Week 8 Mahotas

 What is good?? The 801 sounds like it is popping and it sounds like Phank is holding it down up in the Northwest!

If I had to expalin this week in one phrase it would be, "so pitted" haha but on the real this week was great and packed full of blessings! First thing is first.. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME!! The Christmas packages arrived and I loved everything that came! Thank you for all the letters, drawings, ties, and mike and ikes! I am so grateful for the love and support that coming back home from everyone!

Second, we were able to watch a televised broadcast for all the missionaries in the world! The focus of this broadcast was "Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts" I will let you all ponder on what that means but I was able to learn so much and receive so much that will help me with the work here. Elder Anderson spoke and during his talked he threw in that he was coming to Mozambique and it was nothing but cheers from the mission office.

Third, Rute's baptism! This weekend was super special to have Rute baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. The spirit was so strong, testifying to everyone that attended that this Church is true and that baptism is the first step on the path to eternal life. Loved every second of it but now it is on to week 3 of the transfer and to work and help more people take this step and come unto Christ!

Other then that, all is well down here! I am trying to be a little bit more careful with what and how much I am eating because I was getting #fat and that isnt good haha. But yeah everything is great down here and I am happy to be doing the work of the Lord! Miss and love everyone! Hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Chipman

Ruth's Baptism!

Day 1's 

Juicey on the left is leaving on a mission in 3 weeks and Vicente on the right is passing the sacrament

Meet Sonia, the cutest little girl

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