Haha hey everybody! This is the only word that adequately describes my week this week. It was full of ups and downs, but that's life as a missionary! (and I guess life in general)
On Tuesday Elder Barnett came with us because his trainee wasn't here yet. We went around and taught a bunch of lessons. Haha we kept joking that he was third-wheeling in our companionship. He went with us on Wednesday too. Needless to say, he was very anxious for his new companion to come. We taught 8 lessons on Wednesday though! It was pretty cool. The only weird part was that rain showers kept coming out of nowhere and then disappearing. The weather here does what it wants. It's been nice to have our car with us this week.
On Thursday we drove to Harare early in the morning. We first tried to get our allotment, which ended up not working because of the cash shortage and the incredibly long lines at all the ATM's. We ate lunch in Borrowdale, which is the wealthiest suburb in Zimbabwe. It was like we weren't even in Zim anymore. We saw a totally different side of the country. Then we dropped Elder Barnett off and went back to our area. The rains made it incredibly difficult to be effective, but we did have an awesome lesson with our branch president's in-laws. Then the AP's called us and told us that we needed to pick up Elder Barnett and his trainee, Elder Taloa, from town (which was a waste of time and gas because all the other trainers just stayed at the transfer house). Oh well.
On Friday we had to drive Elders Barnett and Taloa back to Harare for training. Then we had a district meeting and got to work. We taught Mai Sean, who's a new investigator. She seemed very interested and very enthusiastic, although her niece kept interrupting the lesson and asking for selfies (people like taking pictures with murungus). We also had a nice lesson with Moreblessing, who will be baptized this coming week. She's very shy at church but very open at home, which is fun. The other elders came back that night. Elder Taloa is a Samoan from California. He's a sweet guy and eager to work. It's been interesting to give him advice about a lot of the homesick feelings that I had when I began my mission and it's kind of cool to see how far I've come.
Saturday....pakaipa. Elder Barnett had been having a runny stomach and he ended up getting really sick right before we had to leave the area. I kind of played medic while the other elders called Sister Mkhabela (thank you Mom for packing that thermometer). We had to go pick up some medication and other stuff for him. He was in pretty bad shape and we spent most of the day taking care of him. We weren't able to really accomplish much else for the rest of the day.
On Sunday Elder Ray and I were pretty proactive and got to church really early. Samantha was confirmed! That was really great. Testimony meeting was also awesome. Mai Mondwa brought her sister to church, which was cool. Elder Ray taught a nice lesson on obedience in the second hour. We went out and mostly visited those that didn't come to church. To be honest, it was a pretty disappointing day. We had high hopes for a couple people. It got a little tough when we visited Munashe and found out that she hadn't read or prayed. It was the first time that I've felt true disappointment in an investigator and felt the desire to help them. We ended up dropping her in person, which was kind of hard. It was just a tough day. The Kafudza family decided to feed us though, which we were very grateful for.
Today we cleaned and washed clothes before getting our shopping done. After we washed the car we went into town and played basketball at the mission office. That was a ton of fun!! I haven't played sports in a while so it was a great feeling.
Anyways, I love you all!! Have a fantastic week!!
Elder Barlow
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