WK 75 - Shirogate Scandal

This week was a crazy one. During the second half of it we didn't have a free moment because there was so much to take care of. Part of that had to do with the fact that mission conference was on Wednesday! The remainder of the missionaries stranded in Kenya finally made it back to Ethiopia! We had a huge meeting and it was so fun to have everyone back. I couldn't help but smile the whole time.

So, now we have a bunch of new missionaries! Our zone went from six missionaries to fifteen, so a lot of business came from getting organized and helping everyone out.

We put Tekaw on date this week for July 3rd! That guy is prepared. I've never had an investigator be such a friend and so genuinely engaged in the Gospel. We always have a good time with him. Tesfaye is still doing well and found a job, but has two weeks until he starts. Those two weeks will be hard from him. So, we shared some scriptures about deliverance and faith knowing God will help him. Keep him in your prayers. Finding was hard this week, but we got some good referrals that we are excited to teach this coming week.

The Sisters had a baptism and we were able to enjoy the experience of that. I was able to participate in the confirmation and that is always a special treat. That, along with the sacrament, got me thinking about ordinances, and how D&C teaches that godliness is manifest in the ordinances. The ordinances bring us closer to God and are powerful reminders of our covenants as well as awesome spiritual experiences. 

One of the Sisters from my MTC group goes home this week. I'm starting to feel old. 

Oh yeah and we were caught in the middle of a scandal this week. Long story short, a man took advantage of our free English classes and started passing out his own flyers for it, advertising that we would give people jobs and scholarships when we definitely are not, and then he would make money off of it. Not so good.

I hope your week this week goes better than that! 

Happy Father's Day too!

እግዚአብሔር ይመስገን

Elder Miles

Taught this random guy for the other Elders. He was cool.

Tekaw

Beklobet Zone after church

EAAM reunited

WK 74 - PEANUTS in my COKE!?!

This week we had another round of exchanges with the brand new missionaries to Ethiopia and I was with Elder Underwood from Oklahoma. We taught a pastor and another one of our friends that day so that was good. But then he made me try a snack that him and his dad used to eat which was peanuts in coke. You just kind of munch on them as you drink. Honestly, not bad. 

Last P-Day we went to the Oromo Cultural center with my friend Dula! Dula is a recent convert that Elder Anbesse and I worked with back in August. He's making leaps and bounds of progress but this week he invited us to spend the day with him. He is Oromo so going to a museum with him about his culture was sweet. 

This week we headed off to headquarters for interviews. I always love going back to Megenagna because when we're there it's always full of people to talk to. 

We taught a young man named Jonah this week who speaks really good English. He met with missionaries before but was confused about the story of Joseph Smith, so we helped him to understand better. When he understood, the spirit touched him and he wanted to learn more.

Church was awesome this Sunday! Attendance was low sadly, but President Dudfield was there along with some other visitors. We had four friends come, and two of the members we invited showed up! During the Elders Quorum lesson, I bumped our friend Tekaw's elbow and told him to raise his hand to answer a question. He said, "No, I'm new" and then a few minutes later said, "Fine, I'll raise my hand after I am baptized." That was the green light for us. That man is prepared.

I read a cool definition of the Spirit of Elijah this week. It is "a manifestation of the Holy Ghost bearing witness of the divine nature of the family." I love that! As we do fun things as a family, as we love and serve each other, as we learn the Gospel together, and as we do family history work, those feelings coming testifying that the family unit is truly divine and appointed by God.

ቻው ቻው የኔ ትንሽ ድንቾች

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Miles

Staring off into the distance in a thunderstorm...

Elder Underwood

Dula and the Oromo Cultural Center

This pot is called a Corey

The guy who translated the Bible into Afan Oromo

WK 72+73 - Two Week Blur

It does not feel like two weeks have passed by and that's just not fair. It was a massive blur because we were really busy, so I'll try and string together a jumbled series of events. 

- We visited two members out in a place called Jemo. It's far away so we got so see a lot of the city by Ethiopian taxis. One member sounded like he was dying when we called him the night before, so we recruited another member and went to give him a blessing. Later in the week, when he was feeling better, the member invited us to lunch with him and we got to pound some whole fried fish. 

- We went on exchanges with the APs the week before. I got to be with Elder Nelson for the day. 

- Last Sunday we visited a member who invited us over in a place called Ayer Tena. It was pretty much just as far as Jemo. For one he fed us "irgo" which is Ethiopian yogurt, but basically, it's just spoiled milk with chili powder in it. Not my favorite. It tasted like lava going down my throat. We were super gracious though, because I've been a in a lot of humble homes in my day, and this one might have been the most humble. We shared a message about covenants and he expressed some of his concerns with us. We hope we were able to bless him in some way. 

- We've gotten English Connect classes started in the branch but it's been kind of chaotic. They were supposed to begin this week, but there was a bit of a mix up and a counselor announced that it was starting last week. So, we taught an impromptu lesson. It went fairly well though. I'm definitely not qualified to be an English teacher, but it's been cool to see a combination of members, investigators, and friends come. 

- We've received a bunch of new missionaries recently! It's strange having people who weren't in Kenya but it's nice to have some new faces. Going along with that, Elder Detjen is here! For those who don't know Elder Detjen, he went to Lone Peak with me and we played basketball together! I got to go hang out with him on a pday and even go on an exchange with him! It was sweet. I've got some pictures. 

- Our three most progressing people are Tesfaye, Tekaw, and Alemu. Tesfaye is almost ready for baptism but we just want to make sure. Tekaw was an online referral but is so solid. The first day we met him he was so shocked that we could teach in Amharic! He tried to hand us a translator app haha but we just set it aside and went for it. He's been loving the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon. He's the definition of a homie. 

I just reread President Nelson's most recent talk last night and what stood out to me was the way he talked about seeking peace. As followers of Jesus Christ, we need to be lights and examples to the world. We all want peace. But how can we expect peace if we don't seek peace at a personal level? We must be the ones to act and seek peace in the conflicts in our life. It doesn't matter what the person on the other side of the conflict is doing. We have to be the one to take steps if we are truly seeking peace. 

ተባረኩ!!! Be blessed everyone! I hope you have a good week. 

Elder Miles

Cleaning the Chapel and it was absolutely filthy. 

President Efrem, the District President, and his family! 

Exchanges with Elder Ross and Elder Detjen!

Hmm tastes like fish.

Elder Ayre and I found a super nice, new library. 

Hanging out with Elder Detjen on pday. 

Ayer Tena. 

Eatin' yogurt.

WK 71 - SHHHH! 🤫

Guys, guys, shhhhhh, keep your voice down in the Library!

Ok...now that we're talking in whisper...how's it going? This week was pretty good for us. Nobody got robbed which is a win. But a crazy homeless dude did chuck rocks at a car we were in so that's an L. 

We started the week out by meeting with a member of the mission presidency in our branch to discuss how we can move the work forward. He invited us to meet him at his place of work, which is the National Library of Ethiopia. We got there and he gave us a sweet tour. Saw some OLD books, and got some pictures. We got a picture on the stand that Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia, used to read on. The problem is it's in a study hall, so as we climbed on the creaky wood everyone stared at us.

We had MLC at the mission home this week. I was reflecting on the previous times I had been there before. It was a year ago this month that I arrived in Ethiopia! It was fun to be there and to discuss the needs of the mission now that everyone is returning like empowering leadership and expanding the proselyting areas. Plus, good food like meat, cheese, and root beer so that's always a win. 

We taught a lesson to a dude named Robel this week. And funnily enough, my recent convert named Robel showed up as soon as we started teaching him. So, we had Robel help us teach Robel. It was cool to see him testify of things we had taught him less than a year ago, and the effort he put in to make friends with the other Robel was awesome. 

We had two days in a row with three or more lessons planned and then all of the lessons fell through. We are struggling to get people to come and be consistent. If any of you out there have any advice, I would love to hear it. We are still teaching the friends Gio and Meles. They are both reading the Book of Mormon. 

Speaking of good food, Elder Ayre and I have eaten well this week. Friday night we ate at a Greek restaurant and then on Saturday the Branch President invited us over for pizza. We shared a message with him and his family about unity and they told us about their time in Ethiopia, because they are from New Zealand. 

Sunday was the best day of the week! We jumped from having 50 people last week to 67 this week! It was fun seeing the members and they all hyped me up after I gave a closing prayer in Amharic. 

Quick spiritual thought! Don't procrastinate the day of your repentance! There is no shame in wanting to get better! Do all you can and be joyful about it. We were given this amazing gift to help us become better and find more joy because of it. 

አመሰግናለሁ

Elder Miles

Haile Selassie's stand.

Elder Ayre and I getting stares from all the Ethiopians in the room.

Pizza with the Rangi family!

Greek food.

Reading the Braille Doctrine and Covenants.

Ethiopian feast with the boys. 

The famous Black lion statue (at a terrible angle because there were tons of beggars there). 

P-day shenanigans at Meskel Square. 

WK 70 - Tying Up Loose-Ends

Ah man I missed Ethiopia! It's strange to have to adjust to it again, there's ups and downs and I love all of it but I have a good story to demonstrate. 

Elder Ayre and I took the train to Arat Kilo, which is like the main part of Addis Ababa, to meet with a member there. The train ride was a blast because I got to see a lot of the city that I had never seen before, and the part of the city we were in was up on a hillside so we were able to see everything. I had forgotten how beautiful Addis is so I was very much enjoying in the moment.  But then after meeting the member, there was an attempted robbery on Elder Ayre, the train broke down on the way home so we had to walk an hour, and during the walk there was a successful robbery on Elder Ayre. So good things, bad things, but it's all part of the experience. 

The Beklobet Branch where I'm at is the oldest branch in the country. There are a lot of strong members here because the history is so deep but a lot of them have gone inactive. So, we have been tasked with finding the lost sheep and bringing them back to the fold. This week we had Branch Conference so the District Presidency came and gave some fire to the branch because we only had 50 people there for it (our goal is to hit 85). It was cool for me though because I could actually tell that they were talking about it!

Along with working with members, we've been receiving and meeting with a lot of online referrals. It's too early to tell if any are interested, but we had one friend named Gio (pronounced Joe I guess) who came to church and we were able to give him a copy of the Book of Mormon. 

We also had a mission conference this week. We learned a lot but overall, I just felt an excitement for the work, I really hope I can make some sort of impact in the time I have left. We discussed how to work with offended members which is perfect for our area and also discussed mission culture. 

The coolest part about the first week back has been the coordination between all the missionaries! Everyone has been calling their old areas to help the new missionaries know what was going on. A bunch of Elders have helped us know what to do here in Beklobet and I've been able to give some advice to the Summit Elders too. I've also been able to communicate with a bunch of my recent converts like Dula, Tariku, Patrick, and Robel and that's been awesome! It's sweet to see how far they've come. It seems like we're picking up right where we left off. 

Real quick, I read a quote from Boyd K. Packer this week that I really liked. "Faith, to be faith, must walk to the edge of the light, and then a few steps into the darkness." I felt like that quote really applies to me right now! I'm back to Ethiopia, but in an unfamiliar area so it's time to step into the darkness a little bit and rely on the Lord. We all have to do this in our lives! Press forward in faith! 

Have an especially good week! 

እግዚአብሔር ይመስገን

Elder Miles

Dula, one of my recent converts (on the right) had the opportunity to baptize someone!

The EAAM is back baby

Ethiopian subway station?

Addis Ababa

Elder Ayre and I in Arat Kilo moments before disaster

View of Addis from our apartment

The go-to meal: Dulet and Shiro

Cleaning the font

WK 69 - An Alternate Dimension

እንደምን አደራችሁ ወንድሞችና እህቶች!!!

Good morning brothers and sisters!!!

We are back in Ethiopia! It feels like I fell into a black hole a week ago because everything this week was very familiar but the circumstances drastically different from what they were before, almost like a Marvel-style different dimension or timeline.

I got picked up in Embakasi early Tuesday morning and got taken back to Serene Valley Apartments where I stayed before for three months doing online work! Right after we dropped our bags off, drivers came back and took us to the mission home in Kenya. We had a send-off lunch with President Mdletshe and talked about our favorite Kenya moments.

In the three days we stayed at Serene Valley we didn't have much to do. We discussed ideas we could integrate coming back into Ethiopia and had a Zoom call with President Dudfield. Other than that, we mostly just chilled and hung out with one another! With the ten Elders there it was an absolute blast! And shout out to Elder Larson... I finally got to be companions with him even though it was only for three days while we were there.

The travel to Ethiopia was a smooth as could be! We all stayed at the office apartment and there I met my MTC Amharic teacher from 16 months ago, Wendim Beyene in the flesh! There have been a lot of great reunions with missionaries and members all around. 

On Tuesday I received my assignment. I am now serving in Bekulobet, which is pretty much the opposite side of the city from where I was before, and I'm serving as a ZL with Elder Ayre from North Salt Lake. This area is a nicer part of the city with lots of foreigners. The members are very strong and there's good work to do. Now I just have to un-rustify my Amharic and we'll be smooth sailing. 

Quick funny story, we called a member Sunday night to ask about some of the people he had referred, but before we had a chance to say anything, he sent us a random number and said call this person at 7. Turns out it was his 12-year-old niece who used to come to church, so we shared a quick Book of Mormon story with her. The work has already begun! 

That's about it! Have a good week everyone! The Atonement is real! Remember to rely on its power. 

Elder Miles

እግዚአብሔር ይመስገን

Bekulobet chapel

Finally back home!

The twelve of us at Serene Valley

Waiting to go to the mission home

Saying goodbye to President Mdletshe

Saying goodbye to President Mdletshe

DR BERHANE

On da Plane

WK 68 - I was not expecting that...

Hello, hello, hello friends and family. Transfers have come and gone like usual. I woke up Sunday morning to extreme confusion because my name was not on the transfer board. 

Why is that?

Because my new area is going to be in:

ETHIOPIA!!!!!!!

That's right. After six months spent in Kenya, I will be returning to the promised land. The Exodus is beginning. The Lord is taking us back to the land of our fathers. There's a group of 10 American missionaries that are returning to the country this week and I am lucky to be a part of that group. I'm going to miss Kenya a lot though. The members, our recent converts, the work, and the atmosphere have been so great. I never thought I could make such strong relationships in such a short amount of time and I've learned so much about the Gospel, missionary work, and just life in general. 

If anyone wants to come back to Kenya in the future and go on a safari with me just let me know I'll be ready. 👀

But I'm excited to take those skills for another shot at the work in Ethiopia. I don't know where I'm going or who my comp will be. As far as I know we will spend some time back at the original apartments for COVID tests and paperwork and we'll leave later in the week.

As for the work here in Kenya, it definitely felt like things were wrapping up. We taught some good lessons to our progressing people: 

- We miraculously found a lady named Carol whose number we somehow got. We thought it was a duplicate for another person but we called and it was her and she so happened to live nearby and wanted to meet, so a bit of a miracle. She brought a bunch of her friends to our lesson and even loved church this week. 

- We also visited the South Sudanese family to teach one of their friends but he just kind of bashed on us which was no fun.

Other than that, it was business as usual. This week I took time to read the Pearl of Great Price and I loved how God invites Enoch to walk with him. In fact, God invites all of us to walk with him by keeping his commandments and inviting his Spirit to be with us. We can choose to have the power and influence of God with us at all times and anywhere we go in life. I don't know why you wouldn't want that. Walk with God this week!

እግዚአብሔር ይመስገን!! Have a fantastic week! I love you all! God is real and Christ lives! 

Elder Miles

Emmanuel looking fresh in my goggles

Emmanuel looking fresh once more

Saying goodbye to some powerful members Joyce, Ivy, and Betty

A member who moved from Mombasa that we helped get to church

Facebook filters are a good way to play with children

An Elder sent me a picture of this cat and I can't stop looking at it