WK 94 - Spooky Season

BOOOOOO

Spooky season has arrived. But the only spooky thing here is how fast the week went. Oh, and I almost got pickpocketed one night. That was kind of spooky. Also, the week was full of a spirit...the Holy Spirit. 

Sorry about that. 

We finished the training of the new missionaries this week. They got their trainers today and we are all so excited. By the end they were so ready to get out and do missionary work. They were calling people, setting up lessons, and finding some of the most golden investigators I've ever seen. We helped teach some of them. It was powerful:

Abayneh: Kind of a strange guy, but said he was willing to listen to what we had to say. 

Mister: A young man who brought his friend named Ishmael. They are over a different faith but the came to church and loved it. 

Fikadu: An older man who has no church, but wants to learn about religion so bad. 

Mihiret: A young girl who brought her mom and little siblings to be taught. She came to church and was so excited to learn. 

Eyob: The friend of one of our investigators we had the greenies teach. He had a lot of questions, but we had a great lesson about the Book of Mormon and he agreed to read it. 

We helped some Sisters in Boston translate for an Ethiopian lady who they put on date. 

The church compound here has a basketball court and we have been monitoring it and coming up with a plan to turn it into an effective finding method. I'm excited to lace up the ole reliable and teach about God while doing so. 

When I first got here, Elder Marble had the two sons of a member on date for baptism, but they have been so inconsistent and they fell off the face of the earth. We even walked forty minutes to their house to finish their baptismal interviews and only found the twelve-year-old boy who didn't need anything. We don't know what is happening but we pray we can get them back on track again. 

We did some good member work this week as well:

Dula: A recent convert from when I was here before brought a friend named Lijalem to be taught. He sadly does not live in our area, but it was cool to see Dula's desire to bring a friend. 

Zergi: A powerful member who is the mother of one of the MTC Amharic teachers. We visited her family and had a good discussion about the world. 

Tekaw: My recent convert from Beklobet moved to Megenagna! So, I get to continue to work with him. It will be fun to work with him. 

MIRACLES ARE REAL

THE SPIRIT INSPIRES US

When I found out I was coming back to Megenagna, I felt like there was something I needed to do. One of my first impressions was to visit an old friend, President Yohannes and his family. His wife, Rahel, is not a member, and we had been working in the past to develop her interest. Recently, it seems like that desire has grown, and tonight, President Yohannes asked us to see if she would like to learn more from us. We had a great lesson and when we asked, she agreed to learn more about the church. 

PLEASE PRAY FOR RAHEL. If we can help her progress, it will be the coolest miracle of my mission.

"See you on the flippity-flop" -Elder Marble

I love you all. Tell me how life is for you all. 

ውዝጋብሔር ተመስገን

Elder Miles

Random girl we got to come to church

Reunited with Jordan from Korah

I drove the mission van today, the first driving I've done in 18 months, so I took a pic to remember. 

Homemade Misir with the greenies

Nice view

WK 93 - Instant Father of Five

It has been an eventful week. One that I was not mentally prepared for but it happened and it was good. Let me break it down for you. 

Transfers came and went. It was crazy! I have never seen crazier transfers in my life. There was not a single Elder companionship in the mission that didn't receive a change. So, you know what that means: Elder Miles received his final area and his final companion. 

My last transfer plus a couple of days seems like it will be pretty chill. I'm going to spend my final days as an office missionary running errands for President Dudfield. My companion's name is Elder Marble and he is a stud. I love the guy. We lived together for a little bit back when we were in Kenya and I'm excited to be reunited.

Right after transfers, we went to a farewell dinner for two Sisters who returned home this week and an Elder who will finish soon. Then right after that, we went to the airport and picked up 6 brand new greenie missionaries straight from the Ghana MTC: two from the US, one from Australia, one from Nigeria, one from Ghana, and the last from Ethiopia. That was a momentous occasion and it hasn't happened for a while. 

So, what is our assignment: the new missionaries will be staying with us for a couple days and we are going to help them adjust to Ethiopia life. 

What does that mean: we have been doing an assortment of trainings along with the other office missionaries on things such as the language, budgeting, street contacting, the history of the Church and the Mission here, and so on. So, we haven't been able to do a whole lot of traditional missionary work because we instantly became fathers but it has been fun. 

Coming to the Office means serving in my first branch, Megenagna. It has been cool to come back because there are old and new faces all around. I met with Robel, one of my old converts, as well as Dula. We haven't had the opportunity to meet with a lot of people, but we have the plans in the future when we finishing the trainings.

I have been thinking about the promises of the Savior lately. The scriptures always emphasize how prophecies of the Savior were fulfilled. I was wondering why. I think it shows how God and Jesus Christ ALWAYS keep their promises. It will happen, it’s just a matter of when and our obedience. Think about that.

Trying injera with the new missionaries

Candlelight Dinner

Someone hacked our miracle zoom call

Farewell Dinner

Elder Johnson's b-day

New Missionaries

WK 92 - Quickest Home Visit Ever

This week we were out on the streets talking to people, and when on a lonely road we asked a lady if we could help her in any way. She said yes and waved us to come inside her house. Her husband and her daughter were sitting inside, and we sat down and quickly started chatting with them. Popcorn is a common Ethiopia snack (and if you know me you know that's good) and they served us some that they were eating. The first question the father asked was about our home country. When we told him that we were American he told us he didn't like America and then promptly ordered us to leave his house. 

The funniest part is this all happened within the span of like 45 seconds. We went in, ate their popcorn, then got kicked out. Good times. 

We had zone conference this week. We listened to some inspired messages on conference, confidence, self-discipline, and problem-solving. It was good. And lunch was good too. 

We met with a lot of people this week:

*Belay is an older guy we met outside of the popcorn house. He came and we gave him a tour of the Chapel. 

*Abel is a banker that we met at a restaurant then this week met him again! He's a truth seeker and has been tutored by many faiths. By the end of the lesson, we gave him a pamphlet and he noticed the word Mormon in it. Turns out he had a Book of Mormon a few years ago!

*Alemayehu is a super nice man we met on the street that we were able to teach the Restoration to. He seems solid, but sadly he didn't come to church like he said he would. 

*We met with Bienvenue this week and he's not doing so well. Please pray for him. 

*While Elder Folau was working on some police officers, I was talking to a Chinese dude. There are a lot of Chinese people here in Ethiopia and I've never talked to one so this was sweet. He was not very interested but he told me some cool things about China and invited us to play basketball. 

*We visited Sister Hywet at her shop and spent some time getting to know her and her story better. She's really starting to warm up! 

*Kebebew is doing as good as usual. We are working with him to get the Aaronic Priesthood. 

*We never met with Tekaw, but we tried so hard to. He's still outside of the city working. 

*We were teaching Tesfay about prayer when he told us a cool story! At the school where he works, the director told him that he needed to write an exam for the students, but since he is new he doesn't know the students very well and didn't know how to write it. He prayed for help and was able to write a good exam for them! 

Lastly, I was able to participate in a Baptismal Interview this week for a girl named Sinafikish. Her little sister was baptized into the branch two weeks ago and now it's her turn. I love seeing these young people join the church! It will affect their futures so positively and they don't even know it. After her baptism we helped President Rangi catch a tortoise. 

Tomorrow we have transfers. I have spent five and a half months in this area and I'm sad to leave it. I have had great missionary experiences here and have grown to love the members so such. I bore my testimony on Sunday and said goodbye to the members. It's strange to be leaving but I'm excited for what my last transfer(ish) holds.

Elder Miles

The popcorn incident street

Chikina Tibs

Tortoise on a Saturday afternoon

These girls wanted pictures with the foreigners

Kebebew

Brother Melaku

Brother Kirubel

I call this man xxxTentacion like the rapper because he looks kind of like him. I've been trying to get a picture the whole transfer and I finally got one

WK 91 - Thursdays in the Park

Hmmmmm how did this week go? Honestly it was kind of a blur so I feel like I will remember more as I keep writing, but no promises. 

Elder Folau and I had to make a post for the mission Facebook page "Come Unto Christ in Ethiopia". It's definitely a masterpiece (just kidding please don't watch it) but I guess if you want to hear me try to speak Amharic then there you go. 

We also had MLC this week. President Dudfield talked about our knowledge of the scriptures and demonstrated just how in-depth we can study. Sister Dudfield talked about uplifting leaders around us. The APs shared a message on self-discipline and, woof, that was a good one; something we should always be working on. I always come out of missionary meetings motivated, but this one especially did it to me considering I'm about to enter my last transfer and there are changes in the mission coming. Endure to the end! 

On Thursday, we did a District Finding activity. Now usually I don't enjoy street contacting very much, but I cannot deny that it makes you feel truly like a missionary and that feels good. We had a good time! We went to a park and expected heavy foot traffic, but there wasn't, so instead we moved around and blitzed to talk to everyone there! 

On Friday I went on exchanges with my boy Elder Ferrin in his area. In the morning, we taught a girl that was actually found during the activity! She was a little bit flirty with Elder Ferrin, but nonetheless we were able to deliver a powerful message on the Gospel. I had a lot of fun talking to people on the street with him! 

Tekaw has been out of Addis for work so it's been hard to contact him. We tried to meet with the lady who fed us on the holiday, but she was just not interested. 

On Saturday, we had the baptism for the golden boy Kebebew! He was so happy and so prepared for this day. He kept telling us how happy he was and how he is living a new life. Then, to top off his spiritual feast, he was able to watch General Conference the next day at church! During that time, I was able to sit by Tesfay and help answer his questions during the session.

This week, 3 Ethiopian youth got their mission calls! It's so cool to see missionaries come from the branches here. Sister Moyers always says that shows true growth. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. This is God's church and his work.

Let me know how you are doing!!!

እግዚአብሔር ተመስገን

Elder Miles

Ethiopian feast

Kebebew

Birthday party Ethiopian style

Good morning!

Post finding activity photo shoot

Ferrin and I with the girl we taught

Helping Hands

Played with a pup on p-day

WK 90 - Elder Folau's Banana Bread

Let me begin this week's email with a statement and then a story. Elder Folau makes really good banana bread. It's as simple as that. And everyone likes it. One day we were teaching Tekaw sitting in the outdoor seating of a cafe. We had brought the banana bread for him, and we were eating it just before we started. Elder Folau was on the phone, so I broke a piece in half and set it on top of the bag for him. Later, I turned just in time to see a not so sane, homeless lady standing right next to the table and she grabbed that half of banana bread so hard without even a please. Not knowing what to do and reacting out of instinct, I used my wrist to pin down her wrist and looked around for help, but she had already gotten ahold of the bread so we let her go. Funny thing is she came back three minutes later for seconds haha. 

I'm gonna go fast:

-There were two major holidays this week: Meskel, which is an Orthodox holiday celebrating the discovery of Christ's cross, then Irreecha which is an Oromo holiday celebrating the end of the rainy season. Because of that, we had some slower days for sure.

-We encouraged Tekaw to fast this week for the problems and challenges he's having in his Life. Tesfay bore his testimony in Sacrament meeting. Kebebew brought his friend Dureti with him one day to be taught. Clarisse, the wife of Bienvenue came to church with their daughter Galochka. 

-We met a random lady named Adanech on Meskel who invited us over for food and to meet her neighbors. There were a lot of people, some happy to see us and some not so happy, but we shared a message on family and we tried to get the interested ones to church. She made us eat a lot of food and it ended up making me sick though :(

-Had interviews with President Dudfield. He gave me some insight on what will happen for my last transfer as well as gave me some encouragement and advice on the things I can do to make the most of my time as a missionary! 

-I went on exchanges with and ex-companion: Elder Willden! After our District Council we travelled to Jemo to teach a member about Priesthood Blessings, then during lunch we met an interesting man who showed us his shoe factory. 

I'm am so excited that General Conference has come around once again. Each time it gets better I swear. I hope you all have watched it, because to be honest I've only been able to watch the morning sessions BUT I loved President Nelson's message about how covenants give us rest, as well as Elder Renlund's talk about personal revelation and Elder Rasband's talk about giving the Book of Mormon to Kings and Rulers. Truly, this is revelation for our time.

I love you all. መልካም ሳምንት ይሁንላችሁ

Elder Miles

Meskel bonfire down the street.

መልካም በዓል ከእኔ።

The legend's college: Harambe University

Getting a lecture at the shoe factory.

Elder Willden and I.

Elder Folau and I.

After church.

Before church.