Tuesday,
June 24th
Missions are the best. I am grateful I chose to
come on a mission. We had a powerful district meeting. I feel like it’s important
to not get comfortable but to always continue pushing ourselves to be a better
person. It’s important to keep working hard, to keep trying. I also feel like
one of my biggest struggles as a missionary is not really stating my opinion or
even trusting in it. But I’ll work on it and have it become a strength ha-ha.
Today, we taught Sylvester who is an awesome guy!
We taught him the importance of following through with commitments--he’s the
one ready for baptism. He asked us how he could become a missionary. WHAT??
Pretty awesome, right? He is going to Blantyre to take exams and will be gone
for one month so hopefully he doesn't lose interest. We’ll keep following up
through the phone!
Mkwanaris is also awesome. We taught the Restoration
and talked about the priesthood. He accepted to be baptized but isn't going to
come to church anytime soon unless we figure out something quick--he’s an Elder
in the CCAP (Church of Central Africa—Presbyterian). We will figure something
out. He really knows the Bible--it’s kind of intimidating.
Sister Grace: We didn't really plan a lesson at
all and I remember just praying and praying that something would work out. She
opened the door and we began the lesson. She opened up and told us all about
everything in her life. It was great. She also told us that many missionaries
have come to her door and she has denied them but wasn't quite sure why she
decided to let us in. This reminds me that no missionary work is every wasted.
Wednesday,
June 25th
We met with Fred--what a good guy! He read
everything we asked him to. However, he doesn't know if he believes in the Book
of Mormon yet. He says anyone can claim something is true, but how can they
actually know. He kept asking where is the evidence. And I said, “You’re
holding it in your hand.” We asked him how he knew the Bible was true and he
told us it was because he had read it and prayed about it. And so we encouraged
him to do the same with the Book of Mormon.
We finally got to meet Molly. We have been trying to contact her. She’s a
genius and knows the Bible so well. She’s a nurse and very willing to work for
the community. She’s a great woman and will be a great investigator.
I almost forgot to tell you about the miracle! It truly was a miracle. So…as
the day was closing we were contacting and I saw this man. And I felt so
strongly that I was supposed to go to his house. I remember thinking this
family needs the Gospel. And my companion was feeling exactly the same. So we
went and ended up talking to a woman. She told us that her brother’s girlfriend
had passed away and that she was doubting God and felt like we were sent to her
to remind her that He is real. Awesome right? She’s going to the funeral and
for who knows how long. Africans just go on vacation and never come back
sometimes.
Thursday,
June 26th
Well, Africa is a humbling place. Although everyone here struggles, they honestly
would be offended if I were to tell you that everyone here is poor. To be
honest, Africans hate this stereotype. So…I want everyone to know ha-ha that
not every African is poor! But I saw something that was so sad. We were walking
to the taxis (yes, mom, like the ones in Uganda) and I looked over and there
were kids going through the trash looking for recyclables. It was so sad. They
weren't teenagers but like four or five years old. It’s a humbling place. And I
will forever be grateful for everything I have been given in my life.
Today I had probably the coolest experience on my
mission so far. We were working in Nseliza, which is a poorer area. Sikonni, our
branch missionary, was with us to interpret. We met with his uncle and his
wife. We walked in a little earlier than planned and the family was watching a movie
about Christ. So I’m thinking…solid family. Woohoo! Little did I know I was
going to witness a miracle. We started talking about the forbidden fruit. The
wife then told us about a dream she had. She literally told us Lehi’s Dream.
She said there was a man in a white robe and he asked her to follow him. He led
her to a tree, which had fruit that was desirable, and there were many good
people who had partaken of the fruit. We had the family read the verses in the
Book of Mormon. The husband said maybe the dream came because we have to change
something as a family. We started talking about what gives us eternal life—faith,
repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost. She then told us she had another dream
of being baptized by being immersed in
water. And in that same dream, she said she was told to read a scripture which
let her know not to delay this baptism. Pretty cool!!
Friday, June 27th
Nothing super exciting happened today to write
about.
Saturday,
June 28th
Today was INCREDIBLE. It was Zone Conference and the
mission president came and spoke to us. MAN, how lucky I am to have a mission
president like him! He is literally one of the coolest people I know. Today he
talked about goal setting and planning. He talked about his career in finance.
He said that all the time when he was working for this company, he would find
awesome things but his boss would say no to the awesome thing to invest in
because it was not part of the company’s purpose. He related it to missionary
work--that we must do only those things that help us achieve our purpose and not
anything else. We have to find activities that are the best, not just good.
This can be applied to any goal we have in our life. We need to eliminate
activites that don't help us accomplish the goal. Evaluate our life and make
the needed changes. It really does take a lot of effort to make a change. We
are people of patterns. We learn from patterns and we act in patterns. Change
is possible through the Atonement.
I also liked what he said about living where we
are. We need to live in the present and not worry about things at home. We need
to be focused on the work so our mind and body can be unified…be where our body
is and not have our mind thinking of things not related to the mission. Also he
taught us that if we understand our purpose as a missionary, the work becomes
more enjoyable. As our testimony grows, our love for the work grows.
My mission president is awesome. He talked about
how he grew up in a dysfunctional home. I won’t go into details out of respect
of him. He wanted things to be different for his future home. And guess what,
he made that happen. You can tell his marriage is happy. You can tell that
everything surrounding him is happy. Because of his goals and because he was
motivated to make that change. He’s awesome. He really is such an example. He
said the only way he made this change was because he set goals. Having goals in
our lives makes our lives more purposeful. It helps us to go from going through
the motions to having motive behind those motions. My mission president is an
admirable man. I look up to him a lot.
Sunday,June 29th
No investigators came to church. Man it stinks but its okay!!! We will
figure out a different way to get them to come. Ha-ha but a less active
came!!!! woohoo!!!! We taught Jackie and extended a baptismal date. She said
yes but she’s scared. Will keep you posted.
We also taught a teacher at CCAP, and it was awesome. He’s a little
prideful hahaha but he’s great. We gave him the Book of Mormon and man our
testimony of it was so powerful, so inspired. I hope he felt the same. “I’m out
here because of that book. I know its true without a doubt. I’m a 19 year old
and you know way more than me about that Bible. But I wouldn’t be here today if
I didn't know that book was true. I can bear testimony of it over and over and
over again but the only way that you will ever know is if you read it. And I
know you are probably thinking these young girls don’t know what they are
talking about. But I know that you know God is real. I know that you know God
will answer you. And I know the only way you will know if that book is true is read
and ponder and pray about it. I can promise he will answer you." It was
pretty powerful lesson. He agreed to read it at the end. So please PRAY for
him. We also taught Brother Mkandarir, the Elder for CCAP. Man we keep teaching
all these people who have callings in the church, which makes it hard. Because
that’s their job and that’s their life and people are expecting them to be true
to their church. But we need them and I believe its no coincidence we are
teaching people who have leadership in other churches. We need it in our
church. It’s a small branch and we need people who know how to be leaders. So
please pray that we will be able to create that strong center that I was talking
about in my first letter.
Love,
Sister Falco
