A Very Hot Christmas
Well this was an eventful week. A lot happened and I spent a lot of time traveling. It was tiring.
As mentioned last time, the week started in Nampula. We got there on Sunday and that was pretty much where last week ended. That P-day wasn't crazy eventful. We did some shopping, met up as a district and did the best thing to do in Nampula, buy capulana. It was nice because capulana slowly rotates in and out new styles and patterns so having been gone for a few months there was a lot of new patterns. We got some pretty nice capulanas and it was a good time.
The next day was zone conference and this one was very special. Because it is Christmas all the zone conferences were fun and all the missionaries got to do some sweet stuff. The Nampula zone definitely had the most unique zone conference.
It started pretty early with a few trainings and goal setting. Then we headed to the "bus" that President and Sister Moraes had gotten for us. I call it a "bus" because the day before Sister Moraes told us that they were looking for a nice bus to rent to take us to the activity. They told us they had found one but it wasn't as nice as they were hoping for. I honestly was expecting a bus that would be pretty decent, like a public transport bus. Instead what we got was a chapa, which was exactly what we needed but I was lead to expect something better, and bigger. Still, it was solid and the ~15 Elders climbed in and we headed to our special zone conference activity. Where did we go? Well, none other then the Island of Mozambique, practically the only historical tourist site in all of Mozambique. I was pretty hyped to go and it was pretty sweet. After about 2 hours in the chapa chatting with the other Elders we got to the bridge. The bridge is a little skinny but it is impressive and very long. We got some pictures and then made our way to the island.
On the island we got even more pictures, drove around, got more pictures, drove some more, got some more pictures, hung out a little at the pier, got pictures and you know, we got more pictures. Then after all that we went to the coolest part, the fort. Now to explain, the Island of Mozambique is the first place the Portuguese established their influence in Mozambique, before this it was relatively untouched (except by the Arabs). So the fort was built roughly in the 1500s and was built entirely by hand. I was really impressed with the size and architecture. The fort had a pretty neat rain water collection system that ran into a massive cistern. It is super cool that people built all of it almost 500 years ago. It was a super cool trip and definitely was my favorite part.
The next two days we were actually stuck in Nampula. Our original plan was to leave Wednesday but there was a big line to get tickets. Then the next day the other Elders waited all morning and still couldn't get the tickets. We talked to the APs and they told us "we got some great plane tickets for you guys." The tickets were for Friday and we would get to Quelimane at night. The problem was that we had a wedding on Saturday that we were helping with. So it was certainly less than desirable but in the end we made it back.
Then Saturday we had the wedding. It was really awesome and the bride and groom had been stressing a lot about the wedding but they were both super happy once everything started. It was great and once again took all day, but once again totally worth it.
Then Sunday was Christmas. To be honest it didn't feel like Christmas at all. Church was pretty solid we had some really good talks (including mine). We had tried to make plans with some of our friends but all were busy. So we ended up tagging along with the other Elders. They had planned a bunch of visits with members and we sang some Christmas hymns, accompanied by Elder Higby's ukulele. It was really fun and every member prepared food for us so we ate like 3 dinners. It was a blast and really made Christmas special.
This week was super crazy with zone conference, getting stuck in Nampula, a wedding and Christmas but it was also super fun. It was awesome.
As mentioned last time, the week started in Nampula. We got there on Sunday and that was pretty much where last week ended. That P-day wasn't crazy eventful. We did some shopping, met up as a district and did the best thing to do in Nampula, buy capulana. It was nice because capulana slowly rotates in and out new styles and patterns so having been gone for a few months there was a lot of new patterns. We got some pretty nice capulanas and it was a good time.
The next day was zone conference and this one was very special. Because it is Christmas all the zone conferences were fun and all the missionaries got to do some sweet stuff. The Nampula zone definitely had the most unique zone conference.
It started pretty early with a few trainings and goal setting. Then we headed to the "bus" that President and Sister Moraes had gotten for us. I call it a "bus" because the day before Sister Moraes told us that they were looking for a nice bus to rent to take us to the activity. They told us they had found one but it wasn't as nice as they were hoping for. I honestly was expecting a bus that would be pretty decent, like a public transport bus. Instead what we got was a chapa, which was exactly what we needed but I was lead to expect something better, and bigger. Still, it was solid and the ~15 Elders climbed in and we headed to our special zone conference activity. Where did we go? Well, none other then the Island of Mozambique, practically the only historical tourist site in all of Mozambique. I was pretty hyped to go and it was pretty sweet. After about 2 hours in the chapa chatting with the other Elders we got to the bridge. The bridge is a little skinny but it is impressive and very long. We got some pictures and then made our way to the island.
On the island we got even more pictures, drove around, got more pictures, drove some more, got some more pictures, hung out a little at the pier, got pictures and you know, we got more pictures. Then after all that we went to the coolest part, the fort. Now to explain, the Island of Mozambique is the first place the Portuguese established their influence in Mozambique, before this it was relatively untouched (except by the Arabs). So the fort was built roughly in the 1500s and was built entirely by hand. I was really impressed with the size and architecture. The fort had a pretty neat rain water collection system that ran into a massive cistern. It is super cool that people built all of it almost 500 years ago. It was a super cool trip and definitely was my favorite part.
The next two days we were actually stuck in Nampula. Our original plan was to leave Wednesday but there was a big line to get tickets. Then the next day the other Elders waited all morning and still couldn't get the tickets. We talked to the APs and they told us "we got some great plane tickets for you guys." The tickets were for Friday and we would get to Quelimane at night. The problem was that we had a wedding on Saturday that we were helping with. So it was certainly less than desirable but in the end we made it back.
Then Saturday we had the wedding. It was really awesome and the bride and groom had been stressing a lot about the wedding but they were both super happy once everything started. It was great and once again took all day, but once again totally worth it.
Then Sunday was Christmas. To be honest it didn't feel like Christmas at all. Church was pretty solid we had some really good talks (including mine). We had tried to make plans with some of our friends but all were busy. So we ended up tagging along with the other Elders. They had planned a bunch of visits with members and we sang some Christmas hymns, accompanied by Elder Higby's ukulele. It was really fun and every member prepared food for us so we ate like 3 dinners. It was a blast and really made Christmas special.
This week was super crazy with zone conference, getting stuck in Nampula, a wedding and Christmas but it was also super fun. It was awesome.
Editors Note: Prepare for a bunch of pictures
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| Wedding! |
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| Bridge to the Island of Mozambique |
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| Large cistern |
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| Under the bridge |
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