The week was well. We had a meeting with President Jackson up in Addis Ababa so we were there from Thursday to Saturday. We didn’t get much time to teach during the week so attendance on Sunday wasn’t that great. The meetings in Addis were great. The Spirit was so strong. There was one training by one of the Assisstants to the President who is from Chicago and a convert to the church of only about 2 and a half years (including his mission time). He asked us to come up and bear testimony to him about families and how he can help the rest of his family join the church. Everyone was crying including me and the Spirit was strong. It was amazing too because he recently found out that his Grandfather was also a member of the church and it was just a great training. President also took us to the Hilton for dinner was was pretty good.

We came down on Saturday but the bus ride took FOREVER! We had a baptism planned for Saturday but had to postpone it until Sunday. The bus driver seriously looked like a pirate and kept stopping every 5 miles. He even ran out of gas at one point and we waited for like 30 minutes for them to get gas. I think he kept stopping because there were no winds behind the sails. Arrr matey.

Sunday was good. We only had about 25 people at church but that was expected. A lot of our recent converts are getting very busy with school and other things so we missed a lot of them. After church we went to Awassa and G was able to be baptized. He’s a great guy but was a little scared people would see him there because he used to be an evangilist preacher there. I hope when he gets strong he’ll be more open with people about him being a member of the true church. We also went to Arsi Negele and saw M and his family and friends. Like I said 13 people had saved up the money and were ready for baptism. The rest of them are still working on saving up money and others who came late still want to be taught more but things there look awesome.

The week has been good. Another week with only small differences and occasional things out of the ordinary. We did finally have B interviewed by President Parrish and he should be baptized this next week. President was really impressed with him. His friend though is wanting to wait a little longer on baptism now though.

We’ve been teaching a lot in three areas now. We teach in Wendo Genet, Shashemene, and Arsi Negele. Things are going well and we have people with baptismal dates in all three areas. We’re trying to throw our resources around all over to help get the name of the church out there and to build it up as best as we can here.

A downer is that my companion, who was with a local, crashed his bicycle on Friday and got a little scraped up and sore but he’s doing well. Things haven’t been so easy on him. I haven’t mentioned but his father also passed a couple of weeks ago too which was one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve ever had to deal with. Don’t worry though, I tell you now because this actually happened 2 or 3 weeks ago. He’s doing well now though. He’s such a great guy.

On Sunday we had President and Sister Parrish at church on Sunday which was great. We had 30 people at church, and like I said, mostly men. President and Sister Parrish are so great and I can see you guys being a couple missionary someday.

Also last night we went to Arsi Negele to see Brother M and his family. They are doing so great! We had 21 people alone in that lesson and it’s the start of great things to come in Arsi Negele. We had 13 men there who are all very interested in the gospel and are already doing missionary work on their own out there trying to invite people to come visit with us. His wife also came to church which is about a 2 hour round trip. I also committed all the men there to baptism on the 27 of August and we asked them to save up 50 birr for each person by then to make the travel for the Saturday and Sunday, so they could make their own sacrifice for a great thing. 50 birr is a lot for people here and it was a great thing because 6 of the men committed to saving up the money for that purpose. It was great and I feel as though the gospel will spread much more quickly there than it will in Shashemene.
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I love you all, keep the faith, stay strong, and remember these things we’re all facing are making us all stronger people! Keep it real.

(Trying to catch up emails!)

My week was good. On Tuesday we got to help build a house in Wendo Genet. I guess all the people there just help build other peoples’ homes and all they do is just have the person whose house their building cook lunch. It was fun to be able to help build that house. It was kind of like Zion where everyone just teamed up and helped each other build. There was no poor among them.

We also had water heaters put into our house so no more cold showers! It was so nice to have a nice warm shower again.

On Saturday we did some yard work and had some guy cut the grass. I was able to design the garden and plan lettuce, tomatoes, swiss chard, and carrots. I hope they grow since it was my first time ever doing it. We did have one of our investigators who works for Morrell Agro help show us how to plant the seeds.

We also had the baptism of our dear brother, H. He’s a funny guy. We got to the church and showed him the bathroom and told him he could change in there so he could shower after the baptism. Well we were all sitting there waiting for him and then the Counselor in the District Presidency was just like “he didn’t listen to me, he’s showering now”. Haha it was pretty funny that he was showering before the baptism. He came out wet and people who showed up late thought he had been baptized already.

We got to visit Arse Negele too on Saturday and Sunday. The people there are great and the one man wishes to have church services in his home once they become members.

On Sunday we had church, of course. We had 33 people at church even though it was pretty cold. We had the confirmation of H which was good. Other than all of that, we did the other basic missionary work. Just teaching and such.

The week has been good. Another week with only small differences and occasional things out of the ordinary. We did finally have B interviewed by President Parrish and he should be baptized this next week. President was really impressed with him. His friend though is wanting to wait a little longer on baptism now though.

We’ve been teaching a lot in three areas now. We teach in Wendo Genet, Shashemene, and Arsi Negele. Things are going well and we have people with baptismal dates in all three areas. We’re trying to throw our resources around all over to help get the name of the church out there and to build it up as best as we can here.

A downer is that my companion, who was with a local, crashed his bicycle on Friday and got a little scraped up and sore but he’s doing well. Things haven’t been so easy on him. I haven’t mentioned but his father also passed a couple of weeks ago too which was one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve ever had to deal with. Don’t worry though, I tell you now because this actually happened 2 or 3 weeks ago. He’s doing well now though. He’s such a great guy.

On Sunday we had President and Sister Parrish at church on Sunday which was great. We had 30 people at church, and like I said, mostly men. President and Sister Parrish are so great and I can see you guys being a couple missionary someday.

Also last night we went to Arsi Negele to see Brother M and his family. They are doing so great! We had 21 people alone in that lesson and it’s the start of great things to come in Arsi Negele. We had 13 men there who are all very interested in the gospel and are already doing missionary work on their own out there trying to invite people to come visit with us. His wife also came to church which is about a 2 hour round trip. I also committed all the men there to baptism on the 27 of August and we asked them to save up 50 birr for each person by then to make the travel for the Saturday and Sunday, so they could make their own sacrifice for a great thing. 50 birr is a lot for people here and it was a great thing because 6 of the men committed to saving up the money for that purpose. It was great and I feel as though the gospel will spread much more quickly there than it will in Shashemene.

True Size of Africa

I thought this was pretty fascinating! It gives us an idea as to how big Africa really is! And Elder Tex is covering 4 African countries within his mission! (click on the image to enlarge!) Awesome!