One year on mission?

ONE YEAR SINCE I LEFT HOME. How is that real? Did I think I would make it this far? hahahhaa nope!! but did I?! HECK YES. I have learned and grown so much since I left home and for that I am eternally grateful. My companion and I were talking to a return missionary, and we asked him if he could describe his mission with one word, what would it be. This also caused me to reflect on what word I would choose. I would choose spiritual. My mission has been one of the most spiritual experiences that I have ever had in my life. Seeing people's lives change is amazing, and I am so humbled that I get to be apart of this wonderful work. I have learned so many lessons, but I will share with you 12 good things that I have learned! 

1. I can do hard things

2. The atonement of Jesus Christ is personal and real

3. I have learned how to love people that I thought I had nothing in common with.

4. How to accept and live in a foreign culture

5. Hard work makes you the most happy as a missionary

6. How to live without electricity (we never have electricity these days)

7. How to bucket shower (I did that for the first time this week, it was an adventure)

8. I love Zimbabwean children with my whole heart

9. true joy is found when we serve others

10. The Book of Mormon is AMAZING

11. Sadza is now one of my favorite foods

12. being a missionary is one of the best decisions I ever made! 

We had so much success this week with our branch members! We visited them, taught with them, and committed them to help us with missionary work. We were really struggling with our branch president. He has a strong personality and we always felt like we were just a burden on him. None of the previous sisters had EVER been to his house. They said he never wanted missionaries to know where he stayed. Sister Kairuko and I were bound and determined to fix the relationship with the branch and the missionaries. Last night we just showed up at his house unannounced, and the whole time we were there, he was the most friendly that he had ever been. We just got to know him and his family. We didn't ask him anything, or trying to bother him. They were so welcoming, and even fed us dinner! We are so confident now in the relationship we are building, and can't wait to see wonderful things happen in the Bindura branch! 

Ronie, Leah, and Bright are really the only ones in our teaching pool who are progressing, but they are doing AMAZING. Ronie is now a member, and he is helping his siblings to learn and gain testimonies. Leah is preparing to take some big tests for high school, and she was so stressed out. We introduced her to the branch president on Sunday, and he gave her a priesthood blessing for her exams. She was so happy! I am seeing her testimony of the gospel just grow, and she is preparing for baptism. I love these kids with all my heart!

Things in our area haven't been easy, but we are working so hard. I feel such an urgency to give my all. Every night when my head hits the pillow, I fall asleep instantly. We are giving our all to the work here in Bindura. I know that the Lord will consecrate our efforts and magnify the hard work. 

I love you all so much.  can't wait to hug you all in 6 short months ;) 

Sister Kershaw

Companion, I think there is water on the floor

Good morning everyone! I hope you had a fabulous week.This week was SO crazy, and has been a trial of faith. I will explain why later in the letter, but first I want to explain why I chose that caption for my letter. 

FLASHBACK to Tuesday night... At 2 am in the morning. My companion woke up, and saw that I had forgotten to turn off the bathroom light. We never have electricity during the day anymore, so it only comes back on at night. I forgot to flip the switch the other way cause it is opposite of what it is back house. So, she went to get out of bed, and her flip flops were on the other side of the room. Then she said asked herself," Why is the floor so shiny?" HAHAHAHA THEN she told me that there was water on the floor. Our house totally flooded! I shot out of bed and just died laughing, cause what else are you supposed to do when there is like 5 inches of water on the floor?! Being tired and really not sure what to do, we texted our zone leaders, and then went to bed while we were waiting for their response... hahaha we didn't wake up until the morning. Luckily, there wasn't very much damage done, and the zone leaders came in the morning to help us clean up the water. It's always fun times in Zimbabwe.

Our week consisted of fall throughs, waiting 6 hours in a petrol line, and trying to patiently work with our branch leaders. I swear it just seemed like nothing could go right. I always get so stressed when my companion leaves and then I am the one to lead the area. It is so nice when you can put two brains together and figure out what to do next, cause when it is just you, it's not easy. When you have to stay busy every hour, and you really aren't sure what to do next, it can be stressful. We tried to visit a lot of members, and teach them the "Come see, Come help, and Come stay" lessons. That went well, and it was exciting to practice teaching. We taught it to the second counselor in the branch presidency, and he was really happy that we are involving members in our missionary work. speaking of working with members.....

We had a miracle in this crazy week! On Saturday we went to visit a less active in retreat with a member. This family hasn't been to church in almost a year, and he is in the branch presidency. He was offended a while back, because he wanted a temple recommend, and the branch president didn't know how to give one. We always went to visit him on our own, but this time, we decided to bring a member along. We reviewed the restoration with him, and even shared that we aren't allowed to do finding in our area until the members start coming back to church. He hadn't realized how bad things in the branch were, and you could see it in his face that he knew he needed to come back to church. HE CAME ON SUNDAY!!! He conducted the meeting and even bore his testimony. That was a huge miracle, and shows that every effort we give, is never wasted. It was the highlight of the week! 

I love this gospel so much.  I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. He brings all the light and joy that we will ever need in our lives. Stay on the covenant path, and don't give up when things get rough! You are loved, and Heavenly Father is aware of you.  

Lot's of love,

Sister Kershaw

Same routine here in Zim

Hello from Bindura

We had an amazing week this week. I just love my mission  more and more! Time needs to slow down. I have a little over 6 months left... that's so scary!! hahaha

The week began with our monthly trip to Harare for Mission Leadership Council. On Monday, Sister Babeeyo and I had so much fun! We went to some shops and looked for souvenirs, and ran some errands in town. The evening ended with going to dinner with President and Sister Makasi, and the other Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders. It is fun to have dinner and talk to other people! Being in Bindura, there is only 14 missionaries, so it feels like there isn't a change in people to talk to! haha we had a fun time. On Tuesday at the council, we discussed again the "Come see, Come help, and Come stay." In the next zone conferences, President is going to give it to the other missionaries, and the initiative will be in full swing! I think it will really be exciting, and will help the branches and wards. 

We are teaching this baba in Retreat who is a brother to a member of the church. He already has such a strong testimony of the church, and will be baptized once we finish the lessons and he goes and gets a marriage certificate. In one of our lessons, he brought three of his friends to come and listen to us. He gave us three knew people to teach! It was exactly what we needed :) 

The week ended with a baptism! Ronie was baptized, and his mom (who isn't a member) came to the baptism! She told me afterwards that she wants this for her whole family. We are going to start teaching her, and even continue to teach Leah and Bright. Bright turns 9 in October so we will probably baptize them together! Hopefully, mama and baba will follow.

Sister Babe was transferred! :( I am SO SAD! I hate transfers...because it always means someone you love has to leave! Sister Babeeyo will be my lifelong friend. How lucky I am to have friends all over the world! Lucky me, I get another Ugandan companion... Her name is Sister Kairuko. 

I love you so much! 

Sister Kershaw

again, the internet is so bad... I will try to send pictures in another email. So if you don't get that... we pray for next week!

BINDURA HEAT WAVE

So, I thought Harare was hot... It is not even close to the heat that is here in Bindura. This last week it heated up and we are basically dying. okay, I shouldn't be dramatic because we have a car. Regardless, it is stinking hot in Bindura! People keep on telling me that it will just get worse in the upcoming months... hello tan (or probably sunburn) lines! 

We had such a busy and great week this week. I took two sisters exchanges, and it was so much fun. The first sister's name is Sister Maivanulala. She is from Fiji, and is a party and a half! She goes home in December, so she is a very seasoned missionary. Before exchanges, I prayed so hard that we would have appointments. I am still relatively new to the area, and so if we had a fall through, I wouldn't know really how to keep us busy. Heavenly Father ANSWERS PRAYERS. We didn't have a single fall through the whole day, and we taught some amazing lessons. 

The second sister that I took on exchanges is named Sister Iosua. She is from California! Funny story, she actually found my blog before she came on mission, and so that made the world a lot smaller for us! She is brand new on mission, but has the sweetest and strongest testimony of the gospel. I loved the way that she spoke when she was teaching. There was so much genuine love for the people. It touched my heart and was an example to me. We had a funny experience on this exchange. We received a referral from the elders for a lady who stayed in our area. We called her to go see her, and she said that she didn't know the road she lived on, because she was new to the area. She just said that she lived by "the pink house". So, on we went looking for the pink house... Once we found the pink house, we called her and she wasn't answering! We went to all the houses around, but we couldn't find her. When we talked to someone, they said their was ANOTHER pink house in the area... so then we went looking for the other pink house. We found that one, and still no luck. I don't think she was interested because she never answered our phone after we called like 50 times. haha I was sad that we didn't ever find her, but we had an adventure with pink houses. Who knew so many people liked to paint their house pink!?

On Sunday, we got to go with a counselor in the Relief Society presidency to do ministering! It was so successful and I know that we will be doing that more and more in the future. The relief society sisters really don't know each other very much, and we want to change that! Good things are coming to the Bindura town branch, my friends! 

On Sunday, their was a district conference. We had an area seventy come to the meeting, and he was so amazing! He was the former mission president in the Kenya Nairobi mission. Bindura really wants to become a stake, and so he really emphasized that the members need to work for that. He also talked a lot about the temple. I miss the temple so much!!! It is such a special place that is close to heaven, and really, everyone needs to have the temple in their sights. It is essential to our exhalation. Make the temple a priority in your life! 

I love you all so much. Have a fantastic week! 

Sister Kershaw 

I would send pictures, but the network is so bad again... Hopefully next week!