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

WK 80 – The Death of a Generation

It is indeed a somber day. The original group of missionaries called to the Ethiopia Addis Ababa Mission Amharic speaking are finishing today. This includes my comp Elder Ayre, so I will be “killing” him. This generation of missionaries has been super influential on the mission and some of my closest mission friends are a part of it. It's way sad to see them go, but such is the circle of mission life. These next months will be different for sure but I'm looking forward to them.

We had Zone Conference this week. President Dudfield had us play Preach My Gospel Jeoparde and my team took a phat W. We talked a lot about member work and relating to people of other religions. As a zone, we talked about daily planning and making backup plans to make the most of our time. Every time we have meetings, I recognize just how much more I have to learn as a missionary, so it's always inspiring. I look forward to them.

We did service again this week. The coordinator asked us to play basketball with the kids because they bought a new basketball, and we taught them how to play a shooting game that President Dudfield would have us play in Kenya. 

It’s been pouring lately and mega cold, so that's been not so fun. It causes lessons to cancel and people to not come to church, but we make do. We went to Arat Kilo to do a joint lesson with the Elders up there that way we could pass off Tekaw's friend Esias, but because of the rain it ended up just being us. We taught him in the huge, new library up there. Then we met up with Tekaw after. Those two are awesome. 

I went on exchanges with Elder Ferrin this week. We got in one good lesson then rain made the rest of the day bare, so we prepared for and taught English class. 

This week we taught two new people. One's name was Alemu and he was a gray dot. We had one good lesson with him and then he came back a little bit fiery. Apparently, he knew more about the church than he led on and began to bash us a bit about baptism. We could not understand the point he was trying to make, so we called a member and had him talk to him. Alemu wanted to meet with the member Sunday morning but he never came so... 

The other was a young dude named Melaku. We got him as a referral from a high dude on the street. He told us his friend needed help and his friend ended up being Melaku. Melaku is a super nice guy that loves the Gospel, but has had a hard life and some obvious word of wisdom problems, but I feel like we can help him a lot.

Tesfay and Tekaw received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday. We are super pumped for them and their progress.

"Nothing happens in this church unless you work." 

-President Hinckley

We have to work for what we want tomorrow. 

 

Love you guys! Let me know how you are doing! 

Elder Miles

 እግዚአብሔር ይመስገን

Bye-bye lunch

Playing some ball with the ልጆች

The nice, new library

The boys going home and the guard

Getaye Elder Fry at ZC

WK 79 - Ethiopia Dreamin'

By the እናቶች and the አባቶች

I've always heard that people receive revelation in many different ways, especially in the way best suited for them. For a lot of the people we come in contact with, they seem to receive revelation mainly through the dreams they have. So, considering the amount of dreams we had to interpret this week, I'll discuss aspects of the week through the dreams people had. Just call me Joseph (no not Nelson, the one in Egypt).  

First off, we've been working closely with our recent converts. Tekaw took a trip to the city of Dire Dawa so we weren't able to meet with him this week. That gave us more time to meet with Tesfay and it was great! He is progressing really well and loves being a member. During a lesson this week, he told us about a dream he had after his baptism. He said that his Aunt (who took care of him growing up) came to him. She died a while ago, but she stood there, said nothing, and looked at him approvingly. Because of that, he said he knew that the decision he had made was correct. 

We were able to teach some long-time friends as well as find some new ones. On Thursday, we took the public transportation out to Jemo to visit a few members and investigators, and we met with Mamencha. We have taught Mamencha a little bit before and this time we decided to share a bit about the pre-mortal life and our life on earth. It was a bit of a difficult lesson at first because we were outside in the cold, the cars were loud, and the idea just wasn't clicking. We had a member there who helped us explain things thankfully. At the end, after we bore our testimonies, Mamencha asked if he could bear his.

After church and after reading the Book of Mormon, he told us he had a dream that he saw two foreigners standing on a mountain top. This man doesn't speak English, but he said that these foreigners were speaking English and that he could understand that they were teaching the true Gospel. He told us that because of that dream, he knew that our message was true. Now, we are going to make sure that he still progresses by reading, praying, and coming to church, but that was a cool experience. Even the member was shocked haha. 

Then there were some less profound dreams. We've been finding less-active members to work with, and one that we've been working with for a while now is super cool, speaks good English, and is a return missionary. She has some family issues though and that's why she doesn't come. But this week when we called her, she told us she had a dream where me and my comp were fighting and because of that I came to her crying. The weird part is that we have literally never met in person so I don't know how she could have a dream with me in it but I guess that's the way it goes. 

We had District Conference on Sunday, so we got to go to Megenagna with all the Addis members and missionaries. It was a good time. Sadly, the conference was in Debre Zeit and our Zoom broadcast had a terrible connection, so they leaders where we were cut the broadcast and gave their own conference. 

Thursday Elder Ayre went to Arat Kilo to cancel his papers because him and his group leave in one week. Crazy stuff. The group that's leaving is super experienced and good friends, so they will be missed for sure. 

This week I was reminded of the parable of the current bush. Sometimes, the gardener cuts us down and we wonder why, but then the gardener says, "someday when you are healthy and laden with fruit, you will thank me for loving you enough to cut you down." I love how this applies to us as God's children. God gives us challenges to prepare us for a future full of blessings we can't imagine.

Ahoy Mateys

Love you guys!

Elder Miles

እግዚአብሔር ይመስገን

Playing chair Jenga in the primary room

Enjoying District Conference with Tesfay

WK 78 - A light on the horizon

This was an interesting week. There was a nice mixture of good and bad, happy and sad, peace and anxiety. That's mission life for you though. In fact, I guess that's just life. I'm so grateful for how I've learned to rely on the Lord to help me grow and appreciate it all. Truly, challenges are for our refining. 

We had a small 4th of July party and ate burgers, fries, and no-bake cookies. Happy Birthday America. Earlier in the day we went to a Lion Park in Sidist Kilo and got lunch in Arat Kilo. The highlights were the monkeys doing silly things indeed and also bought shirits which are traditional wraps. 

Another big event of the week, I officially hit my 18 month mark! The light is now on the horizon and I don't know how I feel about it. One thing is for sure, I still feel like there's work to be done, so prepare to hear the best stories coming up... 

We did service this week at the Degnet after-school center. We got to go and teach 55 children English. It was such a blast that we enjoyed very much. 

We went on two sets of exchanges this week. The first one, I returned once more to be with my Father, Abba, and የንስሃ አባቴ Elder Anbesse. We worked in his area and caught up. We taught some good lessons. One guy was super meek but loved the lesson, another believes everything but the doctrine of baptism. Good stuff. 

Next exchange was with Elder Bringhurst, my MTC brother. That day was a Muslim holiday and it sprinkled the whole time. All of our lessons cancelled even before one o'clock, so to stay productive we split up the work and called through the entire member list. 

We met and taught some cool people this week. We were having a slow day when a random dude came out of nowhere named Fitsum. Turns out he had met with missionaries before. We sat down and taught him. He really just wants to know the truth so has been studying the Book of Mormon. We taught a young lady named Shewit who lives far away but came to church and we invited her to learn more about the Restoration. She spoke really good English and we had a good discussion. Lastly, we taught a young man named Bonke after church who told us if the church was closer to his home he would come every day, so for now we'll settle with once a week. 

Our friend Tesfaye who has been struggling lately got baptized this week! Prayers were answered and we were able to work with President to determine that he was ready. He's so genuine and seeking the truth. He's also had some job opportunities so things are looking up for him! We love him and have been amazed with his progress. 

I forgot my scriptures one day, so for a personal study I was reading through a church magazine and found some good stuff. One of my favorites talked about a girl who struggled to feel God's love. She came to the realization that she felt it was all or nothing. Because she didn't feel God's love, she thought he didn't exist. But someone helped her realize that it's never that way. God loves us and is perfectly empathetic, even when we can't feel it or don't believe it's truly there. I promise that it's there.

 

Elder Miles

እግዚአብሔር ይመስገን

M O N K E

4th of July feast

Sittin in a tube while it rains

Classic work position

A bat we found at church

Tesfaye's baptism

My shirit

WK 77 - You've got a friend in me

This week was awesome because we got to finish it out strong with the baptism and confirmation of Tekaw. He's such a solid dude and probably the closest friend I've ever had in an investigator. We are really trying to help him make friends with the members. In his testimony, he shared how he has looked for truth and after praying, he received an answer in less than two weeks. He talked about how he wants to serve in the church for the rest of his life and he definitely has the potential to do some good.

Funny story though, we were cleaning out the font, and in order to drain it we needed to put some rocks underneath it because it's just a big metal box and that tilts the water out. Well, we left the rocks underneath and a water truck filled the font up with a tilting rock underneath. We came the next morning to an uneven baptismal font and since it weighed a thousand pounds, we couldn't pull the rock out.

We had MLC this week. It was super enlightening and the whole time it made me want to be a better, more focused missionary. Elder Ayre and I gave a training on five minute lessons on the street. We also learned about the importance of Preach My Gospel and being accountable. Preach My Gospel isn't just for missionaries, but for members too! How many of you have read Preach My Gospel? It's good stuff. 

We visited a member this week and had a bit of a scare because a police officer came in after us wondering what we were doing. We were able to meet with our friend Mamencha who lives in the same place and teach him about the Book of Mormon. We also had a miracle and met a man named Bonke who came to church yesterday. We taught a guy named fitsum who is really odd and can't read.

Coolest teaching opportunity was when we taught a young man named Jonah. We invited a member to help us teach and the spirit was there as we shared about what happens after we die and our unique beliefs. He is a strong Protestant, but he shared afterwards how much he loves our doctrine because we focus on Jesus Christ. Maybe we can help him to love it even more...

A cool quote I heard that I will paraphrase: "repentance is not the backup plan, it is the plan of happiness." Sometimes we feel like if we were better, we wouldn't need to repent. That if we need to repent, we are following the backup plan or have fallen to the lower track. But repentance is a part of the plan to give us happiness. We NEED to repent in order to experience that joy.

Shout out to Elder Larson for giving me a shout out and also responding to my weekly who knows how many weeks in a row.

Have a good week everyone!

Elder Miles

እግዚአብሔር ይመስገን

Post-MLC action

Pondering deeply

Tekaw!!

Lunch with our boi