Week 77: Patience is a Virtue

As a title for this letter I chose, Patience is a Virtue. This week I had an abnormally large number of opportunities to develop the Christlike Attribute of Patience, and boy was it difficult. I'll start at the beginning of the week.

On Monday I received my flight plans to fly down to Maputo for the Leadership Training. I was really excited to travel and see some old friends, some recent converts, some members that I love. I was excited to see other missionaries, to see President and Sister Koch, and I was excited to have the training from them, and the Thanksgiving Feast that they were nice enough to provide for us. Needless to say, I was excited. I waited patiently for Monday and Tuesday to pass and was scheduled to leave Wednesday morning. So I get all packed and all ready for the trip, and I show up to the airport only to discover that my flight had been cancelled... Ugh... Disappointment #1.

The airline told us that they would have a flight for us that would leave at 4am Thursday morning... Ugh... Disappointment #2. And they told us that we would need to be there at 2am to check in... Ugh... Disappointment #3. But, I kept my cool. I smiled and just kept forcing myself to think, "It will all work out in the end. It will all work out. It's Okay."

I went through my day as normal on Wednesday and went to bed a bit early so as to wake up at 1am to leave to the airport. I got there early and was the only person in the airport, but they hadn't started checking people in yet. So I sat down and waited about thirty minutes until they started calling specific groups of people to check in. I finally stood up to go try to check in but was not given the chance. Here in Africa there is no such thing as what civilized countries call, "lines". It just doesn't exist. I was in no mood to fight to the front of the mob and throw elbows and punches to make my way there, so I just stood and waited patiently for an opportunity. I stood there for 2 hours. I may have missed my flight if a nice Muslim man hadn't grabbed my bag, fought his way to the front and demanded that they help me. He was super funny and a huge help. I finally got onto the plane, and was then informed that the flight would be delayed an hour... Ugh... Disappointment #4.

"It will all work out in the end. Just smile, Elder Rash."

I got the Maputo exhausted. Went straight to the office and had the Leadership Training, then immediately had lunch, then we set up Christmas around the office, then I was privileged enough to go to T-3 and visit my old area. By that night I was exhausted! I went straight to bed and was immediately asleep. We woke up the next morning and I pretty much just sat around the office, got a little nap in, and practiced the piano for a few hours. There wasn't anything for me to do... 

Friday night my plane was scheduled to leave at 17:45... Delay after delay after delay we finally left at 22:30... Ugh... Disappointment #5

I got back to the house at 1:30 Saturday Morning, and woke up a few hours later for the baptisms that we had that morning. We had 8 Baptisms.

Anyways. After that long ordeal I really learned what it meant to be patient. I used to think it was gritting your teeth and holding your tongue until the trial is over. But it is so much more than that. 

"Patience is the capacity to endure delay, trouble, opposition, or suffering without becoming angry, frustrated, or anxious. It is the ability to do God’s will and accept His timing. When you are patient, you hold up under pressure and are able to face adversity calmly and hopefully. Patience is related to hope and faith—you must wait for the Lord’s promised blessings to be fulfilled."

​I feel like this is the type of patience that I was able to experience, patience with a hopeful outlook rather than a grim outlook on things.​

After the long test of my patience, we were blessed enough to have 8 baptisms, 6 of which were part member families. It was such a blessing to see the gospel help these families take one more step closer to getting to the temple as a family. What a blessing!

I believe that is all I have for this week.

I know that God is mindful of His children. I know that he loves each and every one of us. I know that Christ died so that we can change and become better than we currently are. This life is the time for Men to prepare to meet God. We need to learn to live a Celestial lifestyle. The same person we are in this life is the same person we will be in the eternities. Where are you now? Where will you be in the eternities?

Jesus is the Christ. Joseph Smith was His means of restoring His gospel here on earth. Thomas S. Monson is His prophet today. This IS the Church of Jesus Christ.  I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I love you all, have a good week.

Elder Rash

P.S.- Thank you so much for the videos and pictures! It was super good to hear your voices and see your smiling faces! It was absolutely impossible for me to recognize Holly. I literally spent 5 minutes trying to figure out who she was! I thought maybe she was a friend that someone brought along to help out set up lights at Nanny and Papas or something. Holly is a Babe Now! Dang! Reese, be careful. Keep an eye on her and keep your gun loaded. Haha! Brincadeira! I love you guys!

Note from mom:  Elder R. sent TONS of pictures and videos from the wedding celebration and from his Zone Leadership Training.  I wish I could put them all on here, but I don't have names or anything to go along with them.  So these at least give you an idea what his weekend was like!

Arrived back in Nampula just in time for these baptisms!

Zone Leadership Training in Maputo with some of his favorite missionaries

Wedding day!

Wedding party!

More wedding guests

And more....

and still even more!  It was a HUGE turn out of support for the couple!

Cutting of the cake.

The party went till dark

Elder R. hasn't been captioning his pictures, so I can only guess...they are washing dishes?

Teaching a lesson?

Being silly?

Look at Elder R's smile!

Being even more silly!

 

 

Week 76: And that's all he wrote....Happy Thanksgiving!

So I won't write a "Weekly Email" this week because I wrote a lot of long letters to Shelbie and Dad and I'll write a long one to you. But I don't have time to write a "weekly" one. Sorry.

Love,

Elder Rash

No pictures either....sorry everyone!

*Note from mom:  Elder R. will be flying to Maputo on Wednesday for some Leadership Training.  He will get to spend Thanksgiving with Pres. and Sis. Koch and enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving feast!  He will fly back to Nampula on Friday and get back in time for 8 baptisms on Saturday.  He is looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with the Koch's and other missionaries from around the mission.

Week 75: We are living after the manner of HAPPINESS!

Well, another week down and yet another P-day that will seem too short, but I love this time that I have to relax for a bit and tell you all about how awesome this last week was!

The one word that I can use to describe the overall feeling of this week would be Joy. We absolutely had some annoying times and stressful times, but I feel as Nephi felt. That despite all of their tribulations in the wilderness, he and his family "lived after the manner of happiness" because they kept the commandments and did what God asked them to do. This last week Elder Taukiuvea and I journeyed through the wilderness, figuratively speaking, and we had a lot of tribulations, but because we were obedient to the mission rules and fulfilled our purpose as missionaries we "lived after the manner of happiness."

To begin, I must say that the universe has taken revenge on me. My whole mission I prided myself on not receiving a single abscess, and was involved in "helping" others get rid of theirs. I am not so proud to inform you that this week I broke my 17 month "Abscess Free" streak. I got an abcess at the beginning of the week and it was extremely uncomfortable. It only lasted a few days until I was able to squeeze it all out. It was only about the size of a marble, but it was a pain in my armpit! It was in the same armpit and in the same place as the Abscess that Elder Brochier had a few months ago. However, mine was not near as bad as his was. So that is my experience with an abscess. It definitely was not a walk in the park.

We also stayed super busy this week running around everywhere in preparation for our lessons, our Zone Training, and an activity that we had on Saturday. We had a really successful week with lessons having 30 lessons this week, 19 of which were with a member present. So we were moving every minute of every day to get to all of our lessons.

On Thursday, Elder Taukiuvea and I gave a training to the Zone about the importance of using the Book of Mormon in our missionary work. It is the cornerstone of our religion, it needs to be the cornerstone of our testimony, of our study, and of our teaching.

On Saturday we had an activity for the youth and YSAs. We had a massive Minute to Win It competition and everyone loved it! We had a decent turnout and I expect even bigger turnouts in the future.

We have been working really well with the members and teaching references that they give us to teach. Our recent convert, Nora, has been a huge help to us. We taught her about the importance of Missionary Work a few weeks ago, and she got super animated and excited about it. She was a little bummed when we told her that she can't serve a full time mission, but she has really magnified herself in the way that she has assisted us in the Branch. She directed us to her Brother and his family, and her sister, Gina, and her family. Both families are super nice and Gina has a strong desire to change her life around.

We also have made an effort to work with Part Member Families and all of the baptisms that we are planning for the 26th of November are part member families. We will have 7 baptisms for the 26th, and 2 more the following week. Hercilio and Saquina will be opening the marriage process tomorrow, will be married on the 26th, and baptized the following week! I am so excited for them!

On Sunday we saw all of our hard work pay off when we had 194 people at church! That is huge for us! Of those 194, 26 of them were our investigators!!!!! Awesome!

I have a testimony that as we follow the will of God that our lives become much easier. If we yoke ourselves with the Lord our burdens become lighter. I love missionary work and the privilege I have to devote my time to the Lord. I am far from perfect but I am trying to do what is right.

I know God lives. I know He loves His children.

Until next week.

Elder Rash

*  From Elder R.'s mom:  He sent pictures this week, but mostly of his abscess.  Not something I want to share with everyone.  Hopefully he will send better pictures next week!

Week 73 & 74: Power outages, sickness and success

This week was not too exciting as Elder Taukiuvea was sick with a fever for most of the week. He is doing just fine now and this week we will be out working hard again, something I missed.

Okay... So as we were using internet, it stopped working and I lost all that I had typed... So I'll write in more detail next week. I am sorry.

I love you guys. I know what I am doing is where I need to be. I am so grateful to be a missionary. I love the Lord. I love this Work.

Mom, I am sorry for the shortness of this letter.

Elder Ryland Rash

 

 

Hey Family and Friends, sorry these past few weeks did not contain the most detailed of letters (to say the least), but I'll try to cram the better part of the past weeks into one letter.

We had Nora's baptism and this past week we had 6 more baptisms here from Elder Osorio and Elder Goes.

The Halloween Activity was canceled because of a lack of participation and planning; it isn't as huge of a holiday here, so nobody was really that excited. But now we are planning a talent show for the 19th of November. A talent show just like we had in Mascarenha while I was there.

Yesterday and church we had 21 investigators show up, which was awesome! We have been having a lot of success with our members. They are proactive in inviting friends and colleagues to church and other activities and introduce them to us. So we have found quite a few investigators by means of references from members. We also are teaching a lot of part member families and planning their baptisms for the end of the month. Hercilio and Saquina are doing well. We should get the last of their documents this week and open the marriage process on the 11th. Everything is still running smoothly for their wedding on the 26th, and their baptism the following week. Belmiro and Berendina say that they want to keep the Law of Chastity and are willing to get married, but that they will need a bit more time than just a couple of weeks. They still come to church every week as a family, and they are still super nice, but the baptismal date has been postponed to an unknown date. But we will be meeting with them tonight to talk to them about it.

On Sunday, it was Fast and Testimony Meeting, and Edel (that man that I told you guys about that had the dream about the Book of Mormon) he got up and bore his testimony and told his story about his conversion. I have never seen a chapel more focused on a speaker before. Nobody moved a muscle as they listened to his powerful experience with Prayer and receiving answers from God. Tears were shed, the Spirit was so strong, and I know he strengthened others with his testimony.

I know I said I'd write a lot, but I am now out of things to write about... So I wish everyone a fantastic week and send me letters and pictures and videos! I miss you guys! Have a good week.

-Elder Rash

Nora's baptism

Elder T., Nora and Elder R.

Nora and family

Elder Goes and Elder Osorio

Week 72: Prayer and The Book of Mormon bring souls to Christ

This week was jam packed with work to do. Elder Taukiuvea and I have been running around all week from lesson to lesson all over our area. We polished off our week with 36 lessons! Now I don't know what thing are like in other missions, but for me, this was a personal record. We have been giving it everything we've got in our area and we are seeing the blessings that come from our diligence.

Hercilio and Saquina are now planning their wedding for the 26th of November and are super excited for their baptism the following week. (I'm not sure if I mentioned that in my last letter or not).

Belmiro and Berendina both came to church this week, are both studying and understanding the Book of Mormon, and are really excited about baptism. They have strong testimonies that the Book of Mormon is true scripture and I have noticed a huge spiritual change in their lives. When we first met them, they didn't even know HOW to pray; now when we start the lesson, both are extremely excited to pray and talk with God. They almost fight to see who gets to open the lesson with a prayer. Their daughter, Nizia, is as adorable as ever and also LOVES to pray. They always tell us the funny stories about how at night she asks if she is allowed to talk with Heavenly Father. This family is so precious and has been changed already by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We will be teaching them this week about the Law of Chastity, and I hope and pray that they will be willing to get married quickly so that their baptism can still happen soon.

Our other family that we were preparing for the 26th, Elizio and Clara... I got extremely upset with them this week when they told us that they need to push back their wedding until maybe February or January... They have been pushing their wedding back for about 8 months now and I don't know they will ever decide to keep the commandments and repent. We made it very clear that they need to repent, but they still just didn't care. We got really disappointed, really sad, a little mad, and got in their face a little, spit enough fire to just singe their eyebrows a little, and in the end we dropped them until they are ready to commit and repent.

On Wednesday this week we had a division and I walked with Elder Osorio in his area, and Elder Goes walked with Elder Taukiuvea in our area. It was a super good division and the most spiritual part was when we visited one of their new/golden investigators named Edel. He is one of the most wealthy men I've ever met here in Mozambique, one of the most intelligent people I've ever met in my life, and also the nicest and most family oriented person ever. When we sat down with him in his mansion, we began talking about the Plan of Salvation and he had a lot of great questions, and really understood and loved the answers that we gave him. At the end of the lesson, he told us that he knew the Book of Mormon was true, and then he proceeded to tell us about his experience with Prayer and the Book of Mormon.  He told us that for the first 5 nights after the Elders first met with him, that he prayed diligently hoping for an answer, but never got one. He said that he started to get discouraged and when the Elders gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon, he had more hope, and continued to pray for a few more days. Then he said that one night he prayed to know if these things were true- just like he had done before; if Joseph Smith was a true prophet, and if the Book of Mormon was true, and if this Church is the TRUE church on the Earth today. He closed his prayer, and went to bed. He said that he was awoken in the middle of the night by a light in his room that startled him at first. He sat up and saw a man sitting at the foot of his bed, dressed in a white shirt and tie. The man stood up and walked out of the room. A little afraid, but also curious, Edel followed him out of his room, down the hallway, and into the living room that was completely illuminated by 3 other men, dressed the same way, sitting on his couches. The fourth man sat with his collegues, and Edel sat in the available chair. When he looked at the men, they didn't have faces but pure light radiated from them that made it difficult to look at them. They told him many things that he said he didn't remember, but the thing that he did remember, was that each of them testified of the Book of Mormon and the truthfulness of all of the things that the missionaries were teaching him. He said he couldn't tell how long they had been there, if it had been 5 minutes or 5 hours, but they eventually left, and he woke up in his room. He said that he didn't know if it was a dream or if it had actually happened, but it felt real to him. He tells us that he felt a peace that he had never before felt. He sat up from his bed, grabbed his copy of the Book of Mormon, and began reading it. That it enlightened him. That he knew it was the word of God. He tells us that he knows that the things we have been teaching him are true. That he cannot deny them. And that he is a little scared that God has trusted him with this testimony. He is afraid that he will mess up in the future, that the Lord has trusted him with a great responsibility that he isn't sure if he will be able to fulfill. He told us that he needs to speak at church and testify of what had happened to him, and about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon- we told him that he can take a few minutes at Fast and Testimony meeting.  As he told us his story, the Spirit was almost tangible in the room. The Spirit touched all of us that day, and strengthened my testimony that God answers prayers. He strengthened my testimony, and I know that he was telling the truth.

I know God lives. I know He speaks with His children. I know He loves us. He sent His Son to save us from sin. Christ showed us the perfect way to salvation. We have those restored truths today because of a living prophet. Joseph Smith was a true prophet- The Book of Mormon is evidence of that. Read it. Ponder about it. Pray and Plead about it.  God answers prayers. This is my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

*Elder Ryland Rash*

*note from mom - Again NO pictures or videos....not gonna lie...I am a tad bummed!

 

Week 71: Weddings, baptisms and exercise

We had a really good week with a lot of good quality lessons.

We sat with Belmiro and Berendina and they are such a golden family! They understood the Book of Mormon perfectly just after reading the introduction, and they wrote down notes and summaries of what they understood. When we showed up, they asked us questions about the Book of Mormon, and at the end of the lesson, Berendina asked us one more question.

"We really feel that we need to be baptized. We really want to be baptized. What are the steps that we need to take before being baptized?"

We told them about faith and repentance and committed them to be baptized on the 26th of November! They are super excited!

That same day we sat with Ercilio and Saquina and talked about weddings with them. Ercilio decided that he wants something as simple and as small as possible. We told him that it is possible to just sign the documents if that is what they want. We could see the wince of pain on Saquina's face as he said that that was exactly what he wanted! Haha! I know that she wants something more special than that, but the quicker they get married, the better! So they will also probably get married and baptized on either the 12th of November or the 26th. But they are both progressing really well.

Our third couple that we are preparing for marriage is Elizio and Clara. They are that part member family. We took the Branch President with us to talk with them about baptism and repentance. Now we are just waiting on a response from them about their wedding. I have a feeling that they will also decide to be married at the end of November.

 

We are planning a couple of baptisms on the 29th of October. Nora and Josefina will both be baptized. Nora is so awesome! We've only been teaching her for a couple of weeks, but the change in her is already so apparent. She is always so much happier and you can see her physically light up when she talks about the gospel and the happiness it brings her! She is super excited for her baptism! Josefina is also progressing really well. She is a police officer and has to work on Sundays sometimes, but she has a burning testimony of the things that she has learned.

For an activity that we are planning for Halloween, we are teaching the youth how to dance Thriller by Michael Jackson, and we are going to present it at the Branch Activity. So that has been super fun. We have practices every Wednesday and Saturday. It is super funny to watch them dance!

I also found this week that we have P90X3, and so Elder Goes and I have been doing P90X every night and it is kicking my butt! But it is going really well.

That's all that I think I've got for now. We are working really hard with the members and finding a lot of quality families.

Until next week.

Elder Ryland Rash

 

P.S.  no pictures, videos, or audio this week....sorry!

 

Week 70: General Conference, teaching, and making memories!

We had a decent week this past week. We weren't able to get as much missionary work done as we have in the past weeks because of different things that came up. For example, on Saturday we were asked to download conference to watch as a branch, and it took us 4 and a half hours to download the sessions! Just stupid stuff like that came up and wasted a lot of our time in the area.

As for an update on our investigators, we found a lot of new families this week and they have a lot of potential.

We also still have Ercilio and Saquina, and we are still waiting on their decision for their wedding and baptism. He had to fly to Maputo for work and so we haven't seen him in a few days, but we will be visiting them tonight to follow up with them.

Casiano and Ercilia have not been coming to church, and so we may drop them if they don't come next week.

Elizio and Clara are another family that we have been teaching for a long time. They are a part member family that needs to get married. They took a trip down to Beira this last week and they got their documents that they need for a wedding. The only thing holding them back is that they want a big wedding with the whole family... Ugh...

Like I said we found 5 new families this week and they seem somewhat promising, but we'll see what happens this next week and I'll let  you all know.

On Tuesday we had an activity with all of the YSA's and Youth and we made Smores! It was so nice! Definitely something that we will be doing again on our own.

HAPPY 29th BIRTHDAY, MOM!!! I love you and hope you had a good Birthday! Know that I was thinking about you on Sunday! I love you!

I think that is all I've got for this week.

Oh! We watched Conference in English during the week and I thought it was amazing! The theme that I noticed was the message of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. Two of my favorite talks were Elder Gary E. Stevenson and Elder Holland.

Elder Ryland Rash

Watching General Conference

Young Single Adult Activity - making S'mores

Elder T

Elder Rash enjoying his S'more

Roasting marshmellows takes patience

Oh my heavens......

Elder Rash's shoes are looking bad!  Found a guy that will add some tread to them.

I don't know if they will last another 8 months!

Making S'mores with these handsome missionaries

Making FACES with this cutie pie!