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

Toss It Out, Bring a Solution and The Simple Joys of the Days

hey fam its been another great week here in Blantyre with the usual ups and downs of the work but with plenty of laughs in between. So me and Elder are loving our time together and we're starting to make some good progress in our area. White washing can be kind of frustrating and slow at times but we are learning how to work hard and look at the small sgins of succses as we work. We might only get to teach two people a day but we're meeting alot of great people, helping them change and creating networks in the area. We told ourselves whenever there is the tempataion to bring up a problem or complaint toss it out and bring up a solution instead.
 Right now we are teaching a number of university students which is an interesting change but they're great. They're young, smart, passioanate, and looking for answers and identity so as far as teaching the gospel, they are great to work with. We are planning on baptizing two of them this sunday so we are excited about that. We also got a nice dinner appiontment with them the other day which was fun. This week we also got to watch confrence which was very powerful and I really learned alot. It was also a cool experience watching it with our investigators. sitting with them as they hear the Prophet and apsotles testify of Christ really brought a special spirit in the chapel that I had never felt while watching confrence because i was not just watching but seeking to learn and not just for me but for the people i'm teaching. We're also planning to have some branch activites in the next few weeks to try to encourage more attendance and participation in the branch which i'm excited about taking that oppurtunity to get to know the branch a lot better and enjoy the company. I realize I don't have alot to write about this week but it's getting hard to describe just the simple joy of the days out here and how they are all just starting to blur together and time is flying. We are having a zone easter dinner on sunday so i'm really looking forward to that and we possibly might get to go visit Mount Mulanje next monday which is the second highest peak in Africa so thats exiting. Love you all

Elder Lusk

From Green, Fresh and Young to Experienced, Mature and Confident, Fist Pumping Behind the Pew and Ancient Prophets Going to the Mountains

Hey fam It's been a great week here in beautiful Blantyre! First of all,, yes I did get the package and man it was great to get the shoes as mine are just about done.
 So the week started with a great zone confrence and then me and Elder Day hit the streets learning our area more. We actualy know our way around now and only got lost once. We also had some success contacting some former investigators who readily agreed to meet with us again which is nice especialy because they had been contacted previously by sisters so at least we know their names are  not just taken down and they really actually are intrestested in learning from us. We also had this guy just come up and start talking to us and invited us to come teach him when we were eating lunch today. he's a retired police commander and he said he could even join the church if he likes what we teach so lets see. I also went on exchanges this week with Elder Tidwell who was also trained in my first distrcict in Lilongwe and was my temporary companion over christmas. That was fun cathcing up and laughing about how we were once these two green fresh young missionaries and now we are expeirienced, mature confident teachers and that was kind of cool. The biggest miracle came with these three guys we are teaching. They are all going to college together and are supper smart. We went to see them on saturday and spent about an hour and a half answering thier questions and testifying to them. Then on Sunday they all came to church and remarkably all the testimonies that where given where excatly the questions they had the day before and they got to hear it from their neighboors and friends who have taken the same steps that we were inviting them to do and testifying of it.  It was one of those times where me and Elder Day just fist pumped behind the pew...something we do a lot. we think alot alike,the two of u,s and we really enjoy it. The spirit was really strong and You could feel that they where really touched by that and so we look forward to thier progression in the gospel. We also had a less active sister we had been seeing come to teach and bear her testimony which was also very touching. For fun stuff this week: on saturday we had one of my favorite traditions and had a big BBQ for some missionaries hitting thier one year mark which was a blast as usual just enjoying some time together in one of the most specail and unique brotherhoods in the world. We also went out this morning to a big open air market and me and my comp bought matching futbol jersey's. All in all I'm really enjoying Blantyre it's really refreshing being around mountains. Something I've always felt and have been reading about was how many times in the sciptures the ancient prophets would go to the mountains to speack with God and I'v always felt that same spiritual conection looking at the majesty of his creations in the mountains. 

Lots of love too everyone

Elder Lusk