"Happy Halloween!"-Nightmare Before Christmas "That's messed up"-Open Season "I'm not sure where to go with that." "[Heat] drains my [energy]"-Mega Mind

Hey guys, it is almost Halloween!!! I really miss carving pumpkins.   I got some great pictures from my Mom of the pumpkins and the carving and I really miss doing that.   My companion has told me carving pumpkins is a total no.   So no pumpkin for me this year, next year though, I'm carving a pumpkin.   Happy Halloween everyone!

You know what I hate?   Stereo-typing.   Like people look at me and their first thought is "Maroundgo" the next one it\s "equals money".   My companion can go into a shop and have me standing outside and he can buy something for five bucks, I can go in and buy the same thing for ten.   It is like West Side Story "one look at [me] and they charge twice. Twice!"   It really sucks.   Cause if I go in with him, they think I want the thing and he is bargening for me, so they play hard ball and wont let him bargen for a good price on something he wants.   It is really difficult.  

I am still struggling to get a hang of how people talk.   Cultural differences and things like conjugation are different, and so I am often lost.   I will ask a person a question about some simple thing, and they go on for a while about something that isn't connected to what I had asked, and I just think "right, where are we going with this?"   I love the people I just wish I could understand them easier.   I watched "The other side of Heaven" last week and I remember when I first watched it I wondered how it would be to be in such a foreign place, and now I know.  

It has been hot, and I mean hot out here.   We go to lessons, the houses don't have much in the way of ventilation, and it is just hot and stuffy and it is hard to stay awake.   I have almost dozzed off a few times, and my companion has.   The heat is intense.   In the words of my old companion Elder Hogan, the heat was like my last camping trip.   Ahhh, I miss that kid.   

We had a baptism on Sunday, only one not two.   Stuff happened that stopped the second one.   But the first one was great.   Brother Nyumtora, who's wife was baptized a few weeks ago, got baptized on Sunday, after watching general conference.   It was great.   The guy is awesome and his is super strong as well as his family.   Things are moving along and we are gonna become a branch soon' in the next few weeks hopefully.   That will be good, I love Kadoma but it is a pain in the butt to get people out there for things.   

My companion thinks that there aren't gonna be any changes in our apartment this coming transfer.   I don't really know.   Things are going well in the area, and that is usually when a change is made.   We will see in a few weeks.   

"You can't control all the circumstances of your life but you have control of your happiness.   You are the architect of it."

-Bishop Gerald Causse in the Presiding Bishpric

"If you let him lead your family, things will work out."

-Henry B Eyring 1st Councilor in the First Presidency

What better reason to be happy then to know that God loves us and lives.   What better reason to be happy then to know that Jesus is the Christ and He lives.   I got to see a few sessions of General Conference this past week end and I loved seeing as men and women of all walks of life testified of these truths.   I add my voice to theirs.   I know that what they said were true, I know we have a prophet on Earth.   How blessed are we.   

"Hello and who are you?   I'm Thor.   Thor?  Well it hurts."

"You were good kid, real good, but as long as I'm here you'll always be second best."

"Once again we want to remind you that this broadcast is brought to you by sand its everywhere! Get used to it."

"Did ya miss me?   Guess not!"

Love you all.

   

"Look you're already Half Way."-Shrek "Look at me I'm [one year] old."-Madagascar "Same [Apostle] Twice.-Mummy 3 "Well this sucks"-Madagascar

Well now, it is official.   I am on the down ward slide.   I am over the Hump.   I am any number of other phrases that I can't think of that mean I am half way done with my mission.   It is a weird feeling to be half way done.   It really is.   Only so long left and then I am done, not enough time to do half of the things I want/need to do.   Weird.

We got to be visited as a mission by Quinten L Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles this week.   It was great to see him for a second time.   For those who don't know I got to see him in California San Jose before I cam here to Africa.   It was really super cool seeing him twice.   The power those men carry, the Spirit that attends them, the strength that they have is incredible.   He encouraged us and blessed us and much of what he said felt as if he were speaking only to me.   It was a wonderful experience.  

Not so wonderful is the problems that our house is having with water.   Oh don't worry the pump is fixed, now it is the pipes, and the pressure tank that have huge leaks.   So yea, we are able to get water now, it is just a huge ordeal to do it.   It really really sucks.  

Our area is great.   We are hoping on having some more baptisms on Saturday, and a family fun day activity as well.   It will be a busy day for us.   Lots of things are going right, and lots of things are not going right.   Guess you have to have both to really know the difference.   It is going good, there are just a few pot holes along the way.  

My companion's brother is getting married in December.   He is all excited for it.   While we were in Harare to see Elder Cook he was like ten minuets from home.   We stayed the night at the Highlands Chapel/Mission Transfer House which is his chapel.   It was a fun experience.  

"Let us go forth with a song in our hearts and a smile on our faces and build up the kingdom."
-Gordan B Hinckley 15th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"if our lives are centered around our Faith in Jesus Christ nothing bad can last."

-Howard W Hunter 14th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

All I have to say today is that this Church is true.   I have shaken the hand of an Apostle of God and I can say without a single doubt that he is an Apostle.   The Church is the only true and living Church on Earth.   Thomas S Monson is the only true and living Prophet.  

"What I bought them, most of them"

"Nefu I'm afraid I've been thinking.   A dangerous pass time.  I know."

"Is this you?   Now they're just being mean."

"Where have you taken us Phillip?"

For Jeremiah..

Yes ... that is indeed a zebra.

"So uh, was that a yes or a no?"-Halo 3 ODST "It seems [slow]. Its the deep breath before the plunge."-Lord of the Rings "First I actually commit a crime, and then you get to [fine] me for it."-Sinbad

The Wheel of Time turns and ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend.   Legend fades to myth and even myth is long forgotten when the age that gave it birth comes again.   In one age, called the second age by some, an age long past, an age yet to come, a wind arose in [Chegutu] the wind was not the beginning, there are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time, but the wind was a beginning.

Had to throw that in there, since on Thursday, I am a year old on mission.   Weird to think that a year ago, almost I entered the MTC, fresh from the arms of my crying momma, and my smiling daddy.   It is an interesting thought to have.   The first age of my mission has been completed, and now my second age is about to begin.

I know that it isn't a Disney movie quote, but I am running out of ideas and it really sums up how things go out here.   I ask a question, and then they respond in some long string of Shona, and then I ask my companion, "so was that a yes or a no?" and then he tells me how they responded.   It is interesting having a three way conversation every lesson.   It is good, and I am getting bits and pieces of the Shona, when it is within lesson material, but once they leave that, I am lost.   

The weeks leading up to this one have felt slow.   It is my deep breath, before my plunge.   Gonna start down that mountain that I started a year ago.   

I keep running into problems with the police out here.   They will ding you for anything, including apparently, a sticker on your window that someone put tape on since it was falling off.   Really?   It is a sticker!   they don't have anything better to do with their time?  

We had a great week end out here.   Four people baptized, two couples married civilly, and all of it went pretty well.   trying to get things organized for getting people to Kadoma, that was a different story, but it got taken care of and so all's well that ends well.   Worth every moment of wanting to bash my head into a wall.  

We did have the wedding, and since this is the first weddings and baptisms in Chegutu they are gonna try to get it into the South East Africa part of the Liahona.   Which would be super cool. 

My companion and I are doing well, though we are being swarmed by bugs every night.   Things are great here, and we are working in unity and all that good stuff.   Not much to say about him this week, nothing has gone on really.

"You are never far from the sight of your loving Heavenly Father."

-Boyde K Packer President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

"Preach the Gospel at all times.   When necessary, use words."

-Dieter F Utchdorf 2nd Councilor in the First Presidency

"we Pray with confidence that we can feel the Saviors love for us. He loved us enough to pay the price of our sins."

-Henry B Eyring 1st Councilor in the First Presidency

I have met a lot of people this week who flat out reject what I have tried to offer them.   From Jehovah Witnesses who refuse to listed to us as we try to answer their questions, to a guy who says we are supposed to pray to Heavenly Father, and Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, even though when asked he admitted that you can't find it in the Bible. So many people try to make us not believe what we believe.   So many people fight against the truthfulness of this Gospel.   It makes me sad, but that is how it is.   

I know without a doubt that this message I am sharing with others is true.   I know that God lives and so does His Son, Jesus Christ.   I know that this Church is true.   I know that we have a living Prophet on the Earth in Thomas S Monson, and in the words of my Zone Leader Elder Mayall, you could put a gun to my head, and I wouldn't deny that this is true.   But he says it in an English accent, since he is from Manchester.   

"its not a dress its a kilt! Ya Sick-o."

"Giant? I prefer big boned, or jolly.   Now who are we hiding from?"

"I'm speaking in rhyme! Max! Fetch my sedative!"

"Da! Quick to the SLOW!"

love ya

"Ignore him"-Cars "Blah, blah, blah"-Hotel Transylvania "It will never brake, it will never, it broke."-Aladdin "I [love] the rain"-Planet 51

Well I have learned this week, that a drunk person is like a two year old having a tantrom.   If you ignore him, he will stop and leave you alone.   Point in case, Prosper.   Your friendly neighborhood drunkard.   He always used to bother me, and then I started to ignore him and now he don't.   It is nice when the drunk guy leaves you alone.

My companion and I have started saying "Blah, blah, blah" like Dracula.   I don't really know why, it is just fun.   I enjoy having an inside joke with my companion.  

Well our bore hole pump broke last week.   Which means it is back to getting water from the city council.   They have been out to fix it, so it should be done by the end of today, but still.   We just seem to be getting Jing stuff out here in Chegutu.   It is alright, since they are getting it fixed, but still, it would be nice if everything just worked right.  

It started raining this week.   It was funny watching people duck in cover, and scramble for the houses.   Me I stood out in it for a little while and just enjoyed it.   If that is a "type of things to come" this rainy season then I am EXCITED for it.  

This has been a pretty good week.   Lots of great lessons, and several people at sacrament meeting.   You know who wasn't at Sacrament meeting?   Our investigator Fortune, who is supposed to be baptized on Saturday.   We haven't been able to see him for a few days now.   He is in some Football League and it has taken much of his time.   I hope we get to meet with him soon, still a little left to teach him for Saturday.   Our other two people we are gonna baptize are ready, and it is going well.   We are getting a marriage done for the Nyumtora family, so the mom can be baptized, the dad needs to come to church a few more times, and for the Kwaramba family so they can go to the Temple.   It will be great.  

Me and Hove are doing great.   The guy seems tired a little as of late, but he is working hard and we are doing great things here in Chegutu.   I am loving this transfer.  

"Hope is the anchor of our souls, hope is trust in God's promises, faith that if we act now, the desired blessings will be fulfilled in the future.   The unfailing source of our hope is that we are sons and daughters of God and that His son, the Lord Jesus Christ, saved us from death."

-President James E Faust

I know that this Church is true, and that this gospel changes lives.   I have a great family that I have gotten to know with my Companion the Shiri's and they have embraced the Gospel.   They love the Book of Mormon and the fact that we have Prophets on the earth again, real prophets, not like the ones we see so often out here in Zimbabwe.   They said they saw the "Love of the Lord" when they first saw us, and I think that it is amazing how our very actions can have such an effect on those around us.  

My momma reminded my today that God knows my name.   Now I would like to testify that He knows your name as well.   He knows, He loves, He cares for all of us.   Not a one of us is too far away to not be under God's watchful eye.   He is there, He has always been there, He will always be there.   He loves us and wants to hear from us.   This much I know to be true. 

"We need a plan of attack.  I have a plan: attack.... these guys are basically gods.  There's only one God ma'am,  and I don't think he dresses like that."

"You see Face, that's a plan, and I love it when a plan comes together."

"How did he turn two of the smartest guys I know into his own personal flying monkeys?   I caught that reference."

"Wow these three D glasses are great it's almost like they're shooting at us.   They are shooting at you Fool!"

Do you know these ones?

I love you all.   

Found an old run down pair of airplanes that used to be a fancy restaurant, so me and my comp got some pictures of it.