March 25, 2013 - Inhamizua

Dear family,
     I have officially adopted our neighbor’s monkey - it’s in our yard more than theirs so I have rights!
     Bobo went to Maputo all week so we never even got to sit with him once. I don’t know if his baptism will happen this week or not but we are going to try. This week we spent a lot of time just contacting trying to find new families and met our goal of 35 quality contacts but we didn't have very many lessons. We have to find families that will progress. We were teaching an awesome family. They were coming to church and everything.  But this week we found out he has 2 families -one in Quelemaine, and one here. Super sad. But we started teaching this super nice old couple who have been coming to church for 3 years. When I first got here I asked him if he was a member and he said yes but they are not and they have been taught before but just never married to get baptized but they are already a lot done with the documents so we are going to teach and baptize them. Also that one member couple will finish all their documents this week to be able to get married next month. 
   Send a pic of Dad in short sleeves because I don't believe you! You guys have to remember who is going to Capetown. Thanks for the picture of Morris .  Tell everyone hi for me. 
 And send more pictures por favor. haha I will try to send some to not be a hypocrite.
' Get that corn out of my face!'
                                             Elder Bigelow

March 18, 2013 - Inhamizua

Hey,
    Things are nice! Bobo was going to get baptized this Saturday but he will be baptized on the 30th because he has to go to Maputo this week for his work. We invited him to a baptism in Manga and he loved it. Way excited. Saturday we went to his house and he was on the phone teaching his wife all about the word of wisdom. He has changed a ton since we first met him. We also have 2 families  that are progressing and we should get a couple that are both members married on April 12^th. We are helping with all the documents this week. 
     Our branch is going okay, but not super fast. Our computer wasn't working for a long time and so now we are trying to do all the records and things we couldn't do in the computer, and it is kind of a headache, but we are making progress. I taught my presidency how to successfully turn on and off our computer a couple of weeks ago and now they can almost do tithing without us helping a ton. 89 at church yesterday! Super nice! 
    This week we are going to go to our area twice a day to try to do contacts in the morning and lessons in the afternoon. We tried to do street contacts this week because I feel like I have knocked every house but half the people we stopped I had already talked too. Inhamizua is just machamba land (farmland} so there are not a ton of houses and they are spread out. If I stay another transfer I don't know how I am going to get 35 contacts a week it is already hard haha.
    The transfer is halfway over - super weird.  A lot of missionaries are leaving and a l lot should be coming so our mission will change a lot.
      Our neighbor’s monkey is never locked up and always comes into our yard - super funny. About the pictures - we aren't really supposed to walk with our camera so I don't take a ton of pictures and they take like eternity to send but I have a lot I have never sent so I will try next week. I am super excited for Rans and Katie and can't wait to see pics next week.
    Bobo asked me to baptize him! He will be the first person I have actually baptized. Tell Holden and Braden congrats for me!! Super cool Holden is going to the Philipines. Is Tanner married yet? Love you guys.  Over and out
                                                                              Elder Bigelow

March 11, 2013 - Inhamizua

Hey,
          What?? Who is Sadie marrying?
    Anyways, I'm super excited for Ransom and Katie and can't wait to see pictures! Bobo is getting baptized in two weeks and is doing super well! We are just trying to find new people to teach.
     Yesterday it rained super hard and we started sacrament with like ten people but by the end we had about 30. I'm learning a ton here in Africa. Such a crazy experience. It's like my companion Elder Lopes would always say in Dondo "Tudo e normal aqui" -everything is normal here. We found some new families that have potential, they are just hard to sit with. I'm kinda sad because we are dropping some awesome families because they never want to sit with us or have time. I was thinking yesterday that April General Conference is super close!  I was there last year just before I went to the MTC - how crazy is that. 
     Today we are going to the dentist for my companion. 
      Well, I don't have a ton of time but I love you guys!
                                                                                     Elder Bigelow

March 4, 2013 - Inhamizua

I have to buy a card reader to send any more pictures so I will look this week.

  This week we found a super nice couple who don’t have a church or work on Sundays. We contacted him Thursday, sat with him Friday and he came to church Sunday. They already invited a bunch of their neighbors to come with them next week to church. Bobo is doing good - he has a baptismal date for 3 weeks!  But the other family (with the 11-year-old girl) is impossible to sit with and still haven’t come to church. Super sad.

      My new comp is Elder Andrade from Cape Verde. This week we had to do a ton of branch work. Our secretary is 19 and our branch president is a recent covert, baptized 6 months ago, so whenever there is a problem everybody just looks at me and a lot of the time I have no idea what to do. Tithing in our branch had a ton of problems that we are trying to fix now and nobody in our branch knows how to use MLS really, including me, and our computer isn’t working again! I am learning so much about patience here in Inhamizua. I love my branch though, and the members, we just have a ton of work to do. I feel like we have a fulltime job and we are trying to do missionary work on the side.

      Things are really taking off in our mission though and we are baptizing many families! Angola is becoming its own mission in like 2 or 3 months and we are getting sisters here in like 2 months as well! Crazy! They will probably serve in Maputo. 

              How close is Katie to having their baby boy?  Super exciting .

    Tell everybody hi for me . I will try to take more pics this weeks and things are going good! 

                hugs

 Elder Bigelow