Monday, August 15, 2016

Week 22: Just One Voice

Ndeipi!  

Mission is the best. Seriously THE BEST. Living in Africa is so hard sometimes but I love it. We had power and water for like 2 whole days this week, which stinks, but life goes on. 

This week was awesome! Remember last week how I said to expect miracles? This week we saw MIRACLES. So we put this giant sign in our study that says "Expect miracles, for they will come". On Tuesday we ate a five houses. Five. Do you know how many that is? Do you know how much food that is? So much. Every where we went they just kept feeding us and feeding us and feeding us. I have never hated food so much. My poor companion got sick and has been throwing up for the rest of the week, but she's getting better! We still got 29 lessons in for the week which is yet another miracle while having a sick companion. 

MAI EDGAR: Mai Edgar is the best lady every. She has been taking the lessons for about a year now, and last week we extended baptism and she accepted! MIRACLE. Then, this week we realized that we didn't ask her if she was legally married and we're like alright shoot she's not going to be baptized for like a month and a half. So we got back and tell her about the requirement to be legally married before baptism which costs $20, and she said "It's okay. I'm willing to sacrifice anything to keep my baptismal date". MIRACLE. $20 is a giant chunk of money this side. She tells us she has to talk to her husband to see if he will agree, and we were praying so hard that he would say yes! We came back on Saturday, and she sat us down and said "God is working miracles in my life. Every time I've asked my husband before if we can get married, we always end up just arguing. But this time he just said yes". BUT WAIT, it gets better. The husband comes in and tells us that he's willing to go to the court and pay whatever as long as his wife is happy. It was so great. Miracles. Miracles everywhere. So Mai Edgar is getting baptized on Saturday and it will probably be the happiest day of our lives. 

ALLAN: Allan is the guy we met last week that we were able to teach about the Book of Mormon. We set a return appointment with him for this week, and were looking forward to meeting with him again so much. That's all we could talk about! Our lesson before our scheduled one with Allan went a little long, and then we got a little lost on the way to his house, which was really weird because it's an area we spend a lot of time in. When we got to his house, we were about 15 minutes late, and his gogo said he was not home. We were crushed! As we were walking about, my companion turned around and say him running up the street. We were able to teach him the message of the Restoration, and it honestly was probably the most powerful lesson I have been in on mission. He was understanding so well, the spirit was so strong, and he was asking so many great questions. After we shared the first vision, he stopped and said, "Sisters, I need to be frank with you. I forgot about our appointment today. But as I was at school, I had an hour break, and I just felt something pushing me to come home. It takes me about 25 minutes to walk home, so it didn't make sense, but something just kept pushing me. When I was walking home, a friend stopped me and asked for help on an assignment, but I knew I had to come home. When I got here, I saw you, and I knew it was God who had pushed me home. The story about Joseph Smith is a miracle. What happened to him was a miracle. It may not seem like it to you, but what happened to me today was also a miracle. I can feel something when we talk and I think this is God telling me that there's something special about your church." Wow. Just wow. My companion and I walked away from the lesson just in shock. It was incredible. 

Expect Miracles, for they will come.

This is the longest email in the history of ever, so I commend every one who gets through it. Thank you all for the love and prayers sent to the missionaries in Zimbabwe. They are working!

Love, Sister Richards 


Three generational picture! My trainer and my daughter. Such happy times.

What happens when the power goes out and we have no food? oreos and peanut butter for lunch. FOR THE WIN. 

What can I say, Africa is turning me into a fashion icon. (the mornings are really cold)

I played doctor for my sick comp this week. I was instructed whisk all the carbonation out of sprite, add a teaspoon of salt, and make her drink it. This is her enjoying haha. 

Giant spider on our wall. you can't see him all but he's really huge.

Our beautiful calendar. all the little words are return appointments and the colored sticky notes are baptismal dates. hashtag ORGANIZED 

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