I had an interesting piece of revelation: think of pessimism like a sin. Look, the opposite of pride is humility. What is the opposite of Hope (one of the Christlike attributes)? Pessimism. It's not a sin like pride, but it certainly keeps us from something desirable.
8/20
Well..President Mdletshe was funny today. It was Zone Conference, and he just made it a lot of fun. He talked and joked with us, then gave fire in the next breath, then went back to talking and joking. It was great.
The best part? He never told me to stop talking. With President Msane I never got further than 15 to 20 minutes into any Zone Conference or Training without him saying "your mouth is now closed" or "threatening" (it wasn't really a threat) to say it.
The only issue that arose was the section of Zone Conference where I couldn't be actively involved - I slept through that one. I woke up again when it got back to being actively involved again. I had to set a low-key rule for myself as well: I can't comment twice in a row. I have to be fair, right?
(One of) My philosophy in life is to never speak unless I have something to say. The great thing about Zone Conference -or any discussion- is that it always gives me something to say. The trick is getting me to shut up. So, summary: Zone Conference is a fun, fun, fun playground for me.
After Zone Conference, we came back and did some contacting. Now, I don't remember where it came from, but God suddenly blessed me with enough patience to be willing to greet some children, I also reminded myself why I don't greet children. When I greeted one, and suddenly a group of 20 surrounded me. What do I do in this situation? I explained that I hated being called Mzungu, I taught them Rock Paper Scissor in Japanese and how to say "I am a Child of God" in Japanese. I tried to teach them how to sing I am a Child of God as well, but they were pretty sidetracked by the first two things by the time I tried that third one. This went on for a while, and I ended up contacting the whole bunch of kids. 20 contacted in less than half an hour. They borrowed my pen and started writing our phone number on their arms. When they were done they came to me to see if it was right. I'm still wondering if that was okay. Well, whatever.
All I know is that Zone Conference always relights the fire in me for the work, and that this fire won't last long. Don't get me wrong, I work. I will work to the end of my mission, but the difference is: once I have that fire, I have a passion for the work, not just understanding the importance.
Eh, it'll go out soon, but I'll try to keep it going as long as possible. That fire is the one that would (in other missions) give me the strength to keep knocking doors, even though it's 8:30. That kind of stuff.
Oh, by the by my Mission President may be getting rid of Home Safe, or changing it to later than it is now. President Mdletshe HATES how much time is wasted when we come back to the flat so early. I'm personally fine with the time we come back. When the sun starts to set I no longer feel safe. I do agree with the hatred of wasted time though. I firmly believe (that I've just decided to believe) that the Sisters should be home safe by seven instead of six.
8/21
Well, we had a very short day today. We had DDM, then we went to Githurai to contact with them. We also had exchanges, so E. Smith is hanging around with us today.
After we got back (with a very annoyed about being late E.Benson leading the group) we went directly to Anthony's place. Fortunately, we were only 15 minutes late. I thought we were later than that. At Anthony's place, we watched "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" It was good, but it was an hour-long. I was also really annoyed that I didn't get to hear "Praise to the Man" during the film. They completely had moments when they could have played it, but they didn't. Shame. I'm listening to it right now to console myself. Jk, it just happened to come up as I was writing.
After finishing the movie with Anthony we went to visit S. Sophie/Sophia (I swap between them - she has never told me which one is correct). She's a very nice lady, and I hope the message we brought today was helpful to her. We talked a little about the general conference talk "The Immediate Goodness of God" and answered some questions for her. We also committed her to read the Book of Mormon. She was very eager, she's the only person I've seen who uses a study journal while studying the Book of Mormon who isn't a missionary. It's really cool.
After that, we came back to the flat (with less than a minute to spare for home safe) and swapped stories. I did the evil known as laundry. E. Bamongo even told me as I was going to do it: "Stay Strong." He hates laundry more than I do, but that's because his old area is one of the few with access to a washing machine, so he's been spoiled for the first four months of his mission.
No comments:
Post a Comment