Week 41

This was a solid week. Got a lot of work done. The big news is we got Vasco e Josefina married! We freakin showed up to their little house with our Bishop, the Second Counselor, and his wife. Bishop ran the show with the marriage book and the counselor and his wife signed it as witnesses and our family was married sitting in plastic chairs in a little house without power so we used phone flashlights to sign the book. Talk about a dream wedding! In all honesty that really is like a dream wedding for every missionary here. Super simple and easy and now all the focus is on the baptism!

Other news. We ran around all week trying to get documents done for 2 more families so that they can get married with Vasco e Josefina on May 2. We got all we needed done, now we just have to see if everything turns out well. If so, we will have 3 complete families baptized on May 2! How sick would that be? We have been going really hard and its starting to pay off. Just got to keep going now.

There really isnt much else to tell about the week because we were so busy in the area, which is a good thing. Sorry for not writing yesterday, the entire city of Beira has been without internet for 2 days. They are still out of it now, but we found a little shack with 4 computers and they have a hotspot thing from one of the cell providers so I think we are the only 2 Elders who actually have emailed still in Beira. Your welcome.

Been hearing some rumors about South Africa. They are attacking any foreigners? My source of news is word of mouth, but those mouths are Mozambican so I cant exactly tell whats made up and exaggerated haha. Dont worry, though, Mozambicans adore us American missionaries, they will protect us.

Still moving through the NT. Ive realized that Paul is a boss. In basically every chapter he writes at least one or two verses that are super sweet. He gives a lot of quotable scriptures for sure. Thats all I really had to say about that, though, nothing deep or inspirational haha sorry.

Well I love you guys. Hope you have a good week. I get to watch Conference this Saturday andSunday and on Friday we have Zone Conference so should be a really good week. Until next Monday.

Much Love,
Elder Hruby

Week 40

40 seems like a legit number. I still feel kind of like a new kid on the mission, though. I dont really know how time is going by. I cant tell if its fast or slow or normal or what, but I do know its good. This week was a solid one. Got some good stories for ya, but some may be a bit more appropriate for a post-mission story session haha.

On Friday night we were walking home around 845 and we found this gym in our area. By gym I mean like a concrete enclosure with a few weights in it. As we were walking in to check it out a couple teenage guys kind of made fun of us as we were walking in so I called them over. I basically called them out and said if you are gonna make fun of the white guys lets see if you can back it up. We had a lifting contest. We walked in and went to the bench press. I just put all the weights they had on it, but I didnt exactly know how much it was since its in kilos. The kid chickened out when he saw the weight but I had to prove my point and lift it. I got it 3 times. It was 100 kilos which is like 221lbs or something like that so that was my self esteem boost for the week that I can still lift a little. But of course of all the weeks of my mission Bjack sends me his "stats" this week telling me how much he can bench, now I feel like a little kid again... youre a freak of nature dude.

So good news. Our work may be starting to pay off. Fingers crossed. We started working with Vasco e Josefina again and looks like they are just going to go ahead and sign the marriage documents without the parents approval and get baptized! Also Saite e Melita and Alexandre e Bete are super close. We are just in the home stretch with their documents. They both have some tricky situations, but if everything goes well we could get 3 families baptized the last week of the transfer on May 2! Let the parayers keep on coming!

Tuesday was Dia Das Mulheres here. Essentially Mothers Day. Apparently its a huge party day and all the woman get drunk, but we had a HUGE rainstorm that flooded every single road with about a foot of water... it was sick! So sadly I dont have any crazy stories from the Holiday.

Hey you guys realize we get to skype again in like a month!? Im stoked! Get to see all your beautiful faces.

Well Not much else for this week. Love you guys lots and love hearing about life! Until next week.

Much Love,
Elder Hruby

Week 39

Well I'll just start off by saying I was humbled again this week. I judged Elder Abel wrong. True, he is uptight and kind of a try-hard and seems self-righteous, but he is a pretty cool dude. We get along really well actually and have fun conversations on the road. So there is my confession.

This week was definitely a test week, as far as the work went. Heavenly Father was just trying us and seeing if we will keep going even when everything is a struggle. When the area divided we were left with 4 progressing families. We dropped one this week because of all their excuses and are now left with only 3. We have been working our faces off trying to find new families to teach. Just these 2 weeks we have done over 120 contacts! But none seem to be sticking. We had no new families at church so we are still on the lookout. The osum news is Saite e Melita are progressing on their documents and we are looking at a family baptism on April 25 or May 2! I am super excited, I LOVE this family.

I have gotten Abel pretty hooked on going to a military academy. He loves all my stories and asks a ton of questions. Not gonna lie he makes me feel kind of like a boss about the Academy last year, I dig it. He said because of our conversations he has decided to apply to the Coast Guard Academy for next year. Good on him.

Couple of stories for you this week. First, it rained so the roads were a bit flooded and we had to maneuver our way around. We crossed over a little creek by stepping on some bricks and when we got to the other side this Machamba Mama (Moz grandma) told us that she placed those bricks there and now her back hurts so we owe her some medicine. Well we dont carry anything with us, but Abel had tic tacs. He gave her one and told her to take it with a lot of water haha. She loved it and told us to bring more the next day. When we passed by later she told us she was feeling loads better. Gotta love the placebo effect. Second, I witnessed my first cock-fight this week. No joke this 2 chickens went HAM on each other. They are fast and can jump over each other no problem. They are also ferocious always going for the jugular. Third, I also saw my first scorpion this week. He was just a wee little guy, but still I got to see one. They are mean looking suckers. And fourth, they have a superstition of chameleons here. They think they are like the most deadly animal in the world. So naturally what do I do when I see them? I pick them up and play with them as the little kids freak out and people call me crazy. It's my new favorite thing to do.

Im super excited for Conference. Sounds like it was really osum. We will get to watch it here in May I think. Cant wait.

I finished Romans this week. Paul does work in the last few chapters. I really liked 3 parts this week. Ch 12:2 He talks about how we, as saints, need to be in the world to help others, but we cannot be of the world. Just like Dad always says. Ch 14:17 He defines the Kindgom of God as Righteousness, Peace, and Joy. How simple is that? We dont really need to over-complicate it. Those things are all we need. And finally, Ch 15:1 The strong have to duty and obligation of carrying the infirmities of the weak. We each can carry some part of some one else's burden, somehow.

Well hopefully next week I can tell you about the tons of new families we are teaching. But have a good week. I love and miss you all.

Much Love,
Elder Hruby

Week 38

Well first week with the new comp and changes in the house. Elder Abel didn't get here until Wednesday night at like 1230, so Monday night I walked with Hutch and Tuesday I walked with Hutch and his companion, Elder Richardson. I dig Richardson. He is someone I definitely would have hung out with outside the mission.

So we all know the saying if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all. Ya well I am not going to comment really on my new companion then. All I will say is I am learning a lot. Basically the exact type of missionary, person, and leader that I never want to be haha. The good news is we are working hard and should get some families finally baptized this transfer!

This week was kind of boring, sorry. Like I said I didnt start walking in my area until Thursday with Abel. Because we just divided the area we only have half the families that we were teaching, we are looking super hard for new families. That means lots and lots of contacting. Just in 3 days Abel and I racked up 53 contacts. It took Hutch and I (really just me) 2 weeks to get 57 haha. So thats one nice thing about having a new comp that works hard. We will see if he slows down when reality sets in that he is going home in 5 weeks.

I'm moving on in the NT. I made it to Romans this week. I never realized how much of the NT is from Paul or influenced by him. His letter to the Romans is pretty nice. I really like chapter 2 or 3, I forget which one haha, where he essentially calls everyone out for being hypocrites. His whole point is that we need to walk the walk, and do what we would expect others to do if not more. I like it, just got to apply it now.

I was thinking this week, cause of my new comp and all, about the mission so far. This is what I decided. I must have been a really impatient, self righteous, pridefull, and arrogant person before the mission, because my entire mission (other than Elder Ipsen) has been full of comps and housemates that have tested me in one of these areas. It really is just comical at this point. Its like how far and in how many different ways can we tug at Elder Hruby. Have I told you how not fun it is learning these things from experience. They'll pay off one day though right haha.

Well kind of a lame email so sorry about that. Hopefully we will get some good work done this week and Ill have something to write about next week. Glad Spring Break went well. Navy sounds pretty sick. All the Midshipmen I met last year always talked it up, looks like rightly so. Love you guys!

Much Love,
Elder Hruby