Photos from Zone Conference (from September)

Just found these fun pictures on the mission president's website. This is a zone conference in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Lusaka or Bust!

Oct. 13, 2014

Darling Family,

This week has felt like a year but it has been great. Again my weaknesses and I have come nose to nose and it can be really frustrating and hard to be patient with myself but I am being refined and it's a good kind of hurt. Forgive the ambiguity. 

After a wonderful sisters night at the Fisks (a senior couple) where we had a potluck and watched the women's conference, the zone leaders, Sister Orr and I flew out the next morning to Lusaka for MLC (mission leadership council). I felt a little unsure going into the situation because I was the only one coming as a companion and not as a leader but the first thing president did when we arrived at the mission office/home is call me into his office. He sat me down and said, "Sister Proctor, the Lord has found fit to give you an extra responsibility. You are being called as the sister training leader and I have every confidence that you will perform well in this calling." Wow. I was so humbled. Every other missionary at the two day council will be going home within four months and I don't even have four months on mission yet. Maybe that is why my weaknesses have been so evident this week, I have been called to step up. I am so excited to fulfill this call.

MLC was so, so fun. We had meetings all day where we discussed different aspects of the mission and how to be greater leaders. A theme that I found prominent was that as leaders we are called to "leaven" the mission. When you are making bread you put in a lot of flour and only a little leaven and so it is with leaders. Though there are few of us compared to how many missionaries there are, we can be the agents that help the whole mission rise to a higher level. I love President Erickson and his desire to create an environment where we can grow as people. He isn't aiming to run the most efficient mission in the world but to create a place where we grow in our conversion and become people who will remain faithful saints building the kingdom of God the rest of our lives. He is truly inspired and it really is humbling at how much confidence and trust he has in me.

We also had interview this week and since we don't have a set transfer in our mission we also got transfers. Many changes are being made in my district and zone but I get to stay here. I am pretty sure I will stay for quite a while--until Sister Orr goes home and beyond. I'm glad for that. Even though I observed that Zambia is WAY more developed than Malawi while I was there, I really love Lilongwe with all my heart. Sister Ntuli went home yesterday so we will soon be getting a new sister in the flat. I'm excited to meet a new sister--Sister Falco will be training.

Besides the wonderful trip to Lusaka filled with both spiritual and physical filling (the food was tops), it seems that another theme of this week is Malaria. Don't worry, I take my doxy faithfully, but since the heat has come (it is literally like an oven here) the mosquito have come out to reek havoc. So many people we are teaching have gotten Malaria and I have seen first hand how deathly ill people get. Yesterday we came upon an investigator and his wife and they looked so bad I thought they wouldn't make it. We were able to give them the help that they needed and it was quite the stressful and miraculous situation.

We met with that reverend, brother Goodson, that came to church last week and in the 5 days since we had seen him and given him a Book of Mormon he had already read up to Mosiah. I wanted to cry for joy. He was suffering with Malaria but he still wanted to discuss with us. He had such good questions but he was also quite intimidating considering he is a Bible scholar (and has been for 18 years). My mouth was so obviously filled with words to say right at the moment I needed to speak. I'm pretty sure he will be baptized. He's golden.

We had another lesson with Clever, the friend of Innocent who was a refugee (told his story last week) but this time Innocent wasn't there to translate. So we turned it into an opportunity and invited his neighbor to come translate for us. So there we were in this tiny shop with us two sisters, Clever, Placide (recent convert that speaks a ton of languages but not English), and his neighbor, Thomas. We were teaching about the Book of Mormon and so Placide let us use his Swahili Book of Mormon, Clever read swahili, asked questions in Chichewa and Thomas translated to English. Oh, and Clever is from the DRC. There were so many cultures and languages in one room it was fascinating and by the end Thomas asked, "So how can I become one of your learners?' Booyah!

The funnies: A drunk man followed us into one of our lessons and as Sister Orr was boldly explaining a doctrine he exclaimed, "She's a prophet!" It was hilarious. He just kept bursting out and yelling, "AMEN!" and at one point he even got on his knees and put his hand in the air and said, "Pray for me sisters! I want to change." Too good. Also, we taught one of our recent converts how to use a computer and it was the funniest thing. He kept picking up the mouse and he couldn't figure out how to move the cursor. I think I take my computer skills for granted.

Well, I love you all so much! Hope all is well!

Sister Michaela Proctor

Life is SO Good

Dearest Family,

Every single day I get down on my knees and thank Heavenly Father for letting me be His missionary. It is the best thing in the world. And every single day I plead for Him to loose my tongue so that I might say what He would have me say. My prayer has been answered so many times this week. We had a lesson with that guy from "The Church of Jesus Christ" and though I was sort of intimidated I opened my mouth and these inspired questions just popped out that helped us find his hole that we can fill. We also met with a friend of our investigator who died and he asked whether dying is a punishment from God. I had no idea what to say but my mouth was miraculously filled and he could feel the Spirit so much. We visited another recent convert that has had a lot of struggles and the Spirit just filled my mouth with the coolest pep talk ever and he actually came to church AND used his priesthood. Miracles.

I was struck as I sent the baptismal pictures last week that you must think that these baptisms just come out of no where. There are too many people to tell you about every single one and their progress and suddenly you see they are baptized. It kind of blows my mind that to you they are just beautiful African people on a computer screen but to me I know them personally and deeply and have answered the concerns of their soul. I wish I had time to tell you about every single person. These people are stunning.

One guy we worked with this week is like the most amazing person I have ever met. He was baptized in July after a long journey to the church. He came with us to teach his friend and he ended up sharing his conversion story with us. It sounded like a story you would find on Meridian Magazine. His name is Innocent Hankinamana (say that ten times fast) and he is a refugee from Burundi. He always wanted to be a priest growing up so he went to school for seven years to do just that. He found that he didn't agree with everything so he joined Jehovah's Witness. During all of this he fled to Tanzania for his life because of political unrest and people trying to kill him. His brother was killed. He got married. He left the Jehovah's Witnesses because again he didn't believe all that they taught and they burned his house down. In the same day his wife died. He had two sons and nothing else so he came to a refugee camp near Lilongwe where he researched online for a church to join. He found ours and contacted the church to learn more. He was prepared to move anywhere to come to our church. He investigated a long time because there aren't any branches outside the city but he was finally baptized and he moved just down the road from our branch so he can come every week. He is constantly giving us referrals. He speaks like 7 languages. Obviously this is the boilerplate version but wow. He blows me away. 

On Wednesday we met a girl called Maria who has been a member for 4 years and just moved to Dubai (part of our area). She brought us to her house and we found that she is living with a few other students. We sat down together to meet them and two of them announced themselves as "Prophet Lucky" and "Prophet Ernest". I held in my laughter. That is SO Malawi. The culture here is like all about prophets and dreams and visions and preaching. Everyone and their dog thinks they're a prophet. So yeah, we are now teaching a couple of prophets. I'll let you know how that goes.

Guess what! There is a quarterly MLC (mission leadership council) in Lusaka and all the zone leaders and sister training leaders are flown into Lusaka. Well, since Sister Orr is the STL, I get to go with her to Lusaka! Woohoo! So we are flying out tomorrow morning early and we stay for 2 1/2 days. I'm so excited. I love president so much and I am excited to participate in this council even though I haven't been called as a leader.

Fun/strange/happy details from the week:

-I tried this fish called bonya. They are tiny little fish like minows and they have no taste at all. I tried not to think about it too much as I ate these fish whole, head, eyes and all.

-Two nights in a row we were terrorized by this small-rodent-sized spider. We killed one and then there was another one the next night. Holy. They make my skin crawl and they walk with their front two legs extended in front of them as if they are coming to get you. Eish.

-Every Saturday is wedding day and there are cars with boys on them and all these wedding parties everywhere. The week goes by so fast that it feels like every other day is wedding day. They are everywhere.

-We not only have to prepare the bread for the sacrament in the branch but we have to prepare for the water because of the scarcity/purity. That is definitely not something you think about in Alpine, UT.

-We met with our branch president yesterday and he just expressed how much he appreciates our hard work. It was such a sweet moment.

-A random guy showed up to church yesterday and told us that he used to be a reverend but he was excommunicated from his old church for his stance on the family. He was researching online for another church and found ours. So basically, he is well educated and SO prepared. We gave him a Book of Mormon and Family Proclamation and he said as he was leaving, "I know I will join you someday soon" as in get baptized. These people. They just fall into our laps. I foresee a future bishop in him :) 

-As we were meeting with the branch president one of our recent converts, Innocent, came in to pay his tithing. My heart exploded. It's all about the little things.

Love you forever,

Sister Michaela Proctor

Good Morning Brethren and Sisteren

Exchanges with Ntuli

Having church outside

Chicken in church

In front of the flat

Lusayo getting baptized 

BAPTISM!

The Mwakasungula family

Lwimiko and Lusayo getting baptized. Love them so much.

Everyone getting baptized

The cool bridge we adventured on a few Pdays ago

On the scary, awesome bridge

When there was a black out in the grocery store

Sept. 29, 2014

It was another great week here in the warm heart of Africa. We walked for dayz and the weather is getting hotter and hotter (October is the peak) but it was still so lovely. I mean, how can it not be lovely when people get up in church and say, "Good morning, brethren and sisteren," or when you ask about their favorite scripture from a specific chapter they share 1 Nephi 16:7 about how Nephi takes a daughter of Ishmael to wife and say, "the prophet found himself a shining star." These people. They're great.

We have also been teaching a few of our recent converts some English words they may not know as we walk to our appointments and one we have taught Pricilla (the cute RC who is preparing to go on a mission after 8 months in the church) is the word "goof". She was reading in 1 Nephi 15:28 during a lesson and she read, "And I said unto them that it was an awful GOOF, which separated the wicked from the tree of life..." So funny.

So a little detail about Africa that you might not know is that they really like the color white--they paint everything white--but NOTHING stays white. The dirt penetrates all and so it's impossible to keep anything white. So I found myself at the kitchen sink one night scrubbing my not-so-white garments (I'm becoming a pro hand washer--the Malawians have taught me well) to try to get them just a little whiter. No matter how much soap, how much bleach, how much I scrubbed, they would only get clean to a point. The next morning I was reading in 3 Nephi 27 about how our garments are only made pure through the blood of Christ and it really hit home for me. Nothing I can do will get my figurative garments perfectly clean but the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I'm grateful for He who makes up the difference.

President Erickson came for specialized training this week and since I am companions to the STL (sister training leader) I got to participate in the training. It was so great. President is fantastic. Something I loved was that we focused on how leadership is a process and that it's not the position but the behaviour that makes you a leader. He encouraged us to live worthily to accept any calling that comes, that we may place ourselves on the altar and offer ourselves to the Lord to do anything He asks. I want to strive to be that willing servant always.

We met a man on the street that said he had met with missionaries before so we went to his house and there was sort of a weird feeling there. We asked him about what all the previous missionaries had already taught him and he was very insistent that we just tell him our basic beliefs. So I started into explaining the Book of Mormon a bit and then he walks out of the room and brings a leather bound Book of Mormon to us. As we looked through it, it all looked the same except the introduction. He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ who I guess believe most of what we believe except for the prophets that followed Joseph Smith. It was the strangest experience. It was like meeting your doppelganger. We struggled to know how to teach them when they already had so much of the truth. It was quite interesting. I never expected to run into an LDS break off in the middle a village in Malawi. AND their church building is in OUR area. I don't know how we've never heard of it before.

We had a baptism yesterday, as you saw in the pictures, and it was so great. It wasn't completely smooth but it ended up being a great occasion. There were four of them: Lwimiko and Lusayo, children of Mary who got baptized in July, and Rodrick and Perez, friends of Gift who got baptized in August. It's so amazing to watch this little branch grow. These people are very inexperienced and very dear.

We met with Bright Banda again (the guy that we met in the internet shop who lives in Nkhata Bay) and it was so great. I am used to teaching to a primary level to help people understand, but he is so prepared and has a deep understanding of things so it's challenging and exciting to teach him. He is truly someone special. We have to get permission to have him baptized but hopefully in the next month or two it will happen. The day that happens will be a sweet day, indeed.

I GRADUATED from my training so now I am full fledged and we get an extra hour of proselyting. Woohoo!

Love you so much! 

Sister Michaela Proctor

Fighting the Good Fight

Sept. 22, 2014

Dearest Family,

Well, I can't lie and say that this week was easy. It was probably the hardest week I've had so far on mission. But I feel so blessed to be fighting this fight and being in the Lord's army. The opposition hit us super hard this week. Nothing seemed to go quite right. So many people just dropped us or didn't show up or went away and so therefore we did a LOT of walking and a LOT of praying.

Even Sister Orr and I had some struggles. I am definitely learning the importance of communication out here. We have become such good friends so it is easy for us to assume the other person knows what we are thinking but when we don't it can cause conflict. We have had a lot of good talks and things are all good now. I love my companion so much. It's good to have someone you can turn to and find a helping hand or a stupid joke to get you up off your feet. 

I think the hardest part of the week was that my weaknesses seemed to be displayed out for everyone to see. They were made plain to me and it was humbling and potentially discouraging. Mission has a way of bringing out the little weaknesses you didn't even know you had. But I feel the Lord working inside of me and helping me to become a better person. Perhaps one of the greatest miracles on a mission is the changes you see and make within yourself.

But there were still redeeming things about this hard week and I am still as happy as ever. Last Pday we were walking to the market a different way than normal and we found this huge bridge to cross. I will send pictures but it was as if we had been transported into Indiana Jones. It was just made of long boards of wood with large gaps in between. You could feel the bridge sway as you walked across it. It was bridging the gap between markets over cabbage fields and a little river that runs through the city. I can't really do the beauty and adventure of the moment justice but I will send pictures. Later that day we went grocery shopping and as we were walking around the store, the power went out in the whole place and it was pitch black. I just laughed and laughed. Only in Africa.

That same less active that made me cry last week we went to visit again and the juxtaposition of the two visits was so hilarious. Instead of yelling at us for an hour, this time she was falling asleep the whole time. She just kept looking at me with crossed eyes as I shared the scripture we had planned and I was just dying trying to hold in laughter. I think she would make a good character in a future book. She is either falling asleep or raging mad. There's no in between.

On Saturday we were sitting on a curb waiting for a referral to meet us in front of this church and these two guys walked up to us. This was the conversation:

Them: We do some business. We sell stuff.

Us: What do you sell?

Them: Weed...do you want some?

Us: Does it look like we're interested? (pointing to our tags with JESUS CHRIST on them)

Them: No, we were just asking.

Us: Ha, well you are very welcome to come to church!

Them: Does it look like we're interested?

Us: No, we were just asking...

I laughed so much. Man, dese people. I don't think I've ever so directly been offered drugs before. So funny. You never know, maybe we planted a seed!

I think yesterday was hardest because almost none of our investigators/recent converts showed up for church. One thing that just filled my heart with joy when I was feeling a bit defeated was seeing a couple and their little boy walking down the dirt road to come to church. They just barely got baptized (Chisomo&Mercy) and Chisomo and their son Joseph were both wearing crisp white shirts. I love seeing them so faithfully coming as a family. It's the happiest thing to watch.

Well, I love you all! You are wonderful. Have a good week!

Sister Michaela Proctor

P.S. I haven't sent my weekly scriptures for a while so here is a list to catch you up:

Mosiah 2:41

Mosiah 4:9

D&C 64:33

Work Hard, Play Hard

Sept. 15, 2014

Dearest Family,

It was again another great week. Here's how it went:

Tuesday: |There was a zone meeting where they handed out a letter from our mission president. He was clarifying some of the mission rules and one was involving music. It sounds silly, but I had a hard time processing it because I brought only music that I felt was appropriate but according to his clarification did not quite meet mission standard. It got me thinking about myself and my personality vs. my personal culture. At first it kind of upset me to think of deleting certain songs that reminded me of my past but may not be "spiritual" per se but as I prayed about it (I know, it's kind of silly that I had to do this much processing on something so little) I realized that my music from my past life isn't my personality. Just because I delete a song doesn't mean I am giving up who I am. My songs are my personal culture which is the manifestation of my personality. I am still me even if I don't have the songs I would prefer. I am putting aside my personal culture for now and living the culture of the Lord. That is ok. That is refining and good. I will have these songs when I get home. I can sacrifice my own culture to be obedient and submissive. I want to do everything I can to be obedient but it doesn't mean that I am perfect at my willingness. I am still working on that. But the Lord is blessing my heart and helping me with my weaknesses. Hopefully that paragraph made sense...

We had a movie "party" at our recent convert's house, Daniel, and invited a bunch of recent converts and investigators to watch the Joseph Smith movie. We watched the old edit of the movie and I have to admit I wasn't a huge fan but the Spirit was the teacher and all in the room were touched by the prophet and his devotional and sacrifice.

Wednesday: We work with a recent convert called Pricilla twice a week and she translates and fellowships for/with us. She was only baptized in February but she is already working on her mission papers so she can leave as soon as she is one year in the church. Her faith and excitement about the work astounds me. I really hope I stay here in Lilongwe to watch her open her call.

Thursday: We found ourselves with very few progressing investigators last week and it made us re-analyze our approach. This week we decided to go hard and ask everyone we could possibliy think of for referrals. As a result we got a whole new pool of investigators and it was so cool to watch a little bit of work and a whole lot of prayers and faith manifest in the people we found and began to teach.

Friday: We did exchanges this week again with the other companionship in the flat and I especially learned from Sister Quaye (from Ghana). We had kind of a super rough day full of walking miles and miles and very few lessons. We met with one of our less actives and that resulted in the first time I've cried here in Malawi. She yelled at us for an hour straight in Chichewa and we couldn't pacify her no matter what scripture we shared. Sister Quaye was so bold and just stopped her and testified. She continued yelling after that but you could tell she felt something. Then I finally built up the courage and through my tears testified to her that we wouldn't be here if we didn't love her and we were called by a prophet to come and represent Jesus Christ and let her know that He loves her and knows her personally. It's amazing how even when someone is yelling in a different language you can't understand it can still be upsetting. I've been praying a lot about this lady. I'm not quite sure how to proceed to help her but I do know that I felt the spirit when I boldy testified and that is what matters.

Saturday: We saw a miracle. One of our appointments fell through so we were going to go visit the sister of the couple that just got baptized and when we got to her house the whole family was there. Chisomo and Mercy (the couple) "happened" to walk in and find us teaching his sister, parents, and brothers. It was so directed. They just sat down and shared their testimonies about the Book of Mormon and the Spirit was so strong. Both Sister Orr and I have felt that we really need to start teaching their family and the fact that we just showed up unannounced and they were all there sitting in the same room it was like they were saying, "Come teach us." It would be so cool if they were to get baptized and even cooler if Chisomo could baptize them. We don't get to teach whole families almost ever so it was just an amazing lesson and orchestration.

Sunday: We had church outside because they tore up the chapel floor. Our building is still being built because we are a new branch (therefore the building is still undedicated). All during sacrament meeting there was a little chicken just walking up and down the aisle and it was SO funny. It was chirping so loud and I just kept thinking, "How many people have chickens walking around their sacrament meeting". It truly is an adventure everyday here.

We went to celebrate an investigators birthday at his house and teach a lesson and his friend, Gift (recent convert), was there too. He was one of the people last week that got involved in anti material. At the end after we had born our testimonies and closed, he asked if he could bear his testimony. He simply said, "Through prayer and study I have found that Joseph Smith is a true prophet. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." My life was made. Those are the kind of moments missionaries live for.

Love you!

Sister Michaela Proctor

But for Real, Opposition in All Things

Dearest family,

So last week the subject of my email was something like "Opposition in all things" and I realized I didn't explain that at all. But it kind of applies even more to this week because truly we are facing so much opposition here. Where there is so much light and progress, Satan will continue to fight hard to tear it down. I think almost every day this week we had someone talk to us about anti-Mormon stuff or investigators text us and drop us. It was crazy. And yet, I still feel like it was a good week. No matter what happens, it is just simply a blessing to be a missionary and to be doing this work.

I would say I am being converted to this life. Obviously, I love it so much already, but like Elder Garrett Lewis told me a few weeks ago in an email (shout out to G-money), the longer you are out the longer you want to stay doing this amazing work. Yes, it is hard and there is rejection and exhaustion but ultimately it is the greatest thing. I do experience pangs of missing certain things, like a few days ago we were listening to a BYU devotional on my ipod and just hearing Cecil's voice introducing the speaker made me tear up a bit--BYU is so wonderul--but for the most part I am becoming more and more immersed in this place and this calling. 

Have I ever mentioned that I love Malawians? Holy cow, they are the kindest people. I was on exchanges with Sister Falco and we were walking through my area and all of a sudden these crazy drunk man started walking with us and mumbling in Chichewa about God. She was kind of scared but that is not unusual in our area so i just told her to keep walking and not to look at him. Finally, this man stopped us and asked if he could help. He even gave the drunk man money to walk away. Other men also passed by and asked if we were ok. That is SO Malawian. They are protective of each other even if they don't know you. We weren't in any real danger but it was so nice to feel looked out for.

So yeah, I experienced exchanges for the first time this week and they were fun. I think they mostly served to make me even more grateful for my incredible companion. Not that I don't love the other sisters and didn't learn from them, but Sister Orr really is so great and we are a good team. I feel so blessed to have not only a companion but a friend in her.

Do you want to hear something crazy? Last P-day we were grocery shopping and this azungu walked up to me and asked where I was from. He works or the US embassy and wanted to know what we were doing in Malawi. We told him a little about the church and as we got talking he told me that he was from Northern Virginia. As we talked some more we found that we both went to Robinson. Uh, what? It was the craziest thing to be standing in this Malawian grocery store with someone that went to my old high school. This is a small world.

So, Mom and Dad, you know how when you are stressed you laugh really hard over the littlest things? Well, I've noticed that I do the same. I don't feel like I am stressed almost ever despite the pressure of the calling, but I think there is an underlying stress inside of me that causes me to laugh to tears almost every single day. Sister Orr and I laugh so, so much over the dumbest things. Even the fact that the closing hymn at church yesterday was "Joy to the World" in September made has laugh so hard. Laughing gets me through. You have to continue lauging or you will find yourself crying.

Like for example, Sister Orr and Sister Falco and I wake up every morning that we can and work out together. This week we were tired of our normal routine so we turned on my music and we each had five mintues to lead out and whatever we wanted. They followed me in interprative dancing all around the flat. You've got to do what you've got to do, right :)

Another thing that makes us laugh is that they always switch the Ls and the Rs here when they talk. It changes the meaning of things quite a bit when they say "play" instead of "pray". "For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to play, ye would know that ye must play; for the evil spirit teachent not a man to play, but teacheth him that he must not play". Ha! Too good.

I love you all so much!

Sister Michaela Proctor

P.S. The mustard skirt I was wearing in the pictures last week was a skirt made by one of the members of the branch presidency. I drew a design and he just made it. So cool!

P.S.S. Mom and Dad. Apparently packages take forever, especially since you have to send them to Lusaka and I'm in Lilongwe. So they recommend sending Christmas packages like...this week. Just to let you know.