August 29, 2011

sounds excellent! i love the part that you were saying that the little ones 
are so cute, i am sure they are. WOW, that is a lot of new little kids in 
the fam. can't wait to see them at the reunion. way to represent the blum
 family at the wedding. i hope they know that i would have loved to be there
to support them. just turned out that god wanted me more on this side of the
world. i guess they will be together forever, and hopefully i do a good job 
and make it to heaven as well. then we can just be next door neighbors for 
the rest of forever! hopefully that will make up for the fact that i wasn't 
there. is it possible to have more than two next door neighbors? i have a
lot of friends that i want to be next door neighbors with!





we learned a big lesson in faith this last week. we were setting our 
trimester baptismal goals (the ammount of baptisms you wish to achieve for
the next four months) and sister clendon and i decided to be safe and set a 
rather low number. we thought they were rather good until the zone leaders 
found out. basically they told us that we needed more faith. they urged us 
to repent, and gave us a number that we were to pray about. the number was 
higher than both of us ever expected. we have both been reading 1 nephi in
our studies, pretty much this whole week has been dedicated to building 
faith. i especially like the verse where nephi tells his brothers that God
 performed all of these amazing miracles so why the heck was it impossible 
for him to be commanded to build a ship?! Sister Clendon and I have decided 
that we need to repent from being like laman and lemuel and we are 
stretching ourselves. We are excited to see how this next trimester works 
out. my bet is that the miracles will not cease, as long as we have faith
and keep working our tails off. in reality, god has really been blessing us
(we had two baptisms yesterday and we acheived our goals!!!!) and we are off 
to a great start on achieving next trimester as well :). we are working 
hard, we are praying and we will continue. next trimester is looking NICE, 
and full of miracles, more to come next week. love you, keep up the good 
work and can't wait to hear about everything else exciting that is going on. 




great job with the neighbors, i am sure you are making God, the neighbors,
 the ward and some missionaries somewhere very happy! way to fulfill your 
missionary responsibilities. if you have access to the book "teachings of
the prophet spencer w. kimball" (i believe it was a lesson manual for sunday
school or something...) there is an awesome chapter about missionary work. 
you should definitely read it!

 

once again, i love you!



love sister blum

August 22, 2011

to answer some questions:

how am i holding up so far from home?

i don't even feel like i am that far away. it is just as far away as any other place in the world because i still don't get to see all of you all the time. and the best part is i get to email you, once a week, but hey, it is better than snail mail eh?

am i getting enough rest and relaxation?

... not really sure what rest and relaxation means anymore... i guess i can say, i am getting enough that i am not dead yet.

am i eating enough?

too much! the food is good, and the members decided  that they need to feed us more often, so now we are very well fed.

am i able to exercise?

every day (except sunday)

am i keeping warm?

botswana is funny, it seems that all of a sudden summer has come. winter is now over and it feels like overnight it changed to really hot.

my over-all well being?

EXCELLENT!

any new investigators or baptisms to speak of?

YEBO! (tswana for "yes") the best part of missionary work here is that the field is white and when you thrust in your sickle, you reap so many rewards. those rewards are convert baptisms. botswana is doing so well by way of baptisms. in fact, my companion and i are happy to announce that within the last transfer and a half we have had three people baptised and confirmed, and are expecting two more next week. Heavenly father has been greatly blessing us, september is looking very promising for our area. it promises to be the best month of our entire missions. people just randomly find the church every sunday, then they love it, and then they just cling to it.

currently we are teaching two people who found the church on their own. They said they were just walking in the morning and they ran into some members who were walking to church and they asked if they could come.

they were saying it was because the members looked different so they came. pretty cool i guess. the best part is, they have accepted baptismal dates and are pretty

much keeping every commitment we leave them. Nigh unto golden i think. Keep praying for miracles for us. things are really going great.

mom, my companion and i just finished up the last of the coconut for macaroons, we are so thankful for the package you sent. we are still enjoying them and the macaroons are now her favorite cookie. also thank you

for the package, i am not sure if we need anything but we will let you know as time goes.

sister blum

August 15,2011

not really half way yet. my release date (tentatively) is May 31. I really can't believe time has been going sooooooooo fast!

I have been forgetting to mention how awesome of an experience God has given my companion and I. so my companion is very much a book worm, she is very smart (majored in linguistics and knows ancient greek), she loves fantasy novels, anime (i think that is how you spell it...), and the gospel. she also wears glasses but that is beside the point. anyway, she LOVES doing office work and things on computers (which she also excels in). the office couple for botswana left on thursday this last week (they will be missed), and they were replaced with the new couple. the new couple has never used a computer before. the wife has never even sent an email, she is also dislexic ( i thikn that is how you spell it). she also is in charge of handling all of the finances for the botswana mission. so what did the president do? he called sister clendon and i to be the temporary office couple. we are sort of part time, the previous couple spent about 6 days teaching/training us on how to run the office, and now we are like the "go-to" people whenever the Kimball's (the new couple) have questions or concerns. We both feel that we have been so blessed, what an amazing opportunity God gave us. Sister Clendon is so excited because she gets to use her brain, and i am excited because i get to spend a lot of time with the new office couple (and of course help out when needed).

also we were blessed with the highest church attendance in the zone yesterday. after 7 weeks of low attendance, yesterday they (the investigators) just kept coming and coming. it built our testimony that God answers prayers.

other news, Francistown got 10 new melchezidek priesthood holders in the ward, a new area was opened (in francistown) because the francistown branch split. the two new branch presidencies were called. the presidency for francistown has two of sister randri and my recent converts in it! :)

after all is said and done, the work of the lord is sweet. there are always ups and downs but the truth is always the same... with god all things are possible. when we rely on him, he can and does work miracles, but not until after the trial of our faith.

i also started the book of mormon over. love that book, the book is a completely individual book written for each individual member of the entire world. if that makes sense. anyway, keep reading, praying, going to church and being patient. God has many blessings in store for them that love him.

love

sister blum

August 8, 2011

my companion and i are living it up in our area. we are working hard hard hard and laughing lots lots lots. transfers came and it turns out the clendon/blum train is still on the go for another six weeks. good because we would have both felt cheated if we only got one transfer to live it up in Broadhurst Botswana!

we had a lesson in relief society yesterday about taking a stand wherever you are. it was mentioned a lot that we need to pick a spot (on the righteous side of the fence) and stand with all your might. the subject of funerals came up (naturally, due to the fact that one of ward members passed away last sunday. he was 20 years old and was filling out his papers. he died of complications from a head cold... i think it may have been time for him to go. good to know that he will be serving wherever he is.) anyway, the botswana funeral culture is sort of crazy, the funerals last a whole week, the family who is hosting the funeral feed all of the guests, and everything (there are always way too many guests, free food, why not?!). the brethren came out and said that the funeral practices need to be changed and they gave the layout of how a funeral should be hosted according to God's standards. so what did the faithful botswana saints do? they still had a funeral that lasted a week but it was COMPLETELY different from the normal traditions. it was only 1 hour each day, like a prayer service presided over by the bishop and his counselors, we sang church hymns and the refreshments were reduced to rooibos tea, and small sandwiches.

this place follows traditions to the t. and when the funeral was not held to the expectations of the normal botswana population, there were some pretty harsh feelings. what was amazing was that the members were taking a stand. they faced every opposition with faith and courage. the family of the deceased was the most remarkable. despite bitter words and hurt feelings of their non-member family members, they stood their ground and told them that God doesn't approve of the current funeral practices, and they would not be held responsible for disobeying God. because he was their son, they would do the funeral the way the son would have wanted, which is God's way. they pretty much called their whole family to repentance. that is just one example of the amazing faith that these people have.

speaking of traditions, here are a couple.

-if you lick a knife, your teeth will grow crooked.

-if you eat from a sauce pan, you will have a deep voice

-before you get married, the husband to be must make a wooden bowl and a wooden spoon, then he must go a river, collect the water from the river (with the bowl) then he must feed the water to his future mother in law with the spoon.

just some interesting facts for you.

be sure to enjoy the rest of the week.

much love,

sister blum

July 24, 2011 - Pioneer Day

Dear family,

Sounds like you are all doing well! church yesterday was crazy! There are

three wards in Gabarone, two of which meet in a different chapel. due to

construction on that chapel, the two wards joined us on our side. It was

basically chaos! there were so many people. It sort of reminded me of being

at home. our ward started at 9, the ysa ward at 11 and the other family ward

at 1. plus, there were baptisms after church and our poor new investigators

had no idea what was going on... neither did we... which probably added to

the confusion. what i do know is that this church is amazing and it is made

of people who keep the commandments. that makes people happy so it is made

up of happy people who keep the commandments, and it shows in their faces

and how they act towards others. our investigators did feel very loved and

fellowshipped which was great, and the spirit was strong in sacrament

meeting, and at the baptism. i love the baptisms here because there is

always a lot of singing, the ward here has a great way of taking the hymn

book hymns from so-so, to incredible gospel music. i mentioned in an email a

while ago how the music is, these people sing parts, and it comes from their

soul. Africans feel the music deep inside of them and it is powerful. these

people are amazing. The saints are so devoted to the truth and they do an

amazing job at bringing everyone along for the ride.

another advantage of having so many people at church was that the MTC

president and his wife, and all the other senior couples who normally work

in South Africa came and visited, and all of the missionaries got to see

them! the mtc president and his wife also spoke in the ysa sacrament

meeting. listening to them really took me back to the days in the mtc. i

remember sitting there (in the mtc) listening to their words and thinking it

would be hard to find more excellent people in this world, they really got

us so excited to kick the door down with both feet and baptize the whole

country. hearing them again stirred those feelings of love i had for them

and for missionary work. We are excited to go and kick all the doors down

and baptize these people! i can only imagine how they were feeling as the

missionaries they helped train were in the congregation, sitting with their

investigators, once again being taught from them. the president is just as

funny as ever, he said this statement that is my most favorite one yet,

"so do you believe in the bible?

well sure we do, it was members of our church who wrote it!"

love that man! he reminds me a lot of my own dad!

anyway, i hope my rambling made some sense.

until next week, we will keep working our buns off, don't worry.

sister blum

mom, sadly, my watch broke. and i was wondering if there would be a way i

could get some more cd's like the pride and prejudice cd, the emma smith

soundtrack, selections from august rush (not all the songs because some are

not missionary approriate) maybe selections from other amazing movies like

master and commander, forrest gump, etc. etc. even brown sugar... love you

with all my heart, please let me know if you want anything from here.

Birthday Week

dear parents, family and friends,

 

i am not sure if i have ever taught obey and honor the law so much in my whole mission than i have this last week. For sure, it was a hectic and awesome week. God has been blessing my companion and i so much. our area took a huge hit from a nuclear bomb and it is slowly recovering. with our super hard work and good laughs things are looking up. this sunday was a long needed boost of confidence as we had many investigators at church. It even rained and people still came :). There are a few things these people are afraid of, cold weather and rain. when those two things are combined we have close to zero church attendance. yesterday was no exception. it is the middle of winter and therefore it is cold, and it rained like i said before. we were blessed yesterday.

 

i was asked what the hardest thing to teach the people here is, i would like to answer by saying...

 

1. adam and eve in the plan of salvation

        basically, there are SOOOOOO many churches here, it is a christian country and because of that they all have their crazy beliefs about the plan of salvation. the thing that always takes the most time is Agency and the fall of Adam and Eve. a couple questions frequently asked are, "what was the fruit?", "does adam have a belly button?", "how many feet did snakes have before God took them away?" and so on. It always takes the longest to teach.

 

2. prophets

       basically every other person in Botswana is a prophet. We meet so many people, in fact once we were in a first lesson with a family of five and we began to discuss prophets. they told us that the youngest daughter (she was about 16 years old) was a prophet, she can tell peoples future and she can speak in tongues. when we asked the father to close with prayer for us, he called on his daughter... for sure, i have never heard a prayer like that before, my companion and i just looked at each other and didn't really know what to say. just a bunch of jiberish and swaying back and forth... it was interesting. 

 

3. speaking in tongues is always a common concern

 

4. do we have deliverance services and how often are they held?

       they have a belief that spirits of animals can possess us, therefore when you are possessed by an animal spirit you must go to the local prophet and he will deliver you from the evil animal spirit. most churches hold deliverance services a couple times a week. traditional doctors will even prescribe different prophets for the ill person to seek deliverance from. 

 

this place is awesome. basically God knew what he was doing when he sent me here. i was thinking about that this morning, for sure, i love this place. it is almost as crazy as me, only i don't believe in all the crazy weird things a lot of people do here. this is one of the reasons why the gospel is going crazy right now. people are thirsty for truth, there are so many who, when they hear the gospel, instantly know it is true and cling onto the iron rod with all of their heart. it is amazing to see how thirsty they are. To be able to take a huge jug of testimony and watch them fill their glasses and drink, is the hugest blessing i have been able to receive. they really are such choice and amazing people

 

this church is true.

 

mom i got the package long time back. thank you a lot. 

i am happy (and sad) that my truck was sold. good thing, but sad because i loved it. it will be nice to have some dollars when i get home though.

 

sounds like the party week was crazy. good to hear you are all well still.

 

i am glad that you were able to have so much fun with the Pugh family. they really are great, i hope they are doing very well. speaking of which, i need their address, can i get that somehow? did you play cranium with them?

 

my favorite scripture is 3 nephi 30:2. it puts the whole gospel into a nut shell. i also really like Mosiah 4:9

 

the adventure continues, until next time.

sister blum

 

July 4, 2011

for sure i loved the story about the woman who bore her testimony in sacrament meeting, thanks dad. it is comforting, there is a less active family here that we have been doing a little bit of work with. their story is a sad one. in short, they joined the church and were as golden as gold could be. they advanced very quickly, the dad quit drinking and smoking cold turkey, they joined the church, the husband received both the aaronic and melchezidek priesthoods, the wife was very active. their teaching records said they were very powerful forces in the ward, they were the cause of introducing many (now very solid) families to the ward. From the day they gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon to the day they left the church, they faced so much opposition. never have i heard of so much persecution in these days for one family, they lost all of their friends, were disowned by their family, almost kicked out of their home, the husband was threatened with the loss of his job, and many other things. i guess it was too much for them, they failed to overcome it and it overcame them. he still has his job, and they still live in the same house but they have banished from their mind forever the testimonies that they once had. 

I guess it was too much. It makes me wonder what things God had in store for them if they would have stayed faithful. it was painful to sit in that lesson and hear them deny completely that they ever had a testimony of the restored gospel. the wife attends some happy clappy church now and the husband stays at home. the lack of the spirit in that home is so apparent. we asked them if they were happy and they said they have never been happier, but i know it was a lie. 

they will come back someday, sadly, the road is far more bumpy where they are going than it would have been if they would have just stayed true. they have denied the testimony that they have, but they can't deny the truth forever. someday it will come back to them and they will change again. the story you shared with me makes me have so much more faith that they will be back. 

sister clendon and i are having a great time and are finding many people, our joy is preaching the gospel and we are preaching it a lot! mom, i think i got the package unless there was another surprise one. thank you for the ensigns, everyone was so thrilled. the coconut one came, and the other one too. but if you want, you can send me another !!!! i will never say no to a package. 

be sure the family knows we pray for them too, love you all, thank you for being christlike. 

peace and blessings
sister blum

we need miracles here, please pray for our father led families! they SERIOUSLY NEED as much blessings as they can get.