wow there is so much to talk about but we will start with the plane ride. SO I got really sick the day before we were supposed to leave for Mozambique and I was really feeling down. I was praying so hard that I would be able to feel better and enjoy my trip. THen that sunday we had Elder Ballard come and talk to us in the Devotional and boy did my perspective change. I remember sitting there feeling all sorry for myself and then he started to talk and I felt the spirit telling me, its not about you so stop asking for yourself. Lets just say that the way I starting praying was very different. I was asking that my sickness would not stop me from sharing the gospel.
Anyways we got to the salt lake airport and got all of our tickets and everything and it turned out that all the other missionaries got seats together and I was the only missionary that had to sit by myself. At first again all my thoughts were about myself and even as we started the flight I didn't have a super positive attitude about it. Then I received a tiny and almost seemingly insignificant thought that maybe I should be using this time to read my scriptures. So I pulled out my portuguese scriptures and began reading them.
Anyways a little background info was that I was sitting in the middle between two people and the man to my right wasn't doing anything during the flight and I had been thinking I should talk to him about the gospel but for some reason at the same time I felt like he wasn't the right one to talk to, but the lady sitting next to me had her headphones in, covered her face with her hair and obviously did not want to have any kind of contact with anyone. Anyways when I pulled out my book of mormon it caught her attention and she asked me if I spoke portuguese. I couldn't say yes because I suck at portuguese but I said I was trying..... and then SHE STARTED SPEAKING PORTUGUESE!!
IT was so crazy and I couldn't believe this was happening. ANyways me and Elder Cox (different Elder than my MTC companion) pretty much talked to her for the next hour and eventually gave her a book of mormon and sent her off with some information to contact the Church. Wow that was a powerful experience for me.
Now for the other stuff. After a 16 hour long plane flight... which by the way I was again sitting by myself... I was in Africa. After another flight we were all in Mozambique. NO traffic laws and driving on the left side of the road was literally all I could register the night I came in on.
Over the next two days we saw our group leaving for their areas here in Mozambique but Me and the studly Elder Lemmon were assigned to outside ish areas. Thee Elder Lemmon is going to the Maxixe (ma-sheesh) area. Known for its coconut trees and tourists and beautiful beaches. HAHA if you look up Mozambique on the internet the beaches you see are definitely from there. He is technically the first Elder to be trained in a far outside area of the mission so obviously he is pretty flippin awesome...
For me I am going to Dondo.... Hahahaha it is two hours outside of Beira and is known for literally being a jungle.... haha SO my starter pokemon for my mission will probably be a Mankey. I am looking forward to it and it will definitely be an adventure. I met the Professor for this region Professor Senna (also know as the mission president) and he is a Super awesome guy. So the area of Dondo is known for a lot of good work and I am so excited to get working.
ANyways, so Me and Elder Lemmon thought we would be flying out this Thursday of Friday but things got kind of crazy. There is an Elder here at the Mission home because of Some health problems and SO his name is Elder Barreri. So the three of us have been companions and it has actually been super amazing. Turns out that Sisters for the first time are being sent to Beira and they need a car so apparently we will be driving................. 6 hours to Elder Lemmons and 16 hours to my area..... HAHAHA I LOVE IT.... so anyways honestly we have done a lot of sitting around and exploring the city.
We have gone on some splits and gone teaching and man I have literally had a headache trying to understand people here but I love it. Africa is so different. I will explain more about what it is like next week but for now just know it is different.
Today we went to the abandoned zoo in Maputo and that was pretty awesome. I love the people and I love the work but most of all I love the Lord and that is why I am here.
Ate Mais.
-Elder Thornton
P.s. I so far I have had the best cake and the best Ice cream of my whole life so.... YEAH i love Mozambique
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