3/27/2017

Where Two or Three or Seventeen Are Gathered

Masquer asi!

PSA So last week I was loading like 20 pictures onto an email to my parents. Can you even imagine that as the TWENTIETH picture was loading, the computer TURNED OFF! So, no pictures. This week, I am emailing at a cafe that doesn't have a place to plug in an SD card, so next week I will just send a whole BUNCH of pictures! Be prepared!

Hey, guys! I had another great week here in the beautiful land of BINDUR!! That is what Sister Jili and I call Bindura now, BINDURRRR!!! If you say it with a super southern accent, you will say it like we do haha. Let me try to collect all my English and memories of this week!

Monday: After emailing, Sister Jili and I didn't do anything haha. It started to rain and so we had to go home and get all of our washing off of the line. Oh! Actually. Sister Jili went and got her hair done and it looks SO NICE! I will send pictures next week.

Tuesday: After District Meeting, our District Leader, Elder Tuua (Australia) was SUPER NICE and bought Sister Jili a birthday cake. We all ate cake and ice cream and had a good time. Elder Tuua also bought matching sunglasses for our WHOLE DISTRICT and they are so awesome. Again, I will send pictures next week haha. So after District Meeting, Sister Jili and I got to teach one lesson and then we went to HARARE for EXCHANGES! We drove ourselves because Bindur is one hour chete from Harare. We also drove because President Mkhabela decided to be the nicest person in the world and give us an AUTOMATIC instead of a manual! WOOT WOOT! So on Tuesday we drove up to Harare and it was so fun. It was like a mini road trip! You better believe we blasted EFY music the whole time! Then I had to watch a whole bunch of safety videos from the 90s so I could get certified...which was actually cool because it was filmed in Utah! I got to see my mountains! Covered in SNOW! Then I got certified. I PASSED with flying colors haha. I did well. I wasn't nervous at all. I asked Elder Carrell (senior couple vehicle guy) if we could pray before he tested me and he was like, "Wow, no one has ever asked me that before!" Just trying to make you proud, Mom! BUT anyway I passed certification and then the Sister Training Leaders, Sister Walbeck and Sister Hopkins came and picked us up!

Wednesday: Exchanges with Sister Hopkins! (Arizona) Sister Hopkins is so funny and sweet and I learned a ton from her! We were in her area, Chitungwiza! I love that place and I hope I get to serve there one day. It was a good day!

Thursday: Driving back, teaching lessons, the usual! Good day though for sure. I made Sister Jili drive back from Harare, but ever since then I have been driving here in Bindur. It is not so bad! We haven't had any near death experiences, so I am happy about that. I am a safe driver!

Friday: Lessons, lessons, lessons. We were busy trying to work as hard as we could since Tuesday and Wednesday we didn't get to do much. We had some lessons in Retreat, and we extended a lot of baptismal dates!

Saturday: Sister Jili and I did Weekly Planning on Saturday since on Thursday we were driving back from Harare and we had to work out car stuff in the office. We had a bunch of lessons. At the end of the day, we had a FHE with this part member family. Mama fed us mazondo (cow feet) and it was SO GOOD! Possibly my favorite thing I have eaten.

Sunday: My favorite day of the week! Starting this Sunday, I now get to go to church for FIVE HOURS in a row because....RETREAT OPENED THEIR OWN BRANCH!! YAAS! We meet at a Primary School, which is awesome. I loved it so much. There was 17 of us in attendance for the first Sunday. We CANNOT WAIT for the branch to grow more. We already have a family who is preparing to be baptized there. Guys. I have never been in such a powerful sacrament meeting before. Imagine me, who has been a member my whole life, growing up in congregations that fill a chapel, sitting in a school with 16 other people. Was the Spirit there? Yep. Most powerful feeling I have ever had. Heavenly Father loves all of his children, whether they are in Utah or Zimbabwe.

Matthew 18:20 reads, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

Ndino ziva kuti Mwari Baba anotida. I know that God loves us. Namuzita ra Jesu Kristu, amen.

3/20/17

A Saviour is Born...Again

Hey, fam! Another great week commenced in Zimbabwe! Mission is running WAY TOO FAST! It needs to slow down! Here's what happened:

Monday: After Sister Jili and I finished emailing, we went to go get my hair done! I did braids again! They were a little different this time, though. We wanted to both get our hair done the same together, but it didn't work out because my hair ended up taking FOUR HOURS to finish. So by the time we were done, it was time to go home! I love my hair, though!

Tuesday: Zone meeting! We had a good zone meeting with our little zone. We just learned how to be better at planning and also how to be successful missionaries. After zone meeting we had a few lessons in this place called Batani. It is the hottest place in our area, I think. I love it, though! I always learn a ton of Shona when I am there! We also had a lot of fun with some of our investigators on Tuesday night. We helped them to bake a cake and then we had some lessons while it was baking! It was yummy and it turned out super cute. Everyday is a new adventure haha.

Wednesday: This day was a little stressful because we had car troubles at the beginning of the day. Our car ran out of battery water (who even knows what that is?) and apparently it was pretty dangerous to be driving without it...BUT WE WERE OKAY! We bought some and filled it up and we were on our way! We had a lot of lessons that were totally spread out, but it was a good day for lessons. 

Thursday: Weekly Planning! Sister Jili and I had a really good companionship inventory where were pretty much were just telling each other how much we love and appreciate each other and it was amazing. We may have cried a tiny bit. Did I mention I love Sister Jili? I will be a wreck when she leaves haha. We had a lesson with one of the funniest recent converts in this area, Sister Uchena. She totally made our day.

Friday: Another day in Batani! We had some good lessons where we met this super cute family called the Moyo's! In the night we had baptismal interviews for the candidates we baptized on...

SATURDAY: This day was SUCH a good day! To start off with, we had three baptisms! Sister Milliscent, Sister Linah, and Sister SAVIOUR were baptized. We baptized someone named Saviour. Coincidence? I think NOT! I still get teary every time I see people being baptized. It just reaffirmed to me that I am in the right place. Nothing makes me happier than the gospel! ALSO Saturday was Sister Jili's 24th BIRTHDAY! After the baptisms, we had some cake with all of the missionaries and members. It was super fun. We also went to see some recent converts who lived SO FAR AWAY! We walked forever haha. It was so cool because we walked through the bush pretty much haha. It was a great day. Sister Jili said she loved having her last birthday on mission with me!

Sunday: We spent half the day in Retreat Farm on Sunday, which was awesome. We were just visiting the people that were baptized, seeing other investigators, and visiting member families. We had a lot of fun and took a lot of pictures with the Manyara family. 

This week was awesome. Sister Jili and I are so sad to be halfway done with our time together. She is staying SO STRONG for the last few weeks of her mission. She is a hard worker, for sure. She is a great example to me. Next week is exchanges, which should be fun. I will be back in Harare for one day chete (only). I am still learning a lot of Shona. I am starting to speak Shonglish. I don't speak English chete anymore. I will throw in Shona words all over the place haha. #blessed

Have a great week, guys! Remember how much you are loved by your Father in Heaven. I have learned on mission that God will always keep the promises he makes to us. This week I had the chance to bear my testimony of that to a girl who was not sure if she could pay for her school fees. She looked into my eyes and told me, "I know God can perform miracles if I have enough faith." Let us all follow her words and have the faith to see miracles. I love you all.

Sister Lewis

Savior, Lina, Sister Jili and I

Sister Jili and I at District Conference

On our way to District Conference in our combi!

Car selfie!

Quick reminder to everyone!

4 weeks until my comp. goes home. Crazy!

My comp. doesn't have time for anyone's sass!

My beautiful Retreat!

3/13/17

Conference, Conference, Conference!

Hey guys! This week was a great week. Things finally calmed down just a little bit! We didn't have a bunch of crazy things happen, which was good. Here is what happened this week!

Monday: So after emailing on Monday, Sister Jili got sick because we think she accidentally took a little bit too much pain medication. She had taken some really small dose pills for her pain, but I never knew that she did. She was telling me about the pain, so I gave her some more medicine.  She did not remember about the medicine she took at the time. She got super light headed and nauseous, but SHE WAS OKAY! We went home and she slept for a few hours and when she woke up, she was A OKAY! We shopped for some groceries and then just called it a day!

Tuesday: District Meeting. We had a good meeting! I was conducting the meeting and I am pretty sure Elder Tu'ua will never ask me to conduct again because I was being silly and everyone was laughing. Maybe I should stick to choristing. Sister Jili and I also got to work with Brother Moses (cool name, huh?) on Tuesday. Moses is always super funny, so we enjoy taking him to our lessons so he can help us translate. It was a good day of teaching!

Wednesday: Zone Conference! It was a little crazy because we found out on Sunday that we were having Zone Conference on Wednesday. Usually they give us a few weeks notice, but this one was just out of the blue! It was so, SO nice, though. The zone (fourteen of us) piled into a combi that the mission rented to drive us to Harare. The ride was about one hour and a half long. Conference went from 10 to 2, and then we got lunch! I GOT TO SEE SISTER PARK!!! I was so excited. She is doing so good! Her trainee is doing awesome, too. Sister Park told me that this past Saturday they baptized a few of the people that she and I were teaching together. I am so proud! After Zone Conference was done, we had to wait around for a little while so President could meet with all the Zone Leaders and District Leaders for a minute. It was so nice to just catch up with all of the other sisters.

Thursday: Weekly Planning! Sister Jili only has 4 more of them left! I have 56 left haha. #powerful Lots of good lessons! At the end of the day, we went to go see the Pepa Family (Peppa Pig...shout out to my niece, Kendall, who can't even read this shoutout!) and they fed us dinner. YOH! That mama can COOK! It was super yummy, but she also fed us so much food.

Friday: Every so often on mission, we have fall-through days. This day was a fall-through day! Almost all of the people we planned to see weren't home! We did get to see a few of them, though, which was good! Sister Jili and I spent the night fixing our area book which died from the flood haha.

Saturday: We got to teach some lessons in RETREAT, aka my favorite part of my area. We taught this girl and her name is Savior. Literally the coolest name ever, right? She is being baptized this week if all goes according to plan! She is so super sweet. She is 15 years old. Her mom was just baptized a few weeks ago. I know she will be a strong member.

Sunday: HOLY MOLY Sunday was my favorite day of this week. We had a District Conference (a district is like a stake, but smaller). For two hours, I was just spiritually uplifted like crazy. There were SO MANY good talks! President Mkhabela's first counselor spoke about WOMEN and how powerful women in the church are. He talked about how men should respect women, and how husbands should treat their wives like queens. It was an awesome talk. At the very end of the conference, President Mkhabela (my mission president) gave one of the most incredible prayers I have ever heard in my whole life. He was giving a dedicatory prayer over the building. I was crying through the whole prayer, which was crazy because I have only cried like twice on mission. I can't even explain it, but the whole congregation could just feel the Spirit there so strongly! It was awesome.

This week was a really great week for me. I have seen myself growing so much. I can't wait to grow more. Today is the 6th month mark for my time in Zimbabwe! On March 13th, 2018 I will be flying home! It seems like time is running so fast. There is no way I am 1/3 of the way done with my mission! I really liked what Elder Ellis told us about mission, though. He said, "Of course they say that your mission is the best year and a half of your life. You get to walk with God for 18 months. When else do you get to say that?"

I love this gospel so much! I can't wait for this next upcoming year!

Have a great week, guys! I love you all and I pray for you! Try to do something good for someone else this week!

Love, Sister Lewis

3/6/17
Farewells, Flat Tire, Floods, Fries, Face.....

Bindra Sunset

Sister Park and I for the last time as companions (we didn't even mean to match)

Me carrying water on my head with some girls from Retreat

We found sunflowers

113 year old Sedura we met

My cute companion-Sister Jili

Retreat

3/6/17
Farewells, Flat Tires, Floods, Fries, Face....
Craziest week of my life? Yep. Did I enjoy it? YEP! Let me go back to the highlights of last week because I didn't get to write last week! 

Monday 20 Feb: We went to Lake Chivero! It was super fun and super beautiful. I am including pictures, so that is where we were haha. Sister Park, Thomas, Namugenyi, and I just walked around the lake and had fun!

Thursday 23 Feb: Missionary Broadcast! All the missionaries in Harare got together and were able to watch the broadcast that happened in January. I loved getting to hear the Apostles speak! David A. Bednar is SUCH a powerful guy! 

Saturday 25 Feb: Sister Park and I baptized 3 men on Saturday! We had like 20 people on date in Kuwadzana, so she will be baptizing all of them without me now! I was bummed to go before I got to baptize all the people I was teaching, but I was so glad to see Henry, Edward, and Prince baptized! They were especially important to me. I will attach pictures! 

Monday 27 Feb: It was such a huge long day that day haha. I emailed at the mission office from like 9-10, and then the rest of the day was spent running around with all of these other sisters. Sister Park and I split up since we weren't companions anymore. She had a different emailing time than me, so I hung out with Sister Erickson, Bergen, and Buthelezi for the day. It was fun, but most of the day was spent waiting at the office to leave for Bindura, which was hard. I was SO EXCITED though because I got to see some of the missionaries I was with in Gweru. It was just kind of an emotional day all over the place. I got to see old missionaries, but I also had to say goodbye to the ones I loved! Eventually, around 4, we left Harare for Bindura. It was about an hour ride, which wasn't bad. Man, Bindura is BEAUTIFUL! SO many mountains, SO GREEN! It is awesome.

Tuesday 28 Feb: First District Meeting! It was pretty good! We are all still getting to know each other, but I like my district! So right after District Meeting, we find out that we have a FLAT TIRE. Oh. P.S. I forgot to tell you. Sister Jili (AKA MY FAVORITE HUMAN BEING ON THE PLANET) can indeed drive a manual, but President Mkhabela still wants me to learn so that when she leaves in 5 weeks (saddest thing of my life) I will be able to drive. BUT! Back to the story. So the zone leaders took us to the tire repair place where it took like an hour to get all that sorted out. After that, we went for lunch. Eventually we FINALLY got to go to the area and teach some lessons. It was a good day, Crazy, but good. 

Wednesday 1 March: THE FLOOD. So Wednesday morning, Sister Jili and I wake up and there is WATER up to our ANKLES all over the floor. So that was cool. Our water wasn't working for a little bit, and someone turned a tap on without remembering to turn it off. The water turned on somewhere around 1 in the morning and just started filling our house. So from about 6 to 9 in the morning, we were scooping water out of our house. Then, we had to work on fixing all of the things that were water damaged on our floor. We had a TON of stuff on the floor since I was working on unpacking. EVERYTHING IS OKAY, THOUGH! Nothing got damaged beyond repair, which was awesome! We also had to do our laundry, though, because we didn't want our clothes to smell. There is no washing machine in this house, so Sister Jili and I were handwashing. It is actually super fun and easy so #yaas We didn't get to leave the house until like 1 and then we had to help the other sisters move out of our house where they were just staying temporarily, so I didn't really get to see very much of the area. 

Thursday 2 March: Weekly Planning! It was a little hard to weekly plan because our area books had gotten wet from the flood, and they are still not yet dry. We did, though, and then we went to the area for a full day! We also ate FRIES for lunch, so that matched our theme of "F" for the week. Farewells, flat tire, flood, fries. We also had a lot of fall through appointments on Thursday, which happens every so often. Sister Jili was given permission from President to learn how to drive a manual better, though, so on Thursday night we spent some time with the zone leaders while Elder Brooks was teaching Sister Jili how to drive the manual. It was fun and she did a really good job! I also learned a ton, but I didn't get behind the wheel...YET!

Friday 3 March: This was like a totally normal day full of lessons, which was a huge relief. I was missing normality in my life! 

Saturday 4 March: I got to see RETREAT aka the most beautiful place I have ever been in my whole life. Retreat are villages up in the mountains of Bindura. We just drove/hiked to people living in hut type things. It is a really open area with not a lot of houses, which is cool. I will attach pictures. 

Sunday 5 March: First Sunday in the branch was SOO GOOD!! We had some investigators come to church, which was good. I also ran my face into the gate of our house, which was not so much fun. I seriously just ran right into this hard part of the gate with my eye. Life is hard when you aren't coordinated. On Sunday night, Elder Brooks tested me on the manual. I DID SO GOOD! I did not even kill the engine once. I just need to be certified by Elder Carrell and then I will be good to drive around Bindura! I still need a little practice, but I am not terrible!

Life is good as usual, guys. I love Sister Jili so much. She is from South Africa! She goes home, like I said before, at the end of this transfer. I have never connected with someone as fast as I have connected with Sister Jili! She is my best friend. I feel so blessed that President chose ME to be her last companion. Heavenly Father truly has a plan for each of us. 

I love Bindura! It is super small town, which is awesome! Mountains everywhere, super green, kind people. I will send pictures for sure. Our house is nice! It is big for just the two of us, but we are enjoying. I am back to bucket bathing! No washing machine, like I said, which is gonna be a fun time haha. 

I am so disorganized still in my brain today, but I am happy! Sorry this group email was a hot mess, but I hope you enjoy! 

I want to testify to you that the gospel is real. Heavenly Father is real and He KNOWS what is best for each one of us. The moment we put our will and our life into His hands is when we become happy. I can handle any change that is thrown at me now because of that. I hope it will be something that all of you will get to experience. 

Ndino kuda! Have a great week!

Sister Lewis

P.S. Sister Jili speaks like FLUENT Shona, so I am learning so much from her!

P.P.S. Um...so I met this sekuru that is ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN YEARS OLD this week. Just chill. He still works in his own field and get his own firewood. what a champ. 

2/28/17
The Adventures of Lewis and Park: Farewell, Kuwadzana

Guys. SOS. I am just going to tell you this now because I can't wait haha. We got transfer news on Saturday that I am going to BINDURA with SISTER JILI! First, I am so sad I am leaving Sister Park in Kuwadzana (SHE IS TRAINING A NEW MISSIONARY!), but I am SO EXCITED to go be with Sister Jili in Bindura. Sister Jili is the most kind missionary I have met here in Zimbabwe. We have been talking for the past 2 transfers about how much we wanted to be companions. President Mkhabela came up to me today and was like, "Sister Lewis, why aren't you crying? I thought you would be angry with me." I told him I was excited to go to Bindura to be with Sister Jili. He said, "I am so glad. I was trying to figure out how to leave you in Kuwadzana, but I prayed for a really long time, and the Spirit told me you needed to be in Bindura with Sister Jili." My mission president is the LITERAL BEST! Revelation for the win! I sustain him fully haha. 

So I am just really disorganized right now and can't even think of what happened this week. Oh! I just remembered, though. There is a 75% chance I will be driving in Bindura...#whyme I was not so sure about that revelation, but I am rolling with it haha. I will be driving a stick shift I think. I learned how to once like 3 years ago, and Elder Carrell, the person in charge of the cars, was like, "You can do it, Sister Lewis! I believe in you!" So...we shall see. I will try for sure to be a good driver. Sister Jili can drive, too, but she doesn't know how to drive a stick at all...so...pakayipa (life is hard). 

I really can't even focus enough to write a good email right now, but I will next week haha. Sister Park and I had an awesome week! We baptized three people! I will talk about them next week.

Forgive me for my weakness in writing! Have a great week! Don't forget to pray

Love, Sister Lewis