Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Week 23-- General Conference in Quelimane - Oct. 19 & 20


Week 23--10/21/13 

“...Everyone was listening intently to the words of President Monson during his talk, and afterwards the choir sang We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet, and people here were singing along in Portuguese. I really felt their testimonies as they sang that song, the spirit was really strong

Dear family, 

As always, I'm so happy to read your individual messages for me every week. Do the days go by as fast for you as they do for me? Haha. Anyway, it sounds like everyone had a good week. 

Jacob: I'm glad you had a good week at school. Those animals that you saw sound really cool. You would think I see snakes and crazy spiders all the time, but I don't actually. There are roaches from time to time, many lizards, and small frogs. I think I've seen a snake once, and it was a small gardner snake, like you could find back home. I haven't seen any crazy animal or bug here, but when I do, I will let you know and send you a picture. Halloween is coming up soon, it's in 10 days. Did you decide what you're going to dress up as? People don't have Halloween here. Unfortunately, there aren't really good holiday traditions here that I know of yet. 

Our new house
I imagine you guys were surprised to hear that we're living in the church complex now. I will send you pictures. It is nice living in the church. The only thing here that isn't very nice is the water pressure, which is really weak. But this is Africa, and this house is really-really nice in comparison to other houses here, including our old one. It is a lot safer too. There is a guard here at the church. And if someone wanted to get in, they would not only have to get past the guard, they would also have to get past three other doors with deadbolts and padlocks. I definitely feel very safe here.

Our investigators
This past week went well. Our families are still doing well. Marcelino and Aida will be getting married and baptized on November 2. We wanted to do it this coming Saturday, the 26th, but we had delays with a few documents. But now, we have obtained all the documents necessary to submit to the civil register here. After submitting them, there is a certain waiting period before the marriage can be performed, that is why we will be doing the wedding on the 2nd. We are hoping that the other two couples can get married and baptized in the month of November as well, but they still do not have firm dates. Hopefully in this coming week, we can get them to commit to marriage and baptism. As always, the members have been a great help as they accompany us to lessons during the week. I hope my other future areas will have members that are so willing to help like we have here in Quelimane. 


General Conference in Quelimane
This past Saturday and Sunday we watched General Conference. We had about 40 people come on Saturday, and 110 on Sunday.  I really enjoyed it! This conference had many talks with similar themes. I really enjoyed talks about missionary work, of course. I wanted to share one thing that I learned from watching conference. I will share it in Portuguese. 
O Elder Ballard disse que se queremos compartilhar o evangelho com mais pessoas, temos que falar com mais pessoas cada dia. Isso e verdade. As vezes, enquanto andando na rua, eu deixo uma pessoa me passar sem falando com ela, porque eu penso que aquela pessoa nao estaria interessado em ouvindo nossa mensagem. Mas eu nunca vai saber sem primeiro falando com aquela pessoa, dando-lhe a opportunidade para ouvir a mensagem. Eu sei que se falamos com mais pessoas cada dia, vamos encontrar aqueles que estao prontos para aceitar o evangelho. 
The members and investigators who came really enjoyed the conference as well. At the end of the Sunday morning session, everyone was listening intently to the words of President Monson during his talk, and afterwards the choir sang We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet, and people here were singing along in Portuguese. I really felt their testimonies as they sang that song, the spirit was really strong.

I know that we have prophets and apostles in our day who speak the things the Lord would have us hear and I know that following the words of our prophets will protect us from temptation and enable us to have happy families. I'm so very grateful that I'm here in Mozambique sharing the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know it is a huge sacrifice, leaving behind my life back home for two years, including music. I'm grateful for you guys and the sacrifice this mission has required of you too, letting me come all the way out here for two years, not to mention the financial sacrifice as well. I love you guys sooooooo much, and I can feel your love and your prayers for me every day. I know you are always thinking of me. Thank you. 

 I hope you all have a fun, happy, healthy week!!! Until next week!

 Obrigado!

Elder Rebollo


P.S You guys can still send me handwritten letters from time to time; it will be a nice surprise when they finally get to me. I would encourage others in the ward to do the same. It may be weeks or months until I see them, but it's always nice to have a hand written letter.  You will still need to send any package to the mission office, and they will get it to me.

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