June 27, 2016 Stay Lit

Nothing too new this week to share with you guys

its been getting a lot colder here but as for the work.. it's LIT.

we started teaching a couple new families this week! Armando and Fatima along with their kids! one of their kids we've been teaching because he's been coming to church ever since his friend invited him to come! his name is Simao. he is a super smart 12 year old and loves coming to church! we were able to get to know his family this week and they are just as awesome as he is! so we will be teaching them and see what happens!:)

Also another family of Andre and Silvia, he is a return missionary from portugal and she is his girlfriend for now, but they are working on some divorce papers from other marriages to be able to get married in the church! she is catholic but doesn't really practice much. so he pretty much told us he's not going to force her to get baptized or her kids, but he is having them sit with us so that hopefully they can get baptized when they get married! They are super dope!

Other than that, things are going the way they do, and it's all good!

Have a nice week,

Stay Lit.

Elder Fuchs

June 20, 2016 TRANSFER 8

8th Transfer starting here in Africa!

Looks like Elder Verde and I are staying together for another transfer. I really love the area though and the members are great so i'm pretty happy about it. 

yesterday at church our old Branch president who has been having a rough time finally decided to come back to church for some reason and it was really surprising!

that night we had a family night with his family planned and he unfortunately was working the night shift that night for his work, but while we were there his wife told us why exactly he decided to come back to church.

She said that late on friday night he came home late after his usual messing around with his friends on weekends. and while sitting on the couch he says to his little 4 year old daughter," im a child of god, you know. and i love him." and she says back to him ,"you don't love god, you don't even know god. if you actually did you would come to church with us as a family on sundays. but you just go out every night when you are home and mess around with your friends. so you dont love god."

(Then there was a silence in the house for about 5 minutes because this little 4 year old girl said some savage words of wisdom to her dad and he had to think about it haha.)

then he breaks the silence and says "ok. i think you've finally convinced me, ill come back."

Later after church his wife asks how it went, and he said that it was great and that he would keep coming back!

so it was a good end to the Transfer here in Mozambique!

Hopefully we can all be like this old Branch President, recognizing when we have fallen away, and seeing when it is time to change and come back! the Lord is waiting for us, and so is our family!

Also i took lots of pics this week soo... enjoy.

Elder Fuchs

June 13, 2016 10 MONTH's MARK

this week we sat with a family that have been members for a little time and it was really hard to see the result. his wife has had a hard time coming to church and he is the second counselor and a strong member!. after multiple visits from missionaries and members over the last few weeks we have been trying to help his wife start coming back to church. and it seemed that Saturday night we had some kind of reaction from her and we talked about why and how it can help them to prepare to go to the temple soon at the end of the year when they have their documents in order. but the next day at church, we saw that nothing came of it as only her husband shows up to church alone.

Sometimes its hard being a missionary. doing everything you can, devoting time and effort and your life in being here to help try and bring people just any amount closer that you can to the gospel and the church and all it has to offer. When time after time, it just seems like you do It all in vain.

But something that always helps me is in Preach My Gospel a manual for missionaries to help us out. and there's a section that talks about no effort being wasted. how even though you may be saddened that the people or that person didn't choose to act on what you were able to bring to them, doesn't mean you should give up and not try anymore. so Ill think of it in terms of being back home like most of you are. sometimes a friend or a family member might choose to reject or ignore an invite to church or something like that, but that doesn't mean that effort was wasted. you did your part, and they have their agency hahaha

Agency can reeeeeaaaallly suck sometimes.

 but that's just a thought I was having this week! everything is good and transfer ends this next week ! also I hit my 10 months mark this week!!! sooo 14 more months!!

keep it rreal.

just remember Proverbs 21;19   :)

June 6, 2016 ZONE CONFERENCE WEEK

this zone conference week was suuper cool. i got sick and stayed in 2 nights and everything!!

well that part kinda sucked but the rest was really good! i got to walk with my buddy Elder Hruby in my area on division for a day to show him some of the families and people we have been teachiing, also my trainer Elder Ence was up here! he has been in an outside area and took a plane to see zone conference here in beira so it was nice to see him again! 

but i had 2 things i wanted to share about this week. the first is during my personal study in alma 32 :37-39

many of you might know that this talk about a seed being planted and when a seed is first planted it needs a ton of care to be able to grow and take root, and then in the future to be able to produce some kind of fruit. 

v.38 but if we neglect it, and dont nourish it, it wont grow roots. and then when the sun comes it will dry out and wither away because of the heat. so then its dead.

it goes on to say that the seed died, not because it was a bad seed, but because the soil it was plaanted in was hard, and barren. well you can probably seen where im going with this, if not i guess ill spell it out. the seed is the word or the church. the nourishment is scriptures and church and stuff. the roots is our testimony. the fruits is our blessings. the sun its temptation. and the soil is us/our hearts. so think about that for a sec. we cant be hard and not let it grow. if we do we are throwing away the blessing we could have in our lives. have faith let the seed grow in you, and if you see that its a good thing in your life, keep it!

i've read this chapter a lot annnd i love it.

but also something during zone conf. our president talked about judging people. 

when we say "he is" or "she is" or even "i am" like a lot of people just say well being religious just isnt who i am. or you say thats just the way i am. or the way someone else is. and if you believe at all that jesus christ came and atoned for the sins of the world then those statements are all false. because he atoned, we can change, maybe its not what we are used to doing or being. but thats what the Gospel is for, for someone to go from Bad, to good, and good to better! 

but thats just my thought for the week. have a sweet week everyone! 

Elder Fuchs

LEONARDO FUCHS

C/O MOZAMBIQUE MAPUTO MISSION

CAIXA POSTAL 1166

CORREIO CENTRAL

MAPUTO, MAPUTO

MOZAMBIQUE