A wedding and baptism this past Saturday

Week 42  3/3/14 

Dear family, 

I thought a lot about you on Friday and of how you guys might have celebrated my birthday if I was there. I hope you weren't too sad, that day was a great day for me here.

This week was good. On Tuesday I had another division, this time with Elder Herd. It was another good day of lessons and contacts. I was thinking that Wednesday marked 8 months since I arrived in Mozambique-amazing how fast it is going by! On Thursday morning we went to help a member, Jose, on his house again. He is the same one we helped a few months ago and I sent you pictures of it. We helped him do basically the same thing, but on a different part of the house. It's always nice to do service like that, opportunities for it don't come around too often. Friday was a good day. It was pretty normal day of work, and throughout the day elders wished me happy birthday.  Alfredo did too as we walked with him that morning to teach one of his friends, and wife-It was a good lesson with them, that was a nice way to end the day- the nice thing is that they came to church yesterday.

Saturday, once again, was a wedding and baptism day. And again, it was supposed to start at 9am, but due to some delays, it didn't start until noon! The ceremony was short, and the baptism that followed was good too.

Elder Reed baptized her and I confirmed her the next day in sacrament meeting. After her baptism there was food and cake, of course. It was hot inside the church because the air conditioners had stopped working, so they brought the chairs and tables outside. It was actually pretty nice. In the end, we left the church at 5pm, 9 hours after we had arrived. It went for a long time, but I'm glad that there is now another couple making covenants to live the commandment of the Lord. Overall it was an awesome week.

A week from today I will find out if I get another 6 weeks in T3 or if I will get transferred. I've already had the same amount of time here that I had in Quelimane. But I hope I stay here, because this area is seeing success it hasn't seen in a long time, and I'd like to continue working here. But of course, it's up to the Lord; I'll go where he wants me to go.

Dad, that is so cool how you got that message on Facebook from that lady you baptized while on your mission. It will be great to hear from the people I teach and baptize here years after I have finished my mission. I want to keep in contact with them.  

I want you guys to know how happy I am to be serving the Lord here in Mozambique. I can say that of all the choices that I've made thus far in my life, this is the best one yet. I can’t' imagine how my life would be right now without my mission. I wouldn't have such love and understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ if I didn't serve. My testimony wouldn’t be what it is today if it weren't for my mission. Of course I still have a lot to learn and my testimony still has a lot of room to grow. But if it wasn't for this precious time I've had to serve the Lord, I wouldn't have such a desire to deepen my understanding and strengthen my testimony. I wouldn't have such a love for God's children and a desire to share the true and restored gospel with them. Without a doubt, this mission has changed my life forever.

Thanks for all your love for me and happy birthday wishes! I love you sooo much and hope that you have a happy week. I love you sooo much,

Josh