Week 2 (Week 1) lol

ALRIGHT so first Happy Birthday S/O's to Lane and Aleck!  I hope you all have amazing bdays! Also, S/O to the Chipman genes! Kinda like how people thought Brody was a Native or Hispanic on his mission, people here think I am Portuguese until of course I start speaking Portuguese.

Ok y’all my first week of my first transfer is done and I have a ton to tell you but first I will start by answering some questions I have got. 1) We have 6 elders living in our house but we Elder Mejia and Elder Openshaw (our ZL's) are moving out into a new house with another set of missionaries so after today it will just be 4 of us. 2) I am not in a tri anymore. Elder Larsen got transferred up to Beira so it is just me and Elder Macanige. 3) We do walk our area and our area is huge. On Saturday we walked to an investigators home that was 2 and a half hours away from our house so that was way chill. It takes us about 10 min to get to our area and then we just walk for days.  I am still trying to get down all the streets and where are families houses are at. 4) I have ridden in some chappas. We take them to and from our Internet Cafe and the grocery store and sometimes into the city for our District and Zone Meetings. I love them. They are the size of the Morris' VW vans and they pile in 20+ people in them hahah.

Elder Macanige and I are working hard down here in Magoanine! We are teaching a lot of cool families right now and have a lot of progressing investigators. This week we have a goal of marking 10 baptism comments which I am so excited and nervous about because I hope they all accept. We are teaching a 13 year old kid named Vincente and he reminds me so much of Burke. At first he is kind of quiet and shy but after talking to him for a little while, he his super smart and funny! I asked what we had talked about in our first lesson and he understood all of it and said how he had felt Christ's love for him while reading and praying and that’s why he wants to be baptized to feel that more. HOW COOL IS THAT?

The language is coming, I am starting to understand others a lot better but when I get asked a question I freeze up and don’t know what they say so hopefully this week I will keep getting better! I have seen as I work hard in my language study I am better able to express myself so I just need to keep working hard. So throughout the day all I basically do is sweat, sweat and sweat so I am super pumped for summer starting up here.

I have loved to hear from everyone this week. I am so happy that Grandma Jo's funeral was good and that the spirit was strong there. I hope everyone has a great week! I will keep you all posted on our families we are teaching! Quick spiritual note for the week comes from Elder Holland in a talk we watched in the MTC. He says, "Once we start to put the Lord's will over ours, then will he be able to strengthen us the most." And I can promise you this because I have felt both sides of this in my first week. This will be something I need to work on for my entire mission and the rest of my life. Until next week.

Love,

Elder Chipman

 Elder Macanige and Elder Chipman

 Enjoying some Sunday night football

 Elder Macanige, Elder Chipman and their boy Junior!

This is about an hour and half walk into their area where the houses start spreading out. 

So Africa is Africa! Week One

Alright... so I feel like sooooo much has happened since I talked to everyone last! First, we left the MTC Monday night, got to NYC Tuesday morning (sang a little bit of newsies once I got outside lol), and then got to Johannesburg on Wednesday morning, then flew straight to Maputo where we met President and Sister Koch and the AP's. They took us to the Mission Office where we able to relax and have lunch for a little bit. That night we had dinner at the Koch's home and we able to get know them a little bit more, they are so loving and caring of every missionary so I think I will be in good hands. That night we stayed in one of the Mission Apartments and it was really nice. They next day we got to go to the Maputo Zone Conference and it was super chill cause I was able to meet a lot of elders there and see kind of how things are done down here in Mozambique. After that we went back to the apartment and everyone just fell asleep but I went and walked with Elder Stanley (Mission Secretary) and it was amazing to get my first experience of real mission work! We taught a family but the 2 other visits fell through. The next day we had lunch with the AP's downtown and after a little bit more training we got to know where are first area was! Drum roll please...... I will be serving in the Magoanine District and in the Maputo Zone!! For the past couple of days I have been in a tri with Elder Larsen and Elder Macanige and for the next transfer I will be trained by Elder Macanige (Mock-a-neesh)!! I could not be more blessed; Elder Macanige is from Beira, Mozambique so I will be learning a lot of Portuguese! The past couple of days we have gone out contacting and taught a couple of lessons. Saturday, in our ward we had a "Cultural Activity" where the elders got tell more about the US and we learned more about Mozambique. After that we had a baptismal service and there were 7 people that got baptized. During the baptism I felt the spirit so strong it motivated me in my purpose as a missionary! I am legit living on my own and it is a big change for me but it’s a good and a necessary change! The language is ok I guess. When other elders talk I can pick up on a lot more but when natives talk it is like they are not speaking Portuguese so I am extremely bless to have a native Mozambican as my trainer!

So here are my first impressions of Africa and Mozambique...

1) IT IS HOT! I am honestly sweating buckets out here and the best part is apparently it’s not even hot yet soooo hopefully my body will adjust to the weather here.

2) Driving here is so tight but so scary! It is like everyone got their license from GTA.

3) The people here are truly amazing! The ward made me feel right at home on Saturday and Sunday! I am so excited to work with the ward a lot more over this next transfer! Even the nonmembers when you contact people are so nice and receptive and then the little kids.. don’t even get me started on the little kids! They all make fun of me cause I don’t speak Portuguese but they are still dope. Whenever we pass kids on the streets kids will give you a thumbs up and yell, "Cho!" and they will not stop until you do it back they are the best.

4) The handshakes/hi-fives down here are dope. I will teach yall when I get home!

I am so glad to hear that everyone is doing awesome! I just read mom and dad’s email about Grandma, and started crying in this internet cafe but then I got this overwhelming feeling that she was finally reunited with Grandpa and now they and Muz and Poppy are all looking over us! I hope everyone has a great week! For a spiritual note this week I challenge everyone to go study President Erying's conference talk, "Is It I?" and for all of us to look more inward so then we may change and better ourselves to help others! Love and miss all of you soo much!

Much love from the real durty south,

Elder Chipman

   

 

Elder Chipman with Pres. & Sis. Koch

 

  View from the Mission's Apartments

   

  

Our Home

My new gym on our Patio

This is the street we walk to get to the main streets

   

       Ward Cultural Activity

                           

       

The Maputo Stake Center

Sunset in front of the Maputo Stake Center

                                                     
 

Week 5--Travel Plans to Mozambique

What’s good fam??

So week 5 in the MTC has brought some exciting news!!!  First, weekly shout outs. A Notorious B.I.G. S/O to Mom, Colin, and Brandon for running the St. George Marathon!! Super proud of you guys and from what I have heard the trip down and back was a fun one! And early BDAY S/O's to Phank, Brandon and Penny!

Alright time for the news...

1) We sent off Elder Binford to Singapore!! He is so ready and I am beyond pumped to hear about all of his experiences!

2) Elder Wade and Elder Sperry (the Elders in my district that are going to Brazil) got their visas!! We were hoping they would get them in time so they wouldn't have to get reassigned.

3) I GOT MY TRAVEL PLANS!!! Ya boy is finally going to Africa!!

I leave Sunday and fly to ATL, say what up to my dude Luda, and then I have a 15 hour flight to Johannesburg will be arriving in Maputo Monday night! I am honestly soo excited!! Even for the plane ride de Inferno.

Being able to watch General Conference in the MTC was such a great experience and was such a nice relaxing weekend. I hope everyone received answers to any questions that you all had for last weekend and apply what we learned! Sunday night, we watched Joseph Smith and the Restoration along with watching conference that day; I gained such a greater love for the prophets and their guidance.

My spiritual highlight of the week came from last Tuesday's Devotional. We had the opportunity to hear from Elder Costa, of the Seventy’s. He brought up the analogy of cutting an apple open. When you do, you can count the number of seeds that are in that apple. But, you cannot count the number apples that are in the seed. I love this analogy because we truly do not know how many people we will truly effect in our lives. I hope that we can all try and positively influence other people in everything we do. Even if you do not see it instantly, you will never know what kind of seed you will be planting.

So my next email I will be in Africa... I don’t think I have ever been this nervous in my life but I also don’t think I have been this excited! I have the special opportunity to go across the world and invite others to come unto Christ help them feel the happiness that comes from living this Gospel. And through the love of the people of Mozambique and this giant leap of faith I will also come closer to Christ!

I love you all so much! Pray for me with travelling and settling in to Africa! Until next time, be excellent to each other and party on!

Love,

Elder Chipman

 Elder Smith, Chipman and Owens with their travel plans.

 Elder Florez on his last night before leaving to Brazil.

  First view in the morning while in the MTC.

Medical Release Form from Swaziland.  Read it through--We are glad he was cleared. 

Week 4--Oh what it is?! Oh whats up?!

Alright weekly shoutouts: HAPPY BDAY Haddie Girl!! I hope it was the best and that you got all the princess dressed ups in the world. Plus, HAPPY BDAY to my newest Sis---Annie!  S/O to Burke and his football team for straight murking it! Keep working hard man, but most importantly keep having fun and enjoying it! Also, good luck s/o to Mom, Colin, and Brandon running the marathon this weekend, you guys are going to kill it!

There isn’t too much to update you on since I have done the exact same thing for the last 4 weeks. But I do have some exciting news.... I should be getting my travel plans this Thursday!! And to be honest about it, I feel like I am in a glass case of emotions lol. I'm honestly so excited to get to Africa and start serving the people of Mozambique. But, I'm also super nervous but I have faith that the Lord will strengthen me and turn all the nerves into confidence! Also this Thursday, Elder Teela and I are teaching a lesson over skype for TRC with someone either from Mozambique or Brazil so that will be exciting. The Portuguese is coming along. I feel more and more comfortable speaking it in lessons each day.

My spiritual thought for the week comes from a lesson we had the other day with Irmão Workman. He asked us how the Gospel has in our lives helped up access the Atonement. And for some reason my mind instantly went to when Christ told his Apostles to cast their net on the other side of the boat for fish. The Gospel in our lives is like the Savior telling us to cast our net on the other side of the boat. Us taking the nets out of the water, preparing to cast again, and then finally casting our nets with faith that we will catch the fish, is like us taking the steps to repentance and utilizing the Atonement. And the "fishes" we catch are the blessing we receive from the living the Gospel.

Eu sou que con minha coração todo o que Jesus Cristo é nosso Salvador e por meu Ele e Sua Expição nos podemos viver con noosos familhas por eterna.

Translated: I know with all of my heard that Jesus Christ is our Savior and through Him and His Atonement we can live with our families for eternity.

I love you all so much! Ill update you as soon as I can when I get my travel plans!

Love, 

Elder Chipman

   Zach and I Saturday night after hearing the score from The Game!

    My favorite painting in the MTC

                                                                   

Week 3 is in the bag!

                                       Look who showed up for a B-Day Visit

                                        Birthday Stash!!!

 Elder Wake aka Dwayne from the Mighty Ducks, Elder Florez, Herbert, Ellis and good old me.   This is after our floor's Tie Draft.

                                                The spoils from the Tie Draft.

Weekly S/O's for all the B-DAY wishes and packages! I loved seeing all the pictures and letters from the little kiddies and the treats were on point as always! Bret, that beef jerky you sent... HOLY COW! It was dang good man, thanks for sending a little piece of heaven my way lol. Also S/O to Holly Daugirda for the cake and Taylor Monson for the care package of goodies!

So the weeks are starting to fly by here! The days are super long but they go by quickly if that makes sense. 

Last Tuesday we got the chance to hear from Sister Rosemary Wixon/General Primary President.  She gave an amazing talk about how in missionary work we can either be Nephi or Laman and Lamuel. Its funny because Brody forwarded me an email about 2 weeks before I left talking about the same thing! I'm honestly so grateful for the examples I have in my life that has helped me get to this point and make it easier for me to strive to be like Nephi.

No real highlights this week but just a cool thought I had last night while we were talking about the Gift of Tongues in class. So for 3 weeks now I have been working so hard to learn Portuguese but then I realized I have had the wrong mindset the entire time. I realized that I was working/struggling with Portuguese for myself. So that I could communicate, so that I would be able to teach lessons. And that is not at all how it is supposed to be! I am working/struggling with Portuguese for the people of Mozambique. So they can hear the Gospel and feel the happiness it brings. This attitude can apply to everything we do in life. As we humble ourselves and reflect outward, like Christ, and walk the way he would have walked then we truly will be able to see him helping up every step of the way! 

I thought it would be cool to bear my simply testimony in Portuguese for y'all so here it goes

Eu sei que o Livro de Mórmon é verdadeiro, e Josepsh Smith foi um profeta de Dues. Eu sei que temos um Salvador en Jesus Christo and Ele amo nos muito e através de o Evangelho podemos vivir con nosso familhas para eterna. 

Love you guys so much! Can't wait to hear from you all more.

Missions are dope, Portuguese is chill and the Chruch is true!

Mutio Amor,

Elder Chipman

Week 2 in the MTC

Week 2 is down! And it went by super fast!

Quick weekly shout out:

S/O to PChip12!!!!! So happy for you man! Cannot wait to hear all about your experiences up in Oregon. You are going to kill it!

Alright time for the run down of my week. Everyone in my room has been coming down with a bug that is going around the MTC. I'll sum up how they were feeling through the words of Elder Sperry (one of my roomies), "I feel like Ray Rice's wife..." "I feel like Magic Johnson's white blood cells..." "I feel like Mexican tap water..." The kid is hilarious!! But on the real pray that I don't catch it too.

Sunday has been my favorite day so far in the MTC. It was Elder Binfords bday and Elder Tucker, Du Randt, Binford, and I all ran into each other on our temple walk and then had the chance to party it up in Elder Binfords dorm that night MTC style (so basically we just talked lol) The best part of Sunday though was the spirit that I felt the entire day! We had the opportunity to hear from President Hutchings during sacrament and he gave a great talk about how feeling the spirit is like muscle memory. That talk set up the entire rest of the day to be good! Sunday night we had the opportunity to watch Elder Holland's, "Missions are Forever" and holy cow, I don't think ive ever been more motivated! Take the halftime scene from the movie Friday Night Lights and mix it with the Remember the Titans speech and you have this talk. Elder Holland talks about not missing our chance. He says, "These next 2 years of serving the Lord will be the closest thing you will get to REAL LIFE, so don't miss it!"

That talk added in perfectly with the message of the week for me, humility. In all that we do, especially missionary work, we must be humble. Humility towards the Lords means that you are confident that you can do whatever the Lord requires of you if you rely on him. I love at the start of the Book of Mormon when Nephi always says that he knows he is big in stature aka jacked but he puts all his strength in the Lord. And although I am losing all my muscles in the MTC... never have i ever put more strength in the Lord. I know that through humility and putting our strength in the Lord, the Spirit will be able to guide us through anything we are going through and that people will be able to Christ through us!

I love this Gospel, and I love all of you so much! Email/write me I would love to hear from all of you! Hope everything is going well with everyone back home!

Love,
Elder Chipman

Week One--First Email on the Mission

WEEK 1

Here it is the first email of the mission!

Not going to lie... getting dropped off was real hard for me but it made it all better when the first thing I saw after I got all of my tags and personal stuff was a 6'4 blonde Russian tackling me, it was Elder Tucker after that I knew I was going to be great! I saw Elder Binford my first night too! I see Elder Du Randt occasionally going to and from lunch and gym time. They are all doing great!

My companion is Elder Teela, he is from Missouri and will be serving in the Cape Verde mission. He is a Darrell but I love him to death! He is so willing to help everyone out and really wanting to learn to teach the Gospel which is awesome! I'm in a room with my companion and 4 other elders... So 6 of us in one room and it is a blast! We all get a long really well! We have 11 missionaries in our district, 8 elders and 3 sisters and I'm so grateful for my district cause they have definitely made it an easier transition. I was called to be District Leader on Sunday and have already got the opportunity to help some struggling missionaries out and through the Spirit's guidance I was able to help them out and everyone is doing great now. There were some Mozam. missionary visa waiters from the previous transfer that were still here that left today that I was able to get close with in just 5 days. Elder Price was one of them. He played basketball at Corner Canyon and is the man! We are super similar and he was able to show me the ropes of the MTC and mission life. 

Language wise I'm doing ok! I can understand what I hear a lot better than what I can speak... but it will come! I just have to keep working hard and praying for the gift of tongues! Our teacher Brother Workman is such a cool guy and a great teacher! He hasn't said a single word in English though haha. Elder Teela and I have already taught 3 lesson (in Portuguese) to our investigator Felipe and have him committed to be baptized! Hopefully he doesn't get cold feet but we will see. I love being able to bear my testimony in Portuguese! It is so powerful and I feel the Spirit whenever I do. 

We had some other cool experiences in the past 6 days so here are the highlights:

1) The first two days we had seminars called, "People and Our Purpose" and it was all about seeing everyone through Heavenly Fathers eye and was great.

 2) This Sunday was such a special one and couldn't have been better! It was fast Sunday so we were able to hear all of the more experienced missionaries in our branch bear their testimony's. We also had Mission Conference which is basically like General Conference but just in the MTC. 2 of the talks were about the importance of tithing and the power of the temple (D&C 109) which is personal to me because both of those things were talked about in my setting apart! (S/O to Brody for the letter to remind me) We also heard from the Provo Temple president and his wife at the Sunday night devotional and were able to watch the, "Character of Christ" by Elder Bednar.

 Remember to write me, I would love to hear from you all! Pictures/picture books would be awesome as well! Just so I can show off in the MTC and show the people of Mozambique where I come from. 

I love you all, and cant wait to hear from you guys!

This Gospel is truly amazing and is the truly the way to eternal happiness!

Love,

Elder Chipman