Week Forty-Four: On-Call Office Elders

Dear loved ones,

So sorry to everyone, I failed to give a lot of details about transfers last time.

I am Zone Leader of Harare East with Elder Mwetu from Kenya.

Also fun-fact, I am living in the same house as Elder Guajardo, who was trained in Bindura the last two transfers. So we are getting along well.

This is the last Zone picture we had in Bindura

People slept on the Kombi to Harare from Bindura.

And this is our housemates. My companion is driving, and the backseat has Elders Guajardo and Ngobi.

In other news, in our zone there are 5 trainers with their trainees. New missionaries as of this transfer. Some of the sisters are jokers.

So before we had a district meeting, one of the trainers called to ask if her companion could give her welcome testimony in Korean, her native tongue, because "she doesn't speak any English at all". She also asked us to look for a Korean Book of Mormon. And then all of us in the house (the District and Zone Leaders) started to get worried. We were brainstorming how we could help this missionary learn english and shona. We found a language study guide, my companion was planning a zone fast, etc.

We went to our district meeting, they arrive after us, no greetings were done. During the hymns this sister was mumbling, and we got more and more worried. Then Elder Ngobi, the District leader asked every missionary to say what they like about their companion. When this Korean sister spoke, all of the elders got wide-eyed and the sisters erupted in laughter. She speaks perfect english. In fact she knows hardly any Korean.

Now let me describe our area. My companion is convinced there is a million people. I'm not so sure, but its possible. There are at least 30,000 houses, and an average of at least 4 in each. There is no electricity because it is still new, so everyone uses solar or candles. There are no paved roads, only sand, and planted gardens/trees. Since there is nothing really to block wind, it gets super windy. We actually saw a sandstorm once. The sun is hot, the mornings and nights are cold. It feels like a very populated desert. But I love it nonetheless.

Have a wonderful week everyone, the gospel is true. Heavenly Father loves you. And Christ lives and loves you as well.

-Elder Wilcken