1st Transfer

Alright welcome back.  Hope you had a good week but enough small talk let's get down to it yeah?

So my first transfer is done-zo.  Its already been 6 weeks.  what...  It's going by so fast and seems like it has only been a week.  Also some updates.  I know its not about numbers but... We had 108 lessons, and 433 contacts this transfer.... hahaha wow. 

Okay so this week was amazing.

So started off with my first interview with President Mkhabela and wow that man is powerful.  He answered my questions perfectly and told me exactly what I needed to hear with my few concerns.  I followed his advice and it helped me so much.  That guy is somethin else.  He then trained our zone on using our area books and it helped us get super organized so that was a plus.  Then after the interview of course we went to Pizza Inn as a district and feasted. 

Then the next day we gave 4 baptismal dates haha.  They were all young bucks ages 9-13 but have a surprisingly strong desire to be baptized.  One of the kids doesn't even have good support from his parents.  Crazy to see the faith in these children.  So we should have 4 baptisms this upcoming Saturday! Super Dope.

Okay side note while I have this on my mind.  I have to tell you the most African thing I have ever seen. So we were sitting on gas cans, outside, teaching the Restoration to a couple of the kids we are baptizing this week, when out of nowhere I hear something in the tree next to us.  I turn and see this guy who jumped in the tree, was hanging and swinging from one of the branches making the whole tree sway and shake. And then when he fell out he was holding a mango in his mouth. He tied the bow on this grand display by saying "Hello How are you?" to my comp and I..... Pfffffff We just started dying oh my goodness. I looked at Elder Till and I'm like, "Africans" hahaha ah man.

So this weekend was Stake Conference and on Saturday evening we attended the priesthood session.  Super good.  President Mkhabela was there and he gave one of the best talks I've ever heard.  He talked simply about the priesthood, but spent the whole time saying exactly what the priesthood is and it was crazy good.  He said the priesthood is the power to act in the name of our God.  The same eternal power that He has.  His priesthood is powerful, eternal and perfect.  And he gives us as imperfect humans the chance to use this power.  But it can only be manifest according to our own godliness which comes through Christlike attributes and behavior.  Only then can we truly exercise our priesthood. He also said the the priesthood is a perfect plan of service that has and will last forever.  Amazing...  President is powerful.  Shook the chapel when he spoke haha.  Its crazy to think that the literal power of God is attainable when we are Christlike.  wow.  

And then the next day during the Sunday session President spoke again about faith and said, and I quote, "Faith produces obedience. Obedience produces blessings." end quote.  Wow.  Simple but profound.  This added to my continuing realization that faith and hope are the "anchor of our soul."  It was also emotionally rewarding to have 8 investigators and 1 returned member attend the meeting.  Crazy.

So we started teaching this guy and his name is Brother Unworried.  haha.  But he has a wife who he is legally married to and they have 8 children. And wait for it... they are super interested in the church.... jackpot am i right?  And we gave the father a baptismal date in February!  He has some minor concerns but we hope he will continue to progress! 

One of the children we plan to baptize this week is named Tawananyasha and he is 9 years old and has a hard time understanding English and we were teaching him the Plan of Salvation... hahahaha a recipe for misunderstanding. And i was the one that had to teach about the Creation and the Fall of Adam... hahaha but I said a small prayer that he would understand and after I was done teaching as simply as I could about it, his father started to translate and Tawananyasha stopped him and said, "its okay i understood"... wow.

So there is a massive spider that lives in our room and I rightfully named her Charlotte.  Sometimes she leaves during the day but most nights she comes back. 

Did my laundry in 1 hour today.  Personal Record no big deal.  Bucket laundry is time consuming haha

The other day we got a referral from this member who has just filthy nice dreads and he's like "yeah so when is the soonest you can baptize this woman?" and we said Feb 4th. and he's like "okay so lets also make a marriage date on the 11th." hahahaha the members here will find women the think are pretty and then give them to us as referrals so we can hopefully teach and baptize them so they can get married.  Things are different here in Africa.  

Last night we had dinner with Brother Nyamugara who used to be the bishop of the Marimba Ward and his wife made us an amazing meal.  And then afterwards, his son JJ came and talked to me for like an hour hahaha he is 6 years old and is actually really fluent in english.  But he's my new best friend. Gave him a CTR ring last night and he thought it was super cool haha love him and love that family.  Brother Nyamugara also gave a good talk at conference and the coolest thing he said is not to be a spectator but a participant in the gospel.  The members are slowly dying off so this was good for the congregation to hear.  Stake Conference was amazing. 

Alright so no funny drunk guys this week sadly.  But I talked to a guy that was stoned out of his mind the other day.  He came up and said "How are you" i said "I'm good how are you" and he mumbled something and I was like "What?" and he's like "I'm high!!!" and shoved his blunt in my face hahahahaha.  It was hilarious and then I talked to him about reggae music and Bob Marley for a couple minutes and then when we left, I yelled "Rhasta Farai man!" and he was like "Ayyyyy!" hahahahaa and gave me a thumbs up.  Ahh love these guys.

Anyways hope you all had a stellar week and enjoyed the snowfall in Boise.  All we get here is a tonnnnn of rain. But its funny.  Kinda get to take a mid day shower after we sweat all morning from the sun haha.  Its refreshing.  But the mission is getting so easy.  Everything is like muscle memory now.  Teaching lessons is getting really easy too and I feel like I can answer any question that gets thrown at me (obviously not on my own but with the help of my boy the Holy Ghost).  And mission life is so nice.  I don't get why people always focus on telling prospective missionaries that a mission is hard.  Because why would you center your thoughts on that? Is not the first principle in the gospel "faith"?   haha.  I've learned a lot about trusting in the Lord, being optimistic and being faithful.  I researched "Hope" today during personal study and I loved how it says in Preach My Gospel that Hope is trust in the Lord and confidence that good things will happen.  The church is truer than true and I love being here in Zimbabwe and inviting people to THE restored gospel.  The church is true and the book is blue pffff.  Who am I kidding?

This concludes weekly update with Elder Anderson.  You all stay in my prayers and travel home safely tonight. 

Much Love 

God Speed

Sharp Sharp

-Elder Anderson



One picture for today:
i just think its funny that we have two things hanging on the wall in the study room.  A Pizza Inn box, (placed there by yours truly) and a picture of Jesus Christ.  But the picture of Jesus is covered by an electrical chord.  We need to fix our priorities hahahaha.