Week 54-- Swaziland is now part of our mission

“The First Presidency of the Church has announced that our Mission has been realigned...the beautiful country of SWAZILAND was added in our mission…”

Hi Guys!

I always look forward to reading your letters. That's nice you got a break for Memorial Day, I always get surprised when I hear about holidays back home, I always think "already?" haha, my concept of time has changed on the mission.

Our mission President sent this message to you and to all the mission which in part says: 

“The First Presidency of the Church has announced that our Mission has been realigned.
Starting effective today, besides the Country of Mozambique, the beautiful country of SWAZILAND was added to our mission; (Swaziland) is located to the south border of Mozambique, and about 1:40 min. by car from Maputo (130km).
This country has 1.2 million people, it's is a Monarchy and a very safe and stable place. We have there one District with 4 branches and one group- About 1350 members, two beautiful chapels, 14 wonderful  missionaries and one incredible Senior Couple Missionaries …”

So, I just barely learned about this today, it was a big surprise to all the missionaries. I think that's really cool and it will be interesting to see how the mission adjusts to include another country again (Angola used to be part of this mission until last year’s realignment). I am very excited about this news.

We had a really good week. We found a lot of new investigator families and saw progress with our existing  group of investigators. This week will be the last one of the transfer, and we won't be having any more baptisms to end it off, but the way things are going, there will be at least a couple family who may join the church next month. Antonio and Anita are really close to finishing up their documents. Sergio and Cecilia this week accepted to get married and be baptized; they will likely be baptized during the next few weeks also. We are also teaching Tina, (she is the girlfriend of Manuel, one of the members) They want to get married and he would like her to be baptized the same day as the wedding. 

We visited another couple this week as well. They had been having a problem because her family didn't want her to get married at this time, and to wait until the end of the year or even next year.  We suggested for them to do their documents to legalize their marriage, and then later they can have a celebration with the family when they can organized a big family celebration, instead of waiting for so long. They seem to be willing to do this--We understand that her family won't approve of this plan but she wants to go ahead and get married and join the Church--we'll see how that goes.  This is how the traditions of the world are different than the ways of the Lord, He wants everyone of us to come unto him and keep his commandments now instead of later, those who obey the Lord will enjoy his blessing now instead of later.

On Sunday Sister Hobson came to church carrying a blue bag. Yep, it was the stuff that you left with the Heatons to bring me. The Hobson’s said that the Heaton’s wanted to come to the church in T3 to give me the stuff in person so they could meet me. but in the end they could not make it here- Please tell them thank you for me and that I really appreciate them and for bringing those things.  
After they handed me the package, it was a little hard to go through 3 hours of church without opening it, but I managed to wait until I got home haha. I love everything you guys sent me with the Heaton’s! Those socks are super nice. I'm wearing a pair of them right now, they are sooo soft, it's like I'm walking on air haha! I'm super excited to read conference talks as part of my personal studies during this week. And that inflatable lantern thing is really cool; I’ve never seen anything like that before. I already used the little flashlight. That night we had a family night at the house of a member and the power went out for a few minutes, but that flashlight illuminated the place really well. 

Anyway, on next Monday, I will find out if I get to stay here another 6 weeks or not. I'm at the end of my 5th transfer here. I'm been here almost 7 months, longer than any other elder in my district; it's a long time for an missionary to stay in an area. So maybe I'll end up getting transferred next week. I know it's probably time for me to go to a different area, but I really would like to stay to hopefully see these families join the church and enjoy Heavenly Fathers blessings. Either way, I’m happy with how the work is going here.  I'm excited to continue working hard next transfer, whether it is here or somewhere else.

Well, I hope you have a good week and have fun with the family as always. Tell Grandma thank you for thinking of me, and please tell her I love her too!

Until next Monday,

Love, Josh