Happy day!!! Gifts arrived from new friends in Utah. We made an appointment with each family to bring the things that were sent for each girl. Great excitement and lots of smiles. I believe the favorite thing for each girl was the CTR ring and bracelet. 

Mothers, grandma's and Aunts would all look at the headband and say" I think I could make another one of these." It was a happy time for all. Even though we had no gifts for brothers and sisters, they were very excited for their sister and knew they would get to play with the toys too.

 Each girl took the picture of their new Utah friends, studied the faces and tried to pronounce the names of  the girls written on the back. Some laughed when we told them the white stuff was snow.  

 Every family immediately started to play frisbee after we showed them how to throw it.  We actually had fun jumping rope with each girl and her family. We even made friends with the neighbor ladies who came to jump rope. And of course we had to play jacks, the neighbor's liked that too.

Each of the girls asked us to relay their appreciation to their new friends.

Jump ropes, frisbee's, jacks, lotion, rings, bracelets, headbands, and balls, may seem like little things but to kids who have no Christmas or birthdays this package was a source of great excitement that even brought their neighbor's over to see what was happening. Each delivery brought a celebration and made a lot of people happy. We thank you for all your thoughtfulness, for bringing joy to peoples lives.

It's not very often that these girls feel special, your sacrifice in sending these gifts, brightened their lives, and left them feeling more like they matter. 

Elder Jefferies and I thank you for giving us the privilege of delivering your gifts. It is always fun to make someone happy.

Melissa Tanaka Salazani

Melissa Tanaka Salazani

is a bright, cheerful, friendly girl. Her father is a banana farmer and earns a good living for his family, so Melissa enjoys many privileges that most of her peers don't. Her parents have sent her to a private school thus far in her education. This year she has left her home and is attending a fancy boarding school in Mozambique.The Mozambique border is very close to Mutare, so her school really isn't very far away. Melissa doesn't really like being away from her family, but she is getting a good education. They have many vacations so she does get to come home fairly often on holiday. 

This is a picture of Melissa standing in front of their home

The Salazani's attend the Mutare Branch, in fact Melissa's father is the Branch President.

This is a picture of Melissa and Lillian in the foyer of the chapel standing with their brothers.

Before church we took this picture of Melissa and her mom, they always sit in this row.

This picture shows more of the Mutare buildings chapel. The church is a big part of the Salazani families life. Her parents were married in the Joberg Temple after her father returned from serving a mission, so she has been brought up a member of the church.

This is Melissa at home during holiday doing her homework. She is a serious minded student. Children here for the most part are very interested in doing well in school. One reason being it costs their parents so much money and two if you don't pass the tests you can't  continue to the next grade. If you aren't educated you don't learn to speak English and so don't qualify for professional education programs. You end up being a common laborer or work to qualify for a trade education, like plumbing or welding, etc..

So you pay money for each of  three terms for each grade of school. Then you pay a fee to write the exam. If you don't pass the exam you then have to repeat the entire school year. You can see how children would make a big effort to do well in school, for if they didn't their parents would not be willing to make the extreme sacrifice to pay all the fees to send them to school. Melissa's parents pay $3000 a term for her to go to school. Even though her father makes good money on his banana farm it is still a major sacrifice to pay the costs for their children's education. They want their children to go to the private schools because the education is much better than in the government schools. The Salazani children all speak very good English, where children in the governments schools at the same age can only make greetings in English.

Here Elder Jefferies is visiting with President Salazani, in the Salazani livingroom

I asked Melissa to show me a favorite procession and she picked up her scriptures. Her younger brother, Ian wanted to be in ever picture. 

A lap top computer was a requirement for this new school, so Melissa does some of her homework on the computer. At one time she wsanted to be a scientist but lately she says she wants to be a pilot.

When Melissa is home she helps with all the chores. She is a fun loving, social girl and her mom says Melissa will just come outside and join her in whatever she is doing, caring for the chickens, hoeing or planting the garden or even pulling weeds.

Her mom says her favorite family member  is her dad. She loves to be with him however as of late she is spending more time with her big brother. They enjoy the same music and she loves to go cruising with him when he needs to run to town. Her mom likes that because Melissa sometimes shares things about her big brother that mom doesn't know, like who he has a crush on.

Melissa loves to cook and trys new recipes, and does a good job.

This is a family picture taken behind their house.

These dogs scare off any would be intruders into the Salazani's yard. One of them nipped at me and would have eaten me on an other occasion if there hadn't been a fence to hold him back. Hence I don't like to go visit the Salazani's very often. Most everyone has a wall or a fence around their property and many people have dogs on top of that.

Panashe Blantina Rirwa

Born 6 June 2000

 Panashe lives with her grandparents, she was orphaned at a very young age. First her mother passed away, so her father had her come to live with his parents. He soon followed his wife in death. Panashe lives in this 4 room house with 10 other people. There are lots of young cousins to keep her company.

 In this picture you can meet her grandparents and an aunt and some of her children who stay together in this house.

Every time I meet Panashe she has a big smile for me.

She wants to be a soldier when she grows up. Panashe is in the 6th grade and enjoys reading.

 I was asking what size of foot she had and she and her grandmother (Gogo) said 4 or 5. I didn't believe that, her foot looked the same size as mine, so I took off my shoe and put my foot next to hers. When her family saw my white foot in contrast to hers they all started to laugh and say something in Shona (their native language) that I didn't understand. They were all quite amused!!

The two young men next to her grandfather in the picture aren't related to the family but have lived with them as family members for a few years. They were homeless boys that Brother Rirwa took in. He has provided a home and school fees and even given them the blessing of the gospel in their lives. There certainly wasn't and isn't room in the house nor in the pocket book for more children to care for but they are doing the Savior's work. I thought of these scriptures in Matt 25: 35-40, when brother Rirwa was telling us about the accomplishments of these boys since being in his home.

 Like all the other girls we have visited, Panashe's chores include sweeping, hoeing the vegetables and cooking sadza. Everyone eats sadza! It's nearly everyones favorite food too.

Below are pictures of one of the games kids play here. They call it pada. It's very much like hop scotch. You might have to ask your mom what that is. These girls are very good at it. They are smooth and very coordinated in their movements, they make the game look very easy.

 This cook shack is in front of their house and is used everyday, even when they have electricity, because  sadza cooks easier on the fire. They only use four sticks of wood and it's a small flame. They enjoy a well equipped kitchen when they have electricity. It's a very tight space, only room for one cook at a time. Because electricity is so sporadic people really don't keep food in the refrigerator, it's used more like a storage closet than a cooler.

                       Their yard was full of vegetables growing and very skinny dogs sleeping.

                     Panashe is standing next to her Aunt who is the Rirwa's youngest natural child.

 Thought you might enjoy seeing the neighbor's preparing their dinner. When you walk through a neighborhood in the evening you feel like you are on a camping trip, for everyone is outside bent over a fire, preparing or eating dinner.

There is a lot of theft in Zimbabwe so everyone has a fence around their home and property, with a gate that is kept locked. When you come to visit you bang on the gate and wait for someone to come out to invite you in. When you leave you are always walked at least to the gate, sometimes even part way up the road. We always are made to feel like honored guests.

Elder Jefferies posed for this picture with the Rirwa's because it honored their family and made Brother Rirwa very happy. Brother and Sister Rirwa have only been members of the church for about 5 years. He is on the District High Council.

Panache attends the Chikanga Branch. I dropped by their primary one day and snapped this picture. It is the desire of the church leaders to help primary in this part of Africa become more like Heavenly Fathers design for his little children.

Panashe is in the corner with other girls her age.

This is the Chikanga Chapel pictured after sacrament meeting. Notice only two cars in the parking lot and they belong to missionaries. Most people have no transportation.

Nice chapel. Two Branch's meet here. Gracious and Rutendo's branch meets here too. They live in Sakubva, a neighbouring community and can walk to the chapel in less than a half hour when the water is low in the river. During the rainy season they need to walk around the river which then  takes twice as much time to come to church.