Hello! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and enjoyed the beautiful Christmas Season. We had a pretty good Christmas in Mutare. The morning was spent with members and people we were teaching. I made some chocolate chip cookies that we delivered to the families we visited. It made me forget how much I missed home, because seeing their faces light up helped me to feel the spirit of Christmas. It wasn't much, but we shared a Christmas message and left that with them. We also had lunch with a member, and then dinner with another part member family! They took care of us, and we had a great day. The best part of the day was OBVIOUSLY talking to my family. I am grateful for the family that Heavenly Father sent me to. 

Other than Christmas, this week was not too eventful. We are still working really hard to build our teaching pool, and to help those we are finding to progress. I'll give you an update on those we are teaching, though.

Sovereign and her husband met with President Makasi, and they gained an instant friendship. He even told us that he wants to marry them. President will be up this Friday for missionary interviews, so that night we will have a small wedding for them! 

Godfrey got transferred :( We miss him so much already, but he promises to come on Sundays.We are praying that he can do that! Even if he doesn't get baptized when both of us are here, we know that he will be baptized some day.It helps that his family is now being taught as well. He has a strong testimony and that has come through his reading of the Book of Mormon. Reading the Book of Mormon is even helping him to overcome his addiction to smoking. It was amazing to see his progress and how the gospel changed him for the better!!!

We got a referral from a member, and her name is Sandra. She is a teacher and is very outgoing and social. She is around our ages as well, so we just connected with her right off the bat. We taught her for the first time, and then invited her to come to church. She said that she will come, and then she wanted us to help her pick out a dress to wear. Sure enough, she came to church, and she came in style!  I love teaching her, because she shows her understanding. If she doesn't understand what we are teaching her, she will ask a question. And not just any questions... inspired questions! I have held onto those Book of Mormons that you guys sent last Christmastime, and so I gave her the one where Melissa wrote her testimony of the Book of Mormon. She really liked that, and I am thankful that my family was apart of missionary work here in Zimbabwe! 

I love you all! 

Sister Kershaw

A little boy in our branch came up to me (With the book of Mormon on his head) and said,

" Sister Kershaw, I have a Book of Mormon, I am ready to be a missionary." 

Merry Christmas Eve Eve

That's right! The countdown is on... three days until Christmas! We had a Zone Conference on Friday, and had the opportunity to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. My favorite talk was from Joy D. Jones. When she told the story of her Christmas memory of her mother, it brought tears to my eyes. Memories flooded my mind of how my parents always made Christmastime so special for us growing up. Some of the memories I thought about were: decorating the house on the first Monday of December, making snowflakes with my siblings while mom and dad went on a date, Christmas Eve PJ's, Mom and Dad making us sit down and watch the Nativity, Grandpa Kershaw pulling us on a sled behind his truck or Dad pulling on the four wheeler, the annual Olive Garden on Christmas Eve... the list goes on and on of the cherished memories. It is a beautiful time of year to think of our Savior, and (because I can't be with my family now) to be able to think about those memories made with my family.

We met a man this week named David, and he is amazing. (Fasting and prayers WORK)  His father was working in his yard, so we went up to him and started talking to us. He was not interested at all, but was thankfully very kind and respectful. He did mention to us that his wife died in 1999 and he has never remarried. He loved his wife a lot, and said he missed her, so we gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. As we were about to leave, he said," My son David is in the house, you might want to go and talk to him." We went to meet David, and he was excited to talk and learn with us. We set a return appointment, and he basically taught us about the Restoration. He said there were some things that he had questions about, but when he was reading the spirit testified to him that even if he had a question, that what he was reading was true. He promised that he would come to church yesterday, but didn't show up... So we are praying that he wasn't too good to be true, and that he really does want to become a member of the church. 

Godfrey is progressing really well! So well in fact, that he wanted us to send missionaries to his family in Harare. They went and visited her yesterday, so that was so cool! The gospel helps you to want it not only for yourself, but for your family as well. He will be moving about 100 km away from Mutare, but promises that he will be travelling every Sunday to Mutare for church... we will continue to pray that he can do that.

At our zone conference, we had a very special Christ Activity. Elder and Sister Graves set up pictures of Jesus Christ in quiet places around the building. President gave them permission to allow us missionaries to sit by ourselves and focus on our Savior and reflect on our missionary service. I got a picture of the last supper, and I noticed something that I never had before. I looked at how much the disciples and Jesus Christ loved each other. You could just see how tender they were. Can you imagine? Knowing that Jesus would die the next day, and you had only that night to spend with him? The spirit then whispered to me," That love that Jesus has for them, he has for you. And that is why he suffered and died for each and every one of God's children. His love is infinite." I needed that so much. I am grateful for that tender moment with the spirit and my Savior. I can promise you that he loves you and is aware of you, as well. 

Have a very Merry Christmas. I love you! 

Sister Kershaw 

Making sadza in a huge pot!

After the meeting, we went on a hike to an awesome waterfall!!!! 

Finding the one

This week I have really been reflecting on the missionary work here in Mutare. I have come to realize that it is not like any of the other areas that I have been in at all. In my previous areas, I can honestly say it was easy to find people to teach, and they were so kind and welcoming even if they were not interested. Here, I feel like it is the opposite. We struggle finding people to teach, and we get chased out of yards because people think our church is of the devil. BUT I am so grateful for this difficult time. I am able to come closer to my Heavenly Father and Savior through fervent prayer. My prayers have become so much more meaningful this last week, and I am grateful. We are now searching for the one here in Mutare town, and I know that we will be led to them 

A week ago we contacted and taught a man named Godfrey. He is a soldier, by profession, and was just on the side of the road waiting for a friend to bring him something. We taught him, but weren't sure if he was really serious about meeting with us. He accepted a return appointment and so we were planning to meet him. About 3 days later, he called us and said," Sisters! I have to get a Book of Mormon." The next lesson we taught him, he wanted to know more about apostasy and Joseph Smith. We asked him at the end, " What would happen if this really was the ONLY true church on the earth?" He said," Then I need to be apart of it." He came to church on Sunday even! We are so excited and hope he continues to progress towards baptism. He was our miracle of the week. 

We did a lot of service this week! We helped plant maize for a member, and we helped clean Sovereign's kitchen. She moved into a new house this last week, and it was an absolute mess, so we helped her clean from the ceiling to the floor. 

Love you all so much! 

Sister Kershaw 

Give me this mountain

Today I am going to bring it back... Punday Monday

(Oh the memories of Senior year of high school) 

Mountains are not just funny, they are hill-arious! 

Hello, from the mountains of Mutare :) 

We had an extremely busy week this week. One day after I got to Mutare, I turned right back around to go to Harare for Mission Leadership Council. This has been my 9th MLC on my mission... And it was amazing as always! 

When we got to spend some time in Mutare and in the area, it was good. One thing about Mutare that is kind of difficult is that a lot of people think that our church is a satanist church. That really hinders the missionary work, but we are staying positive! We are also in town, and so the Lord has given us a tough mountain to climb, but we are ready to climb it! He has already blessed us, and we will continue to fast and pray for miracles in Mutare.

 We are teaching this mama named Sovereign. Her husband is a member of the church but went inactive for a long time in his life. all of a sudden he showed up at church and wants to become active with his family. His wife is SO smart! and he taught her most of the gospel throughout the years of marriage. They have a two-year-old named Rachel, and she is seriously the cutest. She fell asleep on my lap during one of our lessons. She is two years old, and I could just bring her home with me in my suitcase. 

I am reading a book called "Look up my soul". It talks about hope, and it is honestly changing my life! There was a story that the author shared from DRC. Some couple missionaries were helping to improve the water supply in Congo. They had to take super heavy equipment to a city and it would be quite a journey. That journey would cause them to go over bridges that were not built well and had a certain weight limit. They exceeded that weight limit, and there was no way around it. They had to come up with a solution. Every bridge that they went on, they reinforced it. The sister said that she learned a great lesson from this," In any heartbreak, there is just so much pain, so much hurt, and so much loneliness. Those are part of human experience and God does not always deaden them or take them away. but though he does not lighten the load, he does reinforce the bridge." 

I have a testimony that Heavenly Father reinforces our bridges! Most of the time, our tribulations in life cannot be taken away immediately. Heavenly Father loves us too much to do that. The trials we go through are meant to make us like he is. So his love is shown by strengthening us to overcome the difficult times. We are never alone in our difficult times. 

I love you all so much, and Jesus loves you more! Have a great week. 

Sister Kershaw 

Tis the Season of Baptisms

First of all, I am emailing on a Tuesday because yesterday I got transferred out of Harare. 4 HOURS OUT OF HARARE. So I was traveling all day and didn't get to email. I had no idea that I was getting transferred, so it was an emotional Sunday saying goodbye to everyone. I don't think I have ever cried so much leaving an area. I really loved the people in the area, and the ward was amazing! I was only there for 1 transfer, but I guess the Lord needed me here in Mutare. 

People seriously say the funniest things when we are teaching them. I will tell you about three of them that happened this last week. 

MANASA- We taught Manasa about the Word of Wisdom and everything went so well. After he finished reading the pamphlet, he stopped taking tea, and has not taken it since. There were no problems with anything else, so all was well. Then he asked about meat. He wondered if we could eat all kinds of meat, and we said yes. He then asked about pork, and we told him that we can eat pork. In an excited voice, he said," WE CAN HAVE BACON?" He was so excited, and Sister Lalampaa and I died. 

EVERNICE- We have been teaching Evernice for a bit now, and she is actually progressing. She is a 15 year old and has come to church twice now. After we finished teaching the Restoration, we asked her how her experiences were at church. She said that she was really enjoying them, and she likes this church way better than any other church. A couple weeks ago, her mom forced her to go to her church just once, and Evernice said that she fell asleep on purpose, cause she only likes the "true church" (those were her exact words). Hahaha we also died laughing. 

PRUDENCE- Prudence is Panashe's older sister, and we just started teaching her when she moved back home with her family. We were teaching them about the Plan of Salvation, and when we were teaching about the spirit world, we told them that there are missionaries there to teach those who didn't have the chance to learn about the gospel. She then asked," So how do you two communicate with those spirits to teach them?" That would be so creepy if us missionaries actually had to do that!

We had another baptism this last week! The Amidu family got baptized and they were so excited. Another boy named Hide got baptized as well. His conversion story is so cool. When the sisters first gave him a Book of Mormon, he didn't stop reading. It was the Book of Mormon that helped his testimony. I was so happy to get to see them get baptized before I was transferred. 

I am now in the beautiful town of Mutare. It is in the mountains and they are so green. The city is so clean, and I already know I am going to love it here. Kinda hoping that I get to finish my mission here My new comp is Sister Mambassa, and she is from Congo(DRC). We are going to have so much fun together, and are excited to be able to spend Christmas together. Merry Christmas season, my friends. Don't forget to light the world, and help others receive the best gift that was ever given; Jesus Christ. I am jealous that you guys got snow in Idaho! Oh, how I miss the cold weather. Make a snowman for me. 

Love, Sister Kershaw

                   Thanksgiving dinner with the Duncans