How far??
Haha that's basically the casual greeting down here in the land of Blues. The first time I heard that I didn't know how to respond so I started laughing. Haha usually Elder Daka and I will just say 10 meters or something funny. It's a different world!
  |
| Tshabalala, day...and night |
The weather is definitely picking back up here! During the day it is really hot without a cloud in the sky. Haha I forgot how serious Zimbabwean summers are. The hard part is that after walking around, when you sit down to teach a lesson you start feeling like a nap would be the best thing ever. That's definitely getting to be a challenge these days, but we push through!
 |
| Comps |
Haha Elder Daka sometimes mixes up his R's and his L's, so sometimes resurrection will be "lesullection" and level will be "revel." It's pretty awesome. He's a good missionary and we are enjoying our time together. It's really nice to finally be familiar with the area. I don't feel lost anymore, which is good. I still keep finding people who speak Shona, which is a lot of fun. It shocks people like crazy when they hear me speak. We found this gogo who stays next to some recent converts and she only speaks Shona. We taught her and it was cool to speak to her in her language, even if I occasionally needed a translator. We taught her about the Restoration and about true prophets, which she loved because there are so many false prophets going around and teaching wrong doctrines. In her closing prayer, she prayed for us to be protected as we preach the gospel and also to know if Joseph Smith was a true prophet. It was powerful!
Thursday was my one year mark on my mission!! I have officially spent one year of my life preaching the restored gospel and representing Jesus Christ, and I couldn't be happier about it! During these last 365 days, I have grown so much as a person. I've learned to talk to strangers, testify boldly, speak a new language, and so many other things. I am eternally grateful for the experiences of the last year that have made me who I am, and I can't wait to see what this next and final year of my mission will bring!
 |
| Thandeka's baptism |
On Saturday, we had Thandeka's baptism. We had her cousins who were members come support and everything went great. As always, the water was freezing cold, but it was definitely worth it! Sunday was pretty good as well. We walked to church with an investigator named Samantha. She's 16 and super intelligent. From our lessons with her, she understands so well and seems really prepared! We also picked up Anton, a mentally disabled boy who was baptized a few months ago. He's a sweet kid and loves church; he knows every Sunday that he's going to church and he gets excited. It's awesome. I had the privilege of speaking in sacrament meeting. I spoke on charity, the pure love of Christ. If you haven't studied 1 Corinthians 13 or Moroni 7 lately, I would definitely recommend it. Jesus Christ loved all of us enough to suffer and die so that we could be able to return to heaven. We have been given the greatest gift of love possible, and it's up to us to show our gratitude by loving God and our fellow man. The two greatest commandments, according to the Savior, are to love God and our neighbor. Love can be something as simple as a listening ear or a smile, and we will never regret it. Paul says that if we don't have charity we are nothing, even if we do all sorts of amazing things. Love should be in our hearts and it should be shown to all around us. It truly is the greatest motive. Moroni 7:48 counsels us that we should pray with "all the energy of heart" that we may be filled with this love , and I hope each and every one of us will seek to do that! I love you all and I love my Savior, and I am so grateful to be serving Him in Zimbabwe!
Elder Barlow
No comments:
Post a Comment