July 23, 2012 - Nampula

 Todo mundo,

     This week was really crazy. We had a training with President and Sister Kretley and their son who just got back from a mission in Japan. They are the coolest people ever and he is already changing so many rules and the mission for the better. Very good motivator.
     Transfer ends at the end of this week, I think, and we are getting a new elder in our house Friday because Elder Nascimento is going home Saturday. I'll probably be in this area for at least 2 more transfers.
     Saturday we have a baptism! Felizardo, who my companion started teaching before I got here, is an awesome guy.  I'm excited! We had a lot of hard crazy lessons this week but I learned a lot so it wasn't bad.
     I took some really cool pictures this week but it would take years to send them to you so maybe next week. We had a lot of investigators show up to church which was awesome. 
     I'm getting better at cooking but I still need recipes, por favor! 
     I haven'tseen any animals yet except lizards but they are huge. they had lions where I was last week - at least that's what everyone said - but we never saw any - which is probably good.

Ok I just have some quotes to share: 

There are only two real choices in life: 1) accept things the way they are or 2) accept the responsibility to change them - otherwise you are just caught in the middle complaining! 

and:

Poor is a mindset.

Love,

Elder Bigelow

July 17, 2012 - Village of Luaha

Well this week was so amazing!! 
           Elder Nascimento and I left super early Thursday morning and caught the train to Iapula - a pretty small town. It took about 5 hours and we stopped like every 30 minutes at little towns along the way. At Iapala we met with some members who had motorcyles from Luaha who took us into Luaha. It was almost an hour on the back of the motorcycle and my driver was crazy. There is a tiny branch of about thirty members there. President Lucas Bento who is the branch president is the funniest guy I have ever met. He is 74 years old! A couple of years  ago probably he went to Portugal for medical reasons and met the missionaries and was converted. He moved back and called our mission president and asked for missionaries to be sent to Luaha and they helped organize a branch there. They are the nicest people ever. He and other members payed for and built a chapel that is way nicer than any of their houses. It's just made out of mud bricks, bamboo and has a straw roof but the spirit is so strong there!! I have never had so much fun or laughed so much. The people honestly are so poor but they are always smiling and laughing . We brought our own food and some for them and they cooked it for us. Beans and rice. I gave a talk in Portuguese and Castelo who is the 1st counselor translated into Makua for me. Some of the people don't even understand Portuguese. I think 5 people have the Melchizidek priesthood there. We made them a cake and it had butter and sugar and they told me I need to bring some next time. They love that stuff because they can't afford it so they never have it. They sang so much - it was awesome! I think most of it was in Makua though, and it sounds more confusing than Chinese. We climbed to the top of a mountain called Lala one morning at 3:00 to see the sunrise. One of the kids named Tuce took us. He was so cool. The kids are so amazing!!
    Ok, well we just got back and this place closes in like an hour and I still have to e-mail President Kretley so I will write more next week.  I have so much to say - the last picture on here is the chapel - the nicest building in Luaha . The paper picture is my name in portuguese according to president Bento haha. Tomorrow President Kretley will be in Nampula!

July 9, 2012 - Nampula

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What kind of recipe is that? (referring to Shima's Quinoa, Black beans and Corn recipe) I don't even know what half of that stuff is! Think simple! Simple food for a simple chef!

                        Top ten things Akounhas (white men) need in Mozambique
       1. Toilet paper
       2. Malaria pills
       3. Coke (in case you eat something sketchy)
       4. A friend who speaks Portuguese
       5. Nesquick (everything tastes better with Nesquick)
       6. The knowledge that a thumbs up and a smile can turn any situation instantly better by softening the          hearts of the people who seem angry and you can't understand
       7. Stay away from bean chmooses on the street (but the others are good)
       8. Don't walk on government sidewalks
       9.  Wait for cars because cars don't wait for you and if you have to drive boa sorte
       10. Ignorance is bliss sometimes - I think I'm glad I don't know what people are saying

    So this morning we went over to a member's house and helped him haul mud bricks from the river to his house that he was building. His name is Jamal and he is a super cool guy. I think he finally forgave me because last week I accidentaly called him devil. We went to his house to give him a blessing and nobody ever uses last names here. But I asked him his full name (for the blessing) and it was like 5 names long . I didn't understand one, so finally my comp writes it down and one was 'Daibo' but I said 'diabo' and my companion started laughing and Jamal was pretty offended. As soon as I said it I knew I was done for! But he wasn't mad at me today and it was a fun service project.
    I'm leaving for Luaha on Thursday. It's a 6 hour train ride and then on the back of motorcycles for about an hour to get there!! So my e-mail might be kinda late next week.
   We went to a funeral this week - the elders quorum president's mother-in -law. Strange experience - a lot of singing . But all of a sudden this guy makes us follow him and everyone is shaking this lady's hand and saying stuff to her and then it's my turn so I have to go. I didn't even know who she was at the time so I just half smiled and shook her hand while like half of Nampula  just watched .

   So we have been trying to find what points are what in our GPS and we do a lot of walking in the outsirts of town where it's just houses and huts where people live. A lot of the girls just stare and say stuff I don't understand (refer to number ten on the list ) and the  kids just point and say 'akounha.' But Saturday I turn around and there are like ten kids following us. Everyone knows how to say ''how are you'' in English but when you say something back they just laugh. But anyways when we would turn around they would just hide and laugh so we just started running and it turned into a race -  it was way fun and everyone was just laughing at us but they are super quick .
    We have some super cool investigators right now though.  One of my favorite ones is Joseph. He is awesome. He is from the Congo so his main language is French but he learned English in in Kenya whn he lived there for about a year. He works in a barbershop ( I swear every block has a barbershop and a DJ house here. People just blast music and 80% of the time it's American rap) near our house and one day we were walking by and he runs out and starts talking in English. He asked where our church was so we showed him and he said  he had been trying to find it for a long time because his friend showed him the church in Kenya. We gave him a Book of Mormon in French and he has been reading a ton . He and I are on the same level with Portuguese so it's pretty cool, but he has such a desire and he has really been prepared by the Lord.
      I didn't really take any pics this week but I will take a lot in Luaha. Thanks for all the e-mails!
                       

 Elder Bigelow    

(The people here don't get our name -Bigelow - they always ask what it means . 'O que e a significa de esta palavra?' The only way to explain it is 'grande' for big (and then I flex) most people know what big is -  and then 'baichu' or short for low because most people know what low. Or they say that and just laugh!) 

July 2, 2012

Hola, 
       Ok well this week has been crazy. Yesterday during our testimony meeting in church a bird dropped a huge lizard on our pulpit while somebody was talking. Sooo funny! But what was crazy is nobody even flinched -they acted like it was normal. So it looked like it was just dead, but the branch president went to take it off and it jumped off the pulpit and ran off!
      We finally put up our church sign after talking to the shop underneath because we had to paint over part of their sign and they weren't too happy. 
       This week we had a lot of good lessons and we commited 3 couples to baptisimal dates this week. Now they just need to get legally married, but in order to do so they have to go to where they were born to get all their records which can take a while. 
        President Kretley got here last week but we won't see him up here until the end of this month. 
       And the best news of all - I found out that two of the Nampula Elders each tranfer get to spend like a week  in a village called Luaha!! Elder Nacimento and I get to go this transfer he is from Cape Verde and this is his last tranfer on the mission. He is really cool. I guess it's a really small village like in the middle of nowhere. Most people only speak a dialect called Makua there but some do speak Portuguese. We pretty much camp for a week. We stay in a tent!! And I have to speak at church in Portuguese and then I'll have a translator to translate what I say into Makua. It sounds so awesome!!  I think we are leaving sometime next week.
      The language here is crazy. They mix in Makua and English words all the time. I'm learning a little bit of Makua because so many people just mix it in. Like everyone says 'meningie nice' here all the time for 'very cool' or people say 'hello' but only when they are talking on the phone or 'ka he holly' means 'how is your health' or 'how's it going?' 
    All baptisms here are done by members and there is a swimming pool they do them in.  Oh and can you send me some recipies por favor? Anyone who gets this e-mail and wants to send me some that would be cool. But they can't be super complicated with a lot of weird ingredients because I'm limited to what is available to buy here in Nampula. So it's been a good week here and I'll attach some more pictures. One is at a baptism for Delfina who the other elders taght, one is me next to a huge termite or ant hill , one is a crazy tree that has cactus on top instead of branches - it's so weird , and others are just pics here in Nampula
                Elder Bigelow