Sorry, that subject was a little bit cheesy, but all is going well here in mocambique. To be honest, we are all a little confused, there is something weird going on with transfers, and none of us know what to expect, they were supposed to happen today, but nothing did, so I guess we will see. I will be at least one more day in Matola. But the new year was fantastic. We had to come in at 17h00 but it was good, some family members sent me money to go out, but instead I used it to buy a huge pot of Matapa, and 3 chickens, and rice and xima, so instead of having a good lunch out with my comp our whole house had a nice feast. Plus we had leftovers so we didnt have to cook. But it was also very good to relax a little bit that day and get ready for the year, 2016 is going to be crazy, so I think I needed it. But to relax, we ate and played risk, which I one from a crazy disadvantage, but that isn't super spiritual so I wont talk about it. This week has gone well with teaching, it is weird, on the mission it seems like the opposite of real life, because in real life if you truly give something all your heart, might, mind, and strength you turn out all right, but here on the mission, it seems like the hardest weeks of work, when you teach a crazy amount of lessons, or do a ton of contacts are the worst weeks for new investigators, and investigators in church. But that probably doesn't make any sense to any of you except the missionaries, and RMs. But I have continued trying to focus less on the numbers and more on the investigators, so as much as I try to miss you all, I end up getting distracted because for some reason you can tell a man so clearly that he is breaking a commandment, but he wont do anything about it, and not because he is ignorant, or rebellious, just because he doesn't understand you. It is very interesting, I think I am part of very few missions where you learn a new language, and with hard work you end up speaking the language better that the natives. Dont get me wrong, Brazillian and Portuguese missionaries will probably speak better than me when I get home, but I am saying this with all the humility in my capacity, I speak better Portuguese than most people here, and it is so frustrating. I have become a super anti dialect person. It is cool, but I see all these families that I love so much held back because they will not learn Portuguese above an 8th grade level, and they revert to dialect, so instead of getting good jobs, they all sell stuff on the side of the road, or work in little farms, and barely make enough to get one more day. It is super sad, but it has made me learn to be more grateful for all that I have. And especially when I see people making sacred covenants with the lord. There is not much better than that, so we just have to work Maningue hard this transfer to get there. But I listened to a really good talk from Elder Holland the other day called Remember Lots Wife, it was about facing the future with hope. Which is something I really need. I have learned here on the mission that I am really not all that much. Most days I am running on empty, Physically, Spiritually, Mentally, and Emotionally. And I dont have a reserve tank. But there always seems to be just enough fumes in the tank to get me to the next Tender Mercy, and that is a tender mercy in itself. I know that God is aware of us, and no matter how hard we try to cement him out, he will get a sunflower growing through the cracks to make us smile. I might not always be running on full, but I do know that I am running, and I have to be thankful for that. I challenge you all to recognize it, because that is where the happiness is.
Love,
Elder Anthony Holt
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