Elder Nimmo's Adventures in Africa: Week 11

"Tell a man there are a trillion stars in the universe and he will believe you. Tell a man there is wet paint on the wall and he will touch it just to find out."

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Tuesday, October 6th, 2015

The two Elders you don't know are Elder Holt and Elder Combs (with the glasses.) It was supposed to be a serious photo but Elder Holt just couldn't stop smiling.

Hello Everyone,

First let me say sorry for not being able to write yesterday (Monday). There was a national holiday called the Day of Peace celebrated and in all of Maputo almost every store was closed so we had to wait until today to email.

Second let me just tell you about how awesome it was to have the opportunity to watch the Saturday Morning Session of Conference. One thing that I really laughed hard at was when President Uchtdorf said "Tell a man there are a trillion stars in the universe, and he will believe you. Tell a man there is wet paint on the wall, and he will touch it just to find out." I feel like a lot of times we are like this haha. I know I am. We doubt what people say because we only trust in ourselves and our personal knowledge. That is one of the most important things I have learned since I have been on my mission is that we rely on ourselves for a lot when we should rely on Heavenly Father and Christ more than anything! While we are still on the topic of General Conference I would like to just say that the Lord speaks through his servants! I felt the Spirit so strongly as I was listening and realizing that so many of the talks given were the same basic message. We all need to be disciples of Christ and follow Him because it is only through Him can we obtain salvation and exaltation. I loved the talk about the Potter and the Clay and how we need to be centered on Christ. A good friend of mine told me that his favorite scripture was Proverbs 3:5,6 and I have come to love it as well. It says:

5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

We need to learn to trust in Him and have Him at the center of our lives if we do we will never go astray and we will be happier because the amount of joy you think you can have in life without Him is incomparable to the Joy we feel with Him guiding our lives.

So brief overview of my week. Monday: P-day haha. Tuesday: we had a district meeting as well as a zone training. Then Elder Keck and I went to the register and tried to get marriage documents for people in a different zone. It is a pretty normal thing here in the mission. Then we were able to study and go out. Wednesday: It was a pretty normal day with one exception, I counted my blessings. I'll talk more about that at the end. Thursday: We studied in the morning went out after lunch taught a couple families and then went to teach an English class. No one showed up. Then we were fed a wonderful meal by an American family who works at the American Embassy. It was good!!!! Friday: We went to the office and I had my first interview with President Koch and did some weekly planning. We went into the area and taught some families then we had a meeting with our bishop to make some goals for our ward then went out and taught again. Saturday: We had a pretty normal day with one exception, General Conference!!! So good! Sunday: was super busy we went everywhere and got to meet a lot of people it was a super spiritual weekend. I can't wait for the rest of General Conference! Yesterday was perfect! Although we did not go and write emails we did go to a place called Rodezio Real which is the Mozambique equivalent of Tucanos Brazilian Grill, an all you can eat steak buffet. It was so good. Also, a couple weeks ago we walked for a while, it was over six hours of nonstop walking and a total of 9 hours without sitting. Pretty crazy! But back to the story on Wednesday!

So back to Wednesday, we were teaching a wonderful family and after the lesson the wife asked us if we wanted to teach her friend we met the night before. We said yes! Obviously haha! And she took us to her friend Alice and her husband Castigo. These two have been legally married for 26 years, a pretty big deal in Mozambique. When we met them, we asked if we could share a quick message with them and they kindly accepted. Now there was construction or something going on but their house was shaking and was extremely loud. Best description is probably to imagine an earth quake. We asked if we could start with a prayer and they agreed. Elder Keck offered the prayer but I offered one as well during his prayer. I prayed earnestly and with faith to Heavenly Father to stop the rumbling and noise if it be His will so that we might be able to testify and the Spirit might be able to be felt by these two wonderful people. The rumbling continued through our prayer and as soon as we all said Amen the rumbling stopped. We were there for a full 35 minutes without any rumbling. I was able to tell them about the Restoration with Elder Keck and shared with them Joseph Smith's vision. I felt the Spirit so strongly and felt the love of my God and of my Savior.

It is my hope that we might pray with our hearts and have faith in our Heavenly Father. That we might have Christ-centered lives and be able to find joy through Him. I know that when we ask in faith we are blessed and great things can come to pass if it be the will of Heavenly Father. I love this church, I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father. I know they love each and every one of us. I know Jesus Christ died for all of us. I have a testimony of Joseph Smith. I know that he restored the Church of Jesus Christ to the earth and I know he was a prophet. I love you all and I wish that you would draw closer to Him. Until next week.

Elder Nimmo