The Grand Hotel in Beira, Mozambique now and in the 1960's.
Once the largest and nicest hotel in
Southern Africa. During the Independence war in the 70's it was taken over by Mozambican forces, served as a military headquarters and POW prison. Now is home to 3,000 people. There is no electricity or running water. All the interior has been strippped. Trees are growing out of the building. The swimming pool is used to wash clothes in. Click on the pictures for a better view. For more pictures and history of this hotel visit www.gutentagverlag.com/2007/02/08/grande-hotel-beira-mozambique (click on the pictures in this article too)

First thing something kinda crappy happened, we let people clean our house. We also had some branch missionaries painting their house and using some stuff in our house that same day. The next day all my money for the rest of the month was gone. I like the people a lot but you just can’t trust them with anything. They take anything they can get. It’s very sad. So I have no money this month. I'm going to the ATM and use my card from home to get some money out for this week. I will take out 1500 Meticis which is I think 50 bucks. But the bank will charge for taking it out so I'm not sure how much it will be.

Other than that everything is good. I think we will baptize a family this transfer! Which is amazing for our zone! They come to church every week and he's given us a ton of contacts, he always wants us to teach his friends and family. I think we will give them a baptism date this week. They are great and I think we found our new Elders Quorum president. We also have another lady who is doing really good as well who will probably be baptized next transfer. Everything is going great and my language skills have gotten so much better as well. That's way cool you got to talk to Elder Spendlove, he's a way cool guy and way funny. (He lives in St. George and came home from Mozambique last month). I'm sure you got the idea from Elder Spendlove but everyday here is an adventure. I love it! Every day I wake up and wonder what crazy thing will happen. It's going to be different going back to quiet Hometown USA. Ya don’t worry about that stuff, nothing has happened since I have been here. That’s a way cool story about Mom’s hole in one ha ha I'm sure Grandpa T had a big smile on his face. Thanks for all the news again, it’s nice to hear what is going on we are very cut off from the world here. Most people here have never even left the city in their whole lives. Thanks for everything!
Here’s the answers to the questions:

1. Elder Spendlove said that only about 20% of the people in Beira have jobs and many people don't have enough to eat. Have you found that to be true in your area? No that 20 percent lives in my area. I'm in the city city so just apartments and things like that. So everyone has a job. It’s hard to work during the day because everyone is working.

2. Elder Spendlove said the fish you described eating a few weeks ago was probably Barracuda. He said it's very good but very expensive! He talked about a food the people eat a lot that is dried corn mashed to a powder then made into a paste, cooked, rolled up and dipped in some kind of sauce. Have you eaten that? How was it? Ya I ate it... and it tastes exactly like you would think. They have normal food here and then they have a few crazy things.