Monday, June 12, 2017

Week 65: Preach About the Animals!

Hi Family and Friends-

Sooo this week was really interesting in a lot of ways. But Sister Ziqubu and I came out alive so I guess that's what's really important!

TIPS FOR THE WEEK
1: DO NOT have a lemon eating competition with your companion. You will get very, very, very sick.
 2: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR HOUSE KEYS IN YOUR HAND BEFORE YOU PADLOCK EVERY POSSIBLE DOOR SHUT.
3: Don't let your Zone Leaders who live an hour away leave their scriptures in your car on Friday nights after baptismal interviews because then you will have to return them.

On a brighter side, Zone Conference was great! I got to see some of my mission and home friends that I haven't seen in months! Our presentation on the area book was great! I made a truce with an Elder from Lone Peak that we wouldn't say mean things about each other's high schools to each other anymore. So overall a really successful Zone Conference!

When I was contacting with a sister from Bulawayo on exchanges this week, we met this crazy man! We invited him to church, and in return, he invited us to stand for animals. "You stand for Jesus, I stand for animals! When you preach about Jesus, please preach about the animals!" He promised us he would come to church if we would give him a couple minutes to preach to the congregation about animals. Safe to say we weren't too disappointed to not see him at church on Sunday...

The Book of Mormon: We're teaching this really incredible couple, Christopher and Melody Sibanda. They've been reading the Book of Mormon together every day as a family, and have received strong witnesses from the Holy Ghost that our message is true. They both mentioned that when they are reading they feel peace. I realized that Satan can imitate some of the feelings we have such as happiness and excitement, but he will never ever be able to imitate peace. Another couple we're teaching have been reading and praying about the Book of Mormon as well. When we asked them about their experiences, Brother Zulu said he felt "joyful" and Sister Zulu said, "my heart was filled with faith". The spirit we feel when we read the Book of Mormon is powerful, no wonder it is our most powerful tool in conversion!

Brother Khumalo: My favorite old grumpy sekuru. He's really been struggling with quitting smoking, so last week the Kwekwe Elders came to give him a blessing. This week we went so see how he was doing. Before we had even sat down, he told us how his life has changed! On his way to work, he lit a cigarette, and in his words, "I almost collapsed! My whole body just got sick and I could do nothing but drop the cigarette. I gave the rest of the pack to my neighbor. You people have power!" The priesthood has power, Brother Khumalo! When he said the closing prayer, he said  "I can't believe I was wasting my money for nothing. I can't believe I was burning my money!" Haha that man is the best. I have a testimony of the priesthood!

This morning I was reading in Doctrine and Covenants 21. The Lord is speaking to the members of the newly organized church when He counsels them to receive Joseph Smith's words "in all patience and faith." The Lord then promises them this: "For by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name's glory." All of these blessings were promised as they simply obeyed the words of the prophet. Most recently our prophet has asked us to read and ponder the words of the Book of Mormon DAILY. I strongly believe that the blessings promised to the Saints then can also apply to us as we heed the counsel of President Monson. Read the true blue book!

I love you all! Enjoy the summer sunshine for me!

Love, Sister Richards

brother khumalo!!

eating oranges with brother khumalo from his tree

 cutting onions in style, and because i was crying

us trying to be happy after tragedy struck our life like 80 times that day

getting the padlocks cut off our house so we could get in....

a Friday night well spent cleaning out the baptismal font!

the WINDIEST and DUSTIEST day of my mission!! we both chose the right hair do for the day!

got to go on exchanges with my MTC companion, Sister Buthelezi!

 I've been companions with every sister in this picture haha!

found my daughter in Gweru!!! i love her!!!

Gweru sunset!

how can you tell if sister ziqubu and Richards have been cutting onions?

So President Mkhabela asked me to bring him chocolate chip cookies to Zone Conference (favorite sister award? ;)) and I conveniently remembered that at 10:00 pm the night before..oops.

and then the flour exploded all over me

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