Sand

 This is the street in front of our apartment.  The woman is using a bundle of dried grass to sweep up the sand.  This is a common sight along all the roadways.  They take it home and use it there ( many make their own bricks to build with) or sell it.  

The task is finished and she is on her way home.  She lives in the neighborhood behind us.  There are always young men selling sand along our street.  During the early morning hours they carry heavy bags of sand from the beach to our street.  It must be illegal because they bring it in with the sun and change places along the street each day.  They and the piles are no where to be seen when a police truck drives through.

Inhamizua Joven FHE

 We helped the Inhamizua elders have a FHE for the jovens of the branch at home of one of the YW.

 We have power, now to figure out the screen......

 Elder Dille (Larry), Elder Thurston, Elder and Sister Snelson, Elder Toyn and Elder Lake (holding the projector).

 Elder Snelson was excited when everything finally came together for the video.  It took some doing and combined brain power to get it all functioning.

 This never did work, so they decided that the wall was the best way to go....(I was going to suggest that to begin with, but....)

Capulanas

These ladies have used their capulana as costumes for a period play about the founding of Relief Society by the Prophet Joseph Smith.   I only know what it was about because one of our young institute (waiting for her mission call) teachers came in dressed like the Prophet.

 Many times the women of a group will all have the same capulana.

 The children are so cute.

 The children always have a place to rest, the women always have a shawl for the rain or sun.  I was told that the always have one when traveling to sleep on.

These are the sisters from Beira 1 branch.  We are celebrating the RS birthday.   The meal is usually chicken, fried potatoes, rice and coleslaw.

Our Chapel Chameleon

 This chameleon lives at the Manga church grounds. He (?) had quite an adventure.  He walked across the sidewalk here and is spotted.

 Hit the green stuff (crabgrass?) and loses his spots.

 Further out in the area he encounters two men who are cutting the lawn and gets a little agitated, changing colors again.

 Then some Elders found him and got him a little more more on edge.

 Now he is really, really mad at the world.  His color has become very dark and he is hissing.

We thought it was a really neat thing to see, but the two men who were caring for the lawn gave the little guy (about 7"long) a very wide berth. The local people are very nervous about these creatures.  They think touching them will bring very bad things and if you get bitten you will become ill and possibly die.  You can see the patch that they left uncut.   It was fun to watch, because it was just like National Geographic!  He even has toes that curl around branches just like in the magazine pictures.

Tire Repair

 We had a flat tire.  It was caused by hitting a pothole to hard.  This shop is toward the baixa from us.  The apartment guards helped us get the spare on and directed us to this shop.  Above is a good example of the potholes we have to traverse.  This one is pretty mild-mannered.  The tires piled up around the pole is their shop sign entrance.

 Elder Dille (Larry) kept hold of the hub cover while they worked on our tire.  The tire hanging on post is the shop sign.  It says "Reparacao de Pneus" in white paint.

 You can always find a use for a bathtub.

 He cut a piece from an old tire and glued it on the inside of the slit in our tire.  No OSHA rules here! 

(P.S.  We had to replace the tire the next week.)

 The sign nailed to the tree says "Air" .  A vehicle pulls up to the side of the road under the tree and a young boy brings the compressor hose out to fill the tire for them.  

The shop seemed to be run by 4 young men.  This one is bringing tires from somewhere across the street.  I watched him rolling those 4 tires across a busy road about 1 lock away.  He really had it down pat and never lost control of any tire.

Beira Views

 This is a movie house.   The DVD's they are playing are lined up at the top by the roof. Elder Lake said it  was about 10 MT (30 cents) to get in.

 This was on our way out to Manga. Boy were we glad to be going the opposite direction. All these trucks were waiting to turn left at this intersection in Munhava area.  The line went on for at least  mile.

 This is parked at the front of the Manga 2 Elders house.  There is a big (really large) turkey living just to the left, so I get out of the truck cautiously .   The children in this neighborhood swim in the pond left by the rain storm.

 We thought this was such a wonderful picture.  These ladies are carrying long loaves of bread from the bakery to their little road side kiosk about 1/2 mile on down the road.  This is the entrance to the Palmeira chapel close to where we live.

 This is typical of the neighborhoods that our missionaries work in.  We are here to give them a ride.

 This is a good day at this neighborhood market because we have had no rain.  In the rainy season it is a totally different story.

 This is a different part of town, but a very typical street.