April 17, 2017 - Caterpillars, Rain, and a Joyous Easter

Hey everyone!!

I hope your Easter was as wonderful as mine. Being able to celebrate the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ as one of His servants is an incredible blessing. This week was full of powerful experiences and a whole lot of happiness. Sometimes there's so much to tell and I can't remember all of it, but I will try my best to convey my feelings.

Yours truly, eating caterpillars

We'll start off with the adventure part!! This week, Elder Ray and I had probably the toughest and most traditional meal that I've had on my mission. An investigator fed us sadza, sour milk, and madora. Oh, what is madora, you ask? It just happens to be caterpillars. You heard me. Actually it wasn't that bad, as long as you didn't stare at your plate and think deeply about the food that you're consuming. The sour milk was the hardest part, but I finished it. I assumed I'd eat it at least once in Zimbabwe, so I can check that off the list! Haha so here in Zim, there are an innumerable amount of pentecostal and prophetic churches and they all have their crazy all-night prayers and giant celebrations/crusades this week. Everyone loves partying about Jesus, but sometimes I wonder if they are really excited for the right reasons.

Now I want to kind of transition to the more spiritual part of my week. I'd like to share a little about two people that I've met here in Seke and why I love them.

Brother Tino - Tino is a powerful young man. He also happens to be confined to be a wheelchair because of some serious physical disabilities. However, that doesn't mean his Spirit is confined to that chair. He is on time every Sunday and has a great desire to read and understand the Book of Mormon. He doesn't read English too well, but we've been helping him to read and understand it. Now he does it on his own, using both the English and Shona Book of Mormon and the Book of Mormon stories picture book. It makes me so happy to see him striving to increase his testimony and doing his best to prepare for a mission, even though we don't know if he'll be able to serve. It is a blessing to know him.

Us and the YSAs

Ms. Chiwairo - I've mentioned a little bit about Ms. Chiwairo before. She's a single woman in her late 40's-early 50's. When we first met her several weeks ago, she told us that she had just lost her 20+ year old daughter and seemed very sad. However, in the weeks since we have taught her, she has come to church a couple times and seems to be so happy. Especially since we taught her about the Plan of Salvation in our first lesson and how she can see her daughter again, she has changed. She commented at conference last week how she was so blessed to hear such wonderful gospel counsel. She is one of the best investigators that I've ever taught and I want her to be baptized so badly. She is so powerful and asks great questions, especially about baptism. As we left her house after giving her a baptismal date and teaching about Joseph Smith this Friday, such incredible joy filled my heart. I love this gospel, the light and truth and understanding that it brings, and the love that is felt as you share it with others. I'm truly beginning to understand more deeply what this work is all about.

Elder Ray and I with some of our investigators

This Saturday we finished the Sunday Afternoon session of General conference and it was so powerful. Elder Palmer (who happens to be in the Area Presidency here in Southeast Africa) gave an amazing talk on the love of the Savior and how we should see others with that love. It was really touching and something that I seek to improve. That afternoon, we held our Easter activity for the young single adults. We incorporated a few American traditions (spoon/egg race, etc.) which was super fun for them. We put together an Easter egg hunt race (yes, with dyed eggs) and the eggs had different scriptures on them about peace, love, Christ's Atonement, and the Resurrection. It was awesome to see everyone excited and to be able to tie that back to the Savior. Cool experience: of course, on the day of this outdoor activity, it decides to rain for the first time in weeks and weeks. We were worried that hunt would fall through. However, I walked to the corner of the chapel/tent and said a prayer asking Heavenly Father to stay the rain just long enough so that we could have this activity to teach people about Christ. And sure enough, the rain stopped. However, as soon as the egg hunt was done, the heavens opened and the rain poured like crazy. The Lord truly does care about us and knows us, and if we ask Him in faith He will bless us!!! We concluded the activity by watching the Bible videos about Christ's final week in mortality and it was so amazing to see those events portrayed. The room was silent, but the Spirit was there and it had an amazing effect on everybody present.

On Easter Sunday we had a nice Sacrament meeting where favorite conference talks were discussed and Easter feelings were expressed. We didn't have many investigators at church at the beginning, almost none in fact. During the sacrament, I again prayed that those we had invited to church would be able to come. By the time we were going to classes, 11 investigators were present, some who we'd never met before. Wow. Yet another testimony to me that this is the Lord's work and not ours. I taught investigators class on repentance, and then to finish we had them listen to Elder Costa's talk from conference that was addressed to the investigators of the church. It was so powerful. Our branch also does a great job of providing fellowship for the new friends that we bring to church, and they seem to be excited about coming back. It's amazing to witness.

Of course the rain continued yesterday and today, and we've really appreciated the cool weather. Today we got to play basketball and ultimate frisbee with all the elders in our zone, and that was fantastic. Sports on P Day are probably the non-spiritual highlights of the transfer.

I want to share with you my testimony about Easter, including some of the thoughts that I had the opportunity to share with the YSA's on Saturday. The story of Easter is the reason that I am here as a missionary. But I'm not the only one that has a knowledge of this amazing truth. So let's not keep it to ourselves. Let it change us. The fact that the Son of God suffered and died for you and me and that He lives again is a life-changing truth! So we should be changed by it. We can repent and have peace. Because Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us, Christ suffered for our sins and died for us so that we can have peace and overcome death. I love my Savior. And as I come to know Him more, I love Him even more and I gain a supreme gratitude for His sacrifice. So remember Him each week as we partake the sacrament, and live so that others will know that we believe in Christ. I know that we can become clean through the blood of our Savior and Redeemer. He is the only way to eternal life. And He is always there with outstretched arms. He calls, Come Follow Me. So let us follow Him. Easter is something so incredibly special that celebrating it can't be confined to a single week. It is a celebration of a lifetime. I know He lives, and that He loves us.

Have an amazing week!

Love Elder Barlow

April 10, 2017 - Third Time's the Charm

Lion King anyone?

Hey everyone!! Time is flying like crazy and I can't believe we are at the beginning of another transfer!! And the big news is: Elder Ray and I will be staying for a third transfer in Seke! Crazy, right? 3 transfers with one companion doesn't happen often, but I'm excited for what lies ahead!

Elder Baldwin and I

On Wednesday I went on exchanges with Elder Baldwin, one of our Zone leaders. I went with him to his area in Eastview. It is so big!! We went around a big part of their area teaching lessons and it was pretty great. We get along pretty well. He's from Wyoming and is twice as old on mission as I am. He said I was doing well and he commented that my Shona was pretty good. It was a fun day overall and I learned a lot from him. We did run into this crazy pastor guy who was friends with some other missionaries. Haha he was walking and praying for us and what what. It was pretty crazy haha.

On Thursday I went on exchanges with Elder Barnett and he came to my area. It's always fun being on exchanges with someone in your group and one of your friends. We taught a few powerful lessons, the highlight being with Clive. We read 2 Nephi 2 with him about agency and the plan of salvation. He was really blown away by the explanations we gave him and you could tell the Spirit was opening his heart to the Book of Mormon. He told us that he was coming to conference because he wanted to have the light and knowledge that we had. And sure enough, he came!! It was pretty awesome. Clive is a great guy. He's almost 20 and he loves dancing (like the animation/robot) dancing. Overall it was a fun day. We studied about knowledge and about 2 Nephi 9 together and it was so awesome. Knowledge is an attribute of God, but if we begin to think we're wise and forgot God's counsel, we become foolish. I love the Book of Mormon!!

On Friday we had zone meeting and it was sweet. We had some great presentations on planning and so on, but my favorite was Elder Bamutesiza's on diligence. He's been such a diligent missionary throughout his mission and it was so cool to hear his testimony in his last zone meeting. We did interviews for the sister missionaries after that and I met a surprise friend! Melusi Moyo, who served under Mimi and Papa and knew my buddy Elder Boyce, is good friends with the guy we interviewed!! He told me how Papa sends every missionary from Zimbabwe home with a charge to find me and take a picture and he's the first one! It was so fun to hear stories about Papa making jokes and so on. It was awesome!!

Solomon's baptism

Saturday was so awesome!! We watched conference and had a couple investigators there! Solomon was also baptized in between the sessions, which was really cool too. Saturday night we made burgers and fries to celebrate our house staying together for another transfer and we enjoyed. Early Sunday morning we drove to Unit O (the far end of our area) and took combies to church with a bunch of our investigators. We were able to come with a bunch of them and we really enjoyed conference. We were unable to watch the Sunday Afternoon session because of some stake business, but we'll be viewing it this week. Last night we went to Brother Bomba's house and watched the priesthood session, which was unbelievable powerful. It was a sweet weekend.

And to conclude, I LOVED CONFERENCE!! There were so many amazing talks. Some of the highlights for me included talks by Elder Clayton, Elder Sabin, Elder Oaks, Elder Ballard, Elder Bednar, Elder Holland, President Eyring, and President Monson!! My absolute favorite was President Uchtdorf's talk on love casting out fear. I felt like he was speaking directly to me and the Spirit was so strong. We don't need to fear. God is not a God of fear but a God of love!! Fear doesn't change our hearts and show us the good the way that love does. So let us turn fear into faith and perfect love!! I absolutely loved that so much. Conference has become a spiritual gold mine for me in the last year or so and I can never seem to get enough. I hope each of you enjoyed it and were edified as much as I was.

Ladies and gentlemen, the exit of the Spartan of Uganda,

the one and only Elder Bamutesiza

Today, I said farewell to Elder Tsongora, Elder Mkhaliphi, and of course, my beloved trainer Elder Bamutesiza. All of those guys and the rest of their group have completed their 2 years of dedicated service to the Lord and are returning home. I couldn't be happier for them and I hope to meet them again someday!!

I love you all and wish you the best week ever!!

Elder Barlow

Me and a few of my departing brethren (Elder Bamutesiza, Elder Tsongora, and Elder Mkhaliphi)

April 3, 2017 - Snakes are Dangerous

Hey everyone!! I hope everyone had a fantastic week and a wonderful conference weekend!! Unfortunately I won't be viewing general conference until next week, but I want to thank you all for your amazing insights on the messages that were given! I promise I'll send my thoughts and highlights next week.

Chi-town District, best in Zim

We had our last district meeting with everyone together on Tuesday, which was a little sad, but super powerful as always. I'll definitely miss being in this district when transfers come. We were super busy this week, and Elder Ray and I improved on teaching lessons in a shorter time so that we can see more people. On Wednesday we had interviews with President Mkhabela. He is a powerful man and very caring. I am feeling more and more comfortable with him and I always appreciate his counsel. We had to stay at the mission office longer than we expected, so we missed a couple appointments but were able to see some people. We were able to be with Simba again a bunch this week, which was awesome. We had a little incident on Wednesday that was pretty crazy. We paid a guy some money to clean our yard, and he came back the next day wanting more money for more work. We refused, and then he came telling us that a snake bit him in our backyard and that we needed to pay him for it. Well, funny thing is, there was no bite there. This guy then cut his arm to try and prove it to us. We went away from him, but he kept harassing us for the next day or so. I won't share too many details, but with some help from our neighbors and the police, the issue was taken care of and we are safe and ok!! No worries!! I promise everything is under control!! Gotta love Zimbabwe.

With Simba

We had a couple of great lessons this week. Solomon seems to finally be ready for baptism this coming week. His marriage issues have begun to blow over and he really has begun repenting. We also got to see Lloyd again. He has a baptism and marriage date for the end of this month and he's been reading the Book of Mormon on his own!! That guy is a stud. We taught a bunch of lessons on Saturday. I'm getting much better at teaching to the needs of the people instead of just teaching what I want to. The Spirit has definitely been with us a lot. We had another YSA activity on Saturday where we had popcorn and watched the Other Side of Heaven. We had even more investigators than last week and it was great. We got to teach lots about repentance and the Book of Mormon throughout the week which was awesome. I'm feeling much more comfortable with the people and I love getting to know them and smiling with them.

On Sunday we had 10 investigators at church!!!! It was so amazing to finally reach our goal. Faston also received the Aaronic priesthood yesterday, which 

was really cool!! We taught Ms. Chiwairo about prophets after church, and she continues to be one of my favorite investigators. She seems happier and seems to have a greater desire to study the gospel which is sweet! Last night we visited the Bomba's and their new baby boy Kayden! He's adorable and they are so happy. I baked them banana bread and it turned out pretty nice! Overall it was an amazing day!!

Well, that's about all for this week!! I love you all and wish you all the best!! Since I haven't seen conference yet, I just want to recommend a favorite past talk that I studied this week. It's called "Which Way Do You Face?" from 2014 by Elder Lynn G. Robbins. It meant a lot to me and I'm sure it will speak to you as well!!

Love Elder Barlow

Veggietales!

Studio C shirt I saw on the street

March 27, 2017 - Elder Mukundi

Hey everyone!! I hope you all had a fantastic week.

Haha as to my title today, we were teaching a family last week and Elder Ray told them that his Shona name was Tanaka (we're good or we're beautiful). They asked me mine, and I didn't have one haha. They told me my name was now Mukundi, or in other words, the conqueror. Haha I was pretty pumped about that, so now I expect all of you to refer to me as Elder Mukundi. Just kidding.

This week started out pretty low but it got amazing by the end. We had a nice district meeting on Tuesday, even though I wasn't doing so well. As the day went on I felt better and better. On Wednesday I went on exchanges with Elder Taloa to his area. It was a lot of fun. He still has a lot to learn but he is doing awesome and is very humble. We taught some nice lessons, including one to this guy who thinks that he had a fellowship experience (sitting in chairs and talking) with the Holy Ghost and claimed that he could speak in tongues. The Spirit really guided me in helping explain to him about the Holy Ghost and clarifying the gift of tongues while not discounting his spiritual experiences. It was awesome and I really enjoyed being able to help Elder Taloa with some things in addition to learning from him.

On Friday I had some realizations about myself and about things that I needed to improve on. At first it was hard, but when I realized that I'm not expected to fix things and improve on my own, I felt a lot of comfort. The Savior is always there to lift us and help us. Our highlight came later that day when we contacted a referral named Lloyd. He's super huge and friendly and very excited about the gospel! We taught him about the Book of Mormon and told him that we'd come pick him up for church on Sunday and it was pretty great. On SaturdayElder Ray and I were all over the place. We got up early and went to the area to make sure we could see everyone. We taught a couple of nice lessons to people. Apparently one of our lessons was so good that the investigator told Elder Ray that her younger sister was single. Yes, Queen Lamoni is in Zimbabwe. That was pretty funny. Then we went to baptize for the sister missionaries, which was awesome. Afterwards, we had our YSA activity. Elder Ray and I organized it with Simba and we had a super good turnout. I had them play Telephone to demonstrate how information gets corrupted by people, but how when we ask of God (James 1:5) the truth is always given. Then we had a physical activity and some refreshments. We concluded with Simba and I singing Come Thou Fount as Elder Ray played guitar. It was pretty awesome and we hope the YSA's will continue to invite friends to church. Then we cooked burgers and fries for Brother Mtetwa, which was super delicious!

Sunday morning we were up and at it early. We walked all the way to Lloyd's house to pick him up for church and he was all ready to go!! He was even taking notes during church and it was so amazing!! That guys is so powerful. Also, remember about that lady that we taught the Plan of Salvation to last week? Well, we weren't able to see her this week but she came to church!! I was so excited. It was further proof to me that we weren't the true teachers, but that the Spirit had touched her. It was amazing. After church we walked with Bro. Faston, our recent convert. He really enjoyed going with us and said he learned a lot. He told us his English and his life have improved ever since he met us, and that made us super happy. It was pretty awesome!!

This morning we went golfing with a ton of other missionaries in Harare. CC and Lolly, both members of the church and professional golfers and part of the Eyes for Zimbabwe charity, helped us improve in our form and provided lunch for us too. It was so much fun and they're such amazing ladies. Watch out Dad, in 2018 we are going to have an 18 hole showdown. Haha it was really awesome!!

I love you all and I hope that you feel the hand of the Lord in your lives each day!!

Love Elder Barlow

My delicious crepes

March 20, 2017 - In Which Elder Barlow Actually Understands a Lot of Shona

This week has been crazy!! I hope you all have been doing well. Like most of life, this week was full of a lot of ups and downs but we did our best.

Harare East Zone

On Tuesday we had zone meeting in Mbare. It was super powerful, mostly because our zone is full of amazing and hardworking missionaries. We set a goal for 65 baptisms for March and we're all going to work hard to reach it! It was fun to talk to everyone also.

It was a huge blessing to be able to work with our branch mission leader, Simba, for almost the whole week. He's such a stud. He's preparing for his mission and he's super active in helping us. Plus he loves singing and beatboxing so we get along great haha. We decided to really push and find new investigators this week. Well, we found 16 new investigators this week!! Hopefully among those people, there is someone who will accept the gospel.

Throughout the week I've actually been understanding Shona really well. I still struggle with some things, but I'm definitely learning to understand a lot. Speaking is another story. I was told many times this week that I speak Shona like a Zimbabwean, even though I don't always know what to say what I want to say. The interesting thing about Zimbabwe is that very few people actually speak pure Shona. Almost everyone fails it in school, although they all speak it. We joke that it's actually Shonglish because so many words and terms are adapted from English. On Friday we did baptismal interviews for the sisters and there was a 91 year old sekuru there! He had a conversation with one of the South African sister missionaries (cause Africans pick up other African languages super fast) about the gospel and I understand almost all of it!! However, somehow it seems that I don't understand at the most inopportune times. Guess that's life. 

On Wednesday night I also baked a black forest cake for our favorite less active family, the Zhawapo's, and we took it to them for our visit. It tasted super good, which I didn't expect, and they made us a nice dinner too. We read about Lehi's dream and it was awesome. They also came to church this week!!! We were so happy!!!

Saturday and Sunday were initially pretty rough. We had a lot of lessons fall through and it was a tad frustrating but we kept working. However, Moreblessing and Chantel were confirmed on Sunday, which was awesome. Somehow, none of our 16 new investigators came to church, which was a bit hard, but I'm only motivated to work harder to help them come.

Us with Robin Spencer after our pancakes and basketball

Sunday was also Elder Dixon's birthday, and it was super fun to talk to him and joke with him. We've been super good friends ever since being MTC companions. The cash shortage in Zim continues, so that's a bit crazy. This morning we got up and went to the Spencer's house. They're members that live in Highlands near the mission office. Bro. Spencer is from the US and Sis. Spencer is from Zimbabwe. They have a super nice house and they invited us to have pancakes and play basketball this morning. We went with the zone leaders and it was a blast. We also met their son Robin, who leaves on his mission in a few weeks. It was such a blast and they were so kind to us. It's been a great day!!

As usual, I'd like to conclude with a spiritual experience. Sunday wasn't going very well, until we taught Ms. Chiwairo. We met her last week on the street, where she told us that she had just lost her 20-something year old daughter. We taught her about the plan of salvation, and I could just feel the Spirit working through us. Elder Ray said he could see her heart being touched as we taught. It flowed so well, and we were not the true teachers. She said everything was so clear. As I bore my testimony on the love I have for my family and how I know that I'll be with them forever because of God's plan, I felt the Holy Ghost so strongly. That night, she sent us a text asking us to pray for a few specific things for her. But she concluded by saying that she prayed that we'd meet again, and how she would pray that God would make a way for me to be with my family again after my mission. I was honestly so touched, and it really showed me a greater glimpse into why I am here.

Elders Taloa, Barnett, Bamutesiza, and Barlow

I love you all, my God bless you with the comforting knowledge of His wonderful plan of Salvation. I know it to be true.

Love Elder Barlow

March 13, 2017 - The Best of Both Worlds

Hey everybody! I hope you all are doing well and feeling the Savior's love for you! This week was pretty awesome, both in the missionary aspect and the adventure aspect. I'm not even sure where to start.

This week we were kind of running around all over the place trying to get Faston and Moreblessing prepared for baptism. The car has really come in handy for that. We managed to teach all the lessons to both of them and they both were very prepared. It made me happy to see them both understanding so much, especially because they're both about 18. We had a lot of appointments fall through, but we were thankful that we could prepare them for baptism.

Our picture at zone conference!

Elder Dixon and I...6 months later!

On Thursday we had a surprise zone conference. We watched the training broadcast for mission presidents, which Elder Oaks said should now be shown to missionaries as well. It was so cool to hear Elder Bednar teach the mission presidents and to hear their insights about repentance and conversion. It was amazing and I learned so much. Repentance is truly the most important step to conversion, because it leads to everything else. It's never a checklist, but an ongoing process to become more like the Savior! I loved it and could've watched it all day. It was also super fun to see Elder Sink, Elder Dixon, and others. It's amazing to see how many awesome friendships that you make while you are serving the Lord.

Elder Bamutesiza and I!

On Friday we brought Elder Barnett and Elder Taloa to see Mai Makore, an investigator who a member brought to our branch but who stays in their area. She doesn't speak much English because she comes from kumusha (rural areas), but she studied and did all the additional stuff in the back of the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and it was so powerful! I taught her mbijana (a little) in Shona, which was cool. The zone leaders, Elder Baldwin and Elder Bamutesiza also came to do baptismal interviews. All our candidates passed. We also met Chantel this week, who is an 8 year old who actually isn't a child of record, and she was interviewed as well. I love both those elders and it's fun to talk about mission life with them.

Triple baptism!!

Saturday we had the baptism!!! Moreblessing came an hour late, which was stressful, but it happened!! We were so excited to see our efforts coming to fruition. Both Elder Ray and I were super pumped. Also, it was chilly, windy, and overcast all weekend, which was very unusual. The warmth we felt from the Spirit drove away the cold and it was a great weekend. On Sunday only Faston showed up on time to be confirmed, so the other two will be confirmed next week. Then we had an awesome lesson in Elders' quorum about the women in our lives from the teachings of President Gordon B. Hinckley. It made me so grateful for the wonderful influence of my mom, my grandmothers, and other women in my life!

Cool experience of the week!! Last Sunday Mai Mondwa brought her younger sister to church. We taught her on Thursdayabout prophets and the Restoration. Then we asked if she had prayed or had any good feelings since we'd taught her. She told us that after our visit on Tuesday, she had a dream about Elder Ray and I being in her home in the middle of the night. She said she was confused, but that a voice said that we were protecting her. then she said she made tea for us but we refused. It was so cool to see how the Lord was telling her of our roles as missionaries, to protect people from the wiles of the adversary.

Spiritual thought! I've thought often this week about two words: obtain and maintain. The Lord commands us to obtain His word and every good thing. However, if we fail to nourish and maintain the good that we have, we will lose it. As the scriptures teach us, he that receiveth receives more and more, but he who neglects that which he has received will lose even the portion he has. So we must not only obtain our testimonies, faith, love and respect, integrity, and our relationships, but we must maintain them so that the blessings can remain in our lives!!

Today was super awesome!! We got up early to clean and stuff, and then we drove with another district to Lion and Cheetah game park! We paid $5 each and then literally drove our car through a lion enclosure and then a game reserve. Man it was so cool!! The lions were super close and pretty intimidating. We even walked out in the bush next to some zebras, wildebeest, eland, and a giraffe!! It was so awesome. Then we ate lunch at Nando's, which is a delicious Portuguese restaurant in town. Overall it was a fantastic week!! We had to drop a lot of our investigators because they weren't progressing, so we're really going to be focusing on finding new people that will accept the gospel!!

Love you all!! 

Elder Barlow

 

     

Elder Koch and I.
He's the son of Sarah Allen's mom's friend in Denmark!
We emailed pre mission. He's 6'9"!!

                                

 Elders Barlow and Sink,
album dropping Fall of 2018

Elder Allen and I

March 6, 2017 - Ridiculous

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