds, tons of turtles and two crocodiles. The Ostrich was definitely the coolest thing there. After that we decided to hike one of the nearby mountains. It was pretty cool and we couldn't go up very high because there wasn't a trail but it was very pretty and reminded me a little of hiking back home. The landscape is super different out here but just gazing out and seeing for miles was very exciting. After that the other Elders decided to order food at the restaurant. And of course it was way overpriced and took forever to make. So the other Elders who didn't order food and I had to wait an extra hour for them to get food and eat. Then we finally made it back in time to do shopping and call family.
Missionary work this week was challenging but was also effective and fun. We decided it would be best to spend a few days working in each area. Each day we got a lot of solid work done. Almost everyday we had lunch appointment or ward activity which ate up a lot of time. But what we did do was great.
The first day we had a lunch appointment with the other Elders' Bishop. There was tons of random people there including probably every kid in the neighborhood. Seriously there was 30-40 kids just milling around the yard the whole time. There were also a couple of older people which we chatted with. But for about the three hours they were cooking, we had to entertain everyone there. So we broke out magic tricks, party games, arm wrestles, anything we could to entertain the kids and young adults. It was honestly pretty fun and we actually got a lot out of it. We taught basically all the young adults and the kids were thoroughly entertained. Then when was ready we ate. We had asked them to make a tradition Mozambique dish Black Shima. They made Matapa (which is kinda like a spinach stew) and chicken. Now regular shima is literally just corn meal and water, and it kinda ends up like a potato that you can pull apart with your hands and use like a sponge to eat. Black shima is similar but it is ground cassava instead of corn. Well it ends up way more dense and has a pretty weird flavor. I probably will not ask for it again. Also when we ate they setup a table for us in a sort of gated porch. Well all the kids, were climbing on the bars just watching us eat. Eventually the adults shooed all the kids away but it was pretty weird. Also the women don't eat with the men (though we did try to convince them otherwise) which was kinda a bummer because the Bishop was at work, so it was just Elder Langkilde, Thornock and I eating lunch together (while being watched by children). It was certainly an enlightening experience and I got to try black shima (would not recommend it).
We also ran a ward activity this week. We were going to watch a church film, which according to Elder Alberto is like one of three things people do for fun here. We had prepared a really good plan to get everything setup on time and there shouldn't have been any problems. But of course there was. We found out the other Elders had the keys so when we arrived 30 minutes early to setup we had to wait another 15 for them to bring the keys so we could start. Earlier we had picked up a projector from the other church building to use with the computer to watch the film. Well the projector had an HDMI port and a VGA port (you know that weird one with all the pins from the 90's). When we picked it up we decided to leave behind the VGA cable because HDMI is super common and the computer would definitely have one. It didn't. The only port the computer and the projector had in common was VGA, which we had left behind. So 10 minutes after the activity had started we had to haul down to the other building to get the right cable. By the time we got back everyone was leaving to make dinner. Yeah, it was pretty rough.
My birthday was this week. Sidenote, Do you remember that week I talked about the hurricane that hit, and how it was disappointing? Well, a hurricane hit this week too, and it wasn't disappointing. Editor's note: this was Cyclone Gombe. It did hit the exact area where he's living, but didn't do as much damage as it moved inland. It also was on my birthday. So, we had to stay in the house all day, the power went out, which means our water stopped, and we had no one to call because you, know the hurricane. So we just sat around, played some games, and ate. The worst is that I was going to make cookies and brownies but we ran out of baking powder and the power was out. So it was a pretty solid birthday.
I did make the cookies the next day, they were pretty good. The rest of the week was pretty simple, not much really happened. Elder Alberto was going to come back but his flight was cancelled because of the hurricane, so I am with the other Elders until further notice.
Also I don't want anyone to think I was super sad about how bad my birthday was. I honestly wasn't expecting to do much for it so doing nothing for it wasn't too crazy. Seriously though, I was pretty content the whole time and enjoyed the moment. This is definitely a skill I have learned on the mission. How to be happy regardless of the situation. A lot of things really stink here, not just unexpected birthday cyclones. But you have to learn to move on and enjoy every small moment. Even after the failed ward activity, we were all griping over all the random problems we had. But we pretty quickly turned it around, bought some cookies and had a great rest of the night. It is crazy seeing the differences in my life because of this mission. I have grown in ways I didn't even know were possible. It has been great.
Our last p-day was actually really cool. We basically decided as a district to go visit a zoo one of the members told our district leader about. The total cost was expected to be about 350 MT or about $6. We had heard some good things about this place and it looked pretty legit, so we went. After a long chapa ride out of the city we arrived at the zoo, except it wasn't actually a zoo. It was a crocodile reservation. But what that actually meant is that it has a giant lake with ~1000 crocodiles and a really cool and pretty park next to it. The park was the real reason to go and it was just really well groomed and pretty. There was tons of cool plants, paths and buildings to go explore. They also had a pretty small zoo, it had two Emus, one Ostrich, some geese, ducks and other weird birds, tons of turtles and two crocodiles. The Ostrich was definitely the coolest thing there. After that we decided to hike one of the nearby mountains. It was pretty cool and we couldn't go up very high because there wasn't a trail but it was very pretty and reminded me a little of hiking back home. The landscape is super different out here but just gazing out and seeing for miles was very exciting. After that the other Elders decided to order food at the restaurant. And of course it was way overpriced and took forever to make. So the other Elders who didn't order food and I had to wait an extra hour for them to get food and eat. Then we finally made it back in time to do shopping and call family.
Missionary work this week was challenging but was also effective and fun. We decided it would be best to spend a few days working in each area. Each day we got a lot of solid work done. Almost everyday we had lunch appointment or ward activity which ate up a lot of time. But what we did do was great.
The first day we had a lunch appointment with the other Elders' Bishop. There was tons of random people there including probably every kid in the neighborhood. Seriously there was 30-40 kids just milling around the yard the whole time. There were also a couple of older people which we chatted with. But for about the three hours they were cooking, we had to entertain everyone there. So we broke out magic tricks, party games, arm wrestles, anything we could to entertain the kids and young adults. It was honestly pretty fun and we actually got a lot out of it. We taught basically all the young adults and the kids were thoroughly entertained. Then when was ready we ate. We had asked them to make a tradition Mozambique dish Black Shima. They made Matapa (which is kinda like a spinach stew) and chicken. Now regular shima is literally just corn meal and water, and it kinda ends up like a potato that you can pull apart with your hands and use like a sponge to eat. Black shima is similar but it is ground cassava instead of corn. Well it ends up way more dense and has a pretty weird flavor. I probably will not ask for it again. Also when we ate they setup a table for us in a sort of gated porch. Well all the kids, were climbing on the bars just watching us eat. Eventually the adults shooed all the kids away but it was pretty weird. Also the women don't eat with the men (though we did try to convince them otherwise) which was kinda a bummer because the Bishop was at work, so it was just Elder Langkilde, Thornock and I eating lunch together (while being watched by children). It was certainly an enlightening experience and I got to try black shima (would not recommend it).
We also ran a ward activity this week. We were going to watch a church film, which according to Elder Alberto is like one of three things people do for fun here. We had prepared a really good plan to get everything setup on time and there shouldn't have been any problems. But of course there was. We found out the other Elders had the keys so when we arrived 30 minutes early to setup we had to wait another 15 for them to bring the keys so we could start. Earlier we had picked up a projector from the other church building to use with the computer to watch the film. Well the projector had an HDMI port and a VGA port (you know that weird one with all the pins from the 90's). When we picked it up we decided to leave behind the VGA cable because HDMI is super common and the computer would definitely have one. It didn't. The only port the computer and the projector had in common was VGA, which we had left behind. So 10 minutes after the activity had started we had to haul down to the other building to get the right cable. By the time we got back everyone was leaving to make dinner. Yeah, it was pretty rough.
My birthday was this week. Sidenote, Do you remember that week I talked about the hurricane that hit, and how it was disappointing? Well, a hurricane hit this week too, and it wasn't disappointing. Editor's note: this was Cyclone Gombe. It did hit the exact area where he's living, but didn't do as much damage as it moved inland. It also was on my birthday. So, we had to stay in the house all day, the power went out, which means our water stopped, and we had no one to call because you, know the hurricane. So we just sat around, played some games, and ate. The worst is that I was going to make cookies and brownies but we ran out of baking powder and the power was out. So it was a pretty solid birthday.
I did make the cookies the next day, they were pretty good. The rest of the week was pretty simple, not much really happened. Elder Alberto was going to come back but his flight was cancelled because of the hurricane, so I am with the other Elders until further notice.
Also I don't want anyone to think I was super sad about how bad my birthday was. I honestly wasn't expecting to do much for it so doing nothing for it wasn't too crazy. Seriously though, I was pretty content the whole time and enjoyed the moment. This is definitely a skill I have learned on the mission. How to be happy regardless of the situation. A lot of things really stink here, not just unexpected birthday cyclones. But you have to learn to move on and enjoy every small moment. Even after the failed ward activity, we were all griping over all the random problems we had. But we pretty quickly turned it around, bought some cookies and had a great rest of the night. It is crazy seeing the differences in my life because of this mission. I have grown in ways I didn't even know were possible. It has been great.
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| Beautiful view from one of the nearby mountains |
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| Playground near the zoo |
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| Ostrich at the zoo |
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| Hiking in the fields |
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