Whatever the Weather, Who's the Teacher?, Love, Mighty Prayer and Obedience...Oh, and Corn Dogs!!

hey family!
So,  here it is week six in the field which is crazy it's going that fast. So this week was a little slow but we did have two more people commit to baptisms in October and hopefully all will work out with them. Weather wise, it's getting into the hottest month of the year here. But we found a great poem that we recite to each other, "whether the weather be hot, whether the weather be cold, we'll be together whatever the weather, whether we like it or not". Clever eh?
We had a great experience with the teenagers we just baptized. We were teaching about family history and decided to go around the room and each tell a story to put in the My Family book. My companion and I started and told some fun stories and then in turn each of them shared a spiritual experience that brought the Spirit in and humbled me. Those kids we taught are great and we have already had two lessons with a friend of theirs because of them! So many times out here I go to teach but really it's the people that teach me instead. We also had the chance to meet five new people this week and begin teaching them. Something I didn't realize at first is this work really isn't that hard. You walk around all day in this great place and meet a ton of new people and talk to them about Christ. People are very open and love to talk to you even if they don't understand or even show up when we are supposed to meet (African standard time...) But it's easy to get a lot of referrals.
This week we also had district conference here in Lilongwe. It was a great experience. We meet at a hotel conference center to fit all the members in Lilongwe. The Kupu's taught us about love, mighty prayer, and obedience. I also got to meet the Hall's, a senior couple that are living in Blantyre but came up for the conference.  It was a great day in the progression of the district towards a Stake. They sustained 31 brethren to receive the Melchizedek priesthood which is very big for the members here in Lilongwe. Two of those were guys from our branch who we are working with who are preparing to serve missions and already more powerful than I am.
It's very important to see the learning experience in everything you do and the people you meet.
We did exchanges this week and it was great to see the strength of other missionaries out here. I am very fortunate to serve with some amazing missionaries and members. In my study this week, I found that 34 times in the Book of Mormon it says that as long as you keep the commandments you will prosper in the land..34 times and i can add my humble testimony to that.
 Some high points of the week also came when elder slade made corn-dogs for dinner! 

with great love

elder lusk

No Power, Our Father in Heaven is So Much Smarter Than We Are and Filled with Love in Lilongwe

Hey family it has been a pretty crazy week here kinda the ultimate week of highs and lows. So about 85-90% of our appointments this week dropped. A lot of us showing up to places and nobody is home and a lot of people don't have phones here so calling ahead doesn't work. Also we did not have power most of the week which means no dinner which is hard after you just walked 6 miles and had only street fries for lunch because your favorite nshima stand closed...as far as miracles though we had two baptisms!!!! On saturday we baptized two youth we have been working with and on Sunday we confirmed them. It is very exciting and humbling to see two people enter the waters of baptism and receive those blessings and really feeling God's love for them as they receive the Holy Ghost. They are such great kids and they have grown so much.  I just know they will be very instrumental in the Lord's hands in growing the church here in Lilongwe.  Also had a man we met on the street and taught came to church, committed to be baptized, and then even assisted the branch choir  in getting ready for district conference on Sunday. It is amazing to see that God has prepared this brother to receive the message of the gospel. Right now, we have three people on date to be baptized in October and possibly more to come. I also learned how much smarter our Heavenly Father is than I think.  We had a lesson with a man we had only met once and had not seen in two weeks. At first, I was thinking  this guy is crazy, I don't know about this but then he ended up saying he loved the gospel and wants to come to church but his wife was unsure of it and I was suddenly humbled. No matter what I think, our Father always knows. We also had a chance to meet with a member who has been having alot of challenges lately and we had a brief but powerful lesson on relying on our Savior through trials and what we can learn from them. As I said the prayer at the end of the lesson ,it came over me all the trials,fear, and doubt I have had since being out and how much the Savior has carried me and the strengthening power of the gospel. By the time I finished, I had tears pouring down my face as I was filled with love for him sitting in this humble mud shack out in Lilongwe, Malawi of all places but I have never felt so strong (despite losing a few pounds this week). I know my Savior has our backs. I have also come to realize how much I took for granted  with the church organization back home. In our mission, there is only one stake in Lusaka and every where else is small branches. All the members are recent converts and many do not understand much of the gospel but their faith is so strong.

love elder lusk

Teaching from the Book of Mormon, Kids are Still Kids and Spaghetti

hey fam!  it's Monday...again, the week went by so fast!  two years may go quicker than i thought but it was a great week( it's been pretty hot though and i had to start carrying two water bottles). We taught the most lessons we ever have this week and were able to have a lot of success in our finding efforts. Philani and Chikondi are being baptized on Saturday and i am so excited for them. We were

also able to teach alot of people we previously were not able to find. A common occurrence here is people just coming up and trying to talk to us and sometimes they don't speak English, are drunk, or just see two well dressed Mzoingos and can't resist..other times they are prepared by the spirit and we return to have a great lesson about Jesus Christ and then you understand why you are out here in this crazy place. Also my testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown as i have been able to teach and share from it and have begun to better understand the power of it's witness of the Savior. We placed a lot of BoM's this week and it was amazing. We even finished the week Sunday night by watching How Rare a Possession over my homemade spaghetti dinner. Also just some thoughts that Elder ketchum and I have been discussing on African stereotypes. First of all while these people are poor they really do have everything they need, at least out here. The charity poster child that is starving wearing rags doesn't exist. people all have shoes they just chose not to wear them.  Also there's no wild animals just freely wandering, unfortunately. And there is pretty much everything you can find in America you can find here if you look for it. People still love sports, drink, sit out on the porch listening to music and kids are still kids. It can be awkward being the only white people in a place where that doesn't happen but you just learn to ignore it. when you're  on the bus and everyone is obviously laughing at the two mzoingos in white shirts.It's OK though i'm finally at a point where I've gotten used to the culture and feel comfortable and excited each day as i walk the dusty roads of Kauma. This has really shown me that attitude changes a lot.  Love you 

If God Brought You to It, He'll Bring You Through It, Noble China, Baptisms and Chechewa

Well this week flew by and it was amazing.  First of all, I think all my nerves have finaly calmed down and I'm adjusted.  The first week was pretty rough,  not gonna lie but now I'm good. I've really learned  a lot about consecrating yourself and pushing on and how it leads to miracles. So Tuesday we had zone confrence and had a visit from Elder Ellis of the Seventy who shared a great message and great quote "if God brought you to it, he'll bring you through it" which I really needed to hear.The rest of the week flew by as we got down to work and we now have 7 new investigators as well as 4 people on date for baptism later this month. One of those is a boy named {} who is such a great example of faith to me. We are also working with another young man named {} who is sooo ready for the gospel but his father is against it.  But we  had a member of the Church  with us who had the same expeirence so that really helped. We where also having a lesson with this guy and a friend of his came over, sat down and intently listened and asked questions as we taught the Restoration. So, miracles really do happen. We also found a great restaurant by our flat "noble China" which has the best sweet and sour chicken and honestly sitting there in a nice restaurtant made me feel like I was back at home it was great..expensive but worth it. We also enjoy cooking together with other missionaries because it's pitch black at six o clock and basicly all life stops so we go home and combine our food for a big dinner.  Our favorites have been chicken nodle soup, everything stew, garlic mashed potatoes and chickn, spagethi, rice and beef, potato salad and chili backed chicken. We also have a tradition now of district lunch on sundays because the other elders in the district live like two mintues from the church. ( we are in the Presidential Way Branch). We also help teach a Book of Mormon class whcih is great for investigators and members alike because alot of members even don't speak good english or read well. So I have picked up a few things in Chechewa but not much because we are really encouraged to teach and find people who speak good english to try to build up the church here because there are no materials printed in Chechewa yet and in the whole mission there is only one stake which is in Lusaka.  Oh and i have finally learned to love nshimaw. I don't eat it a lot but we get it for lunch a few days a week and i can pound down a plate of it now so thats great. I really do love it here. It's not easy but the people are good, the gospel is true and it's pushing me to learn and grow more than i ever could. I am lucky to serve with some great missionaries who inspire me everyday. so now at the end of one month,  1/24 of the way down and  I am excited about what the future brings.

love you all

Elder Lusk

This is Africa Now, Going to Lilongwe, Walkig the Dusty Roads, "Mr Mental Toughness", No Time for Fear or Self-doubt, Soldering On and I Saw God Today

Hey fam it's been a crazy week so i'll try to get it all out. So tuesday we left the Missionary Training Center and flew to Lusaka and all had that  "this is africa now" moment. We went to the mission office and had lunch with the Kupus and  got our assignments and left wenesday morning. It was hard leaving Elder Mira and sister Porter who were heading to Blantyre. we all meet in Atlanta on our way to the South Africa MTC and sat on the plane by each other and had gotten close but im glad im in Lilongwe. Elder Ketchum is awesome and we get along great we also live next door to two cool elders in a really nice flat that we had to do some deep cleaning on alot of times. we make a big dinner together at night with all our food. so we live in a nice area then walk 20 min to get to the bus(seriously scetchy but we have to)and go to our area which is a really poor area. Seriously its a large jungle of tiny windowless mud brink shacks on dusty roads. Its the most poverty ive ever seen.These people have nothing. Its really just life changing the things i see now everyday it really puts things in perspective walking these dusty roads everyday has taught me so much that i could have never learned if God had not have sent me to this far off corner of his kingdom. I feel like ive aged like ten years in the last week being here.People seem happy though especaily the kids when they see two white guys they think it's really funny.I had a thought the other day that heavenly father sees us all like those little kids out of the dusty roads of Kauma who are just so happy and inocent. Its hard to teach because people dont really speak English. its almost all chechewa and so we have to have members intrepret our lessons.we are also white washing and this is ketchums first time in Malawi too so there is alot of guess work right now till w are more situated. So pretty much all the ways i taught at the mtc(which i loved every minute of) pretty much went out the door. We have been blessed to work with brother duma who is amazing he used to be the brach president and is a great man. The branch is pretty good. we have 3 teenagers on date for baptism for the 18th which is exciting.I got to share my testamony on sunday and honestly i dont know if anyone really understood all that much exept for a few who speack english well. we also got to have a bbq with a senior couple that is leaving soon. Food wise we are fine im not losing any weight. we eat pretty well on our budget and im getting better at cooking too because we dont really eat with members. You can actually find almost all the same stuff in the grocery stores here. Also i found out that alot of the crazy things i heard about the mission are not true. One things though, it is  pitch black here by 6 oclock so we generally leave early so we can get back inside and do our study at night. I am sleeping like a log every night here. we come back and i am straight exhausted. I also learned alot about humility and just solidering on, I thought i was so ready and all "mr. mental toughness" till i got here and realized this is africa and there is no time for self doubt, fear, or homesickness you just have to get to work and ignore all other distractions. The nshima i'm getting used to. It's bland but super filling and keeps you going all day. I will say sometyhing amazing though to quote the great George strait I really do see God everyday here( great song by the way go listen to it this is just a crazy expeirience full of ups and downs that really test you but i really look forward to everything i can learn from it. i have more to say but i have to send a couple more emails so you might get another small one. No pictures to send now but i promise i will send some.

I love you all so much and i know God sent me here to lilongwe for a reason his gospel is true and i love it. Lots of love elder lusk