Makadii Week 67!

Hello again from Africa! :)

This week has been busy and good as usual. We found 17 new investigators and had 14 investigators come to church. As a zone we have 104 baptismal dates set, and 119 people came to church this weekend. Still have a ways to go to reach our goal this month but we are doing our best. We are a blessed zone for sure. If all goes well the next few days, we will have 2 baptisms this coming weekend to end the transfer. Their names are Samantha and Vida. We have been walking with them and others to the church for the past few weeks and it has worked pretty well. It will be a nice end to the transfer. The last week of May we will be having some more baptisms in Arcturus, so we will be busy to help prepare those people as well!

I got to skype/call my family yesterday for Mother's Day, and it was really great. It is always tough to say goodbye when I won't get to talk to them again for another 32 weeks, but it was another great call home.  Crazy to think that I have just one call home left on Christmas. When that call comes, there will just be three weeks left. Only 35 more weeks to serve as a full-time missionary. I better make the most of it! :) Lot's of things still to do, lot of miracles left to see.

Today we went to the same Lion Game Park that I did last year with the Marimba District, this time we went with more people. There were 8 of us from the zone and we had a good time. I saw some of the same stuff as last year, but we were in the park when the Lions were having a roaring fest. It was pretty cool to hear all the lions growling and roaring at each other. A cool experience in Africa! :)

Interviews with President tomorrow, exchanges on Wednesday, baptismal interviews on Friday, and a baptism on Saturday! Things are moving along, and next week is transfers. We will see what the Lord has in store! :) Yebo!

Go Celtics! :)

Makadii Week 66!

Greetings everyone! :)

The week has been pretty typical for us. The beginning of the month always seems to be slow as a missionary in Zimbabwe, and lots of people are coming and going as the holiday ends, and the second school term begins here. We found some new people to teach and are still making plans for our upcoming baptisms toward the end of the month. We had exchanges, and MLC this week which both went well, with more exchanges coming up the next 2 weeks. The transfer is in its finishing stages, with 2 weeks left to go. Next Saturday we will find out the transfer news yet again, and changes will be made. Not sure what will happen.

We have a wonderful family we have been teaching, the Mashaya family. They have been to church the last 2 weeks but sadly most will be leaving as the school term begins here in Zimbabwe. 2 of the kids will have to wait until the next holiday in August to get baptized, but we are hoping to have a baptism for the oldest son and the parents sometime soon. The others we have been working with are still progressing, and we hope all goes well for them! We continue to walk to church each Sunday, and we had a wonderful fast for our investigators yesterday. We are hoping for some miracles. :)

One of the young daughters in the Mashaya family, Tanatswa, is super smart. We were asking about the Holy Ghost in one of our lessons, and this is what she said. "The Holy Ghost brings happy moments to the heart." Very wise words from a 12 year old. I am bummed that her and her sister are leaving for school, to places where the church is not yet established, but I hope that she can be baptized soon after she returns. Chances are I won't still be here by then, but who knows.

I will get to see some of you on my Mother's Day skype this coming Sunday. I am stoked. The crazy thing is, today marks 1 year since my last Mother's Day skype. Crazy how things have changed. Also crazy how I am calling from Harare, just like last time.

Working hard and pushing through. That's all we can really do, right? Sending my love to all of you, wherever you may be. :)

Makadii Week 65!

Hello!

The week was super busy and was full of ups and downs. All 5 of our baptisms went through, as well as a marriage! We ended up baptizing two young girls in Eastview named Ruvarashe and Diana. We also had a marriage in Arcturus for Mai Peace. Her husband was a less active member. She was baptized as well as her son James, and another girl named Nomatter. We had a marriage and two baptisms on Saturday! :)

Going into this week our zone had 33 baptisms. We finished off the the month of April with 37 baptisms this weekend, and hit our our goal of 70 exactly! The mission had over 234 baptisms in April, and four months into the year we have 791 total baptisms. We are well on our way to our goal of 2000 in the year! :) The Lord blessed us for our hard work. We have MLC again tomorrow, so it will be fun to discuss our progress.

We were busy doing many interviews in the zone, working/teaching in our area, having exchanges, and witnessing baptisms. More exchanges coming up! We ended up with at least 7 investigators at church. We weren't able to find out who all attended in Arcturus. Some of our new investigators vanished this week, which is not uncommon here in Zimbabwe. We are working hard to achieve our goal of 10 baptisms in May. The zone goal was raised to 80 baptisms this month. We have 95 people with baptismal dates right now, so the goal is within reach! I had some cool bracelets made for the zone recently with our zone culture on them. SMILE! :) I hope they liked them.

We had a great zone conference with Bindura, Mutare, and the 2 Harare zones zones during the week and I actually learned a lot. I am still doing my best to keep going strong with 8 1/2 months left to go. For those who are interested, I will be arriving back to the USA on the 20th of January next year, just before the school semester begins. I know there is still lots to do here in Zimbabwe in those 8 1/2 months.

I love you all and wish you the best. For those back home preparing for final exams, I wish you the best! Have a great end to the school year, and a good start to the summer! :) Musari zvakanaka!

Makadii Week 64!

Hello again!

This week has been full of miracles, and we have been busy doing the Lord's work. With both Arcturus and Eastview numbers combined, we had 20 investigators at church this week! We decided to walk with and pick up our new investigators to bring them to church, and it worked! Even though we had to walk for about 1 1/2 hours, there and back, it was worth it. We found quite a few new people to teach including some families, and most of them are starting to progress. We are planning to extend baptismal dates to most of them this week, so we will see how it goes. Things are looking good at least for the moment. Our sacrifices this week payed off for sure. We will be having 5 baptisms this coming week. 3 in Arcturus and 2 in Eastview. We are praying and hoping that all goes well with our plans this week, both for us and for the zone. It is looking like we will be really close to our goal of 70, but we will see at the end of this week if we are going to hit it or not. I have faith that we can! Eastview is as crazy as ever, but I love it! :)

Last week we played some basketball and frisbee with the elders in the zone,and it was a good time. It was nice to have a little competition and to relieve some stress. We are having a big zone conference tomorrow here in Harare with three other zones. It should be a good meeting! :) I also got a nice haircut from my good friend Elder Gordon this week which was nice!

I am still doing my best to work hard and stay focused. I continue to reflect on how I am so thankful for the Restoration of the gospel and for the plain and precious truths we now have in these days. It truly is a blessing. The confusion the world has is not found in the church, because we have the truth which changes the confusion to clarity.

Not much to say this week. The work must go on! I love you all and wish you the very best in all that you do. May the Lord bless you as you seek his help. :) Until next week shamwari!

Makadii Week 63!

Mhoroi! Ndeipi!? :)

The week of Easter was good here in Zimbabwe. Elder Whiting and I were out and about and finding/teaching new investigators a bunch, and we also had a baptism for our young investigator Divine. She is the youngest child and the rest of the family are members, so it was pretty easy for us to help her progress. She is 9. The confirmation didn't happen on Sunday for some reason, but we will make sure to do it when she comes back from the rural areas next week. It was nice to have a baptism the week of Easter. The zone now has 26 baptisms this month, and we have 44 left to baptize the next two weeks if we are going to reach it. I have confidence that we can at least get close to it. We have more baptisms and a marriage coming up, and we were able to set 2 more baptismal dates in the area. We will exceed our goal this month, which is pretty sweet, and we have more coming up in May. Things are looking up. :)

The first week with Whiting has been good, and we are getting along pretty well. He is helping me be more obedient and focused. Our zone conference has been pushed to next week on the 25th, so this week will be normal for us. Still busy and still going strong. For a couple weeks it looked like the rain had finally stopped here in Zimbabwe, but the past 3 days it has been cloudy and raining like crazy. The rain should be stopping soon. The winter will begin here at the end of May, when summer begins for those of you back in the US.

I did realize that last Monday, the 10th of April, was the 13 year anniversary of my baptism and confirmation way back in 2004 in Kimberly, ID. It's crazy how much things can change in 13 years. I never thought I would be where I am, serving the Lord 10,000 miles away. I also never thought I would have the experiences that I have had since then, neither did I understand that I would make so many mistakes in my teenage years. As my knowledge of the gospel and God's plan has grown in those 13 years, I have come to know that those mistakes can be left behind, and that those experiences were necessary to make me who I am today. Even though I grew up in the church, I have still had to work really hard to find my testimony throughout the years. I am so thankful for the blessings I received for being brought up in the Lord's church, even though many times I have taken them for granted. That's why I am here, to help other people find and claim those same blessings for themselves. I know the Lord Jesus Christ died and lives for us. I know that through him we can inherit life eternal.

I love you all and wish you the best. Never forget the blessings that God has given you. :)

Makadii Week 62!

Hello! I hope everyone is doing well during this Easter season.

Transfers have happened today, and I have been super busy transporting missionaries and all of their luggage. Elder Bamutesiza is headed home tomorrow, and I am now with my old pal Elder Whiting. I was his first district leader when he came into the mission back in August down in Chegutu. We know each other well, and I am excited for the coming 6 weeks. I have never really been with a companion like him, so it will be interesting for me. He is just my 2nd American companion and my 9th overall, and really my first whit companion. He is very obedient and hard working, so I know we can get things done. I will just have to overcome my struggles and be willing to work hard. We will still be in good ol' Eastview and I will be training him as a new Zone Leader in the Harare East Zone. Not many changes were made in our zone this transfer period, so we will still be pushing realistically toward our goals this month and beyond.

I was able to watch just the 2 Sunday sessions of conference this weekend, we got super busy on Saturday and weren't able to see any sessions. We had to help with baptisms and do transfer stuff, so I did lots of driving back and forth around Harare helping things run smoothly. It has been a hectic week for sure, and I know as long as I am here in Zimbabwe my weeks will never be quiet. We had some nice dinners with members this week to send Bam off on a good note so I was well fed. I even made some chapati with Elder Makalio and Elder Hoffman at one of the dinners we had with them.

In Arcturus, we will be having a marriage and baptism coming up at the end of this month, along with some others. Mai Peace, the mom of the young man that we are working with, has finally agreed to be married so she can be baptized. Her husband was baptized long back, and is now starting to come back to church. This coming weekend we will be having a baptism for a young girl named Divine in Eastview. She is only 9, and her parents are both converts. It has been fun seeing her open up to us more and more each time we visit. The work is moving along, and we will hit the ground running this week and will start the transfer off on the right foot. :)

We have a Zone Conference coming up next week, and will always be running around. I am always praying and putting my trust in the Lord to help me through. 10 Transfers down, 6 1/2 to go!

I love all of you and wish you the best. Remember the Savior this week as we remember his Atonement for all of us. As a zone we decided on our zone culture, and I felt inspired to share 2 Nephi 9:39, one of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon, with them. For some reason the spirit has really been teaching me lately, through conference and through my studies, about being spiritually minded. "spiritually minded is life eternal." In our zone, we have a greed to S.M.I.L.E. As we do so we will bring the blessing of heaven into our lives. It is the key to everything.

Makadii Week 61!

hey there!

Things are busy and crazy as always here in Zimbabwe. I don't have too much time to email today, but I will do my best.

Sandra was confirmed yesterday at church, and we are finding some success in the area. We have around 5 hopeful baptisms this month! I had an exchange this week with my MTC companion, Elder Silotile. He is a District Leader in our zone, and it was nice to be with him for the first time in the field. We also had monthly goals this week for the mission, and our zone sent us a goal of 81 baptisms! For those of you that don't know how many that is in 1 month, just know that it is a lot. haha :) We ended up lowering the goal a bit to 70 baptisms, and it seems like we can reach it, especially with April having 5 Sundays. The zone had 3 baptisms this weekend, so we only have 67 left to go! The previous goal was 65, so we are exercising our faith a little bit more.

This is my last week with Elder Bamutesiza, who goes home to Uganda in a weeks time, and it is the last week of the transfer! Next week I will be knowing what will be happening the next 6 weeks. One thing is for sure, I will be having a new companion. One thing I have learned is that each transfer brings new memories and experiences. It is cool how mission is set up to bring those memories and experiences to you so often. I have enjoyed my time with Bamutesiza and wish him the best. I have learned a lot from him. Crazy that he is the 4th missionary I have sent home. :)

This week will be busy for us yet again. We have an MLC dinner tonight, an MLC meeting tomorrow, a Zone meeting later in the week, another exchange, as well as transfer news. Week 6 here we come!

So far I have been enjoying the new truck, and I am very thankful to have the opportunity to drive. It's working very well so far, it just gets super dirty and muddy in our area over the course of the week. Also, I am sitting next to my son Elder Makalio here at the internet cafe. It's nice to see him so often.

I have heard a bit about General Conference but have yet to watch it. We will be doing that this coming weekend. I am excited for sure!

Time to keep on keepin' on! Love you guys! One thing about the gospel that I love so much: with the Savior, if we do hold on during times of trial, something better is always on the way. I am doing my best to keep that in mind, and I hope you do as well. Tinowonana shamwari! :)