Zone Conference and the Guava...July 30, 2013

ANSWERS TO MOM'S QUESTIONS:
How are you getting along with your comp?

My comp and I are getting along much better now. It took some intense companion inventories (discussions) to fix things, but he’s being awesome and trying to apply my suggestions.

What furniture did you have delivered?

Massive red couches that are as hard as rock and a wardrobe.

Are you learning any of the language?

I’m picking up Swahili, pole pole (slowly slowly) but it’s getting better.

Does your companion understand the language?

My comp doesn’t understand the native language Kikamba, but he is fluent in Swahili. He served in Tanzania for 10 months.

How did your English and keyboarding classes go this week?

Once again no one showed up.  It’s frustrating, but if they don’t want to learn then so be it.  I put in my part, now they need to do theirs.

How many people attend church?

150 kids and 100 adults but when the Mission President comes, there will be close to 500.  We don’t know where they come from because they don’t ever come otherwise.

Are the children starting to feel comfortable with you?

The children are more comfortable with me, but the candy was a bad idea. I now have stalkers...

When was the last time they had a white missionary serving in the area?   It seems like they would be used to American missionaries by now. 

6 months or so


Why do the members run away from you when you go to visit? I would think that they would enjoy your outgoing personality and great smile and enjoy your visits!

They think white people eat babies... and they don’t want to go to church or speak English.

ZONE CONFERENCE AND THE GUAVA.. THE FRUIT OF ALL EVIL  

Hello everyone!

Well this week has flown by, like seriously its crazy how the time flies here. So zone conference was great, my first zone conference.  All those arriving and departing bore their testimonies, so I was one of those to do so. I told them how I wasn't a fan of the whole "I say good morning and everyone responds good morning to you" everyone laughed at that, some in agreement, but others in disagreement. Everyone to give their testimony after me made sure to say good morning and have everyone respond... it was quite funny. The Mission President and his wife spoke to us. Sister Hicken said, "we are never alone in doing the Lord’s work" and that the mission will no doubt have a huge impact on our future, family, wife, job, etc. President Hicken was the main speaker, and he talked about obedience. He began with a quote by Elder Packer: "Obedience is powerful spiritual medicine. It comes close to being a cure all." He linked that quote to D&C 130: 

"20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated
 21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated."

It just shows that obedience is directly linked to blessings. It applies to blessings from God, and it also applies in a family, listen to your parents and they'll "bless" you. As he said, obedience is the path to freedom.

I loved his example of a police officer, "you give them (a police officer) a gun that can take away a life, you give them handcuffs which can take away freedom, but you’re most worried about giving them a car that's too fast?" President Hicken gives us a lot of leniency, but he puts complete and total trust in us to be obedient. 

At the end of Zone conference, we had homemade food.  It was such a nice change! This week I am surviving on two kilos of rice and a half kilo of flour. 

Okay so we got back Thursday and we went out meeting with people. We met with one member and he allowed us to pick guavas from his tree. We took a few and went on our way. I didn’t eat them till the next day, and when I did I only ate half--you only eat the seed things inside. Now this is why the Guava is the Fruit of all Evil: the next day it destroyed me!  I went to the bathroom 5 times that day. The guava sounds all nice and such, because guava juice is like heavenly nectar, but if you’re not used to eating the actual fruit, it will do a number on your system. My companion laughed at me the next day because he knows what they do and didn’t warn me.

Later in the week we were at an investigators home, (they should be baptized this week!) and they had just made a rope out of hemp, Kazomba whipped it in the air like it was an actual whip. It made the loudest explosion sound, I thought a chicken exploded, because all the chickens ran away!

Elder Kazomba and I get along better now.  We find relateable topics to talk about because our upbringings and back home are entirely different. We have a lot of fun now each day.  Yesterday he whipped out a law of chastity pamphlet while tracting.  It was totally unexpected and we had just been talking about missionaries who had done that regularly. I had the hardest time not laughing.  I held a sloppy grin on my face and then right when we said goodbye, I lost it.  I tried to cover it with a cough, but that was no use. 

At a new investigators home, they brought out their great, great grandmother.  She is the oldest lady in Kilungu and possibly the world.  She is 130+ years old. Blind, deaf, and everything… old.

So that was pretty much it for this week,

Till next week!

Love,   Elder Hiltbrand