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

WK 24 - Sons of Thunder

Another week another thousand birr. What's up everyone! This was a pretty slow week considering we were stuck inside for most of it, but thankfully the elections went peacefully and we're back to normal doing the Lord's work.

We're entering rainy season here in Ethiopia and it dumps buckets at a random hour pretty much every day. We've had some really cool thunderstorms too and I've seen some of the most gorgeous lightning I've ever seen, which sounds kind of weird now that I think about it but it's true. 

Highlights of lockdown:

1. I had plenty of time to read the Book of Mormon and Bible in Amharic and my comprehension has gotten so much better. I bought the tiniest pocket bible which looks sick but is even harder to understand because it’s written in old Amharic.

2. I learned how to solve a Rubik's cube again.

3. We had some good lessons over the phone. We met with Robel and got him an Amharic Book of Mormon. We started teaching a new person named Chiang who seems very interested and is way cool. 

4. We ate like Kings and had a taco night. 

The last highlight has to do with my spiritual thought for the week! With the anniversary of Joseph Smith's martyrdom and the lockdown, we were able to learn a lot about church history, and the mission set up some virtual tours for us. The Internet didn't really allow for us to actually watch them, but it got us thinking about it! Joseph Smith sealed his testimony with his blood. On the way to Carthage, Hyrum read a passage from Ether to comfort the company. They would NOT have done that had they fabricated it. Both of them knew exactly what they had experienced and could not deny it. I testify that Joseph Smith was God's prophet to begin this dispensation. He did so much and experienced so much hardship to help man come closer and learn more about God. I'm grateful for the evidence of God's love that the Restoration is true. 

Have a good one y'all 

እግዚአብሔር ይመስገን 

Elder Miles

Mini መጽሐፍ ቅዱስ

Taco night with the Goodwins and the Debre Zeit Elders. 

BOOOOM. Me. I'm the son of thunder.

WK 23 - Locked Down Once More

Picture this: I'm walking down the street, four kilos of onions in hand, separated from my companion, knowing I'm about to be stuck in my apartment for the next ten days thinking "what in the world happened this week." This in fact is a true story. Let me explain:

First off, on Wednesday I was a part of an emergency exchange. One of the native Elders had a major family emergency back home, which happened to be Elder Anbesse's hometown as well, so he went with the other Elder for a few days to attend to that emergency. 

Another thing, there is a very important election going on in Ethiopia this week and a lot is riding on it, and there's a chance some people will be upset. So just to be safe the mission has locked us down in our apartments for the next ten days (it started on Thursday) while mission leadership monitors the situation.

So this is where that all comes into play. Right before the lockdown started and right as we were supposed to stock up on supplies for those ten days, my companion was gone. So me and my new temporary companion, Elder Heiner, had no clue what would be happening to us in the near future. So we went about stuff as normally as possible, then separated into trios on Thursday.

Quick update on people we are teaching: Wendesen was on date but we couldn't get a hold of him for his baptismal interview, so he'll have to wait until after lockdown. Tolossa is interested but he has some questions and concerns that we are working on addressing. Robel seems to be our most progressing person. We had a lesson with him and went over a bunch of stuff, he told us that he was feeling a special peace when he was at the Chapel and when he met with us so we were able to point out to him that it was the Spirit. 

We had a mad dash for groceries Thursday afternoon and we were buying in fat bulk so that's why I was carrying four kilos of onions and that's when the story at the beginning happened. At one point I asked a guy for six kilos of potatoes and got the strangest look. But legit it was like we were preparing for the apocalypse. 

As of now we've been in lockdown for a few days and my companion has returned from down south. It's going pretty well. I've been getting some nice studies in which has been great, but there's not much else we can do. My cooking skills have increased a ton in this short time but my snack stash is already running thin and we've got a week left. Biggest thing though: I feel like I've had a bit of a breakthrough with Amharic so blessings coming through even when we're stuck inside.

During our apartment Sacrament Meeting we discussed President Oaks most recent Priesthood Session talk. In it he talks about four different things that Jesus Christ did for us:

1. Overcame death

2. Performed the Atonement

3. Taught the Plan of Salvation

4. Experienced all of our suffering

Those are some major things if you ask me. We would have had no chance for salvation and God's plan would not have worked without the things Christ did. Sometimes we don't stop to really consider that. So I invite you this week to remember these things, and how they affect you personally! The savior himself invites us to know him personally and individually.

Have a good week everyone! I would love to hear from you this week because it'll give me something to do.

ኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ ለኛ እንደሞተ እንድታውቁ እፈልጋለሁ

Elder Miles

Elder Heiner and I

The one and only: PEPPA PIG

Last photo of freedom

Goat in da complex

I made fried chicken for the apartment

WK 22 – Devastation

Something devastating happened this week. I finished all of the American snacks I brought. I can't wait for the day that I can eat Dynamita Doritos again. That reunion will be glorious. As I finished the bag that I brought I think a part of my soul left me.

It was a mostly slow week. People just did not want to answer our calls. That's a pretty big problem here in Ethiopia: communication is very inconsistent as well as peoples' schedules so it's hard to lock down lessons.

Something that has made up for that is the push for more member work we've been having here. In the Megenagna Branch where I'm at, there are 900 inactive members. That's a TON. It's pretty much the only reason that it's not a ward yet, and those saints could help strengthen the branch so much, so we've been working to reactivate them. 

One member miracle story: we called a man who was NOT happy to be contacted. He rambled off in Amharic so I wasn't exactly sure why but I caught a few details. Despite that he still wanted to meet with us and explain his situation. So we met with him the next day at his home and he unloaded on us. He's had a rough time the past few years and had a pretty good reason to be angry at the church here. He told us he was never coming back to the church. He didn't want to hear a message from us either, so all I could think to do was get to know him and finish with a prayer. Now fast forward to Sunday, Elder Anbesse and I are sitting outside making some calls and this member walks in the gate! It was honestly so cool to see.

Next member story, we went to Tulu Dimtu again to visit a Sister in the branch. She raises orphans so there were a bunch of kids traveling with us. I got started talking to one of the kids, his name was Nati, and we became homies. He only spoke Amharic, so I spoke as much as I could to him and I think he thought it was funny. On the Taxi to Tulu Dimtu he kept playing with my hair and we made some handshakes. When we got to Tulu Dimtu we hopped into a Bajaj (also known as a tuk-tuk I think. One of those covered tricycle vehicle thingies) and I had an "oh my goodness I'm in Africa moment" which happens every once in a while. There was a quick message shared on unity after a fantastic lunch and then we headed back to Addis. My impression the whole time was just how amazing the members are here despite their circumstances. 

Which kind of brings me to my spiritual thought, real quick because this email is long. I was reading in the New Testament this week and came across Mark 5:19 which says: "Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee." From that I felt impressed to tell my friends and family that despite the challenges I may face I can honestly say that God has done amazing things for me in my life and even just on my mission and I'm so grateful for the many little blessings in my life. Look for the compassion of God in your own life, I promise that it's there! 

Love you all

እግዚአብሔር በትንሽ ነገሮች በየቀኑ ይባረካናል

Elder Miles

 

I am struggling to remember to take pictures, so enjoy this picture of my breakfast this morning