"I love you mom!" Videos from Sis. Koch are the BEST!!!!

Week 18:Prayer is POWERFUL!!!!!

This week has been crazy awesome! The weeks are flying by and I'm almost done with my training! Whoo Hoo! But I really want to tell you guys about a super spiritual experience that we had Sunday night.

          All of our lessons had fallen, and all of our backup plans had fallen, so we decided to pray. We asked Heavenly Father to help us find a lesson, and to help us find someone to teach. As we said "Amen", another man said "Amen" with us! We looked up to find a man named Jerson standing in front of us. He is the son of one of our investigators and he was on his way home from work. He asked us if we were doing anything, and we said that we were just working. He invited us to come to his house and have a lesson with him and his Mom, Vittoria. His house was super nearby, and we hadn't even thought about stopping by his house because it was so late at night. But we went to his house and had one of the most powerfully spiritual lessons that I have experienced thus far. We taught about the Plan of Salvation, and when we testified that Vittoria would see her Husband again (her husband passed away 10 years ago), she started weeping. The Spirit was definitely present, and I saw it working in her heart. She said that she missed her husband a lot, and we offered to give her a blessing of comfort. She graciously accepted, and we laid our hands on her head and Elder Badger gave her a beautiful blessing. She wept through the entire blessing, then afterwards we had a kneeling prayer that we asked her son, Jerson, to offer. Jerson walked us to the gate, and we promised him that he would see his Father again, and he started weeping as well. He said that it brought comfort to his heart, because he's been really missing his Father, lately. This experience really strengthened my testimony of the power of prayer. Heavenly Father answered our prayer of faith, and placed someone in our path before we had even said Amen. I refuse to believe in coincidences. God definitely had prepared that family to receive that lesson at that time.

          As far as other events that happened this past week, we had our Ward Activity! We were super stoked for it! We had been planning it for about a month, and the day finally arrived! We woke up Saturday morning and were at the chapel at 12 to start setting everything up! We were expecting to have all of the leaders there at 13 to help us set up. But 13 rolled around... Nobody... The activity was supposed to start at 14! And it was just us four Missionaries sitting in an empty chapel! 13:30 rolls around and still nobody. Finally, someone made the comment, "There is literally NOTHING we can do!" To which I responded, "Well Brethren, I believe there is something we can do." I gathered everyone together, knelt down, and Elder Stewart asked me to offer the prayer. I literally prayed for a miracle. I prayed that we would have a full plane. It was a short and sweet, and we got up from our knees with a newfound hope. So we wait, and we wait, and we wait, and eventually, One Person Came!!!!! It was Now 15 and we literally only had 3 people other than us at the chapel! 2 of those 3 were only there to clean the chapel! Not even to participate in the activity! I was so disappointed! We prayed, we hoped, we had faith, we acted, we did literally everything we could! Nobody was answering their phones, nobody was coming and it was already an Hour after when we were supposed to start! Then; the miracle! As if all at once, people started coming through the gate to the church! In 30 minutes we had 60 people come! They were an hour and a half late, but hey, they came! And they came with snacks, and soda, and activities planned, and food!!!!! And better yet, EVERY SINGLE SEAT of the plane! Our prayer was answered with exactness! But the activity was this; we were all on a plane and the plane crashed. We all "died" and then we took them on a tour of the 3 Degrees of Glory! It was a huge success and everyone loved it! Afterward, and had food, games, skits, activities, and it was so much fun!

          This Saturday we will be having a baptism!!!!! We will definitely be baptizing Joanna. And we hope that we will be able to baptize Lidia, and Lima! But we'll see with them.

          We've been trying to work a lot with Inactives, and this week we were able to locate the houses of 5 Inactive/ Part Member families! Which is a miracle in and of itself, because there are no addresses, and our area is MASSIVE! So that is a miracle as well!

          Well, I'm out of time, but this week was awesome! I'll let you know how transfers go next week!

 

The kids that follow him around chanting his name!

After the prayer....they started to come....

....and boy did they come!

The "plane" is packed....and refreshments are served!



Entering the Celestial Kingdom in the activity

Elder Rash with the Ward Mission Leader and a member of the Stake Presidency

 

Week 17: Bucket Showers keep you cool on a Hot Day!

So this past week has been a little crazy! On Friday Morning the water went out... and didn't come back on until Sunday Morning... Sheesh! I never knew how much I relied on running water until it was gone! We were, however, blessed enough to have a community spout that was pumping water still, so we filled up basins, trash cans, bottles, anything that we could find, really, with water so that we could cook, bathe, drink, and everything else that you need to use water for! So I took a bucket showers for a few days! Now you might think, "Man, that stinks!" But to tell you the truth, there is nothing better than a nice cold bucket shower after an extremely EXTREMELY hot day! I came out here with the thought, "Psh! I'm from Arizona! I can handle a little African Heat!" Boy was I wrong! It has been in the 40's, which is around 110ish, but with the humidity, you just stay wet and sticky from your own sweat. Plus, when you're walking around at 13:00 with the sun beating down on you relentlessly, you just want to lay down on the side of the road and die like we see so many dogs do here! So yeah, it's been hot, and without water! What a beautiful combination!

            As for Conference, I've heard quite a bit about it, and we're going to download all of the sessions and listen to them this week, but we were only able to watch the Saturday Morning Session at a Members house in English, then we had to go home because it was too late. It was 18:00 here when the first session started, and we had to be inside by 21:00, so we only had time for the first session, but I absolutely LOVED it! I learned to much! I loved Elder Uchtdorf's, Elder Maynes's, and Elder Lawrence's talks so much! I can't wait to hear all of the rest of the sessions! But here in a couple of weeks, we'll watch them in Portuguese with all of the ward at the Church building!

            As for our investigators! We WILL be having a big baptismal service on the 17th with 3 of our investigators, and 2 investigators of the other Elders in our District! So I am super stoked for that! Joanna, Lidia, and Lima will all be baptized! Whoo hoo! Joanna is an 11 year old girl, and her adopted father and mother are super active! Her Mom is actually the Young Women's President, and her Dad is the Excecutive Secretary. Lidia is a friend of a recent convert that we have. She is 16 years old, and we almost stopped teaching her because she told us that her Father forbid her from going to church and being baptized... So we taught her that if she had faith, and if she prayed that her father's heart would be softened, she would be able to be baptized on the 17th. She showed great desire and faith to be baptized, and so I had been praying super hard for a miracle for about a week. The next time we met with her, she greeted us with a huge grin on her face! "Everything is resolved now!" She said! Yes!!!!! Our prayers had been answered and her father had a change of mind and a change of heart! So she will be baptized in 2 weeks as well! Lima is just this super awesome guy that we met doing door contacts! We initially met his nephew who was a 2 year old named Kelvin! He called Elder Badger fat, and I was just laughing so hard, and apparently he didn't like it, so he called me ugly! Haha! We initially didn't think that Lima was all that interested, and the only reason we returned was to see Kelvin again, but Kelvin went with his Mom up to Nampula. But Lima invited us in, and has been one of our best friends, most progressing and reliable investigators, and is just super nice!

            This Saturday we will be having an awesome ward activity! We have planned it all out, and we will be taking the ward on a "Flight to Tete". The "Plane" is going to crash, and we are all going to "Die". We will then take them on a tour of the Spirit World to teach them about the Plan of Salvation. It is going to be super awesome! Plus the ward is all super hyped about it! Well, I think that is all I've got for now! Thank you for all of the prayers on my behalf! I love you all, I think of you often.

            I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know God lives. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's kingdom once again established on the Earth.

Love,

Elder Rash

 

Getting water from a community spout



Puppies are cute!

Getting ready to watch General Conference.....

on this little computer! hahahaha



This is a Choppa.....15 passenger van, crammed with MORE than 15 people!







I hope he brings these home!  BEAUTIFUL!!!

One bucket for the shower, one bucket to flush!


 

Week 16 Davis Pool Service in Africa

I feel like I just had P-day yesterday! This week has flown by! I will apologize in advance and warn you that this letter will be quite short... Sorry...

But, it has been a good week! But first off, Happy Birthday Tobie!!!

Parabens a voce! Nesta data querida! Muitas felizidades! Muitos anos da vida! That is the happy birthday song that they sing here! It means; "Congratulations to you on this dear day! Many happies (there is no real direct translation for that) Many years of life!" So happy birthday on the 30th Tobie!

So we have 18 investigators with a baptismal date marked! We will be having a massive baptismal service on October 17 with 3 of our investigators, and a few of other Missionary's investigators!

But Elder Badger got bit by a stray dog on Sunday Morning as we were walking around to check on our investigators before church! I was a few paces ahead of him, when I heard him scream! We've got no idea why this dog bit him, but it wasn't even that bad of a bite. It didn't break skin, it bit him on his ankle, and the bite didn't even put holes in his pants or his socks. But he was pretty worried, so our Mission President's wife told him to go to the hospital. So we left church a little early and went into the city to get him looked over. The doctor wants to be cautious, so we have to go back every week for the next month to get a series of Rabies shots for Elder Badger.

This week I also had my first hard rejection. We were knocking on doors, and we could hear this kid playing inside of the gate of this rich house. So we knock on the gate, and the little boy comes to the door and he is this super cute little boy! I'll never forget him! His name is Yuma, and he went to call his Mom, who then comes walking out with this Mulato(tan) baby in her arms. We ask if we can talk to the Dad of the house, and so she goes and calls him! She was super nice, and super welcoming to us, and Yuma held my hand as he walked us to the door. Then, The Portuguese man comes to his door. We explained that we were Missionaries and that we'd like to share a message about Christ with him and his family. Then, extremely rudely, he said, "No. Leave. Goodbye." And he walks back into his house. Man, I was so upset. Matthew 19:24. I'm tired of rich people thinking that they don't need Christ or any sort of religion at all!

But the day got a little bit better as we tried another rich house! We entered the gate, and female after female after female came out of the house to greet us! There were probably 7 girls from ages 5 to 15 that came out, then finally a man came out! We introduced ourselves, and he was very nice! We were invited to come back another time, but what made me really happy was when I saw their pool!! I asked him if I could look at his pump for his pool. Surprisingly, it is extremely similar to pools in the states! He had a sand filter, Chlorine pool, that was a little dirty, so I grabbed the pool net, and cleaned it up a little bit, checked the chemical levels, and he was extremely impressed! So Papa, if you ever want to take Davis Pool Service International, I've already got some connections here! Haha! So that made me pretty happy!

The Mozambican little girls here are so adorable! With the beads in their hair and all! At a family night, they wanted to sing with me, so we just sang hymns while everyone else watched Carrossel- a really family friendly Brazilian show. But this week was super good!

So as for the super spiritual experience...

I was super frustrated as to how our night was going, and we were just walking along when I heard a voice say, "If you want us to stay with you, you have got to change." In that instant, I changed my attitude, and then realized that we had passed a family without even talking to them! They had this cute little baby, and so we turned around and talked to them. We have yet to sit down with them, but I feel super strongly that they will be good investigators. So that was the super spiritual experience that I had.

Well, that's all that I've got this week! I'm sorry, again. But I'll try to do better! I love you all! I love this work. I know God lives. I know that the Book of Mormon is the Word of God.

That's all from this side of the world!

Tchau,

Elder Rash

Back alley of Matola

Selfie

"I'm so happy to be in Africa!"

Young Single Adult activity with the ward

 

Streets of Matola

Always smiling!

African Mural

Music and Arts

Atta fruit

Week 15 Another Weird Fruit

So this week was a little rough...

We've had to stop meeting with a lot of our investigators simply because they weren't keeping commitments. They haven't been coming to church, they having been keeping meetings with us, they haven't been reading the Book of Mormon, and they don't see any of it as a big deal! It can be quite frustrating at times. You can't learn how to swim if you don't get in the water! You can't discover that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint is the True Church of God if you don't read the Book of Mormon, go to Church, pray, and do the Things that the gospel teaches! It's as simple as that. Read the Book of Mormon. Pray about it. If you have doubts about what Joseph Smith saw, ask God- He was there, and He will tell you!

Anyways, our stats for this week were a little weak...

13 Investigators with a Baptismal date marked

Only 3 Investigators at Church

9 Progressing Investigators

5 new Investigators

So yeah... Kind of a cruddy week, but there is an excuse... Sort of.

So this week we had 2 Divisions in a row! We had one that was planned and we knew that we were going to be having it, but the next day there was a training for all of the Leaders in the Zones. So all Zone Leaders, District Leaders, and Trainees had to go into the city for most of the day. So that day, I quickly got paired up with an Elder that had only been out 2 transfers longer than I had been!!! I was a little worried because I'd heard him speak Portuguese before, and he has the Whitest Accent ever! During ALL of the lessons, I'd have to repeat what he said so that the investigators could understand him! So it was an interesting day. But that night, when Elder Badger and I were back together, I had a SUPER spiritual experience that completely changed my day! Up to that point, I was upset, frustrated, and really annoyed with my companion. But after this experience, everything changed. I won't go into detail, but I will simply say that D&C 84:88 is 100% true, and I saw that scripture fulfilled that night.

Then on Saturday night we had a Family Night with the Ward Mission Leader and a bunch of other members that lived nearby. Needless to say, we pretty much hosted a Young Single Adult activity! We had a bunch of kids my age over and we taught a lesson, sang some hymns, then played some games!!! I felt like I was back at home, just joking around with these members that I got along with so well! We took videos, pictures, danced around a bit, and apparently I'm quite the dancer, and didn't know it! Everyone just had such a great time! So that was super fun!

​I tried another weird fruit this week as well! This one is called an Atta! It's about the size of an apple, and you rip into it, and it has the consistency of gooey moist bread, has a Lot of seeds in it, and tastes like a cross between and mango and a banana! So it was interesting, but delicious!

I think that's about it for this week! Again, I'm sorry that it isn't too long of a letter, but it was a slow week...

I love you all! Thank you for your prayers on my behalf! As Sister Kinnaman said, "Do you know how many people are praying for you?" So thank you for your prayers, and know that I'm praying for you all as well! I try to mention as many people as I can, by name, in my prayers at night. Trust me, there are times where I've been on my knees for over an hour! I love you all! This Gospel is true. There is no better way to say it. If you learn it, Live it, Love it, you will be happy- I promise you!​

Com Amor,

Elder Rash



Masala fruit



Masala fruit

Week 14: Activating the Inactive

Well, another week in the life of a Missionary for the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saint has come and gone! This week was pretty
bland for the most part except for an activity that we had with all of
the Ward Missionaries that turned out really well! But first off...
Our Numbers;

14 Investigators with a Baptismal Date
13 Investigators in Sacrament Meeting
15 Progressing Investigators
3 Families at Church
11 New Investigators

So this week was pretty good for numbers!

I don't have a whole lot of time this week to write, so I'm sorry to
say that this email will be shorter than usual... So, I'm sorry Mom.
But yeah, like I said, nothing exciting happened this week. But we did
have an AWESOME activity with the Ward Missionaries! We wanted to get
them super excited about missionary work! So we had them go on a
search for the "lost lambs" that we had hidden pictures of throughout
the Chruch Building! So we related that to the 300 Inactive Members of
the Ward!!! We have 405 registered and baptized members in our Ward,
and only have a Frequency (Attendance) at church of about 100 people
every week. So we have a LOT of work to do with Less Active Members.
Then we talked about the 3 Things that EVERY new Member needs; A
Responsibility, a Friend, and Nurturing with the Good word of God! We
had Corn Meal, Water, and a stove- the 3 things that are essential to
make Chima! Then we gave them 2 of the 3 things and told them to make
Chima! It is impossible to make Chima without all of those 3 things,
just as it is difficult for a new member to stay active without all 3
things that President Hinkley said that they need! Then, I made 2
batches of cookies the night before. One batch I made normally, and
they were good cookies, the other batch, I left out the sugar, and
dumped in A LOT of salt! So the symbolism was how our lessons with our
Investigators are with a Member present! The lessons with the Members
present are SO much better! So the Ward Missionaries were SO much fun!
So hopefully we get a lot more participation from them in the coming
weeks!

I'm sorry Mom. You have now reached the end of the letter... Please
don't be sad or mad! But before I go, imagine me singing this Song!

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to You!
Happy Birthday to Shelbie, Elder Poulsen, Morgan Sappington, and
Anyone Else that I don't know about.....
Happy Birthday to You!!!
Feliz Aniversario!

I love you all! Give em Heaven Out There! I'll talk to you next week!

Week 13: Excited To Be Staying In Matola

This past week was the last week of my first transfer in Mozambique!!!!! It flew by so fast! It was crazy! But good news! I'm staying here in Matola for another 6 weeks! In fact, not a whole lot changed in our Zone, pretty much everyone is staying! But I've been praying for this! I have absolutely fallen in love with our area! I love the people and wanted to be here for all of the baptisms and weddings that we'll be having this transfer! Speaking of Weddings... Parabens Tobie e Austin!!!!! I watched the videos and saw the pictures and it made me so happy! I'm so proud of you guys! My advice for you is the same advice that God gave to Adam and Eve; "Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the Earth!" I'm so glad that I could be a part of the wedding! It made me feel special, so thank you guys! I wish you both the best of luck!

But our area is doing great! We had...

13 Investigators with a Baptismal Date

7 Investigators at Sacrament Meeting

14 New Investigators

​So it was a pretty decent week!

Now, I don't know what it is about me that just makes drunk men flock to me, but it seems like there are always drunk men that want to talk to me! So yesterday was a holiday here in Matola and Maputo that honored the military! So all of Matola and Maputo had work off. Naturally, everyone got plastered-drunk! On two separate occasions, I was approached by visibly drunk men, and they just gave me the biggest bear hug ever! I felt terrible because I would go to investigators houses smelling like alcohol! Alcohol is very bad... Don't even touch that stuff... But yeah, so that was one experience! Another crazy experience was as we were walking down the street and I saw this little Mozambican toddler! As we got closer, this little girl looked EXACTLY like Emmy, Tyson and Kamee daughter! She was a Black Emmy! So that reminded me of home!

This past Wednesday, we had Elder Hamilton of the Second Quorum of the 70 come and visit our mission! We had the opportunity to shake his hand and receive training from him. As I shook his hand, I was anticipating him to ask how I was doing, so when I shook his hand he simply said, "Hello, Elder Rash." Nervously and awkwardly, I spouted out, “I’m fine, thanks! How are you?" He gave me an odd look, and I walked away feeling like the biggest idiot in the entire building! I didn't feel so bad when Elder Almeida, from Angola, came and sat down next to me and told me he had responded to Elder Hamilton in Portuguese on accident... Elder Hamilton doesn't speak Portuguese! And apparently a bunch of other missionaries had really awkward encounters with him as well! But the training he gave was absolutely wonderful! I learned so much and was just entranced by everything he was saying! I was completely immersed in his words and was so edified by the Spirit! At the end of his training, he opened up for questions that anyone might have. I had written down some questions that I wanted to know from my personal study a few weeks prior. I raised my hand, asked my question, and waited... And waited... And waited... All while he just stood and the pulpit contemplating my question. Eventually he turned to President Koch, and said, "Would you like to give it a shot?" President Koch partially answered the question, and then Elder Hamilton stood up again and answered my question as well! My question was, "How is my faith and hope related to the Agency of others? I understand that there is a power in faith. That faith can move mountains! So if I have faith that investigators will come to church, or that they will accept a doctrine or a baptismal date, how does that influence their Agency to choose? Does it influence their agency at all? And then what is the point of my faith in a desired outcome, if the Agency of others can cause the desired outcome to not happen?!" This question came about as I was studying in the Faith section of Chapter 6 in Preach My Gospel.

I'm sorry my letter is a little bit late, I'm sorry if it caused any problems for anyone, but Monday was a holiday, as I said, and all of the stores were closed, so we pushed P-day back by 1 day! So I'm sorry about that! Well, I think I'm out of things to write about! Mom, I hope this lengthy of a letter will suffice! I love you all! Oh yeah, Congrats to Samantha Smith!!! Zimbabwe! That is crazy! You'll be my neighbor! There are quite a few people from Zimbabwe here in Matola that I've met! Good luck understanding their English! Haha! But they're cool! Anyway... That's all from this side of the world!

Elder Ryland Rash

Not exactly sure but we think this is a dried up water well.

???

Close up of the well

Ryland's Family

This is what Ryland said about the picture of the family....

"So this is Bento and Edilta with their son Belview and Bento's brother, Esdor!  This is MY Family!  We found them, and I hope we get to baptize them this transfer!  Whoo Hoo!  They are my favorite family!  That is their house, which Edilta is standing in the doorway.  There are other doors that you can see in the background, and those our other "house".  They're really just small rooms.  But we have another investigator, Rita who lives in the room right next to them in that door you can see just next to my left shoulder!  Hope you guys like this picture!  Love you guys!"