Makadii Week 27!

Hey everyone! :)

This first week in Chegutu has gone really well. My companion Elder Mahlangu is an awesome guy and we really get along well! He was baptized in 2013, and has a sweet testimony. Although he is from South Africa, he is almost fluent in Shona. Before me and his last companion Elder Chimtengo, who is now training the new missionary Elder Whiting in the house, he had all Zimbabwean companions. He has picked up a lot of Shona in his 15 months as a missionary. He has 9 months left, and has been in Chegutu for 3 months. I learned that Ndebele, which is the language in Bulawayo, is basically the same as Zulu, which is the native language of my companion, so he is fluent in that too!

The work in the area is going very well, and we already have 4 people we are preparing for baptism. One of them we found this week, and he was actually my first contact in Chegtutu, and our first contact as a companionship. His name is Matthew, and is such a humble guy, so prepared to hear and receive the gospel. He has had a really tough life, which I won't go into, but the Lord has really been working on him as of late. We just happened to feel prompted to speak with him. He came to church for the first time and already has a strong testimony that the church is true, so he got up and bore his testimony during the meeting. It was awesome! There are a few others as well that the previous Elders were teaching that are doing very well too, so we are very blessed.

Chegutu is really great but very very dusty. Most of the roads are dirt, so dirt and dust are always flying. It is so much more spread out compared to Marimba, and the are much less people. The town itself is pretty small though. Shona is even more here than in Harare, and I am learning even more than I did there. There is just one small branch here, with two sets of missionaries working in it, just in different parts of the area. It is total opposite of where I just was. Instead of just two missionaries in two areas, it is four missionaries in 1. It is a great change of pace for me to say the least. The branch here only has around 100 members, and many less actives at the moment. The missionaries that were here before weren't very diligent with records, so things are very disorganized. The branch meets in a small meetinghouse that is surprisingly nicer than I thought. I will be having baptisms in a tub, which I'm super excited for. No more chapel and font! I'm stoked to be able to help this branch grow! :)

We have the office couple missionaries coming to our branch each Sunday, so it is nice to see them every week. They are Elder and Sister Peterson.

The house is pretty nice, but not as nice as the one I left. There is no shower or hot water, so we have to boil water every morning and mix it with the cold and use it to bathe with. It's a pretty big bummer, but I've already gotten used to it. The kitchen is nice, and the rooms are good, but the water is pretty bad here. We have to buy bottled stuff to drink. A whole new crop of missionaries came this last week, including Elder Whiting from Utah. He is a sweet kid who I am excited to be living with. It balances out the house with two murungus and two mutemas! The other elders in our zone our super sweet, and I am excited for the future here in Chegutu. The Lord is truly blessing us! No mosquitoes yet, but they are coming very soon!

Some funny things I've failed to mention...

1. The lines on the roads here are opposite. The outside lines are yellow, and the inside lines are white.

2. So far I have introduced the doctrine of the PB and J to all of my companions. They all love it now! They had never had it before I showed them.

3. I also have introduced he Slug Bug game to all of them. We always have a good time playing it in the area.

4. At gas stations, people fill up your gas for you. Super nice!

5. African missionaries think it is weird that most of us Americans don't use lotion after we bathe. Just different cultural things I guess. I don't need lotion here with the humidity. Summer is coming soon here. There isn't really a spring season, it just gets super hot. It is hotter here in Chegutu compared to Harare, but it isn't the worst in the mission.

I love all of you so much! Enjoy the last few weeks of summer, and cheer on Team USA for me!

Musari mushe! (Stay well!)

Tinowonana um swe Monday next week! (We'll see you on Monday!)