(Sorry it's late this week)

This week I got my companion from Madagascar, Sister Randriampamonjisoa. She got her visa, but it is only for three weeks, so we will see what happens, they will try to extend it here. We will see what happens. Hopefully all works out so she does not have to go back to Johannesburg. The member, Sister Magibisela, that filled in during Sister Randria’s absence, is going to stay on and we will be in a threesome until zone conference, which is next week. That will make the transition much smoother. It will be great. Sister Randria already amazes me. She learned English in three weeks in the MTC, and speaks it as if she has been speaking it her whole life. She is a black belt, and an accountant. And she is funny. We will work very well together. But it may take some time for her to be comfortable teaching lessons, but we will work on that, and the area should do great as we continue to work hard. So that is the update on that.
On a different note, we went to this man’s house, Richard Tsedi, he had met the senior couple, the Olsons, and we finally got a hold of him and went to his home to teach him. The maid welcomes us in and starts telling us how in the town she is from in Zimbabwe, the church has a bad name because of some bewitching incident that happened, and pretty much called us Satanists, but that is a story for another day, but then Richard came in, and she left. Richard was, on the other hand, very excited to see us, and the first thing he says is “I want to baptized and a member of your church!” HUH? Did he really just say that, were my thought. My jaw about dropped to the floor. I looked at sister Magibisela, and back at him, and was like “Ok…..do you know what baptism is?” and he did! He had a great understanding about baptism. He then said, “Do I have to take lessons first, or can I be baptized first and then take the lessons.” This guy was serious. We talked more about baptism, and gave him a baptismal date of june, and told him we would be working with him to help him to be baptized and understand fully the covenant he will be making, and why the priesthood is essential for proper baptism. It was an amazing lesson. Pretty much unbelievable. He is a great guy, and we can’t wait to help him work towards his baptism! Hopefully his wife and children will join on his excitement and their whole family can be baptized and then go to the temple. That is the goal. Thanks for reading. Have a great week.

Enjoy your Families!

This week was really good. A wonderful ward missionary, Sister Nonofo Magibisela, who is not even from my ward, but from the other ward in Gaborone stepped up big time to be my companion while Sister Randriampamonjisoa is waiting in Johannesburg to get her visa to come here. It was a great week though. Sister Magibisela is great, she served 6 weeks already, and knows how to be a great, effective missionary. We had a great week. We worked hard and found lots of great people. We also got this rra or husband, Dallas Bantshang, of a wonderful lady in our ward to come to church. We have been trying to get him to church forever and this week he came! It was wonderful. We were so excited and happy about that one. Other than that, sister magibisela and I just worked very hard this week, and saw good results, and are very excited for a few families that we met this week. I want more than anything to find and baptize a family. A father and a mother with their children. That would be the most wonderful experience in the world. I want that so bad, so we are working really hard to find a wonderful family that is ready for this gospel. Teaching individuals is great, don’t get me wrong. But teaching an entire family and helping them prepare for the temple would just be the sweetest experience I could ever imagine! This gospel is really about families, as I am sure you all noticed from last general conference. Families are central to this plan. They are just that important. Alright. Thanks for reading. Have a great week. I know I will and enjoy your families this week, they are a blessing from God!

Happy Mothers Day

I hope you all had a great mother’s day yesterday. It was very nice being able to talk to my family. That was my last phone call home. The next time I talk to my family will be in person! Crazy. I have been here for a year! This week was crazy. It was transfers, so sister lyon and I had to go down to Johannesburg to get our new companions. My new companions name is Sister Randriampamonjisoa from Madagascar! She is an accountant, and a black belt, and she learned English in 3 weeks at the MTC. She seems pretty great, only I don’t know much about her yet because after we picked up our new companions we drove back to Botswana, only to get stuck at the border and find out that my companion, cannot enter Botswana without a visa, which she did not have because there are only a few countries required to have visas to enter Botswana. So, it was 9 p.m. and we had no choice but to drive the 4 and ½ hours back to Jo’burg! Eish! It was fun though, the mission president told us we needed to stop and by cokes. Haha. People here think coke is against the Word of Wisdom, so it was pretty funny having him tell us to stop and buy some. Coke is NOT against the WoW by the way, in case you were wondering. So, we drove back to Jo’burg Wednesday night, spent Thursday touring around Jo’burg. We took pictures from the tallest building in Africa, the Charlton Tower, and went to the apartheid museum. That was interesting. What a sad thing apartheid was. It was very eye opening. I am glad it is over, but you can still see the effects of it. On Friday morning, sister lyon and I left our greenies in jo’burg, and drove back to Botswana to see our investigators. It was quite the interesting, but very very stressful week. So my companion until sister Randriampamonjisoa can get her visa will be a ward missionary, sister Magibisela. She is wonderful, and I am so grateful she stepped up to fill the place of my companion, so that I can continue to work. It nearly killed me being away from my area and my investigators for the week! It was horrible. It is great to be back serving the people I love. It is a wonderful work, there is nothing better. I don’t know how I will be able to leave this place and these people behind!

A year!!!

This week was a week, that is all I have to say. When I sit down to write the blog entries, I can't remember what happened during the week. Sorry about that. It was just a normal missionary week. We found out transfer news. I will be staying in the same area, but with a new companion. I have been out for a year now, and I have been serving in the same ward the whole time. That definitely has its advantages. But it will make it really difficult to leave, because these people here in Botswana have really become my family. I love them. But I can't believe I have been here for a year. Time flies. Sorry this is such a short entry, hopefully something really great will happen next week and I will have a more exciting entry. But thank you for reading, and thank you for your prayers.