January 31, 2014 Photos from Zone Conference

 

President Kretly and Elder Hamilton visit the apartment

where Elder Lynn and five other elders live.

 

 

A zone conference with Elder and Sister Hamilton.  Elder Hamilton is

from the Quorum of the Seventy.  Also there with the elders is President

and Sister Kretly and Elder and Sister Snelson.Elder and Sister Snelson

are the senior couple who take care of the "northern missionaries".  Justin

loves them and we love that they are there to watch over our missionary!

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

January 20, 2014

Wow you will have to excuse my crazy email but we had something crazy just happen. Because of zone conference and other crazy things that are happening, transfers came a week early!!! So I dont have my last week with Elder Galland but we are still both in the same district because he stayed in our area and I got transferred back to my old area... Ya I am getting transferred back to my old area that I was in for the first two transfers. I cant believe it. I guess I will have lots of work to do. My new companion is a guy named Elder Allen. He is actually Tchaeºs cousin. When Tchae and I went on our trip to Utah we stopped and visited his Aunt and Uncle and they were like oh my goodness we have a son in Mozambique, and now that is my new companion. I am pretty baffled right now. I really hope we can do some good work! I hope when you guys come you can come to Manga because well this seems like its where I am gonna be forever haha. Not forever but its where the majority of my mission feels like its gonna be. I am super super surprised that I am going back to my old area. Yaaa..... crazy. Well thats enough of that stuff haha.

My testimony is doing really well. It really does grow all the time and I know it will continue to grow. There are always difficulties on the mission and always will be but as long as I always remember my heavenly father has a big plan for each and every one of us, I know that all will be well =) I am glad that you are all doing well with getting missionary experiences. Every member truly is a missionary. Our calling as full time missionaries only lasts for two years. But as members, we are members for life time. So we are truly all in this work together. Next week my email will be much better when I am not so flustered and amazed at what happened haha. I love you so much mom and I hope you have a really great week! Love you!

Love,
Justin

 

After Justin's e-mail came through I e-mailed back and forth with him a little bit.  He was really caught off guard having the transfers a week early and I think that he really thought he would be going to a different city this transfer.  He was especially surprised to be going back to his first area but I am confident that he will soon discover the reason that he has been sent back.  I am excited that he gets to be companions with Tchae's cousin!  It's fun that he has already met Elder Allen's family back home and they will have some common ground to begin with. 

January 13, 2014

Most of Justin's e-mail was either in response to things I had said or answering my questions so I have included clarifications in parenthesis.  He told Jamie when he e-mailed her that he was just really tired that day and he was having a hard time thinking of things to write.  I understand because the week goes so quickly that I am often scratching my head figuring out what to e-mail him too!

Dear family and friends,

Nice that is super exciting!! I should get them in like two weeks because we have the Beira district conference on the 25th and 26th and then on the 28th we have another zone conference! Thats super exciting! Thank you so so much! (We got a package ready to send over to him with a man from Andy's sister's ward who is going over to audit for the church) Before I forget, whenever you send the next package something I want is wash cloths. I use my wash cloth that I brought from home as a sweat wiper. But it is getting insanely gross. Like I wash it every week but it is now black.. and it used to be white haha. We always look for wash cloths here too but all of the ones I have bought dont actually pick up water, they just wipe water around. Nothing here absorbs!!! So I would love if you sent wash cloths in the next package haha. (So I'm curious. When you scare the people with your chameleon friends are they pretty good natured about your teasing? The other question I thought of today as I was listening to AJ Anderson speak (he got home on Wednesday!) was if you have had many opportunities to give Priesthood blessings while you have been there.) No the adults love it when we scare the kids. And the kids love it when we scare the adults. They are very good about making fun of us but the also take it pretty well. They just think we are crazy that we arenºt scared of chameleons haha. Ya I have actually been very surprised at how much I have been able to give priesthood blessings. I have given 3 this transfer alone. Antonio, the man I just baptized got malaria last week right after the confirmation and so we gave him a blessing. They are very willing and faithful that the priesthood will work. (My primary class is going to be fun. I really enjoy our class time, but it is a little harder during sharing time / singing time. They have a hard time staying in their seats and paying attention. Once I get it figured out how to help them sit still there we are going to do just fine. BUT, I still miss my nursery kids. And I miss being in the nursery with Sister Gann. I really enjoyed getting to know her better while we were in the nursery together.) Hahah speaking of primary. You are lucky they even stay in the room! Here, we only have like one teacher that has to try and deal with a ton of kids. like probably around 50 kids. The kids are always just running outside, in the halls, and just going crazy. And they do not like it when we step in. When we come in and have to get on the kids and make them go to class and get on them, the kids dont like it haha. I dont like having to be serious with the kids but it happens almost every sunday. But theyºll learn. They are also new in the church too. (Did you find any new people to teach this week?) Ya, we gained a couple new families, we also had to drop a couple but all is well. (Did your power come back on?) The power is a battle every single day. We always make jokes about how we dont know how they havenºt figured out how to make energy work. Like, I can remember few times in my life when the energy was out at home. Here, it goes out almost every single day. Some days its not out super long, some days its out all night. But we have no idea how they havent figured it out yet haha. Luckily we could still take bucket showers when the energy is out. It just makes sleeping pretty rough. (So you said Elder Galland's family is coming to pick him up. When does his mission end?) Ya his family is planning on it. I am surprised at how many parents do come. But he is about to his year mark. He will end in february of 2015. (Have you had a chance to get to know President and Sister Kretly very well being so far away from the mission home?) Ummm.. I have only had one interview with pres and it was like 5 minutes long haha. So no, I dont know them super well. The ones down south probably know him a little bit better but to get to know him you really have to be an office elder or the assistant. So maybe one day I will but its not a big deal to me. When you come I am sure you will get to meet them also! Well there isnºt any real big stories to report on here from this last week! I hope all is going well at home. I love you all so much and I am anxious to get the pictures!! (Tracy sent me pictures of posters they hung at the high school for Ray Bieber's 60th birthday and I forwarded them on to Justin) The pictures of biebers thing are hilarious. I love the one that shows how at one point I was wearing those jeans. I still have those jeans with me but they dont even come close to fitting me any more and the elders in my house dont believe I ever fit into them. But thats my goal is to get back to how I was. I am going to start eating healthier and working out so I can get back to the body I had before haha. Well I love you lots and lots!!!!!!

Love,
Justin

January 6, 2014

2013 was a full year! Its hard to believe that all of that happened in one year haha. (This was in respnse to the following from me:  You went to Costa Rica, graduated from High School, entered the MTC in Provo and then off to Mozambique! Amidst all that you also went to the cabin with your friends and played flipit or whatever that thing was that you were flipping into targets. And then you and Tchae also took your trip to Utah. What an amazing year you have had! 2015 will hold many good things for you as you serve our Heavenly Father and the people of Mozambique.)  I was thinking about how when I was a freshman, I was in washington d.c. for my birthday, when i was a sophomore, i was in utah visiting darcee.When I was a junior, I was in Hawaii with you guys, when I was a senior, I was in Costa Rica and this year and next year I will be in Moçambique! Pretty crazy! Another crazy thing is that when this transfer ends, it will only be 5 days away from February. The transfer after that will take me almost to my birthday and the one after that takes me to the end of April. Only two more transfers pretty much and we will be talking again! Time is really gonna fly! Iºm so glad that you guys got that done!!  (Our passport applications sent in)   An elder is leaving for home in three weeks and his parents are also coming to get him. Oh so I had an idea that you could think about. So here, one of the battles is having wedding dresses for all the brides. We get them donated and use them. But we are always needing more. Elder Tanner, was the AP when I got here and he has now gone home, but when he went home, his parents also came to get him and they brought dresses with them to donate. I was thinking that you guys could start like a dress drive in Powell, in preparation for coming. And when you come you could bring wedding dresses. I know its something that would take some planning to do but I know that the people here would be forever grateful to you. Just an idea. 

 

I also feel that for the first time in my life, I really got a response from my fast yesterday. As missionaries we definitely arenºt perfect and we still have a lot to learn. I learned how to use the scriptures on the mission. I learned really how to pray on the mission. I learned how to have faith and I learned how to work. All things I should have known before the mission but things that most missionaries learn while theyºre out. We are all still young just trying our best to serve the Lord and be who he wants us to be. We all mess up but it matters how we bounce back, not that we fell down.

 

Zone Conference was really fun. The main theme was really on the fact that the mission is only two years long and that the mission is preparing us for so much more than just being a missionary. It talked about living worthy to have our investigators trust even after the mission and always remembering them. It was a really uplifting training, just reminding us that we are missionaries right now, but more importantly one day we will be husbands and dads. I really really enjoyed it. Then we got back super late to our house to have the energy be out at our house and fireworks going all over the place so it was quite hard to sleep that night in the heat with out AC. So we all woke up the next morning just dead tired. Also, it rained every single day last week so that just added to the fact the it was hot and we were tired. But to make a long story short, we found some amazing new families. We took a family who really didnºt know who God was, and now they are some of the strongest investigators that we have. We also had the baptism of two teenagers. One is a deaf girl who really has touched the lives of so many. And she doesnºt even know it. The other is a young boy who has been in the church for forever and we thought he was a member so when we found out he wasnºt we got him taught and baptized. And then another missionary companionship in our branch had a marriage and baptism of a family of four so then on sunday we had that family, the two teenagers, and my couple to confirm so we had 8 confirmations! It was a good week! Last night though, we ran out of energy at like 11:30 p.m. at our house and so we had no AC last night. So I was dying and trying to figure out what to do to be able to sleep in the hot hot house. So I got up and sprayed myself down with mosquito spray, then I went out into our main room where we had an extra mattress and then I took those cool neck things from sister Barruss and filled them up and then just put them on my head and body and went to sleep like that haha. I like poured cold water on my self and slept like that. I probably got like 3 or 4 hours of sleep so I am pretty tired right now. We all are haha. But thats life! I think that is about all the baptisms weºll have for this transfer but if I stay in this area next transfer I have a feeling we will have a lot of success and a lot of marriages! I really wish I could send everything we do into an email but its literally impossible haha. The other picture was of a chameleon we found. We were at the church waiting for the wedding to start and they were late so Elder Cummings and I went on a chameleon hunt in the church garden haha. Then we were letting it crawl around on us and letting it scare the people haha. Its so so funny! Well I hope you have a great week!  I love you!!!

Love,

Justin

December 30, 2013

Wow I loved the pictures even though they killed me! Hahah. I cant believe its already been almost a week since we talked! The time went by way too fast when we were talking but luckily this time we only have to wait 5 months before we talk again and that is gonna be here in no time! So ya the Elders who are in the outside areas just do a phone call. I would love to go to an outside area for a while. Even though it would make the emailing hard, it would be such an amazing experience. Elder Galland was in an outside area called chimoio for one transfer and he loved it. Chimoio is a cold place, the only cold area that we go to right now so I wanna go there! Hahaha. It sounds like you guys had an amazing Christmas. I missed all the traditions of Christmas but I also learned that Christmas isnt about the traditions, its about Christ. After we skyped we watched a Christmas movie and then watched a clip of Christs birth and it was really good. It was hard being away from family but it was worth the sacrifice. Christmas day itself was a tough day. Here, the people celebrate by blasting rap music and getting drunk. So it was kinda hard for me to see them doing that on Christmas day. We found people who we love, also drinking, and it was hard but I learned a lot of important lessons. Iºm learning patience big time. A lot of times people think that as missionaries, we know everything and we know how to handle every situation, but thats very wrong haha. We are still only two 18 year olds walking around in Africa! The one down side to feeling comfortable in the language, is that when you get mad at someone, you know how to express it. I found out on the day of Christmas when I found people drinking, that it doesnºt help to get mad at them, you just need to love them and help them. But the rest of the week was pretty good. It was a battle, but we got the wedding done on saturday! It went well with little problems. The only thing that went wrong was that, he called us at like 4 in the morning freaking out cause her family was saying they were refusing to come to the wedding. Let me just tell you that as an 18 year old, I never thought I would be a marriage counselor, wedding planner, addiction helper, and missionary at the same time. He is not the only one who I have gotten calls from at early early in the morning saying he needed our help. So we went that morning and talked to her family but they said they wouldnºt come because they were muslim and it was against their religion to enter another church. So it was really sad for her. She was very sad, but in the end it was worth it. They had a little party afterwards and it went well. So just let everyone know that I have now planned two weddings on the mission so far and I made invites for this last one, so you could start up a business and when I come home Iºll run the wedding planning business haha. Then sunday after the church was the baptism. It went really really well. I baptized the wife and Elder Galland baptized the husband. Her name that I had to use to baptize her was Saquina Abdul Nampalama Ibraimo Dias hahah. Thats a mouthful! But she was so happy. She was scared of the water and wouldnºt let go of me until she was out of it haha but she was just so happy. I brought her up out of the water and she just gave a sigh of relief and then clentched onto my arm so she wouldnºt fall and just was so overwhelmed with the spirit. It was really really nice. Well I love you so much mom! You can use this to go on the blog. I sent pics of the baptism and I will send more of the wedding and other things. I love you so so much and hope you have a happy new Year!!

Love,
Justin

December 23, 2013

Ok well I dont have much to say this week! I am kinda too excited to skype and all that so Ive kinda lost the will to type! Hopefully it comes back next week! Youºll have to try and remember what stories I tell you tomorrow so you can put them on the blog! Well, tomorrow is all scheduled up. I should be able to skype at 19h 40 here which is 10:40 a.m. for you guys. Youºll have to figure out better what that is for Darceeºs time. And unfortunately I think we only get like 40-45 minutes so weºll have to make it last! Make sure you are all ready before that time incase I call early or something like that and ya! Thank you so much for the pictures! I loved seeing them and seeing powell again! I sure do miss that place. With the heat here, its hard for me to believe its actually christmas. I am actually kinda glad that its not snowing and all of that cause it has helped me not get homesick. I am starting to miss home a little at this time just knowing what you are all doing but at the same time I know where I am supposed to be and all the traditions of Christmas will still be there when I get home. Well just a quick run down of the week. We got our first big big rain haha. On tuesday night we had a crazy lightning and thunder storm. I woke up part way through the night listening to it and it was pretty cool and then a lightning bolt struck right next to our house and just shook the whole house and it was probably one of the loudest sounds Ive ever heard! It was incredible! Then the next day was pretty calm until that night at like 8:00. It started raining at that time and then didnºt stop for 24 hours of just hard hard raining! So we went out with our irrigation boots and umbrellas and went to work. All of the paths to peoples houses were flooded, some of the houses had started to get water as you can see in the pictures, but it was actually pretty fun in the end! We still got work done luckily and all went well! Its been pretty dry and hot since that storm but the people said going into january and february is when weºll start to get the rain for weeks straight! Our miracle story for the week was that we need to open a marriage process. Normally you have to do it 8 days before the marriage, but there is a registry where they like us and we can do it in the same week. So, the husband that we are going to marry got stuck out in the district which is like the country kinda. Anyways he got stuck out there and ended up having to take a canoe and then hitch hike home to get here in time so we can get them married this week. It was a miracle he made it home. I will try and explain it all better tomorrow. the marriage process is hard to explain over email. But ya, I would say just be ready tuesday morning at about 10 a.m. and then around 10:40 a.m. your time, i will be calling for you! I cant wait. Weºll talk more tomorrow! I love you so much and I cant wait for tomorrow!

Love,
Justin