week# 33

Sanibonani family and friends!!! Unjani?? Id love to hear how yall are doin!

Wow this week was soo crazy awesome! Too many tender mercies to count! 

Firstly my 5th transfer has officially ended! Anddd im staying here in Mbabane, which im totally stoked about! Elder Almeida and I are having lots of success so im excited to be able to continue to help Mababane grow! Looks like ill be killing my companion in 6 weeks! (Last transfer=death on mission) I love him too much its been great learning from all his experience as he concludes! 

Welll secondly, we had some baptisms this week! My boys Thandolwethu and Menzi were baptised and were sooo happy. After words they bore powerful testimonies. And the best part is.... we visited their home a few hours later and their mom said...." Im next!" We are so happy to be able to help this family live together forever. 

Life is great here, I love everything about where I am and what im doing!

My spiritual thought for the week comes from a BYU speech l studied, which coincidently my best friend happened to study as well. Although her words are more powerful than mine. I felt impressed to share what I learned this week as well . 

The talk entitled; Why Mountains. By Michael A. Dunn, invites us to remember everytime we look at Y Mountain to ponder, " Why Mountains." Im just going to leave you with my favorite part of the speech and let his words do the talking. I know its long but please read! Its REALLY good. 

 "So why mountains? Well, mountains—like those before us in this big-time adventure called life—tempt us, terrify us, test us, and try us. Mountains stretch us, break us down, and can sometimes even bring us to an exasperated halt. At the same time, they stir our souls, inspire us, and have this transformative ability to rekindle hope, steel our resolve, and hone our faith, step by courageous step. This mandates a never-before-thought-possible ability to push ourselves to unthinkable heights, for it is only in testing our limits that we find out how limitless we are. It is only then—when we push ourselves beyond our perceived capacity—that we discover within ourselves the courage, fortitude, and faith to continue the journey. As the Australian mountaineer Greg Child put it, “Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery of why we climb.” 

"If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." Matthew 17:20 

Do you have the faith as the grain of a mustard seed? Do you fear the mountains in your life or do you rejoice because you can climb them?

Lets rejoice in the fact that WE CAN climb mountains!

All love, Elder Mumford

week# 32

Ayee whats up friends? Wow it was a great week this week! 

Firstly, Thando and Menzi passed their baptismal interviews and will be baptised next week! Im so stoked for them! And theyre so excited about it aswell. As usual theyre denying the optional (manditory as far as theyre concerned) chance to bear their testimony ahaha. But its fine theyll do great! 

The other teaching is all going well! We have a few others still with dates in Feb so were busy teaching them to prep for those! But with each week I feel people progressing and its really cool! 

Ive just been absolutley grinding my BOM reading this months and I LOVE it! Reading it everymorning and night has really helped me have the spirit and make better decisions! Ive seen the fulfilment of the promise given by our Prophet; "I promise that as you prayerfully study the Book of Mormon everyday, you will make better decisions-every day." Please guys find time to reas! Even if its just one or two verses a day! It will help you I promise.

Thats about it for the week! Love all you guys and have a great week! 

Elder Mumford 

week# 31

Hey guys! These weeks keep on flying by uh!? Crazy times ahah.

It was a great week this week and the work in Mbabane is growing! Were really starting to see our work pay off! We should have like 5 baptisms in Feb! Which is super exciting. The transfer is on my birthday and I dont know if Ill go or stay! So well see if im here for the baptisms! 

A RM gave us a refferal yesterday and he came to teach these guys Lunkelo and Ntuthuko with us! It was such a powerful lesson! We taught the restoration and when we explained that Christ established a church and that he needs to find that same one he established he was like. WOAH! Ahah I could like see him putting things together in his brain. Then he looks at our name tags and says sooo like this is the same church but in the last days... without us even saying anything about that yet. We were like EXACTLY! It was super cool! So hopefully that guy will be able to progress! 

I gave a talk in church yesterday about the book of mormon! I LOVE sharing my testimony now. Its my favorite thing to do. So like I always say, the BOM is super super true and I love it!

Well thats about it! Its raining now and a bit chilly which is nice cuz ive been getting absolutly scorched by the sun here in Eswatini ahah. But other than that not much else is going on! 

I love missionary work and I love hearing from you guys! Im so happy rn its amazing! 

Elder Mumford

1.  My buddy Nhlanhla! 

2. Beauty aye!?

3. I just had to climb it ahaha! 

4. Cool background!

5. Selfies!Cool background!

week# 30

Hello fam and friends! Eish long time no see....my bad! I haven't been the best at writing these things but Ill try to be better at writing something small each week! 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Ahah a little late but better late than never hey! The holidays are definitely different being away from family and friends but nonetheless we enjoyed our small celebration here in Mbabane! Thank you to all those who send me letters and different things! It means so much. I love all you guys.

Life is good here in Eswatini. Were finding a lot of people to teach and trying our best to help those we find to progress. 

A family we found near our flat has been coming to church for a few weeks now and were hoping that the two 15 year old boys will be baptized in February. Thando and Menzi! Super exciting. So the work here is growing! I love Mababane!

My testimony has grown and continues to grow so much as ive been serving! I have really turned to the scriptures and words of the prophets when looking for answers and I've had so many prayers answered. I have LOVED getting to know my Savior more through the words of his authorized servants! Please everyone! Try your best to use Come Follow Me for the Book Of Mormon this year! I know that you can strengthen your relationship our Savior and be happier as you read! 

I love you all! Thanks for your prayers

Elder Mumford

I've taken lots of pics over the past few weeks so here's some of the best! Aha

1. The avocados here are amazing!

2. Lone Peak squad!

3. Doing service at a great family were teachings house

4.The Book of Mormon is my favorite book ever!

5.A hippo skull

6. some girls that were teaching

7.on top of Sebebe rock! Long hile but worth the view aye!?

8. My friends

9.^^^

10. Went on a safari in Hlane park. Super cool!

week #25

It's been great here! I love it so far. 

Funny story for me.... so were teaching this pastor. Lol like he has a church at his house and preaches there each week. Wierd thing is..he KNOWS our church is true. But hes too scared to leave his congregation. Sooo we told him well teach the congregation. So yesterday we went to his church and preached to the whole congregation. We recieved so many AMENS and MMMMHMMMS hahaah. But we preached straight away about priesthood authority and how there is 1 church, the church of Jesus Christ. Idk if all the gogos understood anything ahaha but it was pretty fun and also very weird. Ahah. But another testimony builder that our church is TRUE!! No doubt in my mind!

Love you, 

Elder Mumford

week# 24

Well another week and another country! I got transfered and Im opening an area in Swaziland called Mbabane. MBABANE is beautiful! 

My new comp Is Elder Almeida. Hes from Brazil and hes so sick! He has 4 months left so im probably gunna kill him lol. But hes a really cool guy! 

It was sad leaving Etwatwa though! Especially on such short notice! I felt like I was a member of that branch! Hahaha But its ok i learned a lot from that branch! And Im excited to learn more here in Swazi!

Almeida and I are ready to WORK and get this area poppin! It has a lot of potential we just gotta make things happen so im excited for that!

My spiritual thought for the week is about....you guessed it! LIGHT THE WORLD! Now that its december first we get to pop out our calenders and try our best to do one act of service each! I also encourage EVERYONE to go watch The Christ Child video! Ive probably watched it like 15 times now lol but everytime I feel the spirit so strong! Its one of my favorite videos now!

So as Christmas approaches remember why we celebrate and try to live like Christ did by serving and loving everyone! Especially those less fortunate than us!

Love you all! Count your blessing!

Elder Mumford

week# 23

Whats up guys! Sorry its been a minute since I last wrote! 

But a lot has been happening! For starters we were able to have 2 conferneces with ELDER HOLLAND! Wow the last 2 weekends were just full of spiritual-ness? If thats a word ahaha. But on Sunday we had a conference in Midrand with over 7000 people in attendence! It was crazy but so awesome to see the Saints so eager to hear the word of an Apostle of the Lord! Then on Sunday we had a conference with all of our missionaries! I loved every talk but I loved when Elder Holland said that " no matter the trial, the gospel of Jesus Christ IS the answer!". Its so true!

Then the next weekend I was blessed to gave my first baptisms on Sunday! Portia, Lundokuhle, and Musa! I have loved helping them gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon and learn about the gospel. Watching them bear their testimonies was definitley my favorite part! 

And lastly...drum roll please... IM LEAVING ETWATWA! On Tuesday Ill be going to serve in Mbabani, Swaziland!! Im soooo stoked. I dont know much about the area but its in the kingdom of Swaziland which is so sick! Not excited for the 5 hour drive but im stoked to serve the people there!  Anddddd all the Zulu I learned just goes down the drain but its fine I just gotta learn some Swahili! 

I love mission! Im learning and growing so much and South Africa is treating me just right! 

Love you all and love hearing from ya! Keep those emails commin! 

Elder Mumford

1. The deadliest duo youve ever seen ammiright?

2. The OGs of Etwatwa reunited

3. We got to meet Elder Cresslers (3rd from the left) father! 

4. BUZZZZ lol

5.Cleaning the font for the baptisms!