Week 90 - Later this month, The First Stake in Mozambique!!!

“…There was a light in their eyes that wasn't there when I first contacted them on the road almost 2 months ago. I can see the joy the Gospel in bringing into their lives. It was a really inspiring moment for me and I felt rewarded by the Lord to see the fruits of my labor ”

Hey Everyone! I am in Beira today attending Zone Conference

This past week everything went well. Monday through Wednesday we worked our normal routine out in the field and in the branch. There was a zone conference in Beira and we were instructed to attend. So I had to assign the mission leader Abrao to take care of Sunday meetings here.

On Thursday evening we got a chopela to take us to the airport there we waited a few hours to take a flight to Beira for zone conference.

Upon arrival in Beira, the senior couple, Elder and Sister Castro Deus, picked us up and took us to one of the missionary houses near the Beira chapel. This house is pretty nice; it has an extra room, so there was enough space for us. We got there late so we just went to bed almost immediately. The next day was zone conference.

The church leader attending was Elder Stanley G. Ellis of the Seventy and his wife, along with President and Sister Kretly. The training was really good. It was about the gospel and the whole purpose of the work that we do, and what we can do to help strengthen the church here. He made an awesome and exciting announcement:

On February 14-15 there will be a special conference in Maputo in which, the Maputo Mozambique district will become the first stake  to be established in Mozambique!!

We were all very excited when we heard this. And most likely a stake in Beira will be established a little later this year. Since 2012 when President Kretly started, over 500 families have been baptized in Mozambique! It has been really cool to be a missionary here and play a part in the progress of the church here. I am a witness that this is a mission of miracles!

After lunch there was training, for missionary leaders, like district and zone leaders, I was invited to be in this training meeting also. It was another great training.

After the conference we had a little time to go out to do some work. We went over to Mascarenha, the area I just left 3 weeks ago and visited a couple people. It was really nice to see them again. I visited 2 families, who I with Elder Christiansen found not long ago. In fact when we got there we ran into him along with his companion, who had just finished giving a lesson to them and were getting ready to leave. The two families were really surprised and happy to see me. I was overjoyed to learn that their marriage docs are almost complete and will be getting baptized in a couple weeks.

I really can see something different in their faces, in their eyes as I talked with them. There was a light there that wasn't there before, when I first contacted them on the road almost 2 months ago. I can see the joy the gospel in bringing into their lives. It was a really inspiring moment for me and I felt rewarded by the Lord to see the fruits of my labor here. It strengthened me and has given me more motivation to continue working hard until the time I go home.

On Saturday, the Beira district conference started with a couple sessions, first for the priesthood, and then a general session. I learned a lot of things about the importance of the organization of the church and counsels in the church; a lot of these things will help the Quelimane branch.  

On Sunday was the general session of district conference. It was packed, there were over 1000 people there! I got to see more people from Mascarenha too, so that was nice.   

Anyway, that was my week. It is really nice to be here in Beira again. Tomorrow (Tue)before we go back to Quelimane, we will have another zone conference. Elder Tad R. Callister, the Sunday School general president will be visiting, along with Elder Larry Gibson, First Counselor in the Young Men general presidency. I'm excited to hear them speak to us! 
I’ll tell you about that conference next week.  

Have a great week!

I love you all!!

Josh 

(This email from Josh is from 2/2/15)