End of September Already

i have never had a more crazy week! transfers was the most stressful thing of my life. i found my bed and my closet, and my new companion. her name is sister chir chir from kenya. we have been flat mates ever since i came on mission and i will finally be her companion. this is her last transfer. please pray that i can learn this area in 5 weeks so that i will be able to train a new sister here.


the events of this week are sort of hard to explain, we took sister ndahalele (not sure if i mentioned her in the last email or not...) to the
airport. my companion, sister clendon, was in Johannesburg for the week, and sister ndahalele was my companion in the area that was no longer mine (as i had technically been transferred to my new area). the world sort of threatened to fall apart while we were trying to work out who was where, what was what, who was who's companion and so on. i got a blessing a couple weeks ago that said i would have the ability to handle that challenges that will arise within the coming weeks... WOW, i sure hope this was the week that the blessing referred to. i am not sure how much more challenging things could have gotten. the storm has settled and just like everything else, it passed. now we are trying to put together the pieces and clean up the mess. so what did we do to celebrate the end of a crazy week?... we deep cleaned the flat! let out the old, welcome in the new. the new area is awesome, it sort of took a massive hit and has a lot of improving that gets to happen, i am just happy for the chance i have to improve it.


i love quilting because you can make the quilt whatever you want it to be. it is the same with the different areas i have worked in. you make it what you want it to be with your own design, pattern, and flavor. the beginning, you plan, then you cut, design, do rough drafts, practice pieces, and so on until each piece is put together exactly how you want it to be. in the end you are left with your own thing. i saw the final product of my efforts in broadhurst this sunday. it was stake conference and as a result we were able to go to church with the broadhurst ward. i was so excited to see that so many of the people we taught came to church. so many of the ward members we worked with were so much happier than when i first arrived here, and most of our recent converts were there with smiles on their faces. my work there is done, but hopefully i won't be forgotten. it was a sweet feeling to look at all that i had accomplished. whew, i love missionary work, it has so many rewards, as great as the challenges.


in the end, it was a nice week.

still loving life,

sister blum

September 18, 2011

this week was full of some interesting times. on tuesday we got a call from the mission president, he informed us that we would be taking a new missionary under our wings for about a week. the new missionary is named sister ndahalele from namibia. she was called to serve in the kenya mission and will be reporting to the mtc this week wednesday. her parents were VERY against her coming on mission and as the time was getting closer for her to come, she was facing more and more danger. finally the Spirit told her it was time for her to go early. basically she packed her bags, and snuck out of her house in the middle of the night, and went to the senior couples in her area at home. the senior couples contacted president omer (our mission president) and she was given special permission from him to join us for the week, until she can safely enter into the mtc. she was set apart that night, and then put on a plane, on wednesday she was with us. I really can't believe she hasn't gone to the mtc, i feel like she is so much more experienced at missionary work than my companion and i! she will be very missed when she has to go to the mtc.

this week is transfers, my companion and i will be seperated (sadly) she will be training and i will be going to the neighboring area. you know you are a sister missionary in the botswana mission when transfers consists of you moving closets and beds!

anyway, the work is sweet, pray for us,

love you

sister blum

September 12, 2011

as far as adventures, this last week we ate at a members home from nigeria.
 they fed us their traditional food. the meal was of fried fish, a HUGE bowl 
of custard, and this strange bean bread. they make the bread by cooking
 these beans, then they skin the beans, then they grind them down to a paste 
and make a dough. then they deep fry the dough to make bread. being a missionary 
is a challenge sometimes, especially when they dish the food for you. they 
gave us two plates heaping with food, and then a bowl of custard on top of 
that. the bean bread (called "akara") was super spicy because they put
chilies in it. otherwise it was ok. my faith in prayer grew because i had to
 pray to get all of it down. that meal was on monday, then the rest of the
 week i was a little ill. 

so this week was strange.
 we did have a monumental lesson last night, for any of you who know who 
ellen white is, you will know that she is the founder for the seventh day
adventist church. we were in a lesson with two investigators who are getting
 baptized on the 23rd of sep. we asked how their praying is going, they said
 they know joseph smith was a prophet. then we started to discuss their
 baptism. one of them is an sda, the other is a muslim. the sda asked us a 
question that related to the priesthood authority. we asked him if he
 believed the power and authority of the priesthood was restored by the
prophet joseph smith in these last days? he answered that he had no doubt
 about that, but he also thinks that ellen white restored the priesthood as 
well. then he began to tell us her story. the muslim in the meantime was
 sitting back sort of chuckling, then when the time was right, he added his 
story about mohamad! can you say confusing? my question is, who would win, 
ellen white, mohamad, or joseph smith? the muslim was just adding
 information, he doesn't believe in islam anymore and is converted, but the
 sda, he is still working on his testimony. he'll come around.

 

in the meantime, keep praying for our investigators! love all of you, have a
 super week and just so you know, the answer to the previous question is 
obvious, joseph smith would win because he was a true prophet called of god
 in these last days, he restored the priesthood, and translated the book of 
mormon.

 this church is true.

 

love you again,


sister blum