Missionary Work is the Best Work

Well this week was great!  

First off I had my first African food this week and it was pretty good! So Tryness our investigator made us Schima and fish and a relish gravy this that was tomatoes, tomato sauce and onions. Very interesting...you knead some of the schima in your hands and then dip it in the gravy and eat it! And then add some fish on the side! I was very impressed by her cooking! But....on Thursday we went to a member’s home and this time the food was a little more uh edible haha... so this time it was shima, with gravy again (not sure what was in it but it was good!), fish (talapia fish??? and I’ve never liked fish but this one was super good!), and then last but not least.... pumpkin leaves....yep! boiled and mashed pumpkin leaves! They are seasoned of course haha. So you take the schima which is basically like uh mashed potatoes and play dough mixed, it doesn’t taste like anything then you knead it for a bit and then dip in everything and pop the little piece in your mouth! Its hard to explain and it was definitely hard the first couple times but luckily my companion is a pro so she helped me figure it out haha. But it was really good in general! Wouldn’t want to eat it everyday, but I don’t have to haha, and now I can say I’ve eaten African food!!!

The kid story for this week is about these kids on "Freddy’s street." We had stopped by to see Freddy at his shop and all these kids were outside. I had seen them before and the last couple times they had been very rude and had demanded stickers and I had told them that I would only give them another one if they said please first.  So this time when I saw them they came up and said, "Please can we have a sticker?" So I gave them one! Then they went and got their friends told them the "secret word" and then they would say it and I would give them a sticker! They thought it was pretty funny and hey they know how to say please! Lol! We also taught them how to play rock paper scissors and that kept them occupied for a good thirty min and they would even go around and have little tournaments. The kids I meet honestly make my days.

So many times this week it hit me that I am so glad I get to be a missionary right now. I am just so grateful for the experiences I am having and for how much my testimony is growing. One of the biggest moments that made me realize that its a great to be a missionary is that TRYNESS GOT BAPTIZED THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!! We have been teaching her for about a month. I have seen her testimony grow so much and she is always eager to know when we are coming to teach her again. And every time we will just start talking and she is always the one to remind us to start with a prayer. She is great haha. She was very excited for Sunday and we just couldn’t stop telling her how happy we were for her. Sunday came and so after church we helped her get dressed in her jumpsuit that she would be baptized in and we went outside to take lots of pictures for her request. Me and Sister Godfrey and Sister Gwebo and Macaravey (the sisters in our flat) all had matching dresses made for this Sunday because all of us had investigators that were getting baptized!!!! The fabric is from a little shop in the market. Its called chatage the fabric, and a lady in our ward made the dresses for us in less than a week! We were pretty excited to wear them and everyone thought they were "so nice!" I didn’t see Tryness stop smiling the whole time we were taking pictures and that just made me so happy. We went into the baptism and after listening to the talks it was time for Tryness to be baptized. She was so nervous! but we hugged tight and when she went down into the water, Sister Godfrey and I were smiling so much! Here is this girl that we met a month ago. She was just going to school. She even told us in the first lesson she had felt lost and wanted to learn more. And now here she was, standing in the waters of baptism about to make a covenant with Heavenly Father and be cleansed of all her sins. God is so good. I know he led us to her for a reason. The gospel of Jesus Christ can help people feel like they belong. It gives us hope for the future and can help us overcome anything. When Tryness got out I wrapped her in a towel (the water was freezing by the way haha but she is tough haha). After she got all dressed we went back into the room and all of the people that had been baptized were able to bear their testimonies. Tryness bore hers about how she felt a huge burden lifted off her shoulders and she was happy that from now on she could take Christ’s name upon her and serve him. My heart was so full. I cant even describe it. But I do know that it was amazing. I pray she will keep learning and growing and I thank God every day that I was able to see one of his children come closer to Jesus Christ. Missionary work is the best. 

I love you all and hope all is well in your life. Thanks for reading these emails and supporting me. 

with lots and lots of love,

 Sister Moulton