November 28, 2011

my companion says THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! for the gift we will open on christmas eve. Something i really love about her (besides the fact she is from zimbabwe) is that she is a ball of energy, we are having so much fun together. I feel like she is just my best little friend ever. we are sure that we make a lot of mistakes in a day ( sometimes it is sort of frustrating, but one thing is for sure, we do laugh a lot) and we seem to get out of them alright. for instance, the other day we got SOOO lost! i have never been more lost in my entire life. we were trying to figure out where we were for an hour. turns out we had traveled off of our map, so we were like a ship without a compass. eventually we figured everything out and it turns out we were in the neighborhood right next to the the neighborhood with our flat inside.... oh boy did we feel dumb?

i think i need to learn how to manage stress better, sometimes i get a little bit overwhelmed because there 1. isn't enough time in the day, 2. how the heck does one person having SOO many weaknesses?, 3. rejection, 4. investigators go crazy and start ditching us, or stop progressing, or whatever, 5. the to-do list is HUGE and so many other problems. I have come up with a remedy, are you ready for it?... PATIENCE and action. when overwhelmed, just do as nephi did, "go and do" what the Lord commands, requires and expects. please keep praying for us as we are trying so hard to overcome our faults. 

i was asked the question what do you love most about mission... (mar, this one is for you) the answer? not exactly sure. so i will just make a list of things i love

not necessarily in this order.

• study time
• african people in general
• specifically, their humor (they love to laugh, are friendly and accomodating. they become instant friends with anyone they meet. it is very easy to strike up a conversation with them, especially if you are talking about something to do with God, bible, church, prophet, and so on.)
• kindness (they are the most kind people ever!)
• welcoming (if you enter their home, you are their honored guest. if they give you food and you don't finish it, they get really offended, so i am working on my ability to eat the HUGE portions of food they dish out. which if you are a guest in their home, they will most likely feed you, so get ready)
• my fellow missionaries. each one is a different flavor that adds to the mix and i am learning from each one of them
• the mission president and his wife. 
• senior couples. 

just everything i think (except for the heat, ditched appointments, and mosquitoes. but not everything can be perfect i guess!)

please pray for us that we can manage our time better. that is our biggest struggle.

love you all, 
sister blum

training is going great

the biggest news this week...

sister mudzimba and i were tracting and we asked this one guy for a referral, he sent us to his next door neighbors house. we got there and found it was full of rastafarians (you know like bob marley people who smoke weed and have some crazy religion?). we set a return appoinment with this man named rasta sido. when we went on Saturday we found out that the house he was at was like the church headquarters and it just happened to be their sabbath... woops. we started the lesson (we didn't know it was headquarters or it was their sabbath until later) and at first there were only two people, then by the end we were surrounded by a big group of 6 rasta's debating amongst themselves about the restoration and the plan of salvation (we are also sure they were smoking some weed before they joined us...) and the book of mormon and what what. the man we set the appointment with had been visisted by missionaries before so he knew about the book of mormon... anyway, the only thing we could do was testify and laugh because at that point everything was chaos. they ended up wanting to convert me to be a rasta with them. they wanted to know when we would be coming back so that we could discuss more of the "word man". "wow, man, that was some crazy things you girls were sayin!" "you should come back, we want to teach you our ways!" what what. so sister mudzimba decided that it was time to pray so she stood up to offer the prayer and everyone else stood up as well, then they made us join hands and they started to pray.... not exactly sure what they said but we do know it involved a lot of "rasta" this and "rasta" that, at the end of the prayer rasta sido closed by saying "I am Rasta Sido and I have spoken!" then the prayer was over and I had an obvious look of confusion on my face, so i said "amen?" and everyone started to laugh. Maybe the rasta party won't be converted anytime soon, but i sure do love them, and respect them for their dedication to the faith (no matter how bizzar it may be.) i know this church is true by the way. i am sad they are so confused, but alas, their time is not yet.

sister blum

sorry so short, next week will be full of more stories.

the work is great, it is sweet, i love it, mission is the best! keep being awesome and learning tons. 

Middle of November

this week we had a small sort of miracle...

first of all, i locked myself inside of a part member families toilet! that was embarrasing. they eventually realized that i was not there and they could hear me struggling to open the door, so the mom came around the house, took the key from the open window and then came back around the house to unlock the door from the other way!
in the same lesson (we are teaching the two kids, 14 and 9) the nine year old is named elton, he is really smart. we were teaching about the plan of salvation (they lost their father in 2009) and at the end of the lesson elton told me that he had a dream. in his dream i was there, dressed in white, and i was introducing him to his father who was alive. his mom then said, "elton, if you keep listening to them, they will take you back to daddy! do whatever they tell you to and be a good boy!" it was a powerful testimony of the eternal family for me.

next, we had some few minutes before we had to be home and we really wanted to find someone to teach. we were aimlessly driving and we felt like stopping to say a prayer for guidance. right after the prayer we found a house (the only one with electricity in the middle of the night) and a girl closing the gate. so we jumped out of the car and started talking to her. she didn't want to hear from us and neither did her parents, but one of her sisters did. we were able to bear a powerful testimony on the peace that the gospel brings to the chaos in people's lives. she shows a lot of promise and we really felt the spirit so strong as we were sharing with her how she can be happy and find peace and purpose in this life to return to be with the God who loves her so much.

anyway, love the work, it is going great. i have also come to love alma 26:27, alma 17: 10-11 and pretty much the whole book of mormon. I love Christ and i love his children. i love the book of mormon, thomas s monson, joseph smith, inspired church leaders, preach my gospel, the spirit and trials.

probably my biggest struggle has been learning how to use time effectively, for sure, anyone preparing to serve a mission, make sure you spend a lot of time practicing that technique before the mission!
my companion is my best friend. we are loving and learning so much from each other.
here is a question each one of the missionaries has been given to ponder for the next week, it applies to all of us so here it is and i can't wait to hear your responses... "what am I doing to become a better disciple of Jesus Christ?"

i have also been impressed with the scripture in the new testament that says "any man, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is not fit for the kingdom of God." when christ calls, you need to forsake everything and follow him, he is our savior, i love him and i am doing my best to follow him. don't look back, repent and repent quickly, move on and make something great out of your life! God loves us, that is why we have the wonderful plan of salvation. study, pray and keep the commandments,
i love you too much and pray that God is keeping you well.

sister blum

Questions and Answers: One Year Anniversary!

Dear all, 

thank you for everything! to answer your questions

1. did i go to the mission home?

yes, and it was awesome! that was my first and last time there probably until I go home. I do miss the temple a lot, we were trying our best to be able to go but the ap's said "NO, get in your car and go back to Botswana!" (don't worry everyone, I am not bitter). The mission home is a huge home that looks like our house but it has a lot more books and it is all brown, even the piano. otherwise it was so cool to hang out with President and Sister Omer for the evening, we went to dinner, they gave us the tour of the home and everything. 

2. How did I travel?

by car

3. how long did it take?

about 4 1/2 hours

4. where is my new companion from?

ZIMBABWE!!!! her name is Sister Mudzimba. so that means i am continuing with a no american companion spree! (nothing against americans, but i just love africa way too much!) so i have had companions from

madagascar
uganda
new zealand
namibia (companion for three days)
kenya
now zimbabwe

woohoo to foreign companions!

5. what am i trying to accomplish as a missionary?

I want to be an excellent misisonary (i know it is vague but there are so many things that go along with that, great faith in God, christlike attributes, most importantly lost in the work of the ministry)
when this is finished i want to look back and feel like i have finished what i was called to do.
i want to use time effectively (it is sort of a struggle for me sometimes, any suggestions?)
i also want to be a father led converted missionary. 
i hope to baptise the pope (ha ha, that will be hard because he isn't even in this mission. but if he ever stops by botswana, he better watch out!)

6. how is the member work coming?

great, we are completing two part member families in december! :)

7. have i read the book of mormon again since i have been out?

yes, i am half way through it again! i am also through luke in the new testament. i started on page one of the book of mormon at the mtc, now i am half way through it again. I am expecting to finish once more before i get home. I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON WAY TOO MUCH!

8. what is the new misison presidents name?

President Omer from ogden utah!

9. How is the food?

great, but very different from home, if you come this side to pick me up, i will show you how the food is. i haven't eaten anything too weird but sour milk and pap (pap is like mashed potatoes made from maize meal)

10. how many hours do we work a day?

as many as we can. from 11.30 to lunch at 1, then from 2 to 9. 

11. do we have any good investigators these days?

interesting ones, our golden ones just got baptised last sunday, so now we are once again in the works. our good ones are dying of heart conditions in joburg right now.

12. do we get to trade off with other missionaries?

yes, we go on exchanges two times a transfer.

13. do we tract?

yebo! lots and lots

14. how many lessons do we teach per week? 

it depends on the week but we have an average of 5 a day. so ya.

that is all, my time is up,
love you
sister blum