Sista Ana Amuna Awiti

My name got worse..... now instead of saying "two sons" they now say "two son" but in chichewa.... hahaha Sista ana amuna awiti. Well... that is only one lady. but still... 

Well this week was great, and full of lots of meetings...... and it was transfers so we had to help transport sisters and such, but still a good week! 

We are having mission tour this week, and Elder Ellis is coming tomorrow to have a conference, flat inspections, and interviews with the missionaries here in Lilongwe, so we all gotta be in tip top shape!! 

This week I had to take over the area.... and after so many prayers, I actually only got lost maybe once. But I quickly learned that this is pretty much a whitewash... many people who I don't know who they used to be teaching, and they weren't in the area book, and so this week and for the next coming weeks we are focusing on finding and creating centers of strengths. We had quite a few fall throughs, and few back ups, but of course Heavenly Father continues to show us miracles each day where you have absolutely no room to complain. That is something i've learned in my missionary work.... even if all day it seems like everything goes wrong, there is always something that goes right. Even if it was just a really great personal study you had that morning:) 

Well we had a powerful lesson with the Milanze family on Monday evening!! I had the 2 other sisters with me, and even they couldn't deny that they are so prepared!! The probllem was they travel a lot because he works for the agricultural department! He was asking such inspired questions, and loves reading the Book of Mormon. Definitely prepared for the gospel!!! then of course i get home Monday evening with a pounding headache.... take an ibeprofun and end up puking all night, fell asleep with my nametag on and everything. Best part of the whole story was that we were in a threesome, me Sister Mulomba, and Sister Brown, and Sister Brown was up packing and she felt guilty that I had fallen asleep in my own room because we're all supposed to sleep in the same room, so she brought her mattress out into the hallway and slept there hahahahah #exactobedience But i woke up feeling like a champ which kept my perfect record of never having to stay in for sickness!! 

We took Sister Brown to the bus station on Tuesday, and then I was in the sisters area for the rest of the day! Wednesday picked up my companion and Sister Gwebu (brand new trainee) from the airport! And then i took my companion straight to work! 

Star: Star is progressing so well!! he is 12 and just powerful, he always reads what we give him and is always to church! he'll be baptized on the 11th of September along with Blessings another young boy! Both of them being part member families! 

Brother Magombo: He is the land lord for 2 members and he is Jehovahs Witnesses.. but he is so funny. He doesn't want us to teach him, but he came up to us this week and was like, "Sisters... I was talking with this woman and she said she is confused about religions, and I told her that I knew missionaries for the true church, and here is her number" hahah He is the best! 

meetings: we had some trainings from the assistants about key indicators, and turns out we had all been reporting things wrong this whole time... oops!!! and then zone leadership council, and then a meeting with sister kupu about the sisters! but meetings help us become more effective in our proselyting efforts! 

less-actives: We have seen miracles with some of the less-actives we are working with! One is now activated and they are preparing to go to the temple next month (Sister Gondwe). And we had a less-active that no one even knew who has come to church the past 2 weeks!! 

BBQ: We had a nice relaxing Saturday (weird) where we had a BBQ at the senior couples as a zone before the senior couple goes home next week!! Even the mission president came, and then we had a choir practice because Elder Ellis wants us to sing at the mission tour.... now none of you will believe this, but guess who they asked to give the tune... ME. TONE DEAF SISTER THUESON. and they made me sing it in front of all of them to get the tune. oh boy oh boy. 

funny stories:

1. The guard came and was asking me, "are you, you? " and so of course i answer... " I AM ME" hahaha and for some reason us sisters can't stop laughing about it 

2. We got a talk to study for mission tour about locking our heart and not looking at boys while we're serving hahaha... so now when all of our missionaries see each other we always remind each other to lock our hearts. 

tender mercies:

1. REUNION. A member (Maria) from Blantyre was up in Lilongwe, and visited Kalombo branch! it was soooo good to see her! 

All in all, things are going very well! Continue to pray for the Kalombo branch, because there are some issues as usual, but they could always use your prayers! 

I'm grateful to be a missionary. it amazes me every day. 

Ndimakukonda kwam biri,

Sister Thueson

Sista Two-a-Son

So everyday in Proper in Area 49 there is a little girl who is the watch girl, and the second she sees me she yells out like a watchmen on a tower, "A ZUN GU" and within 5 seconds there are 30 children running out yelling, "SISTA TWO A SON SISTA TWO A SON" and then they patiently wait for stickers. like it's adorable for a couple days... now I use a different way hahaha. 

anywho this week was really good! 

I just dropped my sweet companion off at the airport and she will be back in Zimbabwe tomorrow... oh how much i grew to love her in just a short 2 weeks!! She served so faithfully until the last day, and her last testimony at church made me realize how much more i want to take advantage of every single day I have as a missionary! 

First of all, 

Blessings was baptized!!! awwwe he is so powerful! He was so prepared... I'm not sure how many other missionaries feel this way, but most of my recent converts were so just incredibly prepared... like you didn't have to do anything to "convince" them that the gospel was true. But they were led by the spirit, and ready to accept and act upon this wonderful message. any who... we get to the church and at the end of sunday school we realize the baptismal font wasn't filled up soooo all hands on deck. We get the hose going and everyone starts grabbing buckets to fill it up. Even the little primary kids were carrying buckets on their head. Then I totally ruined the opening hymn because i tried to sight read.. yikes. Then during the baptism his brother Wilfred (recent convert) baptized him and just DUNKED him so fast. like my eyes were still closed from the prayer that i missed the baptism. but the witnesses were just laughing, but they said it was all good.  Then when blessings got up to bear his testimony he took a hymn book and his book of mormon and was quoting from them! POWERFUL. 

Other great things happened this week! we had 8 come to sacrament meeting, Blessings, Blessings, Dave, Willard, Star, Anthony, Gift, and Marko! Pray for them:) and 4 who are on date for September 11th... we might ahve to push 2 of them back because we might not be able to teach them everything in time! Love the potential in this area! 

Our less-active Thoko gave us 2 referrals who live in the main house where he stays and they are SOLID. Marko and Gift and they both came to church, and they loved it!!!

mormon helping hands: such a great turn out!!! over 30 people from our branch came to clean the police department. I ended up scrubbing the nastiest shower ever, but it ws fun! and the police officers were very appreciative!!! We also gave them a lot of pamphlets to give to the suspects to read!! 

We were also able to lots of other service this week, people potatoes, washing, and filling up oil containers! funs stuff!!! 

young women: Every branch I get to, i automatically feel an attachment to the young women!! I love working with them and bringing them teaching with us! maybe it's because I want them to serve a mission one day, but they are so sweet, and they make so many sacrifices. many of them are the only members in their family! 

FUNNY STORIES:

1. we were doing service by sweeping an investigators house, and a bird pooped on my companion. dying. 

2. FHE with the Nzema family. First of all, the power wasn't working and then the 8 year old said a prayer and then it started working. he started running around yelling, "IT'S A MIRACLE" hahaha

All in all, 

I love you all!! There are so many miracles happening in this area, and so much potential!! I know God is aware of this area, and as we stay faithful he will continue to put those who are prepared in our path. 

Ndimakukonda, 

Sister Thueson

Beach Vacation

hahaha Jk... went to the Lake and put my toes in the water. That's as close as we can get as missionaries:) I forgot my journal... so i'll try to remember things but it might be hard. 

First of all, Blessings passed his baptismal interview and will be getting baptized on Sunday!! he is soooooo prepared. Such a strong testimony. Always reads his Book of Mormon, and is trying to finish it by the end of the month. The sad thing is, is that he is at teacher in a different province so he'll be leaving at the end of the month to go back, but he is so strong that I know he won't lose his testimony. 

Biyane family: a less-active family who were refugees from Burundi... and we had a really sad lesson with them saying that they can't come back to the church because the members don't like refugees.... it broke my heart. 

Sola: this guy is amazing, but crazy!! he read the whole Book of Mormon in 2 weeks! but he is a church hopper... he will go to any church he is invited to

Milanze family!! I just love them!! We just started teaching the amayi and abambo, and we had such a powerful lesson with them about the Atonement... we decided just to end the lesson during the Plan of Salvation because the spirit was so strong, and at the end abambo was like, "when you come next time, I really want you to explain more fully about why we have to go through trials if Christ already suffered?" you could tell he was really pondering, and then at the end of the lesson he asked the member there where the church was... they didn't come but I still see so much potential!! 

Banana family: we're teaching a family who the father is Jehovah's Witness, and mom is a catholic. He is sooo nice to us, but the only thing he disagrees on is that politicians shouldn't be allowed in the church... but he will listen to us, and loves to learn. But he doesn't like contention, so when he doesn't agree with something he writes us little letters. it's really funny. and so we respond to him with little letters... haha he is the landlord to 2 of our members. 

Lake Malawi: So we made a nice little road trip this morning out to Lake Malawi! I guess it is the 7th biggest fresh water lake in the world... #funfacts. And we gotta walk in the sand:) awwwwe it was so nice. and it was sooo beautiful! 

Funny stories:

Hot season is starting to come.... and there was this one day where all i wanted was a milkshake from KFC, i think i talked about it in between every single lesson... and we were able to teach 8 lessons that day and we still had a little time before curfew and so we went and got one in a DRIVE-THRU. haven't been in one of those for 14 months.. it was cool. 

There were many other miracles as always, but I can't remember because I forgot my journal!!!! 

I love you all!! Have a great week! 

Dirty Hands, Feet and Ears!

Well i'm happy to be back here in Malawi where I come home with dirt just every where, and walking all over the place! It's been so funny to try to learn this area so fast... every where we go I take notes so I don't forget... ya know there are no street addresses in malawi just landmarks.. by the church, by the mango tree, and so on. 

This week was great!! I'm companions with Sister Motsi for the next two weeks before she flies back to zimbabwe on the 21st of august. 

Well Monday said bye to some more people in Ndola... hard but I survived. it was hard on the Chibessa family since they have never had a missionary get transferred before... but they gave me this cute shirt and skirt... love them. so excited for their baptism. i'll send you pictures when i get them!! 

Tuesday: LONG BUS RIDE DOWN TO LUSAKA. ugh our tire popped half way through and then our driver kept going and so it destroyed teh tire... and it was really hot. but i'ts okay we survived and got down to Lusaka, and then that night the STL's down there took me to go see Sister Jane one of my favorites from my area in Lusaka so that was so nice to see her again! 

Wednesday-Thursday: MISSION LEADERSHIP COUNCIL. Realy really good. MLC always makes me have the desire to be a better, more obedient missionary. MLC was a little different with presidnet kupu then it was with president erickson, but all good. They announced transfer news at the beginning about the new leaders in the mission since we are losing 3 STL's, an AP, and a zone leader this transfer so it was nice to have some new faces at MLC. The main focus was TEACH REPENTANCE AND BAPTIZE CONVERTS. which has been the push from the Brethren for the past couple of months. Learned some new ways to teach repentance like using Book of Mormon terms like, "putting off the natural man" kind of stuff... we have tried it and it worked! and then rejoicing more with our investigators when they make the small steps of repentance such as simply recognizing their sins. 

then we took the tiniest flight of my life to Malawi... Sister Arok was freaking out the whole time. it was so good to be with sister bingham again for the whole day. who knows... maybe the next time I see her will be when we go home... scare bearl level 10

but htis area is really really good!! We have area 50 and area 49 here in Lilongwe and we are part of teh Kalomba branch. WE do a lot more walking here becuase you can't drive the car through the area, so we just park and walk... gonna admit shin splints started coming haha oops it had been a while. But I don't know too much about the area yet, just that i love many many people already. 

One family was teh Milanze family... i guess they had been just teaching the wife and the daughter but this week we got the father and son to listen, and the father could really feel the spirit you could tell. They have some real potential. 

Also the Chilongo family, nothing warms a missionaries heart more than when you ask someone if they know if Joseph Smith was a true propeht and he says, "yes, I know because as I read the Book of Mormon I feel good inside" I love it. 

The meeting house is in the middle of NO WHERE. haha i don't even know how to find it, but it's a pretty nice meeting house. 

We get to go out to a refugee camp this sunday to meet some members who live out there!! Super excited! 

Funny stories: 

1. We go to teach this family and we asked for the wife to come and her 2 friends, and they were taking FOREVER. and so we were just going to leave the pamphlet with them but then they finally come out with their make up up and one girl had heels on... hahaha they were trying to impress us or something. none of them speak english, soooo... we probably won't teach them again but they were nice! 

Love you all!! I love Malawi and grateful to be a missionary for Christ's church.

4th Corner

Welcome to the world Millie Tracy Dance:) so excited to meet you in just a short 4 and a half months!!! 

imagine it's a nice saturday evening... you just finish closing the day and planning for tomorrow and BAM phone call from President Kupu, "Hello Sister Thueson... next week you'll be coming down for mission leadership council... and I want you to pack your bags because you're not going back." okay.... tears come. Wasn't expecting that. but I"m transferred!!! int he middle of the transfer to go to Lilongwe... back to my homeland of Malawi, and I was sad at first obviously to be leaving Ndola but i'm very excited now! especially cause in the flat i'm moving too THERE IS A WASHING MACHINE. after 14 months i finally get a washing machine again!!

Well this week was great! oh how I love the city of Ndola!

We had some great success!! First big news is that Lucky, Jeff, and John all passed their baptismal interviews yesterday and will be baptized on the 14th!! They are all so excited! Bummed that I'll miss their baptism, but grateful for the opportunity that I've had to teach them.

Other than that we had a relief society activity where of course when I look at the program... who is doing the traditional dancing? the sister missionaires. Don't worry I rocked it. PSYCH.

Had to go down to Lusaka for immigration so that took some time out of our area... all in all life is good. The Chibessa family came to chruch besides the dad... so keep praying for them!! 

funny stories: 

1. We get to the Mpundus on Tuesday evening and when we get out of the truck there had been a little boy in the back teh whole time!! whaat? we start yelling at him and he was just so obnoxious. and all these other little kids started asking for sweets and saying they wouldn't leave until we gave them sweets. so my companion goes and grabs a cooking sticks and chases them down threatening to beat them hahaha and then she talked it out with them and said how next time she'll bring a sweet if they don't touch the car... so then they left. 5 minutes later we hear boys outside the house and they had one of their friends pushed on the floor yelling, "he touched the truck! beat him!! " hahah and teh poor little boy was in tears thinking that my companion was actually gonna beat him. oh little boys. 

2. In my departing testimony in the branch I said, "I'm so grateful for my son Jesus Christ" that got the branch laughing

Love you all! excited for a new adventure back in malawi! 

Sister Thueson