Mormons Helping Hands Service

Kids Make Your Day....

Soaking in the Sun...

                                                      A Big Cheesey Smile

                                                                   

Kids Will Be Kids

ADVENTURES IN THE LIFE OF A MISSIONARY

This week has been full of adventures. On Tuesday we got a phone call from Brother Gopani, whose family got baptized on the 27th of July and who is getting baptized on Sunday, and he told us that his wife had just had a baby. So yep she was coming to church and got baptized when she was around nine months pregnant. They have two boys, one who is 13 and one who is 10 so yep the little girl was needed. Brother Gopani left it up to Sister Napwanga and I to name his daughter. Definitely something that is easier said than done, especially when some of the letters are not pronounced correctly. We look through the scriptures and decided on the name Charity. So her name is Charity Gopani, unless they added a middle name, which I don't think they did. That same day I also stepped in mud, well actually I came to find out that it was sewage that I stepped in. Not the greatest thing to step in especially when there is a ton of clean water anywhere. Don't worry I cleaned off my sandal the first opportunity that I got.

Friday we had an unexpected meeting with President Erickson. Not sure why he came to Malawi but it was still good to see him and hear from him. Friday morning we also spent part of the morning in the hospital for a follow up for Sister Napwanga. Not much has changed. She is doing better, but like every other time that we have gone to the hospital for her, they tell her that if she would lose weight she would feel better. That is definitely easier said than done for some of the African people.

Saturday was Mormon Helping Hands. Did anyone do anything for that around there? We went to Chimemwea School/Orphanage and painted one of the classrooms. Just like every other service project there were too many Chiefs and not enough Indians and definitely not enough supplies to go around. I was the official photographer, that is why I am not in the group photo, so while we were waiting for more supplies to show up I just went around and started taking pictures. I ended up taking a lot of pictures with this group of kids. It was so good to see them all relaxed and just loving the camera. After service we went to the area and taught a few people that weren't busy on a Saturday and while we were teaching a bird pooped on me. It was great. NOT!!!! Still a cool experience though. :) :) Before this we were teaching an investigator that has been meeting with missionaries since February and is not progressing. I told him, with the Spirit that he needed to do something to get from the 'starting line' to where that because of our weaknesses Jesus Christ would take over until the 'finish line'. He told us to pray for me and I told him that we were but that he needed to pray for himself if he wanted something to happen. I pretty much dominated the lesson but I think that he got the point.

On Sunday I got the opportunity to lead the music in Sacrament Meeting. Guess that all those years of leading the music in college and in the Singles' Branch is paying off. There weren't very many in church but it is getting hotter so people don't come out very much. After church we went to visit a few people but they were not home so we ended up at the Nandolo's, they are members, like the only ones in our area. They have two of the cutest little boys and it was so good just to be there and relax and have fun with the boys for some time. Missionaries need that every now and again.

Love you all.

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ is true and that we can gain strength from Heavenly Father when we feel like we can't take another step. He knows that we can and that is when He will carry us until we can walk beside him again. Prayers are definitely heard and answered, no matter how or where that we say them.

While sitting in the window seal of the truck looking for animals, this is what happens. 

Yeah that's what Sister Webster's tag looked like.

AWESOME BLANTRYE ACTIVITY!!!!

Happenings in Blantrye

Hello All!!!
You might have to zoom in on some of the pictures to see exactly what they are but it was a cool activity. Pictures from the Zone Activity. The thing that I did that wasn't that safe was to hang out the truck window. I sent the picture to Melissa of what happens when you do that.
We saw some sweet animals. We really wanted to see elephants and lions but they were no where to be found. We did see a water buffalo but I am not sure which picture that is, or even if I sent that one. I will look and make sure that I send it next week. Hopefully the one of the Blantyre Zone comes through this way.

This week has been good. I received the package that you sent back on June 24th. It took 48 days to get to me. Thank you for following the promptings of the Spirit and sending extra stuff. Thank you so much Mom for you letter, it was just what I needed. Thank you Kara for the picture, I love it and carry it in my scriptures so that I see it everyday. The pictures definitely make me laugh, especially the one of Jake (???) eating ice cream. Thank you also for all the shirts, the t-shirts are definitely appreciated as well as the other shirts. My white ones are starting to look a little brown, oh well I am in Africa.

I was given the opportunity to teach Relief Society yesterday. That is always an interesting experience when there is a language barrier. I taught lesson 15 in the Teachings of Lorezo Snow book. Definitely a good lesson to teach as as missionary and one that everyone needed to hear. Especially me. The weather is definitely getting warmer. But it isn't too warm yet, I think it feels somewhere like Rexburg or Logan weather with all the asphalt. I will live though.

I had a cool experience last week though. Sister Napwanga and Sister Wallin had this investigator that belongs to another church, not sure which one, and he hasn't come to church like at all. I have only text him and spoke to him on the phone like maybe once. Well, I had the opportunity to meet him a week ago, well on August 1st, and it was super interesting. The day before I met him we had run into the pastor at the church that he goes to and he had invited us to lunch the next day and right after he did that he said, "Come to lunch, I won't poison you". Definitely made me want to go to lunch, NOT!!!!! Well, we got a text the next day from our investigator and he was asking us, for the pastor, if we were coming to the pastor's house that day. We told him no but that we would like to meet with him to talk to just him and find out why he wasn't coming to church. Well we met with him at a less actives house and as we were talking I was pretty quiet but when I did finally say something it was something he needed to hear. "I told him that we were on mission to invite people to come unto Christ and to strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ and for no other reason." There was more that I said but afterwards I sat back and thought about what I had said and KNEW that it hadn't been me talking it had been the Spirit, it was definitely that powerful. I definitely KNEW that what I was saying was only coming out of my mouth and that it was someone, The Spirit, talking. I was just relaying the message. I said what I said because I found out that the pastor is super weird and has a weird thing for whites. WE ARE FINE!!!! We are not meeting with the pastor and actually haven't heard from the investigator since then. Other than that the work is going good. We find and we teach and we invite others to come unto Jesus Christ. Enjoy the pictures and I will talk to you later next week

Love you all!!!! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is TRUE and can be shared wherever we are and to whoever we come in contact with. Keep up the good work and remember to attend the temple, even if you have to drive to Idaho Falls. That is still closer than most of the people that live here. The closest temple is in South Africa which is like a two hour plane ride.

Sister Kelsey Webster