Hello!

dear family,


i wish for you all to purchase a movie, it will tell you all about how the missionary work in africa is and hopefully it will answer all of your questions. dad my companion is one of those people. it will tell you also about the reality of what i stated about the power of the book of mormon to convert. it is called "pioneers of africa" you can get a copy by calling 1-800-962-8061. it is by BYU creative works. when you email me next, i wish that you will have seen it, i wish to know of how it made you feel and i wish to hear your testimonies.



thank you for thanksgiving emails and letters (amber) i loved the letter you wrote me, thank you for being inspired to write it. dad, thank you for the pictures, they arrived on thanksgiving. perfect timing.


i will not be emailing you next satruday, i am not sure when i will again, i am going into the field on wednesday. therefore my address will be changing to my actual mailing address, not the mtc one.
there is a set of twin missionaries in this mtc. it is really interesting seeing the differences between the two, they look very similar as far as features go, but one of them is very large in stature and is very healthy, he also can't carry a tune in a bucket. the other one, on the other hand, is smaller, he has cerebral palsy, is almost deaf, has a very severe limp when he walks but plays the piano really well.



in ether 12:27 it talks about how weak things will be made strong. that is true in the case of the smaller brother. i can see in the big one that he doesn't have that strong of a testimony. it is strong, but compared to his brother, he still has a lot of growing to do. the younger brother is very humble. he gave a talk in sacrament meeting and it totally anhialated everyone elses talk. that was a total fullfilment of that scripture in my opinion. the Lord has bee working miracles here, there is an elder from madagascar that didn't know any english when he came. we have been here for two weeks and i carried on a full conversation with him yesterday. the faith of the people here is immense.


when i was in the airport a couple weeks ago, i had an experience that was very cool. i was waiting for the flight and there was an older woman in a wheelchair who parked her wheelchair in front of where i was sitting. i had been pondering about the events of the day, and i was praying that the Lord would be able to work through me. i made the decision that i was on a mission and therefore i was ready to teach. the prompting came as clear as day, "you need to talk to the woman in the wheelchair." i was sort of surprised, i wasn't expecting it that fast. so i did, she had this awesome jacket that i commented on. i found out that she had gone to the broadway presentation of Joseph and the technicolor dream coat and had gotten it from there. i kept asking her about who she was (she had been a kindergarten teacher for 25 years. i told her how important that was, and i told her of Mrs. Price and the influence that she had on my life because of those couple months i was in her class. i thanked her for her time that she had spent doing her job well, and that i was appreciative of her example), where her family lived, and finally i got her name. it was nancy. she had a very interesting life, her family lived all over the united states and she was visiting all of them, she had been traveling for two months and she had been in salt lake for 3 weeks. she was going home to west virginia. she was inbetween faiths, she had gone to a methodist curch but decided that she didn't like it so she was investigating the presbyterian church. she said that she was confused about what church to join. i asked her if she knew anything about the church of jesus christ of latter day saints. she said she had been friends with the relief society president when she was living in this one town but she moved and lost contact with her. then i was told, as clear as day, "the book of mormon, ask her about the book of mormon." what could i do? i just told God i was on his side... so i did, i asked her "have you ever heard of the book of mormon?" she said she had but it was on her shelf at home. she had never read it, it was given to her by a pair of missionaries who tracted into her. she then asked me what it was. i told her it is an ancient record of scriptures, comparable to the bible, written by the prophets that lived on the american continent before and after the time of christ. i bore my testimony and asked her if she knew where it was. she said yes, i know exactly where it is. then i said, "will you read it when you get home?" (i know now where that came from, but when it came out of mouth, i was sort of shocked.) she said a very sincere yes. i told her that if she went home and read it, she would find the answers she needed, i told her that god loved her and that he had a plan for her.


the coolest part about that was, i wasn't talking to her to convert her, i was telling her because i truly cared about her as a person. i don't know if i have ever felt so much love for a complete stranger before. on the flight to atlanta, she sat in the front of the plane and i was in the back. she would purposely come to the back of the plane when the fasten seat belt sign would turn off and she would tap me on the shoulder and smile as she passed. at the end of the flight, she waited for everyone else to get off the plane and as i passed her she gave me a hug and said, you have told me exactly what i needed to hear.


her immediate baptism may not come, but i know i touched her life, i know she will go home and read, and i know the book of mormon is the word of god and will work a mighty miracle and wonder in her heart.


thank you for reading, mom, keep up the good work at school, karli, keep being awesome, dad, keep working hard and have faith in christ that through him all things are possible. amber, be a strong mother and keep raising your children in righteousness, especially tate, he needs to go on a mission someday. marlayna, may the Lord bless you as you continue your study of the book of mormon and teaching that less active member. she needs to hear the words you have to say.



love,
sister blum

pray that i get a really good trainer, or that i can have the strength to bear with patience whatever the Lord throws at me

this week

family (marlayna, you are included in that too!)




how in the heck are you all? question, what is stephanie's address? and how did i get so lucky to have such an awesome family?



the work in the mtc is going very well so far, the African's are my kind of people in every sense of the word. oh man, i love them, they walk to the beat of their own drum. it is funny that you said the Lord knew what he was doing when he sent me here, i laughed because you have no idea how true that is! wow, i love it. my companion and i had the chance to do a little bit of teaching yesterday... the first lesson we did turned out HORRIBLE for lack of a better term. i decided to go against the spirit and teach the plan of salvation when all he wanted to know was what made our church different than others. my poor companion, she is a lot more soft spoken than i am so sometimes i play the big bully on the playground and i don't let her talk. we didn't really ckilck on that (good one sister blum). we had a good chat about it and the next two lessons were awesome.

today we got to go to the mall, we got to meet real people! one of the other sisters and i gave a pass along card to a person and we talked to him a lot about what he believes and gave him a little information about how we have the fulness of the gospel that existed when Christ was on the earth. his imediate conversion is not likely, but the lord works in mysterious ways sometimes.



anyway, i am working hard and i learn a lot every day. the Spirit is strong in this MTC. i challenge you to learn as much as you can of the atonement. it will change the way you look at the gospel in every sense of the word!



*marlayna, thank you for the awesome letter you gave me, i found it right in a time where i needed it most. you are so special to me, i love you and keep up the faith. thank you for the added desire to go on a mission you gave me because it is the best think i have done in the world so far*



*karli i love you, study the gospel as much as you can*



i have some pictures, Dad, you will recognize the one with the sign, i am right by it! and SANTA EXISTS IN SOUTH AFRICA!!!!!!!!! marlayna, do they look familiar? karli, look at all the pretty flowers! :)



i love you and keep the faith,

Sister Blum
 

tell karli to check her email

hello family!,

    i hope you got my last email, i didn't have any of your email addresses except for karli and i sent one to her but i don't think she got it. i will forward you the one that i wrote her. things are going very well here, i love Africa but more importantly i love the people in Africa. there are only 37 missionaries in the MTC with me, there are six sisters in total, my companion is named sister Nalusiba, she is from uganda. there is one more african sister named sister kogo, she is from kenya. the other sisters are named sister christie, from scotland, sister lovell from Ririe, idaho and the other sister will be arriving tomorrow morning, she is from New Zealand. 

   i never knew how simple the gospel is. it is so simple and yet has the ability to be so overwhelming. the spirit is strong here, i thought that rexburg was a spiritual bubble, i was wrong. the mtc is a spiritual bubble times 5000000000000. the african sisters have the whole book of mormon memorized, it is crazy! wow, i have a lot to learn, not only do they have the book of mormon memorized, they have most of the bible memorized too. not the D&C though, so i feel a little better. (ps, that is not true, but they do have a HUGE and i mean HUGE, knowledge of the scriptures, i am definitely outnumbered by their knowledge.)

    we have a lot of fun here, i love the gospel and i am learning so much about obedience and how obedient i am not

    well, time is short, all of the other elders have to get on the computers. hopefully next week there will be enough time for me to share some of my experiences. 

sister blum

ps i learned my first sentence in zulu (the click language) it is , "where is my mom?" i don't know how to spell it in zulu but it is pretty sweet.

i will be able to post some pictures next week hopefully.

I AM HERE!!!

dear family,

 

do not worry, i am fine! johannesburg is a BIG city. the plane ride here almost killed me, i don't know how long it was but it was llllloooooonnnnnngggggggggggggggggggg! there are going to be 37 missionaries in the MTC tomorrow (the biggest group in the South African MTC EVER!), the first group of us got here today, all are from america save 1, he is from madagascar. pretty awesome and humble man. his name is elder rokootoogamongalangoo or something like that. there are 14 of us from america and we are expected to have 37 total by tomorrow. there was one sister who met up with us in Atlanta, she is pretty neat, she grew up in Ririe on a farm.

 

the MTC president and his wife are very wonderful, they were talking about the rest of the missionaries that will be joining us tomorrow, they are African natives and from what i can see from elder rokootoogamongalangoo (that is not his real name, i just can't remember it or pronounce it for that matter) that we are in for a special treat. i am so stinking excited to learn all i can about the people here. my companion will be coming tomorrow as well

 

i will be writing you on Saturday so forgive that this is so short, *also, i forgot what mom and dad's email addresses were so if you could let me know what those are that would be wonderful.*

 

i love you all, thank you for the prayers and i hope you are doing well

 

Sister Blum

Africa . . . Ready or Not, Here she comes!

Sister Blum is official and finally on her way to Africa! 

We sent her off this morning, and wow, she is so ready and excited to get over there! She is going to be such a great missionary! I (Karli) will be keeping this blog updated as much as possible, so stay tuned, I have a feeling this mission is going to bless MANY lives, and I hope that you are one of the ones that will be touched.

 I know our Father in Heaven has designed many things far greater than we could ever imagine by sending Kerri to Africa, so many lives are going to be blessed and edified in several places, and she has willingly given her life over to Him for the next year and a half to serve the Lord with all of her might. She will be laying a great foundation for the rest of her life and those that know her, and she is living the dream she has always dreamed of, to have the first name of Sister for 18 months.

Much Love! 

 So Africa, prepare for one of the BEST GALS you will ever meet! She is certainly ready for you and will take on anything that you can throw at her, and enjoy every possible second!