What more can I say after such a divinely booming way of titling a weekly email. My goodness i think I might as well just slap my name on this and send it off. haha kidding. I hope you all had a wonderful week and hope some of you are still celebrating the triumphant victory of my New England Patriots.
First thing I want to say is that I met a General Authority this week! Elder Ellis of the 70 was in Harare this week doing a Mission Tour and going to the different zones, for zone conference and he came to ours last Thursday! We all got to shake is hand and introduce ourselves to him and to my surprise, this guy is straight up from none other than Burley Idaho.... what... are the odds haha super cool! But yeah at the conference we received training from Elder Ellis and his wife and from our beloved mission president and his wife. Elder Ellis completely broke down who God is and what he does for us and it was so dope. And then he expanded the roles of us, the Holy Ghost, and God and then related all of them and it was super cool. He then discussed exactly how the spirit works and totally simplified and went really deep into how it works, how we can use it and how we can always be ready to fell it. This guy is amazing. And then he left us with his witness that God lives, Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith saw God and His Son, and the Book of Mormon is true. And it was so powerful to here those words uttered by someone of his respected position. We here these testimonies all the time from apostles and the prophet in general conference but to be in person and to be working so closely with a general authority made it way cooler. His wife and Sister Mkhabela gave great talks to but I want to talk about what President Mkhabela said. He advised us to focus on two things. Trusting in the Lord, and being happy. He showed us how many times in the scriptures it talks about happiness and trusting in the lord and being not afraid but of good cheer. Really cool. Plus, I'm pretty sure he used the exact words of the one, and the only, Bob Marley by counseling, "Dont worry, Be happy" wow. The scriptures basically tell us the same thing. Bob Marley was an inspired man... haha kidding. But yes that phrase, "dont worry, be happy" is almost always in me head now and I have been so happy recently. This conference was dope.
So Joyce is a super funny woman and always jokes with us and is super sarcastic so the day before her baptism we stopped by her place and asked if she was ready and she was like, "guys I'm sad because I'll be busy tomorrow and wont make it" and then after we felt super bad for a minute she told us she was joking hahaha. So at church yesterday, I saw her and said, "Look, so we found out that we have to baptize you again because the way we did it wasn't correct" and then she was super concerned and started asking me questions about it and I told her I was kidding and she started laughing so hard hahahaha it was awesome and then she was like "Ahhhh Iwe!" (Iwe means "you") hahah got her. She's so funny. She always messes with us.
We have a by week this weekend for the 11th but on the 18th, we have already 1 baptism scheduled with the hope of giving that date to 4 or 5 other people! Our goal for this transfer is to have 12 baptisms and so far we are at 7! And its only half over! So exciting!
Alright story time. So we have been teaching this man named Alfonso, who was actually started taking lessons with Elder Till and his previous companion before I got here. I'm still not certain which church he goes to but he is very Christian and believes only in the Bible. And he is a hard investigator. This guy has so many questions and ideas that are pretty far off but he has so much potential! In the past couple lessons we have been able to slightly confound him with powerful verses in the Bible (that he strictly believes in) that contradict his own ideas. Pfff these guys just dont get it sometimes. But yeah Alfonso is continuing to progress slowly and last lesson he said something so cool! Towards the end of us reteaching him the Restoration lesson, he said, "yeah maybe you guys are a sign from God that I need to join the church and maybe this is my chance to accept your message." .......We like had to check our ears if we heard him right hahha but sadly these profound words were followed by a lot of "maybe's" and him doubting his thoughts which was slightly disappointing but he continued to say he wants to find out if it is true and we told him the only way he would find out is if he read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it and then committed him to do so. This guy has mad potential. Exciting!
The hard thing about this mission is marriage. The cultural way to marry someone is by the man paying he wifes family a crap ton of money and then everyone recognizes the couple as husband and wife. I think the whole process is called Lebola. (Not to be confused with the deadly disease Ebola lol) But yes we find a lot of really strong investigators who desperately want to be members but they aren't legally married and the family wont budge when they try to set up a legal marriage, even when we offer then the free service that the church can do. It is a struggle and disappointing because we have at least 10 families that we teach right now, that all have to be married before we can baptize them. But when we tell them this, they suddenly are no longer interested. Its hard but nonetheless we are continuing to "teach repentance and baptize converts"! Which is our mission motto basically. haha so despite some struggle, all is well.
So the mold in our apartment came back hahaha. its freaking everywhere but we are getting it taken care of this next week I think.
My comp is so dope. Last night we got home and had a discussion about super deep doctrine and it was so cool. And we are getting to be really good friends and I'm growing to love that guy. So in Shona, "Pakaipa" means dangit or something like that and Elder Till says it so much that everyone in our area and most people in the ward call him "Pakaipa" hahaha its hilarious
I have eaten Sadza so many times this week. Elder Till and I found a little shack in a big mess of shops in our area that sells a sadza dish for $1 and it is so amazing. Sadza is so good. My mouth is watering as I'm writing about it right now haha. Man its so nice. I think we are going to have a member teach us how to make it so I can make it for the fam when I come home!
Here are some Shona words for your entertainment
Maitabasa - Thank you
Murise - How are you
Tonana - Good bye
diri Bho - Its okay/ I'm okay
Mamoca se - Good Morning
Masuera se - Good Afternoon
Its fun the speak a little Shona to these people because they all laugh at us all the time haha. And then they don't understand us when we speak english so they tell us to speak shona and then they laugh at us again hahahahaha ahhh man its funny though.
Sorry I don't have powerful conversion stories or super spiritual things that happened but trust me the work is progressing and we have a lot of hope for the future. Being a missionary is so cool. My full time job, with my only break being Mondays, is to invite others to change their lives and come unto Christ. During the Mission Tour Conference, Sister Mkhabela said that we know more about Jesus Christ than anyone in the world! How amazing is that? Its so fun to walk around with that knowledge that we are right, that this church is true, and that we KNOW Christ and proudly wear him on our chests every day. It makes me laugh when people say we are wrong haha. I love being a part of this work and seeing the spirit work within the people we teach. It is also cool the see the reward and blessings from following the promptings of the spirit and to feel my mouth be filled with the words the Lord would have me speak. For me, the presence of the Holy Ghost in my life is directly related to my happiness. And right now I am incredibly happy and I do not want to leave this place.
I love you all and you all continue to stay in my prayers. May we all constantly build our testimonies and continue to learn more about God and Jesus Christ. Because how can we have faith and trust in someone we don't know? I want to leave you with my testimony that I know without a doubt that this church is true and is God's kingdom here on Earth in these latter days. I know that the Atonement is real and I have felt it in my life. I know that Jesus is the Christ and that God lives and that they love us so much and everything denotes their presence and this divine love.
Again. Love you all.
Stay happy.
Stay Steady Grindin'
Bho Bhoo
-Elder Anderson
Okay picture time.
Joyce and Shylet! the newest members of the church!
So this is Mama again on the far left but the guy on the right by Till is the Ward Mission Leader in the Marimba Ward. He's the one that told us to call him Rasta Man lol this guy is so chill. Also, his fiance is Joyce, the one being baptized that is standing closest to me in the picture
Just a typical thing we see here lol. This is how the kombis fit so many people in them, just shove them where ever they'll fit. After took this picture, the guy opened the back and waved at us and gave us a thumbs up haha
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