September 2, 2013 - Matola

Highlights from this week - usually when we ask for rides we have to wait a long time until somebody will stop but this week everyone I asked gave us rides. Today we are going to KFC because we just got money in our accounts and are opening the marriage process with Samuel and Maria. We picked up old investigators who are already married and have no church and they accepted a baptismal date and came to church (the only reason they were dropped is because they didn’t come to church).  We are going to baptize a girl that is 17 because her family has been taught and everything but were dropped because they never came to church, but she still comes every week. 

         Things are going good and we are finding more and more families. Doing a lot of contacts. Time is flying by and I hope I stay here in Matola for a while. 

    Love ya!

                 Elder Bigelow   

August 26, 2013 - Matola

     I just got the best phone call!  The Beira zone leaders have Samuel’s birth certificate in their hands and are sending it to Maputo today! Holy smokes - we waited forever to finally get that thing! And Andre’s brother is also sending his this week! I know I have been saying this for like the last month but its finally really happening and so both should be married and baptized the last weekend of the transfer!

      This week was super nice! We got a new presidency yesterday in our branch and I am pumped! Our president already wants to have a meeting with all the missionaries. And this week we watched ‘The Work of Salvation’, the first presidency broadcast, and it is super powerful!! So it was a few weeks late and I don’t think our mission will be using ipads anytime soon but it was nice.

   And two nights ago we were way out in our area and walking along the highway to the chapa stop and this huge truck almost stops and then just keeps going and I told my comp ‘Hey that was President Kretley, I swear. But maybe not, he just left.’ Then like 5 minutes later President and Sister Kretley pull up right next to us and give us a ride home. They were on their way back from South Africa. And they gave us Snickers!! Sister Kretley had a volleyball she said they are going to give to all the kids out in Luaha. [Luaha is that little tiny village up North where the missionaries would go for a few days at a time and camp out. Ryan got to go not very long after he got to Mozambique and he just loved it!] President Kretley is going to go out there soon because missionaries stopped going right after I went. 

   Well love you guys! Tell David good luck in school for me!

                                       Elder Bigelow

August 19, 2013 - Matola

Hey guys,

    Our week was pretty nice! We found 2 new families and one of them came to church. The missionaries in Beira helped us get Samuel's birth certificate and should send it today so we should finally be able to open the marriage process, but Andre's birth certificate will be more complicated than we thought. The register, which is super far away, doesn’t even have a fax machine, so his family has to go get it and then send it, which could take a while.

    Tell David he is crazy! haha! 19 stitches! Tell him to start getting ready as well, because here in no time he will be leaving to serve his mission. Time is flying by too fast!

     I am super happy for Tanner and it's great they got married in the temple!

    This week we did a Mormon helping hands service project in Maputo and cleaned up one of the busiest roads in the city. It was way fun and a lot of people came.

    Well love ya guys!  I don’t have a whole lot to say this week. Can you guys please send me more easy recipes? We do house meals so I have to cook for 6 missionaries once a week.

        Thanks

Elder Bigelow

August 12, 2013 - Matola

Hey guys,

    Transfers were super crazy again!! Me and Elder Fontes have been asking to stay together at least one more but we had like 15 new elders arrive last week. I am training here in my area Elder Ebmeyer from Provo and Elder Fontes is staying here in the same house but is training in a different area. Also elder Ensaldo is training here in our house so we have 3 new missionaries in our house I am pumped. I have never even lived in the same house as a brand new elder so it is pretty funny seeing what they think about things. It feels like just last transfer I was in their shoes up in Nampula. 

   Dondo opened back up!! 2 elders went up there. This week was district conference and Elder Cook from the seventy came Saturday and I saw Fatima. Sunday I saw a lot of people from Maputo and President showed that video of Elder Anderson and all the couples. I almost started crying! It helped our investigators a ton. I have the coolest mission in the world! Our 2 families are doing awesome if it wasn’t for stupid marriage documents they would already be baptized, but we are still waiting for documents to show up. It was awesome last night, me and Elder Ebmeyer went to teach Andre and Maria the 10 comandments and they asked about tithing and said they wanted to know how to pay so they could start. So we taught them and they were super happy and said they want to start now to get the blessings. Also Samuel and Maria asked us about tithing this week and said they want to start paying. We need to find a lot of new families - we have been finding and dropping a lot.

     Monday I got to be the cobrador in our chapa (the guy who collects the money and calls out the stops). Our chapa didn’t have one so I went up to the front and I knew everybody was going to start laughing and they always say stuff in dialect and do weird things so I started calling the stops and saying stop and go in dialect and everybody was just bustin’ up. It’s so funny how chapas are such a part of culture and everyday life here. I was hoping to get our ride for free for collecting but the driver still made us pay!!

    That is super crazy Colton and Brandon are comps!! Well everything is going great. I finished my journal this week so I am starting another and trying to do better writing all the stuff that I don’t email home so  don’t ever forgot all the crazy stuff about this place.

    Well, love ya guys!

  Elder Bigelow

August 5, 2013 - Matola

This week has been busy busy,

   We were running around all week trying to get everything ready for the wedding of Ricardo and Lina and their baptism with their daughter Dercia, trying to do wedding documents for 2 other families and going to and from Maputo because my companion was sick.

    The wedding was super nice!! I honestly want to invite a bunch of members from here to come to the states when I get married and throw my party and dance and sing. It is probably one of the funniest things to watch. I can’t even explain it but I took some videos. The funniest part is the ceremony they do to give their gifts to the couple afterwards! I was like on the ground laughing the whole time! They go in families and everyone starts singing and they all dance their way to the couple to give them the gift and scream and yell and then put the couple in chairs and lift them up and throw them around - it’s crazy. Ricardo’s parents are super old and speak mostly dialect like the picture perfect old Mozambican couple and they were party animals! The videos I have of them dancing are super funny. They got married at the church and sang and signed the documents and then went to their house and had a huge party afterwards. Then at like 7:00 that night they were baptized.

  Their baptism was pretty crazy: so the zone leaders called and told us the font was slowly draining and they couldn’t stop it and there was no more water in the chapel. The water was already super low and it was like 40 minutes til their baptism. They like to show up late for everything so we stopped by their party again which was still in full swing and told them we had to go quick because next week is district conference, so their baptism was now or in two weeks. Anyways we get there right on time but there was only a little bit of water, so we had to do the baptism on our knees. So my companion tries to baptize her first,  but even on their knees there wasn’t enough water. So I went in and held down her legs while she was baptized sitting down! And then my companion baptized him sitting down. I baptized Dercia, who is only 8 so she could do it kneeling down, but it was pretty crazy.

    On Sunday I had to translate for a couple from the Philipines who just moved into our branch - super hard to listen and talk at the same time.

    Hey did you guys get an email from President Kretley? You have to watch the video on his blog. (presidentandsisterkretly.blogspot.com) I can’t watch it for some reason, but the couple we baptized in Maputo, Aderito and Fatima are in it!!

    This week is going to be crazy. Transfers are next week, we are getting 16 new missionaries this week, and district conference is next weekend. We are opening the marriage processes of the two couples this week - I know I said that last week but we worked super hard and didn’t quite get it all last week.

    Well, love ya guys! Tell Anne and Wes congrats for me, I am super excited for them and Hyrum.

 Elder Bigelow

July 29, 2013 - Matola

This week was nice,

     Yesterday President Kretly dedicated the new chapel and we had 4 complete families and in total 16 investigators at church! We are trying super hard to open 2 marriage processes this week and we have a family getting baptized this weekend. Our area is going super nice. We also have 30 references to contact this week and we just got one from a member that his sister and brother-in- law are super interested, have no church, are married in the register, and loved the open house! I love Matola!

   This week me and Elder Fontes started something called a 40 day attitude or behavior fast. So you fast for one day about things you can do or change to have the spirit more. Then you write a list - we did personal lists and one as a companionship - and every morning you promise to try your best to do or avoid all the things on your lists in your prayers and ask for help. Then every night you go over your list and report on how you did and how you can change and thank for the help the Lord gave you. It is super hard, but I am already feeling a difference.

   Samuel and Maria - we found them like 2 weeks ago but they are super prepared - we talked about documents and marriage with them and then we were super busy with the open house and lost our phone and didn’t get to visit them for like days and when we went back they had all of their documents sitting on their table asking what they needed to do next!! I was blown away! Getting documents is a lot of work.

    Well I love you guys and am glad everything went well at the reunion. Tell Anne to send me tons of pics of my new nephew when he comes. Did they decide on Hyrum as a name?

    Elder Bigelow

July 22, 2013 - Matola

Hey ,

    Well the open house is going great. It will last all week. We are just doing tons of contacts and inviting them to come with us to see the church but it’s not as easy as it sounds haha. We have been walking to our area from the church which is like 20 minutes walking and then hitch-hiking and inviting whoever takes us to come in and it’s been working. The first car that took us were all Muslim so you can guess how that went, but the second car was a super nice couple who came with us. There are about 10 big banners inside and we take the people around and show them all the banners that are about the restoration. It’s really awesome and the spirit is super strong.

     Also Bobo, the guy I baptized in Inhamizua, remember how I told you guys the week after he was baptized and confirmed he left to Nampula and I was sad because he will make an awesome leader? Well he went up there and never really went to church. I can understand it would be super hard not knowing anybody and him and the missionaries could never meet up. Then he changed phones and so I couldn’t even call him and I was super sad because I thought for sure I would never be able to get a hold of him again and he would just stay inactive. But then I remembered that we taught his friend in Inhamizua as well so I called Inhamizua Elders and they got me his friend’s number from the area book and he had Bobo’s new number. So last week I called him and he didn’t really seem too excited and had not been to church, so I invited him but it was kinda iffy. So later I felt like I should text him 2nd Nephi 31 to read, and he texted me back and told me he read it and was going back to church on Sunday. So I called the missionaries and had it all set up and he went and he called me afterwards super excited. The missionaries are going to help him get the priesthood and are super excited because they think he will make a great leader as well. And his family is moving up to live with him as well in Nampula so they can be taught by the missionaries.

    Things are going great. We should get tons of references from the open house and we have 3 families who are doing great. I am super excited. Today we played soccer with a bunch of youth from the Matola branches. It was way fun. Well sorry I don’t have a ton of time to write but tell everyone hi for me at the reunion. Love ya guys!

 Elder Bigelow

 Matola Chapel

President Kretly at open house

Bunch of goofy Elders!