Training Again! (Kinda)

 Hello, Hello everyone!!

This week started off great with an exchange with Elder Lundgreen. We had a great time, and at the end we went by Mama Zura. It had been quite some time and she called me a liar ha-ha. Her usual ride to church hadn't come for over a month and she was sad that we said we'd figure it out, but we were never able to. She wasn't able to come yesterday so we made sure to go by after church and explain to her what happened. Marine (the ride) was waiting for her brother to come home from work with the car and he didn't make it back in time. We are assuming that is why Marine hasn't been in a while. We're going to try very hard to make it all work this Sunday for general conference.

We got transfer news on Tuesday night and we learned that Elder Lowe will be heading to Lexington to join a trio in the North area and that I will be getting and follow up training a re-assignee who served the beginning of his mission in Ivory Coast! I'm super Excited and hope that he is able to make it here safely!

We currently have 4 people on baptismal date. Mtambala who hasn't been able to come to church yet so we will probably take him off date until he's a bit more ready. Alenge and Mwalaisha are husband and wife, and they are so great!! They have come to church like 3 times and are super excited to keep learning. We haven't discussed any of the bigger commandments yet and they are scheduled for October 20th, so we have a few things to work out first but I'm hopeful. And also, Omari who is a friend of Alenge and came to church with him once. He's currently scheduled for November because his work schedule is weird so it's hard for him to come to church. But He likes Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon so we have a great start!!

My phone also decided to break this week, so the last few days Elder Lowe has had to do all the calls and texts. It's good for him though ha-ha. Hopefully I'll be able to get that fixed soon. 

Today we went to the Louisville slugger factory and store. I didn't buy anything but I'm thinking that at some point on my mission I want to go get a custom bat. They are pretty expensive though, so we'll see. 

I apologize for the lack of news lately and I won't have many pictures for this week because of the phone but I hope everyone is doing amazing and I love you all!

P.S. Watch General Conference. It is one of the most important parts of the year because it is the opportunity to listen to the Lord's LITERAL mouthpiece speak to the WHOLE world. Russel M. Nelson is a true prophet and he speaks for God today I know that is true and I testify of it in the name of Jesus Christ.

Tabernacle Choir is the Best

Hey how's everyone doing this week? There's been a lot going on this weekend here in Louisville.  

Last Tuesday I went on exchange with Elder Lundgreen's trainee Elder Bradley. He's a great guy and really wants to work! He also has a Sams club card which has made for some fun lunch trips with some other elders. We also taught Alenge again and read 3 Nephi: 11 with him. He loved it and is so excited to learn everything we teach!! I'm trying to improve my Swahili so I can help him answer all of his questions. He is one of the few people I've taught that doesn't regularly pray so it's been a new experience for me to try and teach that. But I love being able to learn. He's scheduled to be baptized with his wife on October 12th. I'm not sure if she'll be ready but we're hoping he will be!

This Saturday we had a few things going on. In the morning we had a stake-wide service project where we walked around one of the poorer neighborhoods in northwest Louisville and cleaned up trash on the streets. It was super fun and I got to talk a lot with some of the members. Then that night we had a music event. The tabernacle choir was singing a concert in Florida and livestreaming it across the south. It was awesome!! 

In order to advertise the concert the mission gave every missionary 200 cards to hand out in about a month. We had been handing out a few per day for a few weeks but we realized on Wednesday that we had way too many left. So Thursday Friday and Saturday we spent a ton of time just trying to give out and get as many people to come as we could. It was so fun! 

Yesterday in church a brother gave an interesting talk. It was all about looking at how we view God. He said that there are a lot of people on earth who see life as a way to work our way into heaven. How God is a God who damns many and saves few. But as we learn from the most recent talk by Elder Patrick Kearon, God's desire is to lead us all back home. Our job here on earth is to learn the ways of heaven so that when God invites us home we will feel comfortable enough to accept what he offers us. Or as Brad Wilcox states, we aren't earning Heaven, we are Learning Heaven. God is a loving father who is willing to do whatever it takes to help us learn his ways. He asks us to keep his commandments so we can learn to be obedient and live by a higher law. I know this is true and I know God loves me. That is why I keep his laws. Because I also love him. 

Have a great week!!