December 11, 2011

here is what i wrote last week that somehow didn't make it...

thank you so much for your emails this week! I loved them.
sounds like things are going ok, anyone who knows about life knows that there are ups and downs... this week was sort of a down by way of teaching... HOWEVER I have the best district in the entire mission and we are spending a lot of time planning on how to be more involved with the ward. it is a little bit like the missionaries vs the bishop, our plans have taken us to closing that gap and with the unity of the six of us, we will accomplish it! 

we were asked by the ward council to sing in the choir for the christmas program so we spent a lot of time with them getting that ready. seriously, i wish you could hear how amazing the voices of these people are, they LOVE music, especially when it has to do with Christ. the funniest part was that the four elders in the district can't carry a tune in a bucket so we relied very heavily on prayer. the christmas party itself was a little interesting... africans are also about A LOT of food at parties, it is sort of like the tradition. the goodness of the party is sort of determined by the grandness of the feast. our "feast" consisted of 5 cakes made by sister mudzimba and me (side note, we saw a miracle because those cakes fed 200 + people), and three small finger food trays provided by the Relief Society... nice one! needless to say the party was something else according to african standards, but hey, we had fun getting to know the members of the ward! better luck next time i guess.

my companion is crazy. her name is sister mudzimba, she is 21, from harare zimbabwe, she is 1.3 meters tall (you do the math) she has brown eyes, black hair and she is black! favorite color is blue, favorite food is roasted chicken, with roasted potatoes, and coleslaw salad. she has one older sister and a younger brother. her parents are seperated, she worked as a cashier before her mission. she wants to go to school to become a interior decorator, her personality type is blue and yellow. her most embarrassing moment on mission was when she blew up an egg in the microwave.

i do have a sort of sad heart. transfers here are horrible because the chances of you seeing the people you served with after mission is basically nill. we had to say bye to three amazing missionaries who went home. it is hard to see people go, the older and older i get on mission the more difficult goodbyes become. nevertheless, i know god will put some more amazing missionaries in their place! 

i have realized that Mom, you were right, my goals in life are completely changed since i came here. heavenly father has helped change me into a completely different me. personality wise i am the same crazy kerri, but spiritually wise, there is no comparison between the then and now. i love heavenly father, and jesus christ. mission has proved to be rather like a refiners fire. there have been so many difficult times, for instance, we had an investigator who was progressing so well on tuesday completely dodge us last night. people go home for the holidays, our teaching pool was cut more than half this last week, and sometimes i get really sleepy. 

i find that the hard times are when i learn the most. after the trial comes the reward, and it becomes us to never give up, never quit, keep on keepin till the keepin is done! rely on the atonement of christ. i am not perfect in anything, and heavenly father knows it, but fortunately through consistent prayer, faith and repentance, he is working with me and changing me to something better. i feel like he has become sort of like a personal trainer to change and mold my heart to something completely different! i love the scriptures. i want to follow gods plan for me, to put him first, to be obedient, to be diligent, humble, and repent. it is  difficult for me to explain how i feel.

great news, we completed a family yesterday, the two remaining daughters were baptized into a long time member family! it was so great to watch them stand together after the baptism and people were gone. they just gave each other hugs and they were so bright and shiney. there is another family who is in the running to become eternal. it built my testimony so much that temples are so important. they have plans to go to the temple in april. anyway, love you, that is the week, please pray for us.

love, sister blum

December 4, 2011

thank you for the email this last week i found it very great. i didn't know tommy was there, please give me my BIG HELLOOOOOO! i sure do miss him and think very often of his abilit to serve people and meet their needs. i think he is an exceptional person and i wish i could be there to spend some more time with him. i just can never forget the one time he tried to teach me how to surf... haha, i loved that, by way of my most fond memories, that day lies somewhere among the top. thank you tommy for being such a great person. I am sure you are one of heavenly father's best and most choice people!



if i could give people some advice this week it would be... read the book of mormon. i know it is so cliche but seriously, please read everyday, be sure to talk to heavenly father every day too. those two things are the most important things ever. if you skip them, you will begin to just be a casual person. Heavenly Father loves his children so much and he really wants us to be the best version of ourselves we can be. he gave us the text book to get there (the book of mormon) and all we have to do is just study it like and live what it says. if you decide to do that you will find great peace and true happiness. happiness that doesn't go away at the end of the month when you are out of money.



what a blessing to have a true and living prophet on the earth today. I can't believe that God loves us so much! what a blessing to be able to receive true, divine guidance to help us build faith in the very Jesus Christ who can take away the effects of our sins and the guilt that we feel when we make mistakes. i know that when we use the atonement of Jesus Christ and we soften our hearts and repent, God will take away all of the guilt that we feel, and we will be left to rejoice. I know that God is our Father in Heaven, he created the earth and Adam and Eve truly fell. When they fell sin and death were introduced to the world. and it became impossible for us to return to be with God unless an atonement was made. We are here on this earth to prepare to meet God and when we follow his commandments we are blessed with peace and happiness. When we disobey, we sin and distance ourselves from God (that is why we become sad). when we disobey god's commandments, we can be clean again but not by ourselves. it is through christ, the very son of god that all the forgiveness is possible. Because of the Atonement of Christ, we are able to have claim on his mercy if we have faith in christ, repent of our sins, be baptized for the remission of sins, receive the holy ghost and endure to the end. Salvation, peace, joy and happiness are available for all of god's children if they will just soften their hearts, let go of the sins that so easily beset them, repent, come unto christ and live his gospel. i love this church, it is true, and christ is our saviour



love sister blum