Munhava 59th week - September 29, 2014

Email, it is such a huge blessing – miracle - mercy to be able to communicate over 12,000 miles more-or-less instantly. I love that on p-day I get to email! On P-day, we had a first lesson with Mxxx. His wife wasn’t home but it went good and we re-marked for Wednesday.

Tuesday was my birthday. Para-bens para mim, para-bens para mim. Para bens neste dia feliz Para-bens para mim. I am 20, I’m old.  One of the elders in the house made Frango Escondidio or “hidden chicken”. I am definitely making that for my family when I get home. 

This week we had lessons and contacting but not a full “normal day”. We had some lessons with Vxxxx and Dxxxxxxx. On Tuesday a member was present. The member is Mxxxxx, he shared his conversion story and most of the restoration, plan of salvation, gospel, law of chastity and a couple of other things. Vxxx and Dxxxxxxx seemed to become more interested as he shared. They came to church on Sunday and I think they will progress well.

False advertising! The poster says "Free English classes. The classes have an enrollment fee of 1000mt.
Our classes are advertised as and actually are 100% Free!

We cleaned the chapel for Zone conference which took an entire morning. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as it was “Armed Forces Day” (a national holiday) and 95% of people were “celebrating”. After cleaning the church, we gave Dxxxxxxx the last lesson and went to teach the English class. We did contacting and went home 2 hours early per President Kretly’s orders. He wanted us to be super well rested and attentive for Zone Conference. He asked that every missionary be home and in bed two hours early.

Elder Kanaga with Elder and Sister Snelson at Zone Conference.

Zone Conference was so good. Of course there was a lot of missionary camaraderie and catching up while we waited for President Kretly to arrive. President went over the first three of “7 habits of highly effective people”. He taught us to
 #1 Be proactive.
 #2 Start with the objective in mind.
 #3 Focus on first things first.
President Kretly’s teachings and trainings are always awesome.

Elder Conde was a young man who walked  and taught with Elder Kanaga and
his companion as a member when they were in Manga. Right now, he is serving
in Mozambique. Very soon he will be leaving to complete his mission in Angola! 

The next day, we had interviews with President Kretly. I am so grateful for the biggest miracle that happened on the way to interviews. As we were walking past TPM (the public bus transit company), I heard a whistle, I turned to find my dear Txxxx Lxxx Dxxxx He is looking very good. He looks so much younger. He looks youthful! It was such a happy experience to see him. It was literally a miracle.

Mama Editor: This was Elder Kanaga’s first family to teach and see married and baptized. He has often expressed love and concern for this family. In personal email, Elder Kanaga told me that Txxxx was now the 2nd counselor in his branch presidency. He loves to see the change that has blessed the Dxxxx family’s life.

Church was so good on Sunday. Afterwards, we had some really good lessons. Zxxx and Axxxxx are getting their documents ready and really working toward getting married. I hope to see that happen. We had a really effective meeting with the branch president Sunday.

The biggest problem I have right now is that my incision still hasn’t quit bleeding. I don’t have any idea how to stop it. Other than that, I had a good P-day, a good B-day, and a super good week.

Munhava 58th week - September 22, 2014

It was a hectic P-day last week and during internet the power cut out because a transformer blew up. We shopped and got haircuts. Unfortunately all of our lessons fell through.

Tuesday was better lesson wise we had some fall through but not all. I did divisions in our area with Elder Walker,  Elder Bourne went with Elder Olsen. We went to visit Dxxxxxxx and taught him about fasting and, of course, he understood it all perfectly. I was quite surprised how well Elder Walker already speaks Portuguese. It is amazing and it is only his second transfer.

Wednesday we started by doing contacts in the morning. We were super blessed to get a lot of them.

We taught a first lesson with a wonderful couple, Dxxxxxxa and Axxxxx. I am not 100% sure why it was so different or amazing but it was. The spirit was so strong. They understood everything we taught and when or if they didn't, they would ask questions. At the end of the lesson we asked them to be baptized. They had a couple of small questions but accepted with excitement. During our second lesson with them we taught about the Priesthood. Dxxxxxxx understood so well that he compared the Priesthood to  a key that opens a door. He said without the key, (or Priesthood) we can’t open the door to truth. I was so impressed.

We had a lesson with Vxxx and Dxxxxxxx. They are a reference from some other investigators. It was a good  lesson.

We had a lesson with Pxxxxx and Axx. He said his boss is back in Beira which means he will finally get paid and can get to work on their documents. It was a great lesson because they are reading and understanding the Book of Mormon.

We also had a lesson with a new family, Mxxxxx and Gxxxxxxx which was awesome. The lesson went really well. They are a really good family. Our second lesson with them didn't go as well. I am not quite sure why, but it was sad. But we had a great lesson with Zxxx and Axxxxxx. Zxxx plans on getting his documents next week. I really hope he does.

This past week we have not had dependable running water. The blessing is that four times daily Fipag forces water for 1 hour. That hour is when we fill water bottles and do dishes.

Sunday I gave a talk on “The Covenant People of the Lord” and although it was pouring rain we had families who walked through the down-pour to come to church. For one of the families it was their first time coming to church. I was impressed with these families. Our day following meetings was pretty solidly laid out but a bit of it fell through. We did have a miraculous lesson on Sunday for two reasons #1 it went through, #2 Pxxxxx finally got paid and said he is going to start working on his documents tomorrow!

We taught English class that went fairly well. I am really very impressed with how well some people can pick up English. 

Munhava 57th week - September 15, 2014

Oh the Monday that wasn't P-Day. It was good, but it was not P-Day because of a National Holiday. We walked (a lot) and contacted, and had one pretty good lesson. Then we had a couple lessons fall. We had a really forte (strong) lesson with Nxxxxx and Fxxxx. They were being pressured by family to not get married until they fix up their house. So we really had to gently but firmly guide their attention back to following Christ.

Tuesday was a pretty good P-Day. I mean Tuesday P-Days are always a bit odd, but it was good. Internet - I got a virus on my card and lost all my pictures from since I got back from South Africa. It also will not let me store any pictures on it. While we were out doing our proselytizing, we saw the Mozambican version of a “swirly”. Some poor little kid was being threatened by his older brother to be dipped in the putrid water on the path side.

Wednesday, had some good lessons. One was a good lesson reading the Book of Mormon with Lxxx and Mxxxxxx. Another lesson with a new family, and one with Zxxx & Axxxxx. We taught them about the Law of Chastity which they accepted. They planned to start on documents Thursday. We were to sit with Zxxx & Axxxxx again on Saturday. We taught him, she actually wasn't there, but they have already started on their documents. We just taught the Law of Chastity Wednesday and they had the faith to jump on it and start the paper to get married! Boom! Legit.

On 9-11, I could very clearly remember writing about 9-11 last year, sitting at my desk in Manga, in my first transfer. It is a day I will never forget watching the plane strikes and towers fall. I can remember that day clearly like it just happened. Crazy. 

Thursday, we did some contacting in the morning and finally got in contact with Dxxxxxxx, which is awesome because it has almost been one whole week. So we passed by his house before we taught English class. Then we visited Rxxxxxx & Axx. She prayed for the first time in Portuguese. We also went to visit the Mxxxxxx family. Jxxxxxx got called to the Dominican Republic and Jxxxxxx from the Maraza Branch, got his call to South Africa Johannesburg! Whoop! They will be leaving in November and December.

Friday, we had “Zone Training” first thing in the morning. Sadly our day out in the area wasn't solid, a lot fell. When we first got out to the area literally everyone we called or tried to pass by, dropped on us. We also had a member with us starting at 18H and that lesson fell too. Finally at 19H we sat with Nxxxxx & Fxxxx. I’m real worried about them because he is having quite a few problems with the Sabbath Day. He is a truck mechanic. So we are really trying to help him see and develop a testimony about sacrificing and keeping the Sabbath Day holy. 

We went to another family, Jxxxxxx & Axxx. She doesn’t speak Portuguese which makes teaching them super difficult.

Saturday we did some contacting and had a great lesson in the morning.  As we were going Zxxx & Axxxxx's house we saw a HUGE “MDM” parade, it was gi-norm-ous. We did  a little division. Elder Azevedo was sick so Elder Walker and I went to my and his areas, and Elder Bourne and Azevedo stayed home. I really like Elder Walker and his area reminded me so much of Manga! We visited a lot of families and I think it went very good.

Oh Sundays… they stress me out so very much... but we were blessed. We somehow got five families at church. Whoop! Blessings.  After church, as we were waking in our area we had to walk right through the middle of a “P.D.D.” parade and we saw a Frelimo Parade. All of our lessons fell through until the end of the night, but we had a super good meeting with President Mafaisse.

Munhava 56th week - September 8, 2014

Not my best P-day. I washed five of my white shirts with my black socks and blue towel. 

On the bright-ish side, as we were walking around contacting a motor cycle flew by super fast. His phone literally flew out of his pocket. A passing car missed it by 3-inches. We picked it up and put it together. We tried calling but it had no credit so we waited. He ended up calling us and we told him where to find us. He was really grateful and said he would come to church.

The political campaigns are getting going. We see lots of people wearing Frelimo, MDM and Renamo shirts. Plus a man wearing a Bass Pro hat, it funny to see that in Mozambique. We also saw around 25 “nuns” get out of one chapa and proceed down the road. The best part is that some of them were carrying cases of beer on their heads.

This week we had some good lessons and contacting this week in the Lord’s Mozambican “Vineyard”.

Sunday we have a miracle. We had ten investigators show up, including 3 families. We also spent Sunday visiting recent converts. They are all doing really well. We had a really good visit with Axxxxxx and Dxxx. Usually the lessons with them are a bit frustrating, however, Sunday it went quite nicely. We reviewed the Gospel of Jesus Christ and spoke a bit about the temple in “persevere until the end” part. They were genuinely interested in going to the temple. 

Munhava 55th week - September 1, 2014

I have been transferred to Munhava so up to Beira again! I will be honest it is very exciting, although I was a bit nervous and such. After transfers we met up with our whole district plus Sister Nazho and Gimo for lunch at Mimmo’s. It was fun and really tasty. I packed and got a ride to the airport from the office elders. The dear Snelsons picked me and Elder Adams up and took us to our respective houses. I unpacked and discovered my checked luggage had been jacked. I am not happy about that! 

However, it was a full day that was fast and full of surprises. I am interested to see what this new transfer has in store.  

My new companion, Elder Borne, showed me our area. We had some really good lessons with some really solid investigators. We had great lessons and some good contacts this week.

We had some encounters with drunks mostly harmless but one guy walking by us was muttering to himself “I kill people. I kill People. I got my knife and kill people. I kill people”. Another time a drunken woman approached and kept yelling at me that her life was a wreck. I tried telling her she could fix it but she kept cutting me off. Then out of nowhere she knelt down and acted like she was worshipping me. I also had a couple of ten year old girls who said they wanted to date me… Yep, I had some weird experiences.

On Sunday at church I found out we have a really good branch. We have a good Elder’s Quorum President, Principles of the Gospel teacher and so forth.   We had a lot of recent convert lessons.