First Baptism in Angola...almost
Olá irmãos e irmãs!
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| The group ready to go |
Boy do I miss English. Luckily Elder
Lima has been speaking Portuguese all his life and helps me a lot. He helps me
learn Portuguese and I help him learn English, so it works pretty well. I'm
starting to be able to teach more in lessons, but it's still really hard to
comprehend the light speed Portuguese these people speak. A few members of our
ward, or congregation, speak English, but even in English they speak so fast I
have a hard time understanding. The gift of tongues is definitely real, I've
been able to see a lot of improvement in my speaking and understanding of
Portuguese already, just got to stay diligent.
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| Next to the Baptismal font |
Angola is awesome, the members and
nonmembers alike are all nice to the missionaries. People actually come up to
us to talk about our church here, how amazing is that. We don't really even go
finding, we just teach investigators and members. Since there aren't any
addresses in Angola most of the missionary’s successes come from the members
and their friends that they refer to meet with the missionaries.
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| Inside the church |
Besides teaching what we do the most
of is: walking! Our area is giant, and we can only take taxis to certain
places, so at least 3 or 4 hours of every day is spent walking in the hot sun
of Africa. I think I'm already a few shades darker, these tan lines are going
to be something else. Whenever we eat with members there's tons of food so
don't worry I'll still be able to keep my figure. I tried funge for the first
time this week, apparently everyone eats it here. I think it's just corn starch
and water, but I'm not sure.* I'll learn to love it, but for now I'm ok not
eating it every meal haha.
Other things:
Little kids taking baths in buckets
in the middle of the road.
Bananas are super cheap here, but a
couple of grapes would cost more than a couple pounds of bananas.
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| Inside the church with lights off |
Elder Lima and I ate at a
buffet restaurant with some other Elders and a member. I ate wayyy too
much, (I finally saw pasta, how could I not!) so walking the rest of the day
was tough, at least the other Elders had a good laugh at me.
Taking taxis is crazy, I
don't know if there are laws for driving, but if there are they're not
followed, but then again, I haven't ever seen a crash so maybe Angola has
driving all figured out.
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| the ladder in the Baptismal font |
Alright, I think you might still be
wondering about the title of this email. So... we had a baptism on Saturday.
Cintia got baptized by her younger brother Jose. Not until after the baptism
did our Bishop tell us that according to church records, Jose is 15 instead of
18, and doesn't have the priesthood, or the proper authority to act in God's
name to perform baptism. Since having that authority is very important to
baptize, Cintia will need to be baptized next Saturday, along with her cousin
who Jose baptized 8 months ago! Elder Lima and I had a good laugh when we found
out about this, only in Angola. I'm so thankful for the Restoration of the
priesthood and the authority of God on this earth again. Being able to share
how Christ's church has been restored again to the earth in its same
organization with Prophets and Apostles is a privilege and a blessing.
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| Elder Madsen and Elder Lima |
An awesome lesson we had: after
walking over an hour to get to Gui and Giovani's house, we came to find that
they weren't there! We went to their member friend’s house, and we were able to
find Gui. Elder Lima and I decided to read 2 Nephi Chapter 31 with her to teach
her more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The spirit was really strong reading
with her, and when we paused near the end of the chapter, she looked up and I
saw tears in her eyes. She wants her and her husband to keep meeting with us,
so that was an awesome miracle. Being able to see how this gospel touches and
changes people is one of the greatest blessings being a missionary. I invite
you all to read 2
Nephi chapter 31, it's one of my favorites in the Book of Mormon.
Elder Lima has such a great
knowledge of the Bible and of the Book of Mormon. Seeing how he teaches with
both has shown me even more how the Book of Mormon and the Bible work together.
Both are wonderful witnesses that Jesus is the Christ. I know I'll be able to
learn a lot from Elder Lima, and not just Portuguese.
Até mais! Eu amo Vocês!
Elder Madsen
*Funge (or funje, Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈfũʒɨ̥]) and pirão ([piˈɾɐ̃w]) are very common dishes, and in poorer households often consumed at every meal. The dish is often eaten with fish, pork, chicken, or beans. Funge de bombo ([dɨ ˈbõbu]), more common in northern Angola, is a paste or porridge of cassava (also called manioc or yuca), made from cassava flour. It is gelatinous in consistency and gray in color... described as bland but filling and are often eaten with sauces and juices or with gindungo (see below), a spicy condiment.[2] from Wikipedia
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