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.
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
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
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
