Feliz Natal and wow, new companion

SOOOOO this week was suuupppeerr dope, Christmas, Zone conference, baptisms, Skype, Interviews, new companions and all that jazz. Yep lots of great things going on! Lets start with Zone conference.

So,on friday I had the awesome opportunity to spend the day at zone conference and receive lots of awesome trainings about the gospel and all those amazing things but usually I wouldn't write much about zone conference but this time one of the trainings really stuck out to me. President Senna did a training about how we are using the spirit to deliver the Gospel to our investigators and wow was it awesome. First off he brought in a cake with the word Evangelho (or gospel) written on it and set it on the floor. Then he took out a knife and asked if anyone would like a piece, obviously everyone raised their hand and so President Senna chose one person and said alright here you go, sneezed into his hands, and continued to grab a huge handful of cake and slammed it into the hands of the missionary. Lets just say that everyone in the room was dead silent and trying to register what had just happened when president asked "how was that? Did the investigator receive what he was looking for?"  we all replied yes and then he asked another question, "how can we maybe do this a little better?" then he proceeded to take out a plate and cut out a large piece of cake and a fork and some napkins and gave the cake to a different missionary. In the end we all came to realize the importance of bringing the message to the world but in the way God would want us to, at times maybe we simply just bring the gospel but without the spirit and all the other things necessary, the investigator receives the gospel but doesn't really want it at that point because of the way it was delivered. We were still working with the same material, the same delicious cake but in the eyes of the recipient it had lost its value. Super awesome training... loved that, Then we all ate an amazing meal and that was conference.

Then we had baptisms and we had the opportunity to baptize three people, Zunil, Jose(grande) and Jose( pequeno). The baptism was super beautiful and I loved the opportunity I had to bring them the gospel, hopefully in the way God wanted. Then we had skype... wow it was sooo cool to be able to talk to my family again and hear their voices. The time went by so fast but I loved it.

Right after i finished skype President took my aside to do my interview and in the interview he told me that he had felt something today and decided he was going to make Elder Jesus a zone Leader of a different zone and that I would be the district leader in his place and that he wants me to train for the next couple transfers......wow... bombshell hahaha just went from junior comp to having all the responsibilities..... Super dope guess God wants me to work a little harder, no problem, just sad to see ELder Jesus go.... really loved that guy.

So my new companion will be Elder De Costa, A mozambican who is waiting for a visa to go on his mission, and then after this transfer I will be receiving a new companion to train. So super excited/nervous but whatever, If God called me there is no doubt I will be able to fulfill this assignment with his help, 1 nephi 3:7...

mmmhmmm anyways also going down this week, I am going to be moving houses so that will be stressful too but the new house used to be a sister house soooo.... its like 10 times better than any Elder house, way excited.... yep that's about it.

SO for christmas, because Elder Jesus is now zone leader, President wanted him to be at the zone conference for that zone, so I went with him and spent christmas doing all that same things, same trainings and SUPER good food so no complaints, also we watched the best two years... so accurate... enough said christmas rocked.

Peace out

Zunil, Jose (grande) and Jose (pequeno) baptism day

Jonny with pokemon card he got from Hayden

Monique News December 2017

Presidente Senna & Sister Senna

Dear Parents,

Follow our mission periodical, referring to the period of November 2017.
I take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous Year of 2018.

President Senna & Sister Senna

PALMEIRAS COM JESUS

Welp another super crazy interesting week full of surprises! So last pday I got done writing my weekly email when President called us and told us we were going to do transfers a week early.... super strange but whatever! Hahaha It was really sad to say goodbye to Dondo and all the amazing people there, especially to say goodbye to Elder Flitton who became a super close friend.

But in the end I showed up to my new area called Palmeiras and my new companion's name is ELDER JESUS hahahaha Everyone here loves him and his name. He's Brazilian and probably one of the funniest guys I have ever met. So far we have gotten along great together. So the first day I got there we had a Family home Evening event for all the investigators in our district and wow it became clear super quickly that I wasn't in small Dondo anymore. Now i am in one of the biggest Chapels in the country and this activity had about 60 people there. It was insane!!

Then we went back to the house that I am staying at and found out that I was living with Elder Draney(a missionary from the ward where my bro Matt is serving as bishop) . The house is super nice, it has water..... enough said. Then this Saturday we had two baptisms and I had the honor to be chosen to baptize one of them so this week has just been super awesome!

Also Elder Grange just came up to Beira and he's in my zone too and it was super awesome to talk to him for the first time in a long time. Super awesome. I love the work, love the church but above all I love God and because of that I will give him my all out here in Palmeiras!

Ate mais

Jonny and Elder Jesus

Elder Jesus, Irma, Irmao, Jonny and Elder DePaulos

From 0 to 100 real quick

Wow, we are just the most blessed with all the memories out here in Dondo... Hahaha for all those weekly readers out there (at least my parents and one or two of my siblings;) ) We used to have a lot of water problems out here... we went weeks without water in the house and that was definitely super legal.... but as of late we haven't had any problems with water and in fact this week... water became our problem.

So firstly this Sabado we had 4 baptisms! it was a super beautiful experience and even better yet, lately we have been teaching someone named Ronnex. He is from Malawe and he only speaks.... English!! hahaha So we got to teach him everything in english and wow..... I think that was the hardest thing i've done on the mission so far, I have forgotten so many words already it scares me.... but I also had the opportunity to baptize him .... IN ENGLISH hahahah that was so cool!!

Anyways long story short the baptism was super exhausting and took a super long time but we were way excited to get back to the house and descansar a little bit but when we got to the house, we opened the door and TONS of water came pouring out. HAhaha apparently our toilet had busted and water had been spilling out all while we were gone so our house got completely flooded. At places there was only like a quarter of an inch but at other definitely a full inch. SO that was a fun clean up for sure.

The work is just running without problems, we are finding new investigators every day and so far I haven't been eaten by anything so that is super cool too. I know that this church is true, its a fact that I get to state every day here and I just want to share with y'all my testimony that I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. Not because an angel told me or because someone argued with me so long I started to believe, but because I offered a prayer, I followed the example of Joseph Smith and I received a feeling so intense and so real that there is no way that i can deny it. I testify as a first hand witness that the invite we find in Moroni 10:4 is real and it works. I have received my answer and I continue to receive an answer each time I look for one.

Deus quer que saibamos a verdade. Porquanto ele sempre responde as nossas perguntas. Amo voces e oro que voces tenham uma boa semana.

tchao caras

SO in the photo with the four baptisms that we had going from left to right we have Guelton(super awesome dude who is super melo) Jennifer(super funny bubbly personality), Manuel(just the chillest guy, always soft spoken but is super smart, and Ronnex our dope english speaker!

Cleaning up after busted toilet

Just another semana

Welp, I'm not going to lie this week was pretty disappointing. We had a couple baptisms lined up and we really thought that they would come through.... until we passed their house and found out that they had gone on a week trip with some of our new converts to the Muslim church...... so that was super disappointing.

Although some disappointments definitely were prevalent this week the same people that went to the other church returned and they said that they are certain now that they are ready to stay in the Church of Jesus Christ forever.

 I loved something that my mom shared with me, she was talking about the profound question posed by the Savior: Will you go away also? and the inspired response of, Lord to whom shall we go? I just want to testify that really this church is unica. There is and only can be one church of Jesus Christ and they way we know that this is his church is through the fullness of the Gospel and the confirmations of the spirit.

This week we did a lot of teaching in order to prepare a group of 4 people to be baptised this week and so far it looks like everything should go through just fine. We will have to see, because as we have found... at times people randomly decide to visit the muslim church, but i really do have faith that these people are truly converted. Also we have been able to confer the priesthood on 4 of our recem-conversos. The mission is good and God is real.

Love yall. -Elder Thornton

Uma semana normal

Jonny started to use a LOT more  Portuguese...so I've added google translation in parentheses after his Portuguese:) 

So today I just wanted to just on a simple truth about the mission. Sometimes, nao (no) scratch that, all the time missionary work is just that.... a lot of work. It isn't easy.  I wouldn't say, Wow this is the funnest thing that I have ever done!, but I will say that missionary work has been the most rewarding thing that I have done in my life. That feeling of waking up everyday knowing that you are fulfilling completamente a vontade do senhor (completely the will of the Lord). It is just something incredible. This week was one of the harder weeks. We got canceled on a ton, we had a lot of investigators who missed the church and so we are going to have to adiar os batismos (postpone baptisms). But in the middle of all of this we were able to baptize A really cool jovem se chama (young man called) Danny. He is really good friends with a lot of the people that we baptized recently and the highlight of the week veio (came) after he was baptized and the people baptised were invited to come to the front and bear testimony( we did our baptisms this week with a lot of other missionaries) And there was that awkward silence and then he got up, danny, who actually is super timid and shy and just gave a powerful testimony about the power of the holy spirit in our lives. Quero tetificar que esta Igraja e verdadeira. Tenho certeza sobre isso. Eu fiz uma oracao e recebi minha resposta, e eu sei que qualquer pessoa que nao tenha recebido uma resposta por si mesma pode receber uma testemunha.(I want to make sure that this is true. I'm sure about that. I made a prayer and received my answer, and I know that anyone who has not received an answer on their own can receive a witness.)
 Ate mais meos amigos! (Until more friends!)

Jonny did not send pictures again this time, not sure why.  But last week our son, Matt, sent a  picture of Elder Draney (who is in his ward) that is also serving in Mozambique and is in the same zone as Jonny and Jonny is also in the picture....so I will send that:)

Blessings

So just wanted to start out by telling yall a story from yesterday. I received my first blessing while being here in Mozambique last night and boy was it..... interesting..... hahaha so we were sitting on their form of public transportation called a chapa and elder Flitton and I were smashed together and we had two extremely drunk ladies sitting in front of us and behind us and the whole hour that we were together they were talking about how the holy pastors (apparently us) needed to dispel all the demons that we there in the chapa. Anyways, we just sat there ignoring it and towards the end of our extremely valuable time together the woman in front of us put her hands on our foreheads and looked up to the sky and started screeching and making the weirdest noises..... hahaha it was super interesting and lets just say I did not feel the spirit one bit so its safe to say that I still 100% believe in the Priesthood power that exists in this Church.

 Anyways this week went super well. We were able to baptize Irmao Luiz and Irma Fatima and the baptisms were super cool. Luiz has 20 years and Fatima has 14. The both of them have been growing so much and it is so crazy to see how the Gospel has power to CHANGE. Come as you are but don't expect to stay that way, really is the message of the gospel. Anyone who has a real desire to feel the changing power of the Atonement is not only welcome but begged to come and experience the change of an eternity. I love this gospel with all my heart. It is interesting how every week I seem to find myself thinking the exact same thing....."Wow this gospel really does make sense" It really does and I testify that the people in Africa are feeling the same thing.

We have an investigator that was talking to us about churches and how she knows our church is true, she said, I went to a bunch of other churches and every time I went I never felt settled, the pastors would yell, teach, and dance and everything they said and taught would get confused in my mind, but when I came to your church, I felt a peace, I felt like I was at home and the things that were taught didn't just pass through my ears but found a place in my heart.

The Gospel is real, more than just real but in all truthfulness the Gospel is reality, At times we forget the importance of the things we believe. Work, school, activities are all good and important things but in the end the simple truths of the gospel will be the things by which we are judged in the end of this life.

Love you all and I hope everyone finds time to stuff their faces with turkey because we definitely won't be! ;)

-Love Elder Thornton

Gostaria de enviar algumas fotos mas a computador nao esta funcionando. Vou esperar ate a semana que vem  (I would like to send some photos but the computer is not working. I'll wait until next week.)

Batizador

Woah me and Elder Flitton have received a lot of opportunities to baptize our investigators and every time is just a special as the last. This week we were able to baptize the little sister of Irmao Geramias and that was super cool. Her name is Laurinda and she is probably the most spirited little girl I have met out here haha we love her a ton.

I also had the honor of baptizing a guy named Carlitos who has 17 years of age. His testimony is so strong and I remember the first time we taught him he looked at us and said... I dont know if I believe this but I know I will find out tonight! wow and did he find out, the next lesson he told us a story about how he prayed and he felt an indescribable feeling touch his heart and after that he knew. After that lesson we watched the Joseph smith restoration movie and he bore his testimony to his other brother and friend that "even though this story is hard to believe, that God and Christ would appear to a boy who only has 14 years, I know that it is true because I prayed and I received a witness."

Wow. It really is amazing to be a witness of the truthfulness of Gods promises. Pray with real intent and you will receive. I just want to bear my witness that this promise is real. The people of Mozambique are finding that out for themselves and I know that we all can too. The reality though is that we all need to be able to respond with that same answer that this young guy gave, Yeah it is hard to believe but only if you havent prayed about it. Satan is always trying to get us to stop praying to know, at times the culture of the church thinks.... woah yeah i already received my answer that these things are true, but the reality is that each of us can come to know the truths of the gospel in a way much deeper and much more fulfilling if we will continue to ask God for further light and knowledge.

This week we should be having 2 or 3 more baptisms so next week i will have to tell you a little bit more about them too;) haha this week it rained..... and rained.... and then it poured. hahaha but no problem we are super prepared with our heavy duty rain boots... with holes in them.... hmmmm slightly ineffective but whatever haha. I love the mission, It is crazy that 4 months have already flown by.

 Love you all back on the other side of the world.

 -Elder Thornton

Irmao Carlitos, Laurinda (little sister or Irmao Geramias), Elder Flitton and Jonny

Jonny with Irmao Carlitos

Zone Conference....yeah, I am forgetting English and I can't spell

So really we had zone conference this week which was super awesome! We got two zones together and It was super incredible.... not only that... only the best free food of all time so that was pretty much the best also.

SO anyways this week flew by and I dont exactly remember everything that happened nor do I have the tinme to relate it all back but just to start... our mission is having crazy success and it really is just so incredible. Last month we had 200 baptisms in the mission this last week me and ELder FLitton baptized 3 people. Irmao puxu, Irmao Daneal, and Irmao Johanes. Super amazing success.

Irmao Puxu was a reference from a Memeber in our group, actually her little brother and she had already taught him all the lessons and he wanted to get baptised? So we just had to reteach everything one time and then we baptized him.... so crazy how willing the people are to accept the gospel, then Irmao Daneal was also a reference from Irmao Geramias who we baptized two weeks ago, man references really make all the difference out her on the mission, nothing is more effective than having a really close friend or family member bearing testimony of the things that you are teaching.... Then Irmao Johanes.... I dont know if anyone will remember but we tried to have him baptized two weeks in a row but he had tests during the baptism two times.... so that was tough but he finally showed up this week and the baptism was super awesome.. The only problem that we had was that we had two other jovens that were planned for this last saturday but they didnt show up for the baptism.... then they showed up for the sacrament meeting and got up to "bear his testimony" and he pretty much walked up to the front and said.... well the missionaries planned a baptism for me yesterday but I didnt show up because I didnt feel ready to be baptized I still have sins that i want to commit....... woowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww....... hahaha boy do we need to sit down with him and talk, It really is to bad some times because the people here will lie to you face and give you the answers you want to hear instead of the truth so a lot of times we really have to check and make sure someone wants to be baptized or not.

Super interesting work out here in good ol dondo but the work is running and I have a testimony that the church really is led by a living prophet who receives specific and directed advice for every facet of the church. I love the gospel and the book of mormon. I had a close friend email me and talk to me about the power of the book of Mormon and I really just want to testify that as we read and ponder about the things contained we all can receive real and personal revelation that the book is true. Love yall

Maningue News - 9th transfer

Dear parents of the powerful missionaries of the Mission Maputo Mozambique,

Follow our November newsletter with the results of OCTOBER 2017 (INGLÊS). We had a wonderful and inspiring trasnferencia. Your children baptized in this transfer: 199 new converts in OCTOBER.

We created the NAMPULA district and many miracles will turn !!

Thank you for your support and for encouraging and loving them !!

Today some missionaries will be traveling by transfer, some parents may not receive an email from them, do not worry they will write soon in the next p-day.

Love you!!

Presidente Senna & Sister Senna

Missão Moçambique Maputo

Missão Moçambique Maputo,
o Melhor  Lugar Para Estarmos Hoje!!!

Chuva

Another fantastical week has come and gone and Elder Thornton is now sitting in an internet cafe without his nametag and with multiple cuts and bruises on my legs and arms.... HAHA what a week but before I explain how that all happened Ill start from the beginning.

We have energy which is awesome but we are still lacking the beautiful substance known as water.... too bad but whatever at least we don't have the plague.... (sorry Madagascar). But this week was sooooo good! We continued to teach the group of teenagers that we have and we prepared 5 people for baptism this week and we ended up baptizing all of them!!! except for one... haha Johanes who i talked about last week had another test.... wow... haha but We had one baptism that really was super special to me. His name is Matias and we have been teaching him since I arrived here.... I don't know how many will remember this story but one of my first days here in Dondo we were walking around trying to find someone to teach and we stopped and I asked if I could say a prayer.... after the prayer we stayed there waiting for inspiration and Elder Flitton asked if we should keep on walking but I felt like we should stay put.... anyways about a minute later Matias came walking out of his house and we went and taught him the restauracao. Anyways after that we spent about the last two months passing by his house and having him fugir which was super frustrating. But two days ago I had the incredible experience and privilege to baptize Matias and wow... It just hit me so hard that the only reason the mission works... the only reason that a bunch of teenage boys and girls can go out to all parts of the world and bring people to the church is because every single missionary is being guided by the same Loving heavenly father. I just want to quickly testify that God is real. His plan is real and he is ready to help us, all we have to do is ask. If I have learned anything out here it is the reality of inspiration. As we do our best to do our part God will make up the difference. This principle is true in so many aspects of life. In work, in the home as parents, in school, in callings and in our personal struggles. God is there and I testify that he hears you.

So to finish the email because sadly at times in africa you buy two hours of internet and you end up getting 1? I need to wrap this up but why I am sitting here without a name tag super beat up and such is because we were waiting in line to get on a chapa here in good ol africa and when a chapa arrived a ton of people who decided waiting is way lame rushed the chapa. Anyways we definitely got caught in the middle of the biggest shoving match of all time as 40 people tried to pile into a super undersized van..... at one point I was just shoved up with my face against the window of the van so that was pretty exciting! hahah but yeah we lost our name tags and took some collateral damage but hey what's a mission without some great stories right? but yeah...


Also this week... we experienced our first real "Rain"..... WOW I never had experienced rain like this in my life.... literally sheets of rain to the point where your visibility was literally like 10 feet in front of you.... super crazy and we had the coolest opportunity to baptize during the middle of it! haha I was trying to give the baptismal prayer at the top of my lungs and people still couldn't hear me. Love Africa and I love my mission. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and the difference he makes in my life.

Until next week meus amigos

Jonny and Elder Flitton with baptisms

Jonny baptizing Matias in a heavy rain

Jonny in rain boots with holes !