Still in Maputo

So, this week has been super interesting and wild and unexpected. We got a call Monday night saying that there was a cyclone coming for Nacala and we needed to get out of there ASAP, so we ran around trying to let people know what was happening. We had to postpone the wedding and a bunch of other stuff. Anyways, at 6 the next morning we were on the road to Nampula. There we walked with the other missionaries and stayed with the Zone leaders.

Then we got a call a few days later that we were going to be evacuated to Maputo. So we flew out and got to Maputo. We were assigned to various houses but by the luck of it I was put with the Zone leaders in Mahotas. What a blessing!  I had a chance to visit with a bunch of the people I had taught here, Ancha and Andrade, Loura and Ferrao, Edmilson and abel and fatima and their whole family. I also went to church there and i saw Alberto and a bunch of the people I have missed a ton. It was a huge blessing that I wont ever forget.

Now we are still just here in Maputo and we don't know exactly whats going on or when we are going to leave. I'm getting a little stressed out right now because there is so much to do in Nacala and I'm running out of time. But eventually we will get up there and help build the kingdom some more. I love it out here. I miss y'all a ton and I'll talk to ya next week!

-Elder Thornton

Baptisms on April 20th

a cave?

Going to Euclides and Jessica's home

Jonny taking picture of Euclides and Jessica

Euclides, Jonny, Jessica and their daughter

 Euclides and Jessica

Missionaries all in airport going to Maputo

Elder Latu in Maputo with Sister and Pres. Senna

Jonny arriving in Maputo with Sister and Pres. Senna

 Monkey in Maputo

Group email....it's my turn for the stupid computer

So, how Nacala works. Every week we go to the only internet place that exists here and there are 4 computers. Two of them aren't functional, one is a Samsung computer that usually works beautifully and then there is the stupid computer. Everyone dreads the stupid computer and sadly its my week. But hey lets look on the bright side, its better than sending letters so... (shout out to all those who didn't have computers kkkk because i know at least some of my siblings are saying "back in my day" ;)

On Thursday, the secretaries came up to Nacala and we were able to go with them to look at new houses because President wants us to move from our current house to use the entire house for the Church and not just the garage and backyard area for our meetings on Sunday. We found a house in Baixa, about a 35 min walk downhill from where we live, so it is gonna be a weird but good opportunity to find more people in that area where we'll start living. Also, that same night, one of our investigators, Demi-the uncle of Eucledis, was able to install a water pump in our house and we finally had running water again!

But anyways it was an amazing week, really. We had 3 baptisms, Jardel, Flavia and Candido. Candido is amazing! Always comes first to everything and was invited by Delmar to get to know The Church a long time ago. Jardel is Elviras son, he took a long time to prepare and honestly i didn't know if this day would ever come for him but the Holy Ghost does his job pretty well I'd have to say. Flavia is the little sister of Pascoal and she has proven to be a pretty awesome young lady as she has been a good friend to Jardel during the whole process.

Coming up next.... Euclides wedding with Jessica!!! haha we are really excited but I'm stressed out of my mind. It seems as though everything that could go wrong already has and I'm loosing my mind but hey, lets look on the bright side, at least I have a mind to loose right? (Shout out to all those bushes out there that don't have one)

Well, the work is going good. I have felt a lot of love for the people we serve out here. We have had an incredible opportunity out here in Nacala and its sad to see that things are coming to a close. But I'm hoping that I get to spend my last transfer here with this amazing group. Love ya'll and I'll talk to ya later!

-Elder Thornton

(pics, because companion, Elder Latu sent home to his family:)

Candido

 Flavia

 Ward Members

 Jardel with mother Elviras

 Jonny, Flavia, Jardel, Candido, Elder Latu

 Jardel

 Elder Latu, Elder Rees and Jonny with ward members

Thirsty?@:)

Another great week and another week without water..... hahah its really not that bad except we have to use a lot of our money to buy water to drink, no showers, and the bathroom doesn't smell very good. But hey that's normal,.....ish kkkk but the life is going great! A miracle for this week is that because of the cyclone in Beira the group leader here in Nacala is a man named Tendai Dickie, and he happens to be Freeman Dickie's brother. I doubt yall will remember him but he is the Stake president in Beira that i used to go over and visit alot, we had a lot of dinners at his house. Anyways because of the problems in Beira, Freeman sent his kids up here to Nacala for a while and they all showed up to church. It was so fun to see them again. only like half of them remembered me so i had to show them a picture of us together about a year and a half ago. hahaha that was way fun. The sad note of the day is that a lot of the people that were  going to be baptized on the 20th didn't show up at church and they didn't really have any good excuses, so we are going to have to wait for a while. But the wedding is really going to happen. We are really close and they are going to open up the process this week. Its set for the 27th and im way excited for them. They have really showed a lot of faith and have invited lots of people that have been baptized before them. Anyways things are pretty normal here, all the bats left. I told all the members i ate them. As far as conference, i dont know if i will be able to watch it but i downloaded a lot of the talks i heard were the best and we have been studying them at night. I loved President Nelsons talk about daily repentance. That's something that i am excited to apply more aptly in my own life. Anyway until next week! kkk

-Elder Thornton

Beach Bath

Well, it seems that I am writing for a whole two weeks so this is going to be fun.  First off, we had a great Zone Conference in Nampula...that was a joy to get to. We sat in a Chapa for about 3 hours both ways and I thought that all of my appendages would fall off. At the zone conference, we talked about Christ like attributes and we focused a lot on how we can use Christ like attributes to solve the problems that we face as missionaries. Then we came home, again with the falling appendages.... we got home and we started to work.

Last week we ended the week with 8 baptisms.  From our side we had Pascoal, Henriques, Ancha, Paulo, and Famito. It was a super stressful day as we also had a wedding the same day. The wedding went well.

This week we had another 8 with a lady named Fatima from our side. The work is moving forward at a unprecedented rate. On the 20th we have another 8 people that are preparing to be baptized. They all came to church this Sunday so that was a blessing.

When we got home someone stole our water pump so now we don't have water. I don't smell good and my clothes are dirty. But its okay, stuff happens!

I hope we get to watch conference, it will be complicated because we will have to download it somehow and then find some way to get a TV to the church and play it for everyone, but we will have to see how it goes.

We are preparing all the last documents to help Jessica and Euclides to get married. They have marked the 27th as the wedding date and the baptisms for the 4th of May. The work has kept us busy and the mission just keeps on chugging along. I love the chance to be here in Nacala with Elder Latu. Ill try to send some pictures but I cant make any promises because the computer moves at the speed of a fat turtle that only has three legs. I literally type a couple words and just wait about a minute for the words to appear on the page. But I love Nacala:) Good stuff I'll talk to y'all next week!

-Elder Thornton

  A random drunk guy tried to interrupt the baptism because he wanted to get baptized too. Fortunately, Manuel and Euclides were there to pull him away.

Ha Ha Ha Passwords

We were at conference and we just returned and I wanted to write everyone and send some emails, but something wacky is going on with my Church account. It won't let me get on or do anything.  I'm working on that but any news I'll let you know whats going on. Just wanted to say I'm alive. The baptisms happened and we had in total 8 baptisms so that was awesome, the wedding went great and life is still going pretty great! I love you mom, tell dad I love him too and the rest of the fam. (This is the letter that was forwarded to us by the Rees family that Elder Rees sent to them.)

So the confusion used up the internet time we had, but just wanted to say i love y'all and that yes, the 5 baptisms happened and they were amazing and that I'll let y'all know more here in about 4 days!! 

-Love Elder Thornton

(note from Jonny's mom - it was because of me that he didn't write.  Luckily, through Elder Rees sending a message through his family, I found out there was a problem with him getting into his account.  Long story short, I had recently changed Jonny's family search password in trying to look up someone I had placed in his temple reserved list.....I had NO IDEA it was connected to his missionary.org account!!!  Contacting Jonny through Elder Reese, he was able to get it all fixed, so we should be okay for next week!!!!)