 |
| Happy Birthday America, all the way from Zim! |
Oh say can you see, because I sure can't from here! Haha hey everyone, I hope your week and your Independence Day were awesome. No surprise, almost nobody celebrates the 4th in Zimbabwe, but the best way to celebrate everything is to do missionary work!
On the 4th we had district meeting. Our district gave us some great advice on our struggles with bringing people to church, so we decided to apply them this week! It worked so well! We arranged for a member to bring Sister Pardon to church and sent out a text to all our investigators the night before church. And they came!! We had 10 investigators attend church, and it was super exciting. Sister Beth and her friends walked 2 and a half hours to get to church, even though we were unable to meet with them this week! There were also a couple miracle investigators that came, even though we had never met them before! Brother Tendai and Mai Arnold were able to have their marriage bans read during church, and Elder Horton and I couldn't have been more excited! The Lord truly blessed us this week.
One of the investigators that came to church was Mercy. We taught her for the first time this week. She's 25 (but super short) and loves missionary work!! She just goes around trying to help and pray with people in the community, and basically she is super prepared for the gospel. Apparently her church doesn't really encourage member missionary work, and she was very excited to learn that our church is a missionary church! We had a nice lesson with her and it was so awesome to have her come to church after only one meeting. We also met a man named Wilson this week. He is quiet and humble and has been trying to quit smoking for his health and for his small family. We had some sweet lessons with him and he is working to achieve his goals for overcoming his addiction! His heart has definitely been prepared for the gospel.
It rained this week, which was super surprising. Winter in Zimbabwe is usually very dry, so this was unusual. It made all the dust in Hatcliffe turn to mud and made the evenings SUPER cold. The sun came back after, which was a huge relief. Haha I think all this warm weather has made me soft. I'm glad it doesn't snow here!
Fun fact: I ate garwe (crocodile) this week! It tastes kind of like fishy chicken, but it was super good!
 |
| Us and the Trogers |
On Friday we were invited over to the Trogers' house for a 7th of July barbecue (we had teaching appointments on the 4th). The Trogers are an American family in our ward; Bro. Troger works for the American embassy. We had steak, barbecue chicken, and a busbuck that they shot while hunting. Probably the best food that I've had in Zimbabwe, holy cow. They are an awesome family too. Their kids running around chasing each other with nerf guns reminded me a little of home. After dinner we shared 2 Nephi 2 with them about our freedom to choose. We are so blessed to have so many rights and freedoms, but the greatest one comes from God: our ability to choose right and wrong for ourselves. It is a blessing to be able to learn from our mistakes and grow in wisdom/understanding as we progress in this life. Overall, the best late 4th of July celebration I could've asked for!
Today we played basketball with all the missionaries, which is always fun. I also got certified to drive a manual, which was a bit sketchy, but I didn't stall once! I hope you all have an amazing week this week. I also hope you know that I love you all and pray for you! I know this is the Lord's work and that He loves us so much more than we know!!
Love Elder Barlow
No comments:
Post a Comment