May 7, 2018 - Going the Extra Mile...or Kilometer

Hey friends and family!!

I hope all of you enjoyed your first week of May!! I can't believe that it's already May and the winter will soon be starting here in Zim. It's a bit of a crazy but awesome time to be the zone leaders in the Harare East zone. This week was definitely one of the busiest of my mission, but it was mostly for good reasons!! Elder Till and I certainly have not had any free time.

Tuesday was MLC. Elder Byrom and his companion came and stayed the night at our house, which was awesome. We were taught a lot about what it means to be a successful missionary and how if we follow the simple counsel in Preach My Gospel, we will find the success the Lord wants us to have. The mission is definitely progressing and 2018 is promising to be an incredible year. On the way home, Elder Till gave me a sweet birthday present by rear-ending a car. Haha it wasn't bad and there was no damage or injuries, but we still had to fill out some reports with the police and the mission office. Between that and having to run errands to Marondera and Tafara, our Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty busy.

On Thursday, we had to assist some of the sister missionaries in our zone with some issues in their area. We had to promptly leave the area after we had already been scrambling to prepare our candidates for baptism and drive to Tafara. By the time we got the issue solved and everyone settled, it was nearly midnight, so we came home and stuffed our faces with banana bread before going straight to bed. Luckily, all is well and missionary work is in full swing for everyone in our zone!

On Friday, we had interviews with President Mkhabela. It had been a few months since my last interview with him because I had been sick, so it was could to sit down and talk with him. He's very gifted when it comes to knowing and using the scriptures, and he used that knowledge to instruct our zone on what the fruits of true conversion are. In my interview, he also helped me see that my potential has no limit, and that if I push myself out of my comfort zone and seek to obey all the Lord's commandments, there's no ceiling for what I can achieve and become. It was a really uplifting way to spend my Friday morning.

Baptism pictures! First, with Tildah, Blessed, and Tanatswa

Saturday brought baptisms! However, it definitely was not the smoothest of events haha. The only member support we had was the second counselor in the branch presidency and our branch mission leader, who arrived late. On top of that, Sheila was late, so we waited for over an hour for her to come before finally starting the baptism. Of course, just after the baptismal service closed with a prayer, Sheila and her mom showed up. So we started it all over again and had another baptismal service for her. It was a bit hectic, but still sweet. Here's a little bit about our 4 converts:

With Sheila and her mom

Tildah (20) - Tildah is a friend to the Dickson family and was classmates with Freedom in high school. Her father is an inactive member who was baptized back in the 1980's. She has a little boy named Preston (who knows my name and talks to me all the time in Shona). She is killing it with reading the Book of Mormon and had finished Jacob by her baptism!

Tanatswa (14) - Tanatswa is Tildah's younger sister and she's also super awesome! Even though she's younger and doesn't understand much English, she also has a sweet growing testimony.

Blessed (15) - Blessed is our branch president's niece. She doesn't speak much English, but she tries when we visit. She's super funny too. She initially didn't want much to do with the church when she came to Eastview, but eventually made the decision on her own to meet with us. So awesome!

Sheila (14) - Sheila's older sister is a member, and her mother was baptized by Elder Byrom and Elder Gunther before I came. She's quiet but so sweet. She goes to a boarding school far outside of Harare, so we won't get to see her again before we leave.

The baptism was awesome, and just as awesome was an experience we had later in the day. We've been teaching these 3 Ndebele girls, Kelly, Karen, and Lorraine. Last week, Karen and Kelly came to church, which was so cool. They read everything we give them and understand well, but when we went to visit them on Saturday, they told us that they wouldn't be coming to church. They said they had a program at their church and that maybe they'd come next week. Karen had said earlier in the lesson that after she prayed about the Book of Mormon, she's been getting this feeling that it's true as she reads it. We used that to teach her that if the Book of Mormon is true, so is the Church and that she should come again, but we let her know that she had a choice. They didn't seem so sure if they were coming, but we really did our best to teach, testify, invite them to come, and promise them the blessings that would follow. Sure enough, on Sunday all 3 girls walked into church with Freedom. Elder Till and I were pleasantly surprised, but deep down I knew they would come because they have begun receiving a testimony that it's all true. It's so powerful how the Spirit motivates us to act, and if we just exercise a particle of faith (Alma 32), the blessings come.

Hope you all are doing well!!

Love Elder Barlow