This week was crazy. As usual. And it was super stressful as well. Lets start off with what happened at church yesterday. Because church is always an adventure, and is always when I'm stressed out the most and have the biggest headache. So for the past THREE WEEKS IN A ROW the first conselor in the presidency did not assign talks or anything for church. That responibility is obviously no longer his. So last second, me and President Mounga were scrambling to find people to give talks. I gave one last week as a result of this situation. It's really frustrating, and can't happen. So we are trying to better in this department. And I'm positive that it will get better.
Then, during relief society, the President said that she didn't prepare the lesson so she asked me to teach. But obviously I didn't prepare the lesson either, so I knew just as much as she did about the lesson. So that's frustrating. But we are really trying to help the members become less dependent on the missionaries, we are trying really hard with this. But other than that! The branch is great! I really do love it. I'm learning alot and I feel privileged to serve with these amazing people. But it is a headache and a half!
Saturday, was good as well. We had a lesson that was extremely powerful. The family of Diogo and Gida. they are progressing nicely and will be getting baptized after we get them married next month. They read the Book of Mormon together, pray together, and even write summaries on what they read. It's super nice! We were talking about the importance of baptism, but kinda turned into a testimony metting. We asked them if they have felt and difference in their lives since they've started coming to church and reading the Book of Mormon. We asked Gida first. tears began to develop as she explained the peace she feels as she reads the Book of Mormon. Diogo then expalined that without a doubt he has seen a difference. He said that the realationship in their marriage has been better, they are happier, and they feel more purpose. This has all happened in just a few short weeks. these really are blessings of the gospel.
The Spirit was very strong as we testified of these blessings that the Lord is giving their family, and that this is how the Holy Ghost testifys that these things are true. I always feel good after lessons like this. I get even more happy when I se them walk into the church together. They live all the way past the airport too! These families are making sacrifices to come to church. It's a good reminder for me, because before the mission, I complained when I couldn't drive to the church. 2 streets down... I will not complain about that again.
We had a HUGE turnout in the branch yesterday. Most of them are new investigators. By far the biggest turnout since I've been here in Manga. We've been working hard on helping investigators come to church, and yesterday it finally paid off. I'm excited to see the growth grow even more next week.
I've also been teaching the English class that we put on, considering I'm the only one that speaks English in the branch... It's every saturday at 16:00. We usually have a pretty big turnout, but on saturday, only one person showed up. An 11 year old girl. She was super shy as she does talk very much. So it was a task to teach her when she didn't really want to say anything. I'm trying to think of more ways to have people come to the class. We'll see if we have a bigger turnout next week!
Christmas should be good. But I guess we'll only be able to skype for 30 minutes. It'll be nice! But you'll have to add the Hall's as a friend on skype so that it works. Their email is xxxxxxxx. So if you guys could do that that'd be great! Also something I would love in a package is gatorade packets. I've been craving gatorade for a long time. So hook it up with LOTS of packets!
Well, that's it for this week, as much as the stress that I'm having, I'm having even more happiness. It's amazing to see people apply the gospel in their lives and see changes. I love the gospel and I'm so grateful to be a servant of the Lord. Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Williams
