Plan for the Unplanned

Helllllooo familia!! Wow I wish I could say this week went perfectly, or how my planner said it was gonna go.... but definitely not:) It was Tuesday when my companion told me "you always gotta plan for the unplanned" and little did she know that that would be the theme for the week! You might wanna read until the end of the email:)

okay but first let's look at some fun facts for the week:
1. Sugar cane is impossible to eat... haha you have to peel back the skin with your teeth and it is nearly impossible!!! No wonder africans have such bad teeth haha.
2. Malawians do this handshake that is really 3 handshakes... I wish I could explain it better but it's impossible.
3. I have a new quote for life, "all you need to know in life... you learn in primary... and then you re-learn it on mission" just let that sink in a little.
4.  So Malawians switch their "r" and "l" all the time... you never know if they're saying pray or play. so that makes it fun... for example. We have been teaching this guy named Harry.... ask me how long I called him Holly before I realized... 3 lessons. yep. and to this day I write his name as Holly in my planner.
5. Every night the sisters in my flat have "toast time" at 8:30 and we sing a song about toast... if you wanna join us, feel free to sing the song every night at that time.
6. white washing is still fun
7. I saw a lady on a street and started talking to her... I asked her how old her baby was on her back and she said he had been born yesterday... YESTERDAY PEOPLE and she was walking through Blantyre market... man these women are powerful.

Okay into my week.... BE EXCITED:)

Tuesday: guess who gotta do the role play in district meeting?? the greenie. yeppppppp, oh but on this day we met with a guy who had been taught all the lessons before but then the missionaries got transferred and he got forgotten about or something! Crazy... he knows everything, he was pretty much teaching the lesson for us! he is about 60 and a super nice guy... his name is Frasier and he is on date for aug. 9th... but he didn't come to church:(

Wednedsay: wahoooooooo let's just say my journal entry on this day was 8 pages. Okay so first... this guy came up to me on the street and told me that ever since he was little that he always wanted a friend who wasn't from Malawi... (what an interesting dream) but of course I said i would be his friend... (mistake) he then followed us for about 20 minutes as we walked to our area asking me over and over again if I would take him to America with me. Or if I would let him stay at my house in America... or if i would pay for him to go to america... or if when I got back to america if I would stay in contact with him... seriously the list could go on and on. I was getting so frustrated because every time I tried to mention the gospel somehow America got brought up. oh and this is a normal thing... I get asked on the daily if i'll take people to america with me... but this case was very extreme. okay...  we were able to go out and teach one lesson... and it was actually pretty cool because we had taught him last week (this is harry who I call holly) and he was so rude, swearing up a storm, and told us that we only had pride in our church and not in god and our church only wanted money... and then he miraculously came to church last week... and then we saw him this week and he was a totally different person and way more accepting what we
had to say. I love mini miracles.

Friday: FUNNY STORIES SO READ HERE!! We got to go out and teach all day while the STL's stayed inside!! We went to my favorite area... Naperi!! We have some serious potentials there! we first went to visit a member... Sister Banda! Great lady with a really great testimony, and a cool conversion story. but she told me that the Malawian sun
wasn't treating me well because I had little rashes all over my face... (as she is pointing to my acne) thank you Sister Banda for reminding me of my acne... not a rash. and then she compared the gospel to nsima.... both necessary in the lives of the people of Malawi.. hahahaha i love this country. Then we were teaching Chedson... and first I asked him if he had prayed to God and asked if the things we are teaching are true, and he said he did and that he got a warm feeling... so then i was so happy and was like "yes!! That is your answer" we then went on to teach him about repentance and the commandments and he asked if smoking/drinking was a sin... so that led
us to the word of wisdom. He drinks tea, coffee, alcohol, and he smokes. so all 4 of the things against the word of wisdom... so then i started thinking how we have a lot to work with... but THEN we asked if he had any concerns and he went on to say that he doesn't believe there is a God. and that he just lied to me about the warm feeling
because he feared me. WHAT??? my companion said my face was priceless. yep... devastation. He then went on to explain that he had prayed and prayed for 50 million kwacha but he hadn't gotten it and so obviously there is no God...  so we tried to explain that God will only give us what is good for us. but I told him to just pray and ask if God loves him... and he told me that everyone loves him because no one would hate him. oh boy. then in the closing prayer he asked for 50 million kwacha to be placed by his washer... eish. yikes. We got a lot of work a head of us hahahahahah but he came to church on sunday so that's something. Oh and I forgot to tell you that last week when we were teaching him... I asked him if he knew what a covenant was and he said "oh when someone is attracted to the same sex?" yeah I have no idea where he got that one. Let's just say that every time we teach him is an adventure.

This week had it's serious ups and downs that's for sure!! Can't wait to see what this next week brings!

Spiritual stuff: Well I found a new favorite scripture: It's in 1 Thessalonians 2:8.
" 8 So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us."

I've really been working on charity this week, because the more you love someone, the more you desire salvation for them. And I think this scripture describes that perfectly!! oh and I was thinking about how even though I talk to like 40 people a day and maybe on 5 listen... it's really important to just plant the seed in their hearts. even if we don't mention that we are missionaries... they'll see the name of our church on our tag and it will make a difference.. it could be the tiniest difference.. but years down the road hey... you never know what might happen.

I promise to take more pictures this week!!

nima ku konda
Sister Thueson