Baker, Madeleine

Hello everyone! Let's get to it because there has been a lot on  my mind this past week!  As some of you may or may not remember, as the Zimbabwe Harare Mission we are doing a united reading of the Book of Mormon.  This past week we were studying in the book of Alma, and it always shocks me that no matter how many times I read the Book of Mormon there is always something new to learn and to apply in  life. The most powerful thing that I read this week came from Alma 22.  In this chapter Aaron is teaching King Lamoni's father about the Plan of Salvation.  The king asks Aaron what he needes to do to gain the eternal life that he had spoken of, and Aaron tells him that he must repent of all of his sins in faith.  As the king is praying to God he says "I will give away all my sins to know thee."  King Lamoni's father was not righteous by any means but he became willing to give up everything to come to know God personally.  Are we willing to give ...

Hello everyone! This week was one for the books. Highlight of the week was probably when our lead STL came to Mutare from Harare for exchanges and I got to see her for the first time since I came to Mutare!! Sister Malu is a powerful missionary and I was SO happy to be able to see her again. Everyone pray that pres will make us comps before she leaves. Only two more transfers left ahhhh lol. We had a rough time in the area this week. Everyone was bouncing us but my comp and I still had fun regardless. In one of the lessons we did have, it was with a new friend named Tinashe. We were trying to teach him the word of wisdom but then he started talking about the commandments. He said "me, I do my best to keep the commandments. I keep 7 of them. The other 3 I don't. That's pretty good." Then he proceeded to tell us the commandments he doesn't keep ahh. Then 20 minutes later he was talking to my companion and pointed at me and said "this one, I've seen her befo...

Hello everyone,  We had another blessed week in the promised land of Chikanga:) we were able to put our friend Claud on date to be baptised and he is soooo ready.  He comes to church every single Sunday on his own, usually so early that he's the only one there and the Chapel is still locked.  He's been asking and asking us when it's his turn to be baptised and we were finally able to finish the lessons with him and invite him to be baptised! Sister Kelly was able to be confirmed a member of the church yesterday and it was such a special experience.  So so happy for her. My comp and I were at a dinner last night with some of our favourite members, and Yolanda said "you two seem like you are very happy together " and my comp said "me and my companion are like the Book of Mormon and the Bible.  We work hand in hand and support each other.  You can't have one without the other." So that was absolutely hilarious but also a perfect way to sum up our relati...

Mamuka Sei,  This week was so good. My compa and I have been GRINDING with our less active work and yesterday we really got to see the fruits of our labors. We had probably close to 70 people at church yesterday when we usually average 30. We had so many of our less active families there including our 1st Councillor in the branch presidency who came for the first time since I've been here. We also had 6 of our friends that we are teaching come to church and 5 of them came on their own. We FINALLY got to have Sister Kelly's baptism after church after it being cancelled twice. Almost the whole branch came to support her and the spirit was so strong. I was definitely in tears. We had our returned missionary Ngoni baptise her and it was such a special day. It was SO hot this past week but we definitely saw so many miracles in our area as we committed to staying out full time. Friday night we had transfers calls and guess who is staying for a FOURTH transfer in Chikanga. That would ...

Hello everyone! This week was crazy busy. We had interviews and Zone Conference on Monday and Tuesday. It was so so good!! The topic for Zone Conference was on chapter 4 of PMG, recognising the spirit. I learned so much. On Wednesday we had a last minute service in Penhalonga where we literally chopped away at a mountain for hours and I was forced to eat the biggest plate of sadza and rice I had ever seen ahhhh. Thursday we may or may not have walked 3 hours to find a less active and just ended up getting bashed by him. Friday I had exchanges in Mutare Town and while we were finding we found an "apostle of God" Saturday my comp and I get to the Chapel to make sure the font has been cleaned and filled for our baptism on Sunday. It hadent and the water had been in there for a month. My compa and I spent almost 4 hours draining it with buckets. It smelt like sewage and there werw a million spiders in it and a giant live frog. 10/10 Sunday we got to watch the 2 Saturday sessions ...