Going All "Bear Gryles", Life Is Beautiful Sometimes, Reading Vs Studying and Now I'm Stuck Cooking

Hey fam! it was a pretty amazing week here. We had the most sucessful week we have had here in Blantyre. For starters, this morning we went all  "Bear Gryles" and climbed the highest peak in Blantyre (about 5,100 ft.). It was crazy! our member "guide" didn't actually know the trail so we bushwacked the whole thing. Literally trecking through brush and throrns for three hours. Although the view from the top peak was absolutly amazing. You could look out and see the whole valley sprawled out way below your feet feeling on top of the world. It was one of those moments that just takes your breath away and you think man.....life is beautiful sometimes.
As far as the work, we did amazing. After a few average weeks we said "man forget this let's go hard this week. And we did. We met a strong part member  family to start teaching. Then we stumbled upon a gold mine of a family who is from Mozambique and just came here and then they all came to church after one meeting! We also had our Doctor pass his baptism interview so he will get baptized on saturday. I'm so happy for him! he's such a great, humble man who really just has a pure, and loving heart and a desire to help people. He has been so great to teach! I think we only had four lessons with him and by himself he  learned the gospel by reading the things we gave him and praying about them. I just love it when people actually have the faith to do what we invite them to do to grow closer to Christ.
Then on Sunday my comp and I got to teach in young mens. We have a great group of young men here. Just strong, faithful boys all first generation recent converts who want to serve the Lord. They are going to be a big part of the future of the church here in Malawi as leaders once we get stakes, wards, or even it's own mission someday.
 This week I was really trying to improve my personal study and noticed a big difference in the work daily as I started the day by really focusing in on the scriptures instead on just reading. There is power in the art of proper preperation no matter what the situation.
For fun stuff I was acknowleged as the best cook in the four of us that stay in our house so that's cool cause i've really been learning a lot  about cooking. bad news is now I get stuck cooking a lot. Best wishes and all my love to ya'll!!!

Elder Lusk

Show Them the Love, Learning to Testify and the Power of Grit

hey! so great to talk yesterday. So for more on the past week. We had a great time this week. We had a record three dinner appointments this week and a breakfast appointment. Blessings for the work. We also had one of our investigators come to church this week for the first time and they  had a very positive experience with that. We actualy worked out a deal with them. It was their birthday on saturday and we suprised them with a big home made chocalte birthday cake and a firm commitment to come to church. Something I've learned is the more people feel loved the more they will respond the way you want them to.
We also got three referrals from current investigators this week which is great to see people who are learning to invite others to join them in their spiritual growth. We also got a new branch president in our branch and from the first coordination meeting we had with him yesterday, I can tell he really has vison for this branch and can help provide the leadership and support that can really help the work here. We also held our first fireside on Saturday with a missionary theme helping the members learn how to feel comfortable teaching others about the Restoration and then allowed them to open up and bear their testimonies of how the gospel has blessed their families. It was a very powerful time and the spirit was very strong. I also had my favorite kid climbing on me the whole time. On sunday Elder Rose, one of the senior missionaries, gave a really good talk on the Godly virtue of grit. He spoke of how grit is that inner fire that pushes on and says " I will never quit." and the strength, hope, and persaverance that is so powerfully shown throughout the sciprtures by a number of individuals including our Savior himself. Listening to that, I thought of all the examples of grit I have seen here and how I can work to strengthen the gift of grit throughout life. When in doubt say a prayer then work like it's all up to you with the faith that it's all up to Him. I love you all so much. 

Love Elder Lusk

Helping a 17 Year Old Who Just Lost His Father, We Fear No Man, and Can't Wait for Calzones!

Hey Fam! We had a very succsesful week here! We started the week by meeting with the family of one of our members who recently lost his father. As hard of an event as that is, I looked into this 17 year old boys eyes and saw the knowlege of the Plan of Salvation glowing in his eyes. We are now teaching his mother, sister and brother with his help. That was a super sweet experieence.
 We also got to go teach with our district president who is a very nice man. We went to see our recent convert and it was great!  our district president was telling him about how he was introduced to church by some friends, was baptized, finished his accounting degree, served a mission, came home got married had a family, and served in the church. Which is the exact point that this young recent convert is at just baptized and study accounting at the university. It was just powerful for him to get a glimpse of his potential from a man who has been where he has been.
 In our study, my companion and I set a goal to be more bold this week so we ended up putting 4 people on date for baptism this week. Every morning we would say we fear no man then go get to work. The most rewarding was Nelson. Nelson is a Doctor who is getting married soon and he has been the most humble man i have ever taught so far. he came to church yesterday and practicly ended up teaching the lesson in gospel principles. He is truly someone that our heavenly Father placed in our path because he has big plans for. I fully expect him to become a leader here for the church. We also just found a whole bunch of people who had been visited by missionaries nearly two years ago that we had no idea even existed so that was a bit of a pleasent suprise for us. We are also busy planning for a series of weekly fireside devotionals that we will be having here. In talking to the local leaders they would like us to help reteach all the gospel principles to the members here to increase basic understanding so we will be using weekly devotionals to hopefully also inspire some greater activity and member missionary work. So we're hoping that all goes well and we have people come out to these. So for fun stuff this week, one of our missionaries here Elder Harmon from Orgeon is pretty handing in the kitchen and is going to be making calzones for dinner this week and I am pumped out of my mind for that like you have no idea. Look forward to skyping on Sunday!

Love you all so much I hope this week bri9ngs blessings and smiles to all

Love Elder Lusk

Zebras, Elephants and Hippos, The Wedding Party, Knowing You've Been Part of God's Work and New Eyes

Hey fam! This week was great. Big news first:  this morning we woke up at five and spent all day out at a wildlife park just south of here. So it was awesome! The senior couple drove our district down and we had a blast. We saw a large selection of wild boar, antelope, baboons, zebra, stood on a river bank about fifty feet from a group of hippos, and at one point we were surounded by a family of huge elephants and then the young cocky bull started advancing hard towards the van so we booked it out of there. We also hiked up a huge hill and got a great 360 view of the Majete Valley which was truly amazing. When the pictures come through i'll send them. It was just a great time to relax and really enjoy the beauty of African wildlife up close and personal. So much fun.

 This week I also attended my first african wedding. Man, africans can properly throw a wedding in the gym of a church!   Dancing, singing, throwing money, tons of food. Seriously i've never seen a more energetic wedding. I love that about Africans; they just have a zeal for life.

The rest of the week was a little slow. my companion was sick for about half the week so we had a lot of down time letting him rest. That also gave me a ton of time to do a lot of reflecting and study on my mission so far and what the rest will bring then have great discusiions with my comp (who's a little older and wiser on mission on those goals.) Honestly, the last nine months have disappeared way too fast. In the area, though, on Sunday we got to give talks, along with our recent convert, who was baptized on Easter. you would think giving your first sacrament talk as a member of the church would be tough but he testified so beautifully and powerfully about the Plan of Salvation. It was one of those times when you know that you have been part of God's work when someone truly changes there life. I LOVE IT. We also found the first two story house I've ever seen here and are teaching the family. Might not seem a big deal to all those in the states but that's super rare. Especaily if you saw my first area. Plus we found a nice self- reliant family to teach!  Overall I just feel very blessed to have "new eyes". I remember seeing a quote once that said "you can either look at everything as a miracle or nothing". I have found more and more that just about everything in life is so wonderfully miraculous we just need to pray to have the eyes to see them, the heart to feel them, and the hands to make them and then we will see the influence of God every single moment we can. My best wishes and love to you guys!

P.s so turns out hippos make noises like chainsaws....who knew

Elder Lusk 

 

 

 

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Mon 4/24, 9:13 AM