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