Makadii Week 72!

Well, hello again! :)

Another week begins! I just realized that I have 30 weeks, to the day, left on my mission. Kinda seems like 30 weeks is both long and short, but either way it's not much time.

This week was full of disappointments and also miracles. We had some ultimatum moments with our investigators and many of them have fallen off, including some we had hoped to baptize. It is always tough when you lose investigators because of crappy circumstances, but that is a reality too often realized here in Zimbabwe. We did end up having 5 investigators come to the Stake Conference with us, some which were unexpected! We ended up walking over 2 hours, there and back, to bring our investigators and recent converts to the conference in Mabvuku with us. It ended up a success. We sadly had no visiting General Authorities, but it was the first stake conference for the new Harare East Stake. It was run well and I know it was a good experience for those who came. It was held on the grounds of the high school in a huge tent, so that was cool! :)

We will be having a baptism for two of our investigators this coming weekend. Shania, and Nomsa, the two younger sisters of Samantha and Vida will be baptized. Despite all of the challenges we are facing, these two baptisms are truly a blessing. We have seen their excitement grow, and it should be great!

We have been bust like always with interviews, appointments, and exchanges, with more to come! This is the beginning of Week 5 of the current transfer, so transfer news will be on the way next week. I have a feeling there will be many changes in our zone. My fate is always up in the air, so we will see. I really have no idea what to expect the last 30 weeks, or where I might go. Many of the missionaries in our zone have been around each other for 4-6 months, so there is a high chance that many will come and go. Until then, there is 2 weeks to do what we can.

We had a nice best of 7 basketball series against the other zone in Harare this morning and we won the series 4-3. Thought we could have our own series while the NBA Finals had just finished. Harare East Zone was victorious. I think we could take on the Warriors no problem! ;) We also tossed the pigskin around for a bit. It was a fun time for sure.

One interesting thing of note: On our way back from Stake Conference, we counted over 40 different churches, none of them the same, gathered in various locations along our route. The level of apostasy and confusion is very high here in Zimbabwe, and it is always frustrating to see people dwindle in unbelief. The churches here and the attitude towards religion is no more than a business venture. We do our best to help these people come to the truth, but you would be surprised how hard it is to help someone leave their church to follow the truth, even when they know what we teach is true. Patience is always required!

I will forever be grateful to be brought up learning the truth, and to have the support that I need to remain on the straight and narrow path back home. Gratitude is the key to happiness! :)

I love you all so much! Musare zvakanaka! :)