April 29, 2012

the work is still blessed. i am keeping a sweet journal so that i can make up for the lack of detail in the emails. it's hard to get so many things written in 30 minutes.

the waffle eating contest was cool but i lost hard core. i only ate 5 (in my defense though, i wasn't really competing cause they were running low on eggs and milk) compared to two of the elders who ate 13. my companion got down 10 then she almost threw up. the elders tied cause they ran out of ingredients for the batter.

this week had a lot of time spent preparing for the young ambassadors who are visiting. sister hadlock was given the assignment of being the choir director for the pre show which has been rather stressful. we have been trusting in the promise that there are many honorable ways to find people to teach as we have been spending a lot of time working on making it sound nice. i say we cause by default i am singing in the choir. the mission president has approved it and is thrilled. so thus it is going to work out great. most of the botswana dignitaries will be in attendance, who knows, maybe we'll baptize em all and then the population of 2 million botswanans will follow... !

satan is being a jerk to our investigators, they just seem to be struggling at the moment. each one of them has a challenge of some sort, and they are beginning to not want to see us anymore. we hope it's just a phase and they'll get over their challenges as we continue to help them. we are doing the best that we know how. 

love you all, keep being awesome this week

sister blum

ps, i was sent here for so many reasons,

1) god knew there were certain people I needed to help. Everyone that i come into contact with i know that god sent me to them so that i can help prepare them (to some degree) for the blessings of the gospel, and it was only me who could touch them the way that they needed. 

2) for myself. i needed to learn lots of lessons that could have only happened in this environment and culture.
 
3) i could build relationships with the members. there are so many people here who i just know that we knew each other before this life and we needed to come together and be friends again. it kind of isn't fair cause we gain all of these relationships with so many treasured people and then you have to leave them. fortunately modern technology is making it easier to stay in contact with people.

i like to look at bots as my personal training ground. god put me here to save others and to save myself (as strange as that sounds)

i have rejoiced in my service above that of the world! enos 1: 26 the work is sweet.

April 22, 2012

the district i'm in right now is great. it is full of six americans

elder epstein from mes arizona
elder richardson from logan
elder sparks from some tiny town in utah
elder young from roberts idaho.
and us.

we went on a game drive this morning. that was fun, we saw a million impala, wart hogs and ostriches. some kudu, a zebra, and an ostrich egg! pretty sweet eh? all on a nice pday morning. later today we are planning on having a waffle eating contest. wish me luck, elder young is a HUGE man, and elder richardson has a tape worm and can eat everything, usually he helps all of us finish our dinners at da's.

it is nice to have a united district, all of them are so willing to help and support. it is easy to feel like we are just one. the two new elders (sparks and young) are white washing their area. they had a baptism yesterday and it just went so well cause the four of us knew the investigator really well due to the past unity of our district. we counted it as a district baptism.

the young ambassador's are coming to botswana. they will be here on may 2nd. yesterday, due to my companions amazing musical talent, the bishop of the ward asked her to be in charge of the choir for the pre-show... i am just amazed at how talented she is. i almost wonder if she sort of knew something like that would happen cause it seems like she just knew exactly what to do. she had a song chosen, sheet music and everything within two minutes of the assignment. moral is, we will be singing on may 2nd... rumor has it there will be some dignitaries there (whatever that means).

missionary work continues. our area is doing so well at the moment. god has been blessing us a lot. our people progress so slowly, but they are progressing. the best part is, they will be gems in building the kingdom once they are converted. I like how this week seemed to be a break through week for a lot of them. they are showing fruits of conversion. they are becoming happier, more united with their family members, and independant in their testimonies of christ and his church. God has rewarded us so much these last transfers. i think more than at any time on my whole mission. i love this work.



Love sis Blum

April 15, 2012

we watched conference and it was G O O D! i love the talks by eyring
and uchtdorf. each one was filled with lots of council that i needed
(and our investigators needed) to hear. i think that is the coolest
part about conference on mission, the talks are not really about you,
but you get so excited when they share something that you know your
investigators will benefit from. we have these two ladies (the golden
ones i talked about a long time ago kutsafalo and dimpho) who came to
conference and they were helped so much in their life by it. it
pleases my heart so much that they are doing well in their conversion
and they are grasping the "mormon culture" lifestyle. It has been neat
to see them make so many sacrifices for the gospel. i can see their
testimony and relationship with christ growing so much and it makes me
happy inside. i sure love them, and sure loved conference.

transfers was this week. looks as though i will be finishing my last
transfer in gwest with sister hadlock! another awesome six weeks lies
ahead. i can't wait for the miracles that are yet to happen and the
people we are going to find and help. sweet is the work. i love this
missionary work stuff, we are going strong, and the area is doing
well. it's full of some real quality investigators. thanks for you
consistent prayers on their behalf, if you could please keep them
coming it will be so much more apreciated, we really need all the help
we can get out here.

you are in my prayers as well, i hope that the struggles you are
facing and have faced in the last 18 months that i don't know about,
have left you a better person than before. i look forward to seeing
the difference in your spirituality when i return home. keep praying,
reading, going to church, repenting, and becoming converted to christ.
i'll do the same.

ke a go rata thata! (i love you too much)

sister blum

Conference Weekend

dear all, this week will be short. my apologies.

we started a prank war with the elders, (with a few rules though, we
aren't allowed to interfere with proselyting) now we are all on the
edge all the time. sadly i am not sure if they will win... sister
hadlock is kind of crazy and i have not lost a prank war yet (except
for when it was against dad). we'll let you know how that goes.

as far as work, we had a super sweet missionary fireside that pumped
up the enthusiasm of the ward to help us missionaries out. yesterday
we received two referrals and lots of people who want to come teaching
with us this week.

our next plan for our district is to have a district car wash. we will
be inviting the ward to help out and give tours of the chappel as the
people wait for their cars to be finished.

the less active group i mentioned last week are still less active...
hopefully things will get better as we keep doing our best to help
them.

love you,
sister blum

 things are going well. we had a great turn out at church yesterday. unfortunately i had to go to the other side of the city to be companions with the other sister missionary (sister banda). sis hadlock (my companion) has an incredible singing voice. she felt prompted to sing in sacrament meeting for the ysa ward. sis lovell (sister banda's companion) is the only one who knows how to play the piano so we had to do a little bit of an exchange. i went to the sacrament meeting at gwest (the ward i serve in now) then i left to exchange with sis lovell in broadhurst. i wish a lot that i could have been there to hear her sing, apparently it was stupendous and fantastic. everyone keeps calling her sister dion (as in celine dion).

church in the old ward that i used to attend (broadhurst) was nice. i was able to see a lot of the people that i baptized and what made it better was that they had callings and were teaching classes and things. :) i miss that side a lot. it was a little crazy because sister banda had a baptism that wasn't prepared for. fortunately, we were able to work it out and the service ran smoothly and was very nice.

funny story, the ward (in gwest) decided it would be a good idea to have me play the piano. the piano has a lot of recorded songs and all you have to do is locate the song and press play. i thought "sure, how hard can it be?" especially cause i know how to work the piano. when the time for the opening hymn came, i couldn't find it on the system anywhere so the conductor just started everyone acapella. then i found the song and waited until i thought was the beginning of the next verse. when i pushed play, the congregation was in the middle of the chorus, then it just got worse, i stopped the music then started it again, and on and on. the bishop finally stood up and started the song over. the second councilor had to sit with me and re-teach me how to use the piano, and the corrister wasn't too pleased with me. the missionaries in my district were laughing so hard they couldn't sing and my companion was so "proud" of me.

one of our father-led families came to church for the first time! that was nice too. they had a great time, participated a lot in classes and made many new friends. we have been teaching them for about 4 months now and they are progressing! whoot whoot.
anyway, that was an adventure from the week. hope the rest of you are doing great, i am loving life. one request would be to pray hard for our investigators, they are all struggling. satan is making it so hard for them.

anyway, love you
sister blum

February 12, 2012

thank you for your emails, they sure do make me excited to be on mission! 

let's see, this week i was taken back to the time where dad owned that water park and we were there swimming. Remember when i asked mom if i could go to the bathroom and she told me to go in the pool? so i took off my bathing suit and went to the pool! the same type of thing happened in a lesson as the 1 1/2 year old daughter of one of our families, decided to take a potty break on the floor. not very many of the children here wear diapers and she definately wasn't! it made me chuckle to remember that. we paused the lesson and cleaned up the mess. it's funny to know that kids are the same everywhere.

our week was filled with sick people. we got the brilliant idea to go to the hospital and visit with the patients. it was nice (and sad sometimes) we were working in the surgery ward, there were a lot of patients preparing to go for surgery, some of them were really scared and it was nice to sit with them and comfort them before they went in. one of the women was one that we had met last week saturday at the local shopping mall, so it was nice to see her again, she invited us to her house for this week so we can teach her and her whole family :).
 when we started our morning, we were put in the icu where we prayed for 3 patients, one 10 years old, another 13 years and then an old woman recovering from brain surgery. i don't like seeing sick people but it sure was nice to give them some comfort. 

the sick people didn't end there, my companion is not well, and neither is the rest of botswana for some reason. almost all of our canceled appointments were because the people we were supposed to see were sick. a lot of the others that we saw were sick too. we spent a lot of time this week just comforting sick people. 

ironically this transfer i have decided to work on charity, as a result i have been praying really hard for greater charity and i think this might be God's way of answering my prayers. He works in a mysterious way sometimes. i do feel myself having a greater capacity for compassion and love towards others. i am just sorry that i may be part of the reason so many people are sick these days! 

the music thing... not sure how that is going. the man i am supposed to be teaching lives an hour and a half away and he doesn't quiet understand that we aren't allowed to go and see him, he thinks that we need to come and teach him there... we keep trying to explain to him that we can't leave our area and the president says no. we didn't see him yesterday. more details when the time comes. thank you for sending what you could. i hope we can work something out so we can see him. it would be really nice as well if you could send some rosin and an electric tuner/metronome. i am planning on giving it to him, turns out it is really hard to get things for a violin here. not really a common instrument that people play.

love you,
sister blum

Pictures!

January 30, 2012

the pictures this week are of our adventures that took place this morning. We had a zone activity, can you say a barbeque on top of kgale hill, the biggest pile of dirt and rock in gaborone?! It was pretty sweet and monumental. the funniest part was that my new companion decided that she was going to make it down the mountain with another sister who had "done it before". 2 hours later we were still at the bottom of the hill waiting for her... turns out they got a little lost and eventually had to cut through the bush to find their way back. pretty funny, especially because of how disheveled they looked. the picture of my companion on the stairs pretty much describes what she went through! 

so my new companion... her name is sister hadlock from vernal utah, been on mission for 4.5 months. there must be something in the water in vernal cause she is probably one of the craziest sisters i have ever seen! God thought it was funny to put the two most socially awkward missionaries together... haha, good one god! but the great thing is, WE LOVE LIFE! whew, she is such a breath of fresh air, man alive she just works and works and works, i have never seen anything like it before. her motto is "i want everyone to know who i am so that when i walk into an area, they know that my name is sister hadlock, a missionary from the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints!" she lives true to that. the second we step out of the house she is up and at em. saying hi to literally everyone, inviting everyone to church, singing, laughing, dancing sometimes, and throwing out pass along cards. i love her.

one great thing also, she follows the spirit like no one i have ever seen. god has given her the gift of discernment. in lessons (it is sort of creepy sometimes) she will sit there and randomly ask a question that makes the person on the other end much like zeezrom in the book of mormon (tremble and look really scared that she can read their thoughts). we have had probably the most powerfull lessons i have ever had my whole mission with her. the future looks bright.

sometimes missionaries talk of getting tired when they are older on mission, but when you are having so much fun it really isn't possible to be tired at all. we just work and work and work. because we are working, we are happy.

i love teaching people about the plan of salvation. It is so awesome to see the look on people's face when they finally realize they know the reason why they are here, where they are going and where they came from. I find that as soon as people realize that they start to make a million changes, like coming to church, repenting, reading, praying, etc. I have seen it be the turning point for so many people (sadly, also a stumbling block for many others). my love of teaching is so great.

i have a goal that before i go home i will convert a father-led family. when i finish i will "die" with both my hands clenching the book of mormon testifying that it is true and that everyone needs to repent. so far i am in good books with god. above all i just want to do my best for god, and work until i am dead. there is a missionary that is just preparing to go home, and i had a little discussion with him today that made me really realize that the time is now short. he is an exceptional missionary (reminds me too much of mitchel hyde, only black, from zimbabwe, and is a pro cricket player.) and i loved that he said he doesn't want to go home, he is scared and nervous for what lies ahead, but he has a lot of faith in the simple primary answers "read, pray, go to church" (as do I) and he knows that if he does those for the rest of his life, he will never fall away into forbidden paths and be lost. he said the mission will continue for the rest of his life if he remembers those three simple truths. enough of this talk.

please don't remind me that i am coming home until the beginning of may.

i love people so much. thank you all for your support and love as i have been here. ask me lots of questions, i love to answer them.

if nothing else, i need you all to know that this church is stinkin true! GO ON A MISSION! it is the best investment of time you will ever make. let go of all the stupid excuses that you can come up with and have faith in God, he can't let you fall. just turn in the papers and give up your life! seriously the best choice ever. i never knew i could love my god the way that i do know. i never knew that i could be this happy either. what a blessing to be a servant of god wearing a name badge as a representative of christ. HOW GREAT IS THIS CALLING eh?

love you. enjoy the week, we will keep knockin down every door.
sister blum

January 23, 2012

we had a ward conferrence of our own last week. it went well, the stake presidency and axiliary leaders from johannesburg came up to check on the progress of the ward. they are trying to figure out what needs to be done in the ward to make it a stake. they came up with a hefty list of 8 pages of things that the ward needs to work on. this last sunday was spent going over the list and informing everyone what is going on.

turns out the missionaries are effected. there will be less companionships in wards and branches where they baptise too many people for the ward to handle. this has been a concern for a long time. botswana has no problem baptizing a million people and us missionaries just keep "cranking" em' out. because of that the retention has gone down and the branches have grown too big for the roots. we will see what actions are taken by the mission president within the next few months.

this mission is great! it is such a wonderful place to serve. hot as all get out, but fun, the work is plenty, the harvest is great and the converts my companions and i have made are doing well, so we can't complain too much.

i started to work on charity for this new transfer... oh ps, transfer news came, i am stickin around in gaborone west for at least another six weeks. my companion (sister mudzimba) has gotten transfered to francistown and so has sister clendon :(. sadly i will miss them lots, but i am excited for the new adventures ahead. looks like my new companion is going to be sister hadlock, she is from utah and is a massage therapist by profession! lucky me.

anyway, back to charity, i have been doing a study of one christlike attribute a transfer since my third transfer on mission. i have always been avoiding doing charity but this transfer it needs to be done. i guess god has finally got it through my head that i have to stop hating people, although i don't really hate anyone. i guess just love people more sincerely. i have a great feeling that the lord will keep refining me. please keep praying that i learn the lessons that god needs me to.

otherwise, it was a productive week, we had a lot of fun helping women wash clothes for them and their families, teaching some new father led families and having some new people come to church! life is sweet and full of blessings.

love you all and if you have questions about anything, let me know and i will love to answer them. my favorite scriptures these days are found in moroni 7:44-48. love them lots.

loves,
sister kerri blum

January 16, 2012

Dear all, 

God is there, he loves all of his children, and he doesn't care who you are or what you've done. He will touch your heart if you will but open the door. we have this investigator who was given to us as a referral from the elders all the way back in october. a true woman of the world if you will. she has been sort of like the wind to track, it almost seemed like she really didn't want to see us, but then randomley she would show up at church. then we would an ap. with her, then she would dodge, we gave her a break and then she would just keep showing up at church again. she also told us the very first time we saw her that she wants to be a member of this church, but her actions didn't really show it you know? so we didn't really persist that much to see her. 

patiently we have kept feeling inspired to see her but then it would just fail misserably. finally 3 weeks ago we decided it was time to go and see her again. when we stopped by her house she seemed different somehow. we talked to her about the book of mormon a little because she had questions, committed her to read it everyday and pray about it. two weeks ago we went and visited her, she seemed a little different again (happier different) and she told us she didn't understand what she read, BUT before christmas she gave up drinking and smoking. she expressed to us that it was the hardest thing she had ever done. i have never seen so much determination in one girl in my life. i wish you could have seen her face as she recounted to us how difficult the last month had been for her as ALL of her friends and family were partying and drinking and she didn't take a single sip! she then said, "I will be a member of this church even if it kills me!" this girl is like the life of all of the parties, a true woman of the world, and the spirit has touched her heart and caused probably the mightiest change in her that i have ever seen in anyone. she didn't even have to tell us that she was keeping the commandments, you can literally see it in her. she also did it without the missionaries. we have never taught her the word of wisdom, or the law of chastity, but becuase she is a child of heavenly father, she knows that living them is something she needs to do. the members have played a large role, it seems some of them have taken her on as their "project", they call her, go to her house, invite her to things, and fellowship her. this last week we visited her and she told us that the first time she was in church she felt SO out of place, but she continued to go and now she gets so excited for sunday to come, she can't wait for us to get to her house so we can discuss about her reading, or to tell us how she is doing, ask for help in understanding her reading and everything like that i have been so humbled to see her conversion. 


I love heavenly father, he has been so good to us. 

January 8, 2012

so here are a couple questions that were asked of me...

what principle of the gospel you have come to know more than you knew before your mission.
Christlike attributes. I think that before I came i had a lot of things to improve on especially in patience, diligence, humility, and charity. mission has been refining me ever since i decided to come. i am still far from perfect but i feel like i can at least endure hard times without getting impatient or angry.

also following the guidance of the spirit. learning how to recognize and follow the promptings of the spirit without hesitation is something that i have really come to learn and love doing. it is sort of an adventure because sometimes you have no idea what you are diong but in the end all things just work out perfectly and the spirit testifies to you that you have done something good. when the spirit touches your heart, you are happy. mission has just made me so happy.

What experiences have you had that have strengthened that principal?

this three weeks have really proved as a refiners fire as we didn't have a car. miraculously on friday we got a call that the car was fixed so since then we have had a vehicle. unfortunately most of our investigators fell off the map and don't want to see us anymore. we weren't able to see them because they live far. it just seemed like every minute after every minute another challenge came up. i have never been more grateful for my companion, sister mudzimba. she has been nothing less than a blessing to my life. she has supported, encouraged and helped me so much through the challenges. it feels so nice to have a "partner in crime" who is so willing to sacrifice and work her bum off for the people we are helping. the greatest thing is how united we are in our purpose. i can always rely on her to do the right thing.


Have you felt the protection of prayer from home in your life yet?

a long time ago, sometime in 2010, i was driving with my companion. we were just enjoying the trip to our investigators house. I had to make a left turn (remember we are on the opposite side of the road.) So I checked my blindspot, turned on my blinker and tried to turn the wheel but it wouldn't move. I was confused and tried again to turn the wheel just as a car zoomed past us going a million miles an hour (at least that fast!). I didn't even see him. I knew then that it was a miracle. that week in my email home i was told that you were all worried about me and prayed very hard for me that week. I know that it was the faith of my family and their diligent prayers that caused that miracle.

Has scripture study helped you out of  trouble?
scripture study has invited the spirit more into my life than anything else. I love the words of the prophets, especially in the book of mormon. this last week i have been so proud of myself as i have been so careful not to offend people (i don't know if you know this but sometimes i get a little too bold for my good and i end up saying things that i regret later), declare the truth, and invite them to live the gospel. so far i haven't said anything that has caused feelings of anger or regret. both sister mudzimba and myself are celebrating that accomplishment. there was a man who was doing his absolute best to convert us to his crazy church, he talked for 45 minutes of our 50 minute lesson. by the end we just testified of the truth, invited him to learn for himself and closed with prayer. there were no hard feelings. we also met another family who  had a really hard time thinking about the fact that we had a "replacement bible" i was so pleased as both sister mudzimba and i answered all of their concerns in a loving manner, using principles from chapter five of preach my gospel. the spirit was strong and there was no offense taken on either side. we were able to leave them with a copy, and a commitment to read and pray about it. when we left them they looked as if they were totally shocked. it is so exciting to have the gospel referrences that we have as members of the church.

scripture study gets me out of trouble everyday because it invites the spirit into my life, and when i have the spirit, i can follow it and it will guide me to safety.

Has obedience been a safeguard for you?

Obedience is the best guard against trouble ever. especially because there are a lot of police road blocks everywhere. we have never been stopped at a single one. there are a lot of police who hide all over the place on the highway looking for speeders to pull over. once again, we have never been stopped. as we are obedient, God protects us a lot.

mom, just so you know, the fact that you love to connect with people classifies you as a blue... not a red. (haha, embrace it, yous is a blue!)

love you and got to go.

may the next week be blessed

peace and blessings
sister blum (your favo missionary)

Happy New Year

we had a lot of really funny things happen this week. we don't have a car anymore, turns out it needs a new fan... walking has been filled with a lot of fun times. for instance, we were walking to an appointment and my companion was finishing up her morning apple. we walked under this tree and i saw, in my perriferal vision, her foot coming up like she was kicking something. the next thing i knew i felt this cold wet thing hit me in the back of the head! she had kicked her apple core and somehow it had bounced off the tree and attacked me!

The same day we were looking for opportunities to do good when we saw this woman sweeping her yard (people don't have lawns here, they just have dirt, or sand in their yards. They take care of them by sweeping them every day). she let us help her. while we were sweeping, we were listening to all of this noise coming from a building across the street. my companion told me it was some crazy pentacostal zimbabwean church as the preacher was speaking in shona mixed with english. there was loud music and people yelling. then it got quite and all the people stood up and started waving their arms as they were yelling jiberish. sister mudzimba informed me they were speaking in tongues. the noise continued for a while and all of a sudden the preacher came back and he started to yell at the congregation. then the congregation would repeat him, this continued for a while until all of a sudden the preacher said, "now you are delivered! good job everyone! go on, give your neighbor a high five, you've been delivered!" you could hear everyone giving these high fives as he continued "high five, you've been delivered!" so everyone, to be delivered you just need to stand up and speak in jiberish, then chant some crazy things and give your neighbor a high five!

the lady we were helping was catholic and you could just see the disgust on her face as she expressed how much she "loves" living in her house across the street from the crazy pentacostal zimbabwean church. as for me, i didn't know being delivered was that easy, maybe we will go and visit them some day... ;) (joke).
we were also told by a drunk man that we needed to stop doing what we were doing because there is no judgment... sorry man, we gave him a pass a long card and told him that when he is feeling better he can visit us at church.

haha, funny week. africa sure is the best. being a missionary in africa is even better.

please keep praying for africa, it needs your prayers.


love sister blum