Elder Ryland Earl Rash: Week 68: I love NAMPULA!!!!

I love it in Nampula so much! I am so much happier with my companion, with the other guys in the house, and I feel like I am just able to work so much harder and more effectively in Portuguese! I enjoy being a Zone Leader, I am able to help out a lot more people and I interact with other missionaries and their investigators on a much more regular basis.

So here in Nampula the branch already has a branch president and his counselors. The President is a return missionary that served about 15 years ago or something like that, his name is President Chimit (Pronounced Schmit). So in Nampula we don't have any elders in the presidency, however, we do have in the other areas of our Zone. In Tete we have an elder in the Presidency, and in Maxixe we have both of the Elders as the counselors to the Branch President. But in all of the areas here in our Zone the branches depend a lot upon the missionaries.

As for our daily routine... It is still pretty normal.

We get up, do our normal morning routine, studies, lunch, and we typically get out by 12 or 13 and we come back around 2030 because we exercise at night plus everyone's doors are closed by 2000. Our daily routine here is pretty much the same as everywhere else in the world with a couple of exceptions.

So, on Sunday night we went to a birthday party of a member here named Maxx. He is from the Philippines and owns his own school. There is actually a high population of Philipinos here in Nampula, and only 2 of them are members. They are from the Northern part of the Philippines and Maxx is super nice, same with his whole family. They invited us for the party, and we sang karaoke, ate a lot of really good Pilipino food and just hung out with about 30 philipinos! It was so much fun! I talked with a lot of them about Elder Hofeling and asked a lot about the Philippines and stuff like that! A fun night.

So, today is a holiday in Mozambique.... Mozambican Independence Day! All the internet cafes are closed so we are using a computer at the church building. We only have one computer here, so we are taking turns using the computer for P-Day. We live 20 yards away from the chapel, our house is right behind the chapel.

As for Elder Rash

Welcome to Africa, Man!

How are you liking it so far: Is it completely different from what you were expecting? I know that it was for me. Well keep up the good work, enjoy the MTC while you are there, and work hard when you get out of there! I love you Elder. Stay safe. Keep your head on a swivel.

That's all I have time for! Love you all so much!

Elder Rash