November 26, 2012 - Manga

Hey Everybody,

Nice - that's way cool Holden is going to the Philipines! Is he speaking English or Tagalic? My companion’s brother just got home from serving there this week.

This week was pretty interesting. We went on 2 divisions which were nice and found some new families to teach that actually came to church. This Saturday we are baptizing a girl, 27, named Maria who is way cool. She has a strong testimony and I'm excited for her. Transfers are in a week and my comp will probably leave and I'll show my area to a new companion. The power has been on and off for the past couple of days and it's super hot here! It's super weird having summer in December. AC is my best friend - we love chillin together! Last night we didn't have energy all night. A crazy storm came through and it rained super hard and a ton of lightning and wind. Our roof was leaking like crazy and our front room got a ton of water in it! So we had to stay up and try to get all the water out but we got it all and it should be good now. Sometimes having no carpet is blessing. Thanksgiving we did divisions and so we didn't really have time for a big lunch and we were going to make Thanksgiving pancakes that night but we had no power.        This next moth is going to be crazy - I'm way excited. Zone conference with president on the 8th and then Christmas and New Years!  I can't believe how fast time goes when you are serving a mission! It's pretty crazy. 

What else happened? I found a cool coin from Malawi and we found an awesome couple married in the register that we are meeting with tomorrow. Me and Elder Barros were in his area teaching this guy the restoration on Wednesday and we explain the restoration and during the whole thing it seems like a normal lesson. Then when we were almost done we asked him if he understood this one part and all of a sudden he starts going into detail about stuff we didn't even mention! So we look at each other and look at him and Barros says “ You’re a member aren't you?”  He was and he has the Melchezidek Priesthood but has been inactive for years. So we talked to him about what happened and Barros is trying to help him! The guy had photos of our mission secretary, Tualufu, when he served and a bunch of people I knew in Dondo and some members here when they served. It was crazy! Yeah, I learned a lot this week from walking with other missionaries and it was way fun.

We took a train into Beira or the main part today. It was pretty cool and actually cheaper than a chapa. But  thanks for all the letters - everything is going great!

                                                                                         Elder Bigelow

November 19, 2012 - Manga

This Week in Africa:

            We had a big district conference (like Stake Conference) with all of Beira this weekend. It was good and Sunday we had like a video broadcast for the whole South Africa area where Elder Christopherson and President Monson talked. It was way nice but we only had one investigator at church because it takes 2 chapas just to get there from Manga.

          Things are going good. We are looking for a ton of new people and had to drop a few this week because they weren't reading or coming to church. We went on 2 divisions this week. For one division I showed my area to Elder Gomes from Cape Verde and for one I walked in another area. We have 2 more divisions this week. It was way nice to see all the other missionaries at the conference and we even saw some of the members from Dondo. As far as crazy stories we had a drunk guy totally wreck a lesson yesterday and Tuesday we were walking with a ward missionary doing contacts and this someone came up from behind us and started hanging on us in the middle, right? and I thought it was Isaias the ward missionary so I was like ‘what the heck’ and turn to say something and it was a super drunk old lady! So we move and she just kept following us around so we ended up having to run away from her and she chased us for a little ways.

     Maria should be baptized December first which is exciting. She has a strong testimony. And Francisco should be able to get married this month or the beginning of next month.

        I'm getting a haircut today and I'm super scared. You are a lot better at cutting hair than the people here, Mom. I think it was yesterday we took a chapa and the guy who takes all your money and opens and closes the door (they have a name here but it's in Portuguese) but anyway he was only like 13 and it was way funny - he was trying to get everyone to pay but nobody took him serious. But he was way good at his job and just the way he said stuff was funny. He was already pro.

       I have no idea what we are going to do for thanksgiving but last night we had a ton of cake and stuff because it was one of the elders birthday. And we had pineapple Fanta which is way good in a bottle. 1st time I have seen it in a bottle but I don't even think that it exists in the States. Have you guys heard where Holden is going yet? That would be crazy if he ended up coming here! I will talk to you guys more next week.

                                Elder Bigelow

November 12, 2012 - Manga

Dear Family,

          This week was disappointing.  We had some good lessons with people and found some cool new families, but nobody new came to church. We left early to pick people up and still nobody came. It's so hard to get people to make church a priority.  Any little thing comes up and they won't come. We are really looking for better ways to help people come. I know once they come they will feel the difference and feel the spirit. Our church is one of the only ones here that doesn't dance, play rock music or cast out bad spirits.

        I'm learning on the mission though to not get discouraged or worry about things out of our control. You just have to worry about yourself and what you can do while looking for the joy in journey.

          We have 1 progressing family who are way awesome and Maria, a girl who is about 27, we are going to baptize on the 1st. And a really cool guy named Francisco who is super close to getting married. I'm way excited for them. Yesterday in church we watched the priesthood session of conference which was way nice.

         I'm going to go home and be a pitcher because I'm getting way good at hitting down mangas with other mangas because I'm learning from the best manga throwers in the world. I probably ate like 20 mangas this week. The transfer is already half over which is crazy! I'm going to have so many crazy contacting stories by the end of my mission. I need to start writing them down everyday in my journal.

         We have a way nice branch and I love the members. They are helping a ton and all of them are super excited about missionary work - it's awesome. This month we should have a couple of marriages. And in December, too, but we will see what happens. We spend a ton of time trying to help people see the importance of marriage and help them and I think I'm going to actually see some happen in the next couple of transfers.

         I heard Holden turned in his papers! You guys will have to let me know where he is going - that's awesome. And pretty soon it will be David and Hayden's turn.  Keep me updated on Round Valley mission calls and tell David to get the heck better!  I can't believe Conrad is already 5 way crazy and Rans and Katie will have another boy when I get home! They should name him Tualufo. Just kiddin but it's funny to hear all the crazy names here. Either they are way common like Joao or super crazy. We met a couple who named their little boy Pinkie yesterday! Or some people just have some random English word for a name. 

            Tender mercies are everywhere even though sometimes they may be hard to find but you just have to be looking. I'm so grateful for this Gospel and for the Plan Heavenly Father has created for us!

                                                    Elder Bigelow

November 5, 2012 - Manga

This week we brought a white guy to church. It was one of those old guys who's parents are from Greece.  I don't think he liked church very much. He reminded a lot of Grampa though, it was funny. At church I actually just got to go and sit through the lessons - I didn't have to go to primary or anything.  We had quite a few investigators at church but we don't have very many progressing. We are trying to get 4 couples married this month. We told them if they get married we will make the cakes for the party.

      Last night for P-day Eve we made mango pancakes with pineapple syrup! It was nice! There are so many mangos here and fruit I have never even heard of.  Last week we went to a family night with a bunch of members and it way fun. So we played a game where you take a Fanta bottle and you stack matches on the top and you go around the circle taking turns and the goal is to get rid of all your matches but if you make any fall you have to keep them. This week there seemed to be a ton of drunk people. I think Wednesday might have been a holiday because people were drinking like it was New Years.

       Contacts aren't very fun but we always meet new people and have some funny stories. We had some pretty funny lessons too.

       Mom, things I need in my package are floss picks and what I asked you last week are the only things I can think of. We were actually listening to Michael McLean on my comps iPod this week and I told him you know him!  I’m glad you and Anne and Emily had fun at that conference. [Time Out for Women]

       Manga is good.  I'm still super lost in my area but I have time to learn it. It's crazy to think back home everyone has a car and just go places whenever they want like exactly to the place! It's weird to think I had a car. Whenever we see houses with cars we contact them. Getting chapas from Manga to Beira is always crazy because there are about 100 people always trying to get on 1 chapa.

     Things are going good and I'm learning a lot. I can't believe it's already November! But the days fly by here. I think today we are going to go eat at an Indian restaurant! They make good food. It seems like every single big nice house here is owned by Muslims. It's disappointing when you are contacting. Well sorry this e mail is kinda random and short but I still have to write President so thanks for the emails.

 

                                                            Elder Bigelow

October 29, 2012 - Manga

Hey,

    Manga is in between Dondo and Beira so it was only like 30 40 minute drive. Well there are a lot of mangos and we have banana trees in our backyard! Way nice. There are 6 of us in our house and so that's way nice. We live in the same house as the zone leaders. This week was pretty fun. I left Tuesday and when I got here my comp, Elder Ostler was sick. He is a way cool guy - he is from Orem. But Wednesday we went out and did a bunch of contacts and it was a crazy day. We passed this house and Elder Ostler is all "Hey wait! I think we should knock that door for some reason!" So we did and the guy has the Melchizedek Priesthood but hasn't been to church in ten years! So we invited him back. And then we were contacting this lady sitting on her front porch and this car pulls up and like ten white ladies pile out (which is super weird by itself). They had come to talk to the lady we were contacting. They were her family from Portugal. But they all went inside except this one old lady who wanted to talk to us and was asking us a bunch of questions about the church. She was born here and her Mom still lives here but when the Portuguese got kicked out she went to California so she spoke English. Her mom is 102 years old! She was a super nice lady but she was telling us one of her sisters is Assembly de Deus, one is a nun, and one is Jehovah Witness. We taught her the restoration and got her contact info for Elders in California!! Now we just have to figure out how to get it there. When we left we didn't have any pamphlets so we gave her a 'Strength for Youth' even though she is like 80 and told her it still applies - it was pretty funny.

           Thursday we did divisions with the zone leaders and so I walked in the other area which was pretty cool. We watched conference again Saturday and Sunday because they didn't have power here last weekend. Oh and the Same day we found that one inactive member, we found another one while we were knocking houses and invited him to conference and he actually came!  I'm in the Manga 1st Branch and it is way nice! We have a real chapel and an awesome Branch President and members. It's super nice. We taught some white guys from Greece last night. They were super funny guys. They reminded me of the movie 'Grumpy Old Men' because they just argued a ton but they were brothers. It's super weird to talk to white people now but they only spoke Portuguese because they grew up here. There is one member in our area who was baptized just before I got here who is paralyzed on the whole right side of his body but he is a beast! He shares the gospel with everyone and has already introduced us to like 5 families. He invited this guy from South Africa who only spoke English To conference. I don't even know how he invited him because he doesn't even speak English. But he came and my comp had to translate for him but the guy fell asleep during conference - it was super funny.

              I'm pretty sad my area in Dondo is gone now. There are only 2 missionaries for all of Dondo and me and my comp both left. But I hope everything is going well for them up there. It's just not growing fast enough so President put more missionaries in other places that need it more. Yeah, I think Manga might actually be part of Beirra but I'm not sure. But I like it a lot here and I'm super excited for this transfer! 

            Hey have you sent a package yet? if you haven't I need blades for my Gillete razor and zebra pens. If you already have or don't want to it's cool. I don't really need them but those are things that are super hard to find if they even do exist here. I will try to put pics up on that site right now but no promises. 

          I can't believe it's already almost November! The mission is flying by and I am already in my 3rd area! Most people don't get to their 3rd area until like there 7th or 8th transfer! I am going to get to see all of Mozambique! I really want to get to serve in Maputo once before I leave though. It sounds so much different - like they have bowling and a shopping mall with an escalator that works - haha. Sounds nice but I'm liking the jungle. My area is super confusing. There are like 2 main roads and then just paths. But I'll learn it. The thing is it's a new area so even my comp hasn't explored it all. So we are just going to go explore contacting a lot this transfer.   

          Other stuff: Quelimane finally became an actual branch this week and not just a group anymore. I made hootenanies this week - way nice - but the 1st time I didn't put any milk so it was like cardboard. We have a family we are trying to help get married this month and baptize who are doing really well so that's exciting. And it's super super hot. Hey is Holden putting in his papers now? You got to tell me what's going on with other people and missions. But thanks for the emails

                                               

                                                                              Elder Bigelow

Here are a few pictures. They actually go with the entry from a few weeks ago when we went to the "zoo."

October 22, 2012 - My last week in Dondo

Dear Family, 
          
       One transfer area, Dondo, is going down to two missionaries! So three of us here are leaving and only Elder Leite will stay and get a new comp. I can't believe it! I don't have pictures with anyone and won't have much time to say goodbye, if any.  Dondo has been a great learning experience for me and there are so many things I regret and wish I would have done different, but all I can do now is learn and move on to my next area and try to be better. I am going to Manga, which means mango, it's like 15 minutes out of Berra the other direction, I think. They have a chapel! A real chapel and a lot more members. My house will have 6 people which I am super excited for. My companion will be Elder Ostler who is American. This transfer was hard but I learned so much from my comp. No matter what he was always happy and smiling! Even when I would be super frustrated and discouraged. I feel like I was pretty rude to him sometimes and I feel super bad but he was always a great example and I have told him that a lot. I am so grateful for him. This transfer I honestly learned that just as important as what we do is who we are. 
       This transfer was hard for me and I feel like at times I would just get discouraged and frustrated and wasn't  the most charitable missionary. That is one thing I have been working super hard on these last two weeks but still have a long ways to go. We can't control other people. The only real control we have is self control. The mission is more than a lifetime full of ups and downs packed into only two years.
        We got to listen to conference as a branch!! Super exciting! But I haven't seen all of them in English yet. I watched the priesthood session in English and am truly so grateful for a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson.  I loved the talks and know some of them were just for me!
       This transfer I learned so much from Elder Gergitz and all the advice he has given me. The mission is super tough but when you just step back from all the frustrating little details you remember what a blessing and a privilege it is. It's so crazy how fast time flies and life keeps just marching on. In two days I will be living in a new house and probably never see Dondo or these people again. A chapter in my life already written. Sometimes for me this kind of stuff is super hard to accept but then I just think of the chapter of my life I get to go write in Manga now.  I have learned my lesson now to take pictures as soon as you get into an area. I really don't have any with the people in Dondo and leaving this transfer is the last thing I expected. I thought I had more time here. I'm going to miss this place and I wish I wouldn't have let the small things get to me as much as they did here. This is a lesson I will try to live the rest of my life. Don't let small insignificant things bother you because in the big picture they don't matter - but how you react to them does. How you treat others matters no matter the situation it does matter.
        I have to leave the best house in the mission so my next house will probably seem super crappy.  But learning a new area and getting to know new people is always fun.  And I will soon forget about all the small things in Dondo. I'll only remember the good and have a whole new set of things to worry about. 
       Well I love you guys and pray for you every day!
                                                                         Elder Bigelow

October 15, 2012 - Dondo

Dear Everyone,
             This week. I don't even know what to say about this week! Only in Mozambique. 1st story: last week on the chapa back to Dondo we broke down in the middle of nowhere and had to wait like an hour for another chapa to come and all my frozen food I bought in Berra melted. Maybe it's not a good idea to buy frozen stuff - one time I bought frozen pot pies and they melted and leaked all over the chapa and the lady sitting next to me - I felt pretty bad.
             2nd story:  There is an old guy who lives right behind us who is like our guard. So we lock our gates and stuff every night. Well Wednesday morning we go out to work out and Elder Gergitz is like "Bro! Someone stole my shoes!" and I didn't really believe him and then my comp comes out and he is like "Hey someone stole my towel!" and then Elder Leite comes out to do laundry and he was all "Hey someone stole the soap!" I was just super happy nothing of mine got stolen, right? Until I needed my Sunday shoes. (My black ones had holes in them so I gave them away and had been wearing that super nice brown pair) but they got jacked!! So me and Elder Gergitz had to come into Berra to buy shoes! But this isn't even the crazy part - so you don't buy shoes in stores here right - people just sell them on the side of the road. I don't even know if you can buy shoes in boxes here, you just look at these markets until you find some you like that aren't too worn out. But there are places by our house that have a bunch of crappy ones so we went to check if the person who stole them sold them to this place - but they weren't there. But get this - today we went to this huge market in Berra to buy shoes for Elder Gergitz and he has this pair picked out and then he looks up and he is like "Hey what the heck?" and his pair that got stolen in Dondo Are hanging right in front of him! So we asked the guy where he got them and he said some kid had just sold them to him. haha. What are the chances of that! So Elder G bought his own shoes back for 200 metacais. He was pretty mad, but I was just laughing the whole time.
       3rd story: Today we went and saw alligators and monkeys and turtles and anacondas. Super cool. So some missionaries in Berra payed a chapa driver to bring them out to Dondo and pick us up and then take us to this ''animal reserve'' right? But it's like 30 minutes from Dondo in the middle of nowhere. Seriously we took the chapa on  

4-wheeler trails trying to find this place! So in the middle of nowhere all of a sudden this park pops out that is super run down and just the owner is there. So he let us walk around and see all the animals in cages. It was kind of like Uncle Shea's zoo up Big Lake Road. The guy let us hold the turtles and he was poking the alligators and making them snap and we fed the monkeys. It was nice and I took a lot of pics. It didn't even cost anything. We are probably the only people to go out there in like weeks haha!
       4th story: It rained super hard yesterday. Like poured and so we had only about 20 people at church. So we just all stayed in the same room the whole time and did lessons together. We had helped a member who lives way out in a place called Macharote prepare a talk for like 2 hours for church Sunday and she didn't even come.   We told one of our investigators we would come and walk with him to church because we have had a hard time getting people to come but it was pouring. But we decided to go anyway and hoped he would still come and he was sitting there waiting for us and was our only investigator to come to church yesterday! But he loved it. All the kids just went crazy and started just swimming in the puddles and taking showers in the water running off their tin roofs. It was pretty funny.
       We don't have too many investigators right now but we met with a guy for the second time yesterday that I'm pretty excited for. And Saturday and Sunday our branch is watching conference !!!!!!! So we have been inviting the whole world to come watch and see "the Prophet of God on the earth today" hoping that maybe a few will actually show up.
       We went to an old lighthouse in Berra today too, and we payed the guard ten metacais each and he let us climb to the top which was super fun.
       Transfers are next week and I am super ready for change. I love my comp. but feel like I plan and I don't feel like I know what I am doing exactly. It's super hard to manage all these contacts and decide who to keep visiting and who will just waste our time and when. And help all our members and things. So I hope I get somebody who has been here for a while. It's a lot of pressure. 

      Mangos are super good right now. 

      Oh, and a witch doctor from Zimbabwe moved into my and Elder Lopes' area! I saw a sign this week - so If I get sick or get some kind of curse or anything I know where to go! He is from Zimbabwe so what could go wrong?
         Tanner really proposed to Keeley? What? Dude we are like 19!
         This mission is crazy man. I don't even know my mission president. I have met with him once and seen him one other time. Our mission is like Maputo and then the rest of the mission. If you're not in Maputo, you feel very isolated. The church is crazy but Someday we will have a temple I bet. In the MTC, Elder Leake and I met one of the first missionaries in Brazil. He was super old but now look at Brazil and how many members they have now.
          David man you are going to go to Angola. That would be nuts!
                           Love you guys,
                                                         Elder Bigelow