January 27,2014

Hey mom,

Wow seeing the pictures of the girls in the kitchen was a blast from the past! I was like whoa!! when i saw the kitchen again haha. Elder Shachterle called me when he got down to maputo and was saying he feels like he walked into america cause it is so much bigger and more civilized then the Beira area.... and that is saying something cause Maputo was a culture shock when we first got here. I am gonna have a culture shock going back home haha. Also those plants look super cool! I hope they just keep growing! They make the room look cool!!! So District conference is just like stake conference but we arenºt a stake yet. So we had a member from the quorum of the 70 here so he was the presiding authority. His name was Elder Hamilton. and he is actually coming to my house today so we need to do a deep cleaning before he gets there!!! haha. But the conference was super good. On saturday we had a training with all of the auxillary leaders of the branches and then a good meeting after. It was mainly about hastening the work. It was extremely good. I really needed it. At times as missionaries, especially when I have been in the same branch for 6 months now, we lose sight of the true meaning of missionary work. Missionaries get wrapped up in numbers and wanting to turn in good numbers so that leaders dont get mad. But the reason we are doing missionary work, is to help our Heavenly Father. The second coming is close... maybe not in my life but its close and the lord is in a hurry. He wants as many children back as he can. It really rejuvinated me again. Then on sunday the place was packed!!! It was extremely hot too because the energy was going out about every 5 minutes and then would come back on for a bit and then would leave. So also I didnºt hear a lot cause I was in the back and the mic didnºt work. But the main idea he spoke about was members and missionaries joining forces together so it was super good. Zone conference will be tomorrow so Elder Hamilton will also be there for that too!

So first week back in the area. It started raining last tuesday again and has not stopped since! So its been one of those weeks again of rain unfortunately. Our plan was to go and visit all the investigators that were left in the area book and try and get a feel for which ones are really committed to baptism and which ones werent, work with the ones who are and in the mean time really get to work on finding new investigators. So between the saturday and sunday being taken away because of district conference, we really did do some good work even if we werenºt in our area super long. Tercia was at her aunts house in the city until like yesterday or something so I havenºt seen her yet haha. But I did see a ton of the people that I already knew. Since I am still in the same branch the members are the same, its just like Iºll be working with some members more. By the time I am done with this transfer, I will have been in the same branch my whole mission which will be almost 8 months haha. Super crazy! My feet are doing good, my legs are just tired cause we had to wear irrigation boots every single day last week. And then last night we were only gonna be out for like 3 hours and the weather seemed alright so I left my umbrella at home.... but then we were only like twenty minutes away from home and the rain came pouring down and I was left completely soaked hahaha. But such is life. I wish I could say thats the first time thats happened but it wasnºt and it looks like I still hadnºt learned my lesson. Well I better keep getting the others emailed too but I attached some pictures of my favorite little girls. These are the daughters of the couple that I baptized recently. The one that I got a close up on is named augusta but she doesnºt like that name. She likes to be called menino which actually means little boy but she likes it cause thats her dads nick name and they look exactly alike haha. She is so funny. She loves us and she hates us at the same time. Well I love you so so much. I miss you tons too! I hope you have a great week!

Love,
Justin