September 27, 2016 FAITH VS. DOUBT

       Studying in the beginning of the book of mormon when Nephi and his family are traveling in the desert, but his father the prophet receives revelation that Nephi and his brothers need to go back to get something they had left behind that was not in the hands of King Laban. His brothers when they heard this complained, but they ended up going along. When they got to the city walls, they played some rock, paper scissors to see which one of them will go to the king and get what they needed. Laman, Nephi's brother got chosen. 

       He went and asked for their things and King Laban tried to kill him but he was able to escape. Laman, when he got to his brothers, told them the story. They all became discouraged because they weren't able to get what they were asked to by God. They were about to pack up and go back to their father, but... Nephi , being the stud he is, stops them and says " As the Lord liveth and as we live, we will not go--- until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us. Wherefore, let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord."

How many of us are like Nephi's brothers.. When given instructions of commandments we murmur, we get annoyed, we get angry, or we think its too hard? Sometimes we might end up doing it anyways, but when we come across some unplanned trials of faith, or temptation, we pack up our bags and go back to where we came from. We give up, Because it's "too hard" or it's "not cool" or we have other plans.

How many of us are like Nephi. When given instructions or commandments we recognize that it is from the Lord, and that "the Lord giveth no commandments save he shall prepare a way." and even when the trial of faith comes and those around us have given up and are starting to go back, we like Nephi say, No "I will not go until i have done what the Lord has asked, i will stay faithful until it is finished."

It's not like we are required to do such hard things as these. I mean, for example, keeping the law of Chastity, the Word of Wisdom, tithing, the sabbath, these can be hard at times, believe me. But if we show faith like Nephi then these things we have a hard time with, these weaknesses we have, will become strong. (ether 12:27)

Each day we should ask ourselves if we are doing all we can or if we are just going up and going back to where we started each time a new trial comes.

Everything this week went super well 

Here in MOZ its SUPER HOT, really humid. it's like as soon as you get done showering, you don't dry off.. what a blessing. 

Baptisms went well this weekend! should have a couple more in these next couple weeks!

Quote of the week was for Maria when she was bearing her testimony... 

"eu sei que Joseph smith e um curandeiro verdadeiro"

Translation

"i know that joseph smith is a true witch doctor"

Well.. no.

Have a great week

1. my big fat Mozambican wedding

September 20, 2016 GOLDEN FAM

Lately we have been working with this family, Marcos and Celina. 

we found them about a month ago when their son was standing outside on their porch, we asked if his parents were home, he said no but that we could come by later that night and they would be. 

We came back and his parents were still at work, so we just left an invitation for church. 

The 17 year old showed up at church and at the end told us to come to his house that next week to visit his family. When we came that next time we were still unable to sit with his parents that whole week. but still he came to church that next week too. 

Finally giving it another try we went to visit his home, and we were able to sit with his whole family, teaching them the restoration. Though they said that they belonged to another church they felt that the message was true! They gladly accepted to pray about the message and showed up to church. 

Sinse then they have been coming to church every week and are now getting their documents in order because they realized that their `marriage` isn´t really a marriage because they aren´t legally married and that they are not living the law of chastity.

They have a desire to change, to quit doing what they have been, in order to live the commandments and do what the lord wants them to be doing. 

I love this family and I have no doubt that they have been prepared by God!

I am grateful for them and for my own family and for the example my parents and brothers show me still of being great people!

Elder Fuchs

September 12, 2016 TRANSFER #10

new transfer starting up! im gonna stay in the same area.. again. but i love this area so its all good! 

Also ill be with elder Allsop again, so im happy about that too! i get to help him finish his training!

Everything went super well this week! sorry i don't have much time.

love you! have a decent week.

September 5, 2016 CAN WE HELP YOU?

funny story. i'll save it for the end.

so studying this week in the new testament Matthew 10:37-39 (READ DEEZ)

these scriptures just confirm the Lords "call to serve" for every worthy, able young man.

Some people might find excuses of "family things" that need attending to, or similar things, but these are not reasons not to serve a mission. as we read here God is first above all else.

That means family, friends, girlfriends, jobs, schools, and anything else you can think of. There is no excuse good enough not to serve God. there are many ways to serve God. A mission is just one of these many ways. but that being said many people think that it is an option for the Young men of the church (which i guess technically you always have an option) BUT.. if you want to be following the commandments, well then you really only have one option. Because the other option means going against what you believe.

If you are blessed to have the Restored Gospel is your life, who are you not to share it?

Service shouldn't start or end with our missions, but i think one of the coolest things a mission does is that it opens your mind to the many ways that we can serve, that we for sure never saw before!

Funny Story:

 At a lesson, this guy Tomas said that we would have to come back another day because he was getting ready for school and about to take a bath.. 

Well...Elder Allsop is still learning the language, and all he got out of what Tomas said was something about "no time." "water" and he remembered that we had helped people in the past get water out of the wells and take it back to their homes. so , being the nice guy he is, he decided to offer a helping hand. thinking he was going to do some good ol' service, but without knowing he asked if he could help the man take a bath... it was a good experience i think. 

Have a Great week! 

Happy late birthday to my Brother and his Wife Debbie!

Elder Fuchs

Pics: 

1. made some bomb , rice and beans with cove

2. a tchopela, expensive little taxis that sometimes we have to take

3. "You like the Gospel don't you squidward?"

August 29, 2016 TRIALS with FAITH VS. TRIALS without

This week finishing the book of mormon i was reading in the book of Ether and i loved chapter 12.

it talks about faith. and for some of us faith can be something hard. especially because of the way it is described in verse 6 of the chapter, it says "that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen"

sometimes the fact that we can't see something makes us hesitant about trusting in it. 

and so i really like how the rest of the same verse goes saying 

"wherefore,dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your  faith"

obviously faith is not a perfect knowledge of things, it requires us putting our trust and hoping in something that we are not 100% sure of but we have the hope that it will happen or that it is true.

but what is the point of having faith in something that we can't see? like jesus christ for example.. well reading verse 9 we can see that "wherefore, ye may also have hope, and be partakers of the GIFT, if ye will but have faith."

it is talking of some kind of gift. what kind of gift do we get through our faith in Jesus Christ though? well, there are tons of things, but focusing on what it says in this chapter in verse 12 it says "for if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith."

OH... snap. 

No faith = No miracles.

and so that means god can't do miracles for us, he can't truly give us what we ask for in our prayers, or give us what we need, until after the trial of their faith. 

We shouldn't be praying for things, we shouldn't be wanting god to show us miracles in our lives, unless we are ready to show our faith, unless we are ready to go out and do something ourselves about it. im not sure if i shared last time with you guys this quote, but it ways "pray as if everything depended on god, and work as if everything depended on you" 

thats good stuff..

well have a good week! ill try and do the same here with my african homies.

peace,

Elder Fuchs

August 22, 2016 SAME OLD

Well there are 2 things that are getting hotter here, and I'm neither one of them.

The work is going super well we found a ton of new people this week and gave baptismal dates to some prepared families!!

the other thing is the temperature. its starting to warm up, and soon it will be BLAZING up in here. so im not really excited for that.

we are halfway through the transfer now and im not sure how much longer ill stay in this area! but i really want to... mostly because come november it will be Mango season.. and the city where we live is called MANGA.. which translates to mango. because almost 90 percent of the trees that are everywhere are giant mango trees. so im gonna pray that i stay, sorry i'm really hungry right now. i didnt have breakfast so thats probably why im thinking of food...

This week was a great one! first one with my new comp. he is a really nice kid. i like him a lot! 

Not too much to say this week! but read chapter 6 and 7 of mathew in the new testament. they are super good some of my favs there.

Also in internet here kinda blows today. sorry ill send pics next week and my email won't be so lame!

maybe.

Stay sweet.

Elder Fuchs

August 15, 2016 1 YEAR OUT

this week I will hit my 1 year mark since i entered the MTC.. woah.

this week was great with my NEW companion. Elder Allsop. he is a sweet guy! 

well this week in my studies i wanna share a story about this guy Mahonri Moriancumr. he's a pretty dope guy. 

So the Lord is guiding them to get to the promised land. and he is told that he needs to build these boats that are to be sealed air tight so that no water or light can get in. after he finishes building them with his people he says, " O Lord, i have performed the work which thou hast commanded me." and continues to pretty much say BUT, we don't have any light or air in our boats for the long trip, how will we survive? the lord have him answers to the easy questions that were pretty obvious. he was to make a hole in the top and a hole in the bottom for air and water. 

After he does that he prays again "Lord, will you still make us travel in the dark?"

the Lord responds pretty much saying.. "What do you want me to do? you can't have a fire, and you can't have windows or the boat will flood and sink. so what do you want me to do?"

Mahonri decided to do something about it. he went to a mountain and carved out some stones and prayed to the lord to touch the stones so they could light up and that way they could have light inside their ships over the journey.

After that, because of his faith, he literally saw the Lord and at that moment his faith was no longer faith. (ether chapter 3:19) "and he had faith no longer, for he knew, nothing doubting."

What can we do, so that like Mahonri (ether 3: 9), we can see the Lord?

because yeah, the lord is going to answer some of our prayers, but what about those prayers that he responds saying (ether 2:23) "what do you want me to do abou it?

This is where that faith part comes in, because we know that faith (james 2:17) is not faith at all without works. so it requires us getting off our bums and finding a solution! THEN asking the lord or telling him what we need him to do.

If we would quit asking for solutions and start looking for them, the lord will bless us on our path to find the right answers! and like Elder Nelson of the 12 said, we must pray as if everything depends on the lord, and then work, as if everything depends on us.

Have a great week!

Elder Fuchs