Moving Rocks & Voodoo Objects

This week was a blast.  Lots of divisions with other people in our house and really cool lessons, but I will get to that in a bit.  So to answer your question on if I look like dad or not from the picture you sent of him from long ago.  I don't know, but everyone here says I do.  I am just honored to look like that stud in the tux.  Also, in the picture you sent of the riders (by the way thanks for that ... I am so trunky right now, ha ha ha) I had to pick dad out of the group.  Is he getting skinnier?  Tell him to eat more because he is disappearing.  Also, on the news of the package, remember I won't get it until I go down to Maputo and I am still up in Beria.  They have the packages, but they are holding them in Maputo because they don't want to send them through the mail and get lost. I will though, get it eventually.  Hopefully soon because I need the pants bad.   I'm sure they have it if you sent it at the end of October.  The Embry Riddle applications I have not received yet, but I assume I will get them here in a bit.  As for leadership, it is going a lot better out here in Beria.  I just had a division with Elder Martinez (he is my zone leader) and he said some very nice things to me in relation to the job I am doing up here.  He said when I got here that it started a little rough in the beginning  because, well you know, I am a goof and like to have fun and he was impressed with the changes that I am making to better help my district.  The other elders in my house have been helping me out a lot and I have a good relationship with them in general and nobody is really at odds with each other.  To be totally honest, I am learning a mile a minute in this position and I know that I am fulfilling this calling through the help of the Lord because he knows that I need it.

So as for this week, we found two, count them... two awesome families.   It was ridiculous!  We found them in a crazy way too.  The first one, he was calling us up not knowing where we were and as we walk down the road, we ran into him will he was talking to us!  It was like the Lord led us right to him.  I have never met anyone with more desire to be baptized and follow Jesus Christ.  He has been mixed up with witch doctors for the past couple of years and he decided that there is no strength in the arm of man but only through Jesus Christ can we be saved.  He is very humble and his name is Pascal or Easter (Mr. Easter) and his wife's name is Graca, or Grace.  The other couple is Carlos and Jaquinta.  They have a beautiful baby boy and the last time we talked to them, he asked us to bless or say a prayer for their son so that he could have a good life.  I didn't want to do the baby blessing for him, so I said a prayer and after the prayer the little boy's eyes opened and I could almost see a smile there on his face.  We also got the craziest warm fuzzy feeling while we were in that little house made of sticks, an experience I won't soon forget.  Anyways, back to Pascal. He had at his house, put into the ground, some voodoo objects to protect his house and he had been trying to dig them out when he called us and asked us what he could do.  That lesson with him was interesting because I didn't know what to tell him, so I told him pray, ask the Lord for forgiveness, and then ask him for help to locate the objects that he had buried.  No word yet on how that worked out, but his yard is under about a foot of water right now because of the rain, which makes it near impossible to find anything.  Also, there is this new married couple named Joao and Joanna.  They have prayed about Joseph Smith and know that he is a true prophet.  They also know that the Book of Mormon is true.  It is so cool to see someone take literally the words we say.  Your prayers are working and making a big difference for us out here.  Keep it up! 

I also read your talk, Mom.  That was some good stuff.  It made me think of my patriarchal blessing and some of the things you said about testifying of Christ.  I have had similar experiences with that as well, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience you shared about Death Valley and the flowers.  I have been out there before, but I wasn't aware of that and it painted a beautiful picture in my head imagining that area like it was described and the important lesson that was taught in having joy after our "heat" and "rain".  I have one to match though.  In Death Valley, they have many boulders and large rocks that sit on the valley floor.  These large rocks often have trails behind them in the dirt and some have moved great distances, but these boulders had not been moved by human hands and they are never close enough to hit each other.  Many scientists were confused on how such large rocks were able to move distances of 5 to ten feet, let alone without significantly marring the desert floor.  It had been discovered that at night, the desert floor had dropped to freezing temperatures creating ice on the desert floor from the condensation and the heat through out the day.  This then created mud on the desert floor by which these large rocks would then move during the middle of the night, when no one was awake.  This is much like the Savior's atoning sacrifice and repentance in our lives.  Through the heat of the day and the cooling of the night, we can be moved and changed until we eventually reach our goal, which is eternal life in our Father's kingdom.  He will move you like these stones, if you just let him.  Also, when we repent, there is often left a trail that we can retrace lest we forget where we have been and what has been done so that we may always remember his sacrifice for us.  But seriously, check out the moving rocks.  It's so cool.

Yes, I will pray for Dad.  I know he's got this just like all the other things (tell him to read his patriarchal blessing, it always gives me strength).  Go to the temple to receive guidance.  Read the scriptures.  You would be surprised how specific they are.

Also, happy 25th anniversary.  I can't wait to be there for the next one.  Do a sealing to commemorate it.  Kind of a "renew the vows" thing, but not really.  Include the Lord in your special celebration.  I am pretty sure he is happy that you guys have made it this far.  There are probably some anniversary gifts he wants to give you too. 

Anyway, that's my two cents for the week... 

Love you guys 

Elder Proksch