Coca Cola

Hey Guys!

Things going good here in Luanda. Just sweating like crazy! Shout out to Elders Brown, Cafferty, Clifford, Hyde, and Stewart who go home this week. 

This was a pretty good week. Nothing new really. Cool story: Coca Cola is doing a give away thing where you enter in a code on the back of coca cola cans and win prizes. This game is perfect for the missionaries who walk the streets all day long, buying coke and finding them on the sidewalk haha. I won a t shirt. Some other Elders won a 42 inch flat screen LG TV!! They ended up giving it to a member in our branch named Cordencio. Hes an amazing member. He always walks with the missionaries and has one of the strongest testimonies i know. The Lord works in mysterious ways i guess! :) But he does bless those who serve him.

Things are going good. I love and miss you all. Thanks for all the support. Keep in touch. Love you!!

Love,

Elder Money

May 18

Mom,

Sounds like an exciting week. Sorry we didn't write earlier. we had mission conference on Monday and yesterday the Internet was down. we found a new cyber where the Internet works but its pretty ghetto. theres a ton of cockroaches running all over my keyboard haha. Wish i could have been there for jess's farewell, oh well. Ill be there for her homecoming. I had to give a talk in church on Sunday. not one of my better talks. the branch president came up to me on Saturday and asked me to give it. i talked about the culture of the gospel and the culture of Angola..... Things are going good though. we had a good week, a busy week.

Mission conference was good. Elder Renlund is a very nice sincere man. He taught us a lot of good things. The church has all the missionaries take a survey before and then the General Authorities talk about what was on the survey. the main thing they talked about was recognizing the Spirit. oh, we also had a leadership meeting where we talked about the survey. one missionary put that he felt like he never feels the spirit..... So kinda interesting.... I dont know who it is though. Poor kid. They also talked a lot about studying and learning the language. Nothing too special. they did a good job though. he told some cool and some funny stories. President Merrill is awesome. I believe that a huge reason why i was called here, was so that he could be my mission pres. Ive learned so much from him. He is so loving and so humble. I really enjoyed his talk and testimony. And then on p'day yesterday we played soccer with all the missionaries. that was fun. we got transfers. I'm staying in my area with the same comp. which I'm happy about. 

I've been thinking about home a lot lately... trunky! haha. so I'm trying not to think about home as much. Things here are going good though. The work is kinda slowing down.so we gotta keep working on that. maybe its cause I'm living with elder brown who goes home next week! haha. but yeah. trying to stay focused.

I love you mom.Thanks for all you do. 

Love,

your little boy

Mothers Day

Happy mothers day to all the moms! It was awesome to talk to you all. You guys all look great!!

I just wanted to say how grateful I am for my mom and my family in general. I often ask myself why i was so lucky and so blessed with such a great family. I don't know what i did to deserve it, but whatever it was, I'm grateful for it. I often think of how awesome the Gospel is and its so awesome because it is focused on the family. I know that families are blessed when raised in the Gospel. I'm so grateful for parents, especially my mom, who taught me right from wrong from day 1. 

Ill always remember the time I stole some small little cars from a friend when i was about 5 and my mom found out and took me down to the police station at 10 o clock at night. She didn't give me the easy way out either, I had to walk in there and talk to that officer face to face hahaha. I look back on that experience with a smile and gratitude. Its things like that and the good examples I've had that have brought me out here, so that others can share of these same blessings.

I love you all. Especially my mom. Thanks for everything. You're always in my prayers. Happy mothers day!!!!

love,

Elder Money

Another fast Sunday

Oi familia,

Things are going good in Luanda. Its really hot and it rains a lot. but its all good. Thanks for the emails. Those are always nice to read, and i am sooo happy that you all are doing well and in good hands. Ive been thinking about you all a lot this past week.

Another fast Sunday. Ive come to really love fast Sundays. Ive come to really love the church. I finally found enough time to watch General Conference. I thought there were some really good talks. I really liked Hollands that talks about being a disciple of Christ. There's a common belief here that if we have faith, if we believe in Christ, we'll be saved. THAT DRIVES ME NUTS!!!!!!!! I cant stand it when people say that. And i always thought to myself how is it that people can really think that ''church is in the heart''. I really liked how Elder Holland explained man creating God in his own image. We were talking about some of the churches here and they're more like a social get together than a church. And people love them. People don't want a god that demands a lot. They want a ''comfortable'' one. One that will let them do whatever they want. Ive come to realize that it isn't about what we want. Its about what God wants. And what he wants, we have to do. 3 hours of church on Sunday, 10 percent, fulfilling a calling, serving a two year mission, it may all seem like a lot but is it really? The more we come to accept Gods hand in our life, the more we will be not only willing, but desire to give back all that we can. And when we reach that point is when our lives will be truly blessed. Our God is not a passive God. He demands a lot of us. I remember a picture that Ashley had in her room that had a picture of Christ that said ''I never said it would be easy, I said that it will be worth it.'' Sometimes we don't want to go to church on Sunday. Sometimes we don't want to do this or that. There are laws that we have to obey if we want to live with our families forever in the Kingdom of God, and those laws cannot be obeyed by sitting on our couch watching TV. 

Sometimes the mish can be frustrating :) haha. But its teaching me patience. I love you all. I love this church. I Love good, faithful members.

love,

Elder Money