August 11, 2014

Hi everyone! Here’s what I’ve been up to this week…

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Today was a great day!!!!! The highlight was teaching this woman who has been contacted by many missionaries but never listened. She saw us teaching Brian outside the Mlamble Lodge. She came over and poured her heart out to us. All these people have passed away in her life and she’s addicted to smoking. It was cool to see how the Lord prepares people. She lives in Zimbabwe but it’s in Malawi when she finally talks to missionaries, and she is the one who invited herself to listen to us. So sweet!!!

The low today was that the two people who were supposed to be baptized on Sunday texted us and told us that they got in a fight with their dad because he wouldn't let them join the Church. He’s about to become a pastor.  They are 25 and live in his house and he will kick them out if they get baptized. We are planning to meet with them soon and talk about it face to face. They are great! It’s all good! Mission is sweet. Even when things like this happen, it can be discouraging but to be honest it wasn't. I read the text and was like immediately comforted by the spirit. It was pretty cool. I have never felt this happy in my life. It’s not just happiness but it’s pure joy every day. I have felt joy before, but it’s so awesome to have it with me consistently. Even when things go wrong, the Lord really does comfort you.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Satan is real!!! :) I only say this because we went to the village and there was this group of people dressed like the KKK. They are called Gulwamkules and they are scary!! They cover themselves with masks and walk around and run after children but the children love it. It’s part of the culture. These Gulwamkules go around whacking people until they give them money! It’s crazy!!!! Each village has them but they are a little different depending on the village. This group comes out when they are struggling financially and need money, but in my companion’s old area, they came out when there was a death. I was so scared to pass them but I did it, it just took me a long time to get up the courage. They would come up to us and say stuff but the crowd protected us and said, “Don't do anything--they are visitor!” It was crazy!!

Thursday, August 7, 2014

We met with Love (one of the two who canceled on her baptism) and took her for ice cream. She told us the story. Her mom was okay with them getting baptized but their Dad is stubborn and needs to become a pastor for work. We asked her if we could meet with him and she was pretty excited. We tried to on Sunday but it didn’t work out. We’ll keep trying.

Friday, August 8, 2014

Had a great meeting with Ruthy! She’s a great woman. She poured out her heart to us as well. She has been depressed for a long time. She says every time she starts praying she just ends up crying. At the end of the lesson she personally thanked me. "Sister Falco, thanks for stopping and talking to me. Thanks for noticing that I need help.” It was a sweet experience. She can't come to church because she lives with her father-in-law who is a strong Anglican but we hope to make it happen one day.

Saturday, August 9, 2014

We got to do Operation Smile again!! It was such a sweet experience. We got to see the after effects on many of the children. So cool! I fell in love with medical work today. I want to be a nurse. We met with a doctor who is a Mormon and my companion asked him if we could observe a surgery. He agreed so we got to watch them do surgery on someone’s lips. When we went into the room, it felt just like in the movies!  When he started pulling up the lip, I started to feel really hot and then I fainted! It was super embarrassing, but one of the young doctors said that she had fainted during medical school too and that it was okay and pretty normal. She said the perfect thing because I might have assumed that I couldn't go into nursing but she said she got over it and is fine now. Sounds like I’ll be okay!

The cool part of this story is that the lip surgery we observed was the last surgery for that area. The 16-year old boy had heard about the opportunity on the radio and walked two days just to get a smile and be accepted more in his community. Operation Smile had already packed up all their stuff but when he showed up, but they decided to operate on him. They unpacked everything just for this guy. Operation Smile is the COOLEST company!! If you ever have extra cash, you should donate to this company.

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Sunday was awesome!! We got invited to lunch by one of our investigators. She is pretty well off and it was like a  family reunion with everyone there!! There were South Koreans, Australians and Englanders. So fun! We also got teach a man today who is related to the President of Malawi!! Pretty cool!!

It’s been an awesome week! I love being a missionary!!

Love you all!

Sister Falco