Dec 22 letter

This week was a nice week but we did have some tough moments. Nothing that we won't press through. We still have a bunch of really awesome families like usual, I love all of the people here. Especially the kids. We just have the cutest kids here that I love to death. There are a couple of families that we are teaching with kids that are just insanely cute. 

We had another baptism this week of just a kid, he's 16, and a great kid. I love the guy to death. Also there is another kid that is already a member who walks with us like every day who I just think is a really awesome kid as well. 

That's great that you and Mom are all staying busy with your church callings. That is definitely one thing that I've learned here in mozambique and on a mission is that really, you need to magnify your calling and it will give back so much more than what you put in. It really isn't that hard to always be extraordinary in your calling. So that is one change I will definitely make when I go home again. 

Random peice of information: I now really like Paisley ties.

December 15 letter

My comp got a package but I haven't personally received any yet. I definitely will not receive any before Jan 3 because that is when we are having Zone conference and when they bring all the packages up from Maputo. 

Seriously, this transfer I have acquired a new-found love for cooking. This week we made burritos, Mexican pizza, Navajo tacos, buffalo chicken. We have to make all the dough for all of this so it's a lot harder than it seems. Also we made no-bakes, cakes and a bunch of other good stuff. I think I'll take a culinary class in college if I can. Thanks for all those recipes again. They were great! This transfer has been really great. 

Things are going really great in the area. We had some families that we had to drop disappointingly but we are still able to have lots of success so this transfer should be really awesome. It's hard missing out on my first Christmas but Beira is doing a massive baptism that day so that should keep my mind off of things. We went to the Christmas devotional the other day (in Portuguese) for the members. This was Broadcast from the big one in Salt Lake. Also all the missionaries sang for everyone that was there. After that we ran and had a bunch of really awesome lessons with a couple of members that we were working with. 

Our area is great, we have a lot of really awesome kids especially. There are some kids that I just love.  The kids really are just awesome, although I will say that they can certainly be devils at times, like during lessons when they start to whine and stuff. Either way there is a lot of fun in the work.

Answering some questions for Colin

Christmas is nothing like the United States, not because there aren't a ton of Christians but because it is so poor. My comp has been on his mission for a little under a year. That's weird about your mission.  Based on what my friends are saying, all missions are about the same now, always having 6 week transfers and specific stuff like that.  We live in the part of Beira called Munhava. We work in the areas of Ponta-Gea, The Baixa and Praia Nova. I don't think addresses exist anywhere in Mozambique.

Dec 8 letter

The work is going great over here. We are working super hard and getting success and all of that stuff. This week was a little frustrating but no worries, everything is going great. We played soccer again this week and it was really fun. I really don't know what to tell you guys because this week was really average. 

pictures

Elders Dustin and Heald at a baptism last week

Elder Veloso from Mazambique who is in Elder Heald's house in Beira.

December 1 letters

Daniel's first paragraph was a response to the following question: I received the mission newsletter and saw that you had another baptism this week in your new area, which is a really fun start with your new companion.  I had a question, though.  The newsletter said that you and Elder Stubbs had one family and one person baptized.  I thought the couple got baptized?

One of the couple was already a member so that is why that was the way it was. It's just as good as both of them, though, because she was basically completely inactive and now they're doing great. The retention here in Mozambique really is unreal because of the family focus. 

The big meal we had on Thanksgiving was really awesome. We had a really good chicken, potato, and pork meal. We also made some good dessert so it was really nice. 

This week was really awesome. Last week we took a family to a family night at a richer person's house. Extremely poor to fairly wealthy. The kids of the extremely poor family just about had there minds blown by the food and cake and such. It was a really cool experience. 

This transfer is looking to be an insanely crazy transfer. We are having tons of success and we are just running around doing stuff all the time. It is absolutely insane and we are just super busy. It's really hard to fit it all in. We have so many lessons and things that we don't know what to do with them all. It's difficult but a really awesome challenge for us. This week was really awesome. We have many progressing families and lots of other good stuff going on. 

Also, Elder Dustin and I go really crazy on lunch. We make so many really good meals. We don't cut corners. This week we made some good burritos, fried chicken, stir fry, and a bunch of other good stuff with cooked dessert and the whole bit. Also I can make some killer rice so it is just really awesome. The cooking tools that we have available really suck but we make the best out of it. Also, beef is a lot harder to get for cheap up here in the north. Either way I really love our companionship. Things are going great and it is just an awesome time.

Soccer last week was really fun, and I'm excited to play again today.  We're going to that again right now. Thank you so much for all the good information and email. Love you so much.

To Colin: What an awesome week. It was like the best week I've ever had on my mission as well so just all around awesome. 

November 24 letter

I am a senior companion but I'm not training or anything, although that does sometimes happen. I'm with Elder Dustin from Bountiful in the city of Beira. My area is called Baixa A. It has some of the coolest things in the mission. There is a restaurant that is the most beloved restaurant of missionaries of Mozambique in it called Muslim Mondays. The missionaries call it that at least. You get fries, chicken and other, more Mozambiquan dishes there. It is super good. I love it. There are lots of cool shops that sell awesome stuff. There's a bridge that the missionaries call beggars bridge with a bunch of beggars. I think I'll buy a bunch of fake watches, African sculptures, African backpacks and a bunch of other stuff before I come home for sure. The area really is super awesome. We have tons of families that are really doing well and will be baptized in the next month or two. 

I feel perfectly confident in the language; there is no problem there. The dialect here is different than in Maputo, but here they don't really speak it nearly as much. We have three companionships in my house. They're all a bunch of good guys. We have Elder Williams and Elder Walker, both from Utah I think, Us and Elder Reed and Veloso (a Mozambiquan). Reed is from Logan. The house is really cool and I like it a lot. Up here in Beira I'm finally close enough that we can play soccer ever pday! so I'm super excited to play for the first time today. 

The people are great in both places but I would have to say I'm liking this area better. It is just the sickest area in the mission. Tons of awesome families that are super prepared for the gospel, great stuff, and our house is waaaay nicer. We even have a dryer. My room is like 3 times as big and the ground has tile and the shower is way nicer. It is really nice. Plus the store where we go shopping is in our area too so that is super nice. No, we definitely do not have any sister missionaries because there are only like 8 in the whole mission and they only serve in Maputo. All of them were in my last zone, the only zone that has sisters, and we saw them occasionally. They worked in the city (the only missionaries that do besides the office elders and AP's). Also the only elders that are ever in their district are also the office elders and AP's. Actually, Swazi has like 4 sisters too.

The package thing is really iffy. I doubt I'll get all of these abundance of packages. Many will be forgotten or not given to me in a good amount of time. If they did, it would be a miracle. However, there is a new AP, so maybe he'll be a little bit better about getting the packages out really well, idk. I doubt it, though. I'm super excited for those packages though!!

That's awesome about Uncle Dave and that side of the family. I really do miss parties over there, the food especially. Speaking of which, do you think you could send me pictures of a bunch of recipes? I was thinking... cookies and deserts (especially lemon bars), Nana's meat pie (if possible, pastry included), scones, navajo tacos, tortillas, fajitas, and just all the meals I loved. Although, if it has cheese or shortening, it won't be possible. Stuff with potatoes is great. 

I'm super excited for Thanksgiving. We will be making a great Thanksgiving banquet on Thursday as a combined house effort. Should be really good. I really miss Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping, you guys are super lucky. I bet Adam is just gonna have the time of his life. 

Leadership - Senior Companion

We received this letter from the mission president today:

This is to inform that Elder Daniel Colin Heald has been called as a Senior Companion.  He has been called because he has the maturity enough to lead the missionary work in his companionship.  He has already developed some skills to find, teach, and baptize and help others endure to the end.  In this capacity, he will be able to train other missionaries and help them to experience the same journey that has brought him to where he is now.  Your support and prayers for him and for the people here in Mozambique are greatly appreciated.  We thank you for preparing such a missionary for this service.

With love and appreciation,

President Paulo V. Kretly

Mozambique Maputo Mission

November 17 letter

We had a wedding and Baptism and stuff like that these past two days. Also transfers is today and I'm going to be going up to Beira, so I fly out tonight. 

The Wedding was nice and the baptism was the next day before church because the font was kinda dirty from the rainstorm the day before. (the font is a pool outside the church) After the wedding, which was nice, we went over to the house of the bride's mom and had a little party. It was really cool and a really happy occasion. We had a really scary moment when they did the usual champagne cap popping thing and toast but fortunately our couple just grabbed some coke at the last moment. We were sweating bullets, though. The baptism was really nice, too. Elder Stubbs did the baptizing and it went really nice. 

Other than the baptism and wedding, there really isn't that much to talk about this week. We had a fairly tough week and had a lot of tough work to do. One day we did a service project and went to clean up a soccer field (sand field). I was able to rally the help of like thirty little kids and we actually got a lot of work done which was really cool. I just said things like "who wants a clean field?!" "what do you need to do?!" and stuff haha, they loved it and hopefully it makes an impression on them to not litter and stuff. 

We have a little ice cream machine in our area that Elder Stubbs and I frequently have gotten ice cream from which is kindof cool. It isn't quite as good as american Ice cream but it's like 30 cents haha. For last P-day, we went to the beach and played soccer. It was good and everyone had a good time. There were snacks and treats and we just had a good time. Everyone was kinda weirded out because of a bunch of white people on the beach but it was fun. 

Nov 10 letter

Everything is lined up for the wedding and baptism; this week will be stressful but fun. We have several other families, but none who will be looking at baptism in the next month or so. I might get transferred next week, anyway, so I may not have any other chances to work with people in this area. 

This past week we found a guy named Eddie who said that when we found him he was very preoccupied and worried about many things and when we came he felt peace. He is super awesome and we are very excited to work with him. His children are really awesome and his wife is cool, too. We stopped by last night and gave them a Book of Mormon and said a prayer to try and help his wife feel better. The current family that will be married next week have only one little two year old girl. I will be  doing quite a few weddings because we only baptize families really and almost nobody is already married so we have to do many joint baptism/marriages. 

I never have to play the piano but maybe in a different branch I will. I don't know. I don't have any callings. Occasionally, missionaries are called to be in the branch presidency or branch president, but I don't have any calling yet. 

Next week will be my last week of training so we'll see what happens. Who knows? I might get transferred to a new area, possibly Beira. 

Nov 3 letter

The policy of teaching and baptizing families is a preach my gospel principle, not a mission principle. The fact is is that most other missions don't have the amount of willing people, or discipline, to follow this principle. Plus, for example, in the US, there aren't enough families to teach to fill up the time and needed numbers. Here in Moz, we have a lot of humble people and a country that is very ready to hear the gospel to work with so we can enact the type of work that truly helps the church grow. When you baptize a family, there is a far greater chance of them remaining active in the church. Mozambique is experiencing astounding numbers as a result of this vision. The church attendance rate is rising faster than the baptism rate because the retention is so high and reactivation is taking place to some degree.

We have several really awesome families currently, which is really nice. We are working with several people that we just found and it is really awesome. This area has truly experienced a lot of growth in the past four weeks and my companion and I are working like crazy to make this area a really prosperous area. We work in all phases of the work at the same time, with helping members go to the temple, finding and teaching investigators as well as reactivation. It is really rewarding and our area is experiencing a lot of growth. Today, we arranged a family night between several families (our investigators, less actives and a really strong member). We will buy the treats and come up with an activity and it should be a really good experience that will help these members and investigators grow and integrate. 

Dad, that's funny that you would mention risk because we play risk quite a lot. We played on the election day and when we have to stay at home and on p-days and stuff; it's super fun. Also, we went bowling once. The problem is there isn't any place to play basketball or soccer or anything. The church is just a house so it's got nothing in there. The only way we could play good sports is if we went all the way to Matola which is three hours away, so there isn't enough time for that. We went looking for hippos but it was perfectly safe, plus we're protected as missionaries. 

Elder Ence's take on the blood donation

Elder Ence wrote about the blood donation as well and I really got a kick out of his description of Daniel's fainting.  Here it is:

So this week we donated blood. It was a little sketchy because they only had 2 needles that they used between us 8 missionaries, but we got it done. It was super cool to be able to serve and save someone's life. Elder Heald and Elder Lynn both passed out. Elder Heald passed out before they even took his blood pressure. He was sitting in the chair waiting, then all of the sudden he was out, and he totally bashed his face on the ground! Elder Lynn passed out while he was giving his blood. I successfully did it w/o passing out, and I officially donated blood for my first time. In AFRICA!!!

At the end of Elder Ence's letter, he said this:

p.s. I was just kidding about the only having 2 needles thing. We all had our own and it was all good, haha. Don't worry about me;)

Pictures of Africa

Oct 27 letter

The reason that we did internet this late this week (sorry for that) is because we were on an excursion to find wild hippos and see the wild side of Africa. I'll send you a lot of pictures this week. Unfortunately we weren't able to find any hippos but we did see a ton of beautiful and cool stuff. 

  

Only one of the seventies ended up coming because of a flight delay and he spoke to the members and us combined because he was too late to speak to just the missionaries so that was kind of a bummer. We did get to play some b-ball while waiting which was awesome because we never get to do that. 

My investigators are doing great. On the fifteenth we will have a baptism and a wedding which will be my first so it is super exciting. We have found quite a few new families that are super awesome so I'm really excited for the future of Laulane and Hulene B. 

We went to give blood on Friday but I wasn't able to because when I saw the needle go into another missionary, I just passed out. I passed out like four consecutive times after coming to, haha. I guess my body was just having none of that. Another Elder passed out, too. We weren't able to work that day because of these incidents. It was all right though; this week was super awesome! 

Elder Ence and I did get blasted by a truck and we also blasted through a fence but had no marks from it so that was a miracle. Also the truck should have landed on us but didn't because truly the Lord was protecting us.  We weren't hurt at all except Elder Ence's ankle was a little sore and my thigh was a little sore.

Quick explanation from Mom

 I stayed up late (SO, SO late) waiting for Daniel to email us so I could real time email Daniel about the accident last week.  I ended up giving up at about 5:00 a.m.  He ended up not getting to the computer until about 7:00 in the morning Utah time, so I should have just done my normal sleeping and I would have been able to do the chat then, but it didn't work out. :( Daniel had a good reason for not telling us the story of getting hit by the truck, so I guess I'll forgive him.

WHAT THE HECK?!?!

So, we got a letter from Daniel today that said, "On Friday I went on a division with Elder Ence and it was really nice; we had a lot of success."  My friend in California recently joined a missionary mom facebook group and came across this entry on that group's page this morning from Elder Ence's mom, who, as it turns out, is also in that group:

This is a mothers worst nightmare to wake up and read. I  know for a fact Elder Ence and companion were being watched  over. But I just love the ending result. 

So the biggest  Miracle ever happened this week. My comp (Elder Lynn) and  Elder Stubbs are the Zone leaders of our zone and they had a  zone meeting in Matola on Friday, so Elder Heald and I were  on a split all day that day. I was super pumped because  Elder Heald is like one of my best friends out here. So that  night while we were out contacting we were on this little  side road in Heald's area that connects to the big main  road that is asphalt. So we were nearing the end of this  little dirt road and there was this dude on the right side  of the road by this Barbed-wire fence just standing there  eating peanuts. Heald and I went up to him and started  talking with him.... just the usual contact. He was an older  gentleman, and was actually pretty weird he kept saying the  same things over and over. So we were nearing the end of our  conversation, just about to get his number, when all of the  sudden he like grabbed Elder Heald and tried to pull him to  the other side of him saying "Look out". All of  the sudden I just get smashed by something and I was flying  through the air. While in mid air, I had the opportunity to  glance over my left shoulder to see Elder Heald landing on  the ground, and this white truck about to land right on top  of him...and on me. So as soon as I hit the ground I just  started rolling as hard and fast as I could to the right  hoping that I would not get landed on. Fortunately I was  safe. I quickly looked over to see if my temporary companion  was dead or not. Elder Heald was laying there in a big pill  of bricks...just inches in front of the truck. We both got  up, covered in mud ( cause it has been raining the past few  days on and off) and started brushing off our pants and  shirts, wondering what the heck just went down. Instantly,  like 20 or 30 people were surrounding us and just going off  on the driver and the lady that was in the passenger seat  next to him. They were all shouting in Dialect and it was  pretty dang intense. Then the dude we were talking to just  like appeared outta nowhere and was asking us if we were ok.  I guess he was able to dodge the truck and was only nicked  on the ankle and it was bleeding a little, but not too bad.  So while all this chaos was happening, Elder Heald, this guy, and I just like climbed up out of the yard that we got  hit into (because it was like a foot or 2 lower than the road) and noticed that we were actually launched a good 10  or so feet, haha. While climbing out, we saw the Barbed-wire  fence that we had sailed through. I have no idea how we  didn't get tangled up in the fence....or how were  didn't get hurt at all. I know for a fact that the Lord  protects his missionaries, that's for sure. The good new  is that we walked with this guy around the corner and  finished contacting him and got his phone number:D  Success!!!!!

What the heck!?!?  

Oct 20 letter

This week was really nice. My new companion and I found a few really nice families and worked with our current families. The work is really going great. I'm super excited to see how much work we can accomplish together. We taught a bunch of people and just worked super hard this week. It was absolutely crazy. I was super tired. On Friday I went on a division with Elder Ence and it was really nice; we had a lot of success. This Tuesday, we will have a conference with two seventies, one of which is from the presidency of the seventy. I think it will be something to do with stakes and training and stuff, but who knows. 

I miss all the fun family stuff that we did at home which is kind of weird because we didn't actually do much but I totally miss family parties, seeing Gina, Kelton and the rest of the family. That package was really nice. The American candy, nice letter and other goodies were super nice. 

The other day we had to come home early because it was election day and I guess it's kind of dangerous but it was super fun. We played risk and flew around my comp's remote control helicopter that he got for Christmas last year but didn't actually receive until he came to Maputo the other week. Risk got way heated and it was super funny. Our house is super nice and we all get along great. We joke around a lot but at the same time stay focused and work hard. 

Oct 13 Letter

My new Companion is Elder Stubbs; he's a super awesome missionary and he's from Tooele. They lived right next to Middle Canyon Elem. He is an interesting dude but he and I will get a lot of work done together and have a lot of fun doing it. He's zone leader so we get to keep the nice room, fortunately. Things in our house definitely changed, but I really like the dynamic of our house now. It's really fun and at the same time more spiritual, I think.

This week I had to stay in the house all day because my companion was sick. That was an interesting experience. I can't even believe how much cleaning I got done. Our house is actually super clean. We all work together to keep things clean and are just a really good district in my opinion. 

Our families are still coming along really nice and we've done a lot of work with finding new families. I think in the next week or so, we'll have a lot of new families that I can talk about. We're teaching a family that the wife is from Zimbábwe and doesn't speak Portugues and the husband doesn't speak English so we have to teach in both at the same time. It is an interesting experience for sure. They communicate through speaking dialect. 

We visit several members often. One guy speaks English and I really like him. His name is Elias and he is a super cool guy. We have some other really nice member families in our area that will be really fun to continue working with. I'm still in my area so they are the same families that I have already known for the past 6 weeks but I feel like my relationship with them has really increased recently.

Portuguese is coming along nicely; there is no way that dad could be better than me at Portuguese now haha. You better get working so that when I get home you can communicate with me.

I was able to hear conference in English this past week which was really nice. When we go and do the Portuguese one it will kind of suck though because I've already heard it in English so there won't be much point in straining myself and attempting to understand the Brazilian accent and difficult vocabulary of the talks. I still will though just for a good language training. 

BTW I still haven't gotten the package yet but it should be here very soon. Apparently it takes 1 month to 1 month and a half. I can't wait for it to get here, though! 

Oct 6 letters

So this week was really awesome. We have two families now because one of them moved to another area. They're still going good but they're just not our family anymore. The others will be baptized at the beginning of next month which will be super nice, I can't wait for the weddings/baptisms. This week we taught a lot of lessons and I have learned a lot about being a better missionary and stuff. I went on a division with Elder Ence this week which was interesting because we are both new but we got by perfectly fine and even had a couple of really good lessons. 

Today is transfers and my companion is leaving and I'm getting a new companion so that should be interesting. I don't know for sure what will happen but it will be good, I'm excited. It was a good week all in all. My house didn't change in transfers other than my companion so that is nice. 

I made this flipping good meal this week, which was nice. Unfortunately, we don't really experience the exotic food too much so I don't have any stories there. 

People are interesting and kinda weird here in Mozambique but I love it. 

We won't get general conference for a few weeks and when we do it will be in Portuguese only. We just go with members I think and watch with everyone.

Sept 29 letter

The water was only off for like 2 days so it wasn't a big deal. We have a nice sized storage of drinkable water because no, we cannot drink tap water or any water that doesn't go through the filter or is sealed from the store.

This week was good. We had zone conference on Tuesday and on Wednesday we had interviews with the president. These were really cool experiences. Zone conference was super cool and I learned a lot. The food there was also super nice. We have some good progressing investigators and this week was just a really good missionary week. Days pass quicker and quicker and I really am starting to be enveloped into missionary work. There are a ton of things that I'm learning as a missionary. 

We have three families that are doing really awesome. Adriano and Avelena, Nordinho and Isabel, and Rosario and Dilha. These are all preparing for baptism and legal marriage on the 1st of November. Hopefully, all goes well and we can get them baptized. We have several other families with baptism dates marked and whatnot but they aren't quite as certain as these three. We gave Nordinho a priesthood blessing the other day because he was robbed and beaten. The next day he was feeling much better and it really was a miracle. I think that this experience really helped his faith grow as well as mine and my companion's. I always see the Lord's hand in the work. We have a poster in our house that we write miracles on everyday which really helps us recognize this fact especially. Our mission is a very obedient mission and I find little to no problem in keeping all of the rules.

Answers to questions

 I eat normal stuff like grilled cheese, burritos, potato soup, pb&j, cereal, other soup, burgurs, hot dogs etc. I haven't gotten the package yet. I get about 20-25 letters a weak. Friends, family friends on missions and such write me. I work out every day in the morning with lifting weights, push-ups, sit-ups etc. I've lost like 14 pounds since getting here so it's nice.

Sept 22 letter

So, this week was pretty much a usual missionary week. We are progressing several investigators and always finding new ones. We work in all spheres of the work, all the time: finding, teaching, baptizing and helping members to the temple. We just go out and work hard and the Lord takes care of the rest. 

On my Birthday, we went to the city for a training by our area seventy, Elder Kumbilani(Sp?). We went a little early as a district and ate a nice lunch for my birthday. It was really nice. The training was good, too. It was a little weird because he doesn't speak Portuguese so there was a translator and whatnot, but it was really nice. I am able to communicate better and better in Portuguese as the days go on and it is really exciting. 

I don't really have any crazy stories because things are getting to be more and more normal so I've lost track of what would be good to share. One of our investigators got beat up and robbed the other day so we had to give him a blessing of health. I had to say the anointing in Portuguese, which was nerve-wracking. Also, we didn't notice, but our investigator's wife held her hands about ours on the blessing when we were giving it. Technically, that isn't wrong I guess because she didn't touch our hands but it was still a missed teaching opportunity about priesthood power and such. 

We don't have many members in our area and only about two active families, which is really low so things are sometimes difficult in that respect. We are working really hard to strengthen the members in our area, though. The mission vision is still baptizing families but, as a companionship, we are working on the side goal of strengthening these members. 

Our water is currently out so things are tough with that. Hopefully, it turns back on soon because we will run out of water to drink.  We can't take showers, wash our hands and do all sorts of things. You never realize how important water and electricity and stuff are until you don't have them haha. This same thing is the case for a lot of things because I find myself missing the most random things about America and the most random people. For example, I really miss just driving my car. 

September 15 Letter

So this week was fairly uneventful compared to previous weeks, culture shock wise. I didn't see too many awesome or super weird things in that sense. It was a really good week spiritually, though. Adriano and Avalena are a really awesome family that we have. They are really receptive to the gospel because they literally have no previous gospel knowledge. I don't know if I already mentioned this, but they didn't even know what the word prophet was. They are awesome though. We visit them a lot and they came to church so they are a really good progressing family. Hopefully we can progress them to baptism soon. We have another family that has the husband as a nonmember and the wife as a member. They are an almost guaranteed baptism soon because they are such a prepared family. Those families are a real blessing to my companion and me. 

So, on Friday I went on a division with another elder in our district, like usual because my comp is DL. We did contacts all day and got sick of it so we decided to do some door knocking. We said a prayer that we would find someone and immediately some lady walked up to us and said she would like to get a visit; we didn't even have to knock a door! We went, taught the restoration, and it was really great. Every day I see miracles like this and the Lord's hand is so apparent in the mission. 

Missionary Experiences

We found a couple of really awesome families yesterday, it really was a miracle. One was a part member family and he wants to be baptized. The other was a family that had never been to church in their lives. This is really nice because basically whatever we say is straight doctrine to them. They didn't even know what the word prophet was which was nuts.  We had to explain it to them. Also when he prayed at the end all he said was "pai celestial, en nome de Jesus Cristo, Amen" haha. then later that night after we had gone to bed they called us and woke us up because they were about to pray to know if the church was true and they had forgotten how to pray. So Elder Hatfield explained how again and then we went to sleep but it was super funny and their faith is super strong. We have like, 5 families we are currently prepping for baptism so it's really going well. 

Daily schedule and finally answering some questions!

They do sell European chocolate which is nice because they import a lot of things from South Africa. They don't follow European sports at all so I'm totally cut off of everything. I don't know what sho means. I think that it is some random dialect thing but idk. The other missionaries are from: Hatfield-Tennessee, Thomas-Farmington, Armindo-Mozambique, Gage-Washington, Souza-Brazil, Lynn-Wyoming and Ence-Hurricane, Utah. We usually speak English at home only, unless Elder Armindo or Souza is in the convo in which case we kind of have to explain and do a mixture type thing. my district is just our house. I can understand if I really concentrate and I still miss a lot of things but my Portuguese is coming along nicely. I don't know the exact address of our house but it is on the fourteenth street in Maxasine(sp?) which is the neighborhood across the big road from Magaonine. We work in Hulene B and Laulani which are up the road to the round about and turn right. It's really hard to describe. Angola was part of the mission but now it is its own mission and Swazi was added like 3 months ago. All of the beds have mosquito nets. Our laundry day is Thursday because we have a laundry machine in our house but the drying takes forever and we only have three racks.

Normal day:

6:30 - wake up, eat, shower, shave etc. and work out.

8:00 - personal study

9:00 - comp study

10:00-12:00 contacts or lessons

12:00 - lunch

13:00 - 12 weeks study

14:00 - language

15:00-21:00 contacts/lessons

22:30 - bed

This could be different based on lesson schedules and whatever else might come up.

On Friday, we have district meeting for an hour and a half after lunch

Sundays

6:30 wake up

until church at nine we might just get ready or go pick up families to come to church with

9:00 church

13:00 lunch

all four studies until 17:00 and then lessons until 21:00

P-day

wake up and get ready at 6:30

from about 8:00 until 18:00 we do whatever which includes internet, sports, naps and we also have to do personal and companionship studies during that time. And we also shop on that day as well. but this week p-day was on Tuesday because Monday was a holiday.

After that it just turns into a normal day and we just do lessons until later.

We might have meetings with the branch president or correlation or other things throughout the week randomly. Also we have to do divisions usually on Friday because my comp is the district leader. 

Side notes from home: We think it's funny that Daniel is using a military clock already.  We also think it's funny that he called splits "divisions".  Also, Daniel's Nana told him before he left to be sure and send his address, even if it was just the third hut past the fork in the road by the cow, or something like that.  His address isn't far off from that description that we really laughed about a few months ago!  And Colin's really amused that his companion is Hatfield from Tennessee.

Second Letter from the Field

Ok so this week was super crazy.

We taught a lot and did a lot of contacting and the normal missionary stuff; it was pretty tiring. I learn how to say more and more Portuguese every day so it continues getting better. I think of home a lot but it's ok because the mission is really rewarding, albeit hard.

We have several progressing families and I hope that on the 27 of September we can get some of them to be baptized, but we'll see. There is a lot of weird stuff that you see and my comp is pretty impatient when people disrespect him or are drunk or something but I just think it's hilarious. 

The other day a bunch of 12-13 year old girls came up to my comp and I and ask for our autographs, I signed Joseph Smith haha. Also at the end of a lesson, one guy tried to pay us for our services.  We just said we do it out of love, not for money.

I don't know if I already talked about this, but some kid got hit by a car, something that happens often, and he just held onto his drink. No one even paid him any mind, It was pretty funny.

We taught a rich guy the other day who actually had carpet, so that was interesting. We gave him a Book of Mormon.

Things are so busy here, there's hardly a spare moment.

We saw some 18 year oldish kids running home yesterday with their faces all bloody. They had just gotten in a huge fight, so that was kinda cool as well.

There are all sorts of crazy fruits and I love trying all the new ones. I ate a huge papaya the other day which wasn't super good, and then there was another way weird fruit that I don't know the name of that was a bunch of seeds that you suck the fruit off of.

Yesterday, some drunk guy came up to us and my comp, who is way impatient with drunk people, stormed ahead so I was talking to him (in English which was weird and nice) and eventually we dumped his beer out and told him to go home. Haha, he was so drunk that I doubt he could ever remember us.

Anyways, love you guys,

Daniel 

Email Conversation

Since it was Donell's Birthday on Sunday, she decided to stay up late to see if she could have a "real-time" email conversation with Daniel (Mozambique is 8 hours ahead of Utah).  Here is their conversation (Elder Heald's words in green):

Tomorrow is Labor Day, so there’s no school or work and I don’t have to wake up early, thank goodness.  Maybe I’ll stay up and see if you write soon so I can write you back right away.  We won’t have many opportunities to do that because of the time difference, so I might see about doing it tonight.

well I'm emailing now if you are still awake

Yep

wow isn't it like 1:30 or something?

Yes.  I'm really tired now.  I was just heading off to bed and decided to check one last time.  How are you this week?  Do you feel like a real missionary now with over a week under your belt?

yeah but at the same time it is really hard to get used to missionary life. Especially when there are six other elders in your house with way more experience

Well, at least you have Elder Ence with as little experience as you.  

We saw that the other MTC missionaries arrived.  That's good.  You're senior to them, so you're not the greenest greeny.  

hahaha that is true but they get to go up to beira where the people are nicer. It's way better up there from what I hear.

Is Beira northern?  How are they nicer?

yes, and they are just way more receptive to the gospel, even though the people here are super reseptive as well.

Oh.  We had a talk with grandma and grandpa tonight about the boisterous nature of the singing.  Gpa wants to know if it's all enthusiastic make a joyful noise singing.

yes, they are super happy and sing as loud as they possibly can, I can't even hear the piano when I'm playing.

there aren't really other piano players so it kinda sucks

happy bday, I wrote "mom" on my hand so I could remember it was your birthday all day

Pictures from Mozambique

Pre-Mission Pictures

Here are some pictures of Elder Heald taken before he left by his Aunt Rebecca:

First Letter from the Field

First let me say that the key board is kinda broken so excuse my typing. also the shift key is way hard and every word is in red because it is correcting it into Portuguese so...

Anyways, I just got to my area the day before yesterday so yesterday was my first full day of real life missionary work. We had several lessons and contacted several people. We actually have 8 baptisimal dates marked so we'll see how those turn our. I'm praying that they come through. church yesterday was interesting. im in magoanine which is in maputo and we have the stongest branch in the mission (around 250 attend church). the singing was so loud and boistrous it was crazy, I couldn't understand much and it was overall just super weird, but i loved it. there were 8 comfirmations or something like that so that was really cool.

I live in the largest house in the mission and there are 7 other elders in the house with me. my companion just got made into the district leader so we are moving into the biggest and best room in the house which is nice. his name is elder hatfield and he is a pretty cool guy. he is a hard worker and i think that he'll be a great trainer. elder ence is also in my house so it's nice having someone who i already know. Cooking, cleaning, showering, sleeping and everything else is super weird. The house isn't terrible but it is a real step down from anything i've ever experienced. we have a washer too btw.

magoanine is super sandy and dusty and our area is huge. we have to hitch hike to get over there which is aparently a normal thing in africa and then we walk through sand all the time. The people are so nice though and the lesson we have taught so far have been awesome. I have a hard time remembering names because they are so weird but i try. My portuguese is coming along well but understanding others when they talk is a real challenge.

we have to always be washing our hands, putting on hand sanitizer, taking our shoes off, cleaning and being really clean. it is a lot easier to focus and be diligent out in the field too which is nice. I don't have any pictures becaue we aren't allowed to carry our cameras around but ill try to get some pictures to send to you.

The people of mozambique are awesome. i love them. honestly, they are super super nice and accepting and i absolutely love the kids. they are so cute and will always say hi to you when you walk by as they are playing in the dirt or with a tire or some other archaic toy. the way they say hi is by saying (for pronunciation purposes) sho! and give you a thumbs up. It's super cute. they have a lot of cool handshakes and stuff too that i need to get down. They don't sell a lot of ingredients here so i can't make buscuits, unless you can substitute shortening out for butter or something?... idk

from tuesday until friday morning we were in the mission office just sleeping and taking naps and whatnot so it was really easy and actually kindof boring. so i wont talk a lot about that just because it was pretty stupid. elder christiansen nearly killed their pet turtle at the office though. we had to go to the us embassy and get some sort of document thing. the embassy, btw, is super small and wimpy, especially compared to the chinese one or something.

the houses in mozambique are all these little shacks. They have dirt or concrete floors and the most commical chairs and tables and stuff. the people here are super humble and nice though. president kretly described it as "they have little of what matters the least and a lot of what matters the most." President Kretly is awesome but i havent been able to talk to him much because he has been was sick after organizing and leading the first youth conference in mozambique.

Happy birthday mom! love you so much and I hope you have a good one!  thanks for sending me a bunch of details of home! The more details the better.

P.S. i ate squid the other day, it was decent i guess haha.

Arrival

Just received this message from the mission office:

Here is your son just after his arrival at the mission home.  They arrived on time, with all of their luggage.  Safe, sound, and excited to serve the Lord in the Mission of Miracles!

Mission Plaque

Here is a picture of the plaque that is displayed in our meeting house:

Notice the scripture!

What it says is "Alma 26:5 And now in the reign of Mosiah they were not half so numerous as the people of God; but because of the dissensions among the brethren they became more numerous."  - totally random.

At first we were horrified and thought that we had given the wrong scripture reference.  After some checking we discovered that the above reference is actually MOSIAH 26:5.  Alma 26:5 actually reads "Behold, the field was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the sickle, and did reap with your might, yea, all the day long did ye labor; and behold the number of your sheaves! And they shall be gathered into the garners, that they are not wasted." - a much more missionary-oriented verse!

We think it is really funny that such a random verse is written on his plaque for all to see.  A counselor in the Bishopric said that when he first saw it he thought Daniel must be a really deep thinker because he had no idea why he would pick such a verse.

At the Airport

We needed to give Elder Heald a few things that we didn't have time to mail, so we met him at the airport.  It was awesome to see him for one last time!  Missionaries are permitted to call home during layovers, so we also got to talk to him later that day when he was in Chicago.

These are the only missionaries that got Visas in time!

One last glimpse!

Travel Plans

That is a grueling travel schedule!

Last few MTC Pictures

The MTC is exhausting!

MTC Zone (Elder Heald is the left-most Elder)

MTC Life

I've never sent you a description of my schedule so I'll do that now:

6:30 - wake up

7:00 - study in classroom

7:45 - breakfast

8:30 - study in classroom (teacher)

12:30 - lunch

1:15 - study in classroom (teacher)

4:15 - Gym

5:30 - dinner

6:30 - personal study in classroom

7:30 - companionship study in classroom

8:30 - language study in classroom

9:30 - get ready for bed

10:00 - companionship study in residence

10:15 - personal study in residence

10:30 - lights out

It's a pretty grueling schedule but I'll survive and I have so far so it's all good

On Tuesdays and Sundays we have different schedules. Tuesday is P-day obviously so it's much easier. Sunday we have church and interviews with the branch president and such but it is my second favorite day. on both of those days we have a devotional after dinner at 7:00, today we should be getting an apostle to speak to us so I'm excited for that. on Wednesdays and Saturdays we also have a slightly changed schedule because in the morning we have service which is basically just cleaning something for like an hour instead of early morning study and part of classroom study at 8:30.

With love

Elder Heald

Letter to Mom

 I most definitely get the least amount of mail of any of the elders in my zone.

I'll try to continue sending you pictures but honestly the MTC isn't the greatest and most exciting place in a picture sense. I am getting the final immunizations this Thursday so hopefully I don't pass out or get light headed or anything. 

I didn't host missionaries last week but the next two weeks I'm on hosting duty so that will be fun, I'm really excited. You can choose who you pick up so I have friends coming in that I'll host during that two hour break during the middle of the day which is a wonderful thing, truly.

I leave on the 17th which I believe is a Sunday because my flight could be as long as 57 hours in total. 

On Language questions and scripture study

Dad,

We are learning Mozambique Portuguese but our teacher went to Brazil so she struggles with it sometimes. Portugal Portuguese is more similar to Mozambique Portuguese than it is to Brazilian Portuguese. I have had some orientations on the diseases and I just got an email to be careful about ebola because they are sending western African missionaries over to eastern Africa because the outbreak is bad so they might be infected. I expect lots of poor people a great mission field to serve in with many baptisms.

I fall asleep often while reading the scriptures but other times I am able to study for hours and concentrate and mark study and apply the scriptures to different principles and to my investigators. I have been writing in my journal about the scriptures and even started a long entry/practically a book, about charity where I write many insights and scriptures regarding the subject. 

Letters from Elder Heald on July 29th 2014

The MTC is really changing me in the spiritual sense I think. I've basically become a scriptorian. I can pull up scriptures for all sorts of topics just off the top of my head and everyone thinks I'm like super biblically knowledgeable or whatever. The Devotionals are great, if you get a chance to read an address that elder Bednar gave to the MTC on Christmas of this last year I would suggest that you read it, it's called Characteristics of Christ. I'd watch it if at all possible. 

This is my companion, Elder Woolley

this is Elder Nate, he's a cutie, hes also way sick and awesome. I let him beat me up right here because usually I dominate him in our  wrestling matches. He's pretty wimpy