Elder Andrew Williams. Zimbabwe, Bulawayo mission 2018-2020.

Well the mission got locked down last Monday so that was interesting. The gas prices went up to nearly 4 dollars a liter and all the store prices went crazy high as well. The people don't have money to afford that, so they decided to do a planned riot and loot.  There were some people killed in some areas, so it was a bad thing but in all the main mission areas it was a peaceful riot. In Masvingo there was actually no looting or riots and we could have still gone to work and been fine, the thing I think is funny is the people always complain that nothing ever happens in Masvingo. So, when riots and protests happen, when the country falls into chaos, still nothing happens is Masvingo. The Zone leaders drove us to the store on the day of the riots and we did shopping in street clothes and the lines were actually shorter than usual so it was peaceful in our area. But in Bulawayo it was a lot worse there was looting and Elder Cottrell who just transferred here yesterday said ...

Dear Parents:  We wanted to let you know that your son/daughter will not be emailing today.  Zimbabwe is having economic problems that have escalated this weekend to the point of people initiating protests in major cities.  These protests are against rising fuel costs that went into effect Sunday.  President Okot felt it would be safer to have all missionaries stay in their flat today to avoid any confrontation.  As far as we can tell, this may be a one-day protest.  If things look better tomorrow, they will be allowed to use Tuesday as their P-Day and they will email you then.  Please do not worry!!  Pres. Okot is taking every precaution to keep the missionaries safe.  This is our number one concern.  The Zone Leaders are in contact with each companionship and will report any concerns.  The people of Zimbabwe are a peaceful people, and are only protesting to let the government know that they cannot continue to raise t...

Well I will tell everyone how the Holidays went. For both Christmas and New Year, we went to the Birri family to celebrate with everyone in the zone/district. They cooked us dinner and we watched bible videos on Christmas, and first vision videos on New Year, the sun was relentless for both days. On Christmas day we didn't have appointments but they told us to work like normal so we did, we just visited all the people we are teaching and wished them a merry Christmas then we called home at 4 but the Wi-Fi wouldn't work so I called home at 5. then we went to the Birri's they were baptized on the 22 of December. New year was a normal day, we had appointments and dinner at the Birri's but for the last hour of the old year Elder Mbabela had us read the Book of Mormon to see how far we get. I was half asleep, but it was a good thought. As for this week the only exciting thing is I went on exchanges with Elder Webb and he is also still in 12 week but that w...

I am out of time this week sorry, but the highlight was I got to talk to my family. Everyone is in Kamusha now, so the work was a little slow, and the sun was insanely hot this week so that was not great. We also have no food and no money because of the allotment period so we are starting the new year off strong! SOTW is 3 Nephi 15  Sorry about the short email! Elder Williams Update from Elder Williams Family: It was so fun to get the opportunity to talk with our amazing missionary! We started the morning off a little worried that we would not be able to talk with him because the Elder's were running about an hour and a half late in talking with their families. But we got our hour to talk to him! Elder Williams started off with trying to teach us the Shona that he has been learning. He told us all about his haircut he had a few days earlier. He seemed to still be in quite a bit of shock that his hair was that short. He told us that he is living in a house w...

Another week done. It was a good week as well. Some highlights where I worked on an illegal farm, but there is no law enforcement so who is going to stop them from farming illegally. I actually think every farm here is illegal.  I got a haircut and went to an African barber and now my hair is the shortest it has ever been. I walked in and said you can cut my hair like this right? And he said yes so, I sat down. Then he started on the sides and it was short, and I thought it’s okay I can make do. Then he cut the top and he just gave me an African hair cut on an American head. So needless to say, my hair is super short now.  We had the Christmas party in Bulawayo, so we got up early and made it there late and got home at 10 that night so that was good. Not really.  We put 7 people on date to be baptized and we had 8 people baptized this week so that was really great.  SOTW is Helaman 14. and 15 they are great.  Have a great wee...

This week was good.  One cool thing about this week was my area has been struggling compared to the rest of the district. But I realized why. I have been thinking that baptism is a huge deal, which it is, but I have been waiting for people to be more committed before I extend a date. This week I realized how will they desire to be committed if they don't have a day to work for. So, I started offering dates and now we have 4 people on date and lots more committed to baptism.  Another thing is that as a district every Monday (Pday) we go to the church and play soccer and now I can say that all those years of playing with the Mexicans is paying off for helping me to beat the Africans. They are small friendly games, but we invite everyone to come and play and I have a fan section because nobody has seen a Kiwa play.  We did a service project on an illegal farm on Saturday so that was fun. Also they were impressed that a marungu could plow faster than the...

Well this week was transfers and Elder Black is now going to Bulawayo to be an AP and Elder Rasmussen is going to Gweru to be a zone leader. The rest all stays the same.  This week it rained a lot and that kinda slowed the work down a bit. Which is not good. Elder Anderson oversees the Africa Southeast section and he said each companionship should baptize twice a month. We are white washing and creating new areas in a new zone. So, we have nothing to build off of. And the missionaries that used to be here were not great and ruined the trust with the members, then my trainer has only been out for 3 months, so he is also still learning. Plus, it is my first transfer in the field, so I have no idea what I am doing. So needless to say, it has been an interesting transfer.  Also, I should be coming to Zimbabwe this week now. I was reassigned to Farmington New Mexico when I was in the MTC but I flew out to Africa instead. So, this should have been my travel week to ...

This week was another good week. Some interesting things were, we had zone conference this week, so that was fun. Nobody told me that I was going on exchanges with the Zone leader Elder Black so one morning he came out and said you ready for comp. study? And we ended up going on exchanges that day.  Last week when we were in Bulawayo, we were driving to the mission office at night and we saw five drunk guys trying to push a 30ft. bus down the road with cigarettes in their hands. We had 8 missionaries in the van, so we got out and helped push, we ended up pushing it about a quarter mile or more down the road. And Elder Riggs was following us in the van blasting put your shoulder to the wheel. So that was fun, hot, and sweaty.  This week the seventh day Adventists have been determined to teach us and convert us to the sabbath on Saturday. And the first time we met one who started whipping out bible verses and he even had me thinking that we were wrong, but...