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Monday, November 29, 2010

Week 28







Hi Mom and Family,

Here it didn’t even seem like a holiday passed. But we did have a little celebration here. Whenever we would say we are grateful, we would take a skittle, than say what we are grateful for, than eat the skittle. It was really fun to do but I missed home a lot though. For my comp, can you maybe put like socks in it or something. I have a new comp that I am training and he is from Mozambique, so he doesn’t really have a lot of stuff. Maybe even a white shirt. But I think socks for him would be great. Tell Jamie and Landi thanks if they’re sending a package. Tell them about the Care4life address. But it’s pretty expensive to send it.

Yeah, and for the money, just put it in my BECU account. I wouldn’t trust the mail system either.

While its cold there for you, Its HHHOOOOTTTTT here. Right now I am sweating like a dog. My back is all wet and I have sweat dripping off my face. I miss the cold and rain. Ha-ha But I didn’t get those snow pictures though. I don’t know what happened. Maybe if you send an email of just pictures it would work.

Yeah I will print some pictures off this week, than send them off next week.

As for me, the two elders I was living with that opened the area are gone. One of them went home because his mission was over, and Elder Munsee, who was my Comp, is going to Angola. That’s my second companion in Angola. Two more of my other comps went home this transfer. So the only Comps I have that are still here in Mozambique are my comp from the MTC, and elder Antonio, the one I’m training. I’m only in my 4th transfer and I am training.

This past week we had zone conference in Beira. While there, my cameras lens broke. So I had to buy a new camera. Luckily Sister Spendlove already had some from America, because elder’s cameras are always breaking. So I only spent like 100 dollars on it. It should last the rest of the mission.

But this week has been a hard one for me. I have been really homesick. But I am doing better now.

But we are working with some investigators to get baptized in January. So we are working hard with that. I am also helping someone get civilly married so she can be baptized.

But that’s about it this week. Thanks a lot for everything you do. I love you so much.

Elder Sirrine

Week 27

Hello from Mozambique!!!!!!!!!

Things here are going great. I also can’t believe how fast time goes here. It’s just week after week. I hit my six month mark on the mission on Friday. Crazy right?

Yeah that Meeker show last year was when I cut my hand pretty bad. But I miss going to those shows a lot. I actually liked just going there and seeing everything.

I wish we had snow here. crazy thing. we had a HUGE rainstorm here last night. it rained for hours on end. it seemed like you were just getting buckets of water poured onto your head. I will send some pictures of the clouds home to you. I didn’t get the picture of the snow out the front door. Maybe next week you can send another. And maybe pictures of Virginia City and Bella. Yeah here it’s getting pretty hot now. But December and January is the hottest time of the year here. So I’m bracing for those months. Our house has air conditioning. Luckily!

We have some people that we are teaching. For the most part there all friends. They all ask crazy questions from the bible. Especially Jose. so pretty much we said the bible has been translated so many times, that its not really even right. And that the book of Mormon is only translated from the plates to English and from English to Portuguese. So only two times not compared to the bible which has been translated 15-20 times. But they are still good kids. And we have Joana. She has completely changed her life. We taught her the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. After the lessons she stopped drinking and the other bad stuff. And now she wants to be baptized. It’s amazing to see the change in her.

I don’t know if we are doing anything for Thanksgiving. There are only three Americans in our house. But I’ll see... if we do I will take pictures. For Christmas we are going to Beira.

Last week we climbed Cabeça do Velho. Or in English its Head of the old man. It’s this huge prominent landmark. You might see it in Google earth or something. It was so fun. We saw all of chimoio. On the way down, we saw corendairos, or witch doctors, waving a big dead chicken over someone’s head. It was a little strange. The place where we buy our groceries is a little fast food joint. It was so good. It actually tasted like home fast food. We had to cross a river again to get to our area. It’s like a foot or two deep. Crazy.

I also met an American. His name James Baker. He is doing charity work here or something. He refuses to call us elder so he calls us by our last names only. He is kind of strange. Every Friday night we have cookie night. We buy cookies and eat them. It’s fun. We also helped cut down a tree. Were going back sometime this week to finish it.

We made tinfoil dinners on Saturday. We have a little fire pit at our house. So we also made smores with them too. AMAZING!!!

So yeah that’s about it for this week. Until next week.

With Tons of Love

Elder Sirrine

Week 26




Week 26??!! Already? I can’t believe it. The time here goes by so fast.

Don’t worry about not writing me last week. I love getting emails from him too. My companion is AWESOME!!!! His name is Elder Munsee. He is from Morgan, Utah. So this is my third comp from Utah. The only one that wasn’t is from the mtc. He loves to sing and he plays the piano too. Our branch is pretty brand new. It only opened like 4 and half months ago. Elder Munsee was one of the people who helped opened it. So he will probably leave Chimoio soon. He is only four months ahead of me on the mission. So here we teach and find. That our days. I had to find people for the first time on my mission here. The food here is pretty similar to home but way different. They have Pringles here but it is not the same. And no mom, I’m not starving ha-ha. When you are walking around in African sun and dripping sweat, you can’t really help but lose it. ha-ha.

I am really glad to hear about Michelle. I am glad she is going well in school. Can you tell her to check her linklarkin email? I sent her an email a few weeks ago.

Thanks for the info on the package. Sounds good. But like ctr rings would be good. Africans really don’t like things super sweet. So lollipops I don’t really know about. Ha-ha. I just can’t believe I turn 20, 26 days from today. CRAZY!

Last week on P-day we played monopoly. I got in second place. It was so fun to play. We had to carry a bunk bed from like 3 kilometers away from our house. It was crazy. I live with six elders. We took it down, carried it home, and built it again. It’s the one I sleep on. I also played soccer with some native kids. I suck horribly. One of our investigators baby farted during a lesson. We were all cracking up for like 5 minutes. Carrying that bunk bed, I got burnt. Like Mexico burnt on my face. My area is like huts and then huts up in the mountains. I love it here.

We had 3 baptisms on Saturday. One of the girls was wearing jean shorts and a playboy belt. Strange right. There were also big ugly out of shape women washing clothes and little boys in underwear swimming.

Next week I will be emailing Tuesday or Wednesday. It’s because of the conferences. P day will be switched.

Until next week, With Love

Elder Sirrine

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Week 25

OOOLLLLAAAAA!!!!!!

Really, where do all the weeks go? It seems like yesterday I was sitting at a computer emailing. It’s ridiculous.

So this week, until last Saturday I was in Beira. That area was so cool. We had 4 people getting ready for baptism. The three younger ones parents at first wouldn’t let them be baptized. But we fasted that they would, and it worked. Just shows the lord answers our fast. In Beira, almost every morning we would go do exercises on the beach. Now I can say that I have done that. We also had to carry matope or little bits of mud on our head in sacks. It helps water not get into their houses. All the natives didn’t think we could do it. But we showed that white people can do the same things as them. We also did a mutual thing there too. We filled a garbage bag pretty much full of popcorn. I will send a picture. I was also pooped on by a bird. It was sitting on some wires and just went. It was so GROSS!! We also got a ride from a drunk, stoned guy. It was probably the scariest moments of my life. But I will always have the memories.

On Saturday, I arrived here in Chimoio. We have church at our house.
Yesterday, we had 65 people come. We watched general conference for it too. It was awesome. Elder Russell was at our house yesterday too. He is in a senior couple. And he was a Vet. And I have been having trouble with my toe. He looked at it yesterday, and cleaned it out. We figure out that I had an abscess(spelling) in my foot. He said luckily we cleaned it out or it could have gotten worse. But I’m ok, don’t worry about me. Going to a member’s house yesterday, we had to cross like a little lake. People helped us get across, it was so funny.

For my package, I just want my iPod with church music, the ihome thing for it that I have, letters, and pictures. That all I need. You can out anything else in it too. But send it to that care4life place with FedEx. But you have to send it maybe this week. We have Zone conference on the 25th of November, and if it is not there by then, I won’t get it till Christmas. I will be in Beira for it on the 24th of December. I was thinking I might call the 26th of December here, but it will still be Christmas night for you all. But I don’t know yet.

I have a question. Are Jon and Andrew doing there papers for their missions. Just wondering.

Can you all send pictures of Virginia City and Bella too next week.

With Love, Elder Sirrine

Week 24

HHHHHHHEEEEELLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!So mom, I am in the city of Beira right now. I will be here for a week more or so. We are waiting for a new missionary to get here. Than when he gets here it’s off too chimoio. Its only 3 hours from Beira. The senior couple up here said i will be able to come back here for Christmas. I am really glad about that. Beira is a lot like Maputo, but just smaller. There is a lot more of a diverse population here. There are lots of Asians, Muslims, and actually a few white people surprisingly. I have seen just the same amount of animals here. But there are tons of dogs here. One looks like Bella. The trip here was fine. Just long. We rode a bus up here. It took about 15 hours or so. There were 5 other elders who came up with me. The language is coming along good. I am not near being fluent, but I’m talking more. Which is a good thing? When are you going to send the package? Just wondering. I am glad opa is doing better. Last Monday night I ate at an Italian place. I guess the zone leaders take all the new elders to Beira out to eat. It was really good. So my new area is pretty much by our house and the downtown of Beira. It’s huge. Sometimes we have to walk up 13 stories to get to some investigators houses. Right now my comp is Elder Hendrickson. He is from Utah. He is going home this month. I got my first mozambiquan haircut. They don’t know how to cut whit people hair. Ha-ha. So I just got it buzzed. This week I also saw two white women. They were the first white women I have seen in three months. We also heard a church singing count your many blessing. It was kind of weird. The pastor was like the tithing is not enough, pay more. Than we saw hi, him putting it in his pocket after the sermon. The people here are so corrupt. They will do anything for money. I also hit five months last week. I hit six months on the mission this month too. Crazy right.Mom, can you send me a link to the blog your doing for me. I want to see how it is.And thanks for the pictures. I loved them. When I get home I want to go to Virginia City. So plan on it. Can you send pictures of Bella maybe too?That's about it for this week.
With tons of love,
Elder Sirrine