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

Terra Nova

Transfers!

I'm being transferred to Terra Nova. I have mixed emotions about it. I'm leaving one of the areas that everyone wants to serve in and going to the area that no one wants to serve in! haha. Its the ghetto of Angola, but I'm excited. You're not a real missionary in Angola unless you serve in Terra Nova. My new comp is Elder Yeonoplos. I lived with him in Cassequel. Hes Cool so I'm excited to serve with him. 

When I got here, My comp and I white washed the area. So we started from scratch. We had nothing. We spent most of our time knocking doors and trying to talk to people on the streets, not my favorite part of missionary work. We created goals and one of our goals was to get the members trust. And that is where the majority of our success has come from. Its an awesome feeling to have started from nothing, had as much success as we have had, and have an area that is doing amazing. I've met some awesome people down here and I'm sad to leave them, but I'm grateful for the experience that I've had. 

Next time ill write you guys ill be back in Luanda. Keep me in your prayers. love you guys!

Love,

Elder Money

Mom,

Sounds like your week was awesome!!! Iuki wrote me. Mccallister sent me a pic of all you together. I love that kid. Hes a hoot. He always made me laugh. and we had a ton of success together. That's way funny about the scripture he shared with you guys hahaha. That's awesome about the BBQ Glad all went well. .

So... A lot to tell you. This week was good. Our area is killing it! But I'm leaving haha. Its been a super rewarding feeling though to start from literally nothing and now have our area doing as well as it is doing. We've had two baptisms. We have 5 baptismal dates and well probably get one more this week and we have a family that just needs to get married. Things are going great. I'm sad to leave it, but at the same time, I'm excited. Ill be going to Terra Nova. Its the Ghetto of Angola. None of the missionaries want to serve there haha.... Its where Elder Chandler got stabbed. and another missionary got stabbed as well haha.... But ill be safe no need to worry, just keep praying for me. My new comp is Elder yeonoplos. Hes from AZ. Hes super cool. Probably one of the chillest Elders here. So I'm excited to serve with him. And we'll be the ZLs. so that will be a cool learning experience.  I'm gonna miss this area though. But I was thinking about it and i think this change is better for me and i Ended on one of the best weeks of my mish. Ive learned a ton down here in lubango. So I'm happy :) packing will be a pain.

What else.... Not a whole lot. How are things at home. Anything new going on. Hows the fam. Hope everything is going good. Oh. we met some kids who are from another church. they're our age. they're way cool kids. And we always talk about them coming to church but they tell us we have to go to their church first haha we told them that we would... but we always talk to them and the other day a bunch of our lessons fell through and so we sat down and talked to them for a while about soccer and other things and we planned a soccer game. we played on Saturday. It was sooooo much fun. We played full field. and our church won:) 5-2. Haha my legs got burnt.... Also we went over to Joaquims yesterday (lassallettes bro) we go over there every Sunday now.... Hes super awesome. Ive really grown to like him and his son Wilson. Wilson we've been working on and has started coming back to church, which is awesome cause hes super smart and can help the branch a ton. Joaquim and him have such strong testimonies of the church. They both believe that its true and have some super amazing stories. ill have to tell you about them when i get home.... or you could ask lassalette and iuki. but they're super cool. i hope that joaquim will start coming back to church... well see though. anyways things are going great... good news is ill be able to skype you from Luanda so the Internet should be better.... And i can skype at night so that you guys will be home from church. no worries. well figure it out. love you mom.

love,

your little boy

April 7

Mom,

we had another great week. we didn't get to watch general conference, but we watched part of the woman's conference at an investigators house. i looked for you guys but didn't see you... We had some good lessons. we marked 4 baptismal dates. so things are going good. Luisa and one of her daughters came to church yesterday. after church, she came up to me and told me she liked it a lot. then i heard her talking to some members and she told them that she felt a great peace inside of her.... I was soooo happy to hear that!!! shes awesome. were going over there tonight to have a family night. should be fun. After church we had some lessons than we went to lassallettes bros house. hes doing good. he can walk and everything, he just has to take it easy. we had a good talk with them. found out a little more about his conversion story and how the church started here in Lubango. They talked about being led by the spirit without realizing it... which i have gained a testimony of on the mish. Like you say and theres a quote from Marion g Romney that says something like i know when I'm being led by the spirit cause i learn something from what i say. That happens to me a lot on the mish. when afterwards I'm just like wow i never thought of that before.... but yeah things are going great. transfers are next week!! i would like to stay, but i wont be too sad if i leave. i just wanna stay for Luisa and her fam.... but whatever happens I'm cool with. 

We have another investigator named Teodoro. i think I've told you a little bit about him. hes an older guy. His wife is the head of the women in the Methodist church. I swear he already has a testimony, but hes afraid to leave cause of his family.... but were working on him. hes progressing slowly but surely. Hes super cool. Hes older though and has some pains in his back. It starts in his lower back and wraps around to his sides... He has a problem with his hip as well. I told him id ask reed about it... so if you have any ideas on what it is haha..... but he says hes gonna go to Namibia to have a good doctor look at it. so well see. keep him in your prayers... 

Luisa made me laugh this week shes finally starting to understand that this is the only true church... she was talking about the catholic church and saying how she doesn't believe in what they believe and is looking for a new church and we explained priesthood to her and she asked us where did the pope get his priesthood from. she thought it was a really clever question, until we told her that he didn't have it haha. she looks at us and was shocked. she said, if he doesn't have the priesthood, than who does he think he is telling people what to believe haha. it was pretty funny. her kids ask the cutest questions. 

I forgot to tell you a story last week.... but in the middle of the night, I wake up and Elder Gran, one of the other elders we live with is in our room looking out our window and he says someone is outside of our house.... hes freaking out... he said he heard someone banging on our door so we got up look out the windows we cant see anything we lock the door, and went back to bed.... turns out there was a group of teenagers in the middle of the night that were going around to peoples houses and banging on the doors... but they didn't knock on our door, it was our neighbors haha. but yeah..

So yeah things are going good. lovin the mish. excited for transfers. love you all. ill try and download the priesthood session. love you guys!!!

love,

your little boy

Busy Busy Busy

This past week was awesome. We found some awesome new people! We had ton of lessons this past week. Things are going great. Ive never been so tired in my life! haha. But its all good. I'm loving it!

The area is doing amazing. Its crazy to think that we whitewashed this area and see how much success were having. Its super rewarding to see how far we've come.

I never thought i could feel so much love for complete strangers. I love love love the two new families we started teaching this past week! they are awesome!! My testimony on the mish has grown so much. Its awesome to see the change that comes in peoples lives when they find the Gospel. Its a huge testimony builder to me. Its funny how many people call us ´´men of God´´. People here have so much faith. I love it. My faith has grown so much. The gospel is true. It changes and blesses lives! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Money

March 23

Mae,

Really liked your guys emails this week. good stories. and updates. 

We had zone conference on Saturday. all the elders from Huambo, the other province, and the aps and pres and sis came down to Lubango. We had 10 elders sleeping in our house for 3 days!! it was a blast. we got to do divisions and walk together. it was way fun. President and sister got robbed last week in my old area!!! they were driving down the road taking one of the new Mozambicans to his area. and some 5 guys circled their car while they were in traffic, 3 of them had guns. and they took their iPhone and their money and sisters purse! pretty crazy. but they're ok. we also went to this restaurant and ate all these crazy foods. we had crocodile, onix, and boar. it was way fun to have all the elders down here. President had interviews with the lubango elders. it was awesome to have them down here. President talked a little bit about our spiritual age and i remember a time that i told reed i was going to be spiritually older than him after we both died... i didn't realize what that meant at the time hahaha, but tell him to keep progressing or ill catch up to him ;) 

Things are going good here. Jorge did get baptized. hes doing really good. He loved his baptism. the branch is working really hard to keep him active and bring him in. Hes loving it. we cooked lunch at his house this past week. we cooked normal rice and we bought this chicken from the store and we found this sauce that is a sweet and spicy sauce.... its wayyyyy good. 

The areas going good. That investigator that was in the same room as lassallettes bro is doing good. hes really old. and still hasn't come to church. but he told us that he believes these things are true... i think hes afraid cause his whole family is Methodist and his wife is the head of the women in the Methodist church here in Lubango. but well still keep working with him. 

were going to tundavala today so that ll be fun. its been raining on and off this past week. i love it. Things are going great. time is flying by. One thing you guys could do for me, is if you hear any good talks you can tell me which one they are or send me the link and i can look them up and download the audio on to my pindrive. I've been doing that a lot lately... i found a talk about patriarchal blessings and it really helped me appreciate mine more. which is one thing i struggle with. it was a talk by pres. Faust. also i was thinking about maybe getting Gramps patriarchal blessing.... but yeah just a thought.

Love you guys! thanks for all the support. things are going great! miss you.

love,

ATM aka Elder Money aka SuperMan aka Teu Filho

Zone Conference

So this week We had Zone Conference. We had all the Huambo Elders, the Assistants, and President and Sister come down. 10 Elders sleeping in the same house for the weekend! It was way fun. Normally there are only 4 Elders here in lubango so it was nice to have 10. It was like a small army walking down the road.

Sister Merrill talked about feeling inadequate and how we are better than we think we are and we should be filled with love for ourselves and our companions. She said that we wouldn't stand in front of someone and tell them everything that's wrong about that person, so we shouldn't do it to ourselves.

President talked about the brother of Jared and Enos and how they were "Master Learners" and how we should strive to become master learners so that we can become master teachers.

We had a leadership meeting. It was good. We talked about our numbers and where we can improve and what needs to be fixed here in Lubango and Huambo. But things are going good.

We got to eat crocodile, onix, and boar. The weather is perfect right now. It rains a little bit every so often. and its always nice and cool. loving the mish. love you all.

love,

Elder Money

Jorge

Things are going good. No complaints. The weather is awesome, areas doing well. same old same old.

This Saturday we have a baptism of a guy named Jorge... Hes an awesome guy. hes a reference from one of the members. We started teaching him about 3 months ago. When we started teaching him, you could tell something wasn't right he had a bad problem with drinking and drugs. He couldn't sit still and was always really nervous and timid. He said that he wanted to turn his life around. We taught him and that's exactly what he did. Hes become a new person! Hes a lot more calm and happier. Hes super smart and understands the Book of Mormon really well. He especially loves the story of Lehis dream of the tree of life. Its amazing to see the change that has happened in his life, even his family and friends have noticed it. He has a super strong testimony of the Book of Mormon. If you could see Jorge from the first time we sat with him and where hes at now, you wouldn't believe it. Hes stopped drinking and the use of drugs completely. And he says whenever hes feeling weak he just reads The Book of Mormon and he no longer has the desire to do those things. Its awesome to see the change that the Gospel has in people's lives. The Book of Mormon really does give us strength.

O evangelho muda as vidas! (the gospel changes lives!)

Elder Money

Transfers, why not?

Transfers this week...

I'm staying in Lubango which is awesome. And Elder Dunkley and I are companions for a 3rd transfer. Its a long time, but I'm excited.

Things are going good though, The A.P.s came down this week. We got to go on a division with them. I went with Elder Clifford, and Elder Dunkley went with Elder Hyde. They gave us some motivational speeches haha, it was kind of a joke but they had a good point. They talked about how we need to have faith before the miracle. And how we should have an attitude that we're going to find someone who is searching for the Gospel every day. They always posed the question ''Why not?''

Why wouldn't we find a family that day, or why wouldn't we baptize 5 people this transfer. It was funny, but at the same time, its a good point. We changed our attitude and the miracles are coming.

Elder Dunkley and Elder Hyde did a lot of finding, one guy they found is named Arifat. They knocked his door. He told them that that morning he said a prayer that someone would help him in his life. Hes going through a hard time. He left his wife because she had an abortion and didn't tell him. he has 3 other kids. and he just lost his job. Hes super faithful and excited to learn more.

Then on Saturday, Elder Dunkley and I were at the church, we had just got done cleaning it and our lessons fell through for the rest of the night. So i opened up my planner and started calling people. I thought of a guy that we met a couple weeks ago. His name is Zola. His brother was baptized in Namibia so he already knows the church. He even went there for about a year in Namibia. He was really excited to talk to us. Hes 25, married, and his wife is pregnant with their first child. Hes been out of town a lot so we haven't been able to sit with him, so i decided to call him. He answered and said that he would love to sit with us. He met us at a school, and drove us to his house. He lives in a way nice house. He told us that hes been having a rough time and that married life isn't easy. Hes been tempted a lot and wants to change. He then told us that we were an answer to his prayers cause that morning he said a prayer that God would send someone to help him change. Sometimes things work out so perfectly i feel like someone is paying these people to sit with us. haha.

Anyways, The area is doing great. the miracles are coming. I love you guys. Thanks for all the support.
love,
Elder Money