It has been quite an interesting week here in Zimbabwe. I am sure many of you have heard a bit about the political situation here, but this week brought lots of attention to Zimbabwe. During the week we were told to stay inside our houses for one day, (it was Wednesday for us). To be honest, here in Bulawayo nothing happened. We are safe and we feel safe. No violence, and no problems for missionaries. Even on the day we stayed inside it was peaceful. The only difference is the people are talking a lot about the situation and are glued to the TV to know what is happening, at least those who have TV's. Many people were happy and celebrating about what was happening, and many people were drunk throughout the country. Many people went to Harare to join the protest. The craziest part is in Harare with a very strong army presence and tons of people marching in protest. Harare is really the only place that has been affected, at least so far. I was able to catch some of the news headlines when we visited members and investigators. Except for the one day inside missionary work was as normal as ever for us.
As far as the work goes, Elder Vave and I had a somewhat discouraging week. We were working hard to visit those who came to church last week and visit our other investigators but we didn't have much luck. Many investigators were out of town visiting family, some attend a funeral, and many just are not a serious as we thought. After a miracle week last week, we only had 2 investigators attend church. 1 of them is new and the other is moving back to his rural home next week, which means he can't be baptized. We were sad that no one else came. We are going to continue to try and help people to progress, but success may take a bit longer than we thought. Lots of potential but nothing is for sure. We did find some less active families and we have a potential baptism for the youngest daughter of a part member family. We will see how it goes this week and next. For church this week we attended with my old ward and branch in Gwabalanda and Luveve. We went to the chapel I once served in, the members of Cowdray Park had to take transport to get there. I was able to see some of my converts that I baptized last year and many member friends. The whole Africa Southeast area of the church viewed a special conference broadcast from Salt Lake City that was presided over by Elder Anderson of the Twelve Apostles. We heard some great talks from him and other General Authorities. I hope the members were able to understand and take to heart what they shared. They talked about many things that the church struggles with here in Africa. Next week it will be back to a normal Sunday in Cowdray Park.
My thoughts of home have increased, especially in my dreams at night. I always wake up and come back to reality and start a new day. The feeling that your mission is coming to an end is quite real, and I hope that I can handle/subdue those feelings. If I dwell on them too much I will not be happy and I need to be happy to help Elder Vave and to love the work. This week we have a zone conference in Gweru, and interviews with our Mission President. After this week I only have one or two more interviews and one zone conference left. We are now down to 8 weeks left, with 4 weeks left in the transfer.
As we begin the holiday season I just wanted all of you, my friends and family, to know just how thankful I am to have you in my life. I love you all so much. I want all of you to know just how blessed you are, never forget to be grateful for what the Lord has blessed you with. I want all of you to look at yourselves and realize just how much the Lord is in the details of your lives. There are many people in the world who have nothing. I have seen it first hand. Never take what you have for granted.
Have a great week! Happy Thanksgiving everyone and Happy Holidays! :)
For my pictures this week, I don't have many. I just took a picture of all of my missionary planners and transfer sheets for you too see just how long I have been around. :)
For my pictures this week, I don't have many. I just took a picture of all of my missionary planners and transfer sheets for you too see just how long I have been around. :)
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