WK 84+85 - Habesha Fruit Salad

The past two weeks have been like an Ethiopian salad. Overall, pretty good, a little bit crazy with some good and some bad ingredients, as well as a few that don't quite fit in. 

The tomatoes: We've been teaching a man named Mulatu for a while now. He is a police officer. He's honestly the nicest guy and we always just run into him while he's working while patrolling the streets. He has a young family so we've been really trying to help him see how the Gospel can bless his family! 

The carrots: We started teaching another police officer named Abraham who also happens to be the nicest guy and really interested. The problem is him and Mulatu both have very busy schedules and it's hard to meet with them. Abraham also happens to be the hardest person to get in contact with but we're trying. 

The papaya: Is it just me or is papaya not that good? Maybe it's just the papaya here. Last week I ate something bad and got way sick. Not that good either haha. 

The avocado: We've been reaching out to an RM who is returning to activity, and one day he took us up near his work and bought us the nicest Ethiopian food I've ever eaten. Photo included below. He also helped us a lot later on.

The bananas: I went on exchanges this week with Elder Adade! He's from Ghana. I was in his area for the day and we had a good time. Highlight of the day: we taught a man who is so interested in the church and has been coming for a few years now, but he has some addictions he has to work through, but he seemed so willing! We taught him about repentance and the church's addiction recovery program. 

The lettuce: We've been teaching a few other new people this week. One is a man named Muse who speaks good English but doesn't seem the most interested honestly. We also taught two bank guards named Kifle and Teamrat who came to church last week. 

The peppers: We taught English class this week which is always fun, but we also have been working with a man named Melese who wants to learn English so bad and who we want to come to church so bad. We've been teaching him, but he hasn't been coming. 

The pineapple: We had the chance to sit down with the Branch President and discuss the work in the branch! It was so helpful. We enjoyed. 

The potatoes: Miracle of the week and the best part of the salad for some reason: so, Alazar, the RM, served along with three other missionaries from Ethiopia. One of them happens to be the very less-active sister we have been working with. We let him know, and he wanted to help out so bad. One day, him and another one of the missionaries picked us up, drove us to her house, and we got to witness the reunion of those missionaries after almost TWENTY years of them not seeing her. It was so cool to see and I think it was a good experience for all of them. I could see the spirit work among them as old friendships were renewed. Basically, call me Dr. Phil, I'm out here fixing relationships. Just kidding. 

So, that's just about it. Thank you all for reading to the end if you made it here. I appreciate the support and the prayers. Love you all! 

እግዚአብሔር ይመስገን

Elder Miles

The greatest Ethiopian food ever

Mulatuuuuuuu

Nyamal!

I went to Mexico on pday

The fruit salad

Tesfay looking fly

Filling the Baptismal font

Elder Adade

WK 83 - A Famous Ethiopian

Come one, come all. Another weekly email that hopefully I can make interesting and spiritual because I don't have too many ideas today but I'll just keep typing and see where it goes. 

Early this week we went on exchanges to Arat Kilo, the second district in our zone, and spent twenty-four hours up there with those Elders. We had a good time with them and I had some cool experiences. I was with Elder Hedengren from the US and Elder Sampson from Nigeria and worked in their area for the day. We had some time and I had a contact, so we met up with Nyamal if anyone remembers who that is. She is a South Sudanese girl that Elder Burke and I were teaching nearly 10 months ago that has stayed in contact and recently moved to Arat Kilo, so we went to her work and I introduced her to the Elders there. She came to church on Sunday too! I don't have a picture because now I'm terrible at taking pictures. I need you guys to hold me accountable on taking pictures. 

We taught some other awesome people, one man named Yosef really wanted to know if this was the church he should join so we helped him to understand how he could know that by praying and coming to church. Other than that, I had the coldest night’s sleep on a bare mattress because I severely under-prepared.

We also had interviews this week. I always enjoy interviews. It's just a short time to discuss with President and Sister Dudfield and wow I always receive tons of personal revelation during interviews and leave enlightened. 

We met with a man named David this week who spoke really good English that we met on the road one day while proselyting. We met with him and explained what we do as missionaries. He seemed to really respect it and wants to meet again with a friend. We taught another new person named Muluken who is the nicest and happiest guy. He came to church and liked it so we hope we can continue to help him. 

Tesfay blessed the Sacrament this week. It was super cool to see. We also had 71 people at Sacrament meeting which is the most I've seen since coming to Beklobet. 

Now time for the headline story. This week Elder Burke sent us a referral for a dude named Bereket. We called him, and when he said that he was a musician and that he had read some of the Book of Mormon before, everything clicked. He is a famous Gospel singer in Ethiopia and I've listened to a few of his songs before. He has met with missionaries before and I got to talk to him. 

Scripture of the week!

3rd Nephi 5:13

Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.

 እግዚአብሔር ይመስገን

Elder Miles

Elder Folau and I after church

I've been testing my skills making Ethiopian cuisine

Caught taking a photo

The apartment

Juice with Tekaw

Muluken!!!

Spikeball on the roof on p-day

WK 82 - Ask and Ye Shall Receive

Well, well, well. Here we go again. This week we had a lot of meetings and a lot of cancelled lessons. We saw the Lord's hand even in the slowest times and that was an amazing blessing. 

We went to do service right after a lesson where the dude could not understand us at all. Elder Folau suggested we play "Do You Love Your Neighbor?" with the kids and it was a blast. Sometimes I feel like the kids we serve honestly serve me more by making me smile. 

We had MLC this week. We talked a lot about getting members and branches excited about missionary work, and the thing that stood out to me most was that if we want members to be excited,

WE have to be excited. Sister Dudfield walked us through a personal study and Elder Folau and I gave a training on companionship unity where we played the classic wedding shoe game with our AP's.

Right after MLC we had Zone Council to pass on all the info as well as set Zone goals for the transfer. We are introducing a zone competition where a companionship will get a certain amount of points for certain activities they do. It should be fun, but nobody else stands a chance really. We talked about ministering to and finding the one as our focus of the meeting. 

We had the deadest day this week and I want to include it so you all can laugh it off with me, as well as see the tender mercy amidst the chaos. One night we had four lessons cancel on us, so as a backup we decided to go find a member because we knew the general area where he worked and he hadn't been to church in a while. After some searching, we found him. After that we wanted to get dinner at the Greek restaurant, but the prices had skyrocketed so we walked all the way back and ate somewhere else. I had to go back to the church to grab my scriptures and the guard wouldn't let us in for some reason. A day of rejection...but we found that member so I was happy. 

We had a little transfer this Saturday so I spent the morning at the mission office. On the way back, I asked the Ride (which is like Uber) where I could get a sticker like the one on his car. He reached inside his glove box and gave me an extra one. Ask and Ye Shall receive. 

This week we taught two new people. Their names are Ayaasaa and Gemechu. They are friends and they came early one morning to discuss. After the lesson, we ended up at the same place as them for lunch! These nice dudes kept talking with us and also helped us order. We also taught Tesfay and Tekaw this week. We taught a lesson on fasting and then ate some snacks and played a game with them. It was a good time. 

A member said something in his testimony on Sunday that really stood out to me. He said something along the lines of "The Gospel is not just words. It's real. It's practical. It's useful. It changes hearts and lives." I love that. As a missionary I've thought a lot about that. As we intentionally and sincerely live the Gospel, we can see that there is a power that comes from it.

ተባርኩ

Elder Miles

Power posing while waiting for a man to come to church

The house

The sign of God's promise seen today

The sticker I acquired

WK 81 - Sounds like a joke...

What do a Cambodian accountant, a Russian doctor, and an American engineer all have in common? They attend a branch in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

We had transfers last Monday. Elder Ayre left with his group and so I received my new companion Elder Folau. We are staying in Beklobet and so he's joining me in my stomping grounds. He's a super hard worker and speaks the language very well so I'm excited to work with him. 

One night, Elder Ayre and his parents joined us for a lesson with Tesfay because they came to pick him up! It was an awesome experience and it was great to see Elder Ayre's parents meet the man he baptized. 

We visited a super less active member this week. We had a YSA member show us how to get to her house and we pretty much just showed up unannounced. She is notoriously stubborn, which is funny because she still has a very solid testimony and is a return missionary. She also acknowledges that she is less active and wants to come back, but she has some issues she needs to overcome, plus her husband is strict Orthodox so that makes it hard. We enjoyed our time there though, and she was super grateful, so we hope we can help her get back to church. She volunteered to say the closing prayer which apparently was her first time praying out loud like that in ten years! Plus, it's a miracle that we even got in her house. Missionaries have been trying to do that ever since COVID. The Spirit was strong there. 

One morning we had a lesson with a recent convert named Astarekegn who wants to be a missionary so bad but hasn't been a member long enough and is a bit too old, so we wanted to talk about how to do missionary work with him. The lesson went great, he was super excited to invite people, and we took him out street contacting. Five minutes in it started dumping buckets so we took cover under an awning and got to know him better. At least he saw us get a number, I guess. 

We've been working with a lady from Cambodia who is a member who just resurfaced because she totally forgot about the church and some of the doctrine. She wanted to meet with us to remind her, and she was SERIOUS. There was no chat time. We said a prayer, she whipped out her phone to RECORD our lesson, and starting asking fantastic questions. She's the nicest lady and even brought four friends for us to meet on Sunday, so that was cool. 

Sacrament meeting was awesome! For one, Tekaw and Tesfay, both of our recent converts, passed the Sacrament for the first time! I was also asked to give a talk, so I challenged myself to give it entirely in Amharic, and I did. It was pretty funny when a member came up to translate for me thinking they would translate into Amharic, but instead translated into English for me. I was so nervous though, the whole time I was gripping the microphone so hard. 

What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ? Like what does it TRULY mean? It means that we believe the example and teachings of Jesus Christ can lead us to true happiness and eternal life. Do we consider ourselves disciples of the Savior? Do we truly follow his teachings believing it will show us the way? Just some thoughts I had last night. 

Bravo six

Going dark

Elder Miles

ተባርኩ

Some random dude handed me this cat because I was looking at it

Elder Folau, Astarakegn and I taking shelter

Visiting Arat Kilo to pass Esias off to the Elders there

Sister Hywet's dog loves me

Visiting the family of Sister Hywet

My boys who passed the Sacrament

Recent convert gang