Election Week

Hey Peeps!

So here in Mozambique it is elections for the city mayor and everyone is going nuts.  Nuts as in you could almost believe it was World Cup, but it's not.  Saturday afternoon while all the festivities were going on we got a call from Sister Kretly.  That's not something that usually happens.  She said we need all the elders to return to their houses immediately.  So without question, all of us went back to our house and waited on further instruction.  When the ZL's got back to the house, they told us what was going on. Apparently in one of the neighboring areas a riot had broken out and several people were hurt (none of them being missionaries) and that we need to stay inside till further notice.  It wasn't really a big deal for us other than the fact that we had to cancel all of our lessons that afternoon and that was a little upsetting.  We are all OK and President and Sister Kretly personally called all of the houses to see if everyone was OK.

That was our excitement for the week and hopefully the only excitement for the week as the elections are this week.  In fact, they are the 20th and that's the day that everyone is staying inside, just for safety reasons.  So today we have to do all our shopping for the rest of the month and then in the afternoon we are going out to work. This week is going to be interesting, to say the least.

As for this last past week, we had a great lesson with a new investigator who had already had a run in with the missionaries.  He had one of our little books on the Restoration and that was cool to see.  We asked him in the lesson if he had heard anything about Joseph Smith and he said that he had and we were worried there for a second because we thought that maybe he was from another church that didn't like us, but when he brought out the Restoration pamphlet, I just about jumped out of my chair.  The only sad thing was that we invited him to church but he wasn't there.  There is always next week!!

Church was also very interesting this week.  Our couple that was baptized last week and married almost forgot to show up!!.  The wife showed up an hour late and the husband had gone to work.  Now, there are a couple things going on here that I need to explain.  First of all, when you combine Mormon standard time with Mozambican time you get there about an hour and a half after you should have shown up.  So there's that.  Also, they aren't very wealthy at all, so odds are that if he had not worked that day, they would not have had any food.  On the flip side of that, all these things can be solved if your faith in God is stronger than your faith in yourself.  Put God at the top or your list and he will put you at the top of His.  It's so simple that it's almost surprising how well it works.  So we confirmed her and then he showed up for the last five minutes of sacrament, so we couldn't get him confirmed even though he was there.  Then after church an investigator comes up to us and he was looking kind of worried so we asked him what happened.  He said that he had a fight with his wife and that they weren't talking to each other.  So Elder Bourne and I switched into marriage counselor mode and helped him through his problem.  I really am so glad for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I think that if a majority of people just followed that outline, lots of problems could be solved regarding marriages and just over all relations in general.  Really, it is simplistically magnificent.  The genius of our Heavenly Father is beyond mental capacity to understand.  He can take complex situations and make them seem so simple to solve and really they are.  The only thing that's difficult would be the people trying to use it.  It's a testimony builder of the love that He offers us.

Speaking of testimony builders... this week in personal study I was reading chapter 57 of Alma.  Wow!  I thought I had gained all I could from that chapter, but I guess not.  It outlines between the Lamanites and the Nephites a few battles that happened with the stripling warriors.  At the start of the chapter they start out good, high on supplies and men to fight, but once they take over a city, they have an overload of Lamanite prisoners and struggle to keep them guarded until at one point in the chapter they say they had to guard them with sword in hand to keep them under control.  Eventually, the Lamanites broke out and started fighting along side another Lamanite army that had come along.  Reading the chapter will clarify a lot of this.  The spiritual break down of this chapter has to do with repentance.  Helaman's armies started off on high spiritual provisions and took a neighboring city (first repentance).  It's like when you are feeling spiritually strong and you decide to repent of a wrong that you are doing,  then you have to forgive yourself and if you don't, it's like you didn't repent and you are constantly reminded of these things (like a whole bunch of prisoners of war) and then because you are trying to manage all of this, you end up getting low on your spiritual provisions and you lose control of it all.  That's how the adversary gets you. That's what he wants.  He wants to heap it on you so you think you have no chance, which results in you having to try and fight two armies at once.  Much like Helaman's army at the end of this chapter.  The only way you are going to get through that battle is if you have a stripling testimony and faith in God.  I guess to sum it all up: repentance is something that needs to be sought through to the end.  There is no half way or "I kinda got there".  It's all the way, whether it be talking with your bishop or pouring your heart out in front of the Lord (he knows your desires and he knows when you mean it).  What should you do when it's hard to forgive yourself?  Let it go.  It's the last most important step in the repentance process.  Why?  Because if you don't, that is the Adversary's first point of attack and you will never move on because he doesn't want you to.  His purpose is to make us miserable like unto himself.  Like President Utchdorf says, "You Can Do It Now."  Call it what you want, taking rocks out of your pack, cutting the fat, cleaning out the scar tissue, just do it.  You will thank yourselves and so will your Heavenly Father.  It will make your connection with him stronger. Like a corroded spark plug in an engine. Once you clean it, it makes the engine work better and you have more power.  Power to carry others great distances.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Sorry if I haven't answered any questions.  This P-day has been crazy and if you need me to answer a few questions, just send them next P-day and I will be happy to answer them.

Lots of love, 

Elder Proksch