While Public Affairs Councils were waiting in the lobby of the Beira Stake Center for a training session to begin, two missionaries from the Mozambique, Maputo Mission, Elder Rees from Kaysville, Utah and Elder Van Orden from Blackfoot Idaho, were preparing eight baptismal candidates for a baptismal service which was about to begin. The powerful spirit and energy in the lobby was thrilling. Asking the Elders how their work was progressing, with a special light in their eyes they said, “this is the third weekend in a row we’ve had multiple baptisms.”
Approximately four months ago, the city of Beira was devasted by Cyclone Idai whose destructive pass through the city damaged nearly ninety percent of the properties in the city. No power, water or communication services were available for nearly a week. Reflecting on the effects of the Cyclone, Beira Stake President, Freeman Dickie said missionary work had been going well before the Cyclone, but there seem to be more baptisms since the Cyclone’s devastating pass through the city.
The following day in Nampula, Mozambique, Mission President and Sister Francisco Sena, of the Maputo, Mozambique Mission commented on the growth of the Church. “The Church has been growing rapidly throughout the mission. The growth is a result of local leaders, members and missionaries all working together.” President Sena says the Luaha group is a miraculous example of members and missionaries working together.
The Luaha group is located approximately two hours into the bush of remote northern Mozambique. The only contact the group has with the outside world is a satellite phone owned by Brother Bento the eighty-three old Group Leader. Brother Bento and others are actively sharing the gospel with their neighbors in their small village. When they have someone prepared to be baptized, Brother Bento calls the missionary Zone Leaders for their area and invites them to make the journey, into the bush, to interview and baptize their investigators. During the previous weekend, President and Sister Sena, two Elders from the mission office, Elder Moreira and Elder Parkin, along with the Zone Leaders traveled to Luaha at Brother Bento’s request. Thirteen baptismal candidates were interviewed and baptized in the near-by stream.
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Members throughout the country are faithful and devoted. Average attendance at sacrament meetings is nearly seventy percent. At the current rate of growth in the mission, President Sena is anticipating the creation of three more stakes within the next year.
To strengthen the members and leaders, temple caravan trips to the Johannesburg, South Africa Temple, are being organized on a regular basis. The bus trip to the temple requires a consecration of time and money. From some locations it can take up to one hundred hours to reach the temple but the blessings have been worth the sacrifice. President Sena said that eleven of the thirteen Branch Presidents and all of one District Presidency have received their temple endowments since early 2018.
The power of the temple endowment, and its associated temple blessings, have greatly strengthened Church members and moved the missionary efforts forward. Members are hopeful that one day there will be a temple in Mozambique. President Sena says that, “…when a temple comes, it will have symbolically been constructed, one brick at a time, through the efforts of every member. Our Heavenly Father’s eyes are watching over Mozambique.”