Masvingo!

First week in Masvingo and man i love this place. it is so much quieter and more peaceful than Harare.  Also there is like 0 trash everywhere and the people have nice houses.  So it doesn't really feel like Africa besides the absolute scarcity of white people.  I am the only murungu in this city hahahaha its hilarious. And the town honestly looks like a small town in the states. It is so cool. I am enjoying it here for sure. 

My new companion, Elder Fili is so cool.  When I met him he had a phat mustache and looked super greasy hahaha but I love the guy.  He is so humble and has a powerful testimony.  He struggles with English though so president gave me the assignment to train him on that. Never thought coming to Africa would include teaching a Tongan how to speak English hahaha.  I dont have pictures of him this week but next time I'll be sure to send some!  He makes me laugh so much too hahaha he is super funny and loves messing with people. For example, whenever our DL goes to shower, my companion turns off the water pump hahahaha and his sarcasm is equal to mine. Despite the small language barrier we are enjoying hahaha

My first week here was cool! We got right to work and I met a lot of the members and all the investigators and we have a few progressing towards baptismal dates in June! So cool. And this week we found 13 new investigators hahahaha off the charts. Our goal was like 5 hahaha.  So hopefully we can sort out the jing from the straight and continue to find those who have been prepared for us to teach.  

I have eaten sadza so much lately.  My comp loves it too and we have it everyday for lunch and almost every day for dinner too. And it is still the best thing ever haha.  

The weather here is actually very cold. Like today I am wearing a sweatshirt and chinos while emailing and I have to sleep with two huge blankets each night.  And this morning we had no hot water so we all took cold showers hahaha Never thought I would be cold in Africa.  Family might need to send some sweats for me. 

Sunday was such a good day.  So there are 4 of us in Masvingo and we all serve for one branch.  All of us participated in the sacrament and I was blessing hahhaha it has been a while since I did that.  But then me and Elder Parco (the other missionary who got transferred here with me) got to bear our testimonies.  And then there were some very powerful talks given and then we had interviews with president.  And we had a good a short interview where he assigned me to help Fili with English but I love president. And he let us as a district chose the hymns we will sing at the next zone conference.  Speaking of hymns, I have a new love for them. i love singing them and listening to them. But then after church a lot of the kids came out of primary and they gave us all hugs and were jumpin into our arms and it was so cool. I love the kids here. And making them smile and laugh is so fun! Glad I have 18 more months to spend with them hahaha.  But I love this branch. Powerful members and recent converts and we are working a lot with less actives to bring them back to the fold.  

I am loving it here and love everything about Masvingo.  The people, the kids, the weather, the elders. Its all so good. Love the gospel too. My testimony grows everyday.  The other day we watched 17 miracles as a district before going to bed and man i love that movie.  Love those people who sacrificed so much for us. They wouldn't go thru that if this wasn't true. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that God answers our prayers.  That he really is our loving Heavenly Father.  And I thank Him so much for sending me here to serve the people of Zimbabwe.  

Have a good week!

Much love 

Cheers,

Elder Anderson

Here are the pictures I promised to send last week. All my friends i left behind in Marimba and Mufakose Wards. 

The Muchekwa family who taught me how to make sadza and served me my first plate of sadza. Also, Tatenda, one of the most powerful guys I baptized. Love this family so much. 

Joe, the coolest guy ever. and then Nokutenda, one of our recent converts who is the funniest girl ever.  We rapped and hit dem folks together when I said bye to them.  You can see the ctr rings i gave them too hahaha  

 Kudakwashe (our newly called ward mission leader) and Douglas.  Love these guys. They are so chill and they made me laugh so much hahaha Douglas talks like Bane from Batman hahaha

This is Stanley, easily my best friend.  hahaa he was in the bishopric and when he would work with us we would rap together and he likes the exact same music i used to listen too.  We were pals and he gave me his favortie tie when I said bye to him.  So i left one of my favorites with my last comp to give to him. 

The Nyamugara family who served me Madora for the first time. Whenever we had nothing to do we would go see them and they are one of my favorite families. Before the picture they served madora and rice! hahaha it was so nice. 

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Love these people. They were all taken the same day so thats why I'm wearing the same thing in each picture hahaha

Dueces Harare.

Totally got transferred out of Harare!  Its about time I got outta that place.  Now I will be working in Masvingo and my new companion is Elder Fili. He's freaking from Tonga! My prayers are answered hahahaha. And also, I'm still driving but back to a manual Chevy Aveo.  And we stay in the same house as the only other elders in our district.  District of 4 missionaries. So sick. I can already tell this transfer is bout to be a riot.

So although I'm happy to be somewhere new, I am going to miss Marimba Park and Mufakose wards.  I was chill with so many members and converts and it was hard saying bye to everyone.  I forgot my camera this week, but next time I'll send some pictures of my best friends that side. It was super cool too because I didn't tell anyone I was leaving until after Sacrament meeting but the hymns were "How Great Thou Art" and "God Be With You Til We Meet Again" two of my favorite hymns.  So sweet. And then after church we spent a lot of time going around and saying bye to my favorite people. I'll definitely stay in touch with some of the people in that area. Bitter sweet day. Felt like a season finale to a show haha.

Anyways, to report on my last week in Marimba, we go a lot of work done. I actually felt like a stereotypical missionary too because we actually tried door contacting! We found like 4 promising new investigators too! It was so sick. Definitely converted to the method.  We also had our last two baptisms fall thru because the girls didn't feel ready. And I wasn't even mad because I was happy they actually understood the depth of the covenant and want to be ready for it.  So hopefully Elder Thompson will and baptize them soon.

Funny story. So one of my favorite families is the Nyamugara family and the other day we we stopped by their place with the other elders, after doing a baptismal interview.  And we were talking to the mother and Elder Oliphant asked about her pregnancy and then she said that she is 6 months. And then Elder Hamblin looked at me and said, "wait how long have you been here?" and I as like, "6 months..." and then we all started laughing and then the mother was like, "yeah its practically his child" hahahhaa and then the laughing died down a bit and then right before we left she was like, "yeah I know elder Anderson very well" hahhahah I was like, "woah woah woah" and then the other elders were like, "what have you been doing here for all the 6 months?!?!" hahahahaha we were all laughing so hard.

The Nyamugara family was the last family we saw yesterday before we went home and they made us dinner, Pasta and madora (the caterpillars) and chicken! Man it was so nice. There is a weird moment when you just look at it and realize that you are straight eating a caterpillar hahaha but nevertheless it is super good. 

Anyways, I just arrived in Masvingo so I don't know much about the area but I am so excited to start this transfer and to be in a new area. Serving a mission was the best decision I have made and I like to leave my testimony that  I know without a doubt that this is the only true and living church upon the face of the earth. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  I know that God lives and he hears and answers our prayers. And lastly, I know that Jesus is the Christ, and that because of his infinite love for us, we may all reside in the mansions of our Heavenly Father one day.  Love you all. Stay happy.

God Speed

Stay Steady Grindin'

Cheers,

-Elder Anderson

Mother's Day

Well this week flew by my goodness. Hahaha 

Tuesday was weird because we didn't get to the area until like 4:00. We had district meeting and then had to go to the mission office, and then went to lunch, and then had to meet with the ZL's so we could get more books and pamphlets. And then we had to sort everything out between the 4 companionships in the district.  So then we taught a recent convert and then it was already dark so we headed home.

Then the rest of the week went pretty fast.  Probably because I was so excited to call home on Saturday haha.

One cool story though. We met this guy named Kennedy and he told us he heard about the church from one of his friends.  We taught him about the restoration and after the lesson he said he wanted to join our church.  We were like.... Woah. hahaha he didn't come to church this week but we still have hope for the guy.

We also gave a baptismal date the our progressing investigator Sandra who has shown a lot of potential for us! She also didn't come to church but hopefully they will come through.

Saka finally the weekend came and Saturday flew by and then we got the chance to talk to our families!  And it was such a struggle.  So on Tuesday in district meeting the sisters told us only one of them was going to skype. So we made plans to get enough laptops from members.  And then on Saturday the sisters tell us they all want to skype.  And then on Sunday they told us that only one of them was going to skype again. So we were stressed the freak out trying to get laptops for everyone but it finally worked out and then everyone was able to talk to their families.  Man technology is such a blessing.  I love my family so much.  Words cant describe how much I loved seeing you guys. 

And today we started the day off at the office to turn in some baptismal records and then we saw some other elders playing football. Like legit football not the lame wanna-be we call soccer. Like they had a straight pig skin they were tossing around and I got to throw again! It was soooo nice. i was just rifling to this kid and then some other elders that used to play were saying we need to make a football team for the mission lol. Ya'll ready know I'd start.  Hopefully we could win more than one game though hahahahaha freak. But yeah and then we went golfing and were just messing around on the driving range.  We found this course that's super nice and we were enjoying. It was nice.  I was showing up the elders in my district though. Smokin em 200 plus hahaha it was nice. Good day. And then tonight we are having a bon fire and roasting marsh mellows haha when in Africa right?

Alright well I love you guys. Hope you all have a good week.  I love this church and love being a missionary.  Teaching people the gospel is so nice.  I know this church is true and that the Book of Mormon is without a doubt the word of God. And I know that God lives here in Zimbabwe and is preparing these people to received the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Stay happy 

Stay Steady Grindin

Mufambe Bho

Cheers,

-Elder Anderson

Happy Mothers Day!!!!

Pictures from our Mother's Day chat with Elder B

A Week In The Life....

Time is truly flying.  Monday's feel like every other day.  Had a decent week.  Feel obliged to provide a run down.  Here goes nothin. lol.

Aight so this week started with a Zone Conference on Tuesday that literally lasted 6 hours.... So the whole day was shot hahaha. Funniest thing ever though. One sister spoke and gave a talk on how we should go about teaching our companions to speak the mission language.... Turns out she's the only sister in the whole mission right now that is teaching a missionary how to speak english.... So none of us were listening and almost everyone fell asleep. And she was assigned to speak for like 20 minutes.... Makes me think President Mkhabela was giving us another taste of his hilarious sense of humor hahaha.  Otherwise, the conference wasn't too bad and I took some good notes from the speakers.  We had 3 zones together for it so I was able to talk to a bunch of elders I haven't seen in a while. Super fun. 

Then we got to work starting on Wednesday. 

We met some really cool guys this week and we were divinely led.  We had this appointment with one of our progressing investigators named Tatenda and she is super cool.  But she wasn't around so we left and saw this guy next door doing laundry and he was looking at us and we said hi to him but I felt like we should go talk to him so we sat down and chatted for a while and we found out he has been less active for the last like 20 years and he used to come to church a lot and he was a teacher in elders quorum and we had a good talk and he committed to come to church next week! So cool. He was jacked too hahaha wearing a wife beater and was huuuuge.

Then another day we needed to get the car cleaned and we dropped it off to this guy Moses who always does an amazing job for only $4 so sick. And then that made us walk to the lesson and on the way these two guys stopped us and were like, "Okay I have a question, we have been having an argument and I need you to settle it. So do you guys listen to music?" hahahaha I was like.... yeah. And One of them was like, "I win! See? I told you!" hahahha and we ended up talking to them and they both are poets and song artists and they make music and just chill all the time. And they were interested in the church so we are going to meet with them this week.  They even promised to come to church one of these weeks.  Lame excuse of a promise but its something.  And the cool thing is that if we didnt wash the car, we wouldn't have met them. So cool.

Another cool story, we were teaching the Tatenda i spoke about previously and she has in the past been kind of apprehensive and not really sure about things. But when we finally saw her this week and when we got there she was reading the Book of Mormon. So sick haha but we taught her the gospel of jesus christ and gave her a baptismal date.  And she straight up told us that she knows the Book of Mormon is true and that she feels so peaceful when she reads it and that she has already seen the gospel bless her life. It was so cool because I was then able to relate with her exactly and bear my testimony and man it was so cool. So she will probably be baptized right after I get transferred. And she's going to be married to a member so she'll be strong!

We finally got everything figured out with Loveridge, the kid who we baptized and confirmed with two different names. He accepted the date of the 6th so that will be cool. 

So recently I have been pronouncing my words a lot better and haven't really been speaking like a nasally American and it is so cool. Turning into a grammar Nazi though.  Like my companion is till young on mission and he calls the Book of Mormon the book a Mormon and it makes me so mad hahahha. And when he prays he says, in the name a jesus christ amen.... hahaha. Granted, I used to do that too but I've since changed my old ways. 1 Corinthians 13 verse whatever about leaving childish things hahaha.

But yeah the people here make fun of us for the way we speak and its so true.  We speak with our noses half the time and now that I point that out to you, all of you will be self conscious about it hahahahha kidding.  The pressure here is too real so I have been trying really hard to change my voice almost hahaha man.

We have a young recent convert who is teaching me a lot of Shona so now I can almost bare my testimony and say a pray in Shona! So cool.  Its really cool to hear people speak it and be able to understand what they are saying! I'm not even supposed to learn the language but I still think it will be cool to speak it! it sounds so cool too! For example, to start a prayer you would say, "Mwari baba vari kum soro ku denga" and then to close you would say "Ne muzita ra Jesu Kristu, Amen" hahaha man its sick.

The other day we climbed the "mountain" in our area to take a short cut to one of our appointments. The height thereof was that of a small hill but even that allowed us to see quite a bit. Its funny what these guys think a mountain is. Got some cool pictures.  They'll be attached.

My comp and I made chicken tacos the other day. Weird to eat something like that in Zim but it was still good.

I must be losing weight because I have to have all my slacks tailors because I resemble a small elephant walking around in some of them haha oh well.

Anyways love you guys.  I know this church is true. I know the Book of Mormon is true and I know that this is the Lords work and I am so happy to be a part of it.  Love you all so much and you all stay in my prayers. Hope you have another good week and enjoy living in the best country in the world... Besides Zimbabwe. Honestly this place is amazing. I'll never forget the words of a white resident of Zim that I met on the plane ride here.  She told us, "Ya know God lives there right?" So true. Amid all the confusion, the Lord is preparing those people here to be apart of his fold.  So cool.  Love this so much.

Stay Bho.

Stay Steady Grindin.

Cheers guys, 

-Elder Anderson

This guy was mad chillin in our room. I feel so bad for him hahaaha he's obviously been thru some crazy stuff. The stories this guy could tell.... man. 

Just another street view of my area. 

 This is the recent convert named Shaun who teaches my like 90% of the Shona I know. He is so funny.

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My companion and I were taken away in the spirit up to a high mountain top hahaha