Week #41 Donkey Cart Chronicles

Here’s the rundown of the week.

Tuesday:

After our weekly planning and some bomb chicken and rice from Elder Santos we met one of the Senior couple missionaries at a school. They teach at a lot of schools and wanted us to come watch and give them feedback as well as interact with the kids. They were teaching 250 14-16 year olds, it was really good. At the end we were saying hi to the kids and they swarmed us. It was crazy but so fun! I definitely want to go to another school with them. The ironic thing was that they were teaching about self discipline compared with external discipline and then some kid went outside with the guidance counselor during the presentation. He grabbed a big branch off the tree and started smacking the kid in the butt. We taught a few lessons today, had some good contacts, and our missionary coordination meeting. At one of the lessons today we helped the mom of these two sisters that are on date, One and Moshinga. We helped her section her dough into pans, she makes and sells rolls. They’re so good and she always gives us some.

Wednesday:

We went to this family's home who are just waiting to get married before they’re baptized. The wife was there but her husband was “In the jungle”. We walked into the bush for about 30 minutes until we found him collecting soil for his garden. Our next lesson was an hour long of us listening to this sister crying about her marriage, we really can’t relate at all but we tried to share some scriptures and messages to help comfort her. We joined the mission prep class in the F-Town branch which elder Thomas taught. We had a good amount of lessons and contacts today. Our last lesson was at branch president Motseta’s home. We shared a meal with them which was sorghum meal with blended melon in it and chicken stew. We shared a message and then headed home for the day.

Thursday:

As Zone Leaders we’re always surprising companionships in our zone so we showed up at the other districts district council. The youngs (senior couple) had a lot of good insights on helping our friends and also our personal conversions to the gospel. On our way home we stopped at the Mosweswe's home. I got to see my son, Elder Mosweswe’s father, mother, brother, and niece so that was very cool. After lunch we went back out and our next two lessons were both with recent converts preparing to go to the temple in Jo-Berg so we taught both of them about temples. During one of our last lessons today it started misting heavily with a lot of wind so we were soaked by the end of the lesson. (We teach outside) We taught a handful of lessons to end the night and got some free rolls which is always a plus. 

Friday:

We had the district council for our district this morning which went well. We went to the Ford shop afterwards to get our headlight replaced but every single employee was on lunch break so it ended up taking an hour just to get a bulb replaced. We met the Branch President at the mall to get the soccer ball and the money for refreshments for tomorrow's activity. We taught a couple lessons and got some awesome referrals from some members. Then we had to go to the chapel to open it for seminary, they did missionary role plays which were funny to watch but surprisingly really good as well. We ended the night by contacting a few people about the activity and teaching 1 lesson. Being a ZL requires running a lot of errands which is a little lame but someone needs to do it I guess.

Saturday:

We left the flat by 7 and started rounding up the boys to get in the combie for the match. We met everyone in Monarch and played a lot of soccer. About 60 people showed up for the branch vs. branch vs. branch soccer match. we had a lot of refreshments after and then made sure everyone got home okay, it took way too long though cause people here love soccer. We found two sisters today who said they were almost baptized a few months ago so we’re going to try teaching them. We joined the Sister missionaries for a contact with a sister in their area since it was her birthday. We taught a lot of lessons to end the day.

Sunday:

One (Oh-Neigh) and Moshinga brought their whole family to church today which was awesome. The “Chapel” (house) was full today which was amazing to see. I made some nxa burgers for lunch and then taught a few lessons. On our way to a lesson we asked a donkey cart driver if we could get a ride and he said yes so we hopped in. That thing was pretty lit, there's a lot of them here. And yes there is a video, it’ll be in the google photos  link below. We taught a few more lessons, did a surprise exchange with elders Egburhe and Tchicumbi, and ended the night with call-ins with the district leaders. 

Monday:

Santos and I went to the shops to get a couple small things and I wanted one of the work suits that everyone here has. After that we picked up some of the elders and went to the Allens/ Youngs. They fed us some amazing mac n cheese with BBQ hotdogs and we played a lot of pickleball. We ended the night by teaching a few lessons. P-Days in francistown are a lot of fun even though we do the same thing every time.

Spiritual Thought:

“Having faith in Jesus Christ means to fully trust His wisdom, His timing, His love, and His power to atone for our sins. The stone of faith in Jesus Christ will defeat any “giant” in our lives. We can overcome this fallen world because He overcame it first.”

Sister Andrea Muñoz Spannaus

When we center our focus, faith, and efforts on Jesus Christ, he will help us overcome any struggles, challenges, and “Giants” in our lives. Trust in him, follow him, study him, and you will be guided and strengthened in life.

Conclusion:

I hope I was able to give a little glimpse into my life here in Botswana. Please message me with any questions you have, or anybody I can keep in my prayers for you. I love and appreciate you all!

Your Favorite Elder