Two Things I Never Thought Would Happen

May 24, 2022

Two Things I Never Thought Would Happen

Where do I start? Well this week was very busy. Like I said last week I had zone conference, a wedding, a baptism, and exchanges with the AP's. So it was busy. Not to mention we still haven't gotten new curtains, so I also slept like a baby this week. As in I woke up at random hours during the night and cried a lot. Just kidding but I did wake up early just about every day and never really got a full nights rest. But it is all good.

So, lets start at the beginning. We had two full days of work that went well. Don't know if I have much to add there.

Zone conference was... good. We had a big emphasis on certain missionary standards and contacting. We had an insane amount of trainings on obedience and rules that needed to be expounded on. Apparently, our mission has been pretty bad with certain things and our mission is cracking down on it. Honestly, for me it was getting chastised for things I am not doing, which isn't very fun. But it was good to have them addressed. The lessons on contacting were good though.

The next day we had interviews and the wedding. Both went well. The wedding was super long and unfortunately we kinda had to be there for most of it. Elder Icaro and I found this couple and the missionaries led them to flip their lives around and get married. We meant a lot to them. So we also played a decent part in the wedding, making sure things ran smoothly and supporting this couple. They also invited us to the family dinner which we thought was going to be like a chill hour long dinner with the family. But it was actually a full blown reception that was super fancy (even for the United States). It also took way more than the hour. That night we had to explain to the AP's (who were in our house) why we hadn't gotten much of anything done. I will definitely be avoiding "family dinners" in the future. Also about half of the couples family is pretty interested in learning more about the gospel because of the difference it has made the newlyweds. I don't why I haven't included the couples names, it is Carlos and Jasmin and they are honestly studs. They are both destined for leadership in the church.

Then we had exchanges with the AP's. Due to time constraints they ended up just doing two trio's with Napipine 1 and 2. But it was good. First we had a baptism for our friend Pedrito. He is pretty cool and about the same age as us. The baptism was very minimalistic. Like we invited a lot of people but only like 10 people were there. We barely had a member of the bishopric and one member of the Elders quorum presidency. But it went well. Pedrito is still quite happy about it. The rest of the day was pretty good too. President has asked us to work with people that are more "well established" or rich. Something we have learned is that only the well off members can help the church a lot. The others are good but when you can't afford to call people or don't have time or money to visit people, it is hard to help much. So we have been targeting rich people. And how are we doing it? Tracting. That's right we are knocking doors. Something I never thought I would do on my mission. We literally just find a house that looks nice and knock on it. Normally this would not be efficient missionary work but Africa is weird and it has been going well. Just about everyone answers and accepts a message or a least a visit in the future. The worst result is they are apart of another church and pull out some book or something and try and bash. But a quick testimony and leaving works quite well to prevent that.
Anyway the exchange was good. Learned a lot as usual and definitely helped me see what President is asking for. Elder Chandler is a beast and did a really job letting Elder Jeremias and I lead most of the contacts.

The AP's were in our house for most of the week and it gave me a deep appreciation of how lucky I am not being AP. You have to deal with some much random stuff. The Elders serving in Caiu had to stay the night in Quelimane. But the Quelimane Elders were still in Nampula and had the keys. So the other Elders had to sleep at the church and break into the house the next day. It was crazy and the AP's had to coordinate it all. Definitely don't want to have to deal with stuff like that (I really hope I don't jinx myself).

Then Sunday. It was good. Our ward has two Priests and they are absolute studs. Last week we asked them to prepare a lesson for the young men. And they delivered. It was far from perfect but they did a good job. They also live pretty far from each other but they found time to meet and plan together. They are both super cool.

Then as we were about to leave Jorge showed up! Now for context, Jorge is someone we found my first transfer here and was pretty cool. He read, prayed, everything except come to church. He always had some reason why he wasn't there. We even stopped teaching him for about a month. We gave about 4 lessons just on coming to church. Still nothing. We taught him again on Saturday with Elder Chandler. As sacrament started I knew there was no way he would show up. But after all of church and talking to some people he walked in through the gate! He missed the meeting but he was there. Apparently he had gone to another church thinking it was ours and found out afterwards where ours actually was. I definitely did not think he was actually going to show up. Once again something I never thought would happen.

I never how long these emails are going to be until the end. This week was pretty eventful and tiring but we made it. Learned a lot, did a lot, and still have a lot more to do. But we are doing good. Hope you all have a good week and do something to be better. After all that is why we are here. So trust in God's plan and work.

Elder Andrew McDonald