Here was a typical meal everyday at the work site.  Chicken with all of the bones and skin and generally legs and thighs, a piece of lettuce, a piece of fruit, rice and/or french fries.  I became a carbotarian – I am apparently a picky eater as I really dislike anything with skin, bones, cartilage etc.  I drank a lot of coke and fanta too.  We went to the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg on our way home.  You weren’t allowed to take photos inside, but violent history is always extremely troubling, humbling and reminds me of my many blessings.  These were the candies that they sold in the vending machines.  They are meant to be babies/people of all colors – I found them to be a little creepy?We did baptisms at the Johannesburg temple.  It is very old and very small.  And it was super awesome because the temple president joined us and each of the kids baptized each other.

THE GUYS:

Uncle Matt (super sarcastic & great family man and dad); Isaac (quiet but deals with Tourettes and I had the opportunity to spend a day playing bananagrams with him when he stayed back from the worksite sick) ; Noah (I mentioned him already); McKay (super baseball player that lives in CA and plans to play for Duke University, he’s 6’5″ and did everything we needed  a ladder for); Dallin (left on a mission to the Philippines three weeks later, is an absolute work horse who was the only one with any construction experience and could eat 15 pieces of pizza no problem, most likely because he worked harder than 3 of the guys combined); TT; Chase; and Sam (has type 1 diabetes and deals with it with incredible maturity, is smart, funny and from Las Vegas) Chase and TT.  I also got to experience Chase in his natural habitat and he is unusually strong, spiritual, generous kid who seems in his comfort zone in any situation without ever getting ruffled and shows up in a big understated way – like his dad.  His parents raised a stellar kid that I really really hope becomes my son-in-law someday. THE GIRLS:

Quinlyn (talented in dance, gymnastics, singing, playing piano by ear and artistic but sadly a bit of a drama queen from Montana); Brooke (the oldest one of the girls at 19 and instant besties with Quinlyn and they both wore designer workout clothes everyday to the worksite); Bailey (Followed TT around with an big huge crush and may or may not have kissed him on the plane home); Emma (She bellyflopped BIG TIME when she jumped off the 30 ft cliff and then blacked out for a s few seconds but seemed to take it in stride); Masyn (Dallin’s competition as a work horse, she is super smart heading off to BYU, and really fun to talk to and may or may not have kissed Chase on the plane); Heidi (She had all the music and was friendly to everyone and has come over a couple times since the trip – Uncle Matt is her dad); Cat (who may or may not have kissed Sam on the plane); Abby (reminded both TT and I of Aub – super smart super witty, amazing singer and plans to be a doctor); Clara (got her mission call to CA while we were there, very hard worker and gave really great devotionals); Chandler; and Dani (Besties with Clara and came together so really stuck together and also got her mission call to CA while we were there)Dinner with everyone at a restaurant. We tried Indian, Thai, Turkish, Italian, and a lot of different African and Portuguese dishes.  Cat; Masyn and Heidi Chase; Sam; TTOur last day at the worksite very dirty and sad to leave. The children were so sweet, so loving and so beautiful. They all had huge obsessions with our hair.  Chandler loved letting them fix it. Our trip leader Josh, a really amazing guy that I wish I knew someone to set him up with – he’s Master D’s age getting his Masters degree and then Phd in Exercise Science.  The children loved to hug us all especially this little girl This was our last day and this little girl just ran up and grabbed on to me and hugged me so tight I wanted to take her home with me. Noah and TT grew out their mustaches and then let Quinlyn color them darker.  One of the members really had a good time teasing TT about his “fake mustache”.This is Mozambique’s idea of buses.  The people pile into the back of pickup trucks, standing up and driving down the highway with everyone from babies to grandparents. Everyday leaving the worksite we watched the sun set.  One day it rained and the kids and children all danced together in the rain. The girls with our trip leader Kaylee, back row far right.  She was a little reserved and took a little longer to connect with and then one night we snuck away from the group at one of the restaurants and went to another little restaurant that made fresh juices and bonded over ginger lemonade and delicious passionfruit panacotta….. but shhh don’t tell anyone. We went to the beach on a Saturday and there were some really creepy Turkish tourists who were staying in bungalows on the beach obsessed with taking photos with our group and playing soccer with us. HEFY picked a different beach to go to for the rest of the groups. Every evening the locals set up shop on various corners. Walking out to the plane at sunrise leaving Mozambique – it was incredibly bittersweet.  25 hours of flying back to the USA later, we were all on Delta flights heading back to Utah.  I loved that I snapped with these people in front of La Familia – because that’s how I felt after spending 18 days with these people.  We visited a landmark that used to be a fort on the coast for protecting them from attacks.  First they were colonized by Portugal and then assisted by the Russians in gaining their “independence” and then became communist for awhile and then fought for their own independence.  They are supposedly democratic but I’m pretty sure every single bit of money and infrastructure is used for the government and elite as once you go into the main city it’s full of high rises, casinos and luxury hotels and malls.  The most danger I felt was actually in a very high end mall that was owned by middle eastern muslims.  I felt like we were under a microscope.  This quote was on the wall at the fort and I felt like it summed up my experience.  I LOVED THIS TRIP and I’m pretty sure that TT did too.  I will definitely be taking Ari probably the summer after she graduates from high school.