#5 "Only God Knows."

then me and some chocolate children (s'cute)

This week was awesome my friends. no matter how much we planned and confirmed our visits, time after time, there were cancellations, and while we were contacting to fill the time and trying to find another lesson, we would find a family. prepared and ready for the gospel of jesus christ.

our lesson dropped with DuDu, one of our struggling members in Ka-Khoza, and we were calling other contacts to find someone we could run and visit.. while we were calling we start contacting through the street and decide to knock some doors, and we werent sure where to go. we found a small area and road we hadnt walked or knocked before. knocked about 5 doors and no one answered or the wife said come later when man is home.

walk a little more, and we find some older guys and some kids playing loud music, and washing their car, we go down and start talking, immediately they run in the house and grab us something to sit on, and some ice water hahaha nicest flippen people ever.. we met brian 37, fortune 32, and fortunate 27 and their mom salena and their kids. none of them lived at home except brian and his kid, and his mom. but for some reason, they were all together at the time we happened to pass by. we talked to them about what we do as missionaries and why we were there, and they expressed how grateful they were for us because they had grown up in a christian home. and they said their mother would beat them with a cane when they wouldnt go to church hahahah (they laughed about it) anywayyy.. by the end of the prayer and brief visit, the two grown men in tears, and thanked us and invited us to come back.

no matter how prepared and sure we were for our plans, god had his own plans for us! i know without a doubt god wanted us to meet and wanted us to walk down that road that for some reason hadnt been walked, but was passed nearly everyday by the missionaries for so many years.

we will meet with them this week and hopefully this wonderful family can grown closer and realize the truthfulness of our message as we share it to them.

i know this is the true church, and i know it can bless families in such a way that no other church or thing in this world can.

i just hope i can be a good enough missionary to be able to help them come to know that as well!

this week FLEW by! and ended on a great note! and started with yet another amazing P-Day hahah we are in town here in Manzini, swaziland and we'll probably hit up KFC across the street after im done emailing and getting some music haha!

never have i appreciated KFC so much in my life! and i also bare testimony of the tenderness of their chicken poppers. sooooo good. hahaha

here's a picture of me and my comp on this sick car we found.

love you guys:)

Elder Fuchs

#4 "Swaziland"

Good but hard week here. 

good because im finally out in my area!! swaziland, manzini area:)

its really developed and nicer compared to the cities and everything in mozambique, theres still the ghettos and everything..(come on im in africa) but its nice cuz we have water to shower and drink:)

also because it was a week of firsts.

got my first bucket shower.

first commitment for baptism.(not in my area)

first companion.

first mosquito net that didnt work.

first time i shaved my head clean.

first time i rode in a shapa (ill explain)

first time in an african safari (pics or it didnt happen)

first time i got malaria

and last but not least, first AREA:)

it was reaaaaaally good this last week i got to work with a sick missionary elder hruby for a few days, and he taught me a lot while i was waiting for my visa to swazi, but i got my first commitment to baptism with him. and its crazy how god puts people in our ways.. every single day. its amazing. 

but yeah my comps name is elder ence, hes a big dude from southern utah, and hes a funny guy! went on an african safari today and it was siick. hahah 

cooking for myself, so ive decided im going to be a stay at home dad. and also i love hot showers.

truly a blessing.. you guys dont realize. hahah

but there was a hard part.

we are pretty much starting from zero.. so pray we get to 100.. quick, lol. and its suuuper unmotivating and gets me down a bit cuz i guess playing sports im a bit motivated by numbers and seeing my success.. and its not that i see people as numbers but im seeing it as my efforts.. which i should probably change. hahah but hey. new week. gonna rip this week a new one. full of investigators and lessons, and you know what?? i think im gonna get a baptism. haha jk, but we'll fur sure get a commitment (if god wants:)) hahah

ill throw some pictures up for you guys of my last few days and maybe even a video. haha i love you guys, and not a day goes by im not missing you guys:)

 pray for my investigators please:)

1 Nephi 6:5 (thats a good one)

(also lied about the malaria)

Elder Fuchs

#3 "Turn uuuuuup"

President & Sister Koch

friends and family.

im in afri-freaking-ca. hahaha found out im going to swaziland today and they speak english and suswati there, suswati is their like dialect, and english is their official language! my comp is gonna be this brazilian guy and hopefully hes not a tool.. hahaha 

AP's and the new missionaries

seems like a nice guy, i met him but hopefully hes not a fubeca.. (lazy missionary) its pretty much exactly what you expect to see here, weve neen living in the mission home for like almost a week now! hahaha kinda sucks but everyone says we are lucky and to enjjoy our time here while it lasts so im guessing its pretty good... but our water has been out for about 5 days now... so were showering at the apartments where some couple missionaries live which is a blessing. hahaha love it here! like i said its pretty much exactly what you think it is like... unless you think its really nice, and like that the food is safe to eat and that people are mean, and that no one lets you come in their house... hahah i love it, you will literally never get the door shut in your face here in maputo or mozambique in general! people like..pretty much just walk around and say hey elders, baptize me. hahaha jk, unless theyre muslims.. theyre good people though, just some a bit stubborn and we have to follow a whole different thing with them cuz if they have ties back to their country then their family will find them and kill them.. so its a bit sketchy with them.. but theres some awesome stuff ive learned, ive gone contacting and gotten pretty much every contact weve talked to, hahaha me and elder carvalho played a game with this family, and ended up getting 37 references.... usually from a member family you might get like 5.. so it was a big deal hahaha.. 

What a really nice neighborhood looks like in the morning.

theres so much to say! but i havent gone to my area yet until probably friday this week.. so we/ll just chill here for a bit.. but im lovin it. so far havent gotten malaria.. but when we first got here i thought i was a bit sick, must have been from being on a plane for over 24 hours hahaha, well hey, i love you guys and i have a couple hours here so go ahead and slip me an email if you wanna talk!  

Pizza

love you guys and hope youre all doing well! hahah i think about you guys a lot! but im not home sick, so dont think youre that special;) hahah 

i pray for you guys and like i said think about you a lot! thanks for helping me hahah #day19... (do they still use hashtags?)

Saying goodbye to the MTC family

Bye to Elder Underwood