mom, i was just about to be done emailing because i had no one to


email and then yours came! miracle! yes, i am doing well. there is a

lot of fluids here these days, it rains (more like pours buckets of

water) almost everyday for the last two weeks. missionary work is

great, there are a lot of people who are prepared to receive us, i

will tell you a story a little later on about a family we are

teaching. we are able to handle two lessons in the morning, and 5-6

appointments in the evening. most of the time, our plans change a lot

because people cancel often. but that is ok, that is why we have back

up plans.



we had a lesson last night that was very powerfull, so far, the most

powerful i have had.



i was introduced to the youngest daughter (named mpoh, it means

"gift") about two months ago. i think she has a beaper that tells her

whenever the missionaries are in the area because we ALWAYS see her

whenever we visit her neighborhood and she is always standing there

with her book of mormon like she has been waiting for hours.

we were doing an activity with some members who live next door to her

and she was begging us for a book of mormon. we gave her one and went

to her parents house to ask if it was ok for us to teach them. they

sort of agreed and we set an appointment with them, they ditched. we

took that as a sign, but we continued to see mpoh all over the place

and she continued to beg us to teach her family. finally two weeks

ago, we started teaching them (their surname is the Phunyuka's

pronounced poonyooka). they are so perfectly prepared for us except

for they are addicted to alcohol and tobacco.

we shared the word of wisdom with them last night and i have never

felt a more powerfull lesson as they knew they had to quit and they

made the goal to be 100% clean by january 30 so they can be baptized

on february 26. mpoh was crying she was so happy.

that little one (age 9) has more faith in her little finger than i do

in my whole body. it just goes to show that God works in mysterious

ways. because of her persistence, we are helping guide her and her

parents home. while we were making a plan of action with her parents

for they can quit, mpoh left the room, when she came back she was

dragging her 23 year old sister behind her (who is not interested in

what we have to share), she made her sit down and made us give her a

pamphlet, then she made her sister fill out the same plan her parents

were! i can't believe how determined and faithful that little one is.

they have been coming to church two sundays in a row and in primary

last week, mpoh stood and shared a scripture from the book of mormon

(1 nephi 3: 7). most kids here can't read, let alone english but she

was perfect in it and she taught herself because she wanted to read

the bible! then she bore her testimony. that little one will move

mountains someday. and she is bringing her whole family along for the

ride. i say whole family because she will eventually get all of those

in her family to be members. that i am sure about. it is an honor to

be able to be the missionaries who are helping them return Home. i

love that family so much. please pray for them, they need all the help

they can get.

we are baptizing a family on saturday, there are three, the Sibanda's.

you may remember i told you about the son who goes to school in utah?

they too are a prepared family.

it is cool to see how the Lord changes people, he brings MIGHTY (i

wish i could type that bigger and more powerful) changes of hearts to

the children of men! THIS CHURCH IS SOOOOOOOOOOO DARN TRUE!



i am happy for karli, i know she will do what is best for her, i am

glad she will be in arizona, the senior couple who take care of us are

from arizona, they are great, and are going home in 6 weeks. they live

by the grand canyon and i think karli needs to meet up with them.

elder cardiff loves to fish for bass in the grand canyon, and he loves

to take people with him. maybe she will get a husband while she is

there :) anyway, i have to go, thank you for your email, i love love

love love love love .love love love love love love love you.



may the lord bless and keep you always, keep up the gospel study,

seriously, it will change your life, and be sure to give refferrals to

the missionaries, they love that. so that means you must become

friends with our neighbors who aren't members, they need to join the

church because then they can gain exaltation. seriously, i want you to

go and become friends with our neighbors, invite them over for sunday

dinner or something. they will love it and so will you.



twith lots of love,

sister blum

haha! speaking of sweet fruit, my companion is from madagascar, and in
madagascar there is this fruit that grows on a cactus, it is very much like
a prickly pear. anyway, it grows here too, ALL OVER THE PLACE, and she has
been tirelessly marking the ripeness of the fruit every day while it grows
up. anyway, it has been nearly three weeks and every day as we drive down
the road, she looks like a little kid in an aquarium as we pass the
bounteous prickly pear fruits. she continues to call all the people in
franistown crazy because no one seems to take advantage that the sweetest
fruit is growing like crazy right on the side of the road. so naturally, we
made plans to pick some. we finally found the perfect moment, pulled out our
plastic bags and harvested the little pears. the problem was, there were so
many stickers all over them. no wonder the locals never picked it! we took
the fruit home, cleaned it, ate it and then pulled the stickers from our
hands one by one. we are still itchy. so much so that we have labeled it as
the forbidden fruit. will we eat it again someday, probably!

i just realized, our experience with the "forbidden fruit" is like
missionary work. you wait, and you wait, and you wait until the person is
ready for the picking. if you go too early, they won't be ready. you make
plans to pick them, then you go and reap. picking them is not for the faint
in heart because it is often itchy, painfull and uncomfortable. everyone has
a deffence that they put up, but eventually, through care, the prickles and
excuses are taken away. most people think the sacrifice is not worth it, it
is uncomfortable, painful, hard, etc. (that is the reason we are able to
pick, people don't see how sweet it truly is, they are only focused on the
temporary discomfort) but the sacrifice is worth it because we know that
they are special to God and they just have to be shown. when they are clean,
they are able to see that they are sweet. we partake of that sweetness as we
help them see who they truly are. not a prickly, mean, full of excuses
cactus. but a clean, sweet, and wonderful fruit made by God himself.

how often in our lives do the sweetest of fruits go untasted because of the
sacrifice it takes to pick them? find something sweet that you wish to have
and make a plan to pick it. i know that heavenly father will bless you as
you do so. and someday, you will be able to partake of the sweet reward that
God has in store.

there is so much fruit here, mangoes, papaya, cabbage (not fruit, i am
aware), tomatoes, and a whole selection of local produce not grown anywhere
else. they grow all over, big, healthy and strong. Botswana truly is a land
of plenty, the soil is fertile, you put something in the ground and it
grows. i am sure that if a person were to live in the bush, there would
never be a want for anything. as long as they did what it took to pick it
(thus we see another refference to you must act to gain the reward)
anyway, i love you and am happy for the lives that you live. may the lord
continually bless and keep you.

how sweet is the reward!
sister blum

I just want to let you know what a pleasure it is to have your daughter on the mission here in Botswana.  She is very outgoing and with her companion light up any discussion.  
We thought upon the new sisters arrival, we would put them in shock by telling them they were on bicycles.  When Sister Blum found out she said GREAT, jumped on one and started riding around.  When she found out she really had a car she was disappointed.
I will send pictures of your daughter as I take them.  Please feel free to write me at any time and if you see me on skype please join in.  I do not know my skype address, but I am the only Cardiff in Botswana.  You can also get me by putting in my E mail address.
By the way, the worms you see are a delicacy here is Botswana  Sister Blum says they are delicious, I will take
her word for it.
Enclosed are some pictures of Sister Blum teaching.
Elder Cardiff

Your Smiling Face

things i do on p-day.... good question. :)

today we walked up the biggest hill in francistown, it took us two minutes.
this place is so incredibly flat that you can see all the way into zimbabwe
and south africa from the top of that two minute hill! we clean our house,
our car, buy groceries (at the local pick and pay where we take care of all
our food needs because we cook most of our food. rarely there is a time
where the members cook for us but that is very rare.) today we are going to
get sister randria's hair braided and then we will be slaughtering a
chicken! i am sort of really excited about that but don't tell dad.

are there kitchens in their houses?

most of the houses are concrete boxes, they are small, about the size of the
kitchen at our house. usually they have a small portable stove that they can
bring out during dinner and put away for the rest of the day. they do more
of their cooking outside with a dutch oven over fire.

running water?
they have a spicket in their front yard and that is all the running water
they have.

toilets?
outhouses all the way baby

the heat?
i love it!

knee highs?
i ditched those months ago

car, bike, or walk?
car :) and everyone drives on the left side of the road, my poor companion,
i think the Lord is really looking out for us because i know we should have
gotten into a lot of car accidents by now.

i should let you know, the living conditions of most of the people here is
NOT and i mean is nothing like how we as sister missionaries live. we live
in a palace that has a full kitchen, a two car garage, airconditioning in
every room, tiled floors, two whole baths and one half bath, an electric
fence, a security system and all the doors and windows have bars. literally,
it is like a palace/fortress. because of the electric fence, we often kill
snakes and chameleons by accident, last week we killed two chameleons and
today we killed a snake. turns out they can be electrocuted.

it was good to talk to you on christmas, i am glad i have such a blessed
family, i agree, skype is amazing! tate is big. his little voice is so cute,
i loved the story about tate, if i wasn't on a mission i would tell everyone
i met.

we have an investigator here who has a son attending school at U of U, he
was baptized in utah and sent us to his mother to teach her. he came here
for the holidays and we were able to meet him last night. he is a very nice
person, just like all of the people here. i got his email and his number so
that when he gets home you can call him and invite him over for sunday
dinner :). sorry if that wasn't ok, i did it anyway. karli, he is twenty and
is a very funny and outgoing person, i think he should be your new best
friend!



i love you all very much, is there anything else you would like to know?
keep me posted on the family and what you are learning in your gospel study
:)

cheers,
sister blum