June 30, 2014

Tuesday, June 24^th

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 27^th

Nothing super exciting happened today to write about.

Saturday, June 28^th

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