BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND TWITTER BACKGROUNDS

Monday, March 14, 2011

Week 43

Wow another week down in Africa, where does the time go in Africa,

That’s horrible about the earthquake. I will defiantly be praying for Japan.

That’s good that you went to Utah. I know when I get home I will be visiting them a lot down there. And tell Landi good job on getting the job. I’m proud of him. How is everyone else doing?

No puppies from Bella. If she had some, they would be the cutest puppies in the world. HA-HA

So this past week I got really sick. I got...... MALARIA!!! I thought, Yeah I'm in Africa. Ha-ha. I was on the bed for 4 days this week. Barely being able to walk. It was bad. The other elders gave me a blessing. I am fine now, don’t worry about me.

For some reason last week, all the drunken people here wanted to talk to us. They were wanting money from us. We were like go away ha-ha. Funny drunk people.

Today, the mission president and a couple from South Africa are coming here to Chimoio. President Spendlove is going to teach a book of Mormon class about the Isaiah chapters in the book of Mormon. I’m so excited. Since they are coming here, and I’m the district leader, I had to get them hotel rooms and make dinner reservations and all that stuff. I felt pretty important this week.

Last week we had no energy for two days. Worst nights of my life. thats when i had Malaria. I wanted to kill myself. Ha-ha.

We also have been playing soccer in the morning. It’s been fun exercise for me. Ha-ha. I realize I’m better then I thought. Maybe that’s my new game. Ha-ha

I bought a bundle of 38 bananas for 25 metacais. That’s not even a dollar. Fruit here is so inexpensive. Maybe because Chimoio is the fruit capital of Mozambique.

Well that’s about it this week, I love you all, Ficam Forte na igreja, or stay strong in the church.

Until next week
Elder Sirrine

Week 42


Thanks for the email on the taxes. Time to party it up a little bit here in Mozambique! Whoop Whoop!

So this week has been pretty boring. Things here in Africa are growing on. Not very many things are as strange to me. I realized this month I hit double digits in how long I have been here on the mission. The big 10!

So I got my new companion this week. His name is Elder Baldwin. He is from Sandy Utah. 5 of the seven companions I have had so far have been from Utah. Utah is for sure the missionary factory. He is about 7 months ahead of me in the mission. So once he goes home, there is only 2 other groups of missionaries who go home before me. He goes home in October, than elders go home the end of January, The beginning of March, Then it’s my group of 13 Americans, and 4 natives that go home. Yeah, I will go home with 17 people. Elder Baldwin is funny. It’s weird speaking so much English after speaking pretty much Portuguese for 3 months. Ha-ha. We also taught family night last week at the church. The teenagers’ here are amazing. They are so willing to accept the gospel. That really does amaze me.

We have an investigator name Azetona. Azetona in English is olive. So when we started teaching her I accidentally called her Olive in English instead of Azetona. But luckily she doesn’t speak English so she didn’t understand me.

We were also at another investigators house, Arlete. Then her 4 year old son came up with only a shirt on, and no pants. So I ask " Onde esta suas calças", Or "where are your pants". And he says "Eu estava cagar" or” I was pooping". We started busting up laughing. It was one of the funniest things I have heard in a long time.

Then we had to chase a cat out of our yard. All six of us. It almost killed us. It did not like us one bit. But it left soon after. So it was quite an adventure.

Yesterday a newly baptized member bore his testimony. He said that when the missionaries first started teaching him, he didn’t want to come to church and he didn’t want to read the Book of Mormon. So the missionaries stopped teaching him. And when Elder Bene and Sirrine came back to teach him, something in him changed. He started to feel the spirit, he wanted to feel it all the time, and he started to read the Book of Mormon, and started to come to church. Now he is baptized and is the YM president. So he thanked me over the stand for helping him come to church and to one day live with Heavenly Father again. So that made me think that I actually helped someone come closer to his Heavenly Father and live with him again.

Yesterday at a member’s house, I saw part of "See Spot Run", Look it up, it was filmed in Seattle. So it made me miss home a little bit.

Well that’s about it, I love you all

Elder Sirrine

Week 41

Hello my peeps on the other side of the world!

How it be going? Things here in Chimoio are GREAT!!!!!! I haven’t had a companion all week because mine went to Maputo, so I haven’t really walked in my area all week. But 3 people from my area were baptized on Saturday. Their names are Jose, Ivete who are brother and sister, And Piadade. Her sister was one of the first people baptized here in Chimoio. So it was really great to see them baptized.

So this whole week I walked in the city with Elder Russon and Elder Woolf. Elder Woolf just got here to Chimoio this week. And I already lived with him when I was in Maputo. And Elder Park, who is one transfer behind me, has lived with him before also. So when he got here to Chimoio, us two went to go get him. And the first things he said were `of all the elders to come pick me up, you two did` he was just kidding around. He is so funny. We will have 5 Americans in the house. My comp will get here today. There will be 4 from Utah, one from Washington, and one from Cape Verde. There islands off the coast of Africa that speak Portuguese.

During the week we visited Irma Filomena. She has had a hard life. Both the husbands she has had have both died, and some of her kids have too. She has been in about 9-10 different churches but she said she felt empty in them. Than when she started coming to our church, she felt happiness, peace, calmness, and joy. And she thought how these elders, still really young, teenagers, could take two whole years out of their life, to be on the other side of the world, away from their families, away from everything, just to preach the gospel, and was amazing. And how we put our needs in front of others. So that got me thinking of why i am here in Mozambique as a missionary of the Lord. She was baptized 2 weeks ago with her grandkids. She is so nice and loves us a lot. She also always gives us corn on the cob. Or in Portuguese its maça roca. It’s oh so tasty. It’s so much better here than at home because its allot more fresh.
Last Monday night we had an investigator get mad because I told him we wouldn’t be able to pass by his house this week because of the transfers and how I wouldn’t be walking in my area. And he lectured us about making sacrifices. And I was like We passed by your house to tell you this. Don’t you think this is good? And we are taking away 2 years of our life to be here, were away from our families and everything. We are on the other side of the world. This is a huge sacrifice. So that kind of humbled him about it. He still came to church yesterday.

There was this kid at a lesson, and I told him to come sit near me. And he said Nao quero, or I don’t want too. He was like 2. It was so funny. I couldn’t help but laugh.

We also had one of the mission couples up here last week. They are the Binghams. There from Idaho Falls, Idaho. They are so cool. They took us out to dinner. AWESOME!!!!

We had to break into our own locks this week at our house. All the Elders got home at the same time. And for some reason the locks were messed up. So we took an hour and a half to get in. It was Ridiculous. Ha-ha.

At ShopRite, where we get our food, I found some Frito chips. Like LEGIT!! They were only 35 metacias. They were so good. I loved them

Last night we had a drunken lady talk to us. She was soooo WASTED!!! She didn’t make any sense. She was asking us if we knew where her house was to help her get back there. So we asked her if she was lost, and she said no, my house is right here. We thought why she is asking us if we know where her house is. It was kind of funny too. Then we got this random ride home. It took off 20 minutes of our commute. Ha-ha.

Now answers to questions- Groceries aren’t that bad here in price. There a little more expensive than Maputo because we kind of far from it. But really not bad. The weather here is so crazy. It could be 119 degrees with 100% humidity, then the next day its pouring rain for 3 days. Then really hot and humid. So weather here is a little weird. Ha-ha.

And no, I will never go to Angola. From now on the church will send elders directly to Angola from the MTC. And they will serve their missions there. I think Angola will have its own mission. It will probably be called the Angola Launda Mission. But who knows. I will always be in Mozambique for my mission. I know Launda is one of the most expensive cities in the world. And they use the Dollar there also. It’s built to hold 1 million people but 8 million people live there. That’s crazy.

I emailed Opal.
Can you update the Blog? Thank You!!!

That’s about it for this week. I love you All!!!! FICAM FORTE, Or STAY STRONG

Love,
Elder Sirrine

Week 40


HELLO FROM CHIMOIO!!!!!!!

I will be making my home for another six weeks here in Chimoio. Transfer number 4, and number 6 for me on the mission. Time goes by way too fast and I can’t believe I hit my 9 month mark on the mission this week. My old comp, Elder Bene the Mozambiquan who I walked with for 2 transfers, is going to Maputo because he is going to Angola. So that is comp number three going there. I think it’s a curse I have. If you are companions with Elder Sirrine you’re going to Angola. My new comp is Elder Baldwin from Utah. Out of the 7 comps I have had 5 are from the Salt Lake Valley. Crazy, Right?

The language is coming along great. Every day for 12 weeks I only spoke Portuguese, but now I will be speaking English a lot. There will 5 Americans in our house, and 1 native who speaks English. So it will be an English speaking house. I am leveling off with weight I think. I like where I am now. But I don’t really know if I still am or not. And whatever shirts you sent me will be perfectly fine mom. When did you send the package? And with the Christmas package, I think they are GONE!! I kind of have given up hope on them in all honesty.

Last Monday might, we had a family night at a members house. It was so fun. I will send pictures. The person who went home last week is from Portugal. And his last day at home he made food called " franzacinas". Pretty much its bread that is stuffed with meat, cheese, eggs, and completely covered with more cheese. And there was this sauce for it too. It was so European, but it seemed very American at the same time with how bad it was for you. Ha-ha

We went to an investigators house, and she was doing something to her friend’s hair, and she stopped to sit with us. and her friend was like "Voce esta fazer o que, Nao faca coisas estupidas, e me ajuda!!! e nao senta-se com eles" in english she said "what are you doing, don’t do stupid things, and help me. Dont sit with them". So we thought “yeah let’s re-mark and leave" she tried to apologize. She was drunk so yeah. It was pretty funny.

I also spoke some dialect with the older women here. They think it’s so funny when a white person speaks it. I love messing with them. And they always think I’m Russian. Which is very weird. only here am i called that.

We also saw some Michael Jackson music videos this week. They were really.... what should I say..... strange? To say Michael Jackson in Portuguese is Miquel Joaoquim.
Our energy on Friday was at half power all day. It was so weird.

I also ordained someone to the priesthood yesterday for the first time in my life. It was really awesome to ordain him

Well that’s about it this week. Hope you all have a good week. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Elder Sirrine

Week 39


WAY TO GO MICHELLE!!!

I am so happy for her it’s crazy. Ha-ha. You all will be some empty nesters. Can you tell Michelle to start emailing me again? Ha-ha. I will send her one tonight.

The work here in Mozambique is going great. We had 5 baptisms here in Chimoio. One whole family, and then the brother of a member. None of them are from my area. But we will have 3 people baptized the 26 of February.

The very first other elder I saw at the airport here in Mozambique, is living here in Chimoio with me, and he goes home this week. So it will be pretty sad to see him going home.

I also saw a wild turtle going down the road. We aren’t even close to the ocean. Maybe he was here in Chimoio because of the rain. Ha-ha. He was a small guy.

The assistants to the president were here in Chimoio all week. They went on splits with us. It was actually kind of weird to walk with white people again. I am so used to walking with a native mozambiquan already. Ha-ha.

This Friday is transfers so next week I will let you know what happens.

During the week, I gave the kids of one of our investigators some candy, and they loved it. Then whenever I looked at them after, they would runaway and start BAWLING! It was so weird. I have been going to that house once or twice week for three months and they are now SCARED of me. It’s so weird. Maybe they’re a little racist. Just like everyone else here ha-ha.

We are getting the group mission going here. So this week we did a lot of training to help gets started. Yesterday in our group, we had 105 people at church. 105! That’s the most people that have ever come here to Chimoio. It was really neat to see. The church is growing here for sure.

We had the new couple on the mission come here to Chimoio. They are from Sao Paulo, Brazil and they don’t speak a lick of English. They're the Rapiers. Elder Ribiero talks like he is from the southern United States. Ha-ha.

At a lesson, we had an investigators drunken sister with us. And we were teaching about the word of wisdom ironically. She was being so ANNOYING!!!!! SO we told her she needs to stop drinking. She "promised" she would, which probably won’t happen.

Nicole told me this week that a Christian Bateman from University Place just got called to Mozambique. So can you ask Uncle Ady or Jeff to see if they know him?

So this week was an interesting week. I love YOU ALL!!!!

Elder Sirrine

Week 38


HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

GO GREEN BAY!!!! Next year the cowboys will be there for sure. Ha-ha

Normally, I try not to think how much time I have on the mission. Ha-ha

Well about the calling, ha-ha, I thought it was hilarious too. But the kids here in Chimoio are so cool. I love them all. About the lessons, if you just want to email them, you can, but sending like a book through the mail, I don’t think it would be worth it because I might be leaving here soon, and we will call an actual president soon.

Last p-day, at two o´clock, all six of us went to sleep. We all took naps for two hours. It may seem boring to you, but it was actually pretty funny. Ha-ha.

That night, our power went out. Normally it comes back soon after, but it didn’t. That night it was 100% humidity, and about 90 degrees. Worst night of my life. I really was going to die. Our air conditioners weren’t working because of the whole no energy thing. Pretty bad.

I also found some lollipops that are ridiculously good here. I’m kind of addicted.

Yesterday I gave 5 baptismal interviews. 5! It’s one whole family that will be baptized. The mom has completely given up smoking and drinking. She was smoking 5-6 packs a day, and drinking every day. Amazing change.

The assistants to the president are here. They will be here for a couple days to train us.

At one of our teenage investigators house, he brought 5 of his friends that want to hear the gospel. We don’t ever knock doors. People just come to us. I think it’s the Sirrine-VanderHoeven genes coming off and making them come. Ha-ha.

Today, we are climbing Cabeça do velho, or old man’s head. It’s a mountain here that looks just like an old man’s head. Hence the name. Ha-ha.

I realized this month is shorter than any other on my mission.

Thanks for the recipe mom. I will cook it soon.

That’s about it. I love you All!!!!!

Elder Sirrine