Woooooooo!
Another week gone by.... thank goodness ! ha ha ha. This week seemed a little bit longer than most for some reason (I don't know why). So this week everyone was still kinda bummed out from transfers and everyone was trying to figure out why no one was changed. We had an opportunity to talk to one of the president's secretaries and he said that he had decided to keep everyone in the same place as before since last transfer ended, but he didn't give any reason why. So everyone is still kinda in the dark about that.
I feel like I have a lot to write about, but I don't know how to put it into words. ha ha. This week has been mostly rainy and we have come back to the house mostly wet and tired. It's hard to do contacts in the rain when no one likes being out in the rain except for the two white guys walking around with bibles in their hands. Mozambicans are funny if it rains. They don't go to work or church or anywhere and everyone we seem to call or all of our new investigators say that they are sick or they magically got sick on that day (go figure). But speaking of investigators, no, I probably wouldn't drop you if you were one of mine. I would probably just do what other missionaries call "pillaring" (peelaring). It's what the machamba mamas do to make food. They basically have a really deep bowl and a really heavy stick and they smash or crush things like peanuts or rice or corn to cook with. Missionaries say that they will pillar someone when they don't do what they are asked. It's usually very direct and tends to make the investigator feel really uncomfortable. A good example in the Book of Mormon is when Moroni talked to Pahorin and sends an epistle to find out why they aren't sending any help to him. I'll let you guys imagine that or guess what I would say to try and motivate you to read the Book ofMormon more regularly as a family. Something about "Wo unto him that be at ease in Zion" (scripture in Nephi). I leave you guys to find that one in your reading. But seriously, read. Read the Book of Mormon while you're at an easy point in your calling. The Lord will bless you with knowledge when things get tough and ward members aren't getting along. There are always promised blessing to those who keep the commandments of the Lord. In fact, it is a commandment that you read the scriptures. It's something that we teach our investigators and something you should be doing everyday. I know you guys aren't that bad, but you could always do better. But enough with the pillaring!
We have an investigator this week and his name is Jose and his wife's name is Batina. They are from this church called the Twelve Apostles and he's kinda high up there in their church. We started talking to him about the Restoration and he seamed receptive to the ideas and facts about other churches and how ours was established. So we decided to give him a Book of Mormon, did you catch that? We handed him one of these wonderful books and met him again later in the week. Guess what? He read it. That doesn't usually happen with people of other churches, but he did and he liked it. In fact, he liked it so much that he said to us "My faith is in this book. It is so clear in what it teaches compared to the bible, but I can't leave my church yet because I have a lot of responsibilities, so I am going to wait for a problem and then I will leave. Don't worry, a problem will happen. We have already had quite a few." He also said that he didn't want to leave a lot of people without help. Only after our visit with him did I think to tell him to have us give them the missionary discussions. That way he wouldn't leave anybody (go figure huh). It's funny how the deciding factor in all of this was the Book of Mormon. If this little blue book had this kind of an effect on the pastor of some church, what do you think it can do for you? The only struggle with him for us is to get him to see that his church is really just one BIG problem and that he doesn't need to have one happen. I think that if he keeps reading he will eventually come to see that his church is the problem that he is waiting for, but we need to get him to Sacrament. His wife seems pretty on board with it too. Of course, I don't know who's going to baptize her. She's a machamba mama...fairly large. I'll have one of the members do it. ha ha ha
It's been raining most of the week and that's fun (not) and we have been going from house to house knocking on doors because I feel like I know this area like the back of my hand. It was funny today as we were going to the Internet cafe, someone approached one of the elders we were talking with and they got on tv and got to say happy birthday to Geybouza who is the president of Mozambique. So an American and a New Zealander got to wish him a happy birthday. Super funny because the American elder almost slipped into Portuguese half way through wishing him a happy birthday.
Anyway, I know it's kind of a short letter, but I have a few more people to write and talk to, so I'll write you guys soon.
lots of love,
Elder Proksch
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