I heard a song this week from the Nashville Tribute band titled "The hardest thing I've ever loved to do." You should look it up, because you will just cry and love it so much. I always get teary eyed when I hear it. It touches your heart! The song talks about a missionary and how his experience on his mission is. The words of the song and even the title perfectly explain how this week went, and even how mission is. You cannot sugar coat anything... mission is hard. Not to scare you future missionaries out there, but it is a mountain that you never stop climbing. It is tiring; emotionally and physically. Sometimes, people don't want to listen to a message that can change their life FOREVER. Sometimes, you get homesick, and wish so badly that you could hug your parents, and have them tell you that you can do it. Sometimes, you have to experience a different culture, and love people that you think are unlovable. AND YET you love it. Every day, no matter how difficult it is, or how tired you are; is full of Heavenly Father's tender mercies. You realize and gain a testimony that this is Jesus Christ's work, and he leads you every step of the way. That is why you love it. You love the memories you make, and the people that you get to meet. Serving in the Zimbabwe Harare mission has been the HARDEST thing I have ever LOVED to do.
This week was an okay week, but no matter how many appointments we planned, they all seemed to fall through. My companion and I thought we were cursed or something. but, the work moved on and we kept ourselves busy. Because of the dedication we had to work, we saw miracles. We had 7 of the people we are teaching come to church. The past three weeks I have been here, we only had 1 or 2. We were so grateful! We did some finding in town when we had fall throughs, but didn't have much success. We will continue to work hard and try to find the elect, because our teaching pool is in desperate need of new people. We have a handful of awesome people though, and I know them well enough to introduce you to them!
Loveness: She is the Branch President's daughter in law, in Retreat. We are finishing up teaching her the lessons, but there are labolla issues, so it may be a while before she can get legally married and then baptized. We continue to visit and strengthen her and pray for her. She really wants to be baptized!
No matter: At the beginning of the transfer, our area boundaries were realigned, and we got some of the people that the elders had been teaching. No matter is in her 20's and she is powerful. She comes to church every Sunday without fail, and she is so cute! She will be baptized next Sunday.
Nyasha: Nyasha is so hilarious! He is in his teens, and his cousin is a member of the church. He travels from a nearby town that doesn't have a branch yet, and he comes to church every Sunday, no matter how expensive it may be. He will also be baptized next Sunday. :)
Ronie, Leah, Bright: Ronie is 16, Leah is 13, and Bright is 8. They are also cousins with a member, and she actually referred us to them. We are taking the lessons slow, because we want to make sure that they are really going to be baptized because they have a testimony. They always do the reading assignments that we give them, and they all came to church on Sunday! A fun lesson we had with them was teaching them about the Book of Mormon. Instead of losing their attention just reading the introduction, we showed and explained the pictures at the beginning of the book. It is fun to come up with different and fun ways to teach these kids so they understand. I kinda feel like I am a primary teacher every time my companion and I plan their lessons.
This week we had a meeting with Bindura University to see if we could proselyte on campus. Sadly, the answer was no... but the chaplain said that we could plan activities and then hold them there. We are thinking we might show a church movie or something when the semester starts in September. I'll keep you updated on how everything goes.
This weekend, I found out that Jonathan was in a really bad accident at work. It shook me up a bit, and it is never easy to hear news like that when you are 9,000 miles away from your family. I am grateful for the Holy Ghost and the peace that he brings us. He definitely comforted me when I found out, and continues to comfort my family and Jonathan's little family. I love you Jonathan, and my companion and I pray for you daily. President Makasi, Elder and Sister Graves, and missionaries in the mission are praying for your quick recovery. I send all my love from Zimbabwe 
I hope everyone has a great first week back to school. Shout out to MELISSA JEAN for turning 14 years old today! I love you sis, You are growing up too fast. ;) Enjoy every moment of high school, and you'll create memories that last a lifetime.
Love, Sister Kershaw
No comments:
Post a Comment