February 12, 2018 - Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Hey friends and family!!!

The rainy season came!! Better late than never I guess. It has been raining for most of the week and it has been coming down consistently for the past 36 hours. Hopefully it will save a lot of the crops, because many people in Zimbabwe depend on the maize that they farm. However, missionary work in Zim gets really tough in the rain. Fun fact: Zimbabweans are terrified of walking in the rain. Usually if they don't have an umbrella, they won't go anywhere, even if it's important. Elder Byrom always asks, if you're that afraid of getting wet, why do you shower? I don't have an answer for him haha.

Some random people wanted a picture with us in the rain :)

We started off the week on Monday playing basketball for the first time in forever. It was fun, until I was tripped and skidded my hands across the asphalt. The road rash looked pretty gnarly, but we bandaged them up and I went back to playing. My hands are basically healed now, no worries. We had dinner at President Mkhabela's house with all the zone leaders that night, and it was awesome. I had the opportunity to bear my testimony along with the other new zone leaders, and it was really awesome. The next morning we had missionary leadership council (MLC). It was my first time experiencing that meeting, and it was amazing to be there with so many good missionaries to discuss the needs and progress of the mission. I learned so much from what was contributed, and I feel so privileged to be a part of the leadership.

Sister Mucheke's baptism

This week we were working with Brother and Sister Mucheke to help prepare them for baptism. Sister Mucheke has been reading the Book of Mormon on her own and has a strong testimony. Brother Mucheke has a love for the gospel and a desire to be baptized, but he has been working through quitting cigarettes. It has been hard for him, but when he makes the effort not to smoke he is so happy. The gospel truly changes people, and we really stressed true commitment and repentance when we met with them this week. The day before we were supposed to interview him for baptism, he texted us and said that he was going to wait for his baptism. We were a little bummed out, but also kind of happy because we think he is going to work more on repentance and the word of wisdom. Sister Mucheke did get baptized this week! It was pouring rain, but she made the hour long walk with her umbrella. Powerful!! The font wasn't filling very quickly because we have to use the water from the kitchen tap (yeah...it's ineffective) so Elder Byrom, Elder Larson, and I were trying to get it to fill as fast as possible. We got pretty wet in the process because it was pouring rain, but the baptism went through and all went well! The 9 year old girl that the other elders were baptizing was terrified of water, so that complicated things a bit, but everything worked out!

Filling the font with help from the rain

Remember the dunes from last week? The rain destroyed them this week, making the barely manageable roads more difficult to navigate. There are tons of puddles everywhere too, so we've had a couple scares with almost getting stuck/swamped. The rain also really discourages people from coming to church. The branch was at about half the attendance from last week, mostly because of the precipitation. It's a bit frustrating sometimes, but the members have been helping us a lot! Our branch mission leader, Brother Dickson (yes he's a Shona), is so enthusiastic and so active, and that is a huge help to us. 

On a downside, we've had no water or electricity for the past few days. Some tsotsi (thief) has been sneaking in and shutting off the power to our pump, so that's really annoying, but hopefully it works out soon. It's just part of the mission experience, and I've learned to love it! 

Well, I don't have much time left (sorry if this email isn't super comprehensive) but that's basically all for this week! Love you all and I hope you have a great week!!

Love Elder Barlow