WK 31 - Chilling by Open House

This week was strange. We were super busy: we never had any time where we weren't doing something we needed to, yet I feel like we got almost nothing done. Plus it just flew by. I don't know if this is a natural missionary phenomenon but here we are.

Funny story of the week. We were eating lunch one day in a tiny restaurant the size of a bedroom, when a bunch of old dudes poked their heads in. One let out a little bit of a screech and they all came in and started singing and dancing. As most things like this in Ethiopia go, they wanted money, so they kept going until a few birr was coughed up. Then they left us with some grass as a blessing and were gone.

Updates on our people: Dula was confirmed on Sunday and I had the opportunity to confirm him. We gave him the new member pack with a white shirt and tie and he was quite emotional about it. Our teaching pool has been refilled so we've got people like Temesgen, Abenezer, Theo, and Mana who hopefully pop up in later emails as they progress.

The main part of this week was our Chapel open house on Saturday. The branch here is in dire need of activities so we had this planned as one, as well as to help find people. Two birds with one stone. We passed out tons of flyers and made an Amharic-dub, Oromic-sub version of the "Ask of God" video. Not a ton of people showed up, but luckily for us, our buddy Robel came and loved it. He also got talking to President and Sister Dudfield afterwards and that definitely left an impression on him. He decided he wanted to be baptized!

I don't remember what I talked about in the last few weeks, so if I repeat forgive me. But Dula shared something with me that I loved. He read a story in the Liahona about a missionary who died on his mission, and his parents found out his motto was "do a little better every day." I love that motto and how it applies to repentance! Christ doesn't expect us to be perfect, and frankly if we expect ourselves to be we will always be disappointed. But as we intentionally do just one thing better every day, slowly we will begin to see his countenance in us! Bit by bit a change of heart and mind will occur.

መልካም ሳምንት እሺ???

Elder Miles 

Only one picture this week. Elder Larson and I in our traditional Ethiopian Gabis 🥶.

WK 30 - Man vs. Wild in the Font

Whatsssss up everyone. Welcome back. Fast fact: did you know that the first non-Jewish person to be baptized during the days of the Apostles was an Ethiopian Eunuch? Ethiopia is mentioned a fair amount in the scriptures and its crazy just how deep Christianity runs here. Remember to like and subscribe for more fast fact content. 

We returned to the Russian Red Cross twice this week, and we've got one more trip planned for this coming Tuesday. The procedures are taking longer than we thought. And now I know nobody cares or even wants to hear, but for purely recording the experience, I think I used the grossest bathroom I have ever seen there. It made most public restrooms look boujee.

The Church property here has a basketball court, but the hoops have been down for a while. The mission office is trying to get them put back up but the person they hired to do it will. Not. Show. Up. So please, everyone fast and pray for the hoops to be put up so we can teach the people of Ethiopia the beauty of bball. But for real though I was banking on them getting put up so we could play for YSA and they didn't. Thankfully though we happen to have a volleyball net so that's what we did instead.

Our teaching pool has run a little dry with Estefanos and Dula being baptized (more on that later) so we've been doing a lot of finding. We started teaching a Gambellan named Mana who was very curious about the Book of Mormon and he even came to church! Other than that everyone is still an unknown.

Sundays are always a party here in Megenagna! This week Estefanos was confirmed and Dula got baptized. While cleaning out the font for it I had a skirmish with a fat spider and eventually came out victorious. The font always has at least one but this one was the biggest I had seen. Back to what is important, Dula and Estefanos were so happy! It's been awesome to see them progress and support each other along the way.

A member here made a comment in Elder's Quorum that I really liked. He said, "every day when we have faith, we have the opportunity to step into the presence of God" and I liked that! When we have faith and we choose to truly believe God is there, that he loves us, and that he can guide us if we come to him, we will see his hand every day. I'm learning more and more just how important faith is.

እግዚአብሔር ይባረካችኋል

Elder Miles

 

YSA

Singing in the rain

DUNKIN DULA

Cold-War hallway

Elder Anbesse mad chilling

Powerful BML Brother Lati preaching the word

WK 29 - I went to a 3rd World Hospital

Good morning y'all. It's been another good week over here in Abyssinia. Last pday we visited a sweet forest and had some fun there. A bunch of little kids followed us for like an hour asking for money and messing around with us. We were having a blast speaking Amharic to them until park security came around the corner and they booked it.

The week started with Zone Conference. We learned some solid stuff from the Zone Leaders and APs about recording spiritual impressions, teaching and finding effectively, and working with leaders here.

And indeed it is true. I ended up in a third-world hospital this past week. Although I wasn't getting anything done it was my companion. His teeth have been bothering him so we went to the Russian Red Cross to see the Dentist there. It was a trippy experience. The place looked exactly like how you would imagine a Cold War era Russian hospital to look. It was just a check-up this time so we'll be headed back this coming week for the actual work.

I went on exchanges with my MTC companion Elder Lyman on Friday. It was the first time I've led out the area here in Ethiopia and with it being primarily Amharic I was a bit worried, but it ended up going well. We did some good work and had a blast. 

Sunday was the best though! Estefanos got baptized and I had the opportunity to baptize him! It was amazing. Another companionship had someone they were baptizing too. We had originally been holding baptisms on Saturdays so the new converts could be confirmed the next day, but member presence at the baptisms was not good. So at Zone Conference, President Dudfield presented the idea to hold baptisms after church to get more members. Boy I'm glad he did because the turnout was amazing. The brach here is usually so scattered so it was awesome to see that unity and support. 

I've been studying a lot about the resurrection and death lately, and one of my favorite quotes from President Nelson is "the only way to take sorrow out of death is to take love out of life" and that is so true. As a part of the opposition in all things we must experience, the pain of losing someone we love is one. But death is just a step into the next part of life. With our knowledge of the plan and of the resurrection of all people because of Jesus Christ, we can have that hope that death is just a temporary separation. 

Chow Chow everyone. Talk to you next week. Have a good one. 

Elder Miles

T-posing for Ethiopia

The reunion

Estefanos

The new converts

Estefanos pt. 2

The branch support

Megenagna zone

WK 28 - Obama Pen

Recently, a hobby of mine has become collecting the bootleg things you can find being sold in the little shops on the side of the road. For example, I bought some 100% legit fully-licensed Apple brand socks a couple of weeks ago. I found my golden item this week though: OBAMA PENS. It looks like a classic Bic ballpoint pen except it says OBAMA on the side. The box they were in at the store had his face on it. Perhaps the greatest find of this century. 

Last week we hit up a "Lion Park" which was basically just a tiny sketchy zoo. We did see the lions as well as some sick monkeys too. Nearby the park was the National Ethiopian Museum where we saw the infamous LUCY skeleton, although I can't remember exactly why she is infamous. Selam was cooler anyways. But basically she is one of the oldest humanoid skeletons we've ever found. After that, we ate at a restaurant that gave me mad Disneyland vibes. It was another solid Pday.

We headed downtown to Arat Kilo this week to help pick up mail from the Post Office. The more I see of Ethiopia the more I'm convinced there's no place in the world quite like it. We saw some huge, nice skyscrapers as well as the Prime Minister's Palace. But the Post Office was a mad house and we were there for almost two hours trying to figure out how in the world to get our mail.

Elder Anbesse and I have been running YSA activities here for the Megenagna branch the past couple of weeks and it's been fun, but we're struggling to get people and find things to do. The biggest turnout was this last week and all we did was play hackey-sack again. If you have any good ideas for YSA activities that don't require much talking/funds let me know haha I'm in dire need. 

We put two people on date this week, and we are really praying that they are ready unlike our past attempts. One is Estefanos who we've been teaching for a while and we're super excited for him. He's on date for this Saturday. 

The other is Dula, and we had a really cool experience with him when we put him on date. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and extended the invitation for him to get baptized. He expressed to us that when he first came to the church (which is how we found him) he was only planning on seeing if he could wash his clothes in the bathroom, but as he met with us he felt super impressed by the family focus that we taught. As he shared that I felt very impressed to bear my Testimony on how I've seen the Gospel bless my family. It really touched him, and he gave us his wife's number who lives 600 km away. 

It was an awesome experience, and I want to share that same Testimony with you guys! I know the Gospel brings families together. I know one of God's greatest blessings to us is our families. Being out on a mission away from my family, I've realized just how much they've blessed me. Tell your families you love them! And find ways to serve them! 

ማንም ይህንን አይረዳም ፡፡  ከተረጎሙት እና ይህን መልእክት ካዩ አሳውቁኝ ፡፡

Elder Miles

Obama Pen

YSA Hackey-Sacky Grind

A normal day's lunch

Haile Selassie's Throne

7 up rock

Spooky Scary Skeletons

ዝንጀሮ (Monkey) 

አንበሳ (Lion)

WK 27 - Cathedral

Gooooood morning America. Last pday we visited an Orthodox Cathedral and if you know me, you know that I'm a major fan of giant churches (jk I don't think I've told anyone that but it's true). While I was there I was wishing that America had more churches like that, and I think the Spirit was like "are you kidding me" and hit me with the thought of Temples. We are blessed to have those beautiful houses of the Lord all over the world.

Speaking of temples, we had interviews this week and Sister Dudfield talked to us about reflecting on our temple experiences and so that tied in nicely! It was President Dudfield's birthday that day so shout out to him (also my Dad's birthday the day before so shout out to him as well). I taught Elder Anbesse what the acronym GOAT meant and told him to use it in his interview, and President and I had a nice laugh about it. 

He shared with me something I'd love to share with you all. The Savior ministered to the one, and we can to! As we pray to have someone put in our path, and as we follow spiritual promptings, we can be the Lord's hands each and every day!

We found some awesome new people this week. Matay is a LENGTHY Sudanese man who has been coming to the church for WiFi but wanted us to teach him. During our second lesson he asked how he could join the church, so he's lowkey on date for baptism but he didn't come to church so we don't know how serious he actually is. But Solomon and Dula came and they are both very interested. Robel and Estefanos are doing well, but we can't setup a time to teach them or get them to church. We have another man named Kasahun who is doing well too but we have the same problems with him. That is the fat struggle here but there's a lot of promise. Pray for all of them!

Quick funny story: the Hawassa Elders sent us the number for a member visiting up here. So we called him and invited him to come see the church in Megenagna but my goodness the man was crazy. He claimed all religions were true and that they worked together. He read us a verse from the Quran and then told us that masks were God's way of preventing the spread of heresy. He tried to take so many books from the Chapel and asked us to bless his water. That's not all of it, but it's the highlights. 

Hope it's been a good week! Have fun and stay positive homies.

እግዚአብሔር ፍቅር ነው።

Elder Miles

The fountain

Matching bracelets

The Cathedral

The Bois at church

Me squinting in the In-Joy burger

DRIP 🥶

WK 26 - 6 months + GOAT Elders Quorum

On Wednesday I hit my 6 month mark! Just a fun little milestone but it doesn't mean much yet. There's still plenty of time and work left to do but I'm excited to see where it goes! As of now I've spent about 2 months in each section of my mission: MTC, California, and Ethiopia. It'll be nice to stay a bit more permanently somewhere.

This week was not the funnest. Our area slowed down big time because no one was answering their phones, so we started purging our Area Book and cutting people we weren't having any success with. On top of that, our Baptism disappeared for the second time in a row so there's some stepping up to do.

Our two most progressing people are doing well though! Robel came to watch a Baptism, and Estefanos brought his Lil bro to church! 

And since this week was deader than the goat we saw some puppies munching on, so I'll talk about the little details day-by-day:

Tuesday: Watched the Church video "Your Great Adventure" and remembered just how good it is. It compares our lives to a man who ran a 100 mile race in the desert, and how often times we get tired and want to give up, but God doesn't expect us to be perfect, he just expects us to keep trying. I recommend you all go watch it!

Wednesday: 6 month mark. My tummy was not happy with me today. During lunch I told the owner lady that I was feeling a little sick in Amharic and that's why I wasn't eating, and some random dude outside the restaurant was shook. Told me that he appreciated my Amharic.

Thursday: Had exchanges with the DL today. Went and got some more Pizza Hut plus some Coldstone this time. That Oreo Cheesecake was the greatest thing I've ever eaten.

Friday: Did a District blitz to get as many numbers as possible for a companionship in a new area. I was reunited with my MTC Elder Lyman for an hour for it!

Saturday: Robel came to the Baptism of Elder Rundasa's mother and really enjoyed it. Had the first Megenagna YSA activity this week and played Hackey-sack. 

Sunday: The best day of the week. Had 5 people come to church, got 3 referrals and had a BOMB Elder's Quorum taught by the GOAT members Dr. Berhane and Brother Thomas. Brother Thomas is an English speaker, but his accent is so intense that its basically like he doesn't speak it. So even though I had no clue what was going on the lesson was still fire.

Take care y'all. Put your shoulder to the wheel.

እግዚያብሄር ይመስገን

Elder Miles

Brother TEMESGEN

6 month celebration meal. Peep the pineapple juice. 

The squad after church.

A nice meal of goat. 

WK 25 - Bushwackin'

First of all. HBD AMERICA! I hope everyone had a fantastic Fourth of July. This was the strangest Fourth ever because I'm in another country and its cold and rainy, but we made do and celebrated with burgers, fries, and sparklers. 

This week was very, extraordinarily, extremely plain until today.  Instead of playing soccer like we usually do (and briefly on that, not to toot my own horn but my 7th grade midfielder skills are coming back), we went exploring!! The only goal was to head into the mountains near our area, so that's what we did and the experience was definitely worth the calf-destroying hike. By the time we reached the top I saw something I haven't seen in ages: a forest. And not just any forest, but what you'd imagine an African forest to look like. There were little tin shacks everywhere up there with people coming out and seeing what we were doing. We were probably the first white people some of those kids have ever seen. It was surreal and honestly what I expected when I imagined serving in Africa. I keep having experiences where I'm like "dang I'm really here" and this might've been the most prominent one. 

We had some good and bad when it came to the people we are teaching. We had two referrals this week that are awesome, a young man named Estefanos and an older guy named Abeba. Sadly Estefanos's phone got stolen this week and he met with us very distressed, but despite that he came to church!! We ended our streak of not getting people to church and had three come so that was nice. We started second hour too which should help the branch here a lot. 

We had a Baptism for Wendesen scheduled on Saturday but he dipped off the face of the planet again so we're gonna take him off date. We put Tolossa on date for this coming Saturday though so we're pumped for that! 

Spiritual tidbit for the week: I just wanna say that I know God answers prayers, although sometimes it takes some time for it to be realized. Don't stop praying. Don't stop hoping. Don't stop doing good and trying. God hears you.

Thank you y'all

አመሰግናችኋለሁ

Elder Miles

So-called "Sun Chips"

Comp Unity

'MERICA

More pupz

The African Jungle

A nice Pday hike