Back to the Motherland

This week was really good.  About 20 new missionaries arrived to our mission and 8 are leaving which allows for some areas that were closed to be opened back up again.  (this includes Dondo!  My first area is opening back up again.)  This week two of the new missionaries stayed at our house.  Elder Ndala from Angola and Elder Ujembe from Magoanine (a city near Maputo)  They stayed at our house and worked with us in preparation to be transferred up north to their first area after the Mtc.  Elder Ndala worked with Elder Hamrick and I with Elder Ujembe.  We taught so many lessons this week and continued to find more families to teach.  We found another 20 new investigators this week.  Our area truly continues to be blessed.  Every day we are finding more families to teach.  This past week we taught the Law of Chastity a ton! We have 5 families who have accepted to open up the marriage process this month to get married in Sept.  That is 5 families being baptized in Sept.  Miracles are happening here in Mozambique for sure.    This past Sunday we had District conference in the new Matola Chapel.  Elder Cook from the Seventy came for the Saturday sessions, and it was really good to talk to him again and feel of his genuine love for everyone.  We knew that the Sunday sessions would be very special because President Kretly said that he  was going to show the “it’s a miracle” video made by our mission that talks about how many couples in Mozambique were able to get married, follow the Law of Chastity, and all of this by putting God first and the traditions behind.  Knowing that this video would be shown we did everything we could to get as many families as we could to church.  When it was all said and done we had 4 complete families and various other part families.  They all loved the conference and many of them expressed afterwards their desire to get married and follow God’s commandment.    After the conference when the majority of the members had left President took me aside and asked, “Are you ready for the trip?”   I knew transfers was going to happen but I did not expect at all that I would be leaving, especially since Elder Hamrick and I have been seeing miracles happen in our area and had only been together one transfer.   Regardless, I told him yes I’m ready.  He told me that the Lord needs me in Manga, which is a neighboring city of Beira.  (yup, I’m going back to the motherland.)  He told me that I will continue to train and will continue as Zone leader.   My companion will be Elder Thomas.  Elder Thomas came in with Elder Hamrick, they were in the MTC together.   It will be quite interesting to train finish Elder Thomas’s training right after starting elder Hamricks (a missionary is trained for two transfers, therefore Elder Thomas and Hamrick still have one more transfer of training.)    I’ve been thinking a lot about duty and the responsibility I have as a missionary to go where God wants me to go.  It has never been harder to leave an area.  It has never been harder to leave the branch where I’m currently serving, but I know that this is where God wants me to go.  And I only desire to go and do what the Lord commands me to do.    I have a few goals upon arriving in Manga that I feel need to be accomplished.  First  serve my companion and gain his trust.  Second have a meeting with the branch president and ask him what we as missionaries can do to help each other become the best missionaries, find out how many members are in the branch, and how many currently attend, also how many active families are there in his branch.  More than ever I want to, and need to use member in this work.  By the next weeks letter I will account on these goals that I have set.  I know that  this next transfer will only be a continuation of the miracles I’ve seen here in Maputo.   The principle of obedience is what helps me the most in deciding to not be depressed or sad about being transferred.  It is hard, but I do not regret the time that I’ve had here and I will willingly go where ever the Lord needs me and continue to make the best use of my time there.

-Elder Greenman