Answered Prayer

This week was another great one. We had a lot of investigators show up to church. Which made all our hard work throughout the week worth it. They didn’t show up on time, though. Actually before sacrament, we only had one there. Look at me, saying only one, but honestly here in Botswana, having one investigator at church is a common occurrence, and I often take it for granted. Having one person’s life changing is amazing, but I was just praying in my heart as the meeting started that more would come, especially one of the families we saw throughout the week. I was really pleading with God, asking Him to bring a family to church, just one. Asking what more I could do to get those families to church, just really pleading and praying hard. Come to find out, one of my companions, the ward missionary, Sister Magibisela, was doing the exact same thing. So, the sacrament prayer was being said, and I heard the door open, and people walk in. I knew that probably wasn’t a member, because a member wouldn’t walk in during the sacrament prayer, so immediately after the prayer was offered I looked over to where I heard the steps, and I couldn’t believe it, this man, Richard, had brought his wife with him to church. It was their first time at church. The Lord really answered our prayers. I quickly tapped Sister Magibisela and showed her them, and she looked and her jaw dropped, literally. I had to close it for her. She was shocked. We both were, and we both were filled with joy as we saw them, knowing the Lord had heard and answered both of prayers. It was powerful! The church lessons were great today, we talked about baptism both lessons, which is really what Richard asked about the first time we met him! He and his wife loved church! We were so thrilled. Then after church we had 5 baptisms, 3 in the family ward, and 2 in the singles ward. In the family ward a husband and wife were baptized. I started teaching this family when I first came to Botswana, now finally, a year later, they got baptized! It was amazing. They were so happy, you could see the change in their faces before and after. It was great. Then in the singles ward, the baptism on our side was Karabo Tshekoyakgosi, (yeah, I know can you say that?!?! Hehe…I can J ) She is great. She has a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon, and her Savior, Jesus Christ. She was so happy, they all were. It was cold on Sunday, and the geyser, which warms the water was broken, so they were baptized in water straight from the hose, and it was freezing, but they were still so happy and excited, despite being freezing. Inside they were warm! It was wonderful. A great week here in Botswana. Zion continues to grow here in Africa. It is so exciting to be a part of it.

(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.

Key to Heaven.....

Sorry there was no post last week. Last week we had one baptism in our area, for a young woman named Daphney Motelebane. She has been coming to church for six months now. She had to come for six months because she has no support from family members. It is a actually a great story on how we met Daphney. In my first area, six months ago, we found out that the lisence plat on our car had been switched with another car in south Africa, all mission vehicles look the same so i can understand how this would happen. Anyway, so my companion and I were without a car for a couple of days while they went to get our lisence plate. during one of these we went on splists with the other sisters in our ward to their area. While two taught lessons, the other two tracted. While sister odongo and i (my current companion) were tracting this day we found Daphney ad her family. And she hasn't stopped coming to church since. Maybe we wouldn't have found her if our car had not had a problem. THe Lord works in mysterious ways. So it was great to see her being baptized. She is a great young lady, and will be a great example to her family. One day all of her family will join the church because of her example. I know it. her older sister is already taking the lessons. So, it was a great week last week. SOrry again for not posting, but I didn't get the chance to even check my email last week. And this week we had zone conference. It was great! I love zone conferences so much. We have the best mission president in the world. It was just great and uplifting. I will share one thing I learned this zone conference with you. He was telling us we need to do a better job of teaching investigators, and member for that matter, about the importance of tithing. He said something about tithing that I really appreciated. He said that they need to understand that tithing is the key to the windows of heaven. If they want their needs to be provided for, and heaven to pour blessing upon their heads that there won't be room enough to receive it, then they need to pay their tithing. It struck me at how true that is. The Lord gives us commandments so that He can bless us and take care of all of our needs, the only thing we have to do is obey, and then He will take care of everything for us. It seems so simple, yet so many people struggle with being obedient. If only everyone could realize the blessing that come through obedience, I don't think anyone would be disobedient. It is definitely not worth it. So that was one thing I learned in zone conference. I hope you all pay your honest tithe and obey every commandment, so that the Lord can bless you. It's just that simple. Well, thanks for reading. have a great week!

Oo Ee Oo Aa Aa Ting Tang Walla Walla Bing Bang

This week wasn't very exciting. The most exciting story i can tell you about this week has to do with Brother Fulukani. We have been teaching him, his wife, and two children for as long as I have been in the area, and they were teaching him a while before that. They come to church every Sunday, but did not want to be baptized. we thought it was because the wife could not understand English very well, but come to find out this week, Brother Fulukani has not left his old church officially yet, where he is a witch doctor of sorts. Not a bad one, but a traditional doctor. Africa has lots of weird traditions and things. And so he is hesitant to join the church becuase he knows that if he does he will have to give up being a traditional doctor, because he knows it is wrong, and so now the truth comes out. Wow. He has been coming to church every week for the past 6 months, and still doing his doctor things on the side. Sometimes people are very interesting. We still hope he will be able to give up his "doctoring" and join the true church. He knows it is true and will greatly bless his family. He is just finding it very difficult to leave his past behind. I guess I understand, he has been a traditional doctor for over 30 years. That would be very difficult to leave behind. So, that is the story of the week. Don't worry, we never drank or ate anything while we were at his house :) Well, the work here continues to progress. It is a very exciting time to be serving here in Botswana. I am loving most every minute of it! Thanks for your support and your prayers. Hope you have a great week, and that you enjoyed conference this past weekend.