Area: Zimbabwe, Bulawayo/Nketa
Companion: Elder Allen
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| Singing Carols on Christmas DAY, Jake is far right |
Family! Merry Christmas!
So you are learning some Ndebele, neh? Do you practice with sound? I promise that you will not pronounce things right unless you here it first. Ha Ha! I have been trying for over a year now and I just cannot seem to say frog (ixoxo). Maybe we should just speak Ndebele during our phone call tomorrow. :)
So I was very glad to hear about grandma. My prayers and heart have been extended toward her this week, well, more than usual.
What?! McKenna has her call? Where is she going? Man, you should have waited to tell me tomorrow. I am going to be dying to know now. My guess is the Zimbabwe Harare Mission.
My loafers that I bought in Mutare are dead now. I am back to wearing my Ecco shoes. I was planning on leaving my shoes. The only part that looks bad on my Ecco's are that I kick stones so the front of the shoe is scuffed up. Otherwise, when you polish the shoes they look good. The souls look the same as when I bought them. I have not touched my other shoes I came with. They only need some repair stitching and some glue on the bottom and they will be restored to perfection. I am planning on repairing my loafers. I love those things.
So as for my week. It was wonderful. Elder Allen and I have found a lot of success. Although, my curse has continued. Everytime I find someone POWERFUL who just loves the gospel and wants so much to be baptized someone (usually a family member) comes and dominates them and tells them they cannot follow. Last week, Elder Allen an I were referred to a wonderful family. They loved our message and agreed to baptism. We continued sharing with them this week. They received answers to prayers and they now this message is true. In our last visit the gogo (who does not speak English) gave us fire because she wants to learn and be baptized but she does not know the language, so we had Brother Marshall (branch missionary) teach her. Strong family.
On Sunday we had assigned a recent convert (the one who had referred us to the family) to pick the for church. We ran into her as we went to pick some investigators and she was a lone. She said they were not coming. We met again at church and I asked what had happened because she seemed down. We found out that when she went to pick up the family there was an aunt there that told her, "In our culture we do not worship." and the woman ripped up a Restoration pamphlet we had left. The aunt then went to rip the Book of Mormon but one of the family members we were teaching grabbed the book from the aunt and went to his room crying.
These situations always seem to happen to me. We will be going to visit the family this week. Hopefully the Lord will show us what to do. I have come to realize that most problems that come from living the gospel are not doctrinal, but social. Ask any less-active why they are less-active and you will discover it was because a member was cruel to them or that a family member rejected them. THe investigators we teach talk to there friends after lessons and the friends mock them. The fight against right is social not doctrinal. We know what is right. Our first parents received the gift of knowledge of good and evil which we inherantly receive. We know the gospel is true and right, but "they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (John 12:43).
The message I learned from General Conference was that of conversion. I wish I would have understood this when I started mission. This week I had also asked about all the people I had taught when I was in Blues last year...all less-active. This knowledge was saddening, but it also taught me something. We have to teach for conversion in such a way they will choose the gospel over all else. Their roots have to sink deep into gospel soil (Matthew 13:3-8, 18-23) or else they will wither and die off. We are not perfect. I am not perfect. But I am learning and I have hope in God and in a better world/future (Ether 12:4).
Until we speak tomorrow. I love you like nuts.
Keep the Faith
L O V E like a DISCIPLE of JESUS CHRIST
Elder TOM
So you are learning some Ndebele, neh? Do you practice with sound? I promise that you will not pronounce things right unless you here it first. Ha Ha! I have been trying for over a year now and I just cannot seem to say frog (ixoxo). Maybe we should just speak Ndebele during our phone call tomorrow. :)
So I was very glad to hear about grandma. My prayers and heart have been extended toward her this week, well, more than usual.
What?! McKenna has her call? Where is she going? Man, you should have waited to tell me tomorrow. I am going to be dying to know now. My guess is the Zimbabwe Harare Mission.
My loafers that I bought in Mutare are dead now. I am back to wearing my Ecco shoes. I was planning on leaving my shoes. The only part that looks bad on my Ecco's are that I kick stones so the front of the shoe is scuffed up. Otherwise, when you polish the shoes they look good. The souls look the same as when I bought them. I have not touched my other shoes I came with. They only need some repair stitching and some glue on the bottom and they will be restored to perfection. I am planning on repairing my loafers. I love those things.
So as for my week. It was wonderful. Elder Allen and I have found a lot of success. Although, my curse has continued. Everytime I find someone POWERFUL who just loves the gospel and wants so much to be baptized someone (usually a family member) comes and dominates them and tells them they cannot follow. Last week, Elder Allen an I were referred to a wonderful family. They loved our message and agreed to baptism. We continued sharing with them this week. They received answers to prayers and they now this message is true. In our last visit the gogo (who does not speak English) gave us fire because she wants to learn and be baptized but she does not know the language, so we had Brother Marshall (branch missionary) teach her. Strong family.
On Sunday we had assigned a recent convert (the one who had referred us to the family) to pick the for church. We ran into her as we went to pick some investigators and she was a lone. She said they were not coming. We met again at church and I asked what had happened because she seemed down. We found out that when she went to pick up the family there was an aunt there that told her, "In our culture we do not worship." and the woman ripped up a Restoration pamphlet we had left. The aunt then went to rip the Book of Mormon but one of the family members we were teaching grabbed the book from the aunt and went to his room crying.
These situations always seem to happen to me. We will be going to visit the family this week. Hopefully the Lord will show us what to do. I have come to realize that most problems that come from living the gospel are not doctrinal, but social. Ask any less-active why they are less-active and you will discover it was because a member was cruel to them or that a family member rejected them. THe investigators we teach talk to there friends after lessons and the friends mock them. The fight against right is social not doctrinal. We know what is right. Our first parents received the gift of knowledge of good and evil which we inherantly receive. We know the gospel is true and right, but "they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (John 12:43).
The message I learned from General Conference was that of conversion. I wish I would have understood this when I started mission. This week I had also asked about all the people I had taught when I was in Blues last year...all less-active. This knowledge was saddening, but it also taught me something. We have to teach for conversion in such a way they will choose the gospel over all else. Their roots have to sink deep into gospel soil (Matthew 13:3-8, 18-23) or else they will wither and die off. We are not perfect. I am not perfect. But I am learning and I have hope in God and in a better world/future (Ether 12:4).
Until we speak tomorrow. I love you like nuts.
Keep the Faith
L O V E like a DISCIPLE of JESUS CHRIST
Elder TOM
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