Transfers, .. But Staying...

So after we got home Friday we sat down to plan and received a call from the APs... the dreaded transfers had arrived... but what they told us we never thought was going to happen.. since in our mission there are only 37 missionaries, and 4 of them are going home today.. some areas are going to close.. so thats the news that we got... we are staying in the area.. elder delano and i, but we are also white washing the area next to us.. so the viana branch that  just 3 transfers ago had 6 missionaries... now will only have 2.. just me and my companion.. We just more than doubled our work load.. yesterday at church was one of the most stressful days I've had in my whole life.. trying to take care of our investigators while getting to know the new ones and making appointments with them all. But the good news is that we have confirmed baptisms every week of April. So we are very excited for that, to release some of the stress we had yesterday we had a huge lunch at a members house and later that night had another huge dinner... we will probably 2 meals a day this whole transfer because the members here love feeding the missionaries and since there's only 2 they will be even more willing to help us out.. but after the dinner we went home a little early to do some heavy planning and arrangement of our investigators and recent converts.. after that we started the construction of MEGA DESK!!!!! we have 7 tables in our apartment so we did some rearrangement and boy does it look good.. we have mega desk, a dinning table, a couch/bed in the front room, a walk in closet with a couch/bed, we have separate bathrooms... we are all alone and it feels super weird.. but its been great so far so we are excited!

Also fun little fact.. here in africa the dogs have gangs.. they run around in pakcs of 6 or so and rule the neighborhood. if a rival dog gang come in they have some seriously battles.. you can hear them barking and yelping from pretty far.. but one time my comp and i witnesses a dog fight and it was crazy.. there was a guy stuck in the middle and he sprinted off so fast.. it was pretty scary.. they rule africa here hahah

 also my comp has the same birthday as mariah so that was fun to find out.. cool stuff

elder Webber

Baptisms...

Week after week just gets better here in Viana.. we had a great baptism this week of 2 investigators who truly love the gospel and were so excited to be members of christ true and living church. As always baptisms are super stressful but even more here in angola due to taxis and time. When you say the baptismal meeting starts at 2 they thing they should be there at 2:15.. so needless to say, we started very very late.. but its all good they were baptized and they are the newest members of the church here in Angola! 

This week we have been incredibly blessed to be able to find new families to meet with and teach. We received a referral for a family that was in Portugal, they came back here in Angola and have a strong desire to be baptized. They are a great family.. 3 little sons, live in a nicer side of town and love the gospel already! They are awesome we visited them this week and found out they arent legally married... CLASSIC!!! so itll probably be about 3 months until they can even start the process to be married.. its so diffuclt to do here but great blessings await those who work hard and try thier best with faith to do what is right! So we are excited to continue with them, also Erivaldo and his wife ( who has a brother in Utah) have a date for sure for thier wedding in early May, they invited us as special guests so it looks like ill have to practice my traditional african dance.. Oh i hope im still here for that.. its going to be sweet!! but they planned for the day after their wedding is the more important is the baptism which is going to be awesome.. a great family that shows up to church every week and actually contributes.. its been great working with them. 

The longer ive been out on my mission the more im able to see the hand of the savior in our lives.. wether its literally saving our lives, guiding us to find someone who needs the gospel, or helping us know what to say. We have been incredibly blessed and we wouldn't be able to do the work we are currently doing in this area without his blessings and help in our lives.. the more i am obedient to the laws and commandments and rules of the mission and gospel the more i see the lord bless my life.. I now see that i could do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing without the gospel and without the savior blessing me every step of the way. He knows us perfectly and is ever so willing to help us.. I am not even close to being worthy for the blessings he gives me.. Its been a strengthing and an eye opening time here in the mission. in which i am so grateful and excited to see what else the lord has in store for me. 

Elder Webber

District Conference

This week was pretty solid, just putting in the usual work and having a blast with the good ole companion. This area just keeps getting better and better the longer im here, the members are awesome and every where we turn around we see a miracle. Like a couple days ago we walked in to the church boundries to pick up a member to come and work with us and we look towards the gate and see the member talking to an older gentleman, we go up and find out the elders a couple months ago talked to this guy but never taught him, he knew where the church was so decided to stop by.. so we taught him right then and there, he told us how during the war here in angola a lot of people lost conection with god and how he wanted to get connected back with our father in heaven.. we told him happily that he had come to the right place, taught him the first lesson and committed to baptism. It was sweet! 

This last sunday we also had district conference, all the members go to a conference center to listen to president his wife, district president and some other people but if was awesome.. we also had a member of the seventy come and give a sweet talk about simplifying everything and i loved it! it was super cool, I love district conference, it happens twice a year and you get to see all your recent converts and all the other missionaries so its always a fun little photo shoot. We had 7 investigators head up an hour away which is unheard of so we were super excited.. two of these investigators are getting baptized this coming saturday.. We are super excited for Mito and Simony.. two investigators with a ton of faith and desire to follow christ.

Sometimes the misson is really frustrating.. but in this area with my companion now and with the members and investigators we have, honestly i have not seen a glomy day here in this area.. ohh the wonder and the power you recieve when you do what you should, are obedient, and work hard. I thought about my time and how fast it has gone, and i dont want this to end at all.. theres nothing better then always having christ on your lips, looking for chances to serve and see the gospel change peoples lifes! I love missionary work! 

Elder Webber

me and elder mitchell with the seventy

Contacting

and eating some african food in the shade of a tree!