Makadii Week 86!

One transfer ends and another begins!

I recieved the news that I will remain in Kadoma as a ZL with Elder Byrom. He is only my 4th companion out of 11 that I have stayed with for more than one transfer. It should be a successful transfer. We had 11 investigators at church this week, so the future is bright. We also have 7 people on a baptismal date for October, so the transfer will be filled with many lessons and preparations. 

We ended the week and the transfer with a baptism! Gogo Martha was baptized! She is such an awesome lady and I have really enjoyed teaching her and seeing the spirit work with her. She is the grandmother of Sister Ndhlovu, who I was in the MTC with. She came home last transfer and gave us Martha as a refferal. She progressed and was baptized! :) It was unique because of her age that two of us were needed in the font when she was baptized. She has some wrist and limb problems so we made sure she didn't fall. Elder Byrom and I were both in white with her this time. A cool experience! 

We had a pretty normal week with exchanges, lessons, and interviews. We have seen some great progress with those we are teaching and many miracles are coming our way. General Conference is coming up and I am excited to view my last Conference as a full-time missionary! We are viewing the sessions a week later. 

Lot's of work to do and Week 1 of my 15th transfer is underway. I, along with the 4 other elders in my group, am the oldest/most experienced missionary in the mission as of right now. The crazy thing is, no other elder in ZHM is finishing his mission before me. I am the next elder to go home. Pretty crazy that I have made it this far. 16 weeks left, with at least 6 of them being in Kadoma yet again. 

I love you all and wish you the best! Have an awesome week. Go Pokes! :)

Makadii Week 85!

Well, the final week of the transfer has arrived yet again!

This past week went well, and we saw some miracles. We had 7 investigators at church this week. That is the highest total we have had since I arrived in Kadoma 11 weeks ago. For 5 of them, it was their first time at church! Gogo Martha, and Leeroy are both doing well and are preparing to be baptized this coming weekend. We will be having 2 more baptisms to end the month of September! :) We will also be working hard this week to set some baptismal dates with the others that came to church. We have high hopes for those that came, and it looks like we will have some great success in October. Maria and Petros were both confirmed and things are going well. We are going to work to make sure we finish the last week of the transfer on a high note, and that we prepare for the next!

Today the Kadoma District had a BBQ lunch and it went well. We cooked some beef, pork and sausage, and even had some desert. Elder Byrom and I also went to the gym to lift and play some squash. I beat him 5 games to 1 today. :) Not a bad Monday.

I realized that tomorrow marks 2 years since I went through the temple for the first time back in Twin Falls, ID! Pretty crazy that it has been that long already! :)

Another week ahead of us! I will let you know the transfer news next week. With 3 transfers left, it is tough to tell what will happen and if or when I will leave Kadoma. We will find out at the end of the week!

Until then! Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week! :) 

Makadii Week 84!

Hello everyone! :)

Another week gone by and more progress made in Kadoma! Petros and Maria were both baptized on Sunday, our first baptisms in over a month! In Zimbabwe, 1 month without a baptism is a long time. It was a great baptism and all went well. We even had 3 other investigators recieve baptismal dates this past week, and they all came to church! Another baptism is planned for the 24th of September for Martha, Leeroy, and Sekai. Our labors are starting to bring forth fruit! :) We have been busy just like usual with exchanges, and finding new people to teach. We do have a good group of new investigators from this past week, so we will continue to find, teach, and baptize. That is what a missionary does after all! I worked with Elder Porio from Austrailia on exchnages this week and learned a lot. 

Today I played another round of golf with Elder Byrom but it didn't go well for either of us. Many lost balls, and just a few nice shots here and there. Still a fun time though! :) Crazy to think that there is just one more preparation day left in this transfer. Week 5 has begun, which means there is only this week and next left until transfer news comes again. Time is moving fast. The last transfers of your mission do go by pretty fast from what I have seen. My 11th MLC meeting went well this past week and the mission is doing great things.  

One big milestone from this past week, (actually last Sunday), is the 2 year anniversary of my mission call! 2 years ago I found out that I was coming to Zimbabwe to serve for 2 years of my life. Pretty crazy for me that it was really 2 years ago. I waited for 5 months to leave for Africa, and I now have 4 1/2 months left in Africa. Crazy stuff! I am doing my best to make the most of my time here. I am missing things from home quite a bit, but I know my time is not yet done. I am always looking for the strength to keep going despite oppostion. 

This week is going to be quite busy for us. We have interviews, exchanges, and a zone conference coming up the next few days. Should be busy, but fun as well! Before I know it, the final week of the transfer will arrive. 

I love you all and wish you the best. Go Pokes! 

Makadii Week 83!

Hello again! :)

A lot of normal frustrations this week, but also miracles once again for me and the guy from England. We will be having 2 baptisms this coming weekend for Petros and Maria. They are both 16 years old and we were very blessed to find them both. To find people in Kadoma who will actually come to church on their own and for the right reasons is quite a miracle, and all has gone well in their preparation. In addition to Petros and Maria, we had a few new investigators come to church for the first time! We will be having some more baptismal dates this week for sure. We did visit many people on the member list that we didn't know, and found out quite a number of things. We found that some people had moved away, some wanted their names removed from the church, some that wanted us to come back and help them, and many of them that were inactive members. We are hoping that going through the list of members will lead us to reactivate some members and to find more through them. All in all not a bad week. When miracles happen there is not much more we can ask for! :)

One crazy thing: We contacted an older baba who stays not far from the church, and he seemed like a really cool investigator. We taught him 2 lessons thinking he was an investigator, and we came to find out later in the week after looking at the member list that he was actually already baptized into the church. When we visited him again he said that he was baptized back in the 1990's and then moved to Botswana. He has since moved back to Kadoma, but he hasn't attended church in over 10 years now, and he stays a 2 minutes walk from the chapel. Even though we won't be able to baptize him, we will still be working hard to bring him back. He has forgotten almost everything about the church, so we have lots of work to do. Just goes to show what will happen when someone is not properly fellowshipped by the members! Lesson learned.

Today we are in Harare for our monthly MLC meeting tomorrow. It will be my 11th MLC. I have been a Zone Leader for almost 1 year now! Crazy stuff. This morning we had another squash ball tournament in Kadoma but I ended up taking 2nd place this time. Elder Hamling and I had a hard fought championship match and he beat me just barely at 16-14. I had several match points but couldn't finish it off. We are having fun with Squash ball in Kadoma! :)

One awesome thing is that my investigators back in Eastview, the Mashaya family, were baptized this past week! It is a family of 5 that Elder Whiting and I found back in April. One of the most prepared families I have ever found or taught. The mother and father were legally married and baptized soon after along with 3 of their children. So sweet! I was bummed not to be there, but I was able to call the family after the baptism to extend my congrats to them. They were all so happy and they have see just how much the gospel is able to bless their lives. That's what it's all about! :) Another cool thing is that one of the converts I taught and baptized in Chegutu, Tsitsi Chinga, is finalizing her papers to serve a mission! She visited Kadoma for church on Sunday and told me all about it. It is so cool to see the chain reaction that comes from your efforts. :)

We are halfway through the transfer already and these last 3 weeks of the transfer will be full of adventure. Exchanges, interviews, baptisms, zone conference. A fun and busy 3 weeks coming up.

I love you all! Peace out until next week.