September 24, 2012 - Dondo

Bom Dia,

        This whole week was just crazy! We taught a bunch of first lessons to people and I thought they went well but only one came to church. We have no solid investigators at all right now so it is pretty hard. We had one guy pass the baptisimal interview and we were going to give him a date for baptism for Saturday or in two weeks but we went there yesterday and he said he won't commit because he wants to live with his girlfriend before they marry in the register. Africa has so many false traditions! Their culture is so different. To find people married in the register is pretty much impossible and even when we do they are usually only married in the register because they are super strong in another church. People just marry traditionally. It's not even that hard to marry in the register first but nobody is willing to do it.

     My Portuguese is still not very good and it makes it harder.  It makes communicating with my comp super hard, too.
     This is going to be a hard transfer. I feel like I am going to have to step up and lead and I don't really know how to be a missionary or plan. Preach My Gospel is going to be my best friend. We teach seminary twice a day which takes up a ton of good proselyting time. We have just been going to the rich parts of town and by rich I mean actual houses and some actually have cars. It is pretty crazy - the nice houses here would be crappy back home. But the people who actually have alright houses are the ones who are most likely educated and possibly married or have the money to get married. 
    A huge problem with the church in Dondo is that we honestly have no leaders. People in the past have just taught and baptized a ton of youth and not a lot of families. like our church attendance yesterday was 70 but well over half were youth or little kids. Nampula was a lot bigger than Dondo and actually I think a lot poorer. Nampula had a small city city and then a lot of poor poor outskirt areas. Dondo actually has some alright houses and it's not as crowded. Small town. A lot of the people we pass on the street we have already talked to or say they have already talked to missionaries.
      Earlier this week we contacted a lady who really wanted to hear our message so we marked a time to come back when her husband was there but we went back and he hated us! Totally just went off! But luckily I have to really pay attention to what people are saying to understand so I just tuned out and couldn't understand a lot of what he said! But he kicked us out of their house. We tried to explain our message but it was crazy. People here are usually way nice. The hard part is finding people who are actually going to do something because everyone says they will and will listen to you. I think that is the hardest part - sorting through and finding people who really want it and will progress and not wasting time with people who just want to listen and not do anything. This mission is so much different than missions where the church is strong. Like in the States you would love to baptize youth or spend a lot of time helping people but here we are trying to look for the elect that can be leaders because that is how we can help everyone else by helping the church grow so it can help youth and others in the future. Wait - I said in the states missionaries would love to help people like that's not what we do here. That is not what I meant - what I meant is we are really looking for the elect who are ready. Trying to find leaders who are really going to benefit the church right now so that the church can strengthen.
      Joseph in Nampula got baptized Saturday!! Super happy about that. Right now we are in Beira. We come down here on P-days to use computers and stuff. We are going to play ping pong with other missionaries in the Beira chapel today which will be super fun.  We just walk everywhere in Dondo because they don't have chapas. 
        That's cool Dad and Ransom made houses. I hope they work out for them to sell. That is crazy Laci is getting married. Ask if she knows an Elder Martinez from the Valley because she said she knew someone here and it might be him.
         Thanks for that quote last week from President Hinckley:

"Rise to the great potential within you.

  I do not ask that you reach beyond your capacity.

  I hope you will not try to set goals far beyond your capacity to achieve.

  I hope you will simply do what you can do, in the best way you know how.

  If you do so, you will witness miracles come to pass."

  I'm just going to try my hardest the best I know how to help this area.
         Tell Dad to take advantage of his proselyting area because people there are usually married, he speaks the language and they will actually tell you if they are interested or not and not just always say yes! haha. And he has a ward and leaders to help him!
        Tell everyone hi for me! I will write you guys next week with any crazy stories I have. The other area baptized a really cool guy named Paulo and I think he will be able to help a lot.
         Oh I forgot to say we have mango and guava trees at our house!! Super nice!
                            I love you guys
                                                           Elder Bigelow