Week 5

Hola everybody, Hope you all had a blessed week! well this week I hit 1 month in the field woohoo... haha it really is exciting even though I still have a VERY long ways to go. but hey, we take one day at a time right? This past week has been another great week of missionary work. at church we had confirmations for those who were baptized last week. it was a great experience. my companion and I were sitting in the front to help pass the sacrament and while the sisters went up to get confirmed, we were told to go and help with it. I wasn't expecting this haha. It was an amazing experience for me. Our bishop gave the blessing and he is a powerful man. Very in tune with the spirit. While confirming sister Grace he said she will be sealed to her family, those living and the one that has passed away, in the temple. Bishop gave a talk sunday also ( It's a pretty small ward lol) and he stated that blessing her to get sealed was not even on his mind before. He felt inclined by the spirit to bless her and give her hope to perform this very special ordinance. the spirit was very strong there. 

   This week saturday we had exchanges with our zone leaders. I was to lead the area here in Kwa-Thema, and wow, i felt unqualified to lead! when we planned for our day and looked at our appointments, I knew i could lead us to each of them. The day went very smoothly, better than I thought. The spirit really does help. He brings thing to our mind that we may not remember. I know this to be true especially when we are teaching lessons. Somehow I am able to find a scripture that answers their questions. Most of the time i sit there and think, "When did I ever read this verse, how did i know this?" The Holy Ghost works miracles, small or large. 

   Mom, I'm grateful that you talked about Gods' Love for ALL of us. He cares for every single one of us. even those who don't believe in Him, or know Him. This week we met a young man about 20's who moved here for university. Let me tell you, if I was still home, I would be a little.. scared approaching him!! He has huge dreads sticking straight up, tattoos, and a gangster look( which is a normal style here, everyone dresses this way). We talked to him and he was SO interested! His name is Gift. He was so anxious to learn, and we mentioned the plan of salvation and he said "let's learn about it right now! what is it!?" It's hard to explain the feelings, but you can tell when people are actually interested, not just bored. He ran inside so he could get our numbers and wanted to meet today. 

    This is something that i have been working on a lot while here. and that is being less judgmental. It is a hard thing to not do at times, but we should care for everyone as Heavenly Father cares for each of us. We learn that it is not our place to judge, that is reserved for God. I promise you as we judge less the more love we gain for people, because we do not know their struggles, if they have a home, family, food, or if they lost a loved one.  I'm grateful for being on mission, even though it is one of the hardest things I've done mentally and physically. But, it is 100% worth it, to be able to see others so happy and growing closer to the things that really matter in life. 

Elder High

Kwa-thema week 4

Another week finished! what a great week I have had. I'm so grateful to hear that I'm now an Uncle!!! Mom, dad, that means you are old now! haha I'm so happy for you all especially Bradin and Sadee.

 on Tuesday we met a sister named buzeka. she was nice and interested in what we do. After talking to her for a while we found out that she is a pastor! haha yeah... we were ready just to bear our testimony because we did not want to bible bash with her. She invited all of her friends to join us, so it was about 5 of them and them me and my companion. we said a prayer with them and then started to know them a little better. Buzeka kept telling us how much she loved Jesus and how God wanted her to tell others how much she loves Jesus Christ. So, I talked about how much we love Jesus Christ!! but, she brought up a very good point. that because she loves Jesus, she is "saved by Grace". By the grace of Him she is saved no matter what. I said, Yes, that is true. But why would heavenly Father and Jesus want us to follow his commandments? and strive to live like Him? I remembered a talk by Brad Wilcox titled "His Grace is Sufficient". 

    Jesus Christ died for all of our sins, right? he suffered all the pains of sin in Gethsemane and on the cross. We all receive eternal life because of His grace. However, this does not mean that we will be happy. 2 nephi 25;23 states "for we know that it is by grace we are saved, after all we can do". Grace saved us from the fall of Adam. because of adams transgression we now experience physical death. And through Jesus we are able to overcome physical death. But we still need to follow what the Lord wants us to, so we can be Happy in the kingdoms of glory. 

I explained this to me and she was really intrigued. we talked a little bit more about Jesus Christ when he was on earth and about his church being restored (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). she wanted to know, and her heart was open to our message. it was a very pleasant surprise that we had.

     The Highlight of my week was on sunday. we had three baptisms! Sister Kamogelo, Gloria, and Grace. they all are so sweet. they have learned so much about Jesus Christ, and chose to follow his example to be baptized. some of their journeys were harder than others. Sister Grace has been going to church for.... 19 years! she has been attending church every week that she could and met with soo many missionaries. she finally felt ready though, because we were able to always care for her, and always checking in on her. she put on so much effort, every booklet we would give her she would take notes on everything that it is teaching. she would also memorize the book to repeat back to us. After she was baptized we asked her to bear her testimony. This was a big thing to her, because she gets VERY nervous. It took her a little bit, but she gave a powerful testimony. she shared how hard it has been to be baptized. she never felt ready, or the missionaries were not serious. but thanks to us, she decided it was time. she said how grateful she was to be baptized and how she really did feel like a new person. she said it was all worth it. sometimes it might be hard to change our lives, and it may not seem rewarding. may seem like drinking and smoking and continuing on this life is fine and it is too hard to change. It will be hard, but it is worth it. We are teaching a young man whose about 22 who had to drop out of school because he couldn't afford the books for 10th grade. he got into the partying scene and became a gangster robbing people and partying. but he noticed how wrong that life was and how it didn't bring him true happiness. He's been searching for a church for a year or so now and hasn't found one that he thinks is true. He has came to church and has kept his commitments and says that we bring comfort to his heart. I know this church is true, and through Heavenly father lives are changed. Hope you all have a great week. 

Elder High