Me Mum,

First off to start the email. I sent y'all some shots through Dropbox. Yeah, they are from last week-your missionary forgot to email them a week earlier-but I'm sure you'll be fine with that.  The first is Elder Bender(who came down last week due to illness) with returned Mozambique missionary from 2008 Brother Lott. He talked to the guy before the mission and so it was cool that he got to see him out here.  The other pictures are of President Kretly's birthday party. We had a "stake" party. Take a plate, one says Beira another Maputo another Manga and lastly Matola, and decide where to stick a stake first. Haha, twas' funny. He got a certificate for being an "extraordinary President" a parody of his "extraordinary missionary" certificates we can earn. twas' fun.

Yeah, the companionship is going along pretty fine. The area? Now that's a different story. We had 2 really good potential investigating families last week that we were really excited about and this week they both said they weren't coming to church nor working towards baptism. AAAAAAHHH!!! They do not realize how much they are giving up! They have such opportunity at their door, exaltation isn't a small word, and they tell us they aren't interested. Ug. So, this week we have 0 investigators. We have a few people we will visit this week to see how they are but other than that Elder Bigelow and I shall be walking quite a bit looking for people to teach.

I love conference! I do believe the conference Liahona is here. I'll get one soon. Obedience is a theme you say? Hm, maybe I should put that to the test and see if there is anything I am not being 100% obedient about. Worth a shot and wouldn't hurt trying, we can always be more obedient.

You make me so jealous with Dad's gifts you know. A 3 hour nap? AH! That would be sooooooo nice. I'm sure he loved it.

My missionary plaque is up...hehe...that reminds me of Josh's missionary plaque. I remember that it, too, didn't go up until I felt he was nearly home. hehe. Thanks Callie.

Summerfest! What was I doing Summerfest last year? I think I worked one of those days. Was Nate at work? I remember that Subway was always 2,000,000 times busier those days.
The rides...I remember looking at the ferris wheel and saying to myself "never." Ben would love the fast, dizzy rides. Love that kid.

Hah! Yeah, July of next year will be just a little too late. Well, shirts huh? I did ask and Elder Burg said that Maputo shopping has shirts. They rang from 500 meticais to 1000. Translate that to dollars and you get $17 to $33 per shirt. So, I will look into that. Long story short: don't send the shirts after all. I'll tell you how much to stick in my account. I might just use my church fund card to buy them and then just refund it when you send the money from home. I think I shall buy 3 shirts.  I heard you get a deal when you buy 3 instead of just one.

YEAH NATE! Go getting raises and scholarships! Dude, Justin loves you man.

Well, I don't have much news this week. Kind of a boring email, but hey.

Love ya'll, Khanimambo maningue,
Elder Christopher Wartena

P.S. Health? What?! ok, I guess you aren't way off, I have been around some sick people lately so I might be at risk for obtaining some type of sickness but I feel alright.
Speaking of eating better, you'd be proud, I made an effort to eat more veggies this week.

New Companion--Elder Bigelow

An African wedding in Africa followed by 2 baptisms.  That is for you to get all jealous about. HAH! Strawberry cheesecake ain't got nothing on Africa.

So, due to many other letter and all the photos I took, I will try to type rather rapidly here so I can get out all I  want to say.

In a day by day format

Friday-- last week: get a call- "That wedding that was supposed to have 8 or so couples now only has 2 and Maguanine is doing there's alone...so, now it is up to you and your branch to plan and carry out the whole thing instead of the district doing it." Panic. Call the 1st councilor in the branch presidency and set up to meet Saturday. Stress some more.

Saturday--Meet with the 1st councilor (president was out of country) and tell him what's up. Suggest that the wedding doesn't need to be huge, something small, maybe a Chamusa or two and a nice refreshing drink to celebrate the union of the two. Stress more. Have the 1st councilor keep a cool head and agree to help. Thank the Lord above. Stress.

Sunday--Meet after church with the branch leaders. Learn that they aren't nearly as optimistic as the 1st councilor is that it can be done in a week (this meeting actually had the couple in it too). Set up a meeting for Monday night.

Monday--Have a meeting with the same leaders, our Zone leaders, and us. Get lost in all that everyone is saying (too many talking and too fast, this time it wasn't Portuguese that messed me up). They set up a Wednesday night meeting. Stress. Doubt that it will be possible. Stress. Call the young men to ask for help too. Stress.

Tuesday--normal day. Stress.

Wednesday--Go to the meeting. Hear the willingness of the members to help. Stress.

Thursday--Normal day. Stress.

Friday--Stress because no one shows up to the church in the morning except two youth who help set up decorations and the like. Wait and call, wait and call. Groom shows up with some family. Stress. Call. Stress. Food shows up. Marvel at how much they brought (the plan was not to have a full on meal but rather just something real small). Hear that they have a cake coming. Still keep stressing because the wedding is taking a while to fully get organized. 

The Beautiful Wedding couple

Well, the whole thing worked out wonderfully. I sent you some photos on dropbox. The wedding turned out to be bigger than we expected. Apparently, no one told me that the groom, Aderito, had friends who sang who were coming...so, we had African singers there. OH! It was like gospelish style(the best way to describe it) mixed with the dialect Changana. It was sick. And the FOOD!!! was great. These people make some dang good beans, rice, and potato salad. 

Then, Saturday we had their Baptism. I baptized Adérito and Elder Bigelow baptized Fatima. Truly it was a great day.

The baptism--Yeah!!!

I love you all, sorry I didn't have too much time to write you today, the photos took a lot of time and I had a few other things to do.

Tchau á familia mais ótimo de tudo no mundo,
Elder Christopher Wartena

Stylin' a new rogue look. 

New stove