It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas (12/15/14)

Muli bwanji!! Ahhhhh another week has come. Another week has gone. And its almost CHRISTMAS! This week. Mmm what can I say? It definitely was one of those weeks! So this week was a little slow for us since my companion has that official FLU. Ha ha. So we weren't really able to do as much as we both wanted but we still worked as hard as we could. But the rainy season has officially started here. That whole saying of "raining cats and dogs" is the story of life here in Zambia. I was definitely rocking the rain boots this week. When it rains it pours. So yeah it was nice for everyone that has been waiting for their farming but for us in the field of missionary work. Success is definitely halted. But we wont stop! So this week we were able to see some of our people. Our recent converts and even to have our zone meeting which i really enjoyed. We learned about the importance of families and even learned about the importance of extending commitments and inviting people to do things. It was really nice and we even got to do role plays! Yes. Every missionaries favorite part of meetings. Haha. Usually I am definitely anti role plays but we got the chance to teach the elders and they pretended to be our investigators. It was so sweet. It was the first time I really enjoyed doing a role play. It wasn't like it was fake it honestly felt real and I felt the spirit even teaching all of us. It was very powerful. I enjoyed it a lot. So this week was good.. Full of smiles and laughs and everything good! I guess the highlight was this Sunday at church! It was raining so hard and I had my full rain gear thing going on and we headed to church and of course we had to cross a huge ditch and of course I go for it and boom! The most embarrassing thing ever. My entire skirt just ripped up the back. So there I am on Sunday soaking wet with my skirt ripped open. Yup. Moment of humor so I had to go home and change. And there was a total winning number of 15 people at church. There was one relief society woman so we had to combine with young women. But it was really great! I enjoyed it a lot. So my week was good. Transfers came and are gone and i'm still in the same area for the sixth month with the same companion. I guess I am never moving haha so I don't have my hopes up. So i hope that everyone has a happy and blessed week. I'm sorry that I didn't have a very eventful week buttttt next week I will have lots to share I promise. Alma 5:33 Love Sister Scott

Sweet Sixteen ( 12/8/2014)

Hello my dear family and friends once again!! How are you all? I hope that all is well and that you are all getting into the wonderful Christmas spirit. So something that I have realized on mission is that Christmas is my favorite holiday so hands down! I love it so much! I literally listen to Christmas music every single day and it just puts me into the best mood so I definitely offer that to anyone that has a bad day. Well this week has come and gone and now as I look towards a new one I have to admit that things have been a little difficult for me but I am trying my best to stay positive and upbeat. So this week kind of was a blur for me. Tuesday Sister Erickson called and took me and my companion to the doctor for a blood test to try to see what may be wrong with her. She has been having a few problems with her legs and feet and we haven’t really found a source yet. So we went to the doctor and of course the test came back negative so that means we don’t know what’s wrong. But they did give her new medicine to try so hopefully it proves helpful. So Wednesday for us what a little busier than usual! We went and saw the wonderful Shonga family, the family of the children we baptized and taught their family and the kids. I love them to death. Sister Shonga has definitely become my mom away from home. She takes care of us every day. So we have really been working hard on helping the girls we baptized, the two daughters, Christine and Emma, on their personal progress. They are doing so great. It’s only been like a month and we are almost done with the first value already. So it definitely makes me happy. I guess this week was hard on another note because of our two investigators that were baptized last week. They are struggling financially and it seems that Satan is really testing a lot of people in our branch. They have been taking care of chickens and trying to raise them but they didn’t have money for feed so the chickens started dying. It really discouraged Sister Meriam a lot and her family. We went and visited them and we taught them about testimonies and even about the importance of families. It was really great and Sister Miriam shared a powerful testimony. How it took her over 10 years to finally join the church and now she knows that it’s true. It was so sweet and powerful. So Saturday we got the opportunity to go as a district, 9 missionaries to help one of the members get her yard ready for planting. We had to clear the ground and then start digging! It was my first time using a hoe and I totally have bruises and sore muscles to prove it! But it was quite nice and I enjoyed it a lot. It’s always nice to help other people and to serve others. So after that we went with, Ustyne, the branch missionary that works with us to his house for lunch. His grandma is the Relief Society teacher and she invited us over for a wonderful lunch. She made nice nice food! Fried chicken of course and it was so great! She is the sweetest lady ever and then she even bought me and Sister M Chitenge’s. They were super nice and she is the sweetest lady I have ever met! So Saturday was also my daughter’s birthday! Sister Mbele finally hit nine months so shout out to her even though I already told her! I love her so much! It’s crazy to think that she has been here 9 months already, it makes me feel old J Yesterday as well was the last testimony Sunday for this year and the end of our wonderful week! Honestly I don’t think that my week was super spiritual and something specially stood out that happened but I can share that I had a testimony builder on repentance and also forgiveness this week. I don’t want to give specifics but this week I was definitely tried on those two things and I realize that forgiveness is just as much a big part of repentance as actually committing a sin and asking for forgiveness. I realize that sometimes people they hurt us and they do things to us maybe even on purpose to hurt us in some way. Sometimes it’s so hard to overcome that and to forgive them but at the end of the day we can’t withhold mercy and expect mercy. We can’t without forgiveness and expect God to forgive us. I definitely learned that this week and so I challenge everyone to work on those two things for this new upcoming year. Forgiving any who have wronged you and also repenting and drawing closer to Christ. He is our Master and our Creator. The Ruler of all. He forgives us every single time and he is the one person we are trying to be like. So I love you all lots and lots and lots! I hope you have a great week!

Countdown to Christmas

Service Project

Happy December

Machoma bwanji!

My oh my another week has come and gone so I can officially say Happy December! J I hope that everyone had a grrreat week and lots of exciting things happened! Our week was filled with lots of ups and downs but overall it ended on a great note!

So for everyone who didn’t know before I can officially announce that I am THE most forgetful person on the planet earth. Okay maybe we can narrow it down to missionaries but I am unnecessarily forgetful in a different way. So our week started off just fantastic when I lost the phone for the 3^rd time in the past two months; I don’t know why I just can’t remember it anytime and so Monday after we finished emailing we left and came back and it was gone. Luckily we have great couple missionaries who have kind and forgiving hearts and they got us another one but this was the third time so I vowed to never carry the phone again. Other than that our week went by fairly well. We went by our recent converts on Wednesday to teach them about baptism and to help the young girls with their personal progress. It was a wonderful day with wonderful lessons. Wednesday was however a little bad since my companion began feeling unwell. She was experiencing very shocking pains and burning in her legs and it got progressively worst throughout the day and so we ended up staying in Thursday to allow her body to rest. Friday she was still having some pain but it was better than before.

So of course I have to say HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Honestly, that had to be the highlight of my entire week! For the first time ever; The mission had a Thanksgiving dinner with everyone in Lusaka. All of the couples cooked American food for us and we ate and ate and ate. You will see from the pictures just how excited I was J Pumpkin Pie. Enough said. It was great and I enjoyed it very much. Even though it made me a little homesick, it was a super great experience and I enjoyed it very much so. So we were suppose to have a baptism a few weeks ago if you can remember and we weren’t able to so we decided to start filling up the font on Friday with water so that it could be ready by Sunday. So we went and set everything up and got that prepared so we were able to have a baptism yesterday of our two investigators the magnificent Nasilele’s. It was so great. Man, have you ever had that feeling of relief after something you waited so long for happened? Yes. I had that feeling yesterday. It was so nice to see them get baptized. As soon as Sister Meriam came out of the water she was smiling so brightly and she just said, ‘‘Finally, I’m born again. I’m clean.’’ It was so sweet.

So I think the best moment of the entire week was actually a miracle moment that we had! So The Shonga family is the family of the 4 kids we baptized back in October this year. So in their family there are 5 members and three non members. So the three who are not members are the son, father, and one daughter; So recently we have been teaching all three but it has been really really difficult for us to really get them. So Saturday we had the opportunity to sit down with the son Emmanuel Shonga and share with him the My Family books that the church has put together to help with family history. It was a neat experience. We were able to help him begin and it was nice. So after the lesson we headed home and he escorted us with his family and I had time to chat with him. He opened up a lot and told me a lot of his background and how the missionaries already taught him everything and he knows it all. So I asked him if he has prayed and he was quiet for a moment and then he said he prays all of the time but he doesn’t know if something is wrong with him because he hasn’t gotten an answer yet. So As I listened to him Ether 12:6 came into my mind and I was inspired to share it with him. I told him to go home and read it so I hope that this week when we go he will have some thoughts and we will be able to share more. I can see he has desire but he loves researching online and it gets to him, but I hope that Heavenly Father will help us with this one.

So this week was definitely a good one for us. My companion Is feeling better and our area is doing great. Personally I am doing well. The countdown to Christmas has begun! But everything is okay. This week I actually had the time to study Alma 12-14 during my personal studies and there was something that I studied that gave me inspiration this week. So I was reading about Alma and Amulek and their journeys throughout the lands preaching to the people. As you read you realize that they encountered so many things and so many trials. It made me realize the importance of faith also adversity. I know that if there were no trials then there would be no faith. Adversity is something that is necessary and even the faithful and obedient at times must suffer because of the precious gift of agency that we have. But when we choose to be obedient and faithful then that is when the Lord can help us and give is the strength that we need!

Well I love you all. Words can’t really express. I pray that the Christmas spirit and season will be within all of your hearts and that you take this time to draw closer to Christ. I love you! Have a great week! 

Love

Sister Scott