Life is great here in Ethiopia. No snow here but it is nice and chilly in the mornings and in the evenings which I love. I can always put more clothes on when it’s cold but when it’s hot I can’t take more off (especially as a missionary

I was able to fly Emirates again both ways. It was niceee. It would be nice to be able to sign up for their frequent flyer program, but I don’t get to buy the tickets or anything.
 
No Heater, just a thick blanket for us.

There seem to be a lot of Sudanese here in Addis because of refugee status. No missionaries in Sudan.
 
Well the week was a good one. The first couple of days we were in Uganda and traveling back here to Addis but we still did some good work the rest of the week. We are still seeing our Baptismal dates who are S, Z, H, M, D, G, and Brother. Sn, his wife and two daughters are the first four. They are so awesome and are really doing the things we ask. S is such a happy loving father, it’s so awesome seeing that. Him and his wife have fun a lot too, like when we got there for our appointment he was slumped over sleeping and she was just laughing and woke him up and then they shared a laugh together as he woke and we came in. They are still doing well but we will see how quickly they can keep the Word of Wisdom.

D is a Sudanese guy and has come the last 3 weeks to church and has some good support with his friends. He actually brought two other Sudanese guys for a lesson this week and the one guy was like 6’7 so I felt pretty short obviously. He’s doing well.

G is the friend of D and has been having to wait the last 2 weeks to be baptized because the Branch has had holiday things. He’s very ready and will be baptized this week finally.

Brother (His name is hard) is awesome. He’s lived in Israel and was somewhat of a Jew before. We were able to meet his wife and kids on Ethiopian Christmas which was cool. His wife works on Sundays so she can’t come but this week he brought his three kids and his brother.

A recent convert, G, also came this Sunday with his wife, daughters, and servant (they have those here). It was so cool to see the whole family, especially his wife who left him for a time when he first joined the church because she’s hard core protestant. That was powerful.

All of these people came to church on Sunday and it was an awesome program. They read some scriptures and showed a video on the life of Christ for the 1 hour only service. We had 130 people there which was more than they’ve had in a while, and we actually had been thinking there wouldn’t be a lot coming. The Branch President is doing an awesome job!

We have been trying to see J (the rasta) but he was sick on Friday so we are seeing him today with his family. He’s an awesome guy and I can’t wait to see his family. I hope they are nearly as receptive as he has been.

This week we contacted this guy who was an American. Apparently he used to play for the 49’rs and now is here helping kids with basketball and other stuff. His names C and he’s a cool guy. He likes to talk but he’s agreeing with everything we’ve spoken about (including polygamy, go figure). He’s from Mississippi and his father used to meet with the missionaries. I hope he keeps reading the Book of Mormon and listening to the Spirit which he told us he had felt. It was funny, afterwards he was looking at pictures of baptisms on the wall and I told him someday that was going to be him. He was just like “oh man I have to be baptized again, I’ve already been baptized like 4 times.” Haha it was kind of funny.

Other than that we’ve been moving around quite a bit helping missionaries with needs and what not. The work is going well and the field is very white and ready to harvest. We’ve been blessed with a teaching pool full of just very sincere people.

Thank you for all the support and love you send. I hope you all are doing well. Peace!


Elder Welch