First Hot shower and.....Celebrating 4th of July!

Youth in Angola

We finally received our money last week in the middle of the week thank goodness and we were able to fill our 1000 liter tank because water was coming out of our spout. I got the package I am sure the African kids will love the children's books. I do feel like I am becoming more Angolan the people here are absolutely amazing and the times and experiences here are priceless and they will last me throughout the eternities.. Wow the service project collected 700 ties for divided between 12 Elders in 3rd world missionaries that is a lot! The people here will be so grateful to have a tie!

So America will be in my heart this 4th of July it's actually getting really cool here this time of year is Africa's winter. The weather is  perfect!

Pre-Celebration of 4th of July

I was able to take a hot shower for the first time on my mission here in Africa!! It was amazing, I was able to take a 20 min.shower! Such a blessing! I felt like I was back at home for a minute.

We left the house at 9:30 to go to an appointment and had to take 3 taxis and when we finally got there he only had a few minutes so we shared Ether 12:4 with Paulo about faith and hope. After that we taught a french guy from the Congo who spoke a little Portuguese.  We talked about the Book of Mormon. Then they told us that we should not be in the area as it was not a good area and we would probably be mugged. We decided to leave at this point but invited him to church.

We made chocolate chip pancakes for District meeting, super awesome.  We said good-bye to the Elders that were leaving on Wed. We then went and taught Yuri, he is going to be baptized soon. We found out that Serafim is actually not in our area so we have to turn him over to the other Elders, we were worried about how he would react but he understands. He is still working towards getting baptized.

Then we went and visited with Salvador he is a new investigator. We walked to his stone house full of sick patients he was giving them shots and was handing out needles and drugs so we decided to just tell him we would come by another day. We had a bad feeling about the situation.

We went to Dorival's house..he is going to be baptized on the 29th, so awesome, super stoked.

Then we went to the church and taught Isabel and she brought a friend. Kito and Miloka are getting married as soon as they finish all the documents and then they will be ready to be baptized after that. Super awesome!

We are still teaching Paula...Joao's wife. He just got baptized and wants to answer all the questions for her. Seresty Grandi is talking about serving a mission. Serafim had his baptismal interview and will be baptized on the 29th.

I made brownies and chocolate chip cookies super good!

At church on Sunday I got to bless the Sacrament for the first time.  Antonio who recently was baptized and received the Priesthood also blessed it.  I had to help him as he had trouble saying some of the words.  I was super nervous saying it in Portuguese, but I was able to do it the first try, it was such an amazing experience.

Transfers...still with Elder Montgomery..super pumped we are getting a new apartment and with 2 other Elders so there will be 4 of us! We celebrated the 4th of July with the Wegglands family and had cupcakes and burgers and hot dogs and fries and Root Beer...so great!!

Patriotic dinner at the Wegglands

 We worked hard this week- super great week...lots of success!

No Water or electricity this week....

Morning scenes in Africa...

Ola Familia!  It was a stressful week without water and all the missionaries here did not get their money this week.  I do really feel for the impoverished people here and even more so there are so many people that are homeless and I couldn't even imagine not even having a home to live in. It is just the worst conditions here for some people.  I really hope that I can continue to grow closer to the people here every single day and always remain close to you guys also.  America is looking a little fuzzy, we were at the Weglands last night and Brother Wegland said that we are going to go through some serious culture shock going home even more so than when we arrived here.  Not looking forward to that.  I know that my first experiences here was super tough- and they continue to come daily. I am getting used to things here and the stress is going down a little bit each day, as I am adjusting to life in Africa.
This week was a tough one that is for sure...so to start:
Segunda Feira (Mon) we met with Antonio for our first lesson after P-day, we taught him about the Priesthood (sacerdocio) and while we were teaching him we heard from the next door wall someone who was beating their kid, she was screaming and the father continued to beat her, we were extremely disturbed by this and we decided to go next door and talk with him.  We called him outside and he came out and we began to talk to him calmly, we told him that he should not beat his children and that it is against the law and that we were going to call the police, he refused to stop and he started to get mad.  It turned out it was Antonio's brother that was beating his kid.  Anyways horrible moment.  We also ran out of water and money today.
We went to see Tereza and taught about the plan of salvation super awesome lesson, with no money we decided to walk through the rest of our area and kind of explore because we have not walked the whole area yet, we came across a huge rock formation with a ton of kids.  We climbed up and saw the whole view of Angola, super awesome and played with the kids for awhile and then went to an appt. with Dorival.
Cuarta feira ( Wed.) and still no money and water.  Went to district meeting then we had some fung and chicken and rice at Irma Sao's.
Quinta feira (thurs.) and still no money and water. We had to do laundry and another Elder's apartment because we had no way to do laundry without water and our clothes were super dirty.
We had a lunch on friday with the Valdezes from Portugal and we had an amazing lunch, french fries and chicken and then we went to the bank to see if our money had come in and it had not.  We didn't have any money for taxi's it was an awful situation to be in at the time.
We went to Pedro's house to read the Book of Mormon with him since he can't read. Then we got a call from the other Elder's who needed help emptying the font.

Buckets from the well...

Filling buckets for the font

Sunday...still no water in the house and the electricity was off all over Luanda. We lost power in the night.
We played soccer for P-day it was super fun, with Serafim who we are teaching.  After that I walked into our kitchen and turned on the light and it burst and the bulb shattered everywhere.

Our kitchen where the bulb blew out!

We still did not receive any money yet.  All the missionaries are trying to get by until the situation is figured out. It has been a tough but rewarding week.
Continue to press on in the way of the Lord and in faith. Take care chau!

Lots of Opportunities to teach.....

The kids always get together and play soccer in the streets, it's great!

We started out this week first emptying the font at the church and then filling it up the next morning for the baptisms.  It always takes a couple hours of trips back and forth each time we have to fill it.

We taught Isabel about the Book of Mormon and also about Baptism, such an awesome lesson, we are trying to help her move towards baptism.  We went to Serafims and taught about the dez mandamentos e tambem obediencia, (The Ten commandments and Obedience) super great lesson he is still progressing and scheduled to be baptized on the 29th of this month.  We went and taught Pedro and Tani and we had a great lesson on the blessing of the Gospel it was awesome.  Pedro can't come to church because he is paralized but he believes in everything, so we are just trying to give them hope by sharing messages of faith and how one day the Lord will help him overcome this obstacle whether in this life or the next.  

We visited with Dorival and then we had a lesson with the whole family of Joao and Paula and we had the whole family involved it was great!

This is how we take bucket showers!

After that we taught Antonio Nascimento and we contacted a guy who went to church in London about 10 years ago super cool he spoke great English!

We went to Antonio's house who was recently baptized and he is such a great member, every time that we pass by his house he is always reading the Book of Mormon every time without fail every time! Super cool anyways after then we visited Imao, Gamas and Yara, and then we taught Tereza, Serafim's girlfriend super great lesson and we talked about the Plan of Salvation and I shared Alma 7:11-13 and after that we had a lesson with Paulo and Rita who only need to get married to get baptized, we are hoping that this won't be a long process.
The other day I made brownies! Super awesome! I found brownie mix at the store and I was sooo happy! We ate lunch with the Valdez family from Portugal and then tried to get a taxi for over 30 min. we finally got to Paulo's but he had gone to the Hospital.
So super cool moment we didn't have a plan for visit anyone so I had a feeling that we should go and visit Yuri(gaga) someone that we hadn't visited in a while so we went to his house and sat with him and he preceded to tell us that he has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and that he wants to make some changes in his life! Super cool...awesome moment.  We had another lesson with Joao and Paula. My Portuguese was great during that lesson! We then taught Adriono and Ana and then to Rita and Paulos, I love them, they only need to be married to get baptized.
Sunday I woke up and listened to some Kenneth Cope..Greater than us all, thanks so much for the CD mom! At church Antonio received the priesthood, super awesome! After that we had lunch with Paula and Joao, rice and beans and then dinner with the American Family. I shared a message that Dad told me that hope is the single greatest motivator in the world and how first comes hope and then Faith, anyways super great week...with lots of opportunities to teach!

Me with some of the local kids!

Meeting the Mission President.....Joao's Baptism!

This week we had family home evening with Joao and Paula. We also got into a taxi and got stuck in traffic the driver called over a vendor and bought a beer and he started drinking while driving so Elder Montgomery and I complained that he might kill someone and that he had a taxi full of people so we told him to pull over and we got out and walked but everyone else in the taxi stayed in.  We ended up being late to our appointment.

The next day Elder Montgomery had an infection on his arm and needed to get it checked out we had to wait for about 3 hours and then we found out it was a 300.00 down payment which we couldn't afford so we left.

It was super cool because we went to teach Joao and Paula about following the Prophet it was a super awesome lesson because the entire family sat with us and this never happens and so many of them were participating. Foi nuito muito bom! After that we went to go teach Rodrino who is Seresty Grandi’s brother we taught him about the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon super awesome lesson, we are hoping he prays to know if it is true.

We had District meeting today it was awesome super fun!! Elder Stuart made German pancakes and that was amazing!

District meeting and a fresh head shave!

After that we went to and visit Antonio and taught about the Plan of Salvation.  I love him so much, he is such a strong member already!  After that we went to teach Adilson and his sister. We invited them to come to church, super awesome and he came and so he’s on the right track…so pumped!!  After that we visited Dorival and we got him to start thinking about his baptismal date, he is a young man who has such a desire to be baptized but he is scared that he will break the commandments after he is baptized, but we are trying to encourage him to have faith and seek friendship within the church, really it’s his group of friends that bring him down, we are trying to be a positive influence in his life as much as we can.

The next day we woke up and went to the clinica and got the check up exam finished and got the prescription for the cream that he needed for the infection.  No Pharmacy had it anyways by the time that we found it his infection had cleared up, which was good.

We went to Yuri’s and went over a reading plan for the Book of Mormon and then went with to Gelson’s and found out he was in 2^nd Nephi. Super awesome! We went over to Joao’s and fill out his papers and got him ready to go for his baptism.

 I was able to full a giant piece of plastic that got stuck in a car tire, super cool always to help someone that is in need.

We had Zone Conference met the Mission President Krietly for the first time he has been in Mozambique.  Huge lunch and dinner so great then we filled up the font for the baptism to finish off the night, super awesome day!!

With the Mission President and Joao and Paula

Joao was baptized he was soooo happy! After the baptism his daughter Olivia came up to us and said that she wants to talk about a date for her to be baptized the next time we come to visit! Super pumped for that!

Joao's Baptism!

We had a lesson with Rita talked about Helaman 5:12 how our testimonies need to be centered around Jesus Christ like a rock, super awesome.

We went to church and had an awesome time! Super great I always love going to church it is such a breather from the week, anyways had a ton of investigators come to church it was awesome, then later we had a fireside and President Kreitly talked about the 7 habits of successful people super great lesson.  I learned so much of the type of person that I want to be.  Anyways always cool to see the youth grow here.  I see so many similarities in the church all around the world, even here in Africa, super awesome.

We had dinner at the Weglanes (Americans) we had blueberry and raspberry pie for dessert.  I was stuffed it was an awesome week. 

I sent a gift made out of ivory and apparently you can’t get it out of the country and I didn't know that before I bought it!  I found out about the Elder who had the air conditioning unit fall out of the building on his head and he went to the hospital for sutures but he is OK.

Know that the Lord is always with you!