January 26, 2015

Hello family!

Well our normal internet place that we go to doesn't have internet today so we are at this other place that doesn't have AC or anything and today is hot! It is already 94 degrees and its only 10:50 am... So I am pouring sweat right now. But things are going well here. So we have like 5 really good families that we are teaching right now. Our family that is closest to baptism is Izidio and Inocencia. They were a family that had been taught in the past but never quite progressed all the way, so we passed by, set up a lesson and sat down with them and they accepted everything this time. They marked the 21st of February as their date and then did almost all their documents last week! So they are super solid. Izidio is a really awesome guy with a ton of potential to be a leader in the church one day! We also have Cisco and Celia. We had Family home evening at their house last week so I sent the picture of us at their house. They also are working to try and get married and baptized on the 21st. After we have Nordino and Isabel, same story. We have Alexandre and Chinha, they are still undecided. Better, he is undecided. If it were only her decision, they would already be doing the documents, but he is still undecided. And then our newest family, Costa and Lili. We haven't taught them the Law of Chastity yet! So ya things are going well here in our area! The families in Inhamizua are doing well but I think its more a matter of spiritual preparation. They aren't quite ready yet. But that's OK because we will still be able to visit them when we go up there. Speaking of which, did you guys get that stuff figured out with coming here and what not? Mutual is coming along well. We are trying to just improve the program more or less. We have the district president scheduled to speak and it should be a very special fireside!! Oh my goodness... I remember when I first got here, all the missionaries said wow you sweat a lot, but by the end of your mission your body will adjust... hahahahah ya right. I still pour sweat 24/7. And yesterday at church we had over 200 people jammed into a tiny chapel and we had no energy. So yesterday was the most reverent sacrament meeting ever! But it might have to do with the fact that everyone was sleeping haha. Ya I still talk to Marshall and Bowen every week. It sounds like they are doing well. I also just realized that Tchae only has about 3 and a half months left! Not much at all. Also, the other picture is of the pet turtle that is at the mission office. We took some pictures with him when we were there on Wednesday. He just hid himself haha. But it was a successful week. Elder Stubbs only has two weeks left so we will have to make it a good last two weeks! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Lynn

 

 

January 19, 2015

Well, what a week. This may have been one of the best weeks I have had on my mission. I have so many things I would like to say and yet so little time. So I will make it simple. Elder Stubbs and I felt inspired to introduce the mutual progam better to our branch. So we have been working hard on training the leaders to do mutual and not only that, but we are planning a really special mutual opening devocional for the first of february. it is gonna be incredible. It has been something that has brought the spirit a lot to our work. Aside from that, we had a really incredible week of finding investigators. We found some really incredible new families and had wonderful lessons with our investigators we already had. I have been here so long, that i have done enough divisions and already knew most everyone in the area. So its been a really easy transition. Our families we are working with right now are, Zidio and Inocencia, Cisco and Celia, Alexandre and Chinha, and Nordino and Isabel. We are really excited about all of these families and this week seems to be a promissing week once again! Today we went bowling again and played a little pool, I got my hair cut (finally) i was in big need of a hair cut. And now we will be going home to do a little studying for the activities we have planned this week! I'm sorry for the brevity of this letter but, we had an incredible week. I also sent a picture of the cool statue we saw today! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Lynn

January 12, 2015

Well transfer surprise... I am still in Magoanine! Apparently the Lord still has plans for me here. I really thought I would be leaving the branch but I am staying. I will be going to a different area but just down the road. So i will be doing at least 8 months here in the branch. And bigger surprise is my new comp is elder Stubbs! So ya he only has 4 weeks left so it will be a very short companionship. I am pretty happy im with him though. The only thing that stinks is that in 4 weeks I will be getting a new companion! But ya there is transfers! Elder Ence stayed in our area and he is training an elder from portugal. So that is good for him. 

Ummm speaking of the trip here. My release date is june 15th. i called and confirmed right now. that is the p-day. so I would like to spend probably 2 days here in maputo, 2 days up in beira, and then go to the park after that. so it looks like going through the temple won't be possible. but if you guys would like to go through the temple there I would still love to just us 3. Ya those are my main things! So ya i would plan on you guys getting here on the 15th right first thing in the morning. that is what the gallands are doing. i'm not sure how long you want to be here... that stuff. So the main things I wanna do is spend a couple days here... a couple days in beira and go to gorongoza.. you guys can kinda plan after that. i love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Justin

January 5, 2015

Well surprise #2! Still no tranfers! Because of visa problems and a few other factors, transfers have been pushed back one more week. So I will do my 32nd week here in magoanine now! The New Year was so incredibly crazy here. We had really good work days on monday and tuesday. But then starting on wednesday, the parties started. We had to return home early on wednesday night because of the parties and fireworks, and then it was my plan to just sleep, not set an alarm to wake  up but that plan was ruined by the loud music and never ending fireworks. It was almost comparable to the fourth of July in terms of fireworks... It was crazy. And the music and parties didn't lack. They were insane... The next day trying to work was almost worse. There was no one on the road, everyone stayed at home and drank. and drank. So that was an interesting experience. We ended up just visiting a lot of members and making sure everyone stayed away from the temptations of the world. So our week was pretty interesting. I'm glad that the parties are over and we can finally get back to work like normal.

That is really crazy that Tyson is already home. I feel like he was just leaving yesterday! That was fast! I hope all goes well for him in his talk and that he has a great time once again adjusting to normal life. I finally made that camo cake that you sent me, and so i sent a picture of it and then we ended up eating it after district meeting on friday. I also sent a picture of a member in our area named fabiao. He hardly speaks portuguese so we can't communicate very well but he sure loves us haha. He is about 78 years old or so. He is quite the character. Other than that, our week went well. Now off to at least one more week!

Love you all!

Elder Lynn