Week 10 - Liberdade A - "Warm Enough" - Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment

What is up fam?! Sounds like everything back home is going great! Loved seeing the pics from Teag's dance recital/competition and from Burke's basketball games. Baby Renz is looking like the cutest guy on the block and big shout out to Stacie Bowen for the water painting... pretty much the coolest thing that I have ever seen!

I am writing this email after playing soccer with the zone and I realized two things... Africa is hot and I still suck at soccer hahaha. But it was super fun to be with the whole zone together playing around a little bit. Now I am just feeling bad for everyone in this humid internet cafe because I stank but its whatevs!

This past week was really good, involved lots of running around to other areas to do interviews for upcoming baptisms in the zone, preparing Cacilda for her baptisms and trying everything to pull off a combined baptism on Saturday without water. So the plans this past Saturday was to have a baptism together with three of the wards here in Matola and it seemed like everything was going to run smoother than Usain Bolt but... how soon we forgot that Maputo is on water restrictions and we pegged the day at the church when there was no water so trying to work out things with a water tanker to come and fill up the font we decided to just moved the baptisms to this next Saturday but we still went through watching some videos we had plan to show with the baptisms and had snacks so people weren’t mad at all haha. But other than that it was a pretty average week, trying to find new people and get the area popping. This next week should be pretty great... hopefully with some cooler days, Leadership Council on Thursday and baptisms on Saturday.

For a quick spiritual guy... I am just finishing up the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon right now and with all of the stories of wars, battles, and contentions I have realized something. The Lord always favored the side that was most prepared and the side that was most prepared in this case was the side of the Nephites because of their righteous desires. Elder Dallin H. Oaks taught, "Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving and our becoming." Throughout the later chapters of the book of Alma we see that the desire of the Nephites was to protect their liberty, their families, and their religion. Set by the example of Captain Moroni, their desires were not worldy things. We should remember that righteous desires cannot be superficial, impulsive or temporary (the treasures that we cannot bring to heaven). They must be heartfelt, unwavering and permanent. So, motivated we will seek for that condition described by Joseph Smith as the state to "overcome the evils of (our lives) and lost every desire for sin." I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can obtain these righteous desires and receive all the blessing that Heavenly Father has to give us to overcome and to achieve the righteous desires of our lives.

Love yall!! Shout out to Chance to the Rapper for balling out at the Grammys and shout out to the KFC's in Maputo that have new Pina Colada and Strawberry Lemonade Krushers! Have a great week!

Elder Chipman

Divisions with Elder Da Cruz

I was missing home and Mexican food do I attempted to make a
Cafe Rio Chicken Salad. 

"Heroes get remembered butlegends never die"  #RIPSamora

Watercolor by Stacey Bowen from a picture taken
of Elder Chipman and friends last March while he was serving in Beira. 

Week 9 - Liberdade A - "Definition" by Blackstar

Alright if I had to describe this week with one athlete it would be Dominique Wilkins cause this week was just full of highlights so I will try my best to share all the slammers and the ones that are worth 3 with ya guys hahaha.

So, last Pday was probably the Pday where I did the most things in one day. Elder Barros and I were looking to just kill it and that’s what we did. After using internet, we got our breakfast (bread with bajia and juice from sugar canes) and then he hit Costa Do Sol and went bowling which was super fun. And then on the way home we hit up Pizza Hut.. yep there is a Pizza Hut here and it was my first time eating there and it was dang good! So, it was a successful Pday!

Tuesday, we had Zone Conference at the Mission Office with the Maputo, Urban and Matola zones and it was probably the best zone conference that I have had on my mission. We talked a lot about the Missionary Broadcast and the new things we would be applying in our mission but the second half was all focused on how we need to help our investigators have an experience with the Atonement of Jesus Christ and we do that by teaching repentance and so that way we can baptize converts. President Koch was able to put that into terms for us not meaning that we have to slow down our work but to increase as well because, and I know this to be true, the Lord has prepared Africa and Mozambique for this time to accept the Gospel and grow at the rate that it has been.

Wednesday, Elder Barros and I had the chance to do the division with the AP's. Whoever I would have walked with would have been dope because Elder Combs and Elder Payne are my guys but I worked with Elder Payne in Liberdade and we had such a great day together. While calling, and confirming visits most of the things we had planned for that afternoon fell but shout out to Elder Payne for helping keep a good attitude.  We decided to go out and contact a certain area that is close to our new chapel and we were able to find 12 new investigators back to back to back to back in visits so it was a super cool day.

And now for the biggest highlight came from yesterday and the Maputo Stake Conference. Having already served in two other wards in the stake I knew that I would see some people that I had worked with and knew.  I had no idea that so many people would recognize me and be so excited to see me just because of the short time I had in Magoanine and Mahotas it was amazing. I was able to see Rute, who was baptized when I was Mahotas.  Pedro, who was baptized a week after I left.  Yuren, who I walked with all of the time.  Vivaldo, the ward mission leader in Magoanine who helped me out a ton at the beginning of my mission and many others! It was one of the coolest things that I have experienced in my life and to combine it with one of the best church meetings that I have been a part of it was a special day!

So, there is my 1990 NBA Dunk Contest of a week for you guys haha. It sounds like all is going well back home! Thank you, guys, for all your prayers and support! Goal for the week when we are stressed/pressed/overwhelmed/in need of anything let’s spend more time on our knees praying then on our feet worrying!

Love you guys,

Elder Chipman

Telez had us over for a lunch to celebrate his grandson's bday
and it was super nice!!

Lunch at Telez and Maria's

The Dos Santos family from Magoanine!
They helped me out so much when I first got to the mission
and their son/brother is my good friend Juice who
is now serving in Durban. 

RUTE!! Nothing but tears when I saw the wonder woman!
Such a blessing to see her ans see the light of Christ
shining so bright through her!

From right to left: Vivaldo from Magoanine, Yuren from Mahotas,
Pedro and his sister Lilianna from Mahotas

Bread and Bajia...aka the best breakfast ahha.
Bajuia is basically African tater tots. 

Matapa with Shrimp is too dope!
(that green stuff)

Week 8 - Liberdade A - Soundtrack 2 My Life by Kid Cudi

To start off the email can I get a Randy Moss ''One Clap'' for the new homie Lorenzo Jack Madsen?! Welcome to the world my dude, can’t wait to meet you in 6 months! S/O to Beezer as well for going a couple days over the due date haha but yo... Beez and Brandon, congrats!!

Second, to all my church and sportz fans out there (everyone has probably already heard) shout out to the legend, Daniel E. Ruettiger aka the real-life Rudy for getting baptized! The inspiration to the 2nd Ward Boyz motto, "#TrainLikeMissionaryToday" Go Rudy, Go Sportz and Go Church!

So, Elder Barros and I had another really great week together. We had the chance on Wednesday night to go to the Mission Office, have interviews with President Koch and watch the World Wide Mission Broadcast. Fighting like FPS Doug against the lag we were able to get a good part of the broadcast and I loved it! I was able to learn so much about what I could do better as a missionary. Throughout the week Elder Barros and I focused on extending the invitation to be baptized to most of the people that we met with. It was funny/interesting to see that almost every one accepted to be baptized but when we talked about setting a date with them is when the red flags came up. So, we have been really trying to help everyone see that they can have their doubts/worries/questions/anything else helped through reading, pondering and praying about the Book of Mormon. It has been way cool to see how each and every single person that truly did what we explained to them felt something different. Some said they felt peace, others joy but whatever the feeling was they all described it as good! "But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, everything which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and too love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God." (Moroni 7:13) Often times we over look or don’t pay attention to the small feelings that we get when we do the simple things like praying and reading the scriptures because we all want to receive an update on our smart phones telling us that something is true and that we should follow it. But, it is through these small feelings that God works and He does so to help us show our faith. When we act on those feelings we are promised that we will receive a confirmation of what we are doing and know that it is true. ''If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." (John 7:17) I love seeing the way that people come to know that this Gospel is true and seeing the differences it makes in their lives. It has helped me and will continue on helping me on applying these simple things in my life to strengthen myself and others.

Other updates on the week... I received the box that Mom sent and I loved it! The best thing was seeing the 2016 Chipman book! With 2 Chuck Noland and a Creative Trend reference I loved every page and every picture. Also, with the amount of rain that we have been getting mixed with the heat the 36th Chambers of Mosquitos has officially moved to Matola and they on the swarm! Thursday night after getting home I counted a total of 32 bites just on my legs haha.

Love all you guys... sorry for not a lot of photos I will take more this next week. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Chipman

Looking on in jealousy because of the heat. 

Week 7 - Liberdade A –

"Heeeeeelllllloooooo" - Robin Williams or Blake Henderson, Mrs. Doubtfire

This past week was a really great one for the boys down here in Liberdade! I have loved serving with Elder Barros so far and I cannot wait for the next couple weeks and hopefully next couple transfers with this guy! The only buzz kill of the week is that we have not had water all week (again) haha. I don’t even feel bad for myself, I am feeling bad for Elder Bailey, who is fresh from American Fork in his first week on the mission, and he has only taken one shower with running water. But, it has been really nice to get know Elder Bailey, he is a super good kid and already a great missionary.

As for the area, we had a really great week of finding some new people to teach. Elder Barros and I focused most of our mornings this week on contacting and we had lots of success finding and sitting with people on the spot to share a little purpose message or to share the Restoration with them. I was reading President Uchtdorf's talk about how when something becomes almost second nature to us it loses its value. I have been focusing on this with teaching the Restoration. I have been blessed to serve in a mission where there are no problems with teaching, which means teaching the special message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ can and does become second nature at times, at least it did for me. Until I was able to learn that the Restoration was not just a single event that happened almost 200 years ago, but an event that is continuing to unfold and bless the lives of all that embraces it. The Restoration is always bringing us blessings and my blessing right now is that I have the chance to share this message with everyone possible and see it change people’s lives. Telez is one of those people that the Restoration has been blessing as of recent. I have never taught anyone that wants to read and understand the Book of Mormon more. He is doing great and trying is best to share this message with his family. Manual, the brave teenager that stood up and bore his testimony the first time he came to the church, is doing great as well. He accepted to be baptized on the 11th of Feb. So now it is just getting him all prepared.

As for this past week, I am super sad to hear about the things that have been going down with the family and everything. No one in this world wants hard times but because of a young boy who prayed to our Heavenly Father, we know one of the greatest blessings of this life, that we are all children of a loving God. "In real life, we face actual, not imagined, hard ships. There is pain- physical, emotional and spiritual. There are heartbreaks when circumstances are very different from what we had anticipated. There is injustice when we do not seem to deserve our situation. There are disappointments when someone we trusted failed us. There are health and financial setbacks that can be disorienting. There maybe be times of question when a matter of doctrine or history beyond our current understanding. When difficult things occur in our lives, what is our immediate response? Is it confusion or doubt or spiritual withdrawal? Is it a blow to our faith? Do we blame God or others for our circumstances? Or is our first response to remember who we are - that we are children of a loving God? Is that coupled with an absolute trust that He allows some earthly suffering because He knows it will bless us, like a refiner's fire, to become more like Him and to gain our eternal inheritance?" (Elder Donald L. Hallstrom)

I am so very grateful that I know that I am a child of God and He has sent me here. He has given me a family that has blessed and will only continue to bless me! I love you all and I hope you guys know there are always prayers coming your way from down under! Have such a great week!

Love,

Elder Chipman

Just to let everyone know who reads Elder Chipman's blog. The hard times he is referring to with our family is that Corey & Heidi (Braxton's oldest brother & his wife) were planning on adopting their sixth child.  As a family we were so excited to have this little baby girl bless our lives. The birth mother has decided to raise this little girl. We now pray for this mother and for the baby girl that they will know of our love for them.  

Chauncy Billops and Rip Hamilton coming at ya!

Divisions with Elder Feliciana

Storage!

Traffic

Week 6 - Liberdade A - "Big Things Poppin" by T.I.

What is good everyone?? It sounds like everyone is doing great and that everyone is on wait cause of #babywatch2k17. Corey and Heidi, hope you guys travel safe this coming week and that everything goes great with Baby Rue! Beez, you da best! I hope work and everything else runs smoothly these next couple weeks! I cannot wait to see all the new baby pics!

So, this week was a different one but a good one for the boys down here in the land of Liberty. Elder Bindanda left the on Saturday to spend his last weekend with the other missionaries that are leaving in Maputo. So, it was a week full of goodbyes and good times. On Monday night, we had a Family Night at Brother Jopela's with his wife and kids and let’s just say that we ate pretty well. We had xima and rice with meat made with a sauce that they make out of peanuts. And on top of that we had banana cake and a pie that was just whip cream with crumble crackers on top, but it was super good! It was so good and so much that I was feeling it until the next day that when we were coming back from the city on Tuesday, right as we got to the house I started throwing up hahaha. So, Tuesday, I stayed in all day with stomach problems that luckily passed that night so no worries ya boy is all good now! Wednesday, I had a division with Elder Ribeiro and it was super weird walking with an old comp and thinking how fast time has gone. Thursday night got lit! We had a huge Family Night to say goodbye to Elder Bindanda, at Sister Sara, Jessica and John's house. We had a super good turn out and a had a really fun night. The Liberdade Ward isn't the biggest ward but what is so great is that everyone is really close with one another so when one family or member is going through something the ward members are there to help them out. We have been having a lot of success in strengthening lots of members through these family nights that we are having with lots of participation from the members! Also, we are having lots of success with integrating the investigators that we have been finding so S/O to family nights/Family Home Evening! I super impressed with how the members here have embraced this council that we have received to hold Family Home Evenings weekly to strengthen our families.

With Elder Bindanda leaving.. yes I will be receiving a new companion. And after many guesses and speculations, I got a call from the secretaries Saturday night and got it confirmed that I will be serving with Elder Barros! Elder Barros is from Alagoas, Brazil! So, he will be my 4th Brazilian companion. I am super excited to work and serve with him it is going to be a great couple of transfers! Also, I am super lucky for the chance that I had to serve with Elder Bindanda! Never have I ever met a missionary that wanted to testify more about our Savior, Jesus Christ. He was a really big example of one of the biggest blessing that we as missionaries have, of being special witness of Jesus Christ in everything that we do so I am extremely grateful for this past 6 weeks that I have had to serve with him.

I hope that everyone has such a great/safe week! I miss you all and I am so grateful for the love, support and prayers that you guys are sending my way!

Love,

Elder Chipman

Family at Brother Jopela's

Family Night, part 2 xtra lit at Sister Sara's

B-e-a-utiful

Jasmine was super entertained by trying to braid my hair. 

Last District Lunch

Jorge and Elsa the dopest. 

Bye Bye Elder Bindanda 

Week 5 - Liberdade A - "Wavybone" by A$AP Rocky

The following pictures are from the Fairview B area in Swaziland where 2 "Mulungoes" (white guys) found Santa Suits to be Papa Natal at the Makholweni Mercy Center. 

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Ye ye ye ye what’s up ya eskimos? Just thinking about being in weather lower than 50 degrees at this point just makes me want to curl up in the fetal position next to a fire so I have no idea how you guys are handling the negatives! But, I hope the weather starts turning around for you guys! Other than that, tho it sounds like everyone at home is doing good! Every week I am just more and more excited to hear the news about the new babies! I cannot wait to see the pics of baby Rue and baby Mads! 

As for the week, down here it was a really good one. Elder Bindanda and I were able to get some good work in finding new investigators and having some investigators come to church with a pretty busy week so we are happy with it. This week I headed out to the famous area of T3 to do a division with the one and only Elder Burchett! It was a super fun day talking about the good ol' 801 and working out in his area. And then also on Saturday, I had a division with Elder Dutra just on the other side of Liberdade, and it was such a good time working with that dude. On Saturday, we headed out early though to go to the church to clean and prep for the baptisms of Carolina and Malika. The baptisms went super well! It was the first baptismal meeting that went way smooth with no complications so it was nice. I had the privilege to perform the baptism of Carolina and President Goncalvez baptized his granddaughter, Malika. So, it is always a bonus to the day when you start with some baptisms. We were able to visit some of my favs in Lib. B and get some other baptismal interviews done.

 Sunday, we had a really cool experience with 2 investigators that came to church. First, with Telez, who we have been teaching all this transfer and promised us this week he would come. He always tells us how he knew the church in Beira and knew Brother Mapenda who helped bring the church there and also President Goncalvez who helped bring the church here in Maputo. He showed up super early and was just sitting by himself waiting for the meetings to start and I kid you not every single member that walked in knew him haha. So now we have lots of members that are going to be working with us to help get Telez, his wife Maria, and all of his kids baptized. The second comes from Manuel. We started teaching Manuel (16 years), all of his sisters, and his mom this week and they have progressed super well so far. Manuel was the only one that was able to come to church this week but when he got there it was showtime baby. The kid got up during sacrament meeting and bore his testimony like a champ and then participated in all the classes, saying prayers, asking and answering questions! The kids good so we got lots of hope for him and his family this next transfer.

So, with the big update I won’t leave a long spiritual thought but I would just like to invite you guys this week to study the talk, "The Blessings of Worship" by Bishop Dean M. Davies. I love this talk and learned so much studying it this week. Love for our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ should be the center motive of everything thing we do. When we are able to do that, we will truly be built upon a sure foundation which is our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. And its upon that rock where we will feel the security and joy that Heavenly Father wants us to feel in this life. 

Love you guys! I hope everyone battling sickness' start feeling better and that you guys have a good warm week! Miss all of you tons! Thank you for the prayers and love!

Love,

Elder Chipman

Baptism on Saturday Malika and Carolina.

Monkey out in T3...Elder Burchett and I named him Helder.

Skoly (haha) love this guy!
Elder Burchett went to Olympus High. 

Family Night at Sebastiao's and Lydia's

The funniet kids eva!

Liberdade A - Week 4 - "Far Alone" - G Eazy ft. E40

2k17, now we here trick!

So far this has been the weirdest transition of my mission with a new year, but I am super pumped for 2017 and all that it has in store! It sounds like everyone partied super hard. Brody and Annie hit up D-Land and the rest of the fam ate more candy than Augustus Gloop with the Candy Bar game and fun festivities.

The week was a really good all because of the biggest homies of all time... clouds! It was raining and cloudy for a good part of the week so it helped out a ton. On Tuesday night, we had a big family home evening at Jorge and Elsa's to celebrate their anniversary. It was a really fun night but the best part came when Jorge and Elsa gave their "toasts" and they talked about how the church, getting married, and being baptized truly changed their lives, relationship and family. On Wednesday, I had a division with my dude, Elder Babu! It was a super fun day working with that joker. On Saturday, the 31st we had a busy day to get some visits in, celebrate Elder Ribeiro's bday and also party it up for the New Year. All missionaries had to be home by 18h (6:00pm) so when we got home I cut Elder Dutra's and Elder Ribeiro's hair, we cooked up a nice dinner, and then just slept. Most peaceful New Years I have ever had except for the fireworks that woke me up in the night. I legit woke up thinking I was back in Nam' haha. This next week should be just as good with lots of divisions planned and lots of people to visit. Also on Saturday, we will be having a couple baptisms for the ward of Sister Carolina and Sister Malika.

To start of the new year, President Koch challenged all the missionaries to study the Book of Mormon and finish by March 1st. Ever since I have started my study I have some really cool experiences with the Book of Mormon but to go with the theme of the new year I will just share a little thought from 1 Nephi Chapter 16. So, in this chapter Lehi and his family had been travelling in the wilderness for a minute now and they had already passed through many hard times. Then, Lehi and his family are blessed to obtain the Liahona that gave them guidance of where to hunt and travel for a good amount of time. But once they faced a couple of problems with Nephi's bow being broken and not having any food they were quick to forgot all that God had done for them and their forefathers. After receiving some chastening the family humbled themselves and looked to the Liahona in verse 29, "And there was also written upon them a new writing, which was plain to be read, which did give us understanding concerning the ways of the Lord; and it was written and changed from time to time, according to the faith and diligence which we gave unto it. And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things."

So, with this new year passing and good times that the Lord has blessed us with let us not forget these things when we face our first couple trials of 2017. We have been blessed with so much things in these Latter-Days that give us guidance from time to time and especially when we need it. I hope that we all can use these blessings just like the scriptures, church magazines, and church websites throughout this year with more faith and diligence to help us in times of peace and in times of trial so that the Lord can bring to pass great things for us and for others in 2017 by small means! Love you guys so much! Have such a great week!

Love,

Elder Chipman

Family Night Games

Family Night at Jorge and Elsa's

Lunch with Elder Babu

Selfie with Brother Fransico

New Year's Eve Dinner