Pictures from Baptism

Roots

This week was good. It was a little hectic. There was a huge storm
on Friday evening that destroyed a lot of houses and uprooted a lot of
trees, and destroyed most of the billboards around the town. None of
us, the missionaries, or members were affected. It was pretty crazy
driving through the town on our way home and seeing the damage.
Botswana is not used to storms like that I guess. It wasn’t even a
bad one compared to the storms we get in the Midwest. But it did alot
of damage here for these people. Especially the ones living in
poverty. So, that was the most interesting part of this week. We
also finally got to watch general conference, and one of the speakers
talked about being rooted deep in the gospel. And that applied so
well to what happened the night before. Those huge trees were blown
right over because they were not deeply rooted. I hope the same would
not happen to us as Satan sends his storms and his mighty winds. It
is so important to be deeply rooted in your faith. That is one thing
I learned from this storm. The church was full again this week.
There weren’t enough chairs again. The kids were sitting on the
floor. Gerald needs to split again. I think there were 126 people in
attendance this week! It is so exciting to see that the excitement
has not yet died off, these people are dedicated. I love the work
here. It is a very exciting time to be here. I have holy envy for
the sister that gets to replace me, that will probably be entering the
MTC this week! Lucky girl!

Rain

Another great week has come and gone here in Francistown. We have a
lot of people progressing towards baptisms, hopefully, if all goes
well, I will get to see four or five or more on the 20th! We are
working really hard for that. We have some good, dedicated people we
are teaching. Well, it did rain this week, which is great for
Botswana, but bad for the church. People here are afraid of rain, and
stay in their homes when it rains, and it was raining Sunday morning.
When sister ChirChir and I woke up, we both said...."Oh no!! People
won't come to church!!" And we were only somewhat right. We still had
a good number of people come out and join us. It stopped raining
right before church started, so more came late. But in sacrament
meeting, we had around 60 people. Which is about half of the people
that came last week. So,the rain stopped alot of people from coming,
but we got to see who the dedicated people were. Church was just
better this week. It was less hectic. I did a lot to help the Relief
Society group leader get more organized, and we had a much better
class this week. It also helped that we got Gospel Principles manuals
this week to use as well. So, the work is going great here. It is
very exciting. I wish all of you could be here to experience this.
We are making history. Francistown also became its own zone. So, now
there are three zones in Botswana; when I came on mission there was
one! Now, there are three! This mission is completely different from
the one that I came to a year and a half ago! Wow, and the changes
are so exciting. So, that is the news from Francistown. One more
thing though, we had a very interesting Friday evening. Sister
ChirChir and I were walking form a member's home to our car, and as we
were passing by this house, the little girl wanted to greet us. The
only problem is, that their two HUGE dogs, also wanted to greet us!
When they came barking to the gate, I immediately went to the car, but
my companion stayed outside the gate in the street to greet the little
girl. Well, the dogs beat the girl to it. Sister ChirChir got
attacked by these two huge dogs, and bit on both arms, and her left
hand! It is really a great thing that it was raining earlier, because
her rain jacket saved her forearms from major bites. But her hand got
bit pretty bad, you could see the bone on the pinky finger! She is
fine now, but dogs and missionaries don't mix. So, that was an
interesting experience we had this week. But don't worry, she is
fine, the dogs had their rabies shots, which we were also grateful
for. Well, I am hoping for another good week here on mission, but I
know it will be because we FINALLY get to watch general conference!!!
Only a month late!!! But i am excited to listen to the prophet and
apostles. And I hope everyone else is as well!!

No room

Well, another great and exciting week has gone by here in
Francistown! The new branch I am working in, Gerald, is exploding,
seriously! The first week, last week, we had 85 people in
attendance,and this week, by my count, we had 134!!! I still don't
know how we all managed to fit. People were sitting outside, and
standing outside. The field is truly white here in Gerald, my mission
president was right. It is just too exciting to witness. It was
funny because after church my companion and I were talking, and were
amazed with the number of people that came to church, yet we were
talking about how many people were missing in action. There should
have been so many more than that, so I really don't know what we will
do next week, because we anticipate even more to come. We are having
a meeting today with President Pouslen, over skype (technology is
amazing!), to discuss the options. The Lord really has His hand in
the work here, and I will be forever grateful to be a part of it. I
really can't take any credit for any of the good happening here. I
just get to be the lucky one to see it progress so quickly. I am sad
it will only be for six weeks. The branch president here says they
begged and begged for missionaries for over five years! Now he has
ten missionaries, and not enough room for all the people that want the
blessings of this gospel. These people have been waiting for this for
a very long time. Patience, it is all about patience, and then when
we continue in faith, and patience, the Lord really blesses us, and
there literally will not be room enough to receive it, just as He
promises in malachi. I have literally been able to see this promise
fulfilled, there literally is not room enough to recieve all of these
people that are ready and willing to accept this gospel. So, next
week I should have more updates about how we are going to handle the
blessings here in Gerald. But until then, I will just continue to
work hard, and do the Lord's will in the Lord's way.

Standing Room Only

So, I made it to Francistown and I am loving it already. The people here are even more wonderful than the people in Gaborone. We have been assigned to open the new branch, and a new area, with a total of no investigators to start with. Sounds like fun, huh? It really was, except for the fact that it was 41'C! So stinking HOT! But we went and met everyone in the neighborhood around the church! I think we know almost everyone already in the neighborhood by name, and are teaching more than half of them! We really worked very hard to meet people and invite them to the opening of the church in Gerald! And it paid off! We had 85 people in attendance this week! That is more than was in the branch in main town, they had 80! There was standing room only in the little house that we meet in! People just kept coming and coming, as I was giving my talk I had to almost yell so everyone could hear me. It was so great! How many branches have opened, and had 85 people in attendance the first week? Not very many I am sure! It was very exciting! President wanted the branches to split in four months, but they may need to do it before then, or get a bigger building. I don't know where we are going to fit all of these people. It was just a great week. The main problem I forsee we will run into is that people here cohabit too much, because they cannot afford to get married, so they just live together. Seems to be a huge problem. But we will find those that are married, and ready for this gospel! Or we will get them married and then baptize them. This past Sunday there were 7 baptisms into the branch! It was great. The work is really booming here, and I am very grateful to get to see this part of Botswana before I head home. So, that is Francistown. The work is great! We went from having no investigators and in one week, we have about 30. The church is true, and the work is great.

New Area

Ok, I have to make this quick because I don't have much time, I have to head up to Francistown! Woohooo! Yup, I got transferred up north, to francistown! They are splitting the branch up there, and this time they are sending sisters! I have wanted this my whole mission. I am very excited. It will be a great last seven and a half weeks! President told me we need to work diligently because he wants to split the branches again in four months, and then again in another four months, and then create a district then, and then a year from that, so in less than two years, he wants Francistown to beocme a stake! Eish....lots of responsibility these last few weeks. No room to get trunky :). but I am excited, but that is all I can write today.

I ate Chicken Feet - and I liked it!

This week was Botswana Independence Day. On the 30th. Which means most people went home to their villages and the cattle posts. However, some people did remain. Most that did were drunk the whole weekend though. Which made missionary work slow this past week. But we endured it well. We did meet some promising people. However, there weren’t very many people at church because most were still at home. So, it was an ok week. The four people who got baptized last week all stayed in town for their confirmations. That was great! Well, we are working hard still. This weekend will be an exciting one for us here in Botswana. An area seventy, Elder Bricknell will be here in Botswana giving the Saints here fireside on what they must do to become a stake! It will be very exciting. I am really looking forward to it. They are going to make a goal to become a stake in June. So, I will miss it, but I am very excited for them. As missionaries in my second transfer we made a goal for Bots to become a stake in the next two years! And we are going to achieve that goal! I am so excited for them. Um…other than that, it really was a pretty slow week because of the holiday. Hopefully this coming week will be more exciting. Thanks for reading, and thanks for your prayers.