Magoanine Week 6

ALRIGHTY, so first thing first it always makes me so happy to hear how well the whole fam is doing! The CTR run looked soo fun and you guys know I am soo in when I am back! (PS you all looked pretty dope rocking head to toe Nike) I hope everyone had a great and safe Thanksgiving!

This week was really amazing for me to end my first transfer in Mozambique! It started with us having a Turkey Bowl last P-Day with the Matola Zone! My arm was super rusty so I played Randy Moss for the day ("Straight cash homie" -Randy Moss). Elder Macanige and I had a day where all of our visits had fallen and so we went out to the outskirts of our area to contact and the Spirit really helped us find people that the Lord had prepared. We ended up teaching 4 lessons that night with just families we had contacted. Next we had Thanksgiving and holy... what a first Thanksgiving to have on the mission! For lunch we went to the city and ate at Rodizio's. Plot twist it isn’t anything like the Rodizios in America haha we dropped about 1500 Met (pricy) and they got soo mad at us for how much we ate so that was chill. And then Elder Openshaw did a division that day and we worked out in his area. Walking to our first visit had a little bit of an emergency hahaha so I had to ask to use the family’s caso de bano and I wish I would have taken a pic of it! It was two walls with no roof or door with just a hole in the corner and it was an experience! And then later that night it started pouring rain with a giant thunderstorm.

To top of a great week, we had Vicente's baptism Saturday and it was an amazing service! All three dupplas in our ward had a baptism so it was good work for the Magoanine/Zimpeto Elders this transfer! And now we are working hard to meet President’s goal for every duppla to baptize and reactivate a family before the end of the year and we had Benidito and Amelia come to church yesterday so we are really going to work with them over the next couple of weeks!

I hope work and school is going well for everyone! Hope everyone has a great week! Much love from Mozam!

Love,

Elder Chipman

After this email came Braxton (Elder Chipman) was able to let us know he was being transferred to the Mahotas Area in Maputo.  He will have a new companion; Elder Ribero who is from Brazil. 

Vincente's Baptism

Cleaning the Baptimal Font the night before the Baptisms

Go Ducks, Go Phank, Go Jazz too! (this little girl is wearing an
University of Oregon shirt)

Hanging with the kids in front of a Baraca!

Week 5 (Magoanine)‏

So first things first, two big ol happy bday s/o's to Colin and Brody! Hope yall had amazing days!

Magoanine has treated me well this week! Weather wise it has either been suuuuuper hot or a big thunderstorm it has kind of been unpredictable! Water and energy has been the same way!

Yesterday we had stake conference and they created a new ward, it was honestly so cool to be there with the whole stake of Maputo and to feel the happiness and excitement about the growth of the church!

Elder Macanige and I are still working hard! We are still focusing a lot on our families that we are teaching right now and I am honestly so lucky to have these amazing families in my first area. We are teaching this one family (Ceisa and Laura) and we hadn’t met with them in a while and we came back to follow up on the Book of Mormon and we come to find out that he read up to 1 Nephi 15 and I was pumped!! We have another family (Benidito and Amelia) and they have come to love prayer after we had to help them get over some type of shyness they had about praying. This week we will only be baptizing Vicente but it will be a big baptismal service so I am really excited about that!

This week is Thanksgiving so I just wanted to end with some of the things I am thankful for. I am thankful for showers, air conditioning, cloudy days, sunsets, this opportunity that I have to serve the Lord, the gospel, my friends, and most importantly... I am so grateful for the family that I have and for all the love and support I have and always receive from you guys! Super bummed that I will be missing feasting with yall this week but (and I can’t remember who said this... I think it was Cait) although I won’t be there we are going to be closer than we have been especially over these first holidays.

 Love you all so much! And I hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving week!

Elder Chipman

Maputo Stake Conference

Week 4 in Magoanine

Alright so we had a little bit more of a mellow week than the past two. This week started off suuuuper hot and then it has been storming the past couple days here. Lighting storms are incredible here, every 4 seconds from every direction, its nuts! We have been battling with not having power and water this week. Saturday night we didn’t have power for the entire night so the mosquitoes had a feast! We are all super bitten up which is chill because T.I.A. haha (This Is Africa)

Elder Macanige and I had a good week. Made a little bit of an error with the baptismal date, it’s not on the 24th... it’s on the 28th. Elder Macanige and I were looking at the October on the calendar when we gave them the dates so we got a little mixed up.  We are marked to baptize Vicente and Didi. Both jovens (teenagers) Vicente is from a part member family and his sister just barely got her mission call to Brazil. He is super smart and has a super solid testimony. I hang out with him and his buddies at church and they help me with Portuguese and I play tic tac toe and the dot game with them. Didi was a referral from one of my favorite families in our ward. She is super smart when it comes to the scriptures but she has been having some doubts since we have been teaching her about the commandments. We have one new family and have been teaching the same other ones. Our families right now that we are really excited about our Sidonio and Yolanda, and Paulo and Laura, and Bila and Laura. We have been meeting with them for this whole transfer. They have been really progressing we just haven’t been able to get any of them to come to church yet so we are really working hard for that.

Africa is Africa and I am loving it. I have great missionaries around me that are teaching me how to work hard but also how to enjoy my mission. Tuesdays are always popping at Uno's (a pizza place in Magoanine) for Crazy Tuesdays aka buy one get one free day so we throw down there for lunch on Tuesdays and its good za (pizza) too. It sounds like the fam is doing great. Yesterday we had lunch at Bishop Tualufo's house and his daughter Kylanee reminds soo much of Sloane so it was super fun playing with her and eating with the bishop and his family.

I have restarted reading the Livro de Mormon after finishing it last week and it is crazy how much we can learn from Nephi. He was the youngest out of his family and had to be an example for his 3 older brothers and continue to be obedient to his father and to Heavenly Father. Being an example is never easy especially when you may be younger, inexperienced, our feel out of place.  Elder Stevenson says it best, "Stand ye in holy places and be not moved." I am honestly so grateful for the examples I have in my life with all of my coaches, older siblings and parents and I know first-hand the strength that can come from examples. My challenge for all of you is that no matter the situation to always be an example and represent Christ! Love you all so much and miss you like crazy! Hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Chipman

"Abdul and the crew"
These kids wanted to get a pic with me after I said some things in Chingana to them which is the dialect they speak in this part of Maputo 

The new and improved Magoanine house.

Week 3 and 4 in Magoanine

ALRIGTHY... You will have to excuse me for not emailing last week.. The power here is a little bit slow! Last Monday, the wind was crazy strong and blew out the power in Magoanine! So I am sorry for the worries and the delay.

But for reals it has been a crazy two weeks haha. SO big news, two Saturdays ago our house got broken into. They broke into the gate of our patio that connected to our kitchen and the bathroom which connected to my room. They got away with our fridge, washing machine stove, gas tank and all of our food! So that day we moved out and now are living in the Mahotas house which is actually in our area so it’s kind of nice.  Then, Elder Macanige and I went back to the old house two days later to get something and we found that it had been completely broken into with our other fridge, microwave, iron and about everything else jacked except a box of Book of Mormons. So we were lucky that we have moved out when we did!

Anyway for the work update: Elder Macanige and I are still teaching a lot of families just not a lot of progression which is common here and why we always are finding new families to teach. We did mark two baptisms on the 24th of November (Happy bday Brod) which we are really excited about! It is getting super-hot down here and it is just barely starting.  Apparently December is extra spicy down here which is super chill! I am already rocking pretty dope watch, sleeve and collar tan lines.

I so glad to hear that everyone back home is doing so well! Mom, your bday party looked super fun. Halloween looked like it was blast as always, the costumes were also on point! S/o to all the football that’s going on! Burke, I am so glad that you were able to have a fun season, and Bret good luck in the rest of the playoffs! and HAPPY BDAY TO EZRA! Hope you have a great day!

Not going to lie this last week was a pretty tough one with Mom's bday, missing home, and tough times with the language but I honestly received the most comforting feeling Saturday morning after I listened to Elder Hollands talk from this last conference. And I know it truly was the comfort from all the love I have coming from back home, so thank you guys so much! 

We studied in Ether 12 this week with some of our investigators and this chapter is straight fire. It talks about faith and how through faith all things can be done.  What I was able to get out of this chapter was with all the talking about the miracles the prophets had performed because of faith.  I realized that this is the same faith that we have in our lives. Through this same faith that Ammon and the other prophets had, miracles will happen in our lives. I have learned that little things truly can bring miracles. Faith is a lot like trash talk though, it doesn’t mean anything if we just talk about it. True faith leads to action and then after we act the Lord can bless us. I honestly am so grateful for the small and giant miracles that I have had in my life and the ones that I will continue to have here in Africa. Love you all so much and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Chipman 

Get Water of Die Trying

                                                                                                                 
                                                               

   

      This field is just down the street from
      the house I am staying in. 

         

Second to the Gospel, WuTang is for the children!

                                    

The road "Costal Da Sol" (This street goes to the beach & hotels
in Maputo)

The Sunsets are amazing here.