October 14, 2013 - Matola

Hey guys,

   This week was pretty normal. With Samuel and Maria baptized and since we dropped a bunch of investigators that weren’t progressing, we just marked with tons of new people which means that like 1 in every 5 marked lessons actually go through. Andre and Maria haven’t even told their families they are getting married in 3 weeks and they are a little nervous to talk with them. When we first taught the law of chastity they were super certain their family wouldn’t approve until like next year so they wanted to wait, but then after a couple of lessons and reading ‘Family Proclamation to the World’ with them they have never looked back. And he opened his process for marriage the week after his brother is getting married and his family has been planning this wedding for like a year. They have a ton of faith and I can’t wait until they get baptized. I really hope their families don’t make a huge deal out of it. But I know the Lord blesses those who put his commandments first. 

      We are going to watch General Conference this week and I am super pumped. Things are going good and we are walking with more and more members. We have some super cool members in our branch. Also the branch mission leader gave us the reference of two families that were baptized before the legal marriage change here in Mozambique, so they are inactive and unmarried but they want us to try to help them marry. It reminds me of Inhamizua. By the way, the couple we helped hitch in Inhamizua, Amiise and Pasqua, are doing super good! I heard he is the elders quorum president now! 

   Well love ya guys! Thanks for all the emails and pics.

ate manzuku

       Elder Bigelow

October 7, 2013 - Matola

     This week was awesome! Zone conference was super nice but I was in and out because Elder Ebmeyer was throwing up all day. We had the area psychiatrist come talk to us and it was really cool.

    Samuel and Maria’s wedding was super simple. They only had a few family members and surprisingly no singing. I think it was the first time any of them had ever been to a Mozambican wedding. But afterwards we ate cake and pop at the church. The whole thing took maybe an hour and then they invited us to their house where Ricardo and Lina, the last couple we baptized, helped them throw a small party and we ate lunch and listened to Bryan Adams.   

   Ivan, the second counselor in our branch and who made everything work for the wedding, baptized Samuel and Maria, and Elder Ebmeyer baptized their two daughters. Everyone showed up like an hour late for the baptism but everything went super well. They have super strong testimonies and I am super excited to walk with them to other investigators houses. He has a truck and it’s usually full of people from his area coming to church every week. He is going to help the church a lot. 

    Tonight we are going with a member family, Stelho and Sandra, to Andre and Maria’s house to have a family home evening and I promised them I would make brownies. They always try to feed us. They are super awesome. I feel like she is my mom here in Matola. I am super pumped for them to get married and baptized here in a few weeks. We have one more couple fighting for documents right now. I really love Matola!

      Samuel used the tie Saul and Kristi gave me before I left and I think he wants to keep it. And I am going to give the CTR ring they gave me to Jr., Andre and Maria’s son, when they get baptized. 

   Well love ya all! Sorry my email is kinda short. I really want to start writing better emails but we have a ton to do today.

 Foto do casamento (Wedding photo)

Foto do batismo da familia Mambero (Mambero family baptism photo)

Zona de conferencia (Zone Conference)

September 30, 2013 - Matola

    Well our wedding planning business kinda failed! Maria wanted a dress super bad and we had told her we could find her one but, long story short, we came up empty handed. Also some of Samuel's family from Beirra wasn't able to make it yesterday, so we moved their wedding to this Saturday. They are going to get married at 10:00 and baptized at 17:00 with their two daughters. We picked out super good padrinhos for them though. Padrinhos are another couple that help the couple with all the marriage stuff and are testimonies at their wedding. Remember that one video I told you guys to watch of our mission on President Kretley’s blog? You have to watch it again and look for Ivan and Claudia. They are the ones who are helping Samuel and Maria. And we talked about the law of chastity with them as well. Anyways they said they could help them find a dress and suit and stuff because my suit was too small for Samuel.

        We finally opened the marriage process for Andre and Maria. They are going to get married the 2nd of November, the last weekend of the transfer.

    Half our ward calls me Elder Biglove now because one of our recent coverts can’t say my name so he started calling me that and now all the kids and like half our branch call me that.

  Tomorrow is zone conference - super pumped!  Things are going good! 

       love ya guys

 Elder Bigelow

September 23, 2013 - Matola

Sounds like you guys had a super crazy week. Our week was good. Samuel and Maria are gettin hitched on Saturday so of course they are freaking out about all the details but its all under control. People in this mission could seriously go home as licensed wedding planners! 

    Transfers were pretty low on changes. The only one leaving our house is Elder Fontes who is going to be branch president in Maxixe. Elder Ebmeyer will be my first companion I have had for two transfers in a row. But I am super pumped to stay. We found an awesome family last night . This week we had seriously like every single new lesson fall through. We were looking super hard for new families and last night we had a super awesome 1st lesson with a couple and the wife’s sister. It was pretty crazy. We started with the plan of salvation but then we started the gospels and ended with the last half of the restoration. Sounds pretty crazy but surprisingly it flowed pretty well. Crazy how these things work. Any way today I think we have to go to Maputo to get wedding dresses. So I love you guys.

   Elder Bigelow

September 16, 2013 - Matola

   This week was super ridiculously awesome! Andre and Maria got their certidao and so now they have all their documents and I went to pick it up and yesterday at church I gave it to him and he was smiling and showing everybody! We went to open the process this morning but Maria couldn’t get off work so tomorrow. Samuel and Maria are getting married in two weeks and are just going to sign at the church and have cake and have a big party to please their family later. They just want to live the law of chastity. Her sister just moved in with them as well and doesn’t have a husband. She came to church and loved it so we are going to baptize her as well!

    Yesterday in church I missed a call from Inhamizua so I knew somebody had gotten baptized or something so I call Elder Awbry, my last companion in Inhamizua, and you will never guess who got baptized!! 2 Mac the Rapper!!! And their frequency was 130 and they are leaving the crappy house chapel and President is paying for buses to go pick them up every week and take them to Manga while a chapel is getting built out in Inhamizua!!!!!! And the missionaries are no longer part of the presidency in that branch! I couldn't stop smiling all day yesterday!

   We also have a family, Raimundo and Sara, who we found at the beginning of the transfer who are doing super awesome. They missed church yesterday so he could go see his father-in-law and present the idea of marriage as quick as possible to live the law of chastity. Yesterday he calls me like almost crying, I thought it was her, but it was because he was so happy that their family is going to support them in their decision! So they are going to try to get all their documents by the end of this month! He is next door neighbors with his brother and they hadn’t talked for like 7 years because they went into business together and something happened, but last week his brother came and apologized and asked to Raimundo to work with him again! So now he will have money for documents! Ever since we met him he has been praying super hard for a job!!! They are already almost done with 2nd Nephi.

    Well transfers are next week and I am really hoping I stay to see all these families get baptized but I am down for whatever.

    Write you guys next week with transfers. Love ya guys! Tell Autumn congrats for me!

Oh and Bobo talked to me Saturday and said he was going to church and we talked for a while. It was super nice but I couldn’t get a hold of him yesterday to see if he actually went.

    Elder Bigelow

September 9, 2013 - Matola

This week was pretty crazy. We finally opened Samuel and Maria’s
marriage process and will do Andre and Maria this week for sure! 

     Wednesday we did divisions and I walked with Elder Reed who is new 

in this area and we had a lot of lessons fall through but we were doing contacts door

to door, something we don’t do a ton of in my area because its super
open and things are pretty spread out, but we knocked on one door and
this old guy who was wearing safety goggles was there and we ended
talking to him and turns out he was the first branch president in

Matola in like 2003! He had some kind of memory loss disease but he
showed us a ton of pictures with him and missionaries and members who
are still in our branch and we got to talk to him for a while and
invite him back to church but this week he wasn’t able to make it.
       There is a new mission rule that every time we teach a commandment we 

have to have a member present. It is going to be hard getting this to happen
but it will help a ton.

     Well I know my last couple of letters have been kinda lame but I
will just share a quick experience that was pretty cool I had this
week. So remember when I told you how Bobo who was baptized in
Inhamizua moved to Nampula and went inactive so I felt like I should
tell him to read 2nd Nephi 31 and invite him to church? Anyways he
went and called me and loved it and said he was going to go back but after
that one Sunday he never went back again so I was super sad but this
week I tried calling him but no answer. But I felt like I should text
him again and send another scripture. The problem was I had no idea
what scripture I just knew I had to send him one. So I prayed and just

asked ‘if I really am supposed to send him a scripture please show me
which one’ and opened up my BOM to Moroni 7. And I was like ‘ok this is
a good one I guess I will send it’ but then I had a feeling it wasn’t
the right one and keep looking. So I went backwards and felt like I
should read Moroni 6. You have to read that chapter and tell me it’s
not the perfect scripture to invite someone back to activity in the
church! It was super cool. So I sent him a message. So far he hasn’t

responded but I really hope he read it.

     Today we went bowling. Our week was super nice just trying to find
new families that will progress but right now we have 3 that are doing
super good.

Well love all ya guys
Elder Bigelow

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