O nascimento de nosso Mestre
This week was completely unbeliavble. One of the most memorable weeks I've had on the mission. The Lord has been so good to us, and is blessing our area as we are diligente and obediente.
I'll start off with news of transfers... I have been in Matola for 5 transfers, but I had reason to believe that I would stay for my 6th. That's what I was hoping anyway... And I'm staying! I am so excited to still be apart of this amazing work in Matola.
With some public manifestations that have been going on recently, President didn't want to change many things for transfers. But 2 new Elders came in so there had to be some changes.
When I saw the transfer slide, I knew that it was the Lord's will. On Friday, I had an interesting conversation with Elder Greenman one of the AP's. He asked me if our house would have room for one more companionship for the next transfer. I said, "Elder Greenman, tell President I can sleep on the floor for the next transfer if it means that our branch can have one more compaionship. And they granted us our wish! We will have one extra companionship in the branch! Me and Elder Santos are splitting, and I am training one of the new Elders. Me and Elder Santos are still the two Zone Leaders, so we will still work a lot with each other. We will just have different companions.
The Lord knows all things. With more missionaries, we will be opening up an extra area in Matola. I think it will be Tsala which is the area right after our area, Liberdade. For some reason, me and Elder Santos started teaching two families in Tsala this week! We decided that we should go out there more. With this transfer, we will for sure be working out in Tsala more. I'll probably send Elder Santos and his companion Elder Ebmeyer to go work out there. It is amazing how the Lord prepared us this week to start working out in Tsala. I had never worked out there ever since I got here. But me and Elder Santos felt impressed to start this week. We were truely led by the Spirit, unknowingly!
Me and Elder Santos gave a training on friday. It ended up running very well. We spent a lot of time on it during the week, and hoped and prayed that it would turn out well. It was a prezi presentation. The Lord helped us and inspired us a lot. It was on "How to baptize one family per month." That is the goal in the mission right now. And in the past two months, Matola has baptized 5 families. 4 of them from our area. So we need to do more to help the other areas. So we talked a lot about Preach My Gospel. All the secrets to missonary work are in Preach My Gospel! But just about all the companionships in the zone, have families that are progressing. We just need to continue to work hard so the the Lord can bless us even more!
Even with all these blessings, there are always problems. (It is necessary that there is opposition in all things).
Some obedience problems scattered over the zone here and there. We had a good talk with President Kretly this week as some very serious problems came about in the zone this week. But the missionaries are good now, and are focused! For the most part.
We weatched the Christmas devotional last night! We also presented a program to the members in Maputo. The missionaries sang, and Pres and Sis Kretly were the narrators. It turned out really well. I have grown a true love for music. I used to hate singing hymns! But now I'm obsessed with it! Sometimes I like to sing a hymn alone before I go to bed. It really is a way to worship, and invites the Spirit. I am so grateful for music and what it offers. We will be doing the same program for the members in Matola this next week.
Hxxxx and Fxxxx are getting clser to baptism! They will be getting in the water on the 28th of the month. It's about time! Me and Elder Lake found them in July! But they are so strong in the church. It's been unbelievable. I love them so much. That will be a special day.
To be honest, I could go on and on about the week and the amazing things that happened. But I don't have enough time. You can ask me all the questions you want when we talk on the phone. I don't know when that will be. I think next week. Just be patient Mom :)
I love you all so much, and I will tell you about my new companion next week! I don't even think he is here yet... Have a good week! Merry Christmas!
Elder Williams
"And He shall be born of Mary in a town called Bethlehem..."
