Hey Everyone,
Alright, so this week was pretty crazy and funny at the same time. Immediately after I got out of the Internet Cafe, we got on a chappa (bus). The problem was that we were running after it, trying to catch it. It had a tail gait on the back and well, I kinda did the splits trying to get one leg over the edge and the driver decided it would be cool to jam on the brakes at the same time. I'm glad nobody was filming it, because truth be told, it belonged on Rob Dyrdeck's "Ridiculousness" show. Anyway, after some painful moments in the back of a chappa, we went to the store.
The rest of the week we ran into a ton of people from the Catholic church that were kind of more or less blowing us off. Not because they don't understand or feel the power of what we had to say, but just because they think that if they leave the Catholic church, they won't have anyone come to their funeral. My only thought to that was, "Hey, we're trying to get your friends too join too so you won't have that problem!" ha ha ha ha. That was funny. We are also trying to build up the missionary and branch relationships with the members and with the branch president. Needless to say, the last companion that Elder Phillips had didn't exactly see eye to eye with the current branch pres. so we are repairing that. The members here are wonderful. Extremely strong in the Gospel... but it's a hard line. They are either really strong or really weak. The one member that gave me a lotof hope was a lady named Irma Sofia. Irma means sister. She is such a sweet lady and she was Catholic, so we received a lot of help about how to approach people from her. She really is such a kind lady. She is such a sweet soul because she spends her days caring for tons of kids that aren't even hers, like a little orphanage or a place for them to go including her own children. I wish you could hear and understand her testimony. The power and the depth of it is intense. If I were to say that anyone is converted to the Lord, it would be her. We had some baptisms this weekend and they were really good. I have some pictures, but I haven't figured out how to send them yet. I also have a lot of pictures of the surrounding areas and a few videos of friends and one of a wedding here, but I'll get to that a little later. So, this baptism was cool. We had a total of, I think, about twenty people baptized on the same day. Eight of which were from our area. The two girls we baptized are great. I am confident that one is going to serve a mission when they get the chance. Her testimony is already really strong. She hasn't heard the talk by Elder Eyring yet, but I am sure she is applying it. Her mom isn't a member, but she was there for the baptism and her confirmation which was super cool. The kind of Spirit that abides when you have eight confirmations is enough to catch your clothes on fire! ha ha ha! Last night we went over to talk to her mom about the Gospel and what was really cool is most of the family has heard the discussions before and they were testifying and teaching a lot more than we did. Elder Phillips and I just tried to give the strongest testimonies we could and left the rest up to her to decide. I hope that family gets baptized before we leave the area. I can tell that there is a difference in the way the two girls talked about the Gospel after they were baptized.
The difference in the life of another is amazing. I only wish I could have seen the sealing of the Ross's in the temple. Of all the things I miss the most is the temple and the special opportunity to walk through the doors of that sacred building. Only now do I realize the power and the feeling of being in there. I think I'm going to try and bother President Kretly to let us make a voyage down to the Joe Berg (Johannesburg) temple. Maybe to fast or pray for a ward in the area or an increase in growth... something like that. Oh, yeah, on the way back from their house we had to take achappa and I ripped my pants on one of the pieces of metal on the door. It's not a big hole and I can sew it up easy. I just thought it was kinda funny ha ha ha. My companion and I had a good little laugh about it. This week we are going to work on another Christ-like attribute which is humility. Learning to be humble before the Lord, I think, is essential to being guided by his Spirit because you have to be humble enough to be guided. I can't wait to learn more about this since I know the reward for doing such is so great. This week we are going to do a division. It's where for one day the missionaries in the house change companions for a day and the only other companion I would have in the house is an Elder from Cabo Verde or Cape Verde and he only speaks Portuguese......aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! LOL!! Just kidding! It is a little nerve-wracking. I am excited for the opportunity to discover how much of this language I actually know :) I mean, if I totally fall on my face, so be it! It's not like they will get mad at me if I do it wrong. They will just have to pay closer attention to what I am saying. ha ha!
I've been studying 2 Nephi Chapter 9 all week and believe me... you need a whole week to get all you can out of that chapter. It is just chock full of good stuff in it and I definitely recommend that chapter for your study in the coming weeks. Lots of good stuff. I have made another goal to become closer to my Savior and really figure out what he did in his life here. I usually have only one hour a day to do personal study and I have figured out how precious that hour can be, so what I spend it on is game changing. Feeling the Spirit during the process is also important, so having faith and a whole bunch of other things is important too. That's why on P-days like today I spend the time that my comp usually spends sleeping, studying. This is the best time for me to just learn what is necessary for me to teach. I heard a quote one time by someone, I don't know who, but it goes like this... "You do not have the right to teach nor should you have the opportunity to help or to guide if you have not spent the time to prepare and to study! Seek to comprehend my word before you teach it." I have thought about this a lot lately and I have felt myself become obsessed with learning more and trying to take more in so I have every opportunity to feel the Spirit, receive the gift of tongues and a whole bunch of other spiritual gifts so I can help others. I want to spend enough time in the scriptures, so I can maximize my opportunities to be able to have those gifts at my disposal, if the Lord so chooses to allow me to use them. I think the only thing that lacks right now is my faith. I never feel like I have enough or I never think I believe enough for something like that to happen and it's something I need to work on. So gaining a knowledge is important, but I can only do it if I have a belief or faith in what I am doing. It's awesome, ever since I was called, it seems like I have had to unquenchable desire for knowledge. Just always thinking about something else I could be learning. I have all the tools at my disposal, so why shouldn't I use them to help others. I got grandmas letter to so that was cool all the other elders were jealous ha ha ha ( suckers)
Oh, man it's so much fun here! Just all the random crazy things that happen here. I could only do them justice by explaining them in person or on Skype, or on the phone maybe. It's really a lot of fun down here and they say it gets funnier when you go into the jungle. I am super excited to go do that (one word-- monkeys!) I also hear there are baboons too, so I'm excited to see the rest of Mozambique. Soccer is rampant here and I really want to play some time with the kids out in the sand field because they are fast and good. What's really cool is that most play without shoes and they can boot it hard. Oh! Random thought.... when you get into a chappa they are always blaring some kind of music and some of it is really fun because it sounds Mexican and I just start dying laughing! Then everyone thinks I'm that crazy white guy in the back of the chappa. As for the type of house we have... it's one of the nicer ones on the block and it's yellow. I have some pictures and what it looks like on the inside. I just need to figure out how to send them over the internet. As far as Conference goes.... I don't know when I will get to see it, but I think it will only be in Portuguese and I really want to understand it. It should be in next month's Liahona and I will get it then since those are free for missionaries down here. I cant wait to understand and hear from them.
The food is great down here. You can pretty much get anything you need if you go to the right store. Speaking of food, there was a wedding on Sunday that we were invited to and we baked a cake for them (albeit probably not very well though) and they seemed to like it. We just had a laugh about it because neither Elder Phillips nor I have made one before. I have a video of the people singing a traditional wedding song in Changana for the wedding and it is pretty cool. The food there was good and they usually make something fried with rice and beans and all kinds of other things. It's pretty much like America without all the variety. They are an amazing couple. By the way, when people party here, they party hard... like until they can't even move anymore. They party from Friday all the way till Monday morning, non-stop with music blaring. It get's a little annoying, but then again we just show up at their doorstep with a Word of Wisdom pamphlet and the first lesson on Tuesday when the hangover has worn off enough so they can form sentences. Funny stuff and it's really entertaining to watch.
So that was my week and it was pretty awesome. I can't wait to start the next one (on the 12th I will have been in country one month and I am really excited to get that under my belt) Some new missionaries are coming in, so that's good. We are working hard to get this area up and running for the next elders to come in and really get the baptismal font flowing :) I also wanted to let you know that I got grandmas letter, so that was cool. All the other elders were jealous. ha ha ha!
Lots of love,
Your elder
ELder Proksch
No comments:
Post a Comment