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

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

November 28, 2011

my companion says THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! for the gift we will open on christmas eve. Something i really love about her (besides the fact she is from zimbabwe) is that she is a ball of energy, we are having so much fun together. I feel like she is just my best little friend ever. we are sure that we make a lot of mistakes in a day ( sometimes it is sort of frustrating, but one thing is for sure, we do laugh a lot) and we seem to get out of them alright. for instance, the other day we got SOOO lost! i have never been more lost in my entire life. we were trying to figure out where we were for an hour. turns out we had traveled off of our map, so we were like a ship without a compass. eventually we figured everything out and it turns out we were in the neighborhood right next to the the neighborhood with our flat inside.... oh boy did we feel dumb?

i think i need to learn how to manage stress better, sometimes i get a little bit overwhelmed because there 1. isn't enough time in the day, 2. how the heck does one person having SOO many weaknesses?, 3. rejection, 4. investigators go crazy and start ditching us, or stop progressing, or whatever, 5. the to-do list is HUGE and so many other problems. I have come up with a remedy, are you ready for it?... PATIENCE and action. when overwhelmed, just do as nephi did, "go and do" what the Lord commands, requires and expects. please keep praying for us as we are trying so hard to overcome our faults. 

i was asked the question what do you love most about mission... (mar, this one is for you) the answer? not exactly sure. so i will just make a list of things i love

not necessarily in this order.

• study time
• african people in general
• specifically, their humor (they love to laugh, are friendly and accomodating. they become instant friends with anyone they meet. it is very easy to strike up a conversation with them, especially if you are talking about something to do with God, bible, church, prophet, and so on.)
• kindness (they are the most kind people ever!)
• welcoming (if you enter their home, you are their honored guest. if they give you food and you don't finish it, they get really offended, so i am working on my ability to eat the HUGE portions of food they dish out. which if you are a guest in their home, they will most likely feed you, so get ready)
• my fellow missionaries. each one is a different flavor that adds to the mix and i am learning from each one of them
• the mission president and his wife. 
• senior couples. 

just everything i think (except for the heat, ditched appointments, and mosquitoes. but not everything can be perfect i guess!)

please pray for us that we can manage our time better. that is our biggest struggle.

love you all, 
sister blum

training is going great