Hey everybody!!
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| My improvised Halloween costume |
I hope you all had a fantastic Halloween. Some of you, like my younger siblings, collected enough candy to feed a missionary in Africa this week, so if any of you are feeling generous you can add some to your food storage (I'm sure it won't expire by August 2018). The holiday passed pretty quietly because that's not really a thing here, but you wouldn't believe it if you were in Zimbabwe because you see many potential costume contest winners walking the streets every day haha. Of course, for tradition's sake, I threw together a Nephite costume with what little resources I had. My companion passed on taking a picture with me; whether it was because of embarrassment on my behalf or another reason, I'm not sure haha.
This week we worked hard to prepare Perseverance for baptism, and we had the opportunity to teach her about the temple. She of course had lots of questions, but it was a very spiritual lesson. As I bore testimony to her of the sacredness and blessings of the temple, I felt such an immense gratitude for the Lord's house and the eternal blessings that my family and I have receive because of it. These amazing people will soon have their own temple, and I cannot wait for the day when that sacred structure will be available to all of Zimbabwe.
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| Perseverance's baptism!!! |
We also met with Faith again. It was her birthday, and we sang for her. Elder Magoha fulfilled the African tradition of splashing water on the birthday person. However, the excitement wound down when she told us of the struggles she is having with her living situation. She is only 16 years old and is going through so much, and Elder Magoha both discussed our wishes to do more to help. However, I know this gospel can change lives and enables us, through our faith/diligence/patience (see Alma 32), to gain greater peace and blessings in this life. Even though it doesn't seem like it, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the solution to our problems. The Savior can heal us when we are broken and set our sights on higher blessings if we only put our trust in Him.
Perseverance got baptized on Saturday!! It was incredible. Her testimony was so awesome and I'm so excited for the journey that she's begun!! One of her little sisters, Charmain, told Perseverance later that she would follow her and get baptized when she was older and their dad would let her. That made it all the more awesome!! Perseverance was confirmed yesterday during a very spiritual fast and testimony meeting. The Spirit was so strong and the uplifting and peaceful feelings were so needed. I have a huge testimony of keeping the Sabbath Day holy every week because it recharges our spiritual batteries, allows us to renew our covenants through the sacrament, and gives us the peace we need to take on the coming week.
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| We cut down a banana tree in our back yard |
At the end of this week, we had a tough time finding people to teach. Nearly all of our appointments fell through Friday-Sunday, so we spent lots of time talking to new people and contacting them. Not many of them really seemed interested, but if there's anything I've learned about missionary work, it's that you can't use your own judgment to decide who will receive the gospel or not. I have faith and hope that we will find among those people someone who has been prepared for the truth. We got to teach Adrian on Sunday as well. He's a track sprinter that's finishing up his schooling exams and struggles with feeling discouraged about life. Elder Magoha and I helped him with some of his geography questions and then taught about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. I also got to share Elder Hugh B. Brown's story of the Currant Bush (which my Aunt Sarah sent to me last week, thanks!) and I taught him about how sometimes the Lord loves us to enough to cut us down so that we can become what He knows we can be. I know it's hard to accept God's will in our lives because sometimes we think we have a better plan, but I know that our Heavenly Father has the very best in mind for us if we're willing to humble ourselves and trust Him.
The transfer also ended and I will be staying in Tshabalala to finish training Elder Magoha. I look forward to all that it will bring!! Love you all!! Have a wonderful week!!
Love Elder Barlow
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