02/04/13

If You Can Keep Your Head...

To begin, I would have to say to Mom, you will never guess what happened to my camera....but don't worry, It has been one of those weeks that I am grateful has passed. I didn't feel welll for a time, and combined with the heat this past week, I was finished.

I haven't been so tired in a LONG time. We finally got our bikes up and running, and I we thought it would be great for our walking days. Elder Khalwale is cursing the day he suggested that we fix them. He has had problems with them from the get go.  I can only laugh at his frustrations because we decided to work on our Christ-like attributes this transfer and he chose patience.... the Lord is really testing him. I chose diligence, and I have had my struggle as well. We started biking, and we had to continuously pump up my companions tires, due to several small punctures, and it seemed that every appointment was up a hill from the next. At the end of the day on our way back to the flat, We stopped to help some guys push their car to a decent spot off the road. The only problem was that the only good place was close to a half mile away, and we were pushing uphill. While pushing, I could smell alcohol on the breath of the two men next to me, and after inquiring found that they were a bit drunk. Elder Khalwale dropped out to "watch" the bikes, and I realized that I was the only one putting any effort into pushing the vehicle. The other two guys weren't pushing with more than a child like force, so I struggled to push and the work was slow. My leg muscles were screaming and I felt like just giving up and letting the drunkards fend for themselves, but I didn't want to cause a problem with traffic so I kept pushing. When we finally finished and found a nice spot, I hobbled back to my companion and we slowly rode home. Elder Khalwale hit a hole on the way back and ate it pretty hard. He was cursing the bikes the rest of the night and saying "WHY AM I HERE!?" It was great. Aside from that the week had some other frustrations, but nothing too serious. All is still going and that is what we hope for.

Love,

Elder Davidson 

01/28/13

What A Week

This has been an interesting week. We got a call from the Elders Quorum president saying that he had been given an assignment by the branch president to check on a certain less active member sometime during the week. Immediately after, he called us to divert it to us. I happened to be driving, so my companion answered the phone and after a few moments, he calmly told this man that "for the church to run smoothly, every man must do his part and pull his weight. We are busy every day and we go home at night with enough stress due to our already overloaded duties and schedule. We are doing our part now you need to do yours. Man up!" He then hung up the phone without further ado. I looked at him with a very stunned expression. He surprises me sometimes.  On Sunday this man looked very subdued, and he apologized for trying to dish his assignment upon us because he  thought he had "something better to do."

We had another experience in which a member asked us to go to the hospital to give a blessing to his sick nephew. Upon our arrival, we found the man laying barely concious and pitifully on a vomit stained pillow. My heart groaned with sympathy and compassion, and we were about to bless him, but this member told us to wait for the rest of the family. the man's brother and sister arrived, along with one of their cousins. The cousin welcomed us with warmth and love, knowing full well what we intended to do. The sister asked who we were and what we were doing there, and the cousin responded that we were going to bless and heal her ailing brother. The woman got a disgusted look on her face and with arrogance and smugness said "No, I don't feel comfortable with that. He has his own church!"  Unable to speak for himself, the man was unavoidably subject to the will of his sister. I don't know what overcame me, but I reproved the woman quite sharply for her arrogance, and told her that we were here to bless him as we had been ASKED to do, and at that point I felt prompted to tell her that if she would not let us bless him he would surely die. She twisted her face in anger and repeated her previous statement. We walked out and I feeling again a righteous indignation and pain within my heart. The man died two days later.  I'll leave the rest for your own speculation.

Stay well.

Love,

Elder J W Davidson 

01/21/13

6 More Weeks!

President Omer has decided to take a risk and keep us here. We don't as yet have residency, but he is confident that we will recieve it. Things are going well in the work. I'm glad things have started picking up after the long holiday season. This week has been full of rain. It has rained everyday since monday evening.  We had a mandatory mission walk day, and we were DRENCHED by the day's end. The next day we hoped that we would be fine on our normal walk day.... IT POURED.  Funny enough, the water in our flat went out. The rain became welcoming for me after having showered only once in 3 days.... My companion put buckets outside during the rain and he took a bath in rain water.. Unfortunately he used all the water and we had no other buckets for ourselves. The rain brought a great relief from the heat and I am very grateful for that, even if it means wearing the same pants for 3 days in a row or not being able to shave for a week.....

There has been a growing concern of mine the past few weeks. Here in Africa there are many people who profess to be "prophets." They perform "signs and wonders" and many people are deceived. They have one main leader named TB Joshua. He has several other "prophets" around the African continent. They rob the people of their faith, their money, and many of them their salvation. Members and Non members alike have been drawn in by their pernicious ways I have taken my studies to focus on these things. You have to use tact when rebuking people and their professed "wolves in sheeps clothing."

 I have come to understand the true meaning of righteous indignation. Christ wouldn't suffer it, and I'm POSITIVE he would rebuke and chasten them all with his words, and as a representative of Him, I must do as he would do. The people here are so naive and willing to give in and it frustrates me to tears!!!

Then there are the experiences like the one we had with a slightly autistic guy. He told me " You must pray for us. You look like Jesus." I laughed for the remainder of the day.  I just need to thoroughly work on the personality and attributes. The world is a strange place and it is becoming more and more corrupt day by day. What are we doing to change that? I ask myself every day..

Stay well.

Love,

elder Davidson

01/14/13

The 2nd Week of 2013

We had a fantastic week in teaching and getting people to come to church. We didn't even have to pull them by their teeth. Things are flowing much more smoothly, and though my body has been increasingly more tired, we have continued to press on. Elder Khalwale and I still have our conflict of opinions, but we are doing what we have to. He calls us Alma and Amulek because of the power of some of our lessons. He says he is more like Amulek and I Alma. He also claims that Amulek was the most powerful of the two teachers....I disagree, and am quite content with being the Alma of the companionship. I have the background. Plus, Alma was the High Priest, Amulek was not....

I received the Christmas package finally. Thank you everyone for the goodies they were much appreciated! I don't think there was enough jerky though. 8 packages....if I can eat one every month, I will have jerky to eat until August, though I don't believe it will hold out that long. Thank you AGAIN everyone!!

I had the opportunity to eat a popular delicacy here called Pane, or Mobpane worms. They are just little Caterpillars  that come only around this time of year. The people here love them and they really don't taste to bad if you don't look at them when you eat them.... One of our investigators has a mango tree, and I have had fresh mangos for the first time of my life. They are quite nice. 

As people have been returning, we have been able to find more consistent success. I don't as yet have residency here, so this coming week may be my last in Francistown. It will be sad not being able to see some great people baptized. I guess that is part of the work though. You bust your butt finding those few diamonds and someone else sweeps in to baptize them. I will have the gratification knowing that it was my work that brought them in though. That is the only part that counts anyway. We have been teaching this sweet kid named Duncan. He is only 15 but his level of understanding and retention is incredible. We give him the pamphlets and scriptures to read, and on our next visit he will teach us the lesson (without looking at the documents) and teach us every single principle with great detail. I can feel that he will be a VERY powerful missionary one day. 

Carry on doing what is right and I will too.

 

Love,

Elder Davidson

01/07/13

2013!

The new year has come and gone, and I am starting to reflect more and more upon the events 2012. I'm grateful for all of the experiences that I have had, and I wish I could share them all with you, but at times I am prompted not to. In just over a year I will be happy to divulge everything face to face, but the true spirit and nature of my experiences can't be easily explained through such means. 
On the other hand, there many experiences that are great to share. My companion, if I haven't already mentioned is a Kenyan named Elder Khalwale. We butt heads at times when it comes to the work and teaching, yet when the day is done we are great friends. We are both VERY different, and our backgrounds couldn't be more or less than polar opposites. We have both been stressing about picking up this area, and it has required a great deal of patience and tolerance on both of our parts. I didn't realize how stubborn I can be at times. Overall, we are learning to work off of each other. And it is a work IN-PROGRESS. 
We met a man last week who appeared to be an  very friendly and intelligent man, despite a few quirks and him being in a wheelchair. We invited him to church, but due to his leg condition, he couldn't ride in a taxi, so we offered to push him in his wheelchair. Throughout the church service, he excitedly participated in singing and asking questions, and invited us to meet with him after church for a lesson. We attempted to teach him, but his mind seemed to be elsewhere. He told us many stories of his family and how he was going to do this and that with his life, but as time passed I came to realize that the man was disturbed. after each story, I felt a tugging at my heart  and I began to feel pity for the man. At last, I glanced at his mother, who could not speak English, but I saw in her eyes a degree of sadness, remorse, and it was in that moment that I knew. I won't explain everything that occurred, but I have never felt such pity for another soul in my entire life. The whole experience left me pondering throughout the day and into the night. The Lord puts many people across our paths that help us learn great and valuable lessons. Don't let the lesson pass you by.
Love,
Elder Davidson

12/31/12

well...

The internet shop that we usually visit is closed today, so we had to come to this one, and the service here is quite abominable before me. I answered a few emails, then the internet connection slowwed immensely and it just started back up. The letter won't be long today, sorry.

The Christmas call home was great, despite the problems and not enough time. I think if it had been more though I would have become quite trunky. We didn't do much aside from resting (which I was very grateful for.) We have been very busy this week doing some tracting. All of our investigators are still at their home villages, so we don't have many other people to teach. We had a few great stories, but due to the lack of time, I will relate them next week, if I can remember. Please forgive me if I don't, though I doubt it matters much anyway. We have new years day off to relax, so I will use it to rest my body and mind. I need to destress a bit. I love you all and I'm grateful for everything!

--Love,

Elder Davidson

12/17/12

Treansferrrs...

Transfers are come once again, along with my birthday and christmas. Elder Komba will be leaving, so I will be receiving my 6th companion in 9 months. Hopefully all things work out well. My birthday should be interesting. I have been here long enough to develop relationships with a few members and investigators, and they have mentioned trying to throw me birthday parties, but the transfer schedule up here in Botswana is a bit funny, so we will see how things turn out. It really doesn't feel like christmas in this hot weather, but we have been playing christmas music in the car, so it gives it a bit of a home-like feel... but not really.

We went shopping last week, and as we walked down one of the isles, we spotted 3ply toilet paper. We have been using some REALLY cheap 1ply that is scratchy and has holes, so we American missionaries sat marveling at the sight. We thought of buying it, but when considering the nature of our small allotment,  we unhappily decided otherwise. This month will prove to be a bit tight. We have had some unforeseen problems and most of us will have to tighten our belts for a week or two due to a lack of funding. 

 Hopefully Christmas turns out alright. We are not allowed to work on Christmas day or New Years because the people here become a bit crazy with drunkenness and robbery. It will be a nice break, though we will likely be bored out of our minds... In addition though, we have been allowed to use facetime for our calls home at Christmastime. If everyone will be together, I would definitely enjoy a look at all of your ugly mugs... We are using the senior couples' computer, so if someone can email me their facetime account before next week, I would greatly appreciate it! Until next week though, 

Love,

Elder Davidson