We moved to our new house, which is a lot closer to the church

Week 22 -- 10/14/2013

"Church was great! Once again, about 120 people were present. When I got here a little over 3 months ago, the number was constant at about 70-75, so it is really cool to see the growth that has happened."

Bom dia, Familia!!

I LOVED the pictures you sent me! I always love fall in Utah. The pictures you sent of the mountains are so awesome. Not until I saw those pics did I realize how much I miss seeing the mountains so close by. There are no mountains in sight here. But its ok, Mozambique is also very beautiful... And very hot lately too! Yesterday was 40 degrees Celsius or about 105 Fahrenheit, plus humidity! Luckily all the classrooms in the church have air conditioners or fans. 

I'm glad that you guys had fun this weekend. I was laughing hard when I saw those pics of Hunter! I'm surprised you were able to take so many pictures of him without him running away. He looks good, I hope he stays healthy. It's kind of sad to see dogs here, most of them are in pretty bad shape. People here don't treat their animals very well. 

Dad, thank you for keeping me updated on the football. I was so happy to hear that Utah won that big game! I'm glad that BYU is doing well too. I do hope the weather will be good enough to go to at least one game this season.

Transfers are three weeks from today. Last transfer I felt 100percent certain that I would stay in Quelimane. This time, I'm not so sure. I think I will be moved to another area, sadly. I have really loved Quelimane, the city, the people, and everything. I love my mission! I can't believe I've already been out for 5 months! I'm almost 1/4 of the way through, and I feel like I just barely started! 2 years really is not a lot. 

Moving to a new place

So on Saturday, we moved to our new house, which is a lot closer to the church. That's because we now live IN the church complex! On Monday we called President Kretly about changing houses and he directed us to move into the church and live there, as the Osborns had. So on Saturday we made the move, taking everything from our house to the church. It was definitely not easy. There was a ton of stuff we had to move between the house and the church. Thankfully, our old house was only a few minutes- walk away from the church, plus we had the truck to haul things, two people helped up, Rocha and Marcelino, our investigator. It took all day on Saturday to move all the things (including all tables, beds, shelves, etc and put them in the church. It took a lot of work to get to the point where church could be held the next day without a bunch of our stuff in the way. We are still not done. There is still a lot of organizing to do. But most of the hard work is done. Living in the church is definitely an upgrade, though. The bedroom is bigger and nicer, the kitchen is nicer, the floors are tile and wood, instead of just concrete. Plus, we are right in the church, which is convenient for everything that we have to do. Unfortunately, the move made it so we couldn't go out and work on Saturday or Sunday. I'm hoping this next week will be normal without any surprises that will take us away from working for a whole day.

Church attendance

Church was great! Once again, about 120 people were present. When I got here a little over 3 months ago, the number was constant at about 70-75, so it is really cool to see the growth that has happened. Sacrament meeting yesterday was the primary program. They did really good! The kids sang three songs, and there were three little talks given. I played piano along with them to help them with their singing. They sang I am a child of God, A child's prayer, and another one I forgot. I'm sure Jacob knows these songs too. It reminded me of my primary programs back home that I participated in. Jacob, enjoy and appreciate all the time you have in primary and all the great things you learn and get to do. I wish I could go back to that time haha. Next week we will be showing General Conference on Saturday and Sunday. Luckily, since we are living in the church now, we will be able to make sure throughout the week that everything is set up right. We are planning on each of the days to show 2 sessions, with a little break in between where we'll have something for people to eat, so they don't get too tired. I'm looking forward to watching it. 

Our investigators

With our teaching this week, our investigators are still moving along well. We have three families with really great potential: Marcelino/Aida, Gertulio/Antonia, and Paulino/Fatima. All of them need to get married before baptism, but I believe all of them will within the next month or two. The thing we really need to focus on this next week is finding even more families with potential like them. I really believe the secret is in the members;  out of the three couples I mentioned, only one was a family that we found by knocking doors. The others came to us, by references or by having some other sort of contact with the church previously. We believe that every member here knows at least one family, whether it be friends or family members, who is ready to receive the gospel. For this reason, we always ask for references from the members and ask for their help while teaching. I believe having the members help us in teaching appointments has made all the difference and it is the reason that we have so many investigators with strong potential.

When sending a package whether it’s you or anyone interested in sending anything, it should be sent to the mission office in Maputo. They will get it to me from there, wherever I may be. 

Well, have a great week, everyone!!! I love you so much!!!!!!!!!! Thanks again for the pictures; I'll try to send you some next week!

Elder Rebollo