7/28/2014 Matola
“…our work went really well this week too, even though we spent a
lot of time with this wedding. We had to work extra hard to reach our goals for
lessons and contacts. But we reached them. Even with all the challenges, I was
really happy with everything that happened this week.”
Hello everyone
This past week was really
good and also really busy. The wedding and baptism on Saturday went super
well. It was a small ceremony, and not many people were there, but it didn't
really matter. The couples, Inacio and Efegenia, were extremely happy.
She was crying almost through the whole ceremony. After they were
married by the branch president, they cut the cake and everyone got a piece. It
was a good cake, but we went through a
lot of trouble to get it, which I will explain late in this email. After an
interval to take pictures in front of the church, they changed from their
wedding clothes into baptism outfits and were baptized. A member, named Mario,
baptized them. Also a 9yr child son of a member family was also baptized. It
was a beautiful service, and it was a very nice day too. The weather has been
great these days, no rain, and mild temperatures. After the wedding and
baptism, the couple went home and there was a lunch for them and family and
friends, and we were invited too. Four other elders from our district came
along too.
Afterward, we went to this restaurant called Meggi's. it was so good. We had grilled piri piri chicken with potatoes and salad. It was probably
the best chicken I've had in Mozambique. We will definitely have to go
back another day. Also, on Friday, (I knew we could not resist for too
long) after district meeting, most of us went out to KFC. KFC here is really
good too. And it's not too expensive compared to other restaurants. Being
an American franchise, here in Africa, it's cool that it's only a 5 minute walk
away from our house. It was fun to spend time with the other elders going out
to eat this week.
Now more about what we
went through to try to help with the wedding.
We had to make arrangements to get a wedding dress for
Efegenia. The church here in Matola and Maputo owns some donated
wedding dresses from the US that are used for wedding ceremonies so
couples don't have to spend money on them. The only thing was that we
didn't know where exactly the wedding dresses were being stored. We called
around and found out they were in T3 (my previous area), because of the
weddings that happened there the past couple weeks, including Antonio and
Anita's wedding. So on Thursday Elder Keck and I went out to T3 to get the
dresses. It was nice to pass by my old area again; it felt like coming home
haha. So later that afternoon we brought the wedding dresses to the chapel for
her to try on. A sister from the relief society was also there to help her. But
it turned out that none of the 4 dresses that we had brought fit her well. So
we called around again and found more dresses in Maputo. So on Friday morning
we went out to the office to get them. Thankfully, it didn't take too long. So
we got back with the dresses and called the bride to come and try them on. But it turned out that Efegenia's godmother
(here, couples pick godparents for weddings) had already rented a dress for
her.
So after all that work
and time invested running all over town, we found out that she didn't need to check all those dresses after
all! And that's not all, haha. We were also in charge for the wedding cake.
Elder Keck said that he had made a wedding cake before for another wedding and
it turned out well, so we decided to let him make the wedding cake. So on that
same day, on Friday we stayed in in the afternoon to make the cake. Elder
Roberts and Elder Palu were helping us out too. We wanted to make a two layer
cake, one layer white and the other chocolate, and we made frosting also. Things
seemed to be going fine until…they tried to stack the cake layers. Yeah, the whole
thing fell apart!
Elders Keck and Palu
tried frantically to save it, but it was no use. So they ended up having to run to Shoprite, the local food store, and bought a cake from the bakery. Finally, a nice looking cake. But it was nice of Elder Keck in trying to do this for the couple, too bad, it didn't turned out right.
During all that time, I was on a
division with Elder Roberts in his area so I could interview the 9yr old that
was going to be baptized. It was the first baptismal interview that I
conducted. It went really well. The young boy was really smart and
excited to be baptized.
So yeah, we had a crazy
week getting ready for the wedding; our patience and will to succeed was tested,
but in the end it was all well worth it. I felt so good to see that the couple
was very happy.
The rest of our work went
really well this week too, even though we spent a lot of time with this wedding
stuff. We had to work extra hard to reach our goals for lessons and contacts.
But we reached them. I was really happy with everything that happened this
week. We have a couple other families that are progressing well that we'll be
helping with marriage documents this week and hopefully they can get baptized
by the end of August. The area I am in has a lot of potential and a lot of
families. We just need to work hard so we can find the ones that are prepared
to hear the gospel. Things in my district are going well too. Everyone in the
house is getting along and all the other companionships are working hard.
Church yesterday was good; there were almost 200 people there. This is a strong
branch with good leadership. I'm super happy to be here in Matola 1. And I'm
excited for this coming week of work.
Thanks for your letter
and for your encouragement. I can't believe how fast the time is going by. I
try to do my best every day, since I know my time here is getting shorter. I
hope you guys have a good week
Love you!!
Josh
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