November 25, 2013

OK I will try and answer all the questions first haha. Thanksgiving day was really good for us. It was hard having to be inside all day and losing a day of work but I understand why we had to do it. We had lots of things! Chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, vegetables, sparkling cider, beans and dessert! I took a picture but its on my old card and I started a new one so I donºt have pictures on it yet. Now I actually live in my area haha. So i step outside and Iºm in my area which is a very big blessing. It makes it easier to work later now and its so nice to be able to just work in my area. Ya we have many who are ready spiritually for baptism but its the marriage papers that stop everyone here. But we do have one family who is trying their hardest to make baptism by the end of this transfer. But because of how long the papers take, it will be a miracle if they do make it. But they will definitely make it in december. You know, every area is special in its own way. I will always love that first area I had. I love those people, I love the area, the trees just everything. But I also love this area. There is no area that is better than the other. Where the Lord wants you is where you belong and so its what you will love if you trust in the Lord. Special experiences... Well This last week was extremely tough. Proabably the hardest week stats wise and just ya. Its sometimes frustrating knowing that people have agency to choose ya know? I wish they could just always make the right choice but then I remember that that is how Heavenly Father feels about me when I make wrong choices too. So its hard! I also realized that as a person, I felt like I had spiritually stopped growing a little. Our purpose is to continually get better every day. Turn more like our father in heaven every day and so I feel like as Iºm becoming the best missionary I have been so far on the mission, the times got even harder. I feel like as I have become even more dilligent, the lessons started falling. So that is hard. Its hard watching other missionaries have so much success and wondering, what am I doing wrong. So the only thing there is to do is work even harder and just trust that the Lord is working in his own way. The lords ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts higher than our thoughts. So I have no doubt he has a plan. He knows we are working hard but he knows they best thing to do. Elder Shachterle didnºt get transfered so he is still working in our old area. And so our house only got one new elder actually but we all get along super well. Ya that family is doing really well.(I had asked him about Tercia and her family from his last area) I really hope they are baptized while I am here! Sunday was actually the primary program! I was nervous for how it would go but it was amazing! They did so good and were so well behaved! It was the most reverent sacrament meeting we have had while ive been here. Unfortunately they went crazy after sacrament meeting but one step at a time haha. I sure miss the cold of wyoming. It has been hot hot hot and then it also started raining again. We are getting into rain season which im not excited about. But just pray for the people here. They donºt often have all the things they need to be protected in the rain like we do. Tell that new family with the son in brazil that they are lucky he is speakin portuguese but unfortunately he is learning the wrong accent!! Hahaha. Thats pretty exciting that we will have so many missionaries in our ward. But I canºt believe AJ is coming home! THat doesnºt seem real! I hope I get my package then when we have christmas stuff going on up here. Like hopefully president comes up or something. I think I should get it somehow! Well Iºm sorry for lack of pictures this week. Iºm hoping to take more this week and then Iºll be able to fill up my new memory card! I love you lots mom! I hope you have a great week!

Love,
Justin

November 18, 2013

 This week Justin's e-mail time was cut a bit short because they were going to get back to Manga and work since on Wednesday they won't be able to go out at all. No family e-mail, but I will share his e-mail to me. If others forward theirs then I will add them as well. He is happy and well which is what we enjoy hearing!

 

Hello mom!

 

 No worries we are here safe and sound :) There was a bit of unrest in Munhava on saturday so we were sent to our houses at about 4:00. The parties were getting out of hand and started doing some stuff... But we are all safe and sound. Wednesday when we can't leave the house we are having our big meal! It will be super fun!! So now you get to find out how little we know about the world. We hadn't heard one thing about the phillipines. We really don't know about anything that goes on except for whats in mozambique haha. You can definitely love these families! We got some of our families to talk to you guys on our cameras so in two years you will be able to hear their voices and how they talk and I will translate for you! I even got some of them talking in their dialect haha. Oh man... Some missionaries families actually come and pick them up here in mozambique so they can go visit a couple of the places they served like Elder Gallands family will too. I so wish you guys could come here and meet these people and see how they live. That is truly my dream! I always think about how amazing it would be if you picked me up so you could live just a few days here in amazing mozambique and just see how amazing these people are. Our families always talk about how they want to meet you guys haha. Yes we have taught silvia more and they went super well but something funny... So her being portuguese and living in an extremely nice house, we never talked about it till yesterday but we have both been so scared about teaching her. We are little sissy's when it comes to nice houses. We get so comfortable teaching our nice little humble families in the little houses that we are scared of big houses and white people. I realized how scared I will be when I come home cause I sure love my black people! Haha. I was thinking about how next week I will hit my 5 month mark already and how fast time is going. I will absolutely miss this people so extremely much. Thats why its my dream for you to come here and meet the people who changed my life. The place where I became who I am now! Things are going well here though. I can't believe how fast time is going and that in one month I'll be at my 6 month mark talking with you guys! I love you so much and I can't wait for that! But I love this people so much too so you'll have to wait another year and a half ;)

 

Love you!!!!

Love, Justin

 

 

 

the Titos and Ana family

 

 

Elder Lynn with Babbito and Pequenino

 

 

Babbito and Pequenino

 

 

Elder Lynn with Babbito

 

 

And again..... :-)

 

 

Elder Lynn and Elder Galland wearing

matching capalana ties that they had made

 

 

 

 

Playing tic tac toe on his dirty pants

 

 

Playing around........

 

 

Carrying Elder Ensaldo in a capalana

 

 

A fierce lion!

 

 

A letter from President and Sister Kretly to missionary parents

Dear Parents, Families and Leaders of Missionaries serving in the Mozambique Maputo Mission:

As you know your missionary that is serving in Mozambique is doing very well. In general, all of them are in good health and are doing fine serving the Lord. The most common health problems we have here are: Malaria, ingrown toe nails, stomach problems, some skin allergies and weight loss. Only a few have anything different than these. My wife and I, are trying hard to teach them how to avoid these problems. For example: Malaria can be avoided 99% of the time, simply by taking the medicine that the mission provides every day, using repellent, and sleeping under a mosquito net. We also encourage them to wash their hands and use a hand sanitizer. Regarding the hand sanitizer, we ask that all new missionaries, purchase in the MTC, eight (8) two ounce bottles of a product called Pure Bio Sense. This product is applied to the hands and provides 24 hours protection. Eight bottles should last two years. Please help us, by reminding your missionary to be 100% obedient, including the small things like these. As some of you know, Mozambique have some political instability. We are very aware of that and we are taking care of your missionary very well. All the transfers we made is flying, and we try hard to make them feel safe where they live. The main reason we are writing to you today, is to announce that this week, the mission has passed the land mark of 200 complete families baptized into the Church within the past 11 months ! This is a Miracle ! The idea is to share with you this great news and to ask you to unite with us in offering prayers of thanksgiving to Heavenly Father, to recognize His hand in this great work! On this path, we are assured that the Church will continue to experience real growth. Within one or two generations there will be a strong Church here, with stakes and perhaps, even a temple in Mozambique. Please continue to pray for your missionary to work hard, to be blessed in their health and to find, teach and baptize families, here in Mozambique. Your missionaries are wonderful, we really believe that they are the best missionaries in the world. We love them, we pray for them and we enjoy sharing their mission experience with them. Thank you for your continued support and prayers.

With love and respect,
President and Sister Kretly Mozambique Maputo Mission

November 9, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

 

Wow what a fast week! The first week of the transfer really flew by and it was full of miracles!! Monday night I went out to my old area and took some pics with my old families and told them I would still see them on sundays I just wouldn't be visiting any more which was sad but now its time for a new start once again! Change is always good here on the mission. Tuesday was my first day in the area. We had a tough day sitting with people. Its really frustrating sometimes because people will say we can come by and teach a lesson at a certain time and then we go there and they will be gone so we'll call and they'll just say well I'm at work right now! Its just like ugh! Why didn't you tell me that before! But we went and talked to the branch president, got some stuff figured out for how we wanna do service here, how we can help him and so on. Then Wednesday the same thing kinda happened too but we still had amazing miracles. We sat with a new family who accepted very well and we are excited for them! Then as we were walking trying to find people since our lessons fell through, we had an amazing experience. So we aren't allowed to eat the food on the side of the road that isn't packaged, but I saw a lady selling little cake balls and thought, we should go buy them to try and talk to her. So we did, we weren't gonna eat them, just use them to talk to her. It was good talking to her and hopefully we'll go back some day. So then we needed to get rid of the little cake balls. So we saw some little kids playing inside a super nice fenced in house and we thought, "You think we can get into that house?" Keep in mind, I've never taught in a house that has AC or a fence or windows. So we waved to the mom and she came out, we told her we were so full and didn't want the rest but thought her kids might and she was happy to accept. We then proceeded to talk for about ten minutes and found out that she was praying for 15 years to have someone like us come and answer her prayers. She was almost to the point of crying she was so happy. So we scheduled her for the next day. We then went through the rest of the day. We played this game with some of the little kids in the neighborhood. So its like this little sock ball, and two people are on the ends with one girl in the middle. The girl in the middle has a ton of flipflops on the ground that she has to flip all of them over and then flip them all back. She has to do this while the two people on the end are trying to hit her with this sock ball. If she catches it she can kick it so she gets more time but if she gets hit, then she is out. So we jumped in and played with them and they just loved it. The neighbors thought it was the best thing ever that we were playin with them. Then the next day we went back to Silvia's house (the lady we contacted with the nice house). We sat down and had probably one of the most spiritual experiences I've ever had in my life. At one point she was just crying thanking us for what we have brought her. That's all I can really say about it because it was just too amazing to explain. Through the rest of the week we spent finding new families, and working with the ones he already had. It was a week full of spiritual experiences and we are hoping we can continue that on everyweek! This next week, there will be municipial elections here. So with that, we are buying two weeks worth of groceries. I don't think there is anything to worry about but we are just supposed to tell you that incase there is fights and stuff we wont come email next week. I think all will be ok though so just incase I dont email next week, don't worry! Next wednesday is the election itself though so we aren't allowed that day so we are going to take advantage of that and have our own little thanksgiving that day! I will attach pictures of the house work and some other things. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder Lynn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Family and Friends, Wow what a fast week! The first week of the transfer really flew by and it was full of miracles!! Monday night I went out to my old area and took some pics with my old families and told them I would still see them on sundays I just wouldn't be visiting any more which was sad but now its time for a new start once again! Change is always good here on the mission. Tuesday was my first day in the area. We had a tough day sitting with people. Its really frustrating sometimes because people will say we can come by and teach a lesson at a certain time and then we go there and they will be gone so we'll call and they'll just say well I'm at work right now! Its just like ugh! Why didn't you tell me that before! But we went and talked to the branch president, got some stuff figured out for how we wanna do service here, how we can help him and so on. Then Wednesday the same thing kinda happened too but we still had amazing miracles. We sat with a new family who accepted very well and we are excited for them! Then as we were walking trying to find people since our lessons fell through, we had an amazing experience. So we aren't allowed to eat the food on the side of the road that isn't packaged, but I saw a lady selling little cake balls and thought, we should go buy them to try and talk to her. So we did, we weren't gonna eat them, just use them to talk to her. It was good talking to her and hopefully we'll go back some day. So then we needed to get rid of the little cake balls. So we saw some little kids playing inside a super nice fenced in house and we thought, "You think we can get into that house?" Keep in mind, I've never taught in a house that has AC or a fence or windows. So we waved to the mom and she came out, we told her we were so full and didn't want the rest but thought her kids might and she was happy to accept. We then proceeded to talk for about ten minutes and found out that she was praying for 15 years to have someone like us come and answer her prayers. She was almost to the point of crying she was so happy. So we scheduled her for the next day. We then went through the rest of the day. We played this game with some of the little kids in the neighborhood. So its like this little sock ball, and two people are on the ends with one girl in the middle. The girl in the middle has a ton of flipflops on the ground that she has to flip all of them over and then flip them all back. She has to do this while the two people on the end are trying to hit her with this sock ball. If she catches it she can kick it so she gets more time but if she gets hit, then she is out. So we jumped in and played with them and they just loved it. The neighbors thought it was the best thing ever that we were playin with them. Then the next day we went back to Silvia's house (the lady we contacted with the nice house). We sat down and had probably one of the most spiritual experiences I've ever had in my life. At one point she was just crying thanking us for what we have brought her. That's all I can really say about it because it was just too amazing to explain. Through the rest of the week we spent finding new families, and working with the ones he already had. It was a week full of spiritual experiences and we are hoping we can continue that on everyweek! This next week, there will be municipial elections here. So with that, we are buying two weeks worth of groceries. I don't think there is anything to worry about but we are just supposed to tell you that incase there is fights and stuff we wont come email next week. I think all will be ok though so just incase I dont email next week, don't worry! Next wednesday is the election itself though so we aren't allowed that day so we are going to take advantage of that and have our own little thanksgiving that day! I will attach pictures of the house work and some other things. I love you all and hope you have a great week! Love, Elder Lynn

November 4, 2013

Family and Friends,

So with transfers today and the fact that I'm on a horrible computer right now, I'm not gonna be able to really answer very many people so I'm sorry about that!! But ya transfers are today and heres the news.... I'm staying in Manga! But I am changing areas. I will stay in the same branch and same house but I'm going to Elder Galland's area with Elder Galland! What are the chances of that!! haha. We are really excited and plan on really getting to work. The only down side is that I'm super sad I will have to leave my families. We had about 3 or 4 that are really progressing well and now I wont get to visit them anymore. Luckily, I'm still in the same branch and so I will still see them every sunday :) and if they are baptized this transfer I will definitely be there to see them! So also I am done training now! I am no longer being trained! I am so happy about that haha. So the last week of the transfer went really well. We taught 32 lessons last week and just really had a good week. On Saturday we went out to one of our investigators houses to help him build onto his house! I was so legit! I'll send pictures next week of how they build houses here haha. Its quite the interesting process but I can tell you that I sure am sore right now! So like I said this computer is really bad, they space bar like hardly works and I know this isn't much but with transfers I kinda need to be quick and try and answer others. So just know I love you all and will try my best to answer you! Have a great week everyone!

Love,
Elder Lynn