"[Monday] Morning Rain is Fallin'"

The original song says "Sunday morning..." But yesterday it wasn't raining so that would be false doctrine if I included the original lyrics. lol

Well there goes another week hahaha.  Crazy how fast time flies.  But I love being able to write you guys every week and let you know whats happening in Zim.

So if you remember my email last week, I spoke of Loveridge and how we need to baptize him again and we finally found him this week and he was super not happy when we told him.  But yesterday he still came to church and we talked to him about it and he wasn't as mad anymore so I think we will redo the ordiances in the coming weeks. 

We had some pretty unsuccessful days but nonetheless it was still good.

Driving home the other day, this kombi whips around me and tried to cut me off but I was being super aggressive to fight fire with fire and the conductor stuck his head out the window and was like, "Anderson, give us space to go in front of you" And I'm like, "Nah man I'll give you space behind me!" hahaha  I have no clue how he knew my name and low key still kind of freaked out about that because I dont even recognize the guy. But still pretty funny. 

On Friday we did exchanges with the other elders in our district and I was with our District Leader, Elder Hamblin and it was such a fun day.  The kid is a certified diesel mechanic and is a genius about that stuff.  He's super cool to talk to and it was refreshing to be with a different companion for a day... haha.  And they day was super chill. We taught the restoration to a powerful investigator in their area and then we went to the Sisters' area so Hamblin could do some baptismal interviews. It was a super chill day for me. While he was doing one of the interviews, I was chilling with the rest of the investigator's family and the sisters and I was talking to one of the kids and he told me his name was Branden..... I was so happy hahaha now I'm super tight with that kid. And the after the interviews we went to this shopping center to get something to eat and these two guys came up to us and they were gooonnnnnneee hahah just straight wasted and they were each holding bottles of beer and had beer all over themselves and they started talking to us and one of them said his name was Branden. I wasn't even mad anymore after he said that. lol Freal though they were so gone.  And they think its not bad for them. Lol Word of Wisdom shamwari.

So after my whole view of the universe was thrown out of proportion after meeting two people named Branden in Zimbabwe, We had a decent weekend.  No baptisms on Saturday but Sunday was a really good day.  At church there was a funeral for  member and The spirit was there for sure.  After a few talks everybody walked out of the chapel in single file to view the body and during this, we all were singing hymns and man i got the chills multiple times hahah it was so cool. I didn't know the person that passed but man I felt the spirit. so cool. Then after church we went home to eat some food and then went to work. We taught one of our progressing investigators and gave him a new baptismal date and he is really excited!  And just before that lesson I stopped and talked to this guy who was just sitting outside his house and asked if he wanted to learn more from us and hear our message and he was like yeah sure I'm always home haha so we set an appt. and hopefully that'll work out. Then we had a recent convert lesson with Majambu, the albino that we baptized and met two new investigators around her house.  And then just before going home, I felt like we should go check on this former investigator that Elder Till and I taught (we dropped her because after the first few appointments she was never around) and when we showed up she told us she was soooo happy to see us and how a lot was happening and she wants to continue learning from us. So we have a lot of hope for her and she is such a sweet person. She promised to make us Sadza ne madora! The sadza dish I had with the worms! hahaha So now my companion gets to try them! I enjoyed them last time to hopefully she will cook them well! haha. So yeah it was a good ending to the week. And we will hopefully have many baptisms in the first couple weeks of May!

Also on Sunday we found out that street contacting actually works.  haha so we met this guy at church who showed up right after church was over and we talked to him and found out that Elder Till and I gave him a pamphlet a while ago and invited him to church and this week he happened to be free so he came to church! He was too late but it was still cool! We scheduled an appointment with him and he's very interested so hopefully he'll progress!

Had pizza twice this week. I can still destroy a whole large pizza to myself like its nothing. Still got it. Iri Bho

Well all is still well over here.  Still loving life and the work.  We are getting a lot of new investigators and its cool to find new people who want to hear our message. The message that I wish the whole world could hear.  Tryna do my part here in Zim.  So fun.

Church is true.

Sharp

Cheers,

-Elder Anderson

Views

Alright so this week was another interesting story that I am excited to share with you guys. 

Okay so on Tuesday we had to take our car to the Nissan dealership to get the window fixed.  We got up super early and on the way to the dealership we got stopped by the police and the guy told me that I was driving without a window.... And I'm like, "Yeah because somebody broke into my car"  And he is like, "The fine is $10. Not 20 not 15 but $10" (saying it like a sales pitch to try to make it seem like not so much lol.  Tryna gimme a discount ticket whatever that means)  But then I was like, "So let me get this straight, I get broken into and robbed.... and now I have to pay you?...." And he was like, "You have to get the window fixed before you drive on the road."  So if you guys couldn't have already guessed, nobody in Zimbabwe offers that kind of service in the ghettos where we live.  So there was no way we could have gotten it fixed.  So I tried to explain and then he wouldn't budge.  Realizing we were already late to the Nissan place, I gave him the money and got outta there.  When I was giving him the money he was like, "So how was your day?"  And I was like, "Well it WAS going perfect." hahhahahaha then he just laughed and happily stole my $10.  The police here only get paid by the people they stop so they always have lame tickets they give.  They are super corrupt and will do anything to get money. Its ridiculous but its also so funny. So the next time that happens I'm just gonna mess with the cop hahaha and eventually get out of it. Luckily we got paid back at the office so thats good. It was a funny way to start off the week though.

So for the first part of the week we were back to taking combi's everywhere so that was as fun as it sounds hahahaha. It was my sons first experience with them so it was funny.  Without the car it made things harder but, like every experience here, it was humbling. 

So like every night this week I have played my comp in chess and ya boy is still undefeated.  like 7-0 right now.  Still got it haha.

The middle of this week was a struggle because we had to prepare 3 people for baptism which made things crazy!  We had 3 this week!  I'll attach pictures but on Friday we had a service for the first guy, Tatenda and he is a rugby coach so on Saturdays he is always busy so we had the service on Friday.  And he has always been a quite guy so we had our concerns about baptizing him and if he was really serious about it.  But after the baptism when we invited him to bear his testimony, he said that he posted on facebook that he was being baptized that day! hahaha and he was super thankful! So cool. And he asked me to do the ordinance for him and I was so shocked! Because we have been teaching him with the Muchekwa family and the father of that family is very good friends with Tatenda. So I expected him to choose Brother Muckekwa.  So yeah I baptized him and then was part of the confirmation for him. Super cool.  And the Muckekwa's told us that Tatenda was really excited about it and very happy.  

The next person was a girl named Dionne and this week was crazy because we taught her all of the commandments in one lesson hahaha we were flying through the lesson. But she is super smart and we had no doubt of baptizing her so it was dope.  And she is already enrolling in institute and hasn't missed a day of church since we started teaching her. Powerful convert. 

The last one is a funny story. So the kids name is Loveridge and he has been really excited about the baptism and has been coming to church and has a lot of friends at church.  So the funny part is that when I was baptizing him, he told me his name was Loveridge Layaan Simbarashe.  So I baptized him with that name and then on Sunday he told us a different name for the confirmation, saying his name was Loveridge Kapuka.... So we did the ordinances for the same person using different names..... So now we get to spend the first part of this week trying to find out what his actual full name is and then tell him that we have to redo the ordinances hahahaha yayyyy.... Nah it'll all be okay.  We're just confused why he told us different names. Dont get it. Oh well.  So next week hopefully we will correct that mistake. 

The funny thing about the font is that the faucet is super slow so we have to get a hose from outside to go thru a window to fill the font every time lol.  Super jing but things in Africa are just done differently.  Also the water is always super cold.  Refreshing on days when its really hot.  hahaha on those days, I'm really glad when they ask me to baptize them.

So yeah this weekend was crazy. And at the start of the next month I think we have 4 more baptisms scheduled!  Exciting times!

The other day we found these bags of chocolate milk at the store and now they are my new favorite thing.  its amazing hahaha

We found another scorpion in the house the other day.  So thats cool.

And I got murked by mosquitoes one night.  I woke up in the middle of the night with like 20 on my arm lol.  But then I fell back asleep and when I woke up at 6:30, there were almost all gone.  So basically I'm becoming immune to them. hahaha kidding.

So today for a district activity we went to this place called the National Heroes Acre.  And its this huge memorial to all the Heroes of the liberation of Zimbabwe.  Its super cool.  We got some sick pictures that I'll attach.  Then you'll see why I titled the email after Drake's album "Views". Just look up the album cover and then you'll get it.

But yes all is going great for me here in Zim.  Crazy as ever but super fun every day.  Even the bad days are super fun.  Gives me more stories to tell.  I love these people too.  They are so humble. I can't say it enough.  Its hard to explain.  But I love them.  Love this gospel too.  The confusion amid my area is confirmation enough that our church is true.  So many people blindly believe in "the word" and think they know the Bible and the gospel so its fun to confound people and to teach them simple truths that they don't know.  And this church is sooooo true my goodness.  I love being a part of the marvelous work. 

 Love you all.

Stay Steady Grindin'

Bho.

Cheers, 
Elder Anderson

Tatenda

Dionne and Loveridge

More Views

Views from the 6 hahahaha Elder Oliphant and me

 Views

Tstosi

Ladies and gentlemen what is up. Another week filled with stories.  Don't really know where to start so bear with me yet again. 

Alright so the first crazy thing is that we had somebody break into our car!! Our brand new one! Freaking crazy.  Saturday morning we were about to leave the house and then we saw one of our back windows shattered and everything in the glove box was all over the seats.  They stole my flash drive, all of our fuel coupons and our fire extinguisher in the trunk.  Crazy.  There was glass everywhere so we spent the morning cleaning that up.  Honestly wasn't even mad though.  The first thing I said to Elder Thompson was, "Dude now we have a story to tell!" haha.  So now we are going to take everything out of our car each night and we added a lot to the first gate (out of 3) to get in our house.  So hopefully no more Tsotsis come.  Oh and a "tsotsi" is a thief. 

For my next story... the other day we were soooo busy and we had like 4 appointments and wrote down a couple more people we wanted to see and then we went out and at the end of the day we had taught 10 lessons... It was so sick.  Not a single person fell thru. Even the ones we didn't have appointments with.  And then we had someone new we didn't even plan on.  Freaking 10 lessons.  So crazy.  Hard in the paint that day.  And now that the transfer is over, I added up how many lessons I've taught so far and its something like 350 or something like that.  That is insane haha.  Almost 1000 street contacts too.  I know its not about numbers but still dope.

So the end of this week also ended my 3rd transfer (sooo weird.. time flies out here).  And we got the transfer news on Saturday and luckily I am staying with my companion for the next 6 weeks and I will  be able to finish training him.  I'm excited for the next transfer already though.  I have no idea where I will go.  I might get shipped to Bulawayo and have to learn how to speak the clicking language!  That would be too sick though.  Low key hoping for that.

Sakaaaaa yeah we were able to work super hard this week and we now have three people to be baptized this week!  And a few more in the coming weeks.  All three of them came to conference and enjoyed it so I'm excited for them!  One of them, Tatenda, is a rugby coach for little kids and is super chill.  Straight G. I'll send pictures next week.

Conference was amazing.  The first time in my life I have actually been excited for conference!  And man it was powerful.  Sadly, because we had to clean up the car after we got robbed, we were late and missed Monson's talk for the Priesthood Session.  So that blows but no worries. I was able to watch the rest of the sessions on Saturday and Sunday and took a ton of notes.  Its so cool how sometimes it feels like they are talking directly to you.  Definitely got a lot out of it and am going to apply so much of what I learned.  After conference on Saturday, we chilled with the other elders in our district from Kambuzuma for the rest of the night and after buying some pizza, we borrowed a members laptop and watched the movie "God's Army".  Never even heard of it before but it is sooo good.  Needless to say, this weekend was sick.

Well, that's all I got for the meantime.  I can already say that the Zimbabwe Harare Mission is the best mission in the world.  No doubt in my mind.  The weeks go by faster and faster but I am enjoying the time as a missionary so much and I can already see myself changing.  Elder Lamb (from Rexburg) was talking about the mission the other day and he was saying something like, "guys... this is like the only time in our lives where we are stress free".  Those words are too true. I have been so happy and honestly nothing stresses me.  Just crying repentance and baptizing converts for two years.  How great it is.  Love you all and hope you had a good week.  Thank you to all who have written me and continue to write me.  Really means a lot and I look forward so much to Mondays when I can update you guys about my adventure here in Zim. 

Stay Steady Grindin.

Sharp Sharp.

Cheers,

-Elder Anderson

From left to right, Elder Thompson, Yours Truly, Elder Hamblin, Elder Lamb

These two girls always get so happy when they see us hahaha so they hopped in to the picture.  

My boy Blessing.  This guy is sick haha

Mangwanani

Well this week was boring.  Sadly we had not so many lessons this week and spent a lot of time walking around and we met a lot of people who were interested and we set up appointments and then they weren't around. But the week still had some pros so lets talk about those anditika? 

So something cool is that we have like 8 people with baptismal dates this month!  We recently had to drop a progressing investigator because her mother was all of the sudden not okay with us teaching her so thats sad.  But yeah we have a lot of people who are ready for baptism and its been exciting but we are going to need to work hard this next week.  

So we got this ironing board this week and it was so funny how excited I was to get it. We have been ironing on a table with a towel over it hahah.  So man I've been ironing likes it my day job with this new board. 

We found this athletic clothing store called "Faithwear:  evidence of things not seen" hahahaha so perfect.  Bought a bag and a hat. 

Another cool thing is that we have had all of our recent converts being active and it is so cool to see these people make this huge step to become a member of the church and then they stay active.  So cool.  That is something I have been focusing on is making sure the people I prepare for baptism are really prepared so they wont become less active afterwards.  

So amid the boring week of walking and everything we recently started teaching a former investigator again and it was really cool.  So the family is the Chibamu family and we started teaching the mother and the two daughters and then they stopped progressing and never came to church so we dropped them.  Recently we stopped by and found out the mother moved to SA and the father (who is always working and never home) came by and talked to the members that stay next door and told them to take his children to church.  So now the children we started teaching again. And in our last lesson with them, I asked if they had any questions or concerns about what we taught and Shiedza, one of the daughters, was like, "Nope but we are coming to church on Sunday." hahaha so sick.  So Shiedza and her sister came and stayed for the whole 3 hours and they have a made a lot of friends during church.  So cool.  So they will be added to the long list of investigators with a baptismal date very soon.  

The other day an investigator that we have (Loveridge) told me he was good at chess and I thought to myself, "Pff yeah okay, youre like 14" And then I played with his friend and Loveridge basically played for me and told me what to do and he was like super quick and just shredded the game and we ended up just destroying his friend.  Loveridge is insanely good it is amazing.  And he is going to be baptized this month so I have a lot of chess to play in the next weeks hahaha. 

There is a member in the ward and his name is Elton and he's one of my best friends now. He is super chill. And at church we always talk and he makes fun of the other young men and tells me, "yeah they take special classes at school" hahaha so now whenever someone is being weird or funny, I just look at Elton and we're both like, "Special classes" hahahah too funny. 

So like recently I have been getting pretty good at simple shona stuff and I try to learn something new every day.  Hoping to be pretty good by the end of my first 6 months.  My subject for the message is one of the many ways to say, "Good morning" so bho.  

Today we had a zone activity at the Domboshava caves.  It was so dope. I'll attach pictures because trying to describe it with words would be a waste of our time haha. 

Okay now I'll throw in something spiritual haha.  So I have noticed that testimony meetings here are soooo much better than at home.  These people know how to bear testimonies and they don't just get up there and say what they are grateful for hahaha.  No offense to the people of Zion but f'real it isnt a thankimony haha.  And there is like no times of silence its just one after the other and they all bear powerful testimonies and say the simple things that they know to be true.  I think this is so important for members of the church to really come to know that these things are true.  I have been a member my whole like and I didn't find out until I was preparing for my mission and then I have come to find out the rest since I have been out here but I know without a doubt that this church is true.  I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  I know that God loves us and I know Jesus is the Christ.  I love you all and hope you had a super fun week.  All is well in Africa but as always you already know we on that Stay Steady Grindin.  

bho. 

Stay Happy 

Bob Marley was honestly inspired. So in his words....Dont worry, Be happy.  

-Elder Anderson

                                                         Elders Whitting and Blignaut.  

                                                         
                                                           Only one with the Ute shirt

 Ancient paintings. 

                              There was an arrow pointed right to this tiny hole in the rock haha weird. 

district picture.  So sick. Flex on 'em

                                                   Elder Blignaut, the chillest guy I've ever met. 

Me and the Australians hahah these guys are so sick. 

And today when we were at the caves they were acting like Steve Irwin hahah it was hilarious. 

                                                            Straight thuggin with Lamb.

 2.Elder Gordon our zone leader. This kid played QB and we played catch today after the zone activity. I was sooooo happy to throw a football again. 

Elder Makalio.  The other man lol 

This guy is huge and played football and rugby and I think he's going to the U! So sick. 

 Elder Mkhalipi the man.  I always mess with this guy hahah so chill

 Just a super dope pic. 

                                                  Elder Lamb and Elder Leneham and me

                                                                     self - explanitory lol 

 and the rest are some dope pics of Domboshava.

This Is Africa

Well this week was a roller coaster my goodness. 

But before we get into my week I wanna shout out my boy Jayson getting called to the Nicaragua Managua South Mission.  So sick!  

Saka yeah this week started off just stellar and we had like 6 lessons on Tuesday which was dope.  Super spiritual thing too.  So Brother Mupamba, a recent convert of almost 6 months is my favorite person ever.  I think I have mentioned him before but we meet with him a lot because he's just super deaf and he needs help reviewing what happened at church and just because he loves us. But yeah so we met with him and at the end of the lessons and he told us about how he wants his family to join him and to be baptized and become members and especially his wife.  And I felt prompted to share the scripture in 1 Nephi when Lehi sees the vision of the tree of life.  And I had him read the scripture where Lehi says that the fruit of the tree was very desirable and made him happy.  And I related it to Mupamba and his wife and kids and he like paused and was like, "Anderson, you said this thought would be small but that wasn't very small." And now he is super motivated to get his whole family baptized and we are probable going to give his wife a date this week.  It is so sick to have the spirit bring things like that to my remembrance.  I have been studying the Book of Mormon recently and like breaking down each chapter during my personal study and it has payed off a lot. 

But yeah so after just a super good day, we woke up the next day and did our usuals around the house and then right as we got to the area, we got a call from one of the senior missionaries in charge of the cars and he was like, "So yeah Elder Anderson I have a new car here for you to pick up today."  hahahaha guys I was so happy it was insane!  So now we are straiiigghht whipping in a brand new Nissan Almera hahaha. The only down side is that it is an automatic so now I have no clue what to do with my other hand.  But man the car is so dope.  It is super quite and rides way smooth and has amazing gas mileage so it has been making our days way easier haha.  There is a God lol. So this kind of threw off our whole day and we ended up only having one lesson so that sucked but so worth it. 

Saka your probably waiting to here the decline of this coaster so here it goes haha. So yeah my comp Elder Thompson woke up on Thursday and felt kind of sick but then we got to the area and he was soooo out of it so we had a short lesson and then went home for the rest of the day.  And then the next day we went to the doctor who gave him the most ridiculous diagnosis and prescribed him with like 3 different medications haha.  So to support the stereotype, doctors here are super jing haha. But yeah so then we came home and spent the rest of Friday at the house.  And then even on Saturday and Sunday we had to come home early because he has been sick.  And even this morning he is still a little out of it but he is getting better.  We still have no clue what is wrong with him but the doc said he doesn't have malaria so thats good. But yeah during all this down time, I read like half of the New Testament hahaha not even exaggerating I was cooking thru that thing.

Saka yeah we had only a few whole days in the area and weren't able to teach that many people.  Our indicators were way down but we still had investigators come to sacrament meeting and I think we already have 4 people lined up to be baptized in April. 

Well honestly not much else happened.  I hate to have a short email this week but it really was just one of those weeks.  The church is still true though lol.  Missionary work is so fun.  Walking around the thick of Africa just mad chilling with these guys.  Rarely see white people and I love it. Crying repentance on the daily and having a blast.  Love you all.  No pics this week but I'll take some to send next time.  Guys. Zimbabwe is so sick hahaha Alright stay bho.

Stay Steady Grindin.

-Elder Anderson