April 14, 2014 - Beira - LAST POST FROM AFRICA

This week has been nice, just finishing up my last p-day, and we had a huge beach bask with everyone from the Manga and Beira zones. I was able to give letters to missionaries to give to people in Inhamizua and Manga. Sometimes I am super pumped to come home but sometimes just super sad. I really am going to miss all the people here. Abreu and Carla finally got the marriage process opened in Matola but they are going to get married May 17th so I will miss it. Sergio and Ana should open up the process this week and get married on the 26^th, and we are helping a few youth get baptized on the 19th that have been coming to church for a long time. I have been getting email addresses from the few that have them and trying to call everybody. Still have some left to do though.

  Experience of the week: So Ana and Douce, the couple on the ‘Its a miracle’ video live in Macuti and she has tons - I mean tons - of brothers, sisters, cousins, just tons of family out in our area. We saw her last week and she asked if we would come by and give her dad a blessing. He has been pretty sick lately. So Wednesday we are on divisions and I was walking with Elder Stewart and we go to her dad's house to give him a blessing. So Ana is there, Bartalameu and Audora (old investigators) and like ten other people, most older women who only spoke dialect. So we go in and Ana wanted to start with a hymn but said they would sing one in dialect. So the whole family starts singing this song which sounds super cool and as they are singing just like all these neighbor woman like answer the call and pile into the house. So we gave him a priesthood blessing. Then we got some references of her brothers out of it. One actually came to church with his wife and are really interested. So last night we went to teach them at her dad’s house again. Two more of her brothers sat with us and one had tons of good questions about the restoration. I don't think I have ever taught someone the first lesson who has just understood everything like he did. I had to ask Elder Peckham to make sure he wasn't a member! Also Manuel and Eugenia are seeing a huge difference in their lives and are on fire right now.

     Things are going great and I am going to miss this place but I know the Lord will have other stuff for me to do back in the States. Me and dad will just have to come back and do a safari here in like a year or two!

                                                                                                               Love ya guys. See you soon!

                                                                                                                                           Elder Bigelow

April 8, 2014 - Beira

April 8, 2014

Well 2 weeks left! I can’t believe time has gone so fast! Part if me is super excited and the other part of me is super sad. I leave next Friday the 18th to go to Maputo and we will probably eat lunch or something with President, Saturday I think I will be able to visit families in Matola and Maputo , and Sunday I will go to Maputo 2 branch again and have exit interviews and Monday I am gone!

          We have been super busy - on the 19th our zone is going to have a collective marriage with 7 or 8 couples and the Relief Societies want to make a big deal out of it. Me and Elder Peckham are working to get Sergio and Ana married and baptized along with some single people, Rosa, Flavio, Lidia , Joaquim, and Luis. Hopefully everything works out and they are all ready by the 19th. We are also teaching a super-awesome family right now, Manuel and Eugenia, who are a reference from Sergio, and a couple we dropped but they came to church Sunday, Felizberto e Palmira.

    We did 3 divisions this last week, one with Munhava and I went and walked with Elder Maizane from Matola, and I went on a division with Elder Proksch, who is our district leader, and yesterday we went on a division with the other dupla from our house, Elder Thomas and Elder Hatfield. They have been struggling getting contacts and lessons in their area so we decided to do a double division and all work in their area. It worked out super nice and we got tons of contacts.

       As far as general conference I probably won’t be able to see it until I get home. Last Sunday was a normal fast Sunday for us but I bore testimony because I will be leaving.

        Cool story for the week... Thursday we were walking in the middle of our area, Chipangara, and we are on this tiny little road and it was night and we see the Snelson’s (the senior missionary couple in that area) truck pull up and they asked us where the house of a member was, so we all walked together and showed them. They were going to watch a kid named Fernando open his mission call so we decided to go with and on the way there Elder Snelson told us his story. So Fernando lost his dad when he was young and grew up with his mom and brothers and sisters. When they got older his older brother moved down to Maputo and joined the church and then his older brother passed away. Two years later Fernando joined the church and his mom was taking the lessons when she died as well! So after all this he saves up money for a passport to go on his mission over a long period of time because they are super expensive for people here. Finally he gets his passport and does his medical exams and his passport gets robbed!!! So he had to start all over saving up money and by the time he gets his second passport his medical exams expired … so he did them again and anyways he opened his call and is going to Angola!! He bore testimony at the end -there were a ton of people and the spirit was super strong! He sacrificed tons to be able to go on a mission!!!

    Yesterday we also found 3 chameleons by our house (sent a pic) and things are going super good. We are staying super busy in fact we have divisions again with Beira 1 tomorrow.

                       Love you guys

                                             Elder Bigelow