Planes, Buses and the Newbie

Ola fam,

Hey, it's a bright and sunny day here in Mozambique and the people here are awesome!  I have already taken my first cold bucket shower and to be quite honest, it's an excellent way to wake up. ha ha ha  My first area is called Maugenine  (maugweniny)  ***we wonder if it's "Malhangalene, Mozambique"****  It's the nicer part of town, but in ways of looks, I think even Tijuana looks better.  The people are so nice, though.  It is definitely worth it to get up in the morning just to go see them.  

Before I get into that, let me answer your questions. The flights were very long (the one across the Atlantic especially) and the lay over in Heathrow  Airport in London would not have been worth it except we ran into an elder returning from Mozambique.  His name was Elder Stewart and he looked tired... ha ha  We totally picked his brain for things to learn about Mozambique and he didn't disappoint.  There was so much stuff it would take me an hour just to write it all.  Oh! and I also ran into Adam Hollings there!  He was headed back to India after having to reapply for his visa.  Apparently, they have only a one year visa out there and they have to return to the states for a bit.  So that was awesome.  The money is weird over there in India (just saying), not to mention the money over here.  We got on the 747 headed to South Africa and that thing was huge!  It was super crazy but I slept most of the way because I was so tired.  We really didn't do much when we had our lay overs and there really wasn't much to do.  I wanted to go see more of London, but we couldn't leave the airport.  I never really got a window seat for any of the flights, nor did I  get any sleep the entire time because of nerves and just pure excitement.  We arrived in South Africa really early in the morning and it was kinda hard to believe because it looked just like any other place, I guess.  The plane ride to Mozambique was short and we actually got a jet, which was cool. We arrived in Mozambiqueand our luggage had not arrived and would not arrive until the next day. I actually had to wait almost two days for my luggage to arrive and that was a little stressful but we all got to our areas by at least Thursday.  We met with President Kretly and he is actually Brazilian.  He is very work-oriented.  He likes things done a certain way and has a really good formula for success.  

We have one of the strongest branches in Mozambique, so it's a big thing to have married people in families that we can baptize.  The only thing that holds us back here, really, is this thing called "lobolow".  The just of it is basically like a Johnny Lingo kind of thing where they have to pay the other family for the wife.  I think it's crazy, but, hey, that's culture!  By the way, have I told you yet the people are great !!!!!  It's really kind of crazy here, nobody is white, so we kind of stick out like a sore thumb ha haha!   There's that and sometimes the electricity doesn't work, which is hilarious.  This means that there's no water pressure and that we light candles at night.  We are without power right now at our place, but it's really no big deal.  It's more like camping.  Oh, by the way, thank you for all the sweaters!  It gets cold here when it rains... and it rains a ton.  The umbrella and the poncho are helping a lot too.  But, I've got to say my favorite part of being here so far is the chappas (shappas).  They are so funny.  They are basically like buses, but they are like the size of the Blake's van.  Everybody is squished in there like really tight.  Some are even standing up which is really funny.  One of the days I will videotape what it is like and then show you guys when I get back.  It is hilarious!  They also have these ladies called "machamba mamas" and they are very large, but very buff because they work out in the fields all day.  It is even funnier because they try to squeeze everyone in on the bus, even the machambas and they pretty much make every one else uncomfortable, its crazy.

 

It's good to hear that grandpa is finally getting some help for his back. I was beginning to worry. This Sunday, believe it or not, was pretty much like every other Sunday back home, except it was in Portugese.  I am starting to get better at the language again and really starting to understand people in our lessons, which is really cool.  I'm taking part in the lessons as well.  My trainer's name is Elder Phillips. He's from Idaho and he's really good at Portuguese.  He also can speak a few words in Changana, which is the local dialect. I don't know how to spell any of it, but I'll give it a shot... the two words I know mean "goodnight" and "little, little".  The first one is zipaly-ly (which is goodnight) and catsongo catsongo (which is little little).  There are other words, but I can't spell them or remember them right now.  As you have probably figured out, today is my p- day and I am so glad it's here.  To be honest, I am tired of eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,  just because that's all we had for a little bit.  Fear not, because they have a full-blown store here in Maugenine with all the stuff a growing missionary needs, like beans and rice... and beans and rice! ha ha ha ha  I haven'tactually been there, but it's got all the stuff we need, so we are well taken care of.

 

By the way, thank you for the information about Kyle.  That's really cool. Oh, and a few words about the mail. I can only get two packages a year just because it costs much for us to receive to pay for customs and stuff.  It's better if you send the packages to the mission home and they will take care of it.  They don't really have street names down here so it's better if the APs get it.

Anyways, it will be pretty late when you get this because it's about 10:50 right now so you could probably do some math and figure out how many hours ahead I am.  It is the seventeenth over here.  Again, sorry about the spelling.  The Portuguese is messing with me.

Lots of love 

Elder Proksch