Maputo is Incredible!!! When I arrived at midnight on tuesday, I felt like I had come to america. This place is incredibly huge. Maputo has so much more to offer than Dondo does.
I finally got to my appartment at 1 o'clock in the morning. The next day, or rather the same day, I had to go with the AP's and my companion who is also an AP to go pick up an Elder arriving from Nampula. That night we got home again, at midnight. The following morning we had to wake up at five thirty to be out the door by six to pick up all the elders for a special training at President's house. That took about 3 hours. As I've been here I've begun to understand more and more what President Kretly expects of me. He expects Elder Brogan and I to be office Elders and proseliting elders at the same time. Office elders are something that the previous President got rid of. Instead he had a married missionary couple work in the mission office. President Kretly's plan was to keep the Senior missionaries and Elder Brogan and I would work in the office just twice a week. At least that was the plan.....until the Halls (the senior couple) suddenly decided that the office is to much for them, so their bouncing out to go to Beira and serve up there, so now Elder Brogan and I are going to have to be in the Office 24/7 working our tails off. Especially because the mission is getting audited next month and my companion and I are responsible to get everything ready for it. So all of this has happened this week. To be honest, I embrace the challenge. I'm super excited to have the oportunity to work in the Office and work more closely with President Kretly. This week hasn't been all just office work though. Elder Brogan and I found some time to work in our new area. Both of us don't know the area very well yet, because we both came in at the same time, we call that, whitewashing an area. I absolutely love teaching with my companion. The spirit has been so strong in all of our lessons. Our entire area is golden. Most of the members from the Maputo 2 branch live in our area.
Going to church yesterday was an incredible experience. I've gone from Dondo, where the missionaries have to do everything, to Maputo 2, the strongest branch here in Mozambique, where the members are strong and are doing everything. Church yesterday was truly an edifying experience. On top of that, I've been learning how to drive here in Mozambique. It's a darn good thing I already know how to drive stick shift. Now I just need to get used to moving the stick with my left hand and also driving on the right side of the car on the left side of the road. Yesterday Elder Brogan and I went driving a little. Surprisingly we didn't crash, especially with all the rain that we've been getting these past three days. It's been great to have a companion like Elder Brogan. I really feel blessed. I'm going to make the most of it in these next 5 weeks that he and I will be together, before he heads back home to Minesota.
Thank you so very much Uncle Chris and Aunt Kim. I'm so very grateful to you two wonderful people. I know that cameras here in Maputo are a little cheaper, so i'll be keeping an eye out for a bargain.
One plus about working in the office is that I get my letters a lot quicker!!!!! The other day about 15 letters had come in for the whole mission, including Angola. President Kretly picked them up and thumbed through them to see where they were all going. As he would come across one for me he would lay it down on my desk. I was surprised as he continued to lay down letter after letter on my desk. After he finished going through the letters, in a thick accent, he said in english, "Elder Greenman, you must be popular!" We both laughed together. I've really enjoyed working in the office. After the Halls leave it will just be Elder Brogan and I along with another man by the name of Tualufo. He's Mozambican and served a mission here too. After he finished the church hired him. He's one of the funniest people i've ever met. The other day he came in at about 2 o'clock. Elder Brogan and I hadn't had time to eat lunch that day. Luckily Tualufo had bought some bread rolls. (Mozambique has the best bread ever) He said we could have as many as we wanted. I timidly took one because I didn't want to be taking away from his food. Later that afternon when I was wrapping things up and getting ready to leave, Tualufo took the last roll and chucked it at me saying, "Eat it." haha, I laughed and told him he didn't have to tell me twice.
I'm super grateful for all my friends and family that support me. I love you all.
-Elder Greenman
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