This past week has been filled in with a lot of work, a lot marrying, and a lot of baptizing. The week started off with last p-day. We spent the whole day cleaning our house. There was a lot of clutter that had built up over the years. We through out 4 huge plastic bags full of garbage and clutter, as well as about 40 kilos of books and materials that we never ever use that were just taking up space at our house. Those things we took to the distribution center. By the time we had finished that our p-day was pretty much over, so we showered and went off to work in our area. On Tuesday Elder Ostler and I came into the office. Elder Ostler is learning very quickly, and is starting to understand many of the things we do every day. In one week he has also learned how to drive stick shift. He’s doing very well, and I no longer get the feeling that I’m about to die. (Just kidding) Because of Elder Ostler’s toe problem he had to go to south Africa to get it operated on. He was gone two days which left me iwht out a companion. Luckily on Thursday morning I was able to be with Elder Cummings an elder who had arrived the day before. His trainer is Elder Lake, but because I dindn’t have a companion for a little bit, and because Elder Cummings still had to get his legal documents done he stuck with me. I had a lot to get done in the office so for the first part of the morning he studied while I worked at the computer. I was very grateful when 5 o’clock came around and we were working outside. Elder Cummings and I had a very incredible experience. In a few short hours we managed to get 17 qualified contacts, that is, we found 17 families who believe in Jesus Christ and want to learn more, who are married or want to get married. I had never made that many contacts in one day. Aside from that we taught two solid lessons with a member. His name was Baronet. I’m sending a picture of him, he’s the one with the purple shirt. He’s part of the branch presidency and was baptized by Elder Largent in his first transfer.
Enough about that I’m sure you’re excited to hear about how the wedding went this Friday and how the baptisms went on Saturday. On Friday 9 families were married. It was an incredible event. The wedding went off very smoothly. The two families that Elder Ostler and I had really enjoyed it and it was easy to see how happy they were. Celia, Nelcio’s wife, had been in a lot of pain. It was very hard for her to walk. In fact the next day for the baptism she could barely walk at all. We ended up giving her a ride. It was easy to see that she was in a lot of pain. She was 8 months pregnant and also had a bladder infection. We arrived at the chapel and one of the sisters from the relief society helped her into her baptismal clothes. Nelcio wasn’t going to be baptized because he wasn’t coming to church because of his job. Nelcio also wasn’t at the baptism because he was at work. There were a total of 18 people baptized on Saturday, 6 of which were in our district. It was a marvelous experience and I’ll never forget it. When I was baptizing Adelina I almost did it in Spanish. Ooops. I caught myself pretty quick so it didn’t turn into an embarrassing experience. After the baptisms we had a short testimony meeting and I could feel the spirit so powerfully throughout the experience. On Sunday things got interesting. Elder Ostler and I left at 7:20 in the morning to walk to church with one of the families we were going to teach. When we arrived to their house no one was to be found. By the time we had gotten back to the church it was 8:10. We were a little late but happy to have made it. Then the phone rang….
It was Celia she sounded so sick, so exhausted, and tired. She said that she really needed to get to the hospital. We called president asking him if we could, he said that as long as we have another melchizedeck priesthood holder with us then we can. We also invited a sister from the relief society to come with us. We arrived at her house and she could barely walk. I don’t know how but we somehow managed to get her into the car. During this time I kept thinking, “Where is Nelcio? He should be here helping is wife.” Nelcio was at work…. and his wife was dying in pain. The entire way to the hospital on bumpy dirt roads, she was whimpering and crying in pain. In Maputo there are many hospitals, each one designed to service a certain area or neighborhood. When we arrived I was surprised by how ghetto the hospital looked. It made me think of world war ll. After being t there a short while she was transferred to the central hospital. At this point we went back to church just in time for the sacrament. Later that night we got a text saying that she had given birth prematurely to a little boy. She’s feeling a lot better, and their new son is also doing well. Sunday night we had a training by the zone leaders of things we can do to better the work and get more results.
I’m excited for this coming week. Elder Ostler and I are going to really implement the things we’ve learned and know that our success will increase as our dedication becomes more intense.
-Elder Greenman
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