A week full of adventures

Hello everyone! This week was so crazy. It all started off in Harare for my final Mission Leadership Council. It was really so amazing. I am so grateful that President and Sister Makasi are the mission president and wife. They are inspired, and truly love the missionaries so much. One thing that president instructed us to start doing, is to try and connect family history work and missionary work. In reality, there is no difference. He wants us to find, retain, and teach using family history every opportunity we have! He shared a quote from Wendy Nelson talking about how these people's ancestors in the spirit world are praying for us to find their relatives so that they can do their temple work. We will be led and guided to those that need to do their ancestors's work for. I thought about how we found David. I don't know if I told you, but his mother passed on when he was only 3 years old. I am sure that she was in the works of us being led to David so that she can accept the gospel. Speaking of David... he isn't too good to be true! He came to church on Sunday, and is really committing himself. It was kind of a struggle to get him to understand that he needed to act on the knowledge that he received about the Restoration, but I think he is ready to commit to the true church. He agreed to be baptized on February 1st :) 

Sovereign was baptized on Saturday, and it was so special. Her husband baptized her, and it is just amazing to see how much they are strengthening one another! They are doing this together, and I can't think of a better way to bring a family together than the gospel. 

6 weeks are already up, and to make things fun and exciting, I got transferred! I only was in Mutare for one transfer. I am no longer a sister training leader, and I am actually training a new sister from South Africa. Her name is Sister Mokoena, and I will meet her on Wednesday. To make things more fun and exciting, I am pink washing an area! That means that elders were in the area before, but they both left and President now put sisters in that area. The area is called Marimba Park. There has never been sisters in Marimba zone (at least since I've been in ZHM)... so it will be an adventure for these last 9 weeks. I am really excited, though. Ready to work hard, and see miracles! Because of transfers, Sunday was absolutely crazy! We had people wanting us to come for dinner appointments, sister's luggage to pick up, and I had to pack. Mutare is also 4 hours away from Harare, so we left super early this morning. I am running on about an hour and a half of sleep  The other sisters in Mutare zone (Sister Dallimore and Sister Sikei) stayed the night with us, so we had some fun with all the craziness going on. I love those sisters so much, they were my saving grace this last transfer. They are both in Harare now, so we will see each other around. 

A quote mom sent me this week really stuck out to me: 

"Going through things you never thought you'd go through will only take you places you never thought you'd get to." 

I am going to be honest, this last transfer was really tough. I was feeling guilty for being so excited to go home, and I was just really struggling. My lack of motivation was almost to a zero, and I just wanted to give up. While difficult, I learned that Heavenly Father really does answer our sincere prayers. He gave me strength to overcome these trials I was facing. I honestly struggled with that my whole mission: Making my prayers meaningful. We pray all the time as missionaries, and I just felt like mine were always a routine. I am grateful for the hard time that brought me to my knees, and caused me to strengthen my relationship with my Father in Heaven. I am not perfect in my prayers, but I am thankful for the experiences that are helping me to improve. 

I love you all so much! 

-Sister Kershaw