This week was full of meetings, interviews and zone conferences
with a big Thanksgiving dinner to add in the mix. Our mission president came to
visit us and we had a very good conference together. I learned a lot about
myself and how to become a better disciple of Christ.
For this week I'll just tell you one amazing story/testimony. I
have been concerned for Elder Mwehu, my companion, because he is the only African
in the apartment and he doesn’t speak English. So naturally sometimes he is
isolated from the group and doesn’t talk that much - and I know it's not
because he’s shy, it's just hard with the language and culture difference. So
all week I have been praying to know what to do to help him. What subjects
should I talk about with him? How do I make him feel like he fits in? For the
whole week it didn’t seem like an answer was coming. I prayed and prayed and
nothing.
So we keep working like normal - Sunday rolls around and we go
out teaching. Just TERRIBLE. No unity in any sense of the word. Every lesson it
seemed like we weren’t on the same wavelength. I felt like something was
missing from our teaching, and obviously it was the Spirit. So Sunday night I
kneel down and pray to know what to do - the idea came that we need to create
lesson plans. To explain something about this mission, we don’t ever do lesson
plans! With over 30 amis at a time and 7 lessons a day, 1 hour of companionship
study in the morning isn’t enough time to thoroughly plan out every scripture
and question and point of doctrine that you want to teach that day. But the
thought came that we needed to make a lesson plan.
Like I said last week, we moved our p-day to Tuesday, so Monday
(yesterday) came around and we went to work like usual. In companionship study
I told Elder Mwehu that I felt like we needed to create a lesson plan for at
least 1 rendezvous (the most important lesson of the day). He agreed and we set
out a very simple lesson plan. During that planning, yes, there were times when
we didn’t see eye to eye and had to discuss our points of view without being
offended. But it all worked out and we felt good about the plan. Leaving the
apartment that day had a whole other feeling to it. We seemed a little happier
and knit together. We never got to teach that lesson we planned out - the young
girl canceled on us, but the rest of the day was filled with the spirit and we
taught with such unity. In fact we taught 2 lessons in English that day, Elder
Mwehu didn’t follow what I was saying, but he contributed in French
appropriately and helped bring the spirit.
Sunday, we couldn’t even teach a lesson in the same language. Monday
I followed an inspiration that came as a response to many prayers, and we
taught very spiritual lessons in multiple languages (during one rendezvous, a
sister couldn’t speak French really well, so she spoke in a tribal language).
The moral of the story is PRAYER WORKS! Answers do come and they solve problems.
That simple idea to make lesson plans didn’t only help our
teaching, it also helped Elder Mwehu open up and be willing to start
conversations with me. Like I said, in the planning, we had to discuss our
opinions, we were forced to talk. Later because we taught together in unity,
Elder Mwehu and I talked more about life. He shared things about himself and we
were overall happier.
Now because it is officially December I thought it would be
appropriate to put up decorations. Lucky for us, we have a fake Christmas tree
(thanks be to which ever elders bought that! haha) So putting the thing up
became a good group activity. We all helped fluff out the branches and untangle
the 3 light strips and put up ornaments on the tree. Again, another answer to
my prayers, Elder Mwehu participated and we talked about Christmas traditions
in our lives. It was a fun activity and for the rest of the night we laid in
the dark with the Christmas tree lit up, listening to Christmas music! Ahh, the Christmas Spirit, and more
importantly, the Spirit in general.
So keep praying and if you don’t feel like you’re getting
answers keep moving forward with confidence and keep praying - you'll get an
idea at some point or another. Those ideas may be small (like making a lesson
plan) but as the scriptures say - by small and simple things are great things
brought to pass. Or in the language of Elder Hatch, "If it seems stupid
but works, it's not stupid." : )
I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season and feeling the
spirit at home. Enjoy the snow for me! It's really hot over here, like 95
degrees during the day and 80 in the morning!
