Manuel and Dominique

Well, we weren't able to write last week because we moved houses last pday, so we didn't get a pday hahaha but things have gone really well. We moved houses so that our house can be a part of the Church. Some of the meetings will be held in the house, so that has been interesting.

We have been working nonstop the last couple of days. We now live in a super awkward place in relation to our area so we have to leave at 10 and we don't come back home until 21, so that makes for some pretty full days. I love it though, we are working with a ton of great people and families.

We had two baptisms from our area this last week, Manuel who is family of Henriques and also Dominique who was invited by Famito who was invited by Amisse who was invited by Ancha..... hahaha i love references. The best thing that happened this week was we had a frequency of 79 this week! We killed our previous record and we have hopes of more growth.

Also Amisse was interviewed for the Melchizedek priesthood and also Euclides and they should both receive it the following week. Also Euclides was chosen as the new Elders quorum president which is the coolest thing of all time. It was crazy to see the Church functioning these last weeks and seeing how almost everyone there wasn't there at the beginning. Nacala has been the most rewording experience of my mission. It has been incredible to see the church start from 14 people to 79 in about 5 months. We should have a couple more baptisms this next week and the week after we have a lot of people who are preparing for baptism. I love Nacala i love the work, I'll have to talk to y'all next week;)

-Love Elder Thornton

 Baptism of Manuel and Dominique

Jessica e Euclides (and Amelia)

So, another awesome week here in Nacala, as we worked hard to do our best and be our best. We had some changes happen as Elder Rees left for Nampula and Elder Hancock took his place. President is also emphasizing a new rule for the mission to teach 10 people every day and make at least 30 contacts. Its been proving to be very difficult but we are trying to get better every day at doing it. We found a lot of great people this week that have a lot of potential to be great Disciples of Christ.

At the end of this week we had a great baptismal meeting with Euclides and Jessica getting baptized along side the daughter of our first baptism here (Elvira) named Amelia. We have also been very impressed by the way the recent converts of the church
have been bonding together and creating a strong unit here in Nacala.  Also several of the men that we have baptized over the last months received the Aaronic Priesthood and are excited to administer the ordinance of the sacrament.

Coming up this week we will have our zone conference meaning we wont be able to hold baptisms this week but coming up on the 25th we are planning on having a large baptismal meeting.

I love this work and I love the opportunity i was given to serve God through my service to the people here in Mozambique.

-Elder Thornton

Baptism of Amelia, Elvira's daughter

 Baptism day of Amelia, Euclides and Jessica

 Euclides and Jessica baptism

 Euclides baptism

 Chima com Matapa (Mozambican Dish)

 kids from Nacala

 Zone Conference - Latu, Francom, Rees and Jonny

 Zone Conference - Pres. Senna, Latu, Francom, Rees

Maningue News May 6, 2019

the return + wedding + crazy

Awesome crazy week!  We finally left on Thursday back to Nampula.  We slept as soon as we got back to the Zone Leader's house and woke up the next morning stressing over how we would get home and how would we make this wedding that we've planning for, for two months, finally happen. We got up Friday morning, found a dress that would work perfect for Jessica, rented out a whole Chappa for us four and our bags.  So we finally got back here in good ol Nacala and the second we got here just straight craziness.  We unpacked, and started making phone calls to get this marriage organized. We had to plan a whole wedding, execute it and that proved extremely difficult.  Just a quick shout out to all those people that have a part in putting together a wedding because I put together a little, simple one here in Africa and probably the most stressful thing i've done in my life! Elvira (our first baptism we had here in Nacala and the mother of a very cool family) and Albertina (a super cool non member who loves the church and is waiting on her marriage to get baptized) was able to do the shopping for all the food that would be cooked Saturday morning. Euclides brought the DJ system and we ended our day early to make sure we got up in time for the stressful Saturday to come.

Now, Saturday-wedding day. We woke up, showed all the women that helped with the cooking where the cooking would happen, and we started decorating the chapel and the front of our house to get prepped for the wedding. With the help of the "youth" here, the decorations came out nice and everything came out clean before people started coming. At 1, we had to go with the couple and their families to the registry to officially marry the couple. We ended around 2:30, and got back to the chapel in time for everyone to be there and from 3 to 7 we had a cool party with members and non members all afternoon.  Thankfully everything went well and now Euclides and Jessica ARE MARRIED hahaha. It was a long process and at times I honestly didn't think it would happen but we made it.

Next week we will have a couple baptisms and they are definitely going to be a part of it. Their whole family will have been baptized at that point and I am beyond excited.

Besides that the sad news of the week is that our beloved friend Elder Rees was transferred to Nampula. We will getting a new elder Elder Hancock so we will see what happens there, but Elder Rees will be greatly missed.

Also all of the people are making fun of us here because we had to leave to Maputo by Presidents orders because the cyclone didn't hit here. They only had some higher winds and rains than normal, so that bites. But the work continues. 

I find myself becoming sentimental as i think of the people that I might never see again. I love the work and the opportunity to see peoples lives change because of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Sorry for the short email, and if I didn't respond to everyone its just kind of a time crunch here but i still love y'all, i promise! hahaha  Plus I'll talk to ya here in a few;)

-Elder Thornton