March 19, 2012 - 200 Days Serving!!!

My Dear Lovely Family,

So I suppose I will respond to last week's message. Again, I was very happy to know that my wonderful sista had a grand birthday. I would have enjoyed to be there for her special day, but I am on the Lord's errand, you know? Is she enjoying all of her presents still or is bored with everything now?

That story about the missionary is a sad one for sure. A lot of missionaries come to mission for the wrong reasons or they might not even know why they are here. It even takes time for them to realize what they should be. Thanks to my wonderful Father in Heaven he blessed me with wonderful people to teach and convert me before mission. I am truly highly favored of the Lord. I know because I do not deserve all of these blessings he has given me. But I thank you again for encouraging me and helping me with little situations.

How is Grandpa doing? I prayed for him. I hope he is doing well. Oh yeah, How was his birthday? Did he like my card?

Thank you so very much for all you do for me and those I love. It seems like you are always sending packages. Ha Ha! I hope Josh will enjoy the Shona BoM. So far I have not received any more packages since those two envelopes. Also, the package for Elder Wae has not come yet. I talked to Sister *** and she said that sometimes the packages just take long to get here. So she said not to worry. :)

As for me, I am fantastic! I just have been having some personal issues. It is nothing to worry about. It is just that I feel I have hit a spiritual wall. Elder Miller have been working hard and the Lord has really blessed us in many ways. We have had members tell us that the missionaries are too friendly now-a-days. So the work is great and my companion and I are POWERFUL, but as for myself...personally, I feel stuck. I do not feel like I am progressing. It is like I am fighting the current. I am trying to change myself, I am trying to reach my goals, I am trying to adjust myself to my Father's will, but I am stuck. I try to go one way and it feels like I do not move. I have been pondering these things lately and I have come up with some ideas on how I can move forward (like I want to make a goal of following the "white handbook" to the dot). I do not know. Maybe you may have some suggestions for me? :)

The branch is doing very well. It is finally settling down and I see it moving forward. I have realized that when the church first takes root it goes through a lot of challenges. Now that Domboshawa is a branch now I know that things will be smoother. I can already see so much growth.

Like I was saying before my companion and I are great! I really love Elder Miller. We have a lot of fun together. I can tell he is still learning. I hope I can help him in some way, but for now we are really enjoying.

Thank you for keeping me updated with everything. Ha Ha!

So things have been PoWeRfUl in Domboshawa. So last week we went to Domboshawa Caves and Heroes Acre. Ha Ha! The caves was actually just a hole in a very big wall with some paintings on it. We took some PoWeRfUl photos though and we also witnessed a balancing rock. The balancing rocks are so cool! I guess it is what Zimbabwe is known for. I cannot wait to ask God how the rocks turned out the way they are. Heroes Acre was pretty much a shrine to the president of Zimbabwe. It was really cool and we learned some history. Freakin' Rhodesians man. Ha Ha! My companion and I started saying that after the tour. Our tour guide was really cool. I liked him a lot. We talked a bit with him and he asked us some questions about the church. 

We have been finding some really great people lately and we have been trying to work hard with the members. We really want the branch to grow strong. We have been visiting recent converts a lot to work on retention. In our finding we have been exploring new areas. We are going deep into the bush. Saturday felt like we were going on a hike. Sometimes we were on the trail and other times we would just walk through the bush. We went to a kamusha (village)... I thought that was really cool. The people we taught did not know English, so I did my best using English/Shona mix and then Brother *** taught the lesson. It is fascinating to do missionary work out in villages. Domboshawa is so great! We are really working hard with the leaders. Visiting them and doing all we can to help them. I want to make sure I leave Domboshawa with a strong branch. Oh I pray that the Lord will be with me and that I am doing His will. I have really grown to love this area. I hope I can gain charity. The goal i had coming into mission was to gain charity, so I hope I am doing it right. As for today, Elder Miller and I will be exploring H-Town (Harare Central), so we are excited to find fantastic things.

I love you all so much. You are a great support to me and I thank Father in Heaven for blessing me with you in my life.

Keep the Faith

Elder Tom

Oh yeah, I do not know if I told you but the flash with music cannot be read. I need MP3. Thank you! I love you! Oh yeah. I was also wondering if I could get Disney music, especially the Herculius one "I can go the distance."

Elder Miller says, "Hi!"