Week 5 - Ngwane Park A - "Smaller Shovel, Smaller Hole" - Zig Zag

                                                                                                                      

Yeeeeeboooooo! (Which means yes in Siswati)

It sounds like the crew is doing good! Super jelly of all the 24th festivities that are going especially the shrimp boil. It's fine though cause I know that no one is going to touch my shrimp eating record haha. More shout outs for Breandon on having a boy!!

SO, Elder Souza and I had another great week. It started out with some motivation which is always nice. In our zone meeting, Elder Baker and Elder Payne mapped out the plan right now for Swaziland and the work we got to put in to get a stake here by the end of the year and yo... it’s possible and yo... it’s going to happen! Swaziland is special place to be right now with tiny and big miracles happening every day for every missionary. One of the miracles we had this week was a lesson we had with Sandra and all of her kids. We called her out of the blue while we were in their area and they said to come by at 6 so kind of preparing on the fly we decided to teach the Plan of Salvation. When we started teaching we asked if they have ever asked one of the 3 questions that the Plan of Salvation answers. Where did we come from, why are we here, and where are we going? We started from youngest to oldest with the kids and all of them answered, "Where are we going after this life." Lastly, the question reached Sandra and her looking at her children, feeling the spirit, started to cry a little and answered the same way. We were able to focus a lot on their questions and how families can be together forever through temples. I am honestly so grateful for the knowledge that I have about the Plan of Salvation that gives me so much peace and hope. And also for temples and the power that was restored by Elijah through Joseph Smith to seal our families together for eternity.

Other highlights of the week; Brother Mbuso and Sister Dthombi had their baby! We dug a garbage hole for the Matsengua family and it was maybe one of the hardest things I have done on my mission. I was quoting Holes the entire time haha. It rained. Finally, the homie Monuwabiso got baptized!!! Monuwa is the son of Sister Matsembula.  We were able to start teaching him while we retaught the lessons to Sister Matsembula and her daughter Nandipa. It was a great baptism service with lots of support from the branch and the missionaries because everyone and their dogs love the Matsembulas. We also celebrated Elder Baker, Elder Wayttene and Elder Nielson hitting their year mark mixed with Elder Baker's bday so that was chill.

We are heading into the last week of the transfer so next week we will have some transfer news. I have a feeling I will be posting up another one with Elder Souza in Ngwane Park which I am so game for. I hope you all have a great week and Happy Pioneers Day! S/O to the Pioneers!

Love y'all, Miss y’all

Peace, Love and Blessings

Beats, Rhymes, and Life

Elder Chipman

         

Squad Pic

Tell them college coaches I am working out like Tim Tebow,
just trying to get a college scholarship (haha)                  

"5 feet deep, 5 feet in diameter, your shovel is your measuring stick"--
Mr. Sir

Monuwasbiso's baptism!!!

Pink and Blue--Hurris & Gig

Swazi got me feeling like I am in Seattle

Week 4 - Ngwane Park A - Thank you Kyle Mooney for Teaching Me How to Bake

*Ham horn noise x3* Ye ye ye!!!!

What is good party people? Before I get into it just got to say a big ol' CONGRATS to Beez and Brandon!!! I am going to be mad jealous of Scony Jr. listening to MF Doom and Liquid Swords every night falling asleep haha. But for reals congrats you guys! Second, the slip n' slide looked super fun! I hope Evie had a great bday party!

This week wasn’t too busy which was kind of nice. Elder Souza and I have been knocking apartments like crazy to find some new families. Let’s just say from apartment blocks 36 through 60, the Good News wasn’t selling like hot cakes haha. But no worries they are still about 40 left we need to knock.

This week in church Nkhosingiphile got ordained as a priest and Elder Souza ordained him and it was a really cool experience because I don’t think I could have done something like that, as on the spot as it was, in my first transfer. Also after church we were able to meet and talk with President and Sister Koch's family which was way cool. Sorry that I looked/was super awkward in the video they sent to you, I felt like Ricky Bobby getting interviewed for the first time.

The coolest part of the week tho happened on Thursday night. As a branch and missionaries we gathered at the Matsembula's house to celebrate Nandipa's birthday and also to be with them cause of the passing of their grandmother on Wednesday night. We watched the Restoration movie and something stood out to me. When it shows the transition from teenage Joseph Smith to young adult Joseph, finding and translating the plates the narrator says, "You may know the truth of something by the blessings that flow." At the moment I thought how incredible it was that we were gathered all together, coming from all over the world; US, Brazil, Zimbabwe and Swaziland to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in the need of comfort. All because of a young boy had a vision. But it was because of that vision, his calling, and the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father that we have the greatest blessing of all the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Through which we can be saved, sealed to our families for eternity, and return to be with our Heavenly Father again. I am so grateful for that young boy, Joseph Smith and his faith. I know that this church is true and I know that because of the blessing that flow from it.

I also had the chance to look over the General Conferences talks from this past April for the first time. I loved everything that I read. Last conference was bomb to say the least.  With it being July we are at the perfect time to review the counsel from our prophet, apostles and other church leaders to guide and protect us until October when we will hear from them again!

I love all of you guys so much! I hope you all know that I truly can feel your prayers help me throughout the days! I hope you guys have a great week!

Love,   

Elder Chipman

The Martins are cooler than Miles Davis for bringing us Doughnuts!

Krispy

Kremes

Too Krispy!!

Nandipas Birthday

I love the Matsembulas!

Eating "Real" African food with Elder Babu. 

Elder Tanner and I with the Branch Joker, Brother Harrison. 

Breakfast Burritos with homemade tortillas an Elder Ol Dirty specialty. 

Week 3 - Ngwane Park A - Rule #3 of Swazi "Beware of the Bathrooms"

"Alright check it out" - How I Beat Shaq by Aaron Carter haha what’s good fam??? It sounds like it was a great week for everyone! First, Teagan I am so happy to see the pictures from your baptism! You looked great and I hope it was a special day for you! Also, s/o to Phank and Brod for throwing down at the basketball camp. Lane congrats on the big championship. It is my favorite part of the week to hear how everyone is doing and it looks like everyone is doing so great.

So this week was a great week. Started with a dope 4th of July BBQ up in Ezulwine. Big ol ups to Elder and Sister Martins for all they do for us down here in Swazi! We had a good time eating hamburgers, teaching the Brazilians a lil something about REAL football and playing the capture the flag.

The highlight of the week though was the baptism we had for Nkhosingiphile. It was one of the coolest baptismal services I have been to on my mission. It was very small and spiritual. It is the greatest sight to see someone come out of the waters of baptism with nothing but a smile on their face. He asked that Elder Baker to baptize him and for me to confirm him. It was weird doing it in English, but it was a special weekend. After the service on Saturday, we enjoyed Fanta Pineapple and a thick ol chocolate cake that Elder Souza and I baked. My cake reputation is getting out tho... I had everyone asking me to bake them cakes at church on Sunday.

Elder Souza and I also had a great week of finding. With a lot of knocking of apartments we found a super nice family, Arlindo and Sandra. They are Mozambican but have lived in Swazi since 86'. They have a big family with 5 kids and they have been nothing but great to teach. Their 11-year-old daughter, Jennifer has maybe hit me up with some of the best questions I have heard on my mission. So we are hoping and praying that they continue to progress.

Other than that the week was normal. Helping members in the Branch wash clothes, clean their yards and water their plants. The subject of this email makes no sense but I am going in order with the Rules of Zombieland haha the bathrooms here are actually pretty nice. We did find out that our area would be splitting for the rest of this transfer.  So with losing a couple of good investigators and future baptisms there it will all be good cause Elder Souza and I have been working a lot in the areas that we will be keeping.  Thank you to the Spirit on that one.

I hope everyone has a great week! Love and miss all of you!

Love,

Elder Darrell aka Elder Chipman

Nkosingiphile, Elder Souza and I

Nkosingiphile and his dad, Pretus

Alex fell asleep even before the family night started

The Harrisons just have us over for cake haha. 

"The Pipe" - the shortcut in our area when we want to save money

I love this place

Yeah, that's just a PS4 and Fifa 16 outside of a Butchery in Swaziland

Elder Watteyne, Elder Price and I

"Os dois mais bonitos em toda Africa"
Elder Feliciana, the kid is hilarious

Ngwane Park A - Rule #2 of Swaziland; "The Double Tap

First thing is first, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!! I hope you all spend your day in red white and blue, looking in men's bathrooms for fireworks, lighting them off and being dazzled hahahah.

It does seem like everyone is doing great! I am trying my best to stay up on Bdays but it seems like there are 5 a week in our fam so it’s getting kind of hard. But happy bday to Devin on Friday! And to keep in that fam, Teags, have such a great day on Saturday!! I cannot wait to see pictures of your baptism! Also, good luck to Lane and Grady in your guys' soccer tourneys #BallOut.

So everything is kind of falling into place here getting accustomed to Swazi and what not. Elder Souza and I are getting to know the area better and better every day so we are learning the most efficient ways to work it. We will be having the baptism of Kohnsingiphile on Saturday which we are super excited for! He is an example of our goal as missionaries to baptize converts. I am pretty sure that dude read and understands the Book of Mormon more than I do haha. He is golden so it will be a dope day to have a baptism the same day as Teag's!

We also had our "Mission Tour" this week and it was a great time. It started with President and Sister Koch coming down to Swazi on Thursday and taking the new missionaries to lunch and having a meeting with them and the trainers after. Saturday we headed to Mbabane aka Park City to meet as zones with President and Sister Koch and Elder and Sister Ellis. The training's we received were on point and I was able to learn a lot!

I would like to share one of the things we talked about. President Koch recalled a story that Elder Ellis told a few years back the story goes how Elder Ellis was a bishop in Houston and he went to the bathroom one day at the church and when he got to the bathroom he searched the wall for the light switch but couldn’t find it. He was super confused cause he had used that same bathroom 100's of times but couldn’t find the switch so he decided to keep searching, in the pitch dark, he took a couple steps and then the lights turned on. The church had sensors installed haha. Kinda of a weird story but he related it to our lives.. Sometimes we need to walk in the dark and then the Lord will turn on the lights! I was able to relate this story with something I learned in my studies this week. That all of us need to "seek" the light to have it turn on. In Alma 39:14 we learn that we must not seek worldly things because we can’t bring those things with us to heaven. So it doesn’t matter how many likes we get on our insta or how many touchdowns we score. If we want the Lord to turn on the lights in our darkest times we must seek Him and what He has asked us to do. I don’t know why but this story and the things I learned touched me a ton so I thought I would share them!

Hope everyone has a great week! Love and miss you all so much!

Love,

Elder Chipman

PS:  GOD BLESS AMERICA! 

Found McDonald's

Oakland Ave.

"Too much cold" in the mornings here.