Monday, July 23, 2012

blue sadza and grinding the food



OF RATS AND MEN; july 23, 2012

E.D."Companion, I just saw the rat again"
E.W."in the bathroom?"
E.D. "yup"

Following this conversation, we discovered how that rat was getting in the house (through the shower drain/hole). We went outside, and concluded that the collapsed dirt was due to a rat nest. Yes, we had a rat. We decided the best way to bring out the rat was pour water into the hole, so we got two buckets of water. We had let the rat go before, and it had apparently come back, and was still going into our house (we had seen signs of it for about the last two weeks, and found poop/dirt in random places like our beds. . .), so it was time to clean up the yard of this lone, troublesome rat. Flashlights in our teeth, buckets in hand, we filled the hole with water. *squeak squeak* out comes a rat, hard to see in so little light, starts running around. My companion freaks out and gets back, and I try to catch the rat, going in between small patches of grass, in a bucket. I am unsuccessful, and as it starts climbing the wall, I decide: What the heck! and hit the darn thing off with the bucket. Grabbing the lid lying on the ground, I hit it a few times, miss a few, and then it stops. I go grab a large rock and. . . smash! In the words of Elder Hayes, (my trainer) done-skiis. We take a look, and seeing the iny rat quickly decide that this isn't the original, or even the one we had seen in the house. That's right, not a Rat (singular) but a rat infestation (singular) =P
Fill, rinse repeat, we get two more small ones and finally, through the help of providence, the large one. smash smash smash, and there she goes, no more large rat. We decided to call it a night, and when we went out the next morning (sunday) both the large rat (body length maybe 6-8 inches) and small rat close to the burrow. . . were gone. They had been very much dead, I can testify to that, but they were gone. So, monday morning rolls around (this morning) and we repeat the buckets. Using the quiet stick and boom stick we disposed of the last rat which came out of the hole, and proceeded to cave in the hole thing and flood it one last time with water, JUST to be sure. (see video on blog)

*pics in this email, me grinding things for making a wheaty sadza, and some blue sadza (haha) with barbequed baked beans.

Hey there everybody!

This week has been a bit crazy, what with Elder Dragon sick for a few days, but we had one of our investigators, Admire, come to church. We hadn't been able to followup on his praying/reading after the restoration and BoM, and with his background it is stuff that is definitely controversial. Being that he came to church despite that, we are sure that he read, prayed, got his answer. We are following up this tuesday and are very excited. It is always good to find people who have been prepared for the gospel and really do find in it what they have been looking for.

Our recent converts, the Shoko family, are preparing quite effectively for the Temple. They are planning on going in December. Brother Shoko is also wanting to go to the temple in DRC (democratic republic of Congo) in the future. We are so excited for them, and it is such a great thing to see our recent converts really catching the vision of the Gospel.

Being away from and not being able to attend the temple has really made me miss it. and it is such a that I really took for granted, and it is such a blessing to have so close by. Whether you are just going to sit for a while, or do work for the dead, it is so amazing. 

I had fun talking to my companion while he had the flu, and we continue to make nice food things! I have my camera cord, so I will upload vids/photos today.

Love you all, and in case I don't see you,
good afternoon
good evening
and good night
~Elder Williams

-- 
Remember: Pray always, and look to the Lord. Write often, and live life to it's fullest.

Doubt is the seed of failure. ~Taggart Williams

Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not. ~God (D+C 6:36)



Tuesday, July 10, 2012

new mission president...

Well, hello there all you peeps. I can see that it is now monday, and unlike every other week, We have a new mission president.
Yup.
That's right.
Happy 4th of July!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Read 'em and weep.
It. . . is game time.
Uhh huhh. We got our new mission president, and met him this friday. His name is Elder. . . err President Cook. He is from New Hampshire, and he and his wife are very excited and happy to be here in Zim. In the meeting, we got to hear about both President and Sister Cook. They have a few children, the youngest is about to get back from his mission in Mexico in a few weeks. We got to talk with them a bit more personally over lunch and had an enjoyable time with that. I am excited, but I have no idea what changes (or lack thereof) await us in the coming weeks and months, but I know that we will really have a good time with President and Sister Cook. President Dube was amazing, and now President Cook will continue the reign of amazing-ness.

This week we had some cool and interesting things happen. We had an investigator who we had been expecting not at church last week. She blocked our calls. In our prior meeting with them, the sister (23) had needed to rush to work and hadn't stayed for very long. We then had a discussion with the brother about finding the truth about the book of mormon. He had found some anti-mormon websites online and had questions about that. We had done what we could at the time to help him know that the only way he could find truth was to seek it from God, through study and prayer. It appears as if he hadn't taken our advice to heart, and had instead discussed with his sister and their neighbor about it. This week, on thursday when we went to see her, she didn't come to the door, but had someone else in the house bring us the two copies of the Book of Mormon in the house. We were informed that She and her brother would no longer be wanting to meet with us. We left, and took a seat on the side of the road. We wrote our testimonies in a Book of Mormon, and as were doing this, the other person we were teaching with these two came by, and asked if we were going in (she had seen us earlier and said she was coming over). She was jovial about it, so we determined just to go and give them the Book of Mormon and leave. We waited a few minutes and the girl came back out. She said that they wanted to see us. We went in, had a seat, and each one said that they were no longer wanting to meet with us; they each gave reasons: Didn't like to read, and always felt bad when we were disappointed that she hadn't read (from a school teacher, who the week before after having read from the book of mormon told us that she knew it was true.). Here brother said that their father didn't want him meeting with us anymore (He is 17-18, and stays with his sister. We have been teaching them for a few weeks and never heard anything about their father). The other (girl from earlier) said that she wanted to focus on school and didn't want to take time for reading scriptures.
We talked to them about how the only road to truth was through prayer, and that we were disappointed that they were not willing to truly do as we had challenged them. We did what we could, but they maintained that they didn't want to meet with us anymore. At the least, we planted seeds to be harvested at another time when they are ready to receive the truth, but we left them with our testimonies and the Book of Mormon. We asked that, if they wouldn't read the book itself, to at least read what we had written. 

Sister Makhosazana (the one with the dreams from a few weeks ago) was at church and she really enjoyed it. We also had 2 baptisms saturday, Pinky (11) and Everbusy(12). Bro Sibanda, the Guardian, was ordained to the Melkezidek Preisthood last wek, and performed both baptisms and pinky's Confirmation. It was a great experience! We also had someone who was baptized 3 weeks before I got here finally come to church on time, and he was confirmed by my companion.

It has been a good week, and the coming one looks to be good as well. The Ndlovu family we haven't been able to see for a while is finally back in town (the husband goes to SA for business alot). They are strong, and are preparing to be baptized on the 21st. We are nice and excited for them. =P

I love you all, I hope you stay well and sight tight. 
Siabonga!
~Elder Williams

p.s. I forgot my camera cord today, so picks next week. 
p.p.s exoxo legxuma gxuma liqondaqo liwela mgwaqo --yes, I can say that
-- 

Remember: Pray always, and look to the Lord. Write often, and live life to it's fullest.

Doubt is the seed of failure. ~Taggart Williams

Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not. ~God (D+C 6:36)



Monday, July 2, 2012

photos and video July 2 2012

portable baptism font


rabbit leg

guinea pig








July 2, 2012


Well, it appears as if it has come to an end. . .Not my mission, you silly people, just the time with president Dube!
As of now, Our mission president is President Cook. President Dube was
a great president, and is now actively a member of the Area 70. This
week we also received transfers (it being week 5, not week 6), and,
very unusual, all things were done next day. Calls tuesday, areas
shifted wednesday. Elder Dragon and I are staying together another
transfer, and that means that it is going to be a fun one. We have
been having a lot of difficulties in the area due to lots of
fallthroughs and needing to drop people who aren't ready. It has been
difficult. I don't really have any spiritual experiences to share for
this week, so sorry to all of you who are wanting one. When I say that
this week was difficult, I mean it was full of hairpulling, facepalms,
and letting people go.

There was happy news, at least. There is a girl we have been teaching,
Pinky, who needs parent permission to be baptized, but her mom lives
in Botswana. We got word from her uncle, Brother Sibanda (who she
stays with) that they got permission from the Mom. We are very happy
for her, and her date is set for the 7th of July (this saturday).

We were able to see the recently baptized Shoko family, and that was a
treat. They are getting a large picture of the Jo-burg temple for
their home, and they are so happy as they learn more and more about
the gospel, the temple, etc. It is always good to see those we have
taught truly progress in the gospel and learn and improve their lives.

I love you all,
stay well

~Elder Williams