I am in Francistown, Botswana this city is large but it is developing. we have been busy with appointments and preaching the gospel. people here love God and talk about him as often as they can. we have 7 baptisms on Saturday and there are about 20 new investigators at church every week. this week we are excited to keep up the good work.

the person who was the first baptism was in my MTC president's ward.

i saw a warthog crossing the road the other day. there are a lot of
crazy spiders and bugs. the birds are beautiful and it is very hot and
humid here.

i am glad you asked the lord for help, i know that he helps us when we
ask in faith.

that is a lot of pounds of food. i hope one day the branch here will
have enough people to have that much food. speaking of a lot of food,
i went to a wedding my first day here, traditionally there is a
wedding feast on the day the bride and groom get married, i have never
seen more food in my whole entire life! and that is saying something
because i live in utah and have seen many weddings and social events.

do you remember Johny Lingo? 7, 8 cow woman? there is a law here that
really makes missionary work hard, it is called lebolla. it is the
price a groom pays to the father of the bride, for the bride, almost
always it is paid in cows. because of that, no one is married but they
have a lot of children together and they have lived together for 30
years! because of that, there are not very many priesthood age men
baptised. there are however many young children. that means in about 5
years the church will go crazier here. but for now, we are searching
very hard for father led families who are married.

marlayna will be happy to know, we eat a lot of food with our hands here.

mom, most people sleep on the floor.

karli, it is wierd to most of the members here that i have a twin who
is not on a mission. i always have to tell them it is ok, you are
doing what god wants you to do, they ask about you all the time and
are concerned for you because you are not on a mission.

this area is the fastest growing area in the world right now! only the
best of the best sister missionaries have been sent here (i sort of
exclude myself because i have a lot i still need to learn) but all are
very hard working and get along very well. i have been sent to the
best mission in the world.

sister blum

keep the faith and follow the spirit