Sister Caroline Richards: Week 25: Weddings and Baptisms

Family and Friends!

Interesting week down here in Mabvuku, but everything is good! Everyone is alive and happy, and some are even baptized. For the win.

So pretty much all of Monday and Tuesday I was just really sad about Grandma passing away, but God was looking out for me. Every investigator we had scheduled for Tuesday was supposed to be taught the Plan of Salvation. So, we taught the Plan of Salvation about 98 times which was a nice reminder that I will be able to see Grandma Richards again someday. God is good!

This week we had two weddings! Hallelujah AMEN. Mai Edgar got married at the court and wore this giant gown and it was the cutest thing ever. We stopped by their house after and she changed into her dress for us, and then we went to her house that night for a celebration of chicken and chips and wedding cake, courtesy of Sister Gondo. Brother Tashu also got married this week on Saturday, and their wedding was at the church and it was soooo interesting. First off, there was a staight up DJ in the chapel, and people dancing everywhere. Seriously the gogos were going crazy. Anyways, definitely a culturing experience, but I'm so happy for them both. Then on Sunday, both of them were baptized!! Mai Edgar's son, who introduced his family to the church, was able to baptize her and it was really tender.

We had some pretty funny lessons this week. One with Brother Iweni Awali. He's probably 50, and the first time we met him we pretty much just sat there for a solid 30 minutes while he told us how his ex wife ruined his life. Nice guy, though. We taught him Restoration this week, and there's this page near the back that has these questions such as, "Why did we need a restoration?" and "Did the apostles know there was going to be an apostasy?" with scripture references to look up. Well Iweni filled in all the spaces and we're like what the this is awesome! He was so excited to show us and kept saying "I thought of all these answers on my own". So he starts reading it to us, and I'm like hm interesting this sounds exactly how the pamphlet puts it. My companion and I just kinda look at each other and we know what we're both thinking. So we secretly pull out a pamphlet and start reading, and Iweni rewritten the pamphlet word for word in the question and answer spaces. He just kept reading to us and saying I thought of all of these answer by myself it was so incredible. And I'm just trying not to crack up cause obviously we see right through him but we're just like wow nice job Iweni that is awesome. Anyways he didn't show up to church, so we'll see what happens with him.

Speaking of church, we had 12 peeps there. It was awesome! Members are getting really involved in the work and bringing their friends, so it's been really good.

This week I started the Book of Mormon again, and I've loved the phrases about how Nephi has diligently sought the Holy Ghost or the love of the Savior in his life. Specifically how he used the word diligence. We talk a lot about diligence here on mission, and how it's doing something energetically, enthusiastically, and with persistence. In D&C we read, "Draw near unto me, and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you". We can show our love to the Savior by diligently seeking him. Not just seeking him once or twice a week, but seeking him diligently every day. If you have one missed call from one friend, but 20 missed calls from the other, you'll obviously call back the latter friend first, right? The Savior will draw near unto us if we diligently seek him. I love that.

Well, everyone. Missionary work is great and Zimbabwe is stinkin hot. Love you all!

Love, Sister Richards