Saturday, December 26, 2015

Week 76

ITS CHRISTMAS WEEK!!!!!!!!! I am looking forward to a very much needed skype sesh! I cant wait to see all you guys!

This week doesnt have a lot to tell. It is unreal hot here. We walk outside everyday and I just laugh... it really is comical how we live haha. From 2pm to 9pm I am losing on average 6-8 lbs of water weight! I feel like Im doing hot yoga during our lessons.

I got to go on a comp exchange this week. I walked with Elder Watteyne. He is from Logan, but we played against each other in lacrosse my senior year when he was a sophomore. Small world. It was a nice time getting to talk about lax for a little bit, its been quite a while.

As far as the area and the work... well there is work to be done. We are working hard and being obedient, but there is something else we need to be doing because we just arent catching the right breaks these days. None of our families came to church yesterday. We dont know why Magre didnt come, because his wife, Sarifa, was there. We are going over there tonight to see whats up. We are still hoping to open there marriage process this week since last week didnt work out. Hopefully we can get them to understand the commitment they need to put into this.

In all honesty thats all I really got. We get to talk more on Christmas day. My skype time is from 4pm to 440pm on Christmas day! Im super excited! Try not to freeze this week!

Much Love,
Elder Hruby


We got to skype with Elder Hruby on Christmas day and it was so awesome! He is doing well and is the same old Grant we love and miss. Crazy to think that the next time we skype him will be a month before he comes home!




Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Week 75

I'll just start by saying this so I can leave it alone the rest of the email so I dont annoy you guys... IT IS SO HOT! Ive never had a week this hot. Everyone single day, except yesterday was bloody hot. But this week was pretty solid.

As rough as Pday was last week was, we ended it on a good night. We had a family night with a less-active member and his wife who isnt a member (Manuel e Isabel). It was solid and he shows some strong interest to come back and she came to church by herself yesterday cause Manuel had to work! She liked it and a lot of the Relief Society gave her a warm welcome. Progress baby!

The big news this week... Magre e Sarifa are moving on their documents! We taught them about marriage and explained the docs on Tuesday and they accepted in no hesitation. The only dificulty is they are from Quelimane which is further north than Beira, so to get an original copy of their birth certificate is tricky, but God works miracles and they have some family members that were super willing to help out and we should have the docs down here this week. We want to try and open the process by Friday so that they can be married and baptized on January 9th!!! Im stoked for them. They are one of those families that really recognize just how much the gospel is blessing/changing their lives. It is my favorite thing to see too.

We also have another family, Americo e Rosa who had already come to church a few times and accepted baptism, but this week they accepted marriage and they have a super easy doc situation! We will probably go a little slower with them, however, since they need a little more time to understand everything and gain a real testimony, but miracles nonetheless!

Matola has been doing us dirty lately. I feel like Im back in Beira sometimes with the power outages and lack of water, of which we had both this week. We ran out of water for only like 24 hours, but we didnt have that many bottles of water stored in the house, so Wednesday night I set a new personal record showering with about 700ml of water haha! Luckily, the next morning I went out to the water spout and it was flowing so we filled up like 80 bottles of water, just to have the water start pumping through the house again... at least next time we will have bottles! Also, energy went out Saturday night... which was probably the hottest day of the week... joy. Woke up at least a dozen times just soaked in sweat haha. I dont even get mad really anymore I just think its hilarious... Ill go through anything for the story ya know!

Well I think thats all for this week. We will be skyping on Christmas day I believe. Not quite sure on the time yet, though. Im beyond excited! Im trying to think of which stories I want to tell in our limited time... gotta be something good, get you guys rolling on the ground a bit :) Have a great week!

Much Love,
Elder Hruby

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Week 74

So I will be sprinting to write this email. We have had a rough time finding a place to do internet. Energy is out in most of the zone, and this place we found is only letting us do it for 15min. Gotta love Pdays right?

This week was... well it felt rough. Looking at our week we actually had some good success. 2 families and 8 people at church. Most Elder Ellingson and I have had. I think this week was tough partially because the week before was so good. Also, summer has arrived in full force. Im currently dripping sweat onto the keyboard and my shirt is partially see through from the sweat... gross I know.

Magre e Sarifa are doing super well! We taught them about marriage and they accepted with baptism for January 9th.... thats in 2016! I will be super pumped when we get them in the water. It will be the first family baptism in this area in a long while. We are trying really hard to find other families but our main difficulty isnt sitting with new families, its that the message just doesnt seem to get through. Its in one ear and out the other. This is a God fearing people, but sometimes that plays against them in that they will believe anyone that shows up to their door and say Jesus. kind of frustrating, but we are bound to be lead to some golden families. Well in fact this week we did find one super cool family. Manuel was baptized in 2008 and now is inactive and married (not legally). His wife isnt a member, but is open to us and he really has a desire to return to the Church. Writing this email I dont know why I was pouting about our week so much... it actually was pretty solid. Hindsight is 20-20.

Story time! Me and Elder Ellingson went to the machamba with a Sister member. That is there big garden land thing. Well we went with Irma Lydia. It was the hottest day of the year, 41 or 42 degrees! I burnt bad!!! We went out there with our hoes and started clearing land for her to plant stuff. We worked for about 3 hours and I was so dead and so sweaty afterwards. The rest of the week I was dying too. The best part of the story has to be the transportation to and from. We had to ride in the back of a truck with about no joke 50 other people, standing mind you. It was about a 45min ride, but we only traveled about 8 miles haha. They were harrassing us and making all sorts of jokes because you never see white people doing that, but Lydia defended us. It was so packed tight and everyone was holding onto each other it was ridiculous, you wouldnt have believed it if you saw it. I felt like I was at a high school dance, except the fact that the girl in front of me wasnt my cute date, it was a big ole machamba mama, and the person behind was a shirtless man haha.... oh this place is paradise!

Well time is short, hope life is running well, I love this time of the year! Even in the heat Christmas is still real. Talk to you next week!

Much Love,
Elder Hruby


Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Week 73

This was one of the best weeks of the entire mission! The work, the place, the families, and the mission in general was osum! Elder Ellingson and I finished this transfer with fashion. We had by far our best week of work of the transfer. We hit almost all our goals and we had 2 new families at church! One of them is looking like they could really progress, Magre e Sarifa!

So today was transfers. I now enter into my 12th out of 16! That is crazy! With the divisions of the wards last week and some talking with Pres, me and Elder Ellingson we given the entire ward of Liberdade as our own. We picked up another area since there were elders working there, but we moved them out and now we own it all! Means even more walking, but we should never have a down day because of all the area we have and all the members too! It is a vote of confidence in me and Elder Ellingson but Im stoked. We are getting a family this transfer I can feel it in my bones haha.

So my second Thanksgiving on the mission... has to have been one of my favorite Thanksgiving of my entire life. We went big and bought a real turkey and a bunch of other good stuff and actually put together a meal our moms would have been very proud of! We had turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, rolls, salad, a fruit jello salad, apple pie, ice cream, lemon bars, bunch of soda, and we found non alcoholic champagne, and PUMPKIN PIE! Elder Holt made the pie from scratch and it was delish! We went out to work on Thursday morning and when we came back for lunch Elder Holt and Sharpe blindfolded us and took us into the house, they had set up a surprise for us. When they brought us back into the living room they unblindfolded us and they had cleaned up and reorganized the room and covered the tables with food and table cloths and drinks and they even had built a tower of coca colas with flaming fireworks coming out the top... ya it was extreme, but I loved it. We then popped the champagne bottles and ejoyed ourselves a lovely little missionary Thanksgiving! Went back out to work and had a successful day, although it was soooo hot. Because of the heat there was a pretty wicked lightning storm that evening, so much lighting that we actually had to go home an hour early! All in all it was a great holiday. Made even better knowing aunt Connie is doing better. I love that lady!

Those are the highlights from my week. I cant believe Im done with my 11th transfer. Time is a trip... I know I say that a lot, but it is so weird here on the mission. The work continues and Im looking forward to this next transfer, and of course the fact that our 3rd skype sesh is less than a month away! I love you guys to the moon and back!

Much Love,
Elder Hruby


Saturday, November 28, 2015

Week 72

STATE CHAMPS!!! STATE CHAMPS!!! STATE CHAMPS!!! Everyone in this internet cafe thinks the white missionary is even more of a weirdo than before haha. I know preaching the is more important, but I am pretty caught up in a state title. I am a proud brother! Cant believe Bjack was player of the game! Well actually of course I believe it, he is a stud, but its just crazy the little Benny poo lives up to all the hype! Man if you cant tell Im super jealous.

As for stuff of eternal importance.... the work continues. To be honest the area is a fight right now. We have had a family at church every week so far, the problem is it has been a different family every time. Thats good showing we are finding new families, but we cant get anyone to stick and really progress. We are gonna get one though, I can feel it in my bones.

This week we had stake conference. It was a transmission from Salt Lake to all the Stakes in Africa. Lots of emphasis on going to the Temple, keeping the Sabbath Day Holy, and paying tithing. During our conference as well, we divided some wards, one of which being mine! Now Elder Ellingson and will be starting a new ward. Same area basically but with an entirely new ward. Im stoked! We sat with Pres Koch after conference as zone leaders to realign the areas for missionaries in our zone. I love meetings with that man. Spiritual giant! We have a lot of work to do. The next step here is a Stake in Matola, not just Maputo. Means we have to step it up a little, especially as examples for the missionaries Pres expects me and Elder Ellingson to work the hardest, and get the most out of our labors. Gotta love high expectations :)

Story time. Walking in the area on Wednesday and bent down to grab my pen and my pant leg ripped from me knee almost all the way up my inner leg. I know fat kid problems. Well my g's were showing so I had to fix them somehow and we were about an hour from the house. What does your genius missionary do? Why buys super glue on the side of the road duh! I super glued my pants together to make them last through the rest of the day. The only issue was this is Mozambican super glue and nobody knows whats in it. As I was gluing it starting heating up really fast and burnt my fingers and the little bit that got on my leg burned me too. Probably not FDA approved, but hey thats just my opinion haha.

So this week is THANKSGIVING. We are going to buy a turkey and try to make our own stuffing and pie and mashed potatoes and sides and stuff! I am going to take out some personaly money because we are going big and I dont have enough mission money for all my food so thats my heads up. Today after internet we are going to have a Turkey Bowl as a zone! I call being Ben Hruby!

Well in the spirit of Thanksgiving I would just like to say that I love you all! Sou imensamente grato por minha familia. Sou grato por tudo que eu tenho. Por todo o amor de cada um de voces e vosso apoio. Tenho uma gratidao que nao consigo expresar por ser um missionario, especialmente aqui na melhor missao no mundo. E mais que tudo sou grato por meu Pai Celestial e meu Salvador Jesus Cristo e o privelegio que terei de viver com eles de novo e minha familia para toda eternidade! Tenham um bom Thanksgiving.

Much Love,
Elder Hruby







Thursday, November 19, 2015

Week 71

I know Im serving a mission and all. but WE GOING TO THE SHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

haha I think I might be more into this than you guys. My house and comp must be getting pretty tired of me. I have warned them every week so far that if BK loses I will probably cry and be in a grumpy mood all day. Good thing Bjack is a monster! P day is just that much better. Elder Ellingson's brother is playing in the state soccer tournament in Oregon so we both get on every week to see how our little brothers did first thing. Sadly his brother lost, so now we are both banking on Bjack haha.

This week was good. We baptized Millario. I dont I have actually mentioned him yet. He is a single 23 year old that has uncles in SA who are members. He is super smart and really humble and loves the Lord. He is fun to teach too. We had planned for his baptism on Saturday afternoon. We got to the chapel and hour early to prep, but the ward mission leader and some other sweet members were already there cleaning and filling up the font. About 45 minutes before the baptism the power went out and we had no water to fill the font. Good thing it was pouring rain! We grabbed all the buckets we could find and started letting the rain fill them. It was pretty frustrating and didnt seem like it was really going well. We even said a prayer and asked for some help. Right as we finished praying it stopped raining, kind of the opposite of what we had been hoping for. Without power or rain we had no way to fill the font. We had to postpone the baptism until Sunday after church. It all went well and stuff but I was pretty bugged that Saturday got all messed up. We had done all we were supposed to do, even the members had done their part this time and the investigators even showed up early. Everything was done right but still nothing turned out how it was supposed to. I was honestly a little frustrated with the Big Guy. I had a humbling moment, though. I still dont know what were supposed to learn or why it happened that way, but it doesnt really matter if I understand. God knows what is best and He knows EXACTLY what He is doing. It was a good lesson in trusting Him this week. Ironic since I was reading in Proverbs for studies and read Proverbs 3: 5-7.

So that familia from Rwanda came to church again. We didnt even visit them this week! We got permission to teach them so we may actually get to baptize them! Sick right? They speak some Swahili so tell Michael to send me some phrases so I can make them laugh.

Zone training went well. Our zone has a goal to baptize and reactivate one family before the end of the year. Big goal, but there are families ready! We talked about doing all the simple things that we know how to do. We have been taught/trained a thousand times how to be successful no its just a matter of deciding what type of missionary you want to be and doing it. I enjoyed the training, for myself too.

Well other than that I dont have much. It is getting really flippin hot again. My face got super sunburt and my nose is peeling nicely. Yup even after beeing in Africa for almost a year and a half I am still a normal white guy! Have a great week. ROLL KNIGHTS!

Much Love,
Elder Hruby

Friday, November 13, 2015

Week 70

Was a week of firsts. I rode bikes for the first on my mission. I taught a Restoration lesson in English for the first time. And we had another family come to church for the first time. Id say it was a good week. oh and of course Bjack won his first playoff game!

So the area I am in is pretty far from the house, the closest part being a good 30 min speed walk, and the area goes on forever. I dont actually know where it ends,but lets just say Ive walked 2 and a half hours from the house without reaching the limits. To be a bit more effective on days when we have a lot of lessons, we started using our bikes. This is the only house that has had working bikes so Im taking advantage of it. It has been nice. The only 2 negatives are the even more never ending attention to the white guy, cause now he is on a bike woo hoo!, and Im pretty sore because Ive become a fatty, but other than that I love the bikes.

This family we taught in English is from Rwanda. They are refugees. They speak dialect, French, and English so thats why we had to teach them in English. It was super fun. I sounded like a babbling idiot because Ive never taught the gospel in my own language haha, but I loved it. I was too nervous to pray aloud in English so I made Elder Ellingson say the opening prayer haha. Im gonna have to work on that before I come home. The family, Charles and Grace, came to church yesterday as well. We luckily had a member in Elders Quorum and Relief Society that spoke enough English to translate for them. I dont know exactly where we are going to go with this family since they dont speak tha native language, we will to ask Pres. The good news is they are already legally married.

This week we also had our mission leadership meeting. It was decent enough. But Pres always seems to end with a bang. Just something that leaves you thinking and wanting to do better. I like that about him. Two things that stuck out to me where: time is really just a question of preference, and its better to change the lives of a few people, rather than just barely touch the lives of many. Like I said he leaves you thinking.

Tomorrow we have our zone training. Ellingson and I are actually going to use some of the stuff that Dad sent me 2 weeks ago in the 4th Missionary. So thanks for that! Hopefully it goes well. The zone is picking up slowly but surely so thats good news.

Well the weeks keep on rolling by. Im excited for Thanksgiving! We are gonna make a bomb lunch! And skype is just around the corner! Time is such a trip. I love you guys and love that life is going good for my family! Have a good week and Roll Knights haha.

Much Love,
Elder Hruby



Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Week 69


Geez... really was an eventful week for you all! Im glad things are calming down a bit. Tell aunt Connie I love her and not to worry she's got missionary prayers coming her way.

For me, the week was a success. Better than last week, but still lots of room to grow. The area is picking up slowly but surely. We still had 1 or 2 days this week were we spent most of the day walking in the sun just trying to find new families to teach, but hey like Dad says, "If it was easy, everyone would do it."

The good news is we have 2 families that seem super legit. Izidro e Jacinta and Magre e Sarifa. They are both younger couples with only 1 or 2 little kids. Izidro e Jacinta came to church yesterday too! I really like Magre e Sarifa. They are really humble and kind, and super intelligent. They ask good questions, which is kind of rare sometimes. Last night Magre asked me, for the first time on my mission, why I am or why I stay a member of the Church. It was a cool question, and we were teaching about the Book of Mormon so I got to share my testimony about it and it turned out to be a really nice lesson. I am also kinda of partial to liking Magre because he is a JW and personally I would love to convert one of them haha.

The rest is going good. Elder Ellingson and I are getting along. No, matter who you are comps with you always learn new things and find ways you can better yourself. Its actually kind of nice. The house is good too, we have some younger guys, but they are adapting well and have good attitudes. Being zone leader in Matola is a bit different that Maputo. Matola has only Elders so you can be a little more up front haha. But also this zone is notorious for difficulties with families and marriages so we are working hard to make some headway there.

This week I was a little sick with a head cold, ironic since its hot as anything these days. But the good news is our little drink breaks in the afternoon usually helped me get through the day. Every day around 5 me and Ellingson stop at a little side store and grab a 30 cent coke or fanta. gotta love the prices here:)

Have a good week! Take care of the family, well families really. Love you guys and pray for you too!

Much Love,
Elder Hruby

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Week 68

My first week here in Matola was a success. I dig my new companion, we get along well and he works hard so its all dandy. The area is HUGE! We can walk for an hour from our house and still be only in the middle of our area, and thats like a missionary speed walk haha. It is a nice area, a little more wealthy, cleaner too. I like it. The ward is nice, and the Bishop is a good guy. We have about 100 member at church each week, but about 400 registered in our ward... lots of work to be done there. So far so good, though. I like my new house as well. The mission is super young so wherever I go there are going to be new or young Elders in the house. Right now we have 2 that are in their first transfer. I feel like a grandpa.
As far as investigators and people we are working with.... its a work in progress. This area hasnt baptized a family in over 18 months, but hey no better time than the present right? Im actually excited for the challenge. There are a lot of good people here, just takes a little different tactic I think. I will keep you updated as we find new people!

This week we got to watch General Conference. It was OSUM! Especially because finally I can understand it all haha. I love the Prophet, he is a trooper. I really liked Elder Anderson and Pres Uchtdorf´s talks from Priesthood session. To me I saw a lot of emphasis on true faith. What it is, how to grow it, and what to do with it. Also, about changing and getting better each day. Stuff that I liked and is applicable in life, and in the mission right now. And of course I had to love Elder Holland´s talk about my mamma! Guy really knows how to make a missionary miss his mom haha.

So another successful week down. Hopefully the next one is even better. I love you guys! Africa is getting hot, but we all know the more sweat that drips from your nose in the middle of relating the First Vision, the more the Spirit works!

Much Love,
Elder Hruby


Elder Hruby and his new companion

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Week 67

Well it's transfer day! I am getting transfered to Matola. It is in Maputo still, it is kinda of like being in Boise vs Eagle. Im excited. 3 transfers here was the perfect amount. We went out with a bang too, baptizing 5 people! My new companion is Elder Ellingson. I got to know him a bit when I was up in Beria. He is super legit, I think we are gonna have a good time together. He is wrapping up his mission. I think he goes home at the end of January.

This week really was a good one. Obviously the best part was the baptisms of Ramalho, Felicidade, Moises, Milusha, and Ed. I love these guys. It was one of the more emotional goodbyes this time. I said bye to 4 families that I baptized. Im going to have to come back here my last Sunday of the mission to see them all again. I was reminded this week of a quote from President Monson, something like "The greatest joy I know is knowing that the Lord has used me as an instrument in His hands to answer the prayers of one of His other children." Felicidade said multiple times to me as I was saying goodbye that if it wasnt for me she and Ramalho and her brother and sister in law would all still be lost and unhappy. I know I didnt really do anything. I was just being a missionary. Any other Elder would have baptized these families as well, but it is a really good feeling knowing that Heavenly Father used me as a way to help these people who He loves, and now so do I.

We also had zone conference this week. As always it was super osum. Pres Koch actually gave the zone leader another hour and a half to give a training to the zone. Mejia and I talked about the characteristics of Christ and how being more like Him is a sure way to become a better and more successful missionary. We actually had some of the missionaries give mini talks because I felt hypocritical talking about that stuff when I am probably one of the least charitable and most impatient missionaries here haha. But it went well.

Fun story of the week, but first I have to say, if I tell this story Mom has to promise not to get mad. Ok thanks! So we were out of energy over the weekend because the electrical company shut off our fuse box because of some problem, but they werent coming out to fix it until Tuesday. So we basically hotwired to box so we could have energy for those 4 days, but before the company came out to fix it we had to put it back to normal so they wouldnt see it. Yes I know we are bad, but I got punished already. When we were rewiring it, Mejia was screw some of the wires back in and I was holding the box and stuff for him, well I had a wire slip and brush up against me, it was exposed so it gave me a nice jolt and threw me to the ground and left a cool Harry Potter mark on my arm. The mark already went away and Im all good. And we got it rewired in time!:) Just another good mission story! I had enough electricity to run our house go through my body. But dont worry Mom, God protects his missionaries... even the stupid ones:)

Well have another great week. Love hearing about all thats going on. Tell Jordan I say hi. I miss that dude. He was and still is such a great example to me.

Much Love,
Elder Hruby




Monday, October 12, 2015

Week 66

Man the weeks just keep getting crazier. This week I felt like a chicken running around with its head cut off! Between the new house, renewing my visa, and trying to plan these weddings... eish!

So the new house is nice. The senior couple bought us a good amount of nice stuff, then again new stuff always looks nice until a bunch of 20 year old boys get there hands on it haha. We still arent sleeping there, though. Mejia and I spent 2 full days setting up the furniture and getting the house in order. The ACs will be in this week and then we should be sleeping there. We will see haha. Its only been a work in progress for a whole transfer now... We also are going to paint the walls. Reminds me of when me and Mom did the garage for Fathers Day! Good times.

Other good news, I wont be getting deported. I dont know why but my documents can never be easy here. We had to go renew basically a document equivilent to my visa, but it almost turned out a disaster. For some reason the mission never picked up my visa from a year ago so when we went to renew it that caused some issues and we spent 7 hourse and the immigration office... yay! But all is well, I am legal now.

Some more good news, and kinda bad news. Its mostly good news. Moises e Milusha and Ramalho e Felicidade were married this week! It was a super nice wedding. My first time Ive had a legit wedding ceremony with mulitple couples at the same time! Lots of family, singing, and food! Very pretty, too because they did everything at the church, including the lunch. I had a good time and took lots of pics! The bad news is because Moises needed and interview with Pres Koch we had to move the baptisms back a week. But its ok they are all still getting baptized!

The rest is going good. We are always trying to find more people to teach. We actually found a super legit family yesterday named Sydney e Sandra. They are wicked smart and paid attention really well. It was one of those more spiritual lessons which you always feel better about because you can just see it in their faces when it clicks. Thats a good feeling. We asked her to read a verse in the Bible and she started reading in English, threw me off a bit. She studied in South Africa so she speaks English.

Welp, have another osum fall week. Love hearing all about it! You guys are the bestest family I ever couldve asked for!

Much Love,
Elder Hruby




Week 65


To be honest this was one of those more trying weeks. One that Im already looking back on with gratitude for what I learned, but it was rougher nonetheless.

It wasnt a bad week, in truth we actually had a super successful week. Just a lot of stress. The contract with the new house was kind of a mess, and I ended up having to talk to this dude's lawyer to resolve some of it. Luckily it all worked out and the Big Man helped me out. We move in officially tomorrow! Im pumped. This week I was also really struggling with my patience. I think the Lord just wanted to remind me I still havent mastered it and have a lot to learn. I was getting super irritated in the road with the people. I had not even the slightest amount of patience for any side remark haha. I read some good talks and stories in the scrips and Liahona that were super nice. That probably sounded super missionary haha, but they really did help out. That and the fast this week.

I heard about the Apostles. The only one I called correctly was Elder Rasband. I think it's so cool how it can seem so "random." The Lord knows who He wants! Im going to watch Conference in 2 weeks so that will be nice!

This is the quote I really liked this week. "Charity is having patience with someone who has let us down. It is resisting the impulse to become offended easily. It is accepting weaknesses and shortcomings. It is accepting people as they truly are. It is looking beyond physical appearances to attributes that will not dim through time. It is resisting the impulse to categorize others" Its from President Monson. 'Charity Never Faileth.'

Glad to hear Bjack killed it again and fall is as good as ever! I love the pics! I will send you all a bunch of pics next week after the weddings at baptisms! BTW I just turned my calendar to October and the main pic is of the family apple picking 2 years ago, ironic.

Much Love,
Elder Hruby

Monday, September 28, 2015

Week 64

Another week of work down. Nothing super crazy from this week, but it was good. We got a lot done and had a good time doing it.

Elder Mejia and I gave our zone training this Tuesday and it went super well. It lasted about 2 hours. Lots of focus on the members and ward council. We sat in on our ward council yesterday... it was an experience. It is crazy how organized the Church is back home! But hey its getting better day by day here.

Moises e Ana got confirmed yesterday! Went flawlessly without any stress so Im grateful for that. They are crazy I love them haha.

We got Moises e Milushaºs marriage process open, and Ramalho e Felicidade are opening it today! The marriage and baptisms are going to be on the 10th! We also found some good potential families this week. One of them, Amos e Joana, are an older couple. I like him because he has a hitler stache haha. But actually they are really smart and he understood super well the organization of the Church aka prophet, apostles, and what not. He also came to church yesterday. It was super funny becasue he got lost so we had to go meet him on the corner of the road. When he saw us he started running over to meet us. This 65 year old Mozambican man running over to meet the 2 white dudes... I was laughing.

We should finally be moving into our new house this week. The senior couple went out and bought all the funiture and appliances and the bank payment went through so hopefully we get to sleep there this week. You know how I just love moving.

Well sorry this is kind of a boring email, but everything is going good over here. It is starting to get hot again... Im scared. But hey it means Im already going into my second Mozambican summer... woo! At least I will get tan again. Have a good week. Enjoy some more football for me.

Much Love,
Elder Hruby




Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Week 63

It wasn't flawless, but we got it done. Moises e Ana were baptized! We had the service scheduled for Saturday at 4pm. Around 11am we went over to clean out the baptismal font (a metal cage with a tarp inside it to hold water) and fill it up.Well while were were cleaning it I accidentally punched two holes into the tarp with a broom... long story. So we had to come back with duct tape and plastic grocery bags to try and do some patch work. Well, it worked, good enough at least. The only problem was by the time we finished the patch work water wasn't coming out of the hoses because the water companies shut off after 12. Don't ask why, I don't know. So we couldn't fill up the font. We had to reschedule until after church on Sunday. It ended up going super well. Because of the holes the hose wasn't filling up the font quite fast enough, so I spent half of gospel principles class and all of elders quorum filling up buckets and pouring them into the font haha. Gotta love Mozambique! Long story short, we baptized them and it was osum! A ton of members stuck around to watch so we had a good turnout. Moises was a little difficult to baptize, he didn't want to go under all the way, we tried twice but he was resisting, so the third time I just kicked his legs out from under him and dunked him as hard as I could haha... he went all the way under that time!

The rest of the week was pretty solid. We had our leadership council with Pres on Wednesday. It was good, as always. Lot of emphasis on working with our ward councils and work with the members. I liked it. Definitely a lot we can improve on. On Thursday Pres actually came out to our area and walked with me. It was just me and him walking in my area for about an hour doing contacts. He wanted to see how we do them. It was a good time. It was kind of funny to see your super spiritual mission President get rejected by guys in the road haha. But it was fun. He really liked it.

This week we are going to open the processes of Moises e Milusha and Ramalho e Felicidade! The are scheduled for Oct 10! The miracles just keep coming.

Time is flying by, and life just keeps going doesn't it?! I love hearing from you each week. Its like Christmas morning for me every Pday to see what you all have written in your emails. 

Much Love,
Elder Hruby







Monday, September 14, 2015

Week 62

Whats up? Just living the life over here. This was another quick, good, full week.

My comp, Elder Mejia, didnt get here until Thursday night so I was walking with a new elder, Elder Fuchs, as he was waiting for his docs to go to Swazi. He was pretty cool. He already spoke the language because his parents are brazilian so that was nice.

My new comp is nice. We get alone super well. He is from Richmond California. He went to the high school from Coach Carter, cool right. His parents are from Nicaragua, but he and all his siblings were born in Belize. He lived in Cali since he was young, though. He is a cool dude. He is super into graffiti and art so he is gonna teach me how to do some of it haha.

This week was kind of whack with the weird transfers and docs and stuff so I didnt get a lot of time in the area, but what time we did have was nice. Moises e Ana got married on Saturday, and will be baptized next Saturday. We are trying doing the marriage and baptisms on different days to see if we can make the baptism a more spiritual event. Also, another couple, Moises e Milusha finished all their docs and will most likely open the marriage process this week. Ramalho e Felicidade are super close too. He gets home from a trip this Wednesday and only has to do one more document so we will try to open their process with Moises e Milusha as well!!! Is not this the most blessed area!? Im loving it!

Other than that I dont have much, just that I love hearing from you all. Our lives are osum! Win or lose. I had my second dinner appointment of my mission this last Sunday. The Bishop had the 6 elders over for a nice dinner. Needless to say I enjoyed.

I love you guys a ton. Each Monday I just get super pumped to hear from you and always leave internet refreshed and happy and ready for another week... thank you.

Much Love,
Elder Hruby









Saturday, September 12, 2015

Week 61

Dad I also came to that same realization yesterday when I was putting my fast Sunday tie on... only 9 more times! Thats a very small number.

Guys this week was OSUM! We baptized David e Otilia... in the pouring rain, and they loved it! The wedding was great. Simple, but pretty, and man the baptisms were super nice. I sent a ton of photos. We went to their house afterwards and got to feast and pop fake champagne haha. I was loving it.

Transfers came today... I am staying here (YES!) and will be getting a new comp, Elder Magia. He is American, he was serving in Swazi and will be his first transfer as a zone leader. I am also moving houses because Pres opened up a new area and having 8 missionaries in one house doesnt work so well. So I have been house hunting and found a decent house that we might move into this week. Me and my comp and another companionship Elder McCallister and Elder Bott. McCallister is one of my buddies on the mish so Im pumped, Elder Bott is brand new but I dig him. He actually knows Kellen Copeland from a class at Weber! Crazy small world.

Actually to show you how small the world is get this... one of the Sisters in my zone is Alyssa Knowles cousin. The senior couple we have here have a nephew that was in my singles ward at the Academy. We got a new Elder from England, Elder Donker, yeah he is really good friends with Camilla Geddes! And then this Elder Bott that is friends with Kellen. Pretty insane right?

Well this week Moises e Ana will be getting married and baptized as well. The work never stops! Im loving it.

Thanks for all the updates about football. Makes my life infinitley better haha. Im giddy all pday because of it. I cannot believe how raw bjack is! I love you guys have a great week!

Much Love,
Elder Hruby

Monday, August 31, 2015

Week 60

60 is quite a number. I remember when I was with Hutch he was writing emails in the 60's... he goes home next transfer!

Well this email wont be as long as last week, but that doesn't mean this week wasn't as good. Just not a lot of news. Basically all our families are progressing well and making visible strides in their conversion processes and preparation for baptism and marriage! This Saturday David e Otilia are getting married and baptized! Super excited. And they are having a little party after so I will get to enjoy some BOMB food:)

Cool thing of the week, President Koch invited me and Elder Christiansen to a meeting with the Stake President, President Castanheira. We talked about the Stake's goals over the next 2 years and how missionaries and members are going to work to hit these goals. The nice part was they actually asked our opinions and thoughts on stuff. Feeling like a boss haha.

I was so annoying in the house this week. Each morning I woke up and would ask the house what day it was. I would then answer myself and say "its the last padded practice (wed)." orthursday I yelled its walk through day! I thought Bjack's game was Friday so I ran around yelling its GAME DAY!!!!! As you can tell... Im still a big fan. Pdays are so much better when football is here! By the way... nice job bro! Killed it. Whats new though. Look like a stud, play like a stud, you might just be a stud.

Have another great week. Im excited to send some baptism pics next week! Also I uploaded some pics from going to the zoo last pday. I bought a live chicken and threw it into the crocodile exhibit... ya it was as cool as it sound. They love them so live chirpin chicken:)!

Much Love,
Elder Hruby

This is Nilza and my companion. Nilza is Ramalho e Felicidade's 7 year old daughter and I'm going to adopt her!


Thursday, August 27, 2015

Week 59

Super good week! This is the best Ive ever had an area going on my entire mission. We had 8 complete families at church and 23 investigators in total! We also had 3 less active families that we visited last week come! So OSUM. What is even better is all 8 of those families have baptismal dates and have already started documents! Legit all 8 are progressing. Never had that happen.

We opened the marriage process for David e Utilia on Tuesday! They are gonna be married and baptized onSept 5! Then Moises and Ana on the 12th. On the 26th we have 2 couples that shouldnt have much difficulty with docs, and 4 more that are shooting for that date! I know its high hopes, but it is completely possible that we marry and baptize 8 FAMILIES in the month of September! The Lord has got his hands all up in our area haha. I love it. It makes the weeks fly by and we are doing work. Me and Elder Christiansen get along really well and we work even better together. Ive never enjoyed the mission this much. I just hope we keep deserving the blessings that Heavenly Father is pouring out upon us. Keep on working.

So that is how the area is going. Sorry there are a lot of exclamation marks, I am a little excited haha. I sent a picture of 2 famlies. The couple on the left, Ramalho e Felcidade, are my favorite couple Ive ever sat with. The couple on the right is Moises e Milusha. Moises and Felicidade are siblings. Felicidade referred him to us, and now they are going to get married and baptized together on the 26th! Sick right?

Other than that I dont have a ton to say. We have just been working a lot so no other real stories at the moment. Oh that pic I sent of a lady with a huge pile of stuff on her head is at the dump. We have a family that lives behind the landfill and I saw this lady with a giganormous bag of plastic bottles on her head so I thought you would all enjoy. You cant even see her upper body the bag is so big haha!

Crazy that school is starting. Time is moving now! Im so pumped to hear about football. It will makes pdays even more osumer. Tell Chapman I said hi, and Kourtni Ball congrats! Kinda of weird to have someone my age engaged, I fell older now. Man life is good. I was actually reading in 1 Samuel this week, and the Prophet, Samuel, is talking to the children of Israel and getting after them for forgetting their God and falling into temptation. In his counsel to them he tells them to "Consider all that God has done for you." I found it fitting in this week with all the success, but also in the rougher times we still are so blessed and should give a sec to recognize how much Heavenly Father has done, and still does for us.

Well with that said, I love you guys! I got my package and Ive never loved a present more than that calendar. So thanks for that. Have a great week, good luck with school and work and football and everything.

Much Love,
Elder Hruby










Monday, August 17, 2015

Week 58

We did work this week! It was a good time. We were super blessed and things seem to be running smoothly. I forgot to tell you guys last week Irma Artimiza, she is the Primary President in our ward, called me at 630 Monday morning to sing happy birthday to me, in Portuguese and then English haha. She then made me Mozambican brownies. They aren't even really similar to real brownies but man they tasted good!

So this week we got a lot done. David e Utilia got the last of their docs and we are going tomorrow morning to open their marriage process for them to get married and baptized of Sept 5!!!!! So stoked. Ramlho e Felicidade also were able to get some doc success this week, they are looking good for sometime in Sept as well! Can you say blessed? Also, this week we were showered with references, well 7, but thats a lot for us. They are all pretty solid, and one of the families came to church yesterday! We had a big turnout, 3 complete families, 2 of which were new, and 15 total investigators. I love Sundays like these. The work is really fun when you have all the aspects in play, contacts, references (referrals), part-member families, less-actives, and Temple prep families!

Saturday we went down to the city to do a service project with the entire zone and Pres e Sis Koch. Because of church rules and children being at the school where we were going to work, the service got cancelled. Instead of wasting all our time and just heading home Pres gave us a "mini" Pday and we all went to play soccer and bball at another school. Pres played with us too. He is filthy at soccer... typical Brazilian.

So I'm working my way through the Old Testament right now... its a doozy at times. But reading the student manual alongside it helps a lot. I read the story of Samson this week and how he had so much promised him and given to him, but he kind of ended up throwing it all away pridefully, ending in his own death. There is a really interesting commentary in the manual that talks about how the one thing that Samson lacked was self-discipline. He had everything, the looks, strength, wealth, family, girl, and the backing of the Lord, but the one thing he couldn't control was himself. He ended up forfeiting his blessing because he couldn't be humble and listen to the Lord and let other things go. He also sucked at holding himself back from his impulses (for revenge, glory, girls, etc.). It was an interesting thought. Something that I have been working on, especially being disciplined enough not to argue with a drunk guy just because he gets under my skin haha.

I saw a monkey chained up as a pet at one of our less-actives houses so that is cool. I bought a camera, and yes all those transactions are right Mom. I bought a new shirt, and then I had to pay cash for the camera so to get enough out of the ATM I had to do 3 withdrawals. Thanks for keeping track, though. I uploaded about 20 pics, so I hope you can see them, just in case I'll send a couple through email. Well I love you guys! Cant believe summer is over. But its a good thing because next summer I'll be there to enjoy it with ya!
 Much Love,
 Elder Hruby

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Week 57

I am 20.... Is that weird to anyone else?! That is a big number. 20 means like adultish. I dont feel like an adult. But hey one thing is nice, the Lord gave me a Pday for a bday present!

Super nice, Elder Larsen, one of the new Elders, woke up early and made me pancakes for breakfast. He came in at 625 to wake me up, but hey I wasnt mad it was free, good food! Today we are just gonna go downtown and Im going to try again to find a good camera, I didnt succeed last week. But I did find a NIKE store and had to go in and buy myself a present, so I bought a sick new workout shirt to motivate me to workout in the mornings... Im getting fat:( Its crazy to think about how Ive celebrated my last 3 birthdays, including today. 18th sleeping all day cause I had just finished basic, 19th in the MTC, also sleeping a good amount haha, and 20th... wishing I could sleep all day! Funny how life works. 21 is gonna be a doozy for sure!

This week was super good. We are working super hard, and I am more tired than Ive ever been on the mission. I struggle everyday to stay awake during studies, and almost every night I fall asleep at the table eating my yogurt and granola haha. But I really enjoy it. We are putting in work and getting blessed. We have 2 amazing families that we are teaching. These 2 are already in my top 3 families that Ive met here. David e Utilia are the most prepared family in the world. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and marriage on Thursday and they are already doing documents and we are going to try to open the marriage process this Friday. That would be a mission record btw! They are the best. We also have Ramalho e Felicidade, and their beautiful 7 year old daughte Nilza. Nilza has me wrapped around her finger. I love that little girl. We were walking to church yesterday and she ran up to walk with me and held my hand the whole way their. Makes a 20year old's heart melt. They are working on docs right now as well. We are looking for early Septemeber for them! Life is going good right now.

I dont have a ton else to say, oh we had our first Stake Conference in Maputo yesterday. It was super well run and there were really good talks. The stake is focusing a ton on sending families to the Temple. Out of 1,996 adult members in the stake, only 153 have gone to the Temple! We are working hard on that. Oh I also forgot, Elder Christiansen and I went and sat with the Stake Presidency this week and had a little Q&A with them for about 45 minutes. We gave a zone trainingon Saturday to the missionaries in our zone so we wanted to sit with the Stake leaders and get any ideas from them that we could relay to the zone. It went super well. So did the training.

Well now I dont think I have much else to say. I love you guys, thanks for the video and the emails! I miss you all and cant wait to celebrate my next birthday with some Red Robin and pumpkin pie! If I find a reasonly priced camera I will start taking more pics and send them your way!

Much Love,
Elder Hruby

A birthday shirt...and we disagree that he is getting fat. Still looks pretty ripped to us!

Some birthday pancakes

Birthday hammock time

Week 56

Its already August?! That kind of freaks me out! I still feel like we are in the first half of the new year. I wore my fast sunday tie yesterday and realized I only have to wear it 10 more times here in Mozambique, the 11th will be back home... weird.

This week was a good one. We worked HARD. Ive been pretty tired lately. I honestly fall asleep faster and sleep deeper here on the mission than I did during basic. I think within about 15-30 seconds of my head hitting the pillow Im completely asleep, not exaggerating! But hey its a good tired.

So i think I was kind of confusing in my email last week. I am companions with Elder Christiansen. We are the zone leaders together. We also were in the same room at the MTC together, so I know him pretty well. We have 3 other Elders in the house, waiting for the 4th to arrive from the MTC. Elder Johnson is in his 5th transfer training Elder Larsen whose in his first. Elder Holt is in his 4th going to be training the new Elder when he gets here this week. So thats my house. I am the grandpa in the house. Ive been out for over a year, and I turn 20 in 7 days!!!!!!! Thats stupid old. I feel like a 16 year old. Actually I want to be a 16 year old haha.

We (Christiansen and I) have a lot of stuff we are trying to do right now. We have a lot of ideas that we want to try and incorporate and see how they work. The super cool thing is we had a leadership counsel with Pres Koch this week and his big point was that he doesnt want to dictate every little thing we do. He has given us a lot of trust, and freedom as zone leaders to figure out what is best for our zones and to be creative. Its nice because Elder Christiansen is super creative and has a lot of ideas, and not to be prideful, but I am good at putting them into action and working them into our lessons. We work well together. We are tryign super hard right now to get one new family at church every week, but we arent too concerned with how we find them, so we arent entirely focused on doing road contacts, but also working harder to get references and find part member families. By the way, GIVE a reference to the Elders in our ward, it makes us very happy and shows that the members believe in the missionaries and trust that they can do what theyve been called to do.

This week we found probably the most prepared family Ive met so far. They are David e Utilia. Man they get it. They are one of the few families that seem to always understand and the Spirit is in our lessons. Not to be cheesy but they definitely got that light in their eyes. We found them this week, they came to church, and we really think they could get married and baptized this transfer!

Saturday night I got harassed by drunks. Not like physically but man there were a million of them that night and I was not rockin my best patience attitude that night haha. I think at least 7 or 8 drunk guys tried to take a pamphlet from me or argue with me. And how stupid was I? I actually tried to logically argue with a couple of them haha. Sadly, after all this time on the mission, and all the experiences Ive had I am still a weak sauce when it comes to being patient.

Well that was a lot this week. Sorry the pics havent uploaded yet, maybe theyll come in. But as a birthday present to myself Im going to buy a camera today, so dont be alarmed if money leaves my account! Nice well I love you guys, enjoy the last little bit of summer for me.

Much Love,
Elder Hruby

Week 55

Well transfer #8 down! Im a big boy now. So transfers came in today and I am staying in my area, but I will be comps with the other zone leader, Elder Christiansen. I'm kind of bummed because Woolley got sent down to Swaziland so Im losing him. The house is going to have 2 brand new Elders in their first transfers so I have to be a good example and not corrupt them haha. Should be fun.

This week was pretty solid, as far as work goes, the fight continues. We are constantly teaching and trying to find good new families. We are also really trying hard to establish a better relationship with the members so we are visiting everyone! It is nice cause we get to meet some super osum people. The members here are bosses! We actually got to eat dinner yesterday at the Bishop's house. He is pretty wealthy, and his wife is in medicine. She actually studied in California for a bit so they both speak english. It was super nice to get a meal cooked for me instead of doing it myself haha I know Im lazy.

Last Pday we had a zone activity and went to the mission office to watch Meet the Mormons. It was even better the second time. Afterwords we went and played soccer on the beach. Im still stupid bad at soccer but I try cause its sports and I miss being athletic. Also, Elder Ipsen went home last Pday! I got to see him in the mission home 5 minutes before he left! Man when I met him he had only been on the mission for a year and 2 months! Now he is already home... I was stoked that I got to send my trainer off, though.

Well I wont lie the highlight of the week had to be dinner with Josh. I got a call tuesday night from my old comp Elder Green. He was like, "uh Elder Hruby your british friend called..." I freaked out and told him to send me his number haha. I talked to Josh and planned out dinner for Wednesday night. Called Pres that morning and he approved it all so it was nice. Even better was I was on a division with Woolley so he got to enjoy the dinner and meet Josh. We spent like 2 hours at the restaurant. It was actually the same restaurant I ate at my very first night in the country! It was a blast. We havent laughed that hard in forever! Also, Im in love with Josh's hair and have been inspired to do the same after my mission! Just an fyi Josh and I decided we need to do a Hruby/Geddes family vacation when I get home, so get to planning you guys!

Well another week/transfer down. Another one to come. Should be a good one. Just so you all know... football season starts this transfer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok glad we are on the same page.

Much Love,
Elder Hruby

Also I forgot, I got peed on by a dog this week. Ok that is all.


We met the Geddes family when we lived in England over 15 years ago and have been friends ever since. Crazy that Josh was in Mozambique with the soccer club he works for and got to meet up with Grant!

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Week 54

Hello Family!

Twas a good week. We met Pres e Sis Koch (pronounced Koh) on Tuesday and had a mini zone conference. We had a nice brunch and then he gave a training for about 3 hours. It was super nice. The vision didnt exactly switch, we still are focusing on families and doing the most we can, but he gave a nice twist. He basically talked all about the foundation of the Gospel, which is happiness. He said as missionaries we are here to share happiness, which we oursleves should be happy. He wants us to enjoy serving and help others enjoy living the Gospel, not just because the missionaries told them to. The main focus is the really convert people instead of throwing up huge numbers. I loved it! We have a lot of missionaries, myself included at times, that do things just to get a number instead of really helping people. Just in these few days since the training I can already see a difference in our lessons and in our investigators. It means more to them, and in turn to me. I feel like a real missionary haha.

The rest of the week was just a good work week. We had a decent amount of time in the area and got to sit with some good families. We had 4 families at church yesterday! Also, one of our couples, Moises e Ana have all their documents done. The marked 15 of August for their wedding and baptism!

We found some super rich houses in our area this week. These houses are like as big or bigger than our house. I know we dont live in a mansion, but Im not naive we gots a nice house. For these people to have a house like that here is insane. We knocked a few doors and 2 of them marked visits. We sat with one of the guys yesterday. He is super devoted to another church, but hey we will at least give it a try and let him hear it.

Other than that I got no crazy stories for you this week, sorry! Hope life is going good back home, sounds like it is. Also, I didnt recognize Ben in that picture, since when did you grow facial hair? Freaking time sucks! Not to give you a bigger head than you already have bjack, but youre looking like a worthy opponent for a wrestling match now. But I'll give you about one more year to prepare yourself, maybe then you will stand an even better chance. Ok love you guys! Im happy here, lifes fun.

Much Love,
Elder Hruby

Monday, July 13, 2015

Week 53

I agree with the counting up, more rewarding this way, also I don't seem like such a bum if I'm not counting down until I go home haha.

This was another good week, a really good start to the second year! Last pday I went and got my haircut by a Moroccan guy. Weird right? In Moz, but getting a cut from a Moroccan? It was the first time since I left that Ive had someone else cut my hair. It was a nice little treat to myself. On Thursday, the actual one year mark, I did a division with Elder Woolley, who is in my group, and we celebrated. We went to 4 "restaurants" in one day haha. We got a little breakfast pastery from this local cafe, then lunch at KFC! and an afternoon snack from this local place called King Pie, and dinner from a pizza place called Unos. SPOILED! Maputo is so modern compared to Beira. I had forgotten that real restaurants existed haha. It felt surreal to actually check July 9th off the calendar...

I think I have one of the funniest stories from my mission this week. It is about a 30 minute walk from our house to the area so walking home every night when you are dead tired kind of sucks. For that reason we usually try to hitch-hike (called a bolea here). Well on Wednesday night we got a ride. We got in and it was 3 dudes in the car. It took about 3 whole seconds for my gaydar to start freaking out. It kind of scared me becaus I didnt think gay people even existed here. The people don't even understand that concept so I was really taken off guard haha. Turns out all 3 were gay. Straight as a rainbow! When we got out one of them blew me a kiss.... ya thats a story for ya!

On a less ridiculous note, I am gonna meet President and Sister Koch tomorrow. So that should be sweet. Also, surprisingly we had a baptism this week. It was a 15 year old boy named Marte. He lives with members and has been ready a while now for baptism, we were just waiting until the next family to join him in there, but the other ward had a baptism this week so we joined that one! Nice little cherry on top for the week.

Well life is good over here in Africa. Sounds just as good back home too. I love and miss you guys, always in a good way. I put some pics up on dropbox. I used Woolley's camera. I think Ill go buy myself a new camera for my Bday next month! Ill keep a lookout for the package as well, thanks! Ok, welp have a good week!

Much Love,
Elder Hruby

Monday, July 6, 2015

Week 52 a.k.a ONE YEAR!!!

Just in case you guys didn't know, 52 weeks makes 1 YEAR! Yup thats right im officail. It seems insane to think Ive seriously been out for 1 year. Thats half a mission! In case you cant tell Im pretty stoked.

Funny to think a year ago I was with you guys floating the river and laughing as Dad cringed getting his foot cleaned out with a super powered squirt gun haha! Even weirder to think that the next 4th of July we will be partying together! I drew and colored in an American flag in my journal to celebrate here.

So this week was good enough. It went by pretty quickly. To be honest the mission here in Maputo is way different than in Beira. There is a different culture down here. The people are a bit more stubborn and its way more difficult to find new investigators, but the flip side is those that are baptized really are converted and the members here are really strong. It doesn't help that we are white washing the area, so we have been walking around a lot just trying to talk to people in the road and knock on doors to find new families to teach. For the first time on my mission we had 0 families at church. Hurt a little, but hey no one said itd be easy. Weve got another week so we will see what we can do, weve got some new families that look promising.

Thursday we went to the airport and wished the Kretlys off. We sang hymns as the came in, well I didnt really sing because Im tone deaf, but I was good support haha. President and Sister Koch are in Swaziland because they still dont have their visas. So Im still waiting to meet them. Im guessing he will do a meeting with all the zone leaders pretty soon. Well see.

Well sorry, but I didnt do another list for my year mark. I was looking at my 6 month list and realized that its a lot of the same stuff, Ive just learned it better. But because Elder Packer passed away I read his last talk from conference, and also Elder Perry's last talk. It was interesting to me that they both emphasized very clearly the importance of family. I was thinking about that and how thats all we teach here and how important it is in the Plan of Salvation. I realized that family is probably the one thing Ive learned most about in my 1 year here. I teach it everyday but I havent taken a ton of time to look at in my own life. I am so enternally grateful for the family I have. I dont know what we did, or why Heavenly Father has chosen to bless us so much, but I could never have hand picked a better family than mine. My gratitude and testimony of families have grown so much in this last year. If I learn nothing else from my mission, at least I will love and cherish my family and the blessing we receive as a family in the Temple. Eu sei que as famílias realmente podem ser eternas e podemos viver juntos para sempre. Sei, sem duvida, que a família traz a maior felicidade nesta vida, e na vida que vem. Sei que o conhecimento e a aplicação do evangelho na família nos ajudam ter a alegria que Deus quer que tenhamos. E sei que eu tenho a melhor família no mundo inteiro!

Much Love,
Elder Hruby