Manga 13th Week - November 11, 2013

Family and Friends,

Last Monday was super good. We had transfers! Elder Lynn and I switched places. I am now in Manga 1B. I am still in the same branch and house.

Other than transfers it was a normal P-Day. We did have to say goodbye to Elder Greenman, that was sad. I will really miss him.

Tuesday was my first day in the area. It was great, all the lessons went well. I think Elder Schachterle and I teach well together. The highlight of my day was when I was walking down Passagem De Nivel. There was a bus coming up behind us. It was slowing down. It stopped and I waved. The bus was being driven by the father of the family who were baptized September 20th! He opened the doors, I jumped in, said “Hi” and shook his hand. We talked for ten seconds before he had to go. I got to see him! It was the greatest!

Wednesday was a crazy day. We had a lot of lessons, one of our lessons was with E---. He is so amazing. He is literally probably the smartest man in Mozambique I know. He has awesome muscles. He taught us a lesson using the scriptures and cross references and applications thereof.

Wow! I didn’t sweat at all on Thursday. I am lying, I did. We walked a lot but that’s not all. It just so happens that the sun decided to be twice as close to the earth on Thursday.  However, the coolest thing happened. We were at Scones. An elder fresh from the MTC, Elder Dryang, was also there. We were talking and suddenly, he turns to me and says, “You’re Elder Kanaga? Elder Tibbitts says hi and that he loves you”. I was so happy. I asked him how he knew Bryson. He explained that Elder Tibbets was his zone leader in the MTC. Elder Dryang said that Elder Tibbets had given him a picture that he had written on the back of saying to tell me hi and that he loves me. Honestly, that made my day.

When I thought Thursday was hot I was fooled. It was 10,000,000 times hotter on Friday. By the time we made the walk to our area I was literally dripping sweat. It was running down off my arms and hands. My shirt was absolutely soaked. A lot of lessons fell through but regardless it was a pretty good day. We walked with G---. He is a super cool and funny guy. People call him “Mazimpungo” which means rice water. I am not sure why he is called that and I asked him. He doesn’t know either.

Saturday our branch had a couple of baptisms. However, our font hasn’t been working, so we were planning on having the baptisms in the Palmeiras chapel in the city. As we were putting on our shoes to go, Elder Ensalado gets a call. Somehow our font was full of water. So we were able to have the baptism at our chapel. It was nice not to have to take chapa rides. It was a good baptism. I got the cool opportunity to be a witness which I have never done before.

After the baptism we went out to our area. No lessons were working out. We were standing in the shade under a manga tree while Elder Schachterle was making a phone call. I looked back and a kid, he couldn’t have been more than 14 or 15, was standing in his doorway shirtless. He was dancing his heart out. Just one of the little funny things you get to see sometimes.

Another weird thing was while we were walking. A man walked up to us from nowhere and scared me because I didn’t ever see him coming. He had his hand out with two 5MT pieces in it. He shook them and said “It’s a lot huh?” Then he power walked off. It was super random not to mention that 10MT is equivalent to 30-ish cents.

We did have a pretty cool lesson on Saturday. The family was a reference from Elder Ensalado and Mason. We sat down with the man, his wife and daughter. We very quickly found out he was a member baptized back in 2006. His wife however, wasn’t baptized and they weren’t legally married. I really hope that they come and he is reactivated. He remembers a lot and was very happy to see missionaries again.
 

I forgot to mention the craziness. There are mini parades 10 times a day every day. It is a bunch of people “campaigning” for their political party. Either the MDM (Movemento Democratico de Moçambique) or the Frelimo. They are loud and pretty crazy.
 

I love our ward and our Jovens (youth) especially. They are just extraordinary young people.

Today we had a really good district meeting, the first one Elder Galland has given. He did a really good job. The topic was love. How love is really the beginning of everything. Choices we make and our lives are based on the people and things we love. God loves us and sent us here to learn. Christ loves us and that is why he sacrificed for us. We love Moçanbique, our families, the gospel, our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. That is why we are serving missions.