dear DAD, mom, family, and all the others who will be reading this,


it is good to hear of all the going ons at home. i am glad all is well.
i love what you said about consistency in our
efforts to be obedient. i completely agree with that. consistently
applying the atonement changes us from bad to good.


for some clarification on past emails, "trips to the dentist" meant,
my companion was having some pain in her mouth so we went to the
dentist. we thought it would be a five minute thing but then it turned
out she had a lot more problems than just the pain. within an hour she
was down a wisdom tooth and a couple cavities were filled. and then we
had to go again because they didn't finish everything. we went the
second time about a week later and they found more cavities. then we
had to go back again because one of the fillings wasn't done
properly... eesh, by the last appointment i pretty much had to force
her to go. all is well though, she now has a happy and healthy mouth.
my teeth are great.

"many priesthood blessings" so for some reason that week that i was
telling you about was crazy. we had some ivestigators who decided they
were done having us come over because the songs we sing at church are
too boring, and the wife has "already been saved and it is a sin to
be baptized more than once". anyway, we have been working with them
for a while and we decdied she needed more clarificaation on the
restoration of the gospel. we taught a powerful lesson on the
restoration and set a return appointment for a couple days later. when
we got back the mother was in a lot of pain, she had some unexplained
back problem that was so bad she couldn't move. my companion and i
knew without a doubt that she needed a blessing and then she needed to
go to the hospital. we put her in the car and took her to the branch
presidents house. she got her blessing, then we went to the hospital.
by the time we were on our way back she was fine. we know Heavenly
Father set that up, we had been praying very hard that somehow their
hearts would be softened. they still won't come to church but there is
a definite change in them since that day, and their hearts really are
softer. the next appointment we had was with the family who had the
word of wisdom problem (the dad still does but the mom is going to be
baptized on saturday!!!!) and they needed blessings, the branch
president (again) was called and he came over and gave the mom a
blessing. the dad is in the military and was called to go on duty somewhere
far a way for a couple weeks. he is still struggling but the mom is
wonderful, she has a bright and shiny face and she is a completely
different person today than she was when she got the blessing.

this week was C----R----A-----Z----YYYYYY----! as a zone we decided to
kick it up about ten notches. as a companionship we have 21
individuals on date this week. the Lord is doing some marvelous works
here. there were 154 people at church yesterday, there was no space in
the church (we are renting the building which is basically a house,
about the same size as our house and the owner decided that we weren't
allowed to rent it anymore so the church will be moving next month,
bummer, but hey, the next building will be MUCH LARGER). our faith has
increased so much this week, as a companionship we are working hard
and efficiently. (the francistown zone will have 20+ new members next
week [once again fingers crossed]).

there is a quote by ezra taft benson that says,
"the secret to missionary work is work, if a missionary works [she]
will get the spirit, if [she] gets the spirit [she] will teach by the
spirit. and if [she] teaches by the spirit [she] will touch the hearts
of the people and[she] will be happy... work work work, there is no
satisfactory substitute, especially in missionary work!"

we go to bed at night with our heads spinning and new ideas coming
like crazy. this last week i realized i was on a mission and we are
now lost in the work.

i say to all who may be reading this, "if ye have desires to serve
God, ye are called to the work. For behold, the field is white,
already to harvest. and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his
might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not but bringeth
salvation to his soul." ( refer to D&C 4)

every member is a missionary, serious, if you have been having any
doubts on your ability to serve God with all your heart, might, mind,
and strength, repent now and get to work. missionary work is one of
the greatest blessings to those around you who have not heard the
truth you have. WOOHOO, I LOVE BRINGING SOULS UNTO CHRIST.

many sincere blessings, keep on keepin'
sister blum

(ps what ever happened to my vehicle?)

first to answer your questions...

how did primary go this week?

WHEW! it seems as though the more we try to help the branch run
independantly the more we end up running the branch (or the primary part
that is). we were left completely to ourselves this last week and what was
worse was that last week we were told to plan nothing so the president would
have a little more of a desire to get things going. our bad i guess, we
should always be prepared, fortunately we had a whole bag of cookies and new
crayons :) it went well though, most of the time the kids don't really say
much when i am around because, you know, i am white and they think i am a
ghost. ha ha.

i can receive emails but i am not supposed to email back unless you are kin.
i will ask however that you give my postal address rather than my email
address. it is easier for me on email days to only read and respond to
letters from family. please be sparing to who you allow to have my email. my
postal address for here in francistown is as follows:

sister blum
P.O BOX 301797
Selepa, Francistown
Botswana

the package can be sent to gabarone

now an update on the work... sometimes things are hard because of the
amount of work that is here (imagine that huh, i am complaining because
there are too many golden ones), i seem to have mini stress attacks
sometimes because i rely too much on my own strength. we have a white board
that has all of our progressing investigators, people we are working with,
and our on-date investigators written. we have so many people that we are
preparing for baptism that sometimes i look at the board and SERIOUSLY
question, "how in the stars will it be possible?!" something my dear
companion is really good at is putting things in God's hands.
my companion is the best, honestly. i can't believe how lucky i have been to
have her as my trainer for the last two transfers. she is so good at being a
missionary, i marvel at how faithful, virtuous, caring, loving and giving
she is. she takes so much time to help me with the things i struggle so hard
with. one of those is remembering things. for some reason, i am here and i
can't remember anything some days, like how to get to investigators houses,
names of people that we work with all the time, lessons that were taught,
information i am supposed to share with people, etc. she is patient and
always caring when we make the millionth u-turn because once again, i forgot
where our investigator lived. or when i re-commit people to be baptized for
the 50th time because i couldn't remember ever putting them on date before.
also, i love to talk and talk and talk about one principle in a lesson, if i
am not careful, i can still be talking about our loving heavenly father
after 20 minutes. she has been doing an amazing job helping me teach to the
point. it has been hard though, sometimes i get frustrated because when i am
talking too much she will interrupt me and move to the next topic. yes, i am
thankful for that because it is helping remind me to be brief and sweet,
just sometimes it hurts my pride. which is a weakness i have developed over
the course of my whole life.

i wish to be a good misisonary, often i feel so inadequate for the job at
hand. we have so much work to do, so many things to improve on, and so many
rules to apply. i know that God is in charge here, i just don't want to let
him down.

i have been studying a lot on pride the last few weeks, mainly the talk by
benson titled "beware of pride" it truly is the biggest stumbling block. i
wish it was easy to get rid of, unfortuanetly it is like the morning
glory of sins, it roots itself deep and spreads like crazy. it is almost
impossible to kill, sometimes i fear that it will never be gone. in the book
of Helaman chapter 3 it says there was no contention in the land, save a few
instances brought up by the pride of the people. i am working oh so hard to
rid myself of it, and i am finding that the deeper to the root i get, the
more the roots resist being pulled and the more painful it is. sister
randri is like the gardener who is digging, and pulling and wiggling on that
root. she is doing such a good job but man does it hurt sometimes, one day i
wish to be free from this great evil that holds my heart.

i am sorry for those that i have not had the opportunity to contact may the
lord continue to bless you and i am doing my best here, if you wish for me
to write you, i plead with you to write me a letter so that i can 1)
actually respond to you and 2) so i can send you more than just a two second
shout out via these letters. i only get to see a computer for one hour on
monday.

times up, love you
sister blum

this last week was possibly the craziest week ever! it involved one of our
recent converts houses lighting on fire, some investigators having a baby, a
lot of meetings with the second counselor in the branch presidency because
the primary president decided to stop being the primary president, trips to
the dentist, the announcement of the loss of our chapel (we are currently
renting it and the renter decided to terminate our contract) some other
investigators getting deathly ill, a lot of priesthood blessings, and lastly
and most importantly 2 baptisms!!!! WOOHOOOO MISSIONARY WORK!

as i am typing this i realize there is not very much that i have actually
told you, let me try to fill in the gaps. the branch we are a part of is
small in members but HUGE in investigators, we had 106 people at church! the
leadership are very small babies still. we are having a problem with the
leadership in primary so sister randria and i have been running it for the
last few months. two sundays ago we were told by the branch president to
stop planning lessons and to pull out of primary to let the newly called
persident do her job. we did that last week and it worked well, then this
week she decided that she was done for the second hour. i went to the room
to check on her and as soon as she saw me she said "ok kids, and here is
sister blum with sharing time." then she left quickly. there i was, 43
children starring at the white girl in the front of the room... needless to
say, we did a lot of singing time, a lot of coloring and a lot of playing. i
did tie some gospel into it, we have bodies that move so we must be thankful
for them! whew, that was a tough one. i sure am happy for an inspired bishop
who gave me the calling in nursery before mission.

the work continues, we are trying hard to build up the branch by finding
good strong people that can lead. we found two of them and baptised them on
saturday. the Mom is married ( we expect the husband will be baptized soon,
she reads the book of mormon with him every night and he has a strong
testimony of the book of mormon. he just needs to be taught). and she is the
headmaster of a school. her daughter will serve a mission, she is 22 and i
know that if she continues the way she is, absolutely she will be on a
mission in a couple years. 

anyway, i know there wasn't a super amount of explanation in that email
but i must go, my time is up. i was hoping that i could get a cd sent to
me. i wish for the cd to have the prince of egypt soundtrack, dad playing
hymns on his guitar, and karli playing songs on the piano. so i guess it
would have to be three cd's. as well as many chocolate chips, and brown
sugar. i also need a watch. 

i love you and i am happy to have you tell me your testimony every week.
sister randri and i have been doing our best to work our tail ends off. i am
doing VERY VERY VERY well though, i love the work and i love the people.

sincerely,
sister blum

mom, i was just about to be done emailing because i had no one to


email and then yours came! miracle! yes, i am doing well. there is a

lot of fluids here these days, it rains (more like pours buckets of

water) almost everyday for the last two weeks. missionary work is

great, there are a lot of people who are prepared to receive us, i

will tell you a story a little later on about a family we are

teaching. we are able to handle two lessons in the morning, and 5-6

appointments in the evening. most of the time, our plans change a lot

because people cancel often. but that is ok, that is why we have back

up plans.



we had a lesson last night that was very powerfull, so far, the most

powerful i have had.



i was introduced to the youngest daughter (named mpoh, it means

"gift") about two months ago. i think she has a beaper that tells her

whenever the missionaries are in the area because we ALWAYS see her

whenever we visit her neighborhood and she is always standing there

with her book of mormon like she has been waiting for hours.

we were doing an activity with some members who live next door to her

and she was begging us for a book of mormon. we gave her one and went

to her parents house to ask if it was ok for us to teach them. they

sort of agreed and we set an appointment with them, they ditched. we

took that as a sign, but we continued to see mpoh all over the place

and she continued to beg us to teach her family. finally two weeks

ago, we started teaching them (their surname is the Phunyuka's

pronounced poonyooka). they are so perfectly prepared for us except

for they are addicted to alcohol and tobacco.

we shared the word of wisdom with them last night and i have never

felt a more powerfull lesson as they knew they had to quit and they

made the goal to be 100% clean by january 30 so they can be baptized

on february 26. mpoh was crying she was so happy.

that little one (age 9) has more faith in her little finger than i do

in my whole body. it just goes to show that God works in mysterious

ways. because of her persistence, we are helping guide her and her

parents home. while we were making a plan of action with her parents

for they can quit, mpoh left the room, when she came back she was

dragging her 23 year old sister behind her (who is not interested in

what we have to share), she made her sit down and made us give her a

pamphlet, then she made her sister fill out the same plan her parents

were! i can't believe how determined and faithful that little one is.

they have been coming to church two sundays in a row and in primary

last week, mpoh stood and shared a scripture from the book of mormon

(1 nephi 3: 7). most kids here can't read, let alone english but she

was perfect in it and she taught herself because she wanted to read

the bible! then she bore her testimony. that little one will move

mountains someday. and she is bringing her whole family along for the

ride. i say whole family because she will eventually get all of those

in her family to be members. that i am sure about. it is an honor to

be able to be the missionaries who are helping them return Home. i

love that family so much. please pray for them, they need all the help

they can get.

we are baptizing a family on saturday, there are three, the Sibanda's.

you may remember i told you about the son who goes to school in utah?

they too are a prepared family.

it is cool to see how the Lord changes people, he brings MIGHTY (i

wish i could type that bigger and more powerful) changes of hearts to

the children of men! THIS CHURCH IS SOOOOOOOOOOO DARN TRUE!



i am happy for karli, i know she will do what is best for her, i am

glad she will be in arizona, the senior couple who take care of us are

from arizona, they are great, and are going home in 6 weeks. they live

by the grand canyon and i think karli needs to meet up with them.

elder cardiff loves to fish for bass in the grand canyon, and he loves

to take people with him. maybe she will get a husband while she is

there :) anyway, i have to go, thank you for your email, i love love

love love love love .love love love love love love love you.



may the lord bless and keep you always, keep up the gospel study,

seriously, it will change your life, and be sure to give refferrals to

the missionaries, they love that. so that means you must become

friends with our neighbors who aren't members, they need to join the

church because then they can gain exaltation. seriously, i want you to

go and become friends with our neighbors, invite them over for sunday

dinner or something. they will love it and so will you.



twith lots of love,

sister blum

haha! speaking of sweet fruit, my companion is from madagascar, and in
madagascar there is this fruit that grows on a cactus, it is very much like
a prickly pear. anyway, it grows here too, ALL OVER THE PLACE, and she has
been tirelessly marking the ripeness of the fruit every day while it grows
up. anyway, it has been nearly three weeks and every day as we drive down
the road, she looks like a little kid in an aquarium as we pass the
bounteous prickly pear fruits. she continues to call all the people in
franistown crazy because no one seems to take advantage that the sweetest
fruit is growing like crazy right on the side of the road. so naturally, we
made plans to pick some. we finally found the perfect moment, pulled out our
plastic bags and harvested the little pears. the problem was, there were so
many stickers all over them. no wonder the locals never picked it! we took
the fruit home, cleaned it, ate it and then pulled the stickers from our
hands one by one. we are still itchy. so much so that we have labeled it as
the forbidden fruit. will we eat it again someday, probably!

i just realized, our experience with the "forbidden fruit" is like
missionary work. you wait, and you wait, and you wait until the person is
ready for the picking. if you go too early, they won't be ready. you make
plans to pick them, then you go and reap. picking them is not for the faint
in heart because it is often itchy, painfull and uncomfortable. everyone has
a deffence that they put up, but eventually, through care, the prickles and
excuses are taken away. most people think the sacrifice is not worth it, it
is uncomfortable, painful, hard, etc. (that is the reason we are able to
pick, people don't see how sweet it truly is, they are only focused on the
temporary discomfort) but the sacrifice is worth it because we know that
they are special to God and they just have to be shown. when they are clean,
they are able to see that they are sweet. we partake of that sweetness as we
help them see who they truly are. not a prickly, mean, full of excuses
cactus. but a clean, sweet, and wonderful fruit made by God himself.

how often in our lives do the sweetest of fruits go untasted because of the
sacrifice it takes to pick them? find something sweet that you wish to have
and make a plan to pick it. i know that heavenly father will bless you as
you do so. and someday, you will be able to partake of the sweet reward that
God has in store.

there is so much fruit here, mangoes, papaya, cabbage (not fruit, i am
aware), tomatoes, and a whole selection of local produce not grown anywhere
else. they grow all over, big, healthy and strong. Botswana truly is a land
of plenty, the soil is fertile, you put something in the ground and it
grows. i am sure that if a person were to live in the bush, there would
never be a want for anything. as long as they did what it took to pick it
(thus we see another refference to you must act to gain the reward)
anyway, i love you and am happy for the lives that you live. may the lord
continually bless and keep you.

how sweet is the reward!
sister blum

I just want to let you know what a pleasure it is to have your daughter on the mission here in Botswana.  She is very outgoing and with her companion light up any discussion.  
We thought upon the new sisters arrival, we would put them in shock by telling them they were on bicycles.  When Sister Blum found out she said GREAT, jumped on one and started riding around.  When she found out she really had a car she was disappointed.
I will send pictures of your daughter as I take them.  Please feel free to write me at any time and if you see me on skype please join in.  I do not know my skype address, but I am the only Cardiff in Botswana.  You can also get me by putting in my E mail address.
By the way, the worms you see are a delicacy here is Botswana  Sister Blum says they are delicious, I will take
her word for it.
Enclosed are some pictures of Sister Blum teaching.
Elder Cardiff

Your Smiling Face

things i do on p-day.... good question. :)

today we walked up the biggest hill in francistown, it took us two minutes.
this place is so incredibly flat that you can see all the way into zimbabwe
and south africa from the top of that two minute hill! we clean our house,
our car, buy groceries (at the local pick and pay where we take care of all
our food needs because we cook most of our food. rarely there is a time
where the members cook for us but that is very rare.) today we are going to
get sister randria's hair braided and then we will be slaughtering a
chicken! i am sort of really excited about that but don't tell dad.

are there kitchens in their houses?

most of the houses are concrete boxes, they are small, about the size of the
kitchen at our house. usually they have a small portable stove that they can
bring out during dinner and put away for the rest of the day. they do more
of their cooking outside with a dutch oven over fire.

running water?
they have a spicket in their front yard and that is all the running water
they have.

toilets?
outhouses all the way baby

the heat?
i love it!

knee highs?
i ditched those months ago

car, bike, or walk?
car :) and everyone drives on the left side of the road, my poor companion,
i think the Lord is really looking out for us because i know we should have
gotten into a lot of car accidents by now.

i should let you know, the living conditions of most of the people here is
NOT and i mean is nothing like how we as sister missionaries live. we live
in a palace that has a full kitchen, a two car garage, airconditioning in
every room, tiled floors, two whole baths and one half bath, an electric
fence, a security system and all the doors and windows have bars. literally,
it is like a palace/fortress. because of the electric fence, we often kill
snakes and chameleons by accident, last week we killed two chameleons and
today we killed a snake. turns out they can be electrocuted.

it was good to talk to you on christmas, i am glad i have such a blessed
family, i agree, skype is amazing! tate is big. his little voice is so cute,
i loved the story about tate, if i wasn't on a mission i would tell everyone
i met.

we have an investigator here who has a son attending school at U of U, he
was baptized in utah and sent us to his mother to teach her. he came here
for the holidays and we were able to meet him last night. he is a very nice
person, just like all of the people here. i got his email and his number so
that when he gets home you can call him and invite him over for sunday
dinner :). sorry if that wasn't ok, i did it anyway. karli, he is twenty and
is a very funny and outgoing person, i think he should be your new best
friend!



i love you all very much, is there anything else you would like to know?
keep me posted on the family and what you are learning in your gospel study
:)

cheers,
sister blum