Mhoro

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 4:09 AM
Makadii(how are you)? (subject-hello, both in Shona). I had an amazing week. It went by really quick, as they usually do now. We didn't really have many teaches since last week, but the ones we did have were amazing. We had a couple DA's as well. One with the Penningtons and one with the Herridges. There's quite a bit to say this week so I'll just give you the highlights.
On Sunday Jamie and Deon came to Sacrament meeting and they enjoyed it. They're a really cool couple and we'll be seeing them on Friday. After Church we went with Wayne Herridge to see a man from Zimbabwe named Dennis. We met him a couple weeks ago, but finally got to see him. We also taught his two children, Takura, he's 13 and Thindi-she's 7. Both were very bright. We taught them about the Restoration and they enjoyed it. Dennis said he'd felt peace when he talked to us before and felt it again when we walked into the home. It was a very spiritual visit. We also had some really good laughs. They had a very close relationship together as a family. Unfortunately, the kids are very much involved in tennis tournaments and training that we can't see them again until the 13th of July. We made dinner that night with E-man and Alison. We made some Jalaf rice which was pretty tasty.
You can try to look up some recipes (there are hundreds) online, however, it requires palm oil and I think you can only get it in certain countries.

Me getting the onions and garlic ready for the Jalaf Rice at E-man's.


E. Lovell and I worked together Monday and part of Tuesday. We had a good time and got some quality finding in.

I picked up E. Dutson from the harbor and we took his stuff back to the flat before going knocking.


(This is where we started to see miracles). We went and knocked one road and had quite a bit of success as far as call-backs go. We then went to a street we've been trying to finish knocking over the past couple days. We knocked about 5 or 6 doors and a younger African girl opened the door. I started to talk to her and E. Dutson interrupted and asked where she was from. She said Zimbabwe. He asked what language she spoke and she said Shona. He told her (and me. I didn't know about this at the time) that as he was leaving our flat he felt impressed to grab a B.O.M. off of our desk and bring it with us tonight, not knowing who we'd meet. That B.O.M. was in Shona. She couldn't believe it (neither could I). She asked what the book was and we gladly told her. We asked if we could teach her and her parents about the book. Her mom was out for about another half hour so we told her we'd be back. We went back and taught them about the Restoration and why we were carrying the B.O.M. in Shona. They read part of it and were quite pleased with the visit. I've never felt the spirit in so strong in my life. They were astonished that we gave them the book for free too. After the teach I realized how this event had started two weeks ago, possibly before I got to Portsmouth. Let's go back a ways so I can explain.
When I first got to P-mouth I looked through all the Books of Mormon in our flat to see all the different languages. Shona was among them, but I didnt' think anything of it at the time. A couple weeks ago I spoke with a man from Zimbabwe on the High Street. I showed him the B.O.M. and he liked it. I also found out that he spoke Shona. I remembered seeing that book in our flat and told him we could get him one soon. So I got his number and the next morning I pulled the B.O.M. in Shona out and called him. The number turned out to be a fake number. I was a little upset, but left the book on the desk being a little disappointed. I forgot about that experience until last night. For time's sake I won't go into the many other details and reasons why I know that God was working "behind the scenes" to guide us to that family even to the very hour last night, but I know without any doubt that we were meant to get the Book of Mormon in Shona to that family (Betty, Sandra, and Samuel) at the time we did. I can't really describe the Spiritual feeling before, during, and after the teach (especially not in e-mail), but I do know now more than ever that this work is God's work and he is directing it, sometimes in ways we don't even realize until we see the greatest Miracle. I hope that experience and explanation wasn't too confusing, but I wanted to share it. I feel so blessed to be able to witness these kinds of miracles.
I suppose that's it for this week. It was an amazing one at that. I hope you all have a great week and I'll talk to you soon.

Elder Kyle Warner