Week 41: Missionary life can be pretty exciting!

Another great week in the life of a missionary. excuse any typos in advance, this keyboard is pretty ghetto.

here we go.

Monday- We had a super good lesson with one of our investigator families named Eliza and Duarte. They have two kids, Elton (4), and Sterra (1 month). Eliza comes to church every week without fail and she is super strong and they have a baptismal date for April 30th. I hope that they can make it, but something needs to change with Duarte if they are to be ready for that step. In this lesson, Eliza asked if we would fast with her in order to help her husband have more of a desire to accept the church. she testified that she has faith that the Lord will bless her for her fast. she is super strong!

Tuesday- I had a division with Elder Roque, a Mozambican that is in my district. We started exploring a new area of our area and had a couple of strange experiences! The first one was as we sat down to have a lesson with a new family. We asked the mom to say the opening prayer, and as we bowed our heads, a little 6 year old kid walked out of the house, naked as the day he was born, and reverently said, Let us all bow our heads and close our eyes. HAHA!!! I would have died laughing but the prayer had already started! So that was hilarious.

The other weird experience was when we started knocking doors and began talking to a woman at her house. When I asked for her name she said that he name was Raelee. Whoa! I hadn't heard Sister Kinnaman's first name in forever! Nor have I ever met anyone else with that first name! Who would have thought that I'd meet one here on the other side of the world!

I've got to go now, but very quickly,

This week we killed a chicken, taught English, had zone conference, had stake conference, and I wish that I had more time to explain all of my super spiritual experiences that I had this week. I'll do my best next week to write more. I love this work and I know that God lives.

Until next week.

Elder Rash

Pres. and Sis. Koch are taking such good care of my boy!

They are being well fed both physically and spiritually!

Zone Conference for both Beira and Manga Zones

I love my boy!

Sitting with Elder Christiansen the Assistant to the President

Pres. and Sis. Koch with the new missionary couple, Elder and Sister Wilkins from Utah

Their apartment needed some work done....what a mess!

A chicken ranch IN a members home!

Jack who walks with Elder Rash and Elder Perez almost everyday

Trying to light a fire...Elder Rash finally took over!  Being an Eagle Scout comes in handy sometimes!

The chicken he killed with that knife....sorry chicken!

His two sons....and his favorite companions so far!

Elder Rash reunited with his MTC companions, Elder Larsen and Elder Draney

Elder Rash and Perez with their Zone Leader, Elder Rispress

Chillin during Zone Conference

There has been LOTS of rain in Manga....he finally got some rain boots!

A day at the beach for P-Day!  I love this picture!

Week 40: "Wars and Rumors of Wars"

Chris sent Ryland another questionnaire letter.  We got LOTS of information on this letter!

·        Please give us more details about the political upheaval and possibility of war if you know? Has President Koch said anything about it?

So as far as the political upheaval and possibility of war… All of this is just from “wars and rumors of wars” that we have heard from members and investigators. In all honesty, the war never really stopped and there have been attacks all around the country for the past couple of years, but mostly in the outside areas. Inside of the cities and the areas where the missionaries are stationed is completely safe. Nothing major is happening anytime soon. There is really no “War Threat” per say, but there has been shootings on major highways and things of that nature. But it is the equivalent of living in Mesa and having a shooting happen in Las Vegas. There is no immediate threat that we have to worry about.

·        Tell us more about your investigators?

Our area has been so blessed beyond belief! For example; in our first week in our area we had 0 progressing investigators, 0 investigators at church, 1 family that we were teaching, and really no direction or focus. But this past week, we had 15 investigators at church, 4 families at church, 10 families that we are teaching, and we have direction, focus, a vision, the trust of the ward, and we have members walking with us to almost all of our lessons that we have.

Eduardo and Dusha- Our golden family that we found on one of our first nights together. They are progressing very well. Even though they weren’t at church on Sunday (he worked and she was sick), they are quickly developing strong testimonies of what we are teaching them. They read the scriptures, keep commitments, and are on date to be baptized on the 2^nd of April. It probably won’t happen and we’ll have to adjust that date to the 30^th, but they are an amazing family. They have 3 sons, Pai(7), Leo(4) and Miguel(1).

Calisto and Tania- Calisto is a member of 8ish years but went inactive, started living with his girlfriend, and now she is 7 months pregnant. But it was really a miracle that we found them. Their house is tucked away down this tiny little alley way that is typically flooded and tough to get to, but one night we were searching for the house of one of our contacts, and we just happened to get lost and end up at their house! We started talking to them, they invited us in, we talked and got to know them, they are an adorable young couple and they both came to church this week! She has a baptismal date for the 30^th of April as well, and she is quickly progressing as well. They are both very fun, a very cute couple, and they have huge potential to be a really strong family in the church.

Duarte and Eliza- Eliza is the power house of this relationship. She was sitting nearby when we had a lesson with her neighbor/best friend, Julia and Joao(John), and then she showed up to church on Sunday! She came to our English class, she is super nice, she is dedicated, and she is prepared. She lives in a tiny little room with her husband Duarte. They have two kids, Elton(2) and a brand new baby girl of 1 month. Her husband has yet to come to church because he works at the shipping yard with all of the boats and stuff and it is tough for him to have time of Sunday. But he said he would come next week.

We have a lot of other families, but these are the three that are the most progressing and the ones that have touched me the most.

·        Tell us about the members?

So we have an area of force that has about 30 members within a 5 minute walking distance of each other. There are about 250 members in our ward and this ward used to only get an attendance of 80ish people each week. But since having 2 couples of missionaries in the ward, we have more than doubled that number with hitting 174 this past week and it has been on a steady climb for the past couple of weeks. We have about 15 members that on a regular basis have been visiting and teaching our investigators with us. One of our most favorite members to walk with is a young man named Wilson. He is 20 years old, and has been a member for 1 month. He walks with us just about every single day for hours on end. He is super cool. He doesn’t know the doctrine very well, but he has a strong testimony that our investigators can feel.

·        What is church like in the Manga area? Do you have a church building?

Our “church building” is just a nice house that the church has rented and built a nice shack in the back with AC for our Sacrament meetings. Manga is still a district and not a stake, but by the end of this year it should become a stake.

·        Is it still raining? Please get rain gear. We do not want you to get sick. We will put money in your account if needed.

It hasn’t rained in a couple of days. I forgot that I had those rain ponchos! I do have them with me. But I also bought an umbrella for when I need it. But it isn’t too bad. I don’t think I need to buy too many things.

·        What do the people of Mozambique do for a living? Especially in Manga where it is a poorer area?

There are a huge number of things that people do here for a living. Like asking, What do Americans do for a living? But I guess you could say that a large majority of people work for security companies as guards. Women typically have a little “barraca” or a little stand outside of their house that they sell fruits, veggies, snacks, and little stuff like that. But there are a lot of jobs that people do…

·        The fact that it is made up of the political enemy of the government does that mean it is more dangerous for the missionaries there?

Not really… “Officially” Beira is run by Frelimo, but outside of the city, everyone is Renamo. But it isn’t dangerous at all here. In fact, I feel safer here than in the South.

·        How far do you have to go to do the internet?

Internet places are just a choppa ride away. Maybe a 15 minute choppa ride to get there. But the problem is that there are so many missionaries competing for the same internet cafes.

·        How big geographically is your area?

Geographically… I don’t quite know yet. I haven’t walked my entire area yet…

·        What are you doing to teach the other missionaries obedience?

The biggest thing that I’ve tried implementing is micromanaging, that you said Dad. At times it may seem harsh, but sometimes it is the best way to get them to be obedient.

·        What are the typical homes like in Manga?

Manga is much poorer than Matola or T-3. So the houses are cinder block houses, or reed huts. You typically find much more people living in one house than you would find in the South.

            *  I (mom) want to hear ALL ABOUT how the piano is going?!?!?!?!?! 

Hey as for the piano lessons go, it hasn't quite started yet. I was playing some prelude music my first week there at the church because everyone was being pretty rambunctious, and so they asked me if I could play during sacrament meeting. I told them I didn't know how to play the hymns that they wanted played, but that I'd practice them. Then, Bishop volunteered me to teach some of the youth of the ward how to play the piano. I remember quite a bit, and they do have a simplified hymn book as well. But we also have a keyboard in our house, so I'm able to practice at home. I just use some of my personal study time to practice these hymns.

            *  How was your first English Class on Saturday?  How many people did you have show up?

English Class was awesome!!! We had about 20 people this week and by next week I have a feeling that we'll have more than 40 people! Bishop has also asked us to start teaching 2 times a week... Idk if we can do that, but bishop has been giving us a lot of responsibilidades. People love the English class, especially Bishop.

Mickey Mouse pancakes...I really just loved seeing the keyboard in the background!  I would love to hear him practice!

Hammerhead shark for dinner!!!  Bought it for $1

He said it was delicious!!!  GROSSS!!!!

Look at that face....this is Pai, son of Dusha an investigator.

Dusha with her three boys and some neighborhood kids!

Learning how to shave coconut.

Elder Rash LOVES throwing kids!

Elder Rash's two "sons".  He is a proud papa!

Getting a ride in a chopella made for 2....wait, what?!?!

Week 39: Rain, Rain, GO AWAY!!!!!

Well another wonderful week in the life of a couple of missionaries in Mozambique. I can't say that it has been the most productive week, unfortunately, but it was still full of miracles and full of the spirit. We ended up having to stay inside 3 days this week... Elder Perez hasn't been feeling good at all, and had been commanded to be bed ridden for a few days by Sister Koch. So we didn't get out too much. We had to take him to the hospital to get some medication and get him checked out, but everything seems to be clearing up now.

Also, this has been a wet week. It rained and rained and rained and rained, for almost 3 full days. Some missionaries weren't able to get to their areas unless they literally swam there! Luckily for us, while our area was still pretty flooded, we were still able to get to most of the places that we needed to go. But we still don't have boots, so, we wrapped our feet in plastic bags and went to work- wading through mud, ponds, and puddles in order to get where we needed to go. I don't think that helped with Elder Perez's health... My bad... But Elder Perez is amazing! He is always positive about our situations. For example, one day it started POURING rain before we had to go out to work. I had left my umbrella down south, I don't have a rain jacket, and so I just figured I could tough it out. I felt like a bad trainer, dragging Elder Perez through that because he was in the same situation. But, we walked out into the pouring rain with smiles on our faces, joking with everyone that gave us an odd look. People here hate the rain and every time someone saw us, "Are you Crazy?!" they'd say. To which we would reply, "Nope! Just a little wet!" But Elder Perez is always willing to get to work, work hard, and we have reaped the benefits of our labor.

I don't know if I mentioned the family Eduardo and Dusha in my last letter, but they came to church this week!!! And they loved it! During our classes, as we observed our investigators, we could see light bulbs going off in their heads that things started to make much more sense! We fell in love with this family the moment we met them, and we are so happy that they are keeping commitments with the Lord in order to follow Him.

I love this new ward! Not only are the members much more involved in the work, but I have been drafted into so many "unofficial callings" in the ward. I've been recruited to teach piano to some of the youth, to play the piano in sacrament meeting, to teach the Gospel Doctrine class with Elder Perez, to occasionally teach Elder's Quorum, and we are also English Teachers! We have started up an English Class and the whole Ward is on Board. The Bishop is super excited and has completely backed us up. But we will be teaching English Classes every Saturday afternoon for an hour. We hope to have a huge turnout!

Well, I think that is all that I've got for today. I love you all and pray that you have a great week.

Love,

Elder Rash

P.S.

I was in a training this week and one of the zone leaders told us a story that I though was super interesting and made me think a lot about life and the mission in general. I love this example. I figured that you guys would enjoy it.:

There once was a man who loved God very much. He wanted to do everything he could to further the work. One day he stumbled by a very large boulder. God talked to the man and told him of his will.

"My son, I have a work for you to do. I want you to push this boulder. I will help you, and through your faith, all will be accomplished."

Very eager to obey, the man immediately began to push on the boulder. He used all the strength and energy that he could exert to move the boulder. After quite some time, Satan appeared to tempt the man. 

"Why are you pushing this boulder? You will never move it you fool. Stop now while you still have some strength to walk home."

The man resisted the temptations of Satan, and with frustration and tears in his eyes he cried unto God.

"God, why have you forsaken me. You commanded me to move this boulder and with my diligence and with my faith, you said that all would be accomplished."

God spoke to the man in with a still small voice.

"My son, I didn't command you to move the boulder. I commanded you to push on the boulder. Your arms, your back, your shoulders, and your legs. They are stronger from the work that you hath done for me. And now, my son, I will move the boulder for you."

 

In front of their church building which is really a house that the church rents

From left to right: Wilson-19 convert as of 3 weeks ago.  Walks with us to lessons EVERYDAY!  Jeque (pronounced Jake)-20 Ward Mission Leader.  Faustino-21 an investigator.  All are still in High School completing 12th grade!

Happy Birthday Elder Perez!!!!

Elder Nielson
 

 

Week 38: Lots of changes brings wonderful opportunities

*  Elder Rash's dad asked him LOTS of questions, so here are his answers!

1. As far as how big Manga is... I'm not sure... I don't have too much time in the area, but it is much smaller than Matola, I would guess. Everything here is much smaller and more condensed, also a lot poorer. Because Beira is composed of mostly the enemy political party, it doesn't get a whole lot of funding from the main government... So everything is much more run down. As for my area, I am serving in Mascarenha. Mascarenha is a part of the Manga District. We are preparing to have Manga divide into its own stake here soon. But my area was previously being worked in by one pair of missionaries that covered all of Mascarenha. And Mascarenha is MASSIVE. So it has been divided down a main road, and I still don't know exactly how big our side of the area is. I have really only worked in a small little group of our area because most of the members live within what we call our Center of Force. There are 20ish members within a 2 minute walk of each other. So we have been doing a lot of work in that area because the members are a huge help to us. In my area there are a lot of open fields that we haven't quite explored yet, and there are also super jungly areas. The neighborhoods are riddled with tiny little paths that can hardly fit one person. But for the most part, I don't know a whole lot about my area...

2. Elder Perez is from the South side of Chicago. Like, Hood Chicago. He is a super nice guy. From the moment I met him, I knew that we would get along. So he was a visa waiter for a transfer and served in Provo in a Brazilian Ward while he waited. It is a huge blessing to have him because he already speaks Portuguese at the same level or at a higher level than I speak Portuguese. But we get along extremely well. Our teaching methods are very similar and we both love the people that we teach, and we teach and make that love visible. I love the teaching style of Elder Perez. He is fluent in Spanish and so he has a way with the language that is different from any other missionary. He uses words and phrases is ways that other missionaries don't. The people understand the way that he speaks perfectly and he just has a gift with the language. He is full of the Spirit and brings it wherever he goes. He still has a lot to learn, but he is months ahead of other newbie's! I don't have any pictures with him this week, but next week I'll send some more pictures. But Sister Koch sent a picture already.

3. I will probably only see President and Sister Koch every 3 months at Zone Conferences and such. Sorry Mom.

4. There is a senior couple serving here at the moment, but they are going home next week and we are getting a new senior couple, Elder and Sister Wilkins (Americans!). I will get to meet them tomorrow because they are coming to have lunch at our house. I'll give Sister Wilkins your email, Mom so you can check up with her.

5. In the District that I am serving, there are 3 other people, Elder Perez, Elder Hiambili (from Angola), and Elder Roque (pronounced Rock- From Mozambique. His mission call is to Angola, but he is waiting for his visa.) So I am the only white guy in the district, and probably the worst at speaking the language...

6. As far as my first District Meeting, I gave a training on Obedience. That is why President sent a lot of us up here. The Beira and Manga area due to security reasons, all of the Missionaries have been moved to houses that are all in the same building. And with that, A LOT of disobedience has began spreading throughout the missionaries... And President is getting tired of it. So he has sent quite a few of the missionaries from Maputo/Matola who know a bit more discipline to help correct some of the missionaries up here. I hope that doesn't sound conceited, but there is a lot of disobedience up here, even from a lot of the leadership... So I gave my training on Obedience and how every rule/commandment has a blessing attached to it. On the mission, we will probably have the most rules and commandments than in any other phase of our lives, which means that we have the capabilities to receive the most bencaos do que qualquer outra pessoa, e realmente precisamos essa bencaos. Entao, we really need to be obedient in order to receive blessings for ourselves, our investigators, our families, friends, and everyone that we meet. Obedience is not an option. When we accepted our call we agreed to be obedient. We practically gave up our agency. There is not a choice of whether or not I should be obedient. We need to be obedient.

7. So this week has been filled with Miracles! Elder Perez and I didn't get to be in our area until Friday, and he didn't get here until Thursday I believe. But we entered our area with only 1 Investigator Family, and we haven't even had a lesson with them yet. But just in the 3 days that we were in our area, we have 3 families with baptismal dates, have met 3 part member families, have a massive teaching pool of really cool families that we have found, and have seen countless tender mercies. Our family that is the most promising is Eduardo and Dusha. They have 3 sons all under the age of 8, and we had one of the most spiritual lessons of my mission with them. They understood, were attentive the ENTIRE TIME (which is rare), and they made connections and really good questions. They committed to pray as a family and ask God about these things. They have a desire to come to church, and I really like this family.

On our first day in the area together, Elder Perez and I decided to do some exploring. So we went walking and ran into this massive open field. We talked to some kids playing futebol, and then headed out. One of the little boys started following us, and soon explained to us that he is a member! He is 11, his name is Bruno, and he walked around with us for about 2 hours showing us the houses of members, his friends, and helping us know the area. He went back home, and later that night when he contacted the house of Eduardo and Dusha for the first time as we were prompted, we sat down to have a little lesson with them, and Bruno came running from their house!!! Apparently his family is really good friends with Eduardo and Dusha. Bruno sat down in the lesson with us and was actually a key part in teaching about the Restoration! But this week was absolutely full of tender mercies.

8. My biggest fear of my new assignments... FAILURE. I've been entrusted with quite a bit. I spoke to President Koch during my interview with him and he told me that I have his full trust... That is scary. Here is some stupid kid from Arizona, 10,000 miles away from home, teaching people that he doesn't know, in a language that he doesn't know, PLUS he has to teach a new missionary how to be a better missionary, PLUS he has to lead other missionaries and whip them into shape when needed. The thing that worries me the most is that since being out of training, I've been winging it as a missionary. I have yet to have a companion that is older than me on the mission besides my trainer. I feel like I wasn't sufficiently trained, and then was thrust into leadership roles blindfolded. At times I feel overwhelmed because I not only have to worry about myself, my comp, and My investigators, but also two other missionaries and THEIR investigators. So I feel like if my District doesn't improve, then I have failed in my responsibilities.

9. In our apartment, me and my comp, Elder Nielsen and his companion, Elder Nelson (That is funny, right? Elder Nielsen is training a new missionary Elder Nelson from Mozambique.), and we have Elder Rispress and Elder Carvalho, the Zone Leaders of the Beira Zone. Our house is a nice house... ish... As far as houses in Mozambique go... It is a really nice house.

10. Missionaries in Manga- 18

11. So we actually live in Beira and we live in close to the city. So it is a 10 minute walk to get to the main city of Beira. But we take a 30 minute choppa ride to get to our area. Our area includes the Airport here in Beira, so if you get on Google earth and look at the Airport in Beira, you will be looking at my area- Mascarenha.

12. The weather this week has been very rainy. It has rained nonstop for the past 2 days... and it floods really badly here... and guess what, I don't have rain boots, and none of the boots at our house fit our feet, Elder Perez and I have big feet. Our house has flooded a little bit, our area has flooded a lot, and so yesterday we wrapped our feet in plastic bags, put on our shoes, and went to work just trudging through the ponds! But it has been pretty nice with the rain. I will say, it is much better to come home at the end of the day drenched from rain, than from sweat. Also, I don't have a rain jacket and I left my umbrella in the South, so I've just been walking in normal clothes, but I actually like it a lot. It is a warm rain, so it is refreshing.

I hope this answers all of your questions! That took forever, so you can just use this as my weekly email this week. I love you Dad.

Just a funny story.

We were walking down the road in our area, and Elder Perez has been surprised by how relaxed the dogs are here compared to Chicago dogs, so when he saw a dog just laying down in the distance he said, "Yo, that dog is just straight up Chillin'!" As we approached I realized that there was more to it than just that. "That dog has been chilling for too long, Man." I said. We got closer and saw the tongue hanging out, and it was completely still! We both just busted up laughing!

Well, I've got to go. I wish I could write more. But I love you all.

--
Elder Ryland Rash

Saying Goodbye to Elder Ellingson who was going home

Reunited with Elder Brown

Saying Goodbye to this sweet father, Marcos, and his boys....Elder Rash is really sad that he didn't get to witness their baptism (they had asked him to baptize them)

More Goodbyes - Jaime, his wife Kashyta, his sister Yara and baby boy

The morning he left Matola, with Elder Walton

Short companionship....lasting memories (they did a tie exchange...Elder Lorimer took Ryland's favorite tie!)

He loves Elder Silva from Brazil

Flying into Biera to get to his new area in Manga

Back with Elder Nielson for a few days...they are like the Pied Piper...he says the kids just start following them!

His new area in Mascarenha

This rock looks like his thumb!

Group of boys playing futebol which I think is soccer

My crazy boy!

Seeing more green and jungle in his area

 

Elder Rash in his new area with his new companion, Elder Perez

Welcome to Mozambique Elder Perez

These boys are going to do AMAZING things together!