September 8, 2014

Family and Friends! Mule Bonji! (How are you In Chichewa)!

Lots of exciting news here.  Lilongwe, where I am serving, is applying to be a District and Zambia Lusaka is applying to be a Stake. SUPER SWEET!! There will be a Stake in my mission!!  Elder Cook is coming to our mission for sure this year! However, I’ll probably still be serving in Malawi and if so, I don’t know if he’ll make it here! Anita, Sis Lunguzi, and Enoch all passed their baptismal interview with plans to be baptized this coming weekend. So excited!! One of our Branch missionaries is finishing his papers and is going on a mission!

Well Church was a miracle in and of itself! We came to church and were expecting Anita, Sis Lunguzi, Enoch, and Peter and this guy named Gray. And BAM! We had 11 investigators at church! One was our branch missionary’s (who is going on a mission) mom. She is in our area and we always tell her to come and she finally did! It was Fast and Testimony Meeting and it was the sweetest moment ever when the branch missionary got up and bore his testimony! He ended it with, "Mom I just want to encourage you to come to know this is the true church". Sis Lunguzi brought her granddaughter, which was so great! One came with Silverbanda!! One of our members brought a guy named Morris and he’s a good guy!! Another visitor came with this less active member named Spencer! CHURCH WAS PACKED ON SUNDAY!!!! It was so awesome!

Another exciting thing that’s happening here in Malawi is that there are groups of people who are ready and waiting to be baptized but the area they live in hasn’t been opened to missionaries yet.   There are two groups with 70+ people with one person who has been waiting 10 years!! There’s another group of 30 in an area called Caderbay.  Right now, the Church needs to build “areas of strength” so there will be leaders available and then the missionaries will be sent to those who are waiting and ready and build there. People being prepared for Gospel. It’s exciting to think about the future of the Church here in Malawi. I know one day there will be a temple here to bless the members.

I’ll finish up with my testimony. I know the Church is true. Living the Gospel and keeping the commandments is a lot easier when you do so because you love Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. I know that remembering our purpose here on earth makes doing the right things easier. We need to keep an eternal perspective. If I didn't, I know I would go crazy and get frustrated here. I love being a missionary. It’s the BEST decision I have ever made. I hope that we can all try a little harder to be a little better this week. I sustain and support the prophets and apostles 100%. I see false prophets here almost everyday and it makes me appreciate the blessing of having a prophet and apostles to lead us. Their purpose is to spread the Gospel to all God’s children. It’s so sweet. I LOVE THEM! And my mission president is super righteous and super kind. I look up to him for his faith A TON and am so grateful for everything he does for our mission! The atonement is real! It really can wash away the pain of making mistakes. It’s a simple phrase but if you really understand the significance of the atonement it really is so amazing and so cool!

Love you all!

Sister Falco