Mon, 27 April 2009

Dear Fam,
Sounds like things are going just great back home, it is good to hear the stories of what is going on. I miss the change of seasons here it just kinda changes without telling anyone it goes from blistering hot to not so blistering hot but that's about all the change i get to see. It's good to hear that Rolo gets mom to play with her again in the backyard i bet she is loving it. I am enjoying the new area it is very awesome and i hope to have some good pictures for you next week.
The new area is pretty much the forest i went from the middle of the city to the forest. I think i am going to enjoy it. My companion is pretty trunky he will be headed home here in 5 weeks. I think it will be a long 5 weeks for me but it should be fun. I have got to learn my area because i will be taking it over here in 5 weeks. I feel lost in a new area and hope to learn it here soon. There are a lot of dirt paths and it is really hard to know what direction is which. But I'm sure it will come with time. I came into this area with 5 Baptisms marked but i don't know if a couple of them will happen. But it should be good. the area really needs cleaned up and i can't wait to get everything organized out there, i think that i will have everything neat here in a couple weeks. It is fun i am starting to feel pretty well with the language and i love to talk to the children. Kurt and Kraig thought it was hard to speak for 2 minutes imagine walking around all day with a native companion that is tuff but i really enjoy it.
We taught a really good lesson this last week and i thought I'd just tell you about it really quick, it was a reference from my old area so me and Elder Lavanhane went and knocked the door and we began to talk to this lady she was really interested and we bore pure testimony and the spirit was so strong i feel really good about this lady and after the lesson Elder Lavanhane said that we will give her a baptism date our next visit, i hope everything goes well she was at church yesterday too. But i think she will be a good investigator.
Things here are moving along great and i know that i am here in my new area and people have been prepared for me to teach, i am grateful for the opportunity i have to serve my mission and can't believe how fast the time goes, it is so awesome to see all the blessings that are family is receiving i guess i really never noticed until i was getting weekly updates from you guys, i love you all so much and love this work that i am engaged in. I hope all of you have a good week and i love you.

Elder Edwards

Mon, 20 April 2009

Hey Fam,
What the heck i leave and all the sudden i'm gonna have 2 kids around that i don't know and they'll call me Uncle. I won't lie i am pretty excited for that. Oh ya transfer meeting was this last saturday and i am headed to a new area, I will be serving in the Manga 2 branch. I will have a new campanion also his name is Elder Lavanhane he is from Maputo, Mozambique and he is entering his last transfer. I think Manga will be a fun change i am looking forward to it, I have been in the city for the first 6 months of my mission and now i will get a little glimpse of some jungle. Manga is still considered Beira so it's not that far away from everything but it should be fun. Church will be a little different i am used to a chaple and AC but now we will have sacrament in a big room but the other 2 hours will be outside. I hope that it will be nice.
I am glad that i am staying here in Beira because at the end of this next transfer all 32 of the missionaries here in beira will get on a bus and head to Maputo on a 16 hour bus trip through Mozambique. I am excited because i will get to see parts of this country i didnt expect i would get to. I hope to get some good pictures too.
This past week has been nice i have seen alot of people and started to say my goodbyes to Beira 1 i really have enjoyed my time here and i will miss alot of the people in this branch. I think i will have to visit for the two weddings we have planned i hope that i can be there for the weddings because i have known both couples for 6 months.
I am still trying to get my head to say i'm going to be an Uncle again i am so excited for you guys Scott and Rachael, i hope this shows that the Lord is willing to bless anyone, I am so excited for you 2. Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!
We'll i hope you all have a great week and i hope you all are excited for mothers day because i know i am. Man time is flying by i already have almost 8 months i have been on the mission. It is weird because i still feel very very young in the mission but alot of people are telling me i will go Senior companion this next one. Most of the missionaries go senior around their 10th or 11th transfer but looks like i'll be going my 6th, i am really nervous for this and am going to try and learn as much as i can this next one. But i love you all and look forward to your letters next week. Love ya.

Elder Edwards

Mon, 13 April 2009

Dear Fam,
Everything here continues to push forward i am having alot of fun right now in my mission the language is really starting to come around and the work is amazing. I have a week and a half left in this transfer and president said i will be transfered. It will be the first transfer of my mission. I have no clue where i will be headed. But i will keep you posted because i will know next week. Wow I am starting to not feel so young in the mission i already have 5 1/2 months here in Mozambique. This last week i did a division with an Elder that had been here for 3 weeks and it was fun, it showed me that i knew a lot more than i thought. But man it was rough i had to teach almost everything and i was really nervous. But it went really well and i enjoyed it alot.
Sounds like everything back home is going well, congratulations Julie on graduation!!! Easter here was a little different but it was still good. We had an Easter Egg hunt after church Elder Cordano bought choclate eggs at a store and hid them around a room. It was really lame but it was the thought that counted.
It has been raining a little bit lately and our area has alot of water in it i will try and send you some pictures of the mud and the water it is full and we have to walk through it. I also have some pictures with me by the beach and some other random pictures. Kraig i really like the blog and a lot of my freinds like it too. Thanks i go out and look at it every now and then. But thanks it looks really well.
I hope to stay in Beira for the next little while. Because the end of may all the missionaries here are going down to Maputo on a Bus, it is a 24 hour bus ride and i think i would get some good pictures of Africa if i am still up here. Elder Nelson will be visiting our mission then i am looking forward to it.
Everyhing here is going great i don't know if their is anything that you can do for me i am loving my mission and i have sufficient for my needs. But i love the people here and am going to misss my area. I have gotten to know alot of really good people here, but i will move on i am really excited t oleave at the same time i have been in the city so far and hope to head for the Jungle but who knows i will tell you next week.
I hope you have a great time this next week and i will be talking to you on the phone here in 1 month i am really excited for that. Have a good week and know that i love all of you.

Elder Edwards

Love you Grandma

Mon, 6 April 2009

Dear Fam,
Sounds like everything is going well back home, i love reading all of the letters. This week has been a good one, i tried to tke more pictures this week and i will try andsend them next week. Me and my companion are getting along great and i am having a wonderful time with him. We are teaching a lotof people right now. We have 22 people progressing it is amazing. I am learning so much with my new companion and i am starting to feel a little comfortable with the language. Don't worry kurt and kraig spanish has gotta suck it has to be hard too. You don't have all day to study and you don'thave people to speak it with daily, i don't have any advice for ya but i wish i did.
We are excited to have 2 weddings coming up most people stay in the areas for 4 transferrs and here in 3 weeks i will know what happens i hope to stay 1 more so that i can see these weddings and baptisms. We hope to have 5 baptisms by the end of may. I am supper excited for these people and i can see there lives changing.
We had an experience again i was walking in what is called the GoTo which is a bunch of little houses all slammed together made out of trees and rocks. Well it was full of water and mud. And i don't have boots because we can't get them in my size so i had to walk throuigh the mud up to mycalfs it was gross butkinda fun too. i have pictures. After we gotin there to our lesson we found out that the guy wasnt home. BUMMER.
Hope everything is going great back home i am having the time of a life time. I can't wait to talk to you guys in a month i am way excited. I am supposed to ask if the phone cards you got can be used here? My question is can you make a phone call from Mocambique to Brazil? because my companion is paying $70 for an hour and as half.
Love you lots and i look forward to the letters.

Love Elder Edwards

Mon, 30 March 2009

Hey Fam,

Another week in the Record Books, We are doing really good here we are having a lot of success at the moment and we are staying really busy. Our days are full of teaching appointments. I feel that i am learning a lot especially from Elder Sodre. He has been helping me out a ton these last three weeks. He is a really awesome person he loves music and he teaches me Brazilian music. I am having a great time with him.

This week we invited another couple to be baptised. We have 2 couples with baptismal dates they will all four be baptised May 30. I am really excited for them they are also really excited as well. The work is amazing people can change so fast , and i know the gospel is what helps people to do that. Some people are just ready to hear our message and they are way excited when we start to teach them.

I am going to try and start taking more pictures it is so beautiful here the people are awesome and i am having the time of my life. Everything sounds great back home. When i get home i won't even recognize the house because you guys are doing so much to it. The mail situation here is it gets sent to the mission home than they deliver it to us. I got a letter from Uncle Billy 3 days ago telling me that he was thinking about me. it was a nice letter.

Well i guess that's it for me today i love you all and cant wait to hear from you again thanks for the letters. Love ya

Elder Edwards

Mon, 23 March 2009

Hey Fam,

You guys are really lucky!!!!!! My new companion likes to
stay at Internet for 2 hours so that means my letters will be pretty
fully. Hope you all had a good week. sounds like it was pretty event
full. Before i forget HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHAEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope you had a good one.
This week for me was great! Our area is starting to
explode and me and my new companion are doing great too. my language
skills are coming along very quickly now but they have too because i
have to speak the language all day every day. it is awesome. We are
doing a lot of work are days are packed full of lessons and people are
giving us referrals like crazy.
I think that we will have a lot of people with baptism
dates by the end of this transfer. Yesterday at church we had 13
investigators at church. It was awesome they are mostly all moving
very quickly with their learning. I think by the end of this transfer
we will have 2 marriages marked and about 7-9 baptisms marked. I am
very excited to see what happens.
I am very grateful for the chance that i have to be here
at this time, I am so grateful to know the people that i do here and
i know that these people that i am teaching were prepared for me. I am
grateful for the chance to serve and i am grateful for the examples i
have.

Hope you all have a good week, i know it is hard to find time but id
like to get a letter from the Scott and Rachael Family and the Kurt,
Julie, and Ainzly Family and even you Kraig. I love to hear from you
guys it helps a lot. Until next week. Love you all tons.

Elder Edwards



Love you grandma have a good week and know that you are in my prayers
love you lots and miss you. Have a great week. And thanks for the
prayers.

Mon, 16 March 2009

Hey Fam,

It was good to hear from you guys, (mom and dad) and even you too sadie. Sounds like your having a good time Sadie the trip to Washington D.C will be awesome. Especially because you will be with alot of your freinds. My band trip was probably the funnest thing that i did in highschool. It is crazy it is already your birthday the big 17. Well i guess i'll tell you now. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! Write me back and let me know how the highschool team did. Did they win state. Did you go with the band to Boise?

That was quitethe shock to hear that Uncle Billy had died, I have received 3 letters from him since i had gotten here. That is a big shock. At least heis with grandma and grandpa again. I am glad to know that we can return to live with the ones that we love again after this life. It's funny alot of people get really excited when we tell them thatthey can see their loved ones who have already passed on. I know that this is true because it is what i teach and it is what i study and that is why i know.

In response to dad's question about when i kew i wanted to be a missionary... It isa hard to say when io knew i wanted to be a missionary. I always knew i would serve a mission but i think i really knew i wanted to be a missionary when i had the examles of my older brothers. They really showed me what it's like to be missionaries. The stories and the way they changed on their mission was a big influence on my decision. I think alot of my decision was veryu simple because i was always told that a mission was the right thing to do and i knew that everyone would support me in this decision. Another thing was the stories about dad's mission. it always sounded really fun and he always had good things to say about his mission.

This week has been awesome. I am finally out teaching alot more because we are not at the church all the time anymore. My new companion is awesome, He dose not speak a lick of english. But it is awesome, it has helped me to know that i speak alot more than i thought i did. Elder Wade really didnt like to let me teach and he really didnt like to teach either. Me and Elder Sodre are staying busy. I have been knocking doors and doing contacts with people this whole week. It is so much fun to have a native companion. But it is fun. Since we have gotten together we have 8 new investigators. Thats how many me and Wade had in 2 transfers. I am going to learn alot from my new companion and i am very excited for the next 5 weeks.

But this week was awesome i didnt have a companion tuesday and wednesday so i walked in another area with a different set of missionaries. I worked in the city these 2 days. alot of big buildings and what not. I took a few pictures to send home but i dont know when i will be able to send them. Ya i went and bought my camera i bought the Samsung L100. It is pretty nice and it was the cheapest one they had. It was 220 dollars. and they gave me a memory card for free. But now i will guard my camera with my life. It is frusterating that somebody would take it from me at the church but i guess they needed it more than i did.

We have been teaching alot of lessons the last few days i get home and think wow that was a good day. It's fun speaking the language in the house all the time i enjoy it a lot. I have a feeling that i will learn a lot this transfer. I have been teaching alot more inside the lessons and am starting to feel comforable around the people i talk to. I can see the Lords hand in the work that is being done here and i know that he is helping me... who wouldof thought i would be able to learn a new language. Going into the MTC i would have thought that is impossible, and that is excatally what i thought. When i said goodbye to you guys and walked out the doorit hit me... not only do i have to learn to teach but i have to learn to teach and converse in a different language. man!!! But it is going well and i know that it's gonna be hard but who said it was'nt gonna be.

Thanks for sending the package i look forward to the socks desperetly those thin ones i got are falling apart. But i sm sure i will manage until the other ones get here because quite frankly i have to wait. I also look forward to the other things in there. Everyone loves the Madagascar toys especially the "I like to move it move it" everyone here knows that song.

Well i hope you like the long letter i tried to fill it with love and detail. I hope everyone has a good week and i want you to all know that i love you all. this work here that i am participating in is the work of God. I am a servent of him. I wear the name of Jesus Christ daily and know that he is our Savior. He suffered for all of our sin and if we repent and live the commandments we are promised eternal life. I know this church is true and i am grateful for the example of my father and my brothers who showed me what was right by serving their missions. Love ya lots and miss you.... The work goes on.

Elder Edwards

Grandma love you lots and i hope that you have a good week . i want you to know you are in my prayers always and i miss you alot. Until next week.