Hey friends and family!! I hope everyone has enjoyed their week. It's been another great week for us here in Tshabalala. The Lord has blessed us a lot for our efforts and it's been incredible to witness!!
The weather has been unreal this week! We started off the week with the normal blazing October temperatures. Elder Magoha keeps complaining about how he's about 3 shades darker than he was 5 weeks ago. I always chuckle a bit because he's still got nothing on my wicked farmer's tan. That's the Zimbabwean summer for you, at least that is, until the weekend. By Saturday, clouds had overshadowed the entire landscape and the wind chill was brutal. Then on Sunday, the rains came and made it even colder. Zimbabwean weather at its finest. One of our investigators said they need to fire all the meteorologists because even they can't predict the weather here. Oh, and then there's today, where the same frigid weather prevailed until 11 am, when the sun finally came back and brought perfectly fair weather. I don't even know how to explain it haha.
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| Elder Horlacher and I on exchanges |
On Tuesday evening we ate dinner with the Ngungunyane family (their daughter Bernadette just came home from Mimi and Papa's mission a few months ago). They're an awesome family and super active. Before the meal, Sister Ngungunyane asked Elder Magoha if he eats rabbit. His face falls and he turns to me. I smile and nod my head, and he starts to panic. And then it came to pass that we ate rabbit. It was delicious and I was proud of my companion for eating it. Yet another thing to add to the list of Zimbabwean foods that I've consumed. That night we started a companion exchange and Elder Horlacher joined me in Tshabalala. He's from Centerville, UT and has been out for a year. We set up the study desks and played ping pong and had a good time. The exchange was great. He's a great missionary with a desire to do what's right. We taught Sister Netsai, who speaks only Shona, and she was able to understand through our limited abilities. She even came to church this week with her kids!! After that, a crazy guy in his car called us over. We didn't realize how drunk he was until he stumbled out of the car with a half empty 32 oz. bottle of beer. Now mind you it was 11 am. Yeah. We reluctantly followed him inside and met his wife, who was a nice enough lady and thankfully sober. He proceeded to tell us that this was his wife, and that the other two women in the house were also his wives. They just laughed, and so did we. Then he told us that he had to translate for them because they don't understand English. So we introduced ourselves as missionaries, and then the guys proceeds to translate our English---back into English. Elder Horlacher and I just looked at each other. It was too funny to be real. The day was great and we taught some wonderful lessons. I'm grateful to be serving around powerful missionaries!
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| Elder Magoha and I |
On Thursday we met a young woman named Bethel. She invited us in and we just talked with her. We found out that she struggles with depression and is occasionally suicidal, and my heart just went out to her. We bore testimony to her about God's love for her and the Savior's sacrifice on her behalf. Jesus Christ died for ever single person on this earth. If you feel unloved, unwanted, or alone, know that Christ took your place. He loves you, and always will. His arms are always open to receive you. Never lose hope, because there is always hope through the Redeemer of the world. Later in the day we watched the Restoration video with Perseverance and her mother. It was incredible, and she was visibly moved. There was a moment of sacred silence after the video finished, and the Spirit just bore witness that the restored gospel is true. It was amazing. I cannot wait for her baptism next week!!
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| Faith's baptism |
On Friday we spent the day doing baptismal interviews. Our district baptized 7 people this week, and it was special to meet each one of them and help prepare them for the sacred covenant of baptism. Of course, good old Mother Nature sent a crazy lightning storm during the afternoon, but all the interviews went through!! Saturday was Faith's baptism!! The taxi driver we hired to take us never showed up, so we managed to get a kombi to make it to the baptism. It was incredible and Faith was so happy!! The church is the good thing going for her in her life and it is incredible to see the journey that she's made. In the evening we met a young man named Munashe, who was a referral from a member who had been working on our house. He's 21 and a sharp young man, and we taught him in the chapel alongside our ward mission leader. He showed up to church on Sunday too,and we are so excited to meet with him again!! Sunday was awesome: 11 investigators at church!!! That's the most since I've been here in Tshabalala, and it's incredible to watch this area bear fruit after we've been working so hard. We even had a few new investigators come. It was just amazing. Even thought the weather was punishing us throughout the week, the Lord has been blessing us so much.
I love you all, and pray that you have an incredible week! I know that the Savior lives!!
Love Elder Barlow
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| With Elder Tuimaseve |
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