Week 16: They call me "Mulatto"

This week we didn't have anything really special or awesome happen. That means once again whoever reads this just gets more of random facts about my life here and information about my new favorite family!

To begin, my photos make me look really tan... Maybe I am? Sometimes the kids call me `Mulato` which means something kinda like `light skinned black person` which is kind of a complement? But I can assure all of you the tan lines are horrible. My `tan` (burn really) is just under my elbow, neckline.... The rest of me is 200% white. Not light, but just white. Also my watch has given me a very solid tan line that I don't really like... Guess I will go to a tanning bed (can't be more risky than walking around in this sun all day) when I eventually go to the US.

Something that I think is really really cool here are the fireflies. I have never seen them before and they literally and metaphorically brighten my nights while walking between lessons. The locals however call them snails... Not sure why, snails don't fly.... Though there are some snails here larger than my fist, and I have a large fist. I´ll take a picture with the next one I find.

The next random thing is that I enjoy asking all our investigators how old I am. This week the high was 40. Not a joking guess, but a solid guess by a full grown man who is 39.... They literally wont believe me when I say 19. Good thing I have a drivers license! ---The average is late 20´s.

Something fun here is that a lot of the Africa Cliches are actually real! Especially some of the churches. We walk in a certain area with lots of churches, at night its filled with chanting, dancing, singing and people `manifesting` demons that are then cast out. Very fun late at night :D

As far as cooking this week we found out that just `going for it` and using baking powder instead of baking soda really doesn't work (though with enough chocolate it still tastes fine). Thankfully we found baking soda (super rare here) and were able to make cookies. My mom´s are still better, but it was a nice, close to, taste from home!

Went on a quick division with Elder Brown this week, but we will have a full day together for `Thanksgiving` Africa Edition that I´m sure will be fun to tell about next week.

Lastly an update on an investigator. Belito/Laura and their 3 kids. Amazing family. They can read (we teach a few that can't), and well (really hard to find sadly). They follow through with everything they promise they will and are always so happy. They are working on getting the last 2 documents to open the marriage process (takes 30 days, then you can get married). Their kids even take the 45 minute walk to church if the parents can't go. We don't want to really pick favorites, but they´d be it if we did ;)

Some questions that were asked:

Can you tell me more about the investigators you are teaching? We would love to pray for them by name. (if we can pronounce them)

---The most killer family we have are Belito and Laura. They have 3 kids that are awesome. They actually read (and can, which isn't always the case), they are working on marriage documents(which is pricey and a long time in the making) and they are excited for us to come. The kids even make the 45ish minute walk to church if the parents cant go -that is crazy. David/Ana I have talked about. They are in a rocky spot of their relationship, but I really hope they can pull it back together and that it all will work out. Lastly, Alberto/Eulalia. They have 3 kids from 19 to 16ish (Age guessing is soooo hard here, the oldest is 19 though). Anyway, Eulalia comes virtually every week and Alberto sometimes comes when he isn't working. The kids all attend the Universal Church (huge in Brazil). If any church is the great and abominable church that´s the whore of all the earth, its that church. They are really bad, and bad for the people. Everyone we get away from them I count as a success story even if they aren't baptized. I´m learning how to ´Bible bash´ from the best in the mission--Elder Burchett my comp. Universal and JW´s like to fight us, but we've never lost a ´fight`. That's discouraged in most missions, but here its pretty much required to get people to realize how wrong their church is. Virtually everyone will let us in because we´re `men of God` but they just want to hear about God and thats it. `Bible bashing` for a few minutes quickly shows them that we have information and beliefs and teaching that their church should have, but clearly doesn't.---Rant over :)

What are the best things about your companion?

---Elder Burchett and I get a long really well actually. He is good at cooking and is super well versed in Bible bashing as shown above. Plus he doesn't care about what others think of him, he is here to just do his part. We just have fun and chat a lot. Plus he speaks Portuguese better than virtually any Mozambican.

Will you continue to make coconut milk rice?

---I think so, but you have to grate the coconut with a relador, which we don't have. We have to borrow a members, so last time we taught a recent convert while grating. I hope to make it again though! We´ll probably just buy a relador because it´d be like 7 bucks.

I know they don't have Thanksgiving in Mozambique, but are you doing anything to celebrate it?


---We considered killing and cooking a wild turkey, but they live off of trash. Instead, Thanksgiving will be a crazy amount of KFC today.... Like 500 Met worth in celebration. Thursday my comp, and Elder Browns comp have a leadership meeting so we both plan on buying Feijoada and a full chicken... It´ll be like 10 US dollars spent for all of that, we feel justified!

 The kids love playing with us.

 Making homemade cookies.

 Chocolate cookies.

I like the roasted peanuts--5 Met a bag.

NIK NAKS, they´re like knock off brand, stale Cheetos. But they cost 4 Met so sometimes I get them to nibble on.

Feijoada--beans and rice that I love. Costs 100 Met a plate, so worth it!

The member who we walk with a lot (and who supplies the best mangoes) got a new kitten. Still don't like cats, but this one was very nice to us.

                                     

Lots of little tiny lizards, and big lizards. The little ones are just more photogenic. 

This stick stabbed all the way through my shoe and thankfully missed my foot :)

I thought it would be interesting to write down everything that I spent this week! So I did, and took a picture. I spent a ton this week, usually its like half this... I kinda just bought anything for the sake of the list. It´s interesting though.

***Side note: Chappa (Xapa actually spelled) rides cost 7 or 9 Met depending on distance, but we all pay together when we go in groups. `Who´s this for?!` Yells the cobrador (money collector on the chappa) `The three white guys! Who else would I pay for?!` I always yell back in response. #TheWholeChappaDiesLaughingEveryTime

I ruined my first shirt yesterday.  A member ripped my pocket off while playing musical chairs. Don't worry, don't worry, I still won and have kept my undefeated status in the Musical Chairs T-3 Ala (ward) sector.

Thanks for all the emails, have a great week!

Elder Howell

Week 15

This week hasn't had any huge or crazy things happening, so this weekly update is more of kinda funny random stuff from my week.

First, the coconut cleanse was a terrible terrible idea. The locals all said not to, they were right. Just eating coconut alone makes you sick. It doesn't sit well. It took not even a full day to realize they were totally right. We did make coconut rice though! It was really really good. A bit of a process to milk a coconut but so worth it. Also this week I was able to get may bagia sandwiches which I love. The bread costs 5.5 Met hot from the bakery, and I buy 2 Met bagias (usually 5 or 6), and then get a 500ml water at 15 Met. Super cheap lunch in terms of dollars. We also made lemon bars this week which was a nice taste of home, except we sprinkled just regular sugar instead of powdered sugar which just isn't quite the same.

I haven't gotten any mail in like 6 weeks which is a bit sad. I know there is stuff on the way (shout out to anyone who has sent stuff). The office checked this week and for all 100+ missionaries there were 2 letters :(  But I have hope and excitement for when stuff does finally make it!

This week I hit my 2 month mark in Mozambique, and as a nice `throwback` I get to do a division with Elder Brown this coming week. It will be like the MTC all over again-- But with lots of black people. I was able to go on a division with Elder Mayeya this week, he is an interesting character. We had some fun though, I think our investigators were a bit confused given his and my lack of good Portuguese.

Random Facts of the week:

1. Kids say I have cat eyes... I´ll take it as a complement because most of the kids like cats.
2. People here *hissssss* like snakes to get peoples attention... Its very interesting, and quite creepy at night. For anyone who plays Minecraft they do sound like Creepers.

Last of all, an update on an investigator. David and Ana are having some issues, so right now I´m playing relationship therapist in Portuguese... Here´s the issue though... marriage/marry and the word for hunting are virtually identical, only off by an accent... So that can make for some really incorrect sentences, hahahaha, ooops. It seems like things are on the mend though! Also, we have lots of excitement for Sidónia and her baptism on the 26th, and we have 8-10 people who should get baptized on the 17th of December.

Some questions that were sent:

What do you eat and how much does it cost?

I eat lots of rice and chicken. We have enough money, and the chicken at the grocery store is safe, but pricey at 200ish Met per pack of 4 breasts. I also eat lots of apples. In the area I eat biscotas, little cookie thingies like crackers (15 Met for 100g), coconuts (10-12 Met for big  ones), water (15 Met for 500ml, 35 Met for 1.5 L), drinks (12 for Frozy up to 50 for Dragon) and fruits (10 Met for 3 bananas). My favorite is bread (5.5 Met for a hot french loaf) and bagias (little fried something, not sure) which are 2 Met each, I get 5-6. Peanut butter is like 400 Met for 750g.

Are you still all taking turns cooking?

We plan to cook in companionship this next week, not as a house.

What do you cook when it is your turn?

I often do meaty spaghetti, or crock potted chicken sandwiches-BBQ or sweet and sour.

How is the coconut cleanse going?

 We stopped, you cant eat just the meat, it makes you sick. So we just are eatting healthy and made coconut rice! We milked a coconut!

What else do you have to spend money on and what does it cost?

Chappas (spelled more like xapa) to get around, we eat out once or twice a week. Hygiene stuff, internet to talk with you guys (80 Met for 2 hours), drinks, and other random stuff.

Is their currency equal to 76 to $1 us dollar? (This is what is looks like when we google it.)

Yah, I round to 80 in my head to make it easier though. We have a ton of money compared to the people though. Its the only way to get safe food. The chicken especially--main source of meat for us.

In my High Priest Group meeting today someone shared his missionary experience of attending a Chinese persons funeral. The family hired professional mourners. Have you seen a funeral there? What is it like?

Haven't seen any yet.  Lots of wedding/documents parties. Pretty much cliche Africa with lots of singing, drums, dancing and they all get totally and completely wasted.

Is there something we could do to help a family there for Christmas? If yes, what would be the best way to help?

Not that I can think of. We´re discouraged from doing that. Maybe little toys or treats I could give to some of my investigators kids, but definitely nothing big. That is often taken offensively. The kids like little ´docés´though.--Candy.


Thanks for all the support and emails!

Elder Howell

Lots of children play with old tires.

We play soccer with the little children.

This is the nice local trash eater.

Banana Tree

The best ripe mango EVER!

Members teaching us how to make coconut rice.

Grating the coconut meat.

 Yes, we milked a coconut.

Delicious Coconut Rice.

Some recent converts we meet enjoy having us take photos.

People here love getting their photo taken.

The AIDS-HIV Pamphlets they hand out at church.

My multi weekly bagia sandwich.

My uber sketchy shower....

Week 14: One Very Very Hot Week

It´s been one very very hot week here in `T-3 A/B. I´m always amazed
when I walk out the front door, through the first massive metal gate,
passed the guard and through the other padlocked/spiked gate to
realize how much I´m already sweating in that 8 foot walk. Thankfully
a few days this week were a bit overcast, well and today its raining-
yay wet feet! But it´s H-Day so, can't be too upset. Once we finish
internet at his little cafe we are taking a stupid amount of chappas
to get to a KFC, then going bowling. It´s a bit of a splurge day
because Elder Burchett and I aren´t buying any food from the store
this week. We are doing a `coconut cleanse`. Yes, we are planning on
surviving off of just coconuts and water for a whole week.... We´ll
see how we do :)

I was able to go on a `Division` this week with the Zone Leaders. This
means I got up early, hopped on a chappa with some extra clothes in my
bag and went to a different city for a day and a night. I got to walk
around Liberdade with Elder Martins for a day. It is a really nice
area compared to ours--in terms of houses/money. It was cool to see a
different house, Elders (including my trainers trainer, and my old
friend Elder Dutra), teaching style.

Family update: David and Ana. They are a couple in the new part of our
area. They are both 19 and have a little (almost 1 year old) baby.
They live in a tiny 13´ x 13´ concrete block house without
electricity. We get there usually around 19:00 when he gets home from
work and read by candle light with them. They are working on getting
all the documents together to get married. It is super expensive for
them (1000+ Met, he maybe makes 2,000 Met a month), but they are doing
their best to slowly collect each of the documents, hopefully I will
be here once they can get married!

Bonus: Sidónia´s baptism will be on the 26th hopefully with one or two
others from our area and 2+ from Elder Brown/Mayeya´s area.

Random facts of the week:

1. I am convinced Elder Burchett and I are protected from falling
mangos. Its mango season which means they just fall out of the tree.
We sit under said trees during lessons whenever possible to enjoy the
shade. SOOOO many mangos have hit around us and our chairs, but never
us.
2. We rarely go into houses (1/3 maybe), most of the time we sit on
sketchy lawn chairs in the yard.
3. Everyone here loves trying to speak English. They pretty much only
know `Good morning teacher, How are you, What is your name, I am fine
how are you` though, so the conversation gets old fast. Elder Burchett
and I got permission this week to do a weekly English class though, so
we will be starting that in 2 weeks.

Send any questions my way:
Howell.Tanner@myldsmail.net

Until next week!

President and Sister Koch giving us a ride in the  mission van.   

The mission van is WAY more comfortable than a chappa :)

Mission AP's, Elder Burchett and myself.

Mango

Week 13: Hail

Well this week started off quite wet for us. We were about 30 minutes walk from our apartment when it started to downpour. Not rain, but sheets of water. Biggest, craziest rainstorm of my life. The wind shifted and it was like it was raining sideways. We got maybe 5 minutes back toward the house when it started to hail and massive lightning flashes. HAIL in Mozambique, what is the world coming to? We ended up sheltering next to a building but were still getting pelted (and welted) by the hail. Finally we just ran for it. Thankfully we all made it back to the apartment safely. Elder Stegman took a really amazing photo of the sunset right before it even seemed like it might rain. He has a waterproof camera that he took a mid-storm video with that I will hopefully forward on. This weeks shout out goes to my FILSON waterproof bag. It is waterproof, that storm was the best possible test. Everything in the bag was dry (everyone's cameras and phones). My scriptures were totally dry, sadly the other Elders can't say the same.

Apparently today is Halloween, but that isn´t really a holiday here. The store is already decked out in Christmas stuff and playing carols. Yay -.-

We taught an old, very old gentleman  by the name of Morse last week and he not only promised to come to church, but he would invite all his friends. Mind you, everyone says they´ll come, but he really did! So we show up to his house and he has chairs all set up in a semi circle with 7 friends sitting around. We´d teach a little in Portuguese then he would pretty much repeat it just way more animated in Portuguese, then Xichangana (no idea on how to spell it) for the older visitors. Really crazy and kinda fun experience.

Last week was transfers and there was a bit of confusion. Elders Stegman and Griffeth did leave ;( but they didn't get replaced.... Elder Griffeth and I got `transfered` kinda to T3 A/B.... We now have 2 areas. I mentioned our area was huge before, now its freaking gigantic. When we tell people where all we work they don´t believe us. On the positive side of things, we ´inherited` some really cool families. We had 15 investigators come to church, and we have 9 with dates marked (lots working on marriage papers) Each week after this I´ll try to highlight a family and whats going on with them.

Random facts of the week:
1. We average 11-12 miles a day of walking, this weeks high was 14.1 miles in one day.
2. Frozys (330ml soda things) have increased in price from 12 Met to 15 Met on average.
3. I found a baraka that has super cold, kinda frozen, water bottles for sale. Way nice (30 Met though, but its 1500ml).

Yes I do look super tan in the photo with the family. That is because I have gotten a bit darker, and have fried a bit because I have no sunscreen... but my skin doesn't really burn anymore, so that is good. I have a pretty gross looking watch tan line, and neckline, and worse than a farmer tan farmer tan. 

Ward Activity

These are some investigators kids that like running around us. They call us Tio (Tea-oh) which means uncle. I feel old. The record for someone guessing my age is 37... Like a serious guess by an adult.

Until next week!
--
Elder Howell

Week 12: First Transfers

Well the really big thing of this week is Transfers. Elder Griffeth is
climbing the ladder and is going to be a Zone Leader in Swaziland now.
Elder Stegman is also leaving us for another city. Elder Burchett and
I might be "white washing" (two new missionaries to the area) Elder
Griffeth's and Stegman's area. That will be interesting because we
will be in the same house, but just  walk to a new area, but the same
ward. I foresee 3-4 transfers in T3.

As far as photos this week I wont be sharing many because I lost my
camera on Monday last week, I'm quite upset about it. We had a fun
activity on P-Day last (H-Day) Monday where two Zones met up and we
played sand volleyball and soccer on the beach. It was super fun until
I hopped off the coffin (chappa) at the store and realized my camera
was missing. I think it just fell out of my pocket, but I'm not sure. I
will have to get a camera this week to be able to send cliche Africa
photos for my family to post on Facebook and such :)

On to other random things, I have taken 1 cold shower, 1 hot shower
and a stupid amount of bucket showers the last 3 weeks. I pretty much
refused to take cold showers, so I boiled water to take bucket showers
all the time. They finally fixed our sketchy breaker box in the shower
heater thingy, but it broke after my first shower, back to the bucket
I go!

I was able to send 5 letters home via bribing other missionaries with
candy that I got in a package. Mom, you are getting a letter--if it
ever shows up.... The other 4 are to DC #Priorities.  Letters cost
300ish Met a piece to send, but is well worth it to keep a promise :)

In other cool/random news:
1. I saw my first malaria case this week. I will be double checking
that I take my Doxycycline each and everyday, plus spray down in bug spray
everyday.
2. I also saw my first actually black person this week. We aren't
talking chocolate milk, or 85% cocoa chocolate dark, but seriously
black--It blew all 6 of our minds to see.
3. It's virtually mango season here. As it heats up (SO HOT) nature
here gives us mangos, still not sure if it is a fair trade yet, but
it's not too bad. The mangos aren't totally ripe yet, but a member
gave me one and it was really pretty good--not Costco dried and sugar
covered, but good all the same. Being all natural, grass-fed, organic
was probably what made it taste good.
4. My Mom has asked for me to include scriptures in my emails, I really
liked these two this week: Jacob 6:12 and Alma 26:29-30.

I look forward to the emails I get each week, and the fun photos of
normal Utah/American life. I can't wait for the snow pictures to float
in while it heats up to 40+ Celsius  here!

Elder Howell

Elders Brown, Mayeya, Burchett, Howell, Griffeth, and Stegman.  This was taken right before Family Home Evening.  

 Typical streets in T3 (Matola).

Fries with sauce.

Typical little boy.

Our District right before we lose Stegman (being held up by me and Burchett) and Griffeth (on the far  left side).

Week 11: ...And They're of God

I have more time to write this week, but I left my paper at the apartment with my list of things to include in this email so it might be very randomly written as I remember stuff to include.

Before I go into the week, Happy Birthday to Tate! Ah 17, one more year and you can be drafted, how exciting! Go on a fun date for me :)

This week nothing super exciting happened. We do have one person who said yes to being baptized, but like the last person, I feel like I was at the end of the teaching. It will still be fun to see how the next few weeks play out while we finish teaching her.

I have found a new source of entertainment while walking around. Lots of kids run around pushing tires, so I have started having kids hop in the tires, then I push said tire until they can't handle it anymore and yell for me to stop. It's very entertaining each and every time. I will try to get a video of it this week.

We did get to take part of Elder Griffeth/Stegman's area this week. It's super nice because it is a 15-20 minute walk from our apartment, no chappa riding needed! It is also close to the church, which should be good for sacrament attendance. It's hard to see under 150 people show up to church with the amount of people who should be there, but then I realized this week that some of those members are literally hours and hours away by foot, and they don't have cars.

One last thing....... I GOT LETTERS AND A PACKAGE. Yah, super excited about it. They ranged from the start of September to September 19th. I don't know how long they'd been in the office though (all mail goes to the office). The package was my birthday one, I'm saving the treats... Other than the skittles :) #GoneAlready Plus I wore the tie :) Thanks Mum!

Random story this week. In a lesson (that had been going very well) when one of their sons (19) starts asking about "black magic" and possessions, talking to demons and such. Elder Burchett very quickly shut him down with the Bible (he knows his Bible super well). But the kid kept asking the same stuff. The mom finally yells "THEY DON'T KNOW, BECAUSE YOUR STUFF IS OF THE DEVIL, AND THEY'RE OF GOD". It was a super funny moment to me (it helped that I understood it in Portuguese).

That's all for this week! Thanks for the emails, and physical mail!

Elder Howell

We took a chapella (mini coffin) back from shopping one day, more room, but just as freaky :)

There are massive (this one isn't that big) flying, *clicky clicky* noise making cockroaches. 

My first crock pot meal made in Mozambique.

This child was trying to take my watch at church... No luck however.

Week 10 Only 12 Minutes To Email Today

Things are going well.

The kids are great here.

 Family Home Evening with a member family.

 Dinner out to celebrate Elder Griffeth's birthday.

 Elder Burchett made me a Conference BINGO card.

 Pizza Hut in Maputo, Mozambique :)

 Random Tree.

Typical Mozambique food.

I have 12 minutes to write this this week so it´ll be a bit short.

First some responses to questions I´ve received:

1.  Can you tell me more about your companion, and all the elders in your house?

2.  Do you eat the coconut meat...or just drink the liquid?

3.  Did you eat anything unusual this week?

4.  How do transfers work there and do you anticipate being transferred in a couple of weeks?

1. I am in a house of 6 Elders (plus one 24/7 security gaurd in a house thingy outback).    Elders:Burchett, Stegman, Griffeth, Brown, and Mayeya.  Griffeth´s from Idaho, Stegman's from Arizona, Mayeya´s from Zambia and the rest of us are from Utah. Brown and I have been here less than a transfer, Burchett and Griffeth have been here 14 months, Mayeya a year this week.

2. Yes, I drink the water, eat the meat and sometimes pour a drink into it to drink.

3. Yes, we ate with a member because we couldn't say no again... We´d run out of excuses. Still not sure what it was on the rice... Not too bad after I got past the leaves and interesting taste.

4. Transfers happen every 6 weeks. On transfer day you learn if you are staying with your companion or in your area in general. We are pretty sure Elder Griffeth is leaving, maybe Elder Burchett too this coming transfer (two weeks from today). I will probably get a 0 English speaking companion.


This week was Elder Griffeth´s birthday. We made him pancakes in bed and went out to dinner. It was fun, he is a good guy.

We had interviews with our Mission President this week, so we got to go into the city (4 hours of chappa riding -.-) I was able to get another pair of shoes from my other bag. But after interviews we got pizza at Pizza Hut... So it was worth it. One of the Elders in my house got super sick from it though, they will remain unnamed.

This week was General Conference for us. We had 13 people (including us 6 missionaries) show up to the Saturday session... and 10 at the Priesthood session... So yah..... It was only in Portuguese so sadly I understood virtually nothing. Elder Burchett made me a Conferene BINGO card though which was awesome. I never finished it though.... They never said Pearl of Great Price... Cheap word for BINGO. Sunday session we had 116 people at though.

That´s about it this week because I´m out of time. Best of luck to everyone! Send me any questions and I´ll do my best to answer them!

Elder Howell