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

Here is Braxton's mailing address while he is in the MTC:

Elder Braxton James Chipman
OCT13 MOZ-MAP
2005 N 900 E Unit 214
Provo, UT 84602