4th P-Day Email to Family and Friends

P-Day Email July 23, 2013

Family and Friends,

Wow this week has been packed! It really flew by so fast though! I said goodbye to Hermana Biggs as she is now in the field! This next week and a half will fly by, I know it!

 Cool happenings from this week:

We got re-assignments!! No not really I am just kidding. Sorry for the heart attack mom. That is what our district leader told us when he got the mail yesterday (7-22-2013).

 Actually the papers we got (all the Mozambique elders) are International Drivers License Applications! Cool huh? We filled them out, then my companion and I went to get our required photos in the travel office. We will give our applications to President Kretly when we get to the field.

Also while in the mode of finding out cool things. My companion and I asked the travel office people about our visas. I am having a tiny bit of visa anxiety due to all the missionaries that were called to Brazil but cannot get a visa. Almost every Brazil bound missionary here was supposed to report to the Brazil MTC. They told us a couple things, if we do not hear from them about visas it is a good thing. They said that there are too many missionaries to contact when each visa come in, considering the 3,500 missionaries here. So, they only tell the ones who don’t get visas (sad day for them).

We will receive our travel plans 10 days before our scheduled departure date. I will be getting my travel information this Thursday! How crazy is that? I only have 12 oh so short days left here on this little island of the MTC.

It is quite hilarious to talk to English speaking missionaries who are here for a total of 12 days. They say it feels like forever. Multiply forever by three. Really though, I do love it here.

I mentioned how we are so blessed to have a native from Mozambique as a Teacher. We are even more blessed than that, he is only 4 weeks off his mission! He has the most astounding spirit with him, you can truly feel his absolutely sincere love for you when he walks into the room. He is definitely a pipeline for Gods love to us.

He knows how to motivate us. It is hilarious! He says "Vamos jogar um joga. Chamamos esta joga FSL” (Let's play a game, we call this game FSL) or “Fala sua lingua!" (Speak your language). He has made speaking our mission language a game. Sometimes we forget and start speaking in English. Whenever this happens he very playfully says "Oh! Qual joga somos jogando?" (What game are we playing?) It is great!!!

Whenever one, or all of us, gets discouraged on the language he gets real quite, walks to the front of the room and looks at us very lovingly. He then says "Do you know God knows you? Do you know that God knew and knows where you are serving your mission?" He waits then continues "Well Elders and Sisters never forget it! Know that he has called you here and he knows you will speak Portuguese. Believe in him, if God has sent you to learn Portuguese, you will learn Portuguese! I promise you." It is such a good way to strengthen us. We all know our call is directly from God, and we cannot deny that knowledge. If God wants me to know how to speak Portuguese, and I try my very hardest, He will make up the difference and strengthen my so prevalent weaknesses.

A great bit of advice from my Loving Grandpa is that the spirit will give us the words we need when we need them. They may not be eloquent or perfect, but they WILL BE sufficient. They will be a means for the spirit to bear witness to the investigator and it will be EXACTLY what they need to hear.

 In some other news for our devotional last week, we heard from brother Hinckley (Emeritus General Authority, and son of our beloved prior prophet Gordon B. Hinckley). It was great!!

I cannot wait to find out who we will hear from this week! We are singing a beautiful assortment or arrangement or whatever (I have no musical knowledge) of “Praise to the Man”, which just happens to be one of my favorite hymns! It sounds good, which is a blessing from on high in and of itself as we practiced only once before broadcasting. I love our choir director Brother Agate. He shares stories and he is so inspiring and fun!

This week I got to make a trip to the dentist while on some required splits with Elder Christianson. It was quite fun to be "Outside" but weird to hear normal music and stuff!

 Some fun bit of advice from Irmão Belchior, “We do not worry too much about the Hippo's, but stay away from the rivers. You are not supposed to go in water anyways, but do not even go by the rivers. The crocodiles are ferocious. One about this big (holding up his arms to about 4 or 5 feet) and will take down a whole cow, no problem."  So lots of fun to look forward to!

 This week has been rather uneventful but good. It is weird how time works here. Days feel like weeks but weeks feel like minutes. At the same time I feel like I have been here for years I am so used to it but I have only been here 4 weeks!

 Well, if you have any questions or anything feel free to write!

 I love all you guys!

-Elder Kanaga