Divisions and More Divisions

Well, sounds like its been really cold in Burrrrrrrrrrley lately.   I wish  I could say the same about here. Actually, to be honest, it hasn't been too hot lately.   It's been pitter-pattering on and off.  President has been traveling a lot this transfer.  He  just got back from Beira on Wednesday.   From Monday to Wednesday Elder Brandão and I spent a lot of time in the office.  We had to hunt down fichas from those who still hadn't sent them, and prepare a few statistical reports for the month of November.   (Editor's Note: Ficha is the paperwork for baptism) 

On Wednesday we officially received our new truck.  We were driving an 18 seater van everywhere, but now we have a new 2012 Ford Ranger. Yup. We've named him Captain Moroni. I had taken for granted what it was like to drive a nice car. Everything is so smooth, it has that new car smell, and it has, or rather had, 0 kilometers. On wednesday night we drove to Matola to start a division with the Matola zone leaders.  Elder Brandao worked there before coming to the office.  For the division he stayed in Matola with Elder Williams.  When I dropped off Elder Brandao I picked up Elder Santos.  (He is also from Cape Verde and Is a really good missionary. This is his first transfer as Zone Leader and he's doing a very good job). When Elder Santos and I got back to Maputo from Matola, it was late.  After our daily planning we quickly got ready for bed and hit the lights.

 Notice Elder Greenman driving on the other side of the car...

We woke up and as soon as we were ready for the day we went to our area.  We didn't have any lessons marked, but we did some family finding for about two hours.  The Lord blessed us with 10 families that accepted to receive a visit from us, and we marked with several of them to visit that evening.   After lunch we went to the office to do some work, then went back to the area. All but one of the lessons fell through.....but during this time we were able to find five more families to teach and marked them for this week.  I loved the time that I spent with Elder Santos, and the opportunity that we both had to discuss the work.

Mosquito Netting for sleeping

In my district we have three companionships, Elder Brandao and I, Sister Naehu and Sister Merkely (we four are in Maputo),  then Elder Fontes and Elder de Pina (these elders are in Maxixe). Friday we left at 9 o'clock in the morning to Maxixe. Elder Brandao and I left to Maxixe with Elder and Sister Hobson. I was the one that drove and it took close to 7 hours.  The trip was wonderful.  Mozambique is so pretty and green. We arrived in Maxixe in the evening with about an hour and a half to spend in the area with the Maxixe missionaries. I walked with Elder Fontes, who is from Brazil.

Elder and Sister Hobson

Maxixe is an incredible area, but it has a few difficulties, and the Maxixe elders had gotten somewhat discouraged last transfer and didn't know how to pick things back up again. When working with Elder Fontes I did everything I could to just be excited and to talk with everyone. Some of the problems that they have in Maxixe are that many of the people that work in the city live far away, and that hardly anyone is outside on the streets past 7:30 p.m., and that they only have two missionaries covering a pretty big area. We happened to be walking outside past that hour, but I knew that the Lord would put people in our path.  He did.  We found a family that is officially married that was just walking together as a family just trying to catch a little bit of the the ocean breeze.  We stopped and talked with them and asked if they house was close and if we could accompany them to their house and leave a short message. They said yes. For lack of time, we left a short message and a prayer and marked to come back the very next morning. They said that they did feel the spirit and we helped them recognize why they did.  The next day we taught the restoration, and they accepted baptism.  Elder Brandao and Elder de Pina were also having success.  They found a very nice and sophisticated man entering his home and asked if they could come in and share a message.  He accepted.  They discovered that he didn't currently have a church and that he still hadn't been baptized, but that he was willing to be. 

President Kretly arrived on Saturday night. Sunday morning church began at 9.  Just so you know that up until this point Maxixe was not yet a Branch, but a group.  The average attendance was 25 people.

On this particular Sunday we had a total frequency of 40 people!   Also another surprise that none of us knew..... after the announcements the time was given to President Kretly.  President stood up and with a smile announced that Maxixe would become a branch.  He announced the branch presidency, and Elder Fontes was called as 2nd counselor (he didn't know).

The Sunday meeting continued to go very well.   After sacrament meeting we had Principles of the Gospel class and I approached the newly called branch president and said that I noted that no one was there to teach the class and asked if he wouldn't mind if I did. I've come to love teaching the Principles of the Gospel class.   One of the families that was found over the weekend came to church and when the man presented himself, he said that it was the first time coming, but that he was confident that he would always come with his family from now on.  

I would love to serve in Maxixe.  The area has so much potential. Elders Fontes and de Pina are going to marry and baptize a family this coming weekend. They are planning on baptizing one more family by the end of the month.  Speaking of families being baptized, 9 families were baptized this past weekend.  So far for the month of December the mission has had 14 families baptized (that's more than one per day!  What a Miracle!)

The next day was Monday!  The Hobsons had left saturday night, but we planned to just drive home with President.  President Kretly surprised us and decided to take us to Inhambane, and to a beach called Praia de Tofo, where we ate and played soccer on the beach. It is was the most beautiful beach I'd ever been to.  After that we dropped the Maxixe elders off and headed off to Maputo. The drive was very nice.  I enjoyed the opportunity to talk with President Kretly. He also gave us the privilege to listen to a talk by Elder David A. Bednar that was given at a Mission President's Seminar.  It was like the talk he gave in 2011 general conference but even more fascinating. I'll update more on that next week. (Editor's note: Monday was P-day and we did not receive a letter from Andrew this day and were wondering why...we're glad to know he had this opportunity to spend P-day with the Elders and President Kretly. Our letter came the next day.) Elder Brandao and I will be incorporating Elder Bednar's message into the Zone Conference training that we are preparing.

Two new missionaries arrived to our mission today.  Elder Brandao and I will be taking care of them.   There's a lot of work to do for all of us, and by that I mean every member of the church.  We have a lot of work to do on this side and the other side of  the veil.

-Elder Greenman

Elders de Pina, Fontes and Brandao

The beautiful green Mozambican Countryside

Elder Brandao (I am playing Soccer in the back)

Playing Soccer with Elder Fontes

Look how beautiful!

Elder Brandao, President Kretly and Me

December Came with a Bit of Rain

In last week's letter I mentioned that we were helping some mozambicans get ready to leave on their missions.   On monday night, one week ago, we went to pick up one of the missionaries who was going to serve in Angola and Cape Verde.   Their plane came in late, so we only managed to get to sleep at midnight.  Then we woke up 4 hours later to take President and Sister Kretly to the airport (they went up to Beira on a morning flight).  We had an early start to our day.  When we got back from the airport we did some work in the office and prepared for staff meeting we would be having at 11.     We usually do it over the internet using a program called GoToMeeting.   The assistants, Office elders, Elder Tualufo,  and all of the  Couple Missionaries participate in the meeting. Two of the couples are in Beira, that is why we need to do the meeting over the internet.    In the meeting we discuss and plan for the upcoming week, as well as make sure we are prepared for what is coming in the next few months. Staff meeting went well, and when it was over we went to staff eating (haha,  we do this once a month where we go out to eat).  After that, we raced around to buy clothes for all of the missionaries who were leaving the next day and finally made it home at 8 o'clock in the evening.  They were then set apart as missionaries, and spent the rest of the night packing their bags.  We finally got to bed at midnight again, only to wake up at 3:45 to help them get ready to leave.  We left 40 minutes later to go to the airport and arrived just as the check-in started.  We sent them off (see attached picture).

Needless to say, Elder Brandão and I have not had a lot of time in our area this week (Editor's Note: nor time to sleep!!), but we did have time to sit with one of our families—Humberto and Nercia.   They are progressing well.  Humberto works at the Airport, and Nercia works at a pizza place downtown. We've taught them the restoration and the Book of Mormon.  In our last visit we asked them if they would come to church.  Nercia said yes, but Humberto said no, because he was scheduled to work that day. We invited him to see if he could swap his work schedule with someone else. Saturday we called him to see if he was able to. Good news, bad news. Good news is, that he was able to. When we called saturday afternoon, he said that he was going  in to work at that very moment to do his co-workers shift and that he would end at 10 o'clock.  Bad news: On sunday we received a call at 8:20 from Humberto.  We answered and he said that he was really close to the chapel and had walked all the way with his wife with the intention of coming, but his boss had just called saying that his co-worker didn't show up to take his morning shift.  Sadly, Humberto had no choice. He had to go to work.   His wife came though, and she enjoyed it as well as made a friend.    It's interesting to see that Humberto did everything he could to make it to church, but even after that, the choices that another person made affected his life. Sometimes in our lives when we do everything we can that is good, sometimes unexpected things happen.  The choices we make affect others profoundly.  I don't think that Humberto's co-worker will ever know or understand what effect his choice to not come to work made on Humberto's life. Let us all be careful with the things we think, the words we say, the things we do, and the way that we do them.    

I can't believe it's a new month.  I'm looking forward to another month of miracles.  20 families were baptized in the month of November.  So far in the month of December, 5 families have been baptized and confirmed.  

 -Elder Greenman

The Refiner's Fire

The heat never stops coming.  I assume it never will.  I don't believe life gets any easier, but it does become more fulfilling if we choose the right.   I know that today I'm laying down the foundation of tomorrow.   President has  been in South Africa all this past week which has given us more time in our area.   One of the main struggles we are having is sitting with new people.  So far this transfer we have taken the number of 150 families who have accepted to receive our message.  Half of them live in our area.  But in the past three weeks we've only been able to sit with 5 new families.    We will mark with them and they will accept a return visit the next day.  We will call in the morning, they will confirm.  We will call thirty minutes before to let them know that we are on our way.  When we get to the place where we decided to meet, we call, and their phone is turned off.   This has happened over, and over again.  The cause?  Probably because they don't understand the importance of this message, and the change it can make for their families. This week, however, was more effective and better than the others.  We taught more lessons and were able to sit with three new families.  Things started picking up on Saturday.  On Saturday we had a zone training given by the Zone Leaders.  Elder Peterson from the U.S. and Elder Vestia who is from Portugal.  The training began by all of the District leaders presenting an idea or something that their district is doing that is helping them see more success.  It was really good to learn from others. One of the ideas was using the Book of Mormon in the contact.  It works.  Even for people that aren't interested in the beginning, we just let them know that we have a book that is convincing evidence that our message is true. People are becoming more interested and willing to talk to us.  I've noticed something interesting, every time I walk in the area with a copy of the Book of Mormon in my hand I suddenly have more desire to speak with everyone.  

About our family that I mentioned last week....Sabito and Maninha have left.  They are traveling to South Africa and then they will be on their way to Beira.  We called them on Sunday, he said that the traveling is going well and safely.  As soon as they arrive in Beira we will give their number to the missionaries up there.   

Church on Sunday was really special. The person that was supposed to teach Principles of the Gospel class didn't show up so I gave it. The lesson was on the Signs of the Second coming.  The lesson went really well. After the class we all went downstairs to the sacrament meeting room.  At this time Sister Kretly called Elder Brandao and I letting us know that they were on their way and to tell the branch president to wait until they arrived.  The sacrament service was really spiritual.  Our branch had 205 people present.  In the past it has averaged about 170.  At the end President Kretly spoke about how the gospel has changed his life. His mother died last week with the age of 90 while he was in South Africa.  He explained that it was a really hard experience to pass through but that he is so grateful that his mother and father decided to follow Jesus Christ and accept his restored gospel.  He invited all of the members and investigators to recognize that the choice they made or will make to follow Jesus Christ and his restored gospel will affect more than just them. The meeting was really good.   

Now that President is back, Elder Brandao and I have a lot more to do in the Office.  There are five young men who will be leaving on their missions this next wednesday.  Four of them will serve in Angola and the other will serve in Cape Verde. Today and Tomorrow, Elder Brandao and I are going to be with them and help them prepare.  Many of these young men come from very humble circumstances and only have one white shirt and pair of pants.  They may not have a lot as far as attire, but what they do have is a beautiful understanding and testimony of the restored gospel.  We are going to outfit them with the clothes that they need for their mission.  One of our mission goals is to have as many Mozambicans serving missions out in the world as we have missionaries assigned to work here in Mozambique.  Currently we have 88 missionaries in our mission.  Right now we have 27 Mozambicans who are serving, and the number is growing.  I've been thinking about that goal recently and I noticed a small problem that I'm going to talk to president about.  Our focus has been families, and the extreme majority of these families are young families. If we want to have 88 missionaries serving outside of Mozambique we are going to have to find a solution.  

Elder Brandao and I, when we walk in our area always invite the young men who are there as well.  In fact, one of the things that we like to do is we'll stop a young man who has an earring and we'll say, "you are a really good young man, you just need to change one thing....."    This week we've taken so many earrings from young men.  We give them pamphlets in return.

-Elder Greenman

Not our Real P-Day, Thus a short note...

Elder Brandão and I are trying to get rid of the false tradition that APs need to stay in the office doing a lot of work.    We've set out a schedule for ourselves.  We leave the house by 8 and go straight to our area to teach lessons and find families to teach.  (We still aren't getting a lot of lessons, so for now we are just doing a lot of family finding)  We stay out in the area until about 10:30 or 11.  Then we come home eat lunch and study for a bit.   By 13:30 we're at the office and stay there until about 16, then we're back in our area until 21.

We're getting a lot of good time in our area.  That is probably in large part because President Kretly is in South Africa for a mission president's seminar.

Quick update on our area....

We continue to do a lot of contacts, we're striving to find the elect.    The two families that we found last week, we've unfortunately had to drop.  But that's okay, we found a very special family this week named Sabito and Maninha.   They are very open and are making a lot of progress.   They came to church this week, and arrived 50 minutes early.   They really enjoyed church and feel that this is the true church.  That's the good news. The bad news is that, they will be moving up to Beira for about 3 months, and they leave this weekend, so our area will be back to zero.  But no problems, I know that they'll be baptized up in Beira.  

This week are the elections.  They will be held on on the 20th of this week.    It's interesting to see all of the excitement that is going on because of the different parties.     Well, because of the elections our P-day was moved to the 20th, but we were given brief permission to write home, but now it its time to get back into the area.

'Elder Greenman

Saying Goodbye to Manga, Hello to Maputo

Andrew's childhood friend, Jacob Lake serves in the same mission. Together they are doing great service in Mozambique. Elder Lake is leaving as AP and Elder Greenman is coming in his place.

Back to Maputo

On Monday night  I left Manga.  I called a taxi to come pick me up and take me to the airport.  I said a few quick goodbyes to the Elders in my district and got into the taxi.  The taxi was  not an old car, but it sounded like it, rode like it, and smelled like it.   After arriving and checking in I took my place waiting for the plane to arrive.  It did, but about an hour late.  I  was without a phone and knew that Elder Lake and Elder Brandão were probably  already waiting at the Maputo International Airport.   When I arrived in Maputo it was midnight so we went directly home to rest up for the day.    Elder Lake was the assistant to the  president.  He would have been transfered already under normal circumstances but because Elder Brandão and I are whitewashing our area, and coming in at the same time, Elder Lake stayed until Wednesday night to give us a crash course on how to be an assistant.    On Wednesday Elder Brandão and I finally had our first day in our new area.   By new area it means that it is new for both of us and also missionaries weren't working in it before us for months, and months.   We're starting from zero.  The main thing we are doing now is just family finding.    Just like preach my gospel teaches, "Nothing happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach."   This past week we only had 4 lessons, but we found two new families.  I'd like to share the story of how we found the first.  Their names are Mario and Ámina.   On wednesday night we were working in Minkadjuine. (one of the neighborhoods that is in our area)    Minkadjuine consists of many small, tiny, and maze like paths that snake between all of the cement and sheet metal houses that are there.  While going down one of these paths, we had  the idea to knock on a certain gate.  (it wasn't a strong impression, it most often isn't.  But it was something simple like and idea or thought)   We knocked on the gate.....no answer.   We knocked again and heard some ruffling.  We heard an older man's voice say that he can't answer the   door, because he can't walk.  We asked if we could come in, he said yes.   After coming into the  house we beheld an old couple with gray hair in very  humble circumstances.  The wife of the man didn't really speak portuguese very well, neither did he, but they felt like royalty after the visit.  Its interesting what a smile, or a quick prayer can do to shine a little light in the life of those that don't have the gospel.   Before we left we asked if there was any family who lived with him.  (there was another small house on his property)  He said that his son and daughter in law lived with them in the other house, he went on to explain that neither of them were home at the  time.  We asked for his son's phone number.  They couldn't for the life of them remember.  After trying to help them, we decided to leave a pamphlet with our number on the back.   After a prayer we left, not really thinking much about it.     The next day....thursday.  We were back in  our area but in another part called Mafalala. Again the thought came to turn down a certain road.  After a while we found a man walking the other way.  We stopped him and talked to him about our message, we asked him if he would accept to be baptized by someone who has authority.   He said yes.   We asked for his number.  He said.......that he didn't have it, that he didn't really remember his number.   Elder Brandão asked if he could show us to his house at least so that we could come another day.  (yup,  i bet you're catching on)   We began following Mario on the roads of Mafalala.  We came to the boundary and crossed the road into minkadjuine.    (I'll admit that at this point I still hadn't made the connection that this Mario was the son of the old man we had visited yesterday)   As we walked with Mario we talked about his life and his family.   He told us that he lived with his wife, son, and his parents.  He mentioned that his father had been with troubles of walking lately.   (Bingo!  thats when I made the connection.  Everything fit into place.   I looked around me and recognized where we were.... we were at his door.)    His wife wasn't home at the time but we were able to get his number and we marked to come by again.   

The other family we found is Agustino and Camila.  Also a good family.   Of all of our four new investigators this week however only Camila made it to church.  But that's okay, she also brought her father in law.  Also when we got to church we found a member referral there named Fernando we we are going to go teach here in about an hour.  The referral was from David Hamblin who has been doing some humanitarian work here in Mozambique for several years.  He has worked with Fernando for six years and fernando has accepted to be taught by the missionaries.   We are very excited to teach him tonight.      

I love serving with Elder Brandão.  He is 23 years old and is from Cape Verde.  He is a convert to the church with a very interesting conversion story. (story time will have to wait, it's getting late)   Both he and I are learning the ropes together.  

Its nice to be back in the Maputo 2 branch.   I was happy to see so many of the members that I knew, and also see the two families that I baptized are still active and coming.     I was also able to see Omar and Gina from maputo 1, also active.  Oh the joy of seeing those I taught still holding fast to the iron rod.    The sacrament meeting was good, other than  the lady who gave the last talk and talked for 40 minutes and the meeting ended 27 minutes past the hour.  ooops....

Well, time is up.  Until next week.

-Elder Greenman

Transfers

This week was very satisfying.  Elder Mason and I worked incredibly hard.  The sun has been scorching and because of that some rain came on sunday which scared a lot of people into not coming to church.  What have I learned this week?

I've learned more about the importance of inspiring people instead of requiring them to do stuff.  In alma we learn to be bold, but not overbearing.  I've felt as if many of the people I have taught felt as if I was requiring them to change their lives.   The past two weeks much of my personal study has been dedicated to know how to inspire and motivate the families I teach to do what God requires of them.  Before we can motivate someone to make a leap of faith we need to understand the big picture and what they are going through.  Without understanding we cannot help them overcome their obstacles.  One of the differences between requiring and inspiring is understanding.  When I don't take the time to understand everything that is going on in my investigators life, when I teach a commandment and say that it needs to be followed as soon as possible, the investigator will feel pushed to do something that he does not think he is capable of accomplishing.  But, on the other hand, if I do everything I can to understand the investigators situation, then after teaching the commandment they will feel like I know what they are going through and am confidant the Lord will help them overcome the obstacles.  Listening is so important.    Elder mason and I had a goal to have 10 families at church this sunday.  On saturday night we had 15 that committed to come.  On Sunday morning the rain clouds came and we only had 3 full families at church.   

I've grown very much here in the Manga zone and I'm very sad that I'll be leaving tonight at 20 hours.  I'm going back down to maputo and I'll be serving with Elder Brandao from Cape Verde as an assistant to the president.  It's so hard to leave an area like the one Elder Mason and I have.  We have a goal to have 4 families baptized this next transfer.    I'm nervous, but excited to go back to Maputo.  I found out today and I'll be leaving tonight, so basically I have a lot of packing to do.  I know that this is the Lord's work, I have felt his strength holding me up, for my strength is nothing.  There is no way that I'd be able to do all of this without his strength.  The church is true.

—Elder Greenman

Editors Note: I received a note from President Kretly just after Andrew wrote this email and I will include it here:

 Elder David Andrew Greenman has been called as Assistant to the President.  In  this calling he will assist the President on his duties to plan, train and teach all other missionaries.  He was called in this position because he has been an excellent missionary worthy of our trust, he has had many fruits and much success in his missionary work, and has also been a great example for other missionaries. Besides helping in the mission office he has his proselyting area and he will continue doing the work of a normal missionary: finding, teaching, baptizing, confirming and helping people endure to the end.        

This experience will help him develop many skills that are not used only for the mission but for the rest of his life.  Thank you for preparing such a wonderful missionary.  Your continued support and prayers for him and his work are greatly appreciated.  Thank you very much.

With love and appreciation,

President Paulo V. Kretly

Mozambique Maputo Mission