Week 7 Mahotas

"Microphone check 1 - 2 what is this?"

Happy PDAY everyone! Another week is dead and gone down here in the dirty south and things are pretty much the same. It was a lot cooler this week because we had a couple days of rain which I was completely chiiiilll with haha. Everything in the house is doing good and things are just becoming second nature. Waking up, getting ready, studying, lunch, work, using people's 'casas de banho' haha, coming home, planning, cook up some ramen noodles, sleep, repeat. That is my life and I love every second of it!

This week we had Zone Conference at the Matola Chapel (Maputo Stake Center) and it was a good time. We learned about Pride vs. Humility and also more about our new mission plan and how to implement it. Zone Conferences here are always a good time. The crazy thing was that Elder Smith (is in my MTC group) and I went from needing translation to translating Portuguese to English for some of the new missionaries and then try to translate English to Portuguese for some other missionaries... honestly one of the hardest things I have ever done but apparently I was making sense so big ol' s/o to the gift of tongues on that one! hah Other than that everything is all good! We will be preparing for Rute's baptism this saturday and we could not be more excited for it! 

I am glad to hear that all is well back in Holla-hood! Diem, Grady, Burke keep on balling your little hearts out! haha Hope everyone has a great week! 

"Yeah I have to get on the bus cause I work for the city, and I have to watch how the bus drivers turn the wheel..." 

Love and miss all you soo much!

Love,

Elder Chipman

 With Elder Costa

The Three Biggest Tools in the Mission 

Just a landfill in our area

Tangy Mayo and Ketchup - Week 6 Mahotas

"Oh what it is? Oh whats up?" 

We made it guys! 2 transfers done so I am officially done with my training in the field! It feels good but with the transfer news that I will be staying with Elder Ribeiro in Mahotas B for another I dont think it will feel much different! It sounds like everyone is doing great back home! Cait... HAPPY BDAY (tomorrow..)!!! I hope you have a great day! Love seeing all the pictures of the kiddies skiing! 

So the past week here has been pretty good! We are really focusing on all of our investigators that have dates for! We were able to mark a couple more this week and we are just waiting for Otavio/Cecilia to decide when they will travel to get their documents to set a date for them! The best thing ever happened though on Sunday. We were sitting in sacrament meeting a little bit sad because Rute didnt show up. She had told us it was going to be hard cause she was watching her neighbor's family for them. But right after the first hymn... in walks Rute with 7 little boys and she found chairs for all of them and got them to be reverent! Rute is too legit too quit and we are very sure we will be baptizing her on the 23rd of Jan. And other then the fact that we accidently bought 1 Kilogram of chicken necks last week thinking it was a full chicken for lunch nothing too exciting has happened! I lost to a kid in 1-on-1 too this week.. kinda of sad about that but I will redeem myself and teach them how I beat Shaq haha.

Since there is too much to update I will leave a spiritual thought: 

Today I was studying the King Benjaman chapters in Mosiah and reading in chapter 4. I came a cross something made me stop and think. It is the last part of verse 24 in Chapter 4 where it says, 

"... I give not because I have not, but if I had I would give." 

This phrase combined with the Spirit hit me so hard when I read it. It reminded me of the hymn, "Because I have been given much I too must give" These phrases are so powerful because when we ponder them we spiritually look our selves in a mirror and acknowledge how much we do have, where it came from, and how much we can give. Once we ponder, then we can act. I like to think about this kind of like football (as always).. You watch film to see what you need to do better but if you do not apply the things you learn on the practice field and in the game you will not get better. 

This next transfer I am going to be focusing a lot on this phrase and every time I am tired and hot and just want to take a break I will think, "I give not because I have not, but if I had I would give." I know that I have been given so much in my life and for that reason I will work and give it back to the people to Mozambique to bring people unto Christ and the knowledge of a Heavenly Father who loves them. 

Love you guys! Hope everyone has a great week! 

Love,

Elder Chipman 

The Hulene B Hooligans

Moises and Milusha, two recent converts and truly the best people ever!

Birthday celebration for Inocencia

Week 5 Mahotas - Pour some out for my lost homies

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! It is honestly so crazy for me to think that it is 2016 and all that happened last year and all that will happen this year! But it sounds like all is well at home! Soooo jealous about the annual candy bar game! And the only reason no one cried was because I wasnt there hahah

This week has been really good! It is still SUPER hot down here but we are almost done with the summer transfer so that is chill. We now have 6 baptisms marked for the next couple of months. 5 of them are one family, Armando and Atalia and their son Ellio and his wife Zormira and then thier daughter Elizabeth. They had been taught a while ago but never progressed. We started working with them and now they are getting all of their documents ready to open the wedding process so they can be baptized! We also marked a date with Rute. She talked with Bishop to see if she was all good with her situation with her ex man, the polygamist. Bishop said she is good so she will be getting baptized on the 23rd of January! Otavio and Cecilia are doing good! And we have a lot of new families we are excited about. Work was a little slow here this week because of New Years. People go HARD here for New Years. They celebrate all day the day of the 31st, 1st, and 2nd sooo it was hard to find new people because most of the people that were out were hungover/still drunk. On the 31st we could not work after 17h (5:00 PM). On the 1st we were trying to find a house late at night and some how we ended up at Costa Do Sol (the beach) and it was bumping! Think of Newport on 4th of July but times 10. Honestly I have not seen so many people in my life. We luckily got a chill lift that when we told him we were missionaries he put on DMX's "Show Me a Sign". Other exciting news is that we had the highest frequency (# of people at church) this Sunday since the wards divided, 124! It honestly felt like the chapel was full. Super cool to be there for that! 

Transfer Update: Transfers have been happening the past two week but we wont "officially" know them until next monday. But they have been moving and switching people early so that people can be set in their zones for the ZL's to implement the new Mission Plan we have. I will most likely be staying in Mahotas B for a second with Elder Riberio. But I am sad to say that Elder Mejia was transfered up to be the outside areas ZL up in Nampula, and both Elder Mcallister and Elder Katoa are going up to Beira today. So there will be a lot of new faces in the Maputo Zone. 

All is well and I am doing great. So excited for all that is in store for 2016! Love and miss you all! Hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Chipman

Mahotas Week 4

Ok so first of all MERRY CHRISTMAS AGAIN!! S/O to Beez and BMads for getting the house!! And also way to keep up the tradition and living super close to home haha. I hope everyones day was amazing and that Santa brought every one the presents that they wanted! I am still in shock from skype haha it honestly felt like a dream that went way to fast for me! But I am sooo grateful for the chance that I had to talk with all everyone and to see your blurry faces! After skype we hung out at the Mission Office for a couple more hours and finished everyones interviews with President Koch. I honestly love President so much! He told all of us in our interviews about our mission plan for next year and I am honestly so motivated for 2016! 

Last week was all a gaint blurr for me because of Christmas and everything but I will try and give an update! All of the families that we are teaching are doing really well! Armando/Atalia and their daughter in law Zormira came to church this week and so we super pumped about that! We marked their baptisms for the 20th of Feb. so now we just have to, week by week, help them set goals to get all they need done to get married by then! Otavio/Cecilia are still my favorite people in the world! Otavio says hi to the fam "with a big hug".  Sorry for the small update but dont have much to update since I talked to yall three days ago! I hope everyone has a safe and a Happy New Year! 

Love,

Elder Chipman

With Otavio and Cecilia

Mahotas Week 3

Alright y'all week 3 is in the books that means... ITS CHRISTMAS WEEK!! But first it sounds like everyone is doing well and having a good Christmas season. Mom it sounds like you are doing a lot better. Good luck with your first doctors check up tomorrow! Keep being strong and put your trust in the Lord (Moshiah 24:15) and He will ease this burden for you and I am sure of it! I hope every one has a great week and stays safe with the weather and other stuffs haha. 

Update on me one for the week can be summed up in one word: Lobhola!!!!

Lobhola, aka a dowery, is when a husband needs to pay a wife's parents to receive their blessing/permission to marry their daughter. It is usually paid here with either cows or goats... its some straight Johnny Lingo, 8 cow wife stuff haha! But.. Elder Ribeiro and I are teaching 3 families that have Lobhola problems. We are teaching Armando and Atalia who want to get married the same day as their son but their son is having concerns paying but they are a super smart family and understand they need to follow the Savior but are just needing a little help. We are also teaching Xavier and Bacilia and they are a super cool family as well! Bacilia has came to church the past 3 weeks but Xavier hasn't cause he works all day on Sundays which is kind of hard. But we visited Bacilia late last night and we weren't planning on teaching a lesson but I asked if she had any doubts or anything for us and she asked about BAPTISM! Her question was what she needed to do to be baptized so we had to on the spot teach her about baptism as well as the Law of Chastity because her and Xavier are not married legally either. So she was super cool with the lesson but just had some doubts getting married because of freaking lobhola but she said that she has faith the Lord will help her and help her husband. People's faith here is incredible! We also have one other family, Marcelino and Beatriz, but I think if they figure out their problem we can teach them. have them married and baptized by the end of January which is exciting! 

Other than that it is hotter than Ryan Gossling down here. We had a lesson the other day at 9 in the morning and walking home after I had to ran into a bar that had an AC cause I thought I was going to die haha. But I love you all soo much! Cannot wait to talk to the fam this week! Hope everyone stays safe this week and I hope that as we have this week we can truly remember our Savior, Jesus Christ, and acknowledge everything that we have because HE LIVES! I am eternally grateful for all the things I have recieved because of Him, and I am soo happy to have this oppurtunity to be doing His work and sharing this happiness we have with others! Love you and miss you all!

Love,

Elder Chipman

Chilling with some future Mozambique missionaries

Pictures of the Laulane house

Mahotas Week 2

Sooo shhheeeesshh yall! It sounds like a lot has happened in a week! Mom, I hope you and your arm are doing well! I am so sorry to hear about your accident but I am glad to hear that surgery went good! A plate and 10 screws?! Mom, I hope you know are my hero and that I will be praying extra hard for you recovery to go smoothly. And I hope that Brett, Evie and Diem start feeling better too! AND WHAT?! Stu Barrett and Maddie are back home?!? That is crazy! It is cool to see that missions end tho haha just kidding... haha all the Christmas cards that I got look great! Brody and Annie.. your guys' is dope so good job on that! 

Update on things here in Mozam; This week was HOT! I am talking like warming up to play Hurricane at Hurricane on their turf field plus humidity hot! And with white washing are area we have had trouble with a lot of lessons falling so we end up contacting in the dead heat of it but T.I.A. (This Is Africa) right? Elder Ribeiro and I are getting along and he has been helping me out a lot with my Portuguese. The Magoanine chapel got robbed this week so that was kinda sad to see but they didn't take much just the clerk's computer and other small things but Sunday every one was there, happy and feeling the Spirit. So one of our families, Otavio and Cecilia, have started doing their wedding documents are progressing really well. Cecilia is leaving by train on hopefully Wednesday to Ghaza where she was born to get the documents that she needs to open the wedding process. If all goes right with them we should be having a wedding and baptism in January for them. One of our other investigators, Rute, she is awesome and so strong for her situation. She is "married" to a dude who has 3 other wifes... and he kinda just bounces around Africa staying with whatever wife he wants. So Rute hasn't seen him for a year and has been on her own ever since providing for her family. We always pass by her house and see her reading her Book of Mormon in the shade next to her baraca and it always puts the biggest smile on my face. We should be having a baptism for her here shortly as well! Other than all is well down here in the durty south! Weirdest thing for me though is that it is so close to Christmas but it doesn't feel like Christmas at all for me haha but I have been trying to get into the Christmas spirit. I love and miss all of you, and hope all is well! be safe this week!

Love,

Elder Chipman  

This is me and my favorite little kid in our ward, Tchitchutchi!

Elder Ribeiro and me

Mahatos Week 1

Alright yall, so it sounds like all is well back home! Beezer and Brandon I hope you guys are loving Puerto Rico eating a lot of rice and beans like me haha Cait and Bret hope you guys had a good trip to O-Town to see Tony! That is super cool to hear about him starting and playing! Tell him I say congrats and to keep working hard haha. 

Alright so my first week in my new area was kind of slow and super hot! This is the hottest transfer of the year, so its about to get super sweaty haha. Elder Macanige didnt end up leaving until Friday so Elder Macanige had a lot of chances to say bye to some of our families, I am going to miss Elder Macanige so much! But.. with him leaving on Friday, Elder Ribeiro arrived friday night as well. Elder Rebeiro is from Recife, Brazil. He is in his 6th transfer, (the five before this one were all in Swazi) he already spoke English before the mission so that is good, and he is an awesome missionary! I am excited to learn from him and he is excited to help me with my Portuguese and every thing else as well! 

So Elder Rebeiro and I will be white washing (two brand new missionaries in an area) Mahatos B which will be dificult but because of a couple divisions I was able to do with the Zone Leaders last transfer I am fimiliar with the area and we have a lot of cool families to teach! I was able to the last two week help finish teach another teenager, Junior, and he was baptized on Saturday and it was a super cool baptismal service. 

My spiritual thought this week comes from John 16:33, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might find peaces. In the world ye shall have tirbulation: but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world." I love this scripture so much especially with the Christmas season upon us! All of us will face hard times in our life but because of the Savior and His eternal sacrifice for us, we can find light in our darkest times. I have been trying to apply this of my mission. No matter what happens I can always be of good cheer because I am know that Jesus Christ lives and that I am doing His work here is Africa. Hope everyone has a great week getting prepared for Christmas. Love and miss all of you so much!

Love,

Elder Chipman

                      "Welcome to Jew Burger, home of the Jew Burger, can I take your order?"                                            (Mine and Elder Macanige's fav burger shack that was in our old area)

         This is Vania and Michele. Vania was baptized that transfer before I got here and Elder Macanige and I finished her teaching.

Junior's Baptism with Elder Mejia, Elder Openshaw and Junior's Brother-in-law