Week 10: Maputo

Dear Everyone,

Double digit weeks! Finally... but already at the same time! So my papers got held up in San Fransico for 4 days so they still haven’t made it. Therefore, i am still in Maputo 1. Thats ok i am loving it still! I am with Elder Barroso now because one of the other Elders in the house got his visa to Angola so Elder Carvalho and the other Elder have paired up so now its two and two again. When I leave itll be those three together. I think I should be getting my papers this week and as far as I know President Kretly still wants to send me to Beira. Regardless Moz is an adventure and this area is great. I had another solid week!

So first some of the noteworthy, funny, weird, etc things that happened this week! So last P-Day we went back out to teach a lesson and contact at 6pm. For contacting we have some pretty strict standards and qualities we look for to count it as a qualified contact. We look for men over 25 years old, that are married, have faith in Christ, want to learn more about our message, and give us their phone number. We aim for 40 contacts a week! So we talk to a lot of people in the street. Anyways last P-Day where were contacting and these two mid-twenties girls came up to me and started talking to. Elders Carvalho and Barroso were occupied talking to other people so I was all alone. Luckily, I was able to understand these two and converse with them. They wanted me to talk about what I was doing so I did. After, out of the blue the one girl, holding her brand new baby, asked if I would marry her!! I was so taken aback I had no idea what to say. Thankfully, Elder Carvalho had just gotten over there and bailed me out haha. So maybe it wasnt such a good thing that I understood them haha! We have a couple that is getting maried in 2 weeks so we have been trying to help her find a dress and have been struggling to do so. While talking about it at the house during planning the three of us Elders decided to make the dress ourselves. We wrapped Elder Barroso up in a white comforter and then wrapped a white mosquito net around him like a veil. He was beautiful. I was dying because of how femmy I already think he is! Last night we were teaching a lesson and they offered us dinner, which we arent allowed to take but they got like pretty heated about it so we took some of the rice because thats pretty safe. But the whole time I was terrified because she was cooking the fish in front of us. All they do here is cut the belly and let the guts fall out then thats how they cook it. Gills, skin, scales, fins, eyes and all!!! Its insane and I had no idea what I was gonna do. In my head I was thinking "Oh just try it you baby it'll be hilarious and a great story, this is what you always wanted. Oh ya but it probably wont be that funny when you throw up all over the place!" so then I was trying to figure out a way out of it so I was gonna tell them I was allergic haha! Luckily, we ate the rice fast before the fish was done and made an excuse to get out of there!!! Early this week we had a new missionary training at the mission home so I got to see Elders Ence and Couch again, and speak some English which was osum! We got to hitch-hike home too which was great cause its like a 3-4 mile walk.

Some things about the culture here. There is no sense of time. We make appointments and wont actually be there teaching them until 45minutes-an hour late. No one cares and you just get there when you get there haha. The women are very very very reserved in the homes. It is definitely a male dominated society. But the grandmas in the street never shut up haha. They yell all sorts of things and are always laughing. They all speak dialect so I have no idea whats so funny. There is this market area we have to walk through sometimes that's insane! First, everything is dirt cheap. Second, there are a million people there but there is no room. Third, everyone is screaming for customers attention so you cant even hear yourself think. Its sick:) The kids here are great, but sometimes annoying. They have been taught to beg white people for money. The also love to slap and punch so its hard not to just throw them a quick bow when nobody is looking... jk jk! They are awesome and make everyday fun. The only frustating part is at church, especially sacarment meeting. The culture is to let kids do their own thing and survive and be back home for meals. So at church the kids never sit with their parents so we have to babysit and there isnt much reverance. Other than that its osum!

The week before I got here we had 1 family come to church. Last week, my first in the area, we had 4 investigator families attend church. Yesterday we had 8 COMPLETE families and a total of 19 INVESTIGATORS at church!!!! It was freakin osum possum! Domingos and Christina are our closest investigators to baptism. They will be married and baptized on the 27th of this month. They are great, and will be very faithful members and I know they will make it to the Temple in a year. Atenazio and Amelia are another family. He is very interested and working really hard to prepare for baptism. Amelia is very shy and quiet. She is 15 years old and pregnant with their child! We didn't know she was that young when we started teaching her. She looks 30! Arlindo and Anastancia were completely Muslim a month ago, but have committed to a baptismal date and to getting married! They have 2 kids that are really great too. They are very respectful and have great attitudes. Celso and Teresa have already opened to marriage process. Teresa actually talked about me in Gospel Principles class yesterday. She talked about how even though I’ve only been here for a little she was grateful I was sharing my testimony with her and her family and that I tried my best with Portuguese. She said she always understands me. That was a great feeling! Ernesto and Aida... I like them. Ernesto has a soft spot for me because he likes to try to speak English. He asked for an English Bible. We don’t really give out Bibles because we want them to read the BoM, but I gave him one on the condition that for every verse he read in the English Bible he read 2 verses in the Portuguese BoM. My favorite family is Moises and Idalma. They are so boss! They are both super intelligent an with it. Which can be rare around here sometimes. They both talk during the lessons, and have committed to baptism! They each have come to church, and are just perfect investigators that will end up being great members!

Well I love you all and am sorry if I left out anything. I don't have many pictures from this week, but maybe I will be able to send the couple I have later. Thank you for your love, support, emails, and prayers! Until next week.

Much Love,
Elder Hruby