We Are HIS Hands

Hello my family and friends!!!


Well all is well on this side of the globe in good ol' Malawi! This week was like the rest except a little more stressful but also good. Sad news: Im officially sick for the first time on mission. Yes that is probably the saddest part about this week. I haven't felt very well so we didnt get as much done as usual. On brighter notes this week was another week full of contacting and finding people.

I think that this is a majority of what we do everyday. We go out and we talk to people or we knock on doors and gates until we find someone to teach. Honestly sometimes its exhausting but this past week I have just been contemplating alot on turning 9 months. I'm getting ready to hit my halfway mark and I was just thinking about where I am so far and how I want to improve. Mission at first seems so long! You get your mission call and you're like "18 months???? That's so long!" Now that I am here I just feel like 18 months is not long enough. Missionary work is something that is so rewarding in so many ways. It not only is for the people that you meet, and teach but it is also for you personally. Mission has taught me so many things that I will keep for the rest of my life. I have realized that we are not just becoming missionaries we are becoming disciples of Christ.

Disciples are not only there to follow but also to emulate the Savior. We as missionaries are becoming disciples but also as members of the true church of Jesus Christ need to emulate Christ in all that we do. Our thoughts, words, and actions should be those that Christ himself would think. say or do. One way that we ourselves have found this out is by serving those around us. Since we often times cant find people to teach we just go and try to find service to do. This time f year is harvest time in Malawi so everyone is shucking their corn and making it into "nsima" kind of a thick porridge that everyone in Africa eats. It is a mixture of ground maize and flour and other things. So this week we went around and offered to help people shuck their corn. Man it was great. Sometimes people are very skeptical of us and they don't want to let us in or they just want us to help so they can sit and watch and giggle at us but no matter what, we do it. So this week we had the opporunity to shuck corn for a very nice lady and her family. When we walked in their yard they just stared at us, not very friendly. So once we started to help them they slowly one by one started to smile and talk to us. We were able to talk with them and eventually share what we do and make another appointment for us to go back and teach them. That truly was a testimony builder for me because I know that service really does soften peoples hearts and that sometimes it is the way that we can share the gospel with others. So i encourage and invite everyone to look for those opportunities to serve others. No matter what it is just helping and I know that Heavenly  Father will soften the hearts of the people.

I know that this is Gods work and im so grateful for the time that I have to be here. I know that this is the Lords work and that he and his angels are preparing the hearts of the world. Preparing us for the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. I love you all and I hoe that you have a great and wonderful week!

Thanks for the emails too! :)) They are great!

Love

Sister Scott

Happy Easter Monday !!!!!!

Well hello my dear family and friends!!!! How are you all? I hope that things are well!!! I just want you all to know that I love you and miss you all very much!!!!!!

So this week was not very exciting but overall an okay week.

It was soooooo hard. We pretty much had to start over with finding people and so everyday we hit the pavement. We knock on doors, gates, and talk to people we meet. Everyday that is what we spend our days doing. I feel as though things just continually get more challenging and difficult. We are just really struggling to find people who are really interested in learning the gospel and don't have other motives. That is the biggest challenge with the work in Africa. True conversion. That is something that I have been thinking a lot about. What is conversion and how can we know when we ourselves are truly converted. As I have taken to think over it I really just feel like conversion is when you know AND do. Many people in the church today they have a testimony and they KNOW that things are true. They know that the Book of Mormon is true. They know that we should pay tithing, live the word of wisdom or even keep the other commandments. I think as members of the church or even Christians that we know these things, but how can you know if you are converted? You can know that when you actually DO those things. Someone who is converted not only knows but ACTS. I can know that the Book of Mormon is true but do I read it every day as the prophets and apostles have asked? I can know that the law of tithing is a true commandment, but am I willing to freely sacrifice and give and act on my faith? This is something that I think all of us should even ask ourselves and determine whether we are truly converted to the gospel.

Before mission I really did think I was converted. I had a testimony, and I knew that the things were true but I wasnt doing anything about it. I really wasn't converted to the gospel. When we really act on the things we believe, then we will be able to feel the converting power of the gospel and truly change. This is something that even I myself as a missionary want to do. Be a doer of the word. 

We got the opportunity to watch General Conference so that is probably the highlight of the week! Let me just start off by saying I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. Why do I love it? Well its all from the dear Uchtdorf who talked about having an attitude of GRATITUDE :) That is something that is so easy to forget. Honestly I am the worst. Some days its just so easy to list all of the bad things in a row but how easy is it for us to name the good things when we are in bad situations. Something that I have a testimony of is that trials make us stretch and they make us grow. Im not saying I enjoy them or that I always want to have hard times, but I do know that at the end of them I always can find something that I learned from that experience. I just want you all to know that I love you all very much and I truly know that this gospel has the power to change us, purify us and make us become those true sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. I know that God lives and his son Jesus Christ. I know that we have a living prophet who is leading us and guiding us today and speaking on behalf of our father. I know that as we stand strong and immovable even through the hard times that we will be able to truly see the rainbow on the other side. I'm so grateful to be a missionary and to be here in Africa. It is a blessing!

Anyway thanks everyone for the emails and all of the encouraging words. You are all so great and Iove you alot! Stay blessed!

Love,
Sister Scott

8 MONTHS

Mulibwanji my dear family and friends

First off my apologies for the lack of time to email last week. Things have been pretty crazy here and a little overwhelming but hopefully they will get better. This week was pretty hard honestly. Sometimes you feel like your pushing up against a brick wall and you just get so tired of even trying. That is kind of how I was feeling.

So I guess the harder thing was that this past week our President let us know that we no longer need to teach men or the opposite sex without another women with us. In the past it hasn't been a rule enforced because we don't really have enough members and so we can't teach but it is something that has been set in stone for the mission. So of course this really made this week the hardest one yet. All of our investigators that are interested and that we have been teaching are men and even the ones who are recent convrets are men and so this week we couldn't see any of them because we didn't have a member to go with us. Honestly I feel like my faith is being tried and I was definitely a little disheartened this week. We pretty much just spent all day, everyday talking to people on the streets and making appointments. It was really hard. We had a really hard time because all of the people interested were men and we couldnt teach them so we struggled.

Also this week was my 8th month mark and so I wasn't very excited and happy but I can say that God definitely showed us that he can palce people in our paths. One day we were just walking in the area just picking random houses to visit and we walk past a gate and see a little girl inside. We immediately think "family." So we go and knock and the little girl goes inside and the guard asks us what we need and we ask for the family. The next thing we know, another girl comes out around 10 years old and we tell her we are missionaries and introduce ourselves. She invites us to come in and we go inside and it was a nice house. I definitely was grateful then for all the nieces and nephews I have because i used those kid skills and we taught this little girl about God and also about Jesus Christ. She was so interested and so sweet! Then of course she tells us she wants us to come and teach her family and that her dad is a doctor and her mom is a designer. Yes! God answers prayers. We were both so excited and we even made an appointment to come back. Man, it was so sweet. Even though we didn't teach them yet I know we were led there for a reason and that all of it will work out for our good.

So even though things have been really tough We had a wonderful Sunday and even our people we were not able to see and teach came to church anyway. I just love missionary work guys its so great! Even on my hardest days it makes me so happy to see the tender mercies of the Lord in my life and in the life of those around me. I love you all and I miss you all very much! 8 MONTHS DOWN GUYS! Love you!

Thanks for all of the emails and all of the love

Sister Scott

FAITH, CHARITY AND LOVE

 Dear Family and Friends,
    My name is Tina and I am sister Scott's mom. I have been been posting to her wkly blog. Sister Scott has asked me to send you her love. She is thankful for so many that love her and has been an encouragement while on her mission. She has been out for 8 months and has 10 months left. She has written to you every week since she has been gone. This week Sister Scott was unable to gather thoughts  to complete her weekly letter to home. I am asking that everyone that has been reading this blog to please take time out this week to send sister Scott a letter of encouragement. Truly she is on the Lord's errand. She is dedicated to the work and doing a wonderful job. She misses family and friends. May the Lord continue to bless you and your families.

                                           
Address:
Sister Krystal Scott
Zambia Lusaka Mission
Plot no.14038
Katima Mulilo Road
Lusaka , Zambia 10101


(It take approx 3 wks to receive a letter)


                  Thanks to all

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY !

Maswela! (Good Afternoon)

 

Hello my dear family and friends! I know many have been waiting and anticipating for the weekly email. Because of internet issues and such we had to move emailing to today another day! But what can I say about this week. It has definitely been one of the more trying weeks but also very rewarding. As you know this was week 2 of training my new baby Sister Mbele and so that of course was great. She is a great sister and a great missionary. Even though things are hard to adjust too she is such a trooper and definitely sticks it out and works hard. She has such great potential and it is my piviledge to be able to train her.

 

So not many new things happened this week but it was still a very nice week. We taght some pretty sweet lessons and even had some cool opportunities. One thing that was pretty great was that we got ot service this week for one of our investigators Lingililani. He was supposed to get baptized a while ago but had some difficulties and then we lost track of him. So Tuesday was our first day in the area just me and Sister Mbele and we had 0 appointments set so I already had a pit in my stomach. I felt a little nervous because I was thinking "Im traing and I have to be an example but I have no idea what we are going to do today." So we go out and I just have this hope in my heart that things will work out. So to my suprise as we are walking around I just have these names come to mind to go check on this person or go see this person and luckily we found them all there. So then I had this feeling that we should go to check on Lingililanni. We had been looking for him for two months and he was never home and so I thought why not. So we go and to our suprise we find him there! He didnt seem too excited to see us and even said he didnt have time for us to teach but something told me to ask if we could help him. So I asked him "Is there anything we can help you with today?" He just looked down and then asked "Like what?" and I told him anything he needed and he asked if we  knew how to shuck corn. Of course I didnt know how but I told him if he showed us then we could do it. So I dont know if anyone has ever had this grand opportunity to shuck corn out of the fields but boy can I tell you that was indeed a service I will never forget. We probably shucked like 40 ears of corn by hand and byt the time we were done I had blisters on my hands. It was hard and painful but during the time that we were able to help him he definitely opened up and even agreed to come to church (and he did). So I definitely learned that sometimes we just have to be a friend, and that will soften the hearts and we will be able to be more like our Savior Jesus Christ.

 

Another powerful lesson we had this week was with a woman named Thokozile. I think I mentioned her before and how we were able to meet her on the street and find out that she had been taught by 5 sets of missionaries already. So we went to visit her this week and even we decided to share with her the Restoration. She goes to her own church but she loves us coming so we figured maybe reviewing the Restoration and reminding her would help but come to find out, as we started to begin to ask her questions she ended up teaching us the lesson instead. She talked about Jesus Christ and his church, Joseph Smith and also the Book of Mormon. I sat there pretty amazed not because she could remember but because she knew it all and was not doing anything about it. When she finished we asked her if she knew that these things were true and she told us simply. "I know thats it true. I know that all of this is true. The Book of Mormon is true and the church." So then I asked her if she knew what that meant, that that means that this is the only True church on the face of the whole earth. Then she responded she knew that too but that she had responsiblities at her church she was attending. At that moment I felt the spirit so strong. I just could feel it inside of me and I bore her my testimony of everything that I knew was true. I told her that I knew Heavenly Father had sent all of the missioanries to her for a reason! That we are number 6 and that God is speaking to her and it is up to her to listen or not. I told her that she needed to pray and truly ask God what she should do. I know that God makes no mistakes. I could see the tears in her eyes and I knew that she could feel it too. I truly felt the spirit testifying through me and I know that the things I shared were true. I know that our Heavenly Father lives! I know that he loevs us all so infinitely and beyond comprehension. I know that we are his children and that he has restored his gospel on the earth for all of us. That his goal is to be with all of us again but that is only through listening and obeying the commandments of God and living our lives as witnesses of the Savior. This is his work. I promise that each of us are here for a reason and that the gospel is the road map back to Heaven. Sometimes it makes us have to make hard decisions or we feel like we have to choose between the gospel or other things but its simple and its easy.

 

I know that Heavenly Father is real and he answers prayers. I know that this is the only true church on the earth. I know it and I love it.

 

I love you all and I hope that you all have a great week!

 

PS (Letters are welcome and lovely emails to remind me of you :))) Happy April Fools!

 

Love

Sister Scott