Things are good!!!

Well Things are going good. This week was a good pick me up week. We found a lot of cool new people, Its been raining on and off which is always nice. Things are going good. I also found powerade in a random store in the middle or a bairro!!!!!!!!!! its expensive, but its worth it.

Yesterday Elder Dunkley and I taught the jovens at church. The lesson was on the hymn book. I actually learned a lot from it. Thats one of the great things about teaching, sometimes you learn more than you do when you get taught. But we read the preface to the hymn book and made a list of all the blessings that the first presidency promises from the hymn book. It was actually pretty cool. It also gave us a couple of hymns that we could read and study. Some talking about our Heavenly parents, and the pre earth life. A lot of cool things. Ive learned to really like the hymns. They really are a source of strength and happiness for when we are feeling weak or sad. But yeah just something i learned this week.

We still havent gotten our bikes, its really hard to find a store that sells them, so maybe well find them this week.

The area is doing good. Transfers are next week so we'll see what happens, Hopefully i stay so pray for me! :) I love you all! The church is true.

Love,

Elder Money

Pode Ninja

Hey yall,

so another week. Nothing too special. my comp and I have gotten the okay to get bikes!!! we're way stoked!! we just have to wait for the money to get here..... This last week we ran out of money so we were cooking everything we could with flour and sugar and milk cause thats all we had in the house, but it actually turned out pretty good. we made biscuits and gravy!

This week we had some good lessons. Something kinda funny that happened, We were teaching a lesson to a recent convert named Leonel and we were talking about faith. He asked that if we have faith, why cant we float in the air. I told him that if we had enough faith, we could. And he asked why we dont have enough faith to float, so i told him i did, and asked him if he wanted to see. so i stood up, and did a magic trick that i learned back home, where it makes it look like youre floating about an inch off of the ground, when in reality youre just lifting up your heels, but because of the angle, it looks like youre floating.... Well he was pretty amazed haha. He started calling me a Pode Ninja. He came to church yesterday and was asking me to teach him how i did it. and said that he had been up all night trying to figure out how to do it haha. I just keep telling him to read his scriptures and pray, and maybe he'll be able to do it one day :)

Things are going good. I love and miss you all. Youre in my prayers.

Love,

Elder Money

Miracles

Hey yall,

Things are going great. Our area has been blessed a ton this past week. I dont know what it is, but we must be doing something right. We met a bunch of new people that are way cool. I also found out this week, that Joana, One of my old investigators from cassequel accepted the invitation to be baptized. She believed that all churches were true. Her husband is a recent convert, and when Elder Hamilton walked with us, we went to their house. I guess he really is a man of God haha.

But yeah, things are going great. Im loving missionary work. Ive also learned that the harder you work, the faster time goes. So I plan on working as hard as i can for this last year! :)

We really are blessed when we learn to recognize the hand of the Lord in our lives. Its there, I promise. Sometimes we just have to work a little harder, or search a little more, and sometimes, all we have to do is ask. I hope that you all can recognize the Lord's hand in your life. I love you all. The church is true!

love,
Elder Money

Another Week in Lubango

Hey peeps,

Nothing too special this week. same old same old. Its rained a lot and doesn't look like its gonna stop. But i love the rain so its all good. We have a baptism this Saturday and one planned for later this month. Other than that, nothing really new. So i thought Id share with you guys something that my mission president taught me last time he was down here in Lubango.

He started off by telling us to think of who he was talking about.

This person left Jerusalem with their family

returned in search of the brass plates.

saw an angel.

lived in the wilderness

reached the great waters and built a ship.

and came to the promised land.

Who is it.....

Its Laman. I thought it was nNphi. and Nephi did these things too, but so did Laman. But we know that Laman was a bad person. so what was the difference..... What it came down to was their attitudes. Nephi did all those things with a "I will go and do" attitude, whereas Laman on the other hand did all those things with a "Because I have to" attitude. Its true what they say that "attitude determines altitude". Doing whats right for the wrong reasons doesn't cut it. We have to do it cause we want to. And when we have a positive attitude, our altitude will be a lot higher.

Have a positive attitude and NEVER complain. I love and miss you all.

Love,

Elder Money

Following pictures are from Elder Tingeys blog

Another Week

Hey everyone, This will be a short letter cause i don't have a lot of time, but things are going great! I'm loving Lubango! It rained every day this past week! I love it, except when it rains, it pours, and most of our lessons fall through.... but its still fun to walk in the rain. The other two elders that live with us, will be going to Huambo this week, so Elder Dunkley and I will have the house to ourselves! haha. Things are going great. I love and miss you all. Thank you all for your support!

love,

Elder Money

 

Gramps

A bittersweet week. I got a call from my mission president this week that my dear 'Gramps' had passed away. I was waiting for this day, and praying for it so that he could move on to a better place, but its still hard.

I have been especially grateful this week for the plan of salvation. I had the opportunity to teach the plan of salvation to an investigator the day i found out that Gramps passed away. That was a special experience. It really is a trial of your faith. But I'm glad to say that i do believe this plan. I am grateful for the knowledge of the plan of salvation. I know Gramps is in a better place. Hes happier, hes healthier, He's laughing more than ever with that great old laugh of his that we all know and love tss tss tss. :)

What a great example he was. His charity, he was always giving, even if it was old stale bread from the warehouse :) he was always serving others, Gramps could never stand to let someone else work when he wasn't. He was tougher than nails. I will miss him, everything about him, even his crazy stubbornness! haha. But every single one of my memories with gramps is a happy one, ones that will always be cherished. I love you gramps. Keep a look out on the family while I'm gone. Its not goodbye, but see you later. :)

So subir

I'm finally on the second half of my mission! I hear it goes faster than the first, we'll see I guess....

This week was pretty cool. We Hiked up to a place called Cristo Rei. Its on the tip of the mountain here and its a big statue of Christ. There are a couple ways to get up, one is to go up the road, which comes up from behind. but we don't have a car and it would take a long time, plus we wouldn't get to see anything cool along the way. The other way is to go to the front of the mountain and just walk up. We walked up to the base of the mountain, theres a bunch of little houses which are more like huts, around it. and then its just green... plants, trees, brush, etc. and then it gets really steep and its just rocks. We asked some people how to get to Cristo Rei and they told us ''So subir'' which means ''Just Climb''. So that's what we did. We started walking up. Theres no path to get up there, you kinda just make your own. So we started walking through the plants, then it got flat for a little bit and we walked around. it was awesome to look back and see how far we had walked, even though we still had a long ways left. We could always see where we wanted to go. It was just a matter of getting there. occasionally we'd stop look around, and say well where to now, and then somebody without fail would say ''So Subir'' so that's what we did haha. We just climbed. It was beautiful. We even found a chameleon along the way! and We finally made it to the top of Cristo Rei which looks out over all of Lubango. I thought of a quote that Reed gave me at the beginning of my mission. its something among the lines of:

''Out of all those who did it, there will be those who said 'I could've done it better' or those who would say 'i would've done it different' but in the end, all that really matters are those who actually did it.''

Its a lot like life. We know our destination - Eternal Life. Now its just a matter of getting there. There are a bunch of different ways to get there. All of us we'll have our trials. all of us will have to walk through the weeds, and plants, and trees. And some parts might get hard and all we can do is ''só Subir''. Thanks to the atonement, our sins can be forgiven. We CAN make it there. In the end, it doesnt matter what happened, as long as we get there!

Quero ver todos vocês la! :) Eu Amo vocês

Com Amor,

Elder Money

Translated: I want to see you all there! :) I love you all

 

 

 

Lubango!!!

Lubango is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love it!!!!!!!!!!!!! its a lot more like what i thought my mish would be. Its cooler. not to say that its cold, its still pretty hot, but its cooler than Luanda. It rains quite a bit here. but it hasn't rained super hard since I've got here. Its super green. theres goats walking around everywhere, cattle, a bunch of rivers. and its got cliffs that look like the ones behind our house in st George, but greener. Our house is really nice. except we have no air conditioning. its kind of annoying but we don't really need them. the landlords have two dogs. one is a big German Shepherd named lobo which means wolf and one is a golden retriever who's always barking named bolt. so we take meat out with us when we walk past them. lobo is really nice. and bolt is starting to warm up to us.... The branch is a lot smaller. we had 80 people at church yesterday which is quite a bit. we don't all fit into the sacrament room. I was going to play the piano, but the electricity isn't stable so if you hit more than three notes at once, the piano will turn off haha. so we'll see. there are 4 missionaries here in Lubango. we all live in the same house.

Well, I'm about to hit my year mark. I feel like i haven't been out that long, but at the same time i feel like i have forever left!! haha. time is weird on the mission. But I am so grateful for this past year. Its definitely been the hardest year of my life, but at the same time, one of the most rewarding. Ive learned a ton! The more I learn about the church, scriptures, and gospel, the more i realize how little i knew and how little i know now. I decided to make a list of some of the things I've learned and am learning up until now. Ive learned:

How to iron a shirt

cook more than just a grilled cheese

how to shop for groceries

Portuguese

Making my bed

Bucket Showers

to love to read

how to clean a toilet

Be grateful for tender mercies

Love the simple things

Do unto others as you would have done unto you

The gospel is a message of happiness and comfort

Recognizing the promptings of the Holy Ghost

Follow the promptings of the holy Ghost

Obedience brings blessings

Go out of your way to help others

appreciate the beauty around you

How great America is

How blessed I am

These are just a few of the things i have learned have finally understood. I will be forever grateful for this year of my life and I am excited for the one ahead. I love you all. Thanks for your support. The Gospel blesses lives. The Church is true.

Love,

Elder Money

 

Pics taken from Elder Cafferty's blog

 

Elder Hamilton/Lubango!!

So a lot happened this week!

First off, Elder Hamilton came and all the Elders from the provinces came up for Mission conference. It was awesome. Elder Hamilton talked about some of the problems we address as missionaries here in Angola and talked about possible solutions to those problems and what we as missionaries can do better to help establish The Church here in Angola.

Walking with Elder Hamilton! It was an awesome experience. I was super nervous!!!!! one because hes a general authority, and two because no one likes to sit with us in the mornings, so I didn't think we'd have anyone to sit with. But we were able to find some people to teach. We taught a young girl named F..., She was baptized when she was 9 but never had a testimony and never comes to church. Elder Hamilton speaks french and Spanish so he understands quite a bit, cant speak Portuguese though. So we translated for him. We taught the lesson, and at the end. He asked a couple of questions. They were super simple questions, but super powerful. You can definitely tell that he has the Spirit with him. Then we Went and taught a family. The dad, A...., was baptized when I got here in August, and already has the Melchizedek Priesthood. Super awesome guy. But his wife, J...., is super religious, has already read the BOM, but never comes to church. She believes church is in the Heart. We had an amazing lesson with them. And after they asked if Elder Hamilton could give a blessing to their grandson, who was a little sick. So he had A.... do the first part, and towards the end, antonio was so emotional that he could barely talk. Then Elder Hamilton sealed the blessing and I translated. Again, super simple, but very powerful. When he finished, A.... had tears running down his cheeks, and J.... was crying so bad she couldn't even look up. Then they cooked us a little snack and that was that. It was a wonderful learning experience that I'll never forget.

And we found out transfers today. I will be leaving Cassequel and going to Lubango! I am sooo excited! The provinces are where all the missionaries want to go. There are only 4 missionaries in all of Lubango. My new companion will be Elder Dunkley and Ill be DL. I'm looking forward to it. I get out of Luanda for the hot season, but i hear its raining a ton down there :)

Next email will be from Lubango! Love you all!

love,

Elder Money


Pictures taken from Elder Cafferty's blog

 

Picture with Elder Hamilton

Mission Tour

First off, Congrats to Ryan and Ashley on their new baby!!! And Happy Birthday to The Best Mom in the World!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :)

Things in the area are going alright. We've got a couple of cool new investigators, so we'll see how things go with them but we're still working on finding. Other than that, not a whole lot is new. This week is Mission conference and Elder Hamilton from the quorum of the 70 is coming to Angola.

I finally got the new Ensign with the General conference talks from October. And I was reading through them. And I read the story from Elder S. Gifford Nielsen, Hastening the Lord's Game Plan. And he tells the story of how he called a lady in his stake and he called her and her son answered the phone and asked who it was, and he said tell your mom its President Nielsen. and the son put down the phone and yelled, ''Mom! its President Hinckley!!!'' and then he went on to ask ''What would you do if the Prophet of the Lord really called on you?'' and i thought to myself yeah, that would be pretty crazy. and then on Sunday, that question kind of became a reality....

I was at church on Sunday and President and Sister Merrill showed up. At the end of sacrament, President Merrill came up to me and grabs me and pulls me aside and says as you know, Elder Hamilton is coming this Wednesday, I said yeah, and he said on Friday, He will be doing comp study with you and your companion and then will be walking with you for 2-3 hours!!! That question has a lot more meaning to me now haha. I'm excited, but nervous at the same time! It'll be an awesome experience, I just hope we don't do anything dumb! And it will be cool to give him a taste of what we go through every day. He's a brave man that's for sure. So wish me luck!! And ask yourselves the question, What would you do if the prophet of the Lord really called on you?

Love,

Elder Money