Lubango 9-24-12

Tunda Vala Cliffs of Lubango Angola P-Day
Zone Conf with the new Mission President and Sister Krety, President and Sister Thompson
Dinner out at a Barbecue Resturant

left to right- Sister Violin, Pres and Sister Kretly, Sister and Pres Thompson, 

Elder Tilley, Borden, Chandler ,Guente, Stewart, Harper, Kelsey and Montgomery.

back row- Elder Guente, Chandler, Harper Stewart 

mid row- in suits Montgomery, Kelsey Tilley and Borden

Front row -Pres. and Sister Thompson from Canada, 

Sister and Pres. Kretly, and Elder and Sister Violin from Brazil 

ola minha familia!!!                                                                             Sept. 24,2012

I love you all so much! hope you get my pictures and everything that isn’t along with this. it’s been a good week. love you all!! So here’s this week’s happenings:

Monday went to Tunda Vala, that’s the sweet huge cliffs. i sent two pictures hope they get there.

I hit my five month ,ark this week! so freakin crazy. but a cool feeling to know how fast it all goes, as well as a scary feeling. time is already running out!!!

I LEARNED TO SPEAK a little bit of A TRIBAL LANGUAGE!!! It’s so sweet, it’s called mbundo [imbundu) and its sweet. I tried talking to someone in it randomly just a greeting and they totally understood. super sick!!

    We had another zone conference with President Kretly and President Thompson, it was really cool we learned a ton about real growth in the church and stuff like that.

    In my studies this week I’ve been reading the book of Mormon only in Portuguese. Super amazing because I can understand everything! It has helped me a ton with the language, and also I have read almost to the end of Jesus the Christ. Such an absolutely amazing book and i cant wait to finish it. i truly love learning about Our Savior and everything he did and taught. I’ve learned a ton about his life and the deep doctrine, it just stinks that were not allowed to teach it to people ahahh and its kind of impossible to do in Portuguese.

but ya. it was a pretty slow week besides all that stuff. I’ve been perfectly healthy and had a fast because two of the elders in our apartment have been sick for a week, and it was so cool to feel the lord lift me up and bless me with energy during the day while it was so hot and we were walking a ton and I was fasting, I received so much help. Super cool feeling.

sorry really quick I just remembered to tell you mom, if you send a package do it through DHL,, that’s what everyone and the violins here said to do, the safest and fastest way to do it I guess, and if you haven’t already sent it I thought of some things I need,,, if you can find one, one of those super powerful flashlights, like the small ones the cops have, just because the small one I have is garbage and the batteries last like 4 hours max. , and also some head phones, the good kind not the ipod ones, but the kind I always used that actually stay in my ears, and if you can find it, there’s a band called the ‘Lower Lights”, it’s a bunch of contemporary singers from different Utah bands that got together and redid a bunch of hymns and its legit, if you can find their cd anywhere send that too, if not its ok.

sorry I know that was just like a give me give me, but I didn’t have time to type it last week! anyway, I love you all and I’m so thankful for you! I truly am so thankful for the opportunity I have had this week to learn more about my savior and redeemer Jesus Christ and everything he did for us. I love him and that is why I am serving this mission, to spread his gospel and love to all those who will hear. I cant wait to meet him again one day.

    I’m sorry I gotta cut it short I’m running out of time! but I hope you all know how much I love you! Have an amazing week and know I’m praying for you all! Give the babies my love and graham a what’s up mammyyy for me. I love you all!!

Elder Montgomery

ps, send my love to the Martin Family, that’s so crazy I didn’t even know he was sick. love you all!!

A Good Week, time is flying

Elder Montgomery and Tilley both AZ boys, both in Lubango

oola minha familia! I love you all so much!!!!!                  Sept 17, 2012

ok so first to answer questions,,, if you send a package you don’t need to send peanut butter, i have it here because we have a shopright with American things:) but ya, I would like some crayola twistables if you can manage, they are the best scripture markers! and just another shirt or two if you can. like normal pday shirts that I can were around the house. Other than that i think I’m good. idk. if   I think of something else ill say haha. transfers were this last week and we all stayed here in Lubango, which I’m happy for because I’m really starting to love the people here and I almost have the area pretty memorized!

We eat normal food pretty much every day. It’s not what I expected coming to Africa haha but its nice. The branch here is small so we don’t eat at members too often. I’m glad you all liked the pictures, I  will try to send more, but I didn’t take any this week so next week they’ll come.

 I only have an hour to email and write president and stuff so i have to book it, so sorry when my spelling and stuff sucks. I can’t type very good and I don’t have time to fix it haaha

but yeah mom don’t worry we never drink unfiltered water hahah its ok, I’m not going to throw up a worm or anything.

   This week has been awesome though! I’ve been having really bad problems with blisters but this week they all went away and I’m fine now which helps because I can walk with a good attitude always!

Today for pday the Violins are taking us to this place called tundavala, I guess it’s just like these really huuuuuuge cliffs. So I’ll send pictures next week:) and you can all google it!

President Kretly and Thompson come this week so it will be cool to have some more spiritual meetings with them. and hopefully they’ll bring all your letters with you.

  this week on the 18th is my five month mark!!!! crazy its flying by so fast I’ll be home before any of you know it!!!

   So here in Lubango it should start raining this week which has got me super super excited to use my boots and all that . I’ve always loved the rain. and they say it rains a toa ( Portuguese for crazy a ton ) here so I’m excited! I’ll be here for six more weeks like I said transfers were last week.

This week was really cool. A kid we met who totally blew us off and said he gave his book of mormon away, he came to church, and said something clicked in him with the spirit and he totally felt the need to repent and change his life. his name is Paulo. We had an amazingly spiritual lesson with him, and it was awesome. I’m really excited to see how he progresses.

sorry this was pretty much the spiritual thought for the week. it’s been a super busy week I hate it I can’t even remember everyone that we met with and stuff  haah.

but ya I love you all so much and I am so grateful for your prayers and love! i pray for each and every one of you individually every day and hope you receive the help. I love you all! till next week! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!

Elder Montgomery

#4 From Lubango week 5

Lubango Angola 

Elder Montgomery, an Investigator, and Elder Kelsey 

#4 from Angola Sept 10, 2012         last week we only got Pictures which were great but no email letter

ola minha familia!!!

ok so first off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GREG!!! I can’t believe that its already been a year since you got back from the mission! but then again I’m almost at 5 MONTHS!! ANYWAYS YOU’RE SUCH AN AMAZING EXAMPLE AND I LOVE YOU BROTHER! HAPPY BDAY! oops sorry for the all caps.

So anyways, just a quick run down on the last two weeks. sorry about last week you all heard the power went out as soon as I started email. acontesse.  So the first week was elections. It gets a little crazy here sometimes in Angola so we had to be home early every night and stuff, then Friday the day of elections we couldn’t even leave the house haha we played board games A TOA. Then last week president and sister Thompson got here! That was really cool. Elder Renlund the 70 over southern Africa came with him and we had a really cool zone conference and fireside that night with all the members in Lubango and investigators, and the Huambo missionaries too. it was cool.

Elder Renlund gave a talk about how every single doctrinal question about the church can be resolves with one answer quote: one day in 1820 a young man named Joseph Smith went into a grove of trees to pray... unquote, it was a really cool fireside and all the members and investigators loved it.

After that was just a normal week. My companion and I are getting along fine. We teach a ton and both love to work hard. He’s a really good trainer and I learn something new every day. I have learned from myself a ton about attitude. It’s the one and only thing we can control. knowing that alone has lead to me having a much more happy and successful last two weeks. everything that happens happens, and we can only control our attitude,. I choose to have a good attitude and I choose to have good days and be a good missionary. it’s all about attitude! I have improved my language a ton and talking on the phone isn’t a worry anymore:)

So here in Lubango we do work. We teach tons of lesson and walk everywhere. When I say walk though, I mean hike, because Lubango is in the mountains and there’s no sidewalks, mostly just bumpy dirt trails for sidewalks, so we pretty much hike up and down hills all through the city. Its legit! I love it because I get to come home dead tired every night and I know I have worked hard because my legs hurt like crazy ahah.

Mom, I got your first letter from the Violins! thank you so much! I loved it and it gave me a much needed boost:) I will write one here soon as soon as I have time. We’re just so busy now that I can teach and set up appointments that even our p-days we teach three or four lessons. Like I said, we do work!!

Anyways sorry again if I don’t answer specific questions!:(

but for a small spiritual thought, this week I had my first real I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY moment. Not just saying it but really feeling it. It was after a very spiritual lesson with an investigator and her bore testimony about Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. After we left I just had a thought in my head. Yes I miss my family, yes I miss my girlfriend, yes I miss my friends and normal life and everything,,, BUT I LOVE teaching the gospel as a missionary. it was the coolest feeling ever. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! seeing lives change is the coolest thing every and I get it every day. I’m so lucky to be here in Angola serving the people and serving the Lord. I love you all and truly, truly feel you prayers. and I hope you feel mine. I love you all!

Elder Montgomery

Zone Conf The Thompson's finally arrived

Sept 4, 2012 Zone Conference in Huilo, Lubango This is Colin's 1st ZC. back row l-r Elder Montgomery,Pres. Renlund, Elder Harper, Stewart, Chandler, Borden, Tilley, front row l-r Elder Guente, Kelsey, Sister Renlund, Pres and Sister Thompson ( YEAH they have arrived), Sister and Elder Violin.

Elder Kelsey, Montgomery, Borden, and Tilley Zone Conference

Picture of Lubango (taken by Elder Tilley)

the Dirt that collects
(Elder Tilley explaining how dirty things are he knows right where he left off reading in his Scriptures.)

No Email today but we did get 2 Pictures Elder Kelsey and Montgomery August 13,2012 in Lubango and their Digs

In the Pictures below are Elder Kelsey and Montgomery Lubango 

Aug. 13. 2012 and the Digs where the live.

The Elders Digs in Lubango