Mahotas or Still Chamanculo

Another week of baptisms an wow was this week incredible. This week we had the chance to baptize... Filimao from Chamanculo! I sent a picture of him and talked about his amazing reading in the Book of Mormon. We had the opportunity to do the interview for him and he invited my comp Elder Draney to baptize him. I got to speak at the baptism and wow the whole experience was super special. He really changed a lot and his faith is incredible. He told me a lot about what happened to him as a kid and it really grew my respect for him and his testimony. He has 33 years and is always the first one to come to church every Sunday. Love him a ton.

Also in Mahotas we had a baptism of Ancha. Hahaha she was so excited. I had the privilege to baptize her and it was one of the easiest baptisms of all time. Hahaha most of the people here have never entered into a pool or any large body of water so they sometimes have a hard time with the baptism and we have to do it multiple times until it goes right. With her everything was just perfect. Her boyfriend, who is a member of the church, and her are talking about marriage and we are starting to see how we can help them get married.

Other news of the week, There are about 3 other people in Chamanculo, Ana, Messi, and Youran, that I was teaching in Chamanculo that should be baptized here in the next week or two, and a family in Sommerchield that I taught a looooonnnngg time ago that looks like the two sisters who have about 20 and 15 anos are going to get baptized next week.

The work here in Maputo really is just exploding and the people are making important changes and decisions in their lives. I love the opportunity to be here in Mozambique and to teach this wonderful people. I have lots of photos from this week and the baptisms but sadly they didn't upload so i will send them next week.

I have felt so strongly this week the importance of baptism and really all the covenants that we make with God. The joy that the people felt when they learned about baptism is Mosiah 18 really reminds me a lot of what is happening here in Mozambique. God is putting forth his hand and manifesting himself to the people, through dreams, visions, feeling, impressions and desire. I feel like i'm rambling but I feel like I can't express enough thankfulness for the way that God has prepared my brothers and sisters to receive that happiness of this one and only restored Church Of Jesus Christ. I love you all
-Elder Thornton

Jonny, Filimao, Elder Draney, Member, Elder Van Orden and Elder Castro in front

Ancha's baptism

Cozinheiro, somos nos (Cook, we are)

Hahhahahahahahahahahah this week was great, in so many ways. Food, work and work. Actually, I think that those are the only two things we do here in Mozambique, eat and work. But wow is the work exploding.

This week we sat with three families and talked about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and we are working with all of them to try and help them get married so they can be baptized. The process is long but it's all coming along.

We are also going to have a baptism this week with Ancha. Who has been incredibly consistent in her progress. She reads everything, prays, walks 3 hours so get to church every week. She is incredible.

This last week, I also had the opportunity to participate in two baptisms of some of the people that I prepared to be baptized in Chamanculo. Abel and Chelcia were baptized and because we had to do the interviews for the leaders of the district (Elder Van Orden) We were there and got to participate. Sadly, I didn't have the camera so I will have to try and get them to send them to me also.

I also had the chance to go and visit a family that I taught and baptized in Sommerchield this week as the youngest of the family that we had taught and prepared traveled to south africa for a month and came back. So we got to do the interview and all and he was also baptized. It makes me happy to see that the work I did in other areas is still giving fruits. The part that made me even more happy is that the family is still strong in the church. They aren't perfect but they are still trying to be better all the time.

We recently are teaching a 17 year old named Nando who is coming to church for the last 4 weeks or so and also a man named Jasinto who we challenged to obey the day of the Lord and so he quit his job and got another one. So he should be super ready to get baptized here in a little bit. It's incredible how the people are ready to show their faith.

Even last night we found a young man who has 20 years, that has a brother who was receiving the lessons 2 years ago and this young man, named Farao was also sitting with them. We found him and sat down with him and his sister and had a great talk about the restored gospel and his desire to be baptized. We will keep on working with him and we will have to see how he progresses. Recently we also found a young woman who has 27 years that has been earnestly searching for an answer and has said that through prayer and the book of mormon she has found herself lighter than before. That the weight of the world hasn't been as heavy. I always Love to hear the ways that people are feeling and recognizing the spirit.

We are still working with a family that is preparing their documents to get married here in about a month and we are super excited for them. They have been preparing for baptism for almost 6 or 7 months now and are finally getting ready to get married. Most of the other people that we are teaching are very similar, all families that are looking for an answer to their doubts about the true church of Jesus Christ. We are teaching about 4 families like this and we hope that they can come to recognize the answers that God is giving them. I love the work and I love the opportunity to serve with Elder Draney hahaha it's been great. We started the transfer with almost no one, but out of nowhere the Lord started sending us person after person to be taught and now we have lots of amazing people and experiences.

Talking about food. hahaha This week.. wow comemos bem mesmo (we ate really well), Bought some fresh shrimp, prepared that and ate it with pasta and alfredo, then we made Barbeque turkey with rice and the other day we also made Bean stew with Cow hoof and xima.... incredible. Hahaha then we also went out in the machamba and we were offered a bunch of beets, so we ate a beet, and decided that beets are still super gross. Then this sunday we made a milkshake, hahaha a bonbon milkshake (I don't know if bonbon exists in the states but it's pretty much like a chocolate ball with a layer of wafer and peanut butter cream filling) and that was incredible. But no worries thanks to a handy dandy workout schedule that me and Elder Draney put together we are also getting super fit so...... the mission is going pretty good hahaha. Love you all. I'll try and send photos if the computer lets me download them. Till next week!

-Elder Thornton

Bean Stew with cow hoof

 Oreo milk shake

 Bon Bon milk shake

 Elder Draney preparing shrimp

 shrimp alfredo

 Shrimp

Chelcia, Elder Castro and Abel on baptism day

Mahotas com Elder Draney

The new area has been incredible!! hahaha - loving it to death. A few things that happened: Drunk man kisses our hands about 20 times; Lady has a devil induced seizure during the closing prayer of general conference (but get this, this is the 4th time that this has happened); Elections here in Mozambique stayed home all day; Ate german pancakes and buttermilk syrup with peanut butter bars; then the next day Elder Draney had zone conference and I had outhouse conference (probably due to a sugar overload the day before). Hahahah

But then the end of the week was incredible.  We had a baptism of Eulalia, a sister of a recent convert who is super incredible. She has an incredible testimony that she bore and also was one of the only people that actually watched all of general conference this week in the ward. Super awesome!!

We also found a new person to teach named Ancha who lives about 3 hours walking from our house, in the middle of what is called the machamba (or super large garden farm thingys) but she is incredible!! She was a member of the muslim church but had a moment when she felt that God was telling her that Jesus really is the Christ and that she needed to make some changes in her life, anyways now she is reading the book of mormon and keeping all of the commitments that we have given her. She also walks to church with her small baby girl every sunday, SOO COOL.

Also we started teaching two new families this week.  One of them, the whole family came to general conference to hear the prophet and is progressing super well.
Then last night we had a lesson with a recent married couple who was baptised a little while ago with all of the members of their family, we talked about temple marriage and the blessings that we have received through a family united in the Church of Jesus Cristo dos santos dos ultimos dias. Then we challenged them to find out for themselves if the church is true and all and we challenged them to be baptised, and ..... They all accepted! hahaha it will take a lot of prep but we might see this family united forever and ever through temple ordinances!

I love the work that is happening here. It's incredible, really. I love the fact that we have living apostles and a prophet that are leading and guiding us so that we can better follow the Lord.Love you all and until next week!!!

-ELDER Thornton

 Eulalia and Elder Draney

 Eulalia's baptism day with fellowshipping member, Jonny, Eulalia, Elder Draney and Eulalia's sister

Maningue News October 9, 2018

Well, my ride here in Chamanculo with Elder Van Orden is coming to an end. I will be heading over to Mahotas to be a zone leader for Maputo. It's actually way sad to be leaving Elder Van Orden. He taught me a lot about diligence and obedience. Now I will be serving with Elder Draney (whose old bishop was Bishop Thornton, my brother hahaha) in the same ward as my best friends out here, Elder Flitton and Cordy which will be awesome.

But some awesome things that happened this week, Baptisms!!! We were able to baptize Serafim and Mayra, Serafim with 40 years and Mayra with 19. Both are incredible converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ and bore strong testimony of the Book of Mormon in their process of conversion.

The thing that hit me the most is the testimony that Serafim has of the Priesthood. Elder Van Orden gave him a priesthood blessing that cured him and gave him the strength to be baptized this week. He spoke of the power that he felt and how he knew that it was the same power that had been used by Moses, Jesus Christ and His apostles. Also the day before we did a reading with him in the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 18:11 that talks about when Alma was teaching the people secretly and explained that if the people were ready to take upon the name of Christ and serve their fellow men that nothing should keep them from being baptized. Then Alma asks if this isn't the desire of their hearts. Then the people respond by clapping and shouting that "This is the desire of our hearts!!!" hahaha so when we were walking to go the baptismal font in the chapel, Serafim grabbed me and cracked this super big smile and raised both his hands in the air and whispered to me "This is the desire of our hearts!" Hahaha I love him so much. His story has helped me grow in so many ways.

Also this week, a neighbor of Serafim came to church, his name is Filamao. We gave him the book of mormon this week and today he is finishing with Mosiah. He also already read all of the talks from the last general conference and said that he felt strongly that Russell M Nelson is a prophet of God. His testimony of the Book of Mormon is growing every day and frequently talks of the calming influence that it has in his life. I have found and felt lately the power that the Book of Mormon has in our lives. It's incredible that as people sincerely read and look for answers they find feelings and peace that they haven't ever felt before. I love the Book of mormon and  have discovered for myself that it is true. I know that we have a living prophet here on earth and that he is guiding us in the right direction. Hope everyone has a great week and I will write y'all next time!

-Love Elder Thornton

P.S. Yeah still havent seen conference but, next week.

Featured people, Luis-Recent convert, Calvino, Recent convert, Serafim, Filimao and mayra and other baptisms.   Also Abel, 19 years old who will be baptized here in a couple of weeks, we have been teaching him for the whole transfer haha (Your guess is as good as mine as to who is who - Daryl;)

Jonny and Abel

Jonny, ?, Mayra, ?, Serafim, ?, Elder Van Orden

 Serafim, Luis, Jonny, Calvino, and Filimao (Not sure if I have in right order)

 Jonny, Mayra, Serafim and Elder Van Orden