Carl B. Cook is the Coolest

Feb. 2, 2015

Our district leader, Elder Doig, picked out the material and made skirts and ties for our district for mission tour. I was pretty impressed. They turned out well. I didn't get a picture of the Elders and their ties but they looked nice.

Sister Dlamini's birthday lunch today. Just gaze at the background for a little bit. Malawi is too beautiful.

Feel free to laugh at our amusing height difference. I am not even standing up straight.

Walking to the area. Ndirande is getting greener and greener.

Sister Griffus and I made month pancakes to celebrate our 7 and 14 month marks. Yes, she has double my time on mission.

Darling Family,

It has been a lovely, inspiring week and I continue to get down on my knees every morning and thank Heavenly Father for letting me be His missionary. What a good time to be alive and to be on His errand!

The past month has been one of great challenge and I feel God asking me to step up and be a better everyday. With the standard of excellence we made at MLC and the mission goals for the year on top of the promptings from the Spirit and the zone conference we had with Elder Carl B. Cook this week, I feel the refiner's fire and it is certainly doing its work. We are working harder to find families to teach and to get the best fellowshippers possible from the branch. It can be challenging to coordinate an investigating family with a member family and get them all sat down in one room to teach but oh, how rewarding it feels. 

It can be easy to call the branch missionaries who are YSA and get them to work with us but the only effective lessons are when a quality fellowshipper is there. Since we have refocused on teaching families we then have to turn to the older branch members and get them to take time out of their days to come work with us. It can be intimidating to call a older guy and ask if he will take time away from work and family to come teach but ultimately it strengthens the member when they make that sacrifice. We worked with so many members we have never worked with before this week and it is so satisfying.

I went on exchanges with Sister Griffus on Wednesday and it was good just to talk through things with her. She has recently been called to finish training Sister Browning so we had a good chat. I still don't understand why Heavenly Father called me to be a leader so young when all of these people have double my time but I have learned so much as an STL.

As a threesome, we are called to still balance Sister Mntungwa's area so we have to travel to Chilimoni a few days a week. It poured on us. Guys, the rains are no joke here. But all along I just kept a prayer in my heart that I could stay here in Blantyre for as long as possible. I am growing to love this place. It is becoming my home, just as Lilongwe was. We are just on the up and up after a long few weeks of hard finding. I am so excited about the families we are teaching. Such tiny things make me happy. The other day we were walking to the area and we saw this agogo (grandma) carrying a hoe and bag of things so we offered to help her and then she held my hand as we walked for about 5 minutes. It was so sweet. It's the little things.

As I said, we had mission tour with Elder Carl B. Cook and it was so powerful. I think I say this about every other paragraph but I am so blessed to be a missionary at this time in this place. This is the most exciting, wonderful thing in the world. Elder Cook talked about how Elder Russel M. Nelson was here in Blantyre in 2011 and he got down on all fours and dedicated the country of Malawi for the gospel. We often look back at church history and think, "I wish I could be missionary in those days when they were getting tons of baptisms" but then he said with power and conviction that "THESE are the days for Malawi". I can't tell you how much I feel that. We are pioneers but it is a privilege to be part of the genesis of something grand.

We talked about conversion and how the Lord is hastening His work and I felt so strongly that God might not be increasing the number of baptisms, although that might be a fruit of the hastening, but He is hastening us from within. He is refining His servants and giving them treasures of great knowledge to know how to do His work with more power and impact. Let me tell you, I certainly feel the hastening within myself. He said that only a, "progressing missionary has progressing investigators." We need to be growing in our conversion everyday in order to help others in their own conversion process. 

President Erickson got up at the end and read a long-anticipated letter from the Area Presidency announcing that there will be the formation of the first stake in Zambia. I know I haven't served in Lusaka but tears just filled my eyes. The work is moving forward. He also announced that this year in the Africa Southeast Area there will be 12 new stakes and 93 new branches. This is what I get to be a part of. The rain was pouring the whole conference and planes were delayed for President and Elder Cook to come and there seemed to be a lot of opposition around the whole meeting and then Sister Cook's final testimony just blew me away. She had been contemplating why there would be so much opposition and she practically had to shout her testimony over the sound of the rain but she said she knew that Satan didn't want this announcement about the stake to be made but that no unhallowed hand could stop the work. I could cry right now, I just love being a missionary.

Before and after the meeting, Elder Cook personally greeted each missionary and when he greeted me at the end he said, "Sister Proctor, thank you for your comment. It really impacted me." Woah. I don't even know what I said but these are the things you will always remember.

The Chimwanga family continues to be the best ever. We have been praying about what couple from the branch we could bring to teach with us and then on Sunday we show up to church and there is a new couple in the branch that moved from Liwonde (a group of members far away in a small town). They have been members for 6 years and they happened to have moved to the same street as the Chimwangas. I asked them right then if they would teach with us this Thursday and they said yes. What? The answer to that prayer was already in the works before we even asked. Perfect orchestrations.

Today is Sister Dlamini's birthday so we went out to eat and she also got her dreads retwisted. Yes, my companion has dreads. It's pretty cool. Hair is such a big thing here. So many times on Pdays I have gone on hunts through the market to find the perfect weave for my companion. Ha! Adventures.

I am the happiest child in the world, though this is definitely not the easiest thing in the world. Hope your week is wonderful.

Love,

Sister Proctor

Showers, BOM Raps and Service Projects

Jan. 26, 2015

Pounding casava leaves at Susan's house.

My nice nice blister,

Sister Dlamini and I trying to be legit but we aren't.

Sister Mntungwa and I. We can't take this singing thing seriously.

Darling Family,

Just an update on the water status: After 14 days of bucket baths I had my first shower last night. It was freezing cold but it was running so I felt blessed. You don't know how hard it is to wash this long of hair in a bucket. Hopefully the water is back to stay. Thank you for all of your prayers.

Last Pday we went to our investigators' house and recorded a song they wrote. These guys we are teaching our rappers/singers (authentic African swag) so we told them that they should write a song about the Boof of Mormon. It was mostly about Jesus but it was still super fun to record our song in their little mud house/recording studio. The walls have egg cartons on them because apparently it helps with the sound. Sounds legit.

We had a sweet district service this week at the zone leader's investigator's house. Her yard but sort of overgrown so we weeded and cut the grass. Lawn mowers aren't really a thing in Malawi so we were given these long curved knives to wack the grass with. I got some good looking blisters but it was a good time. The Elder's in my district are awesome. 

We had a sweet lesson with Susan, one of the members that we work with a lot. She has lived with her uncle since she can remember with no real feminine influence so it seems like she has fallen into feeling like all life is is cooking and washing and cleaning. We taught her about goals and how God can and will help her to accomplish even grand, seemingly impossible dreams. We asked her what her deepest desires were and then sort of went around the room sharing our deepest desires. I obviously have a lot of dreams but I've never thought in depth about the greatest desires of my soul. When I examined my heart I found that above all--my desire to write and to travel and to explore--I want to be a wife and mother. Yes, I know I am a sister missionary but ultimately I want to raise a family in righteousness. 

We had our first lesson with this one guy called Moses who is a teacher at a secondary school in our area. As we got to know him he expressed how he knew that it was no coincidence that we met. We just contacted him as he was leaving work one day and he said he had since pondered that out of the 31 teachers at the school he was the one that we met and stopped. It's always cool to see when people recognize that it is God that directs our paths to meet. He wanted to meet with us at his school first before we met his wife and family so our next lesson we will get to teach all of them. I am excited to see where they go.

Multiple people this week have had a hard time believing that before we came to earth we were spirits living with our Heavenly Father. It's funny that many times the argument that one person has starts a trend for every other investigator. Many people here believe that we are just made up of bodies and the breath of life and when we die the breath just returns to the air. I personally think that is a depressing doctrine. It gives me eternal hope and joy to know that I am known of God, not only now but an eternity before this mortal existence.

Well, opposition continues to hit us hard. There are so many hard things I could focus on but it makes life 10x happier when you focus on the good. There is still a ton of rain and a ton of cancellations and a ton of rejection but we also finally got a few investigators to church and I saw Alinafe (our recent convert) teach primary for the first time and it was adorable. He was having the children repeat, "JESUS LOVES ME!" There are too many things to be grateful for.

I hope you all have a great week. Look for the good!

Love,

Sister Proctor

When it Rains it Pours

Jan. 19, 2015

Selfie Sunday - No Bathe Sabbath

My foot tan is coming along nicely

Darling Family,

I think Heavenly Father is preparing my for the apocalypse because after this week I think I could survive. Today marks a week since we have had running water in the flat and electricity has been spotty, too. The rains came so hard earlier in the week that there have been flash floods, many people's houses have collapsed, and many people have died. The pipes were buried in silt so basically no one knows how soon we will get water back. It is surreal to walk through my area and see that almost every other house has a wall or more that has collapsed. No one I know has died, in fact the members have been really blessed that only minor damage has happened to their homes, but most people I know have known people who have been killed. I would say that this mission thing is pushing me to all limits, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, yet my spirits are still high. I wouldn't say I am perfectly happy every hour of every day--your heart and eyes can get weary when you are surrounded by this daily and you have to bucket shower and do everything by candle light--but I am still a happy little seesta. 

All of this devastation has caused me to ponder about how we build our own spiritual houses. We learn in Heleman 5:12 (I have shared that scripture a lot this week) that if your foundation is built on Christ that you cannot fall. I think about Blantyre--this place is basically one big rock because it is situated in the mountains--so the foundations are not the problem for these fallen houses. The bricks that they use here are simply sand mixed with water, packed, dried, and then fired poorly. We may believe in Christ and have our foundations on Him but the building materials of our spiritual houses also matter. If we build with bricks of doubt, fear, insecurity, pride, self-righteousness, or sin then when the storms come our walls will collapse. We must build with bricks of faith, trust, charity, humility, and covenants all fired with the refiner's fire of the Spirit. That is the only way we can be protected from the storms of life.

Life is truly an adventure. The lights went out one night, so I got up to feel my way to the table to find my tiny lantern and Sister Mntungwa didn't hear me get up so she just saw a unknown figure in the darkness and she screamed. In turn, I screamed and I collapsed on the floor with tiny tears in my eyes. I have never collapsed out of fear before but we laughed for a while in the dark.

I forgot to tell you last week but I am still in a threesome with Sister Dlamini and Sister Mntungwa. Sister Mntungwa's companion is still having visa problems in Malawi so we are having to balance two areas while we wait. We went to Chilimoni a couple times and waded through rivers of nasty. It was fun. These ladies are crazy and I'm learning so much from them. 

We had zone meeting and talked more about the standard of excellence and goal of 750 baptisms and the Spirit once again confirmed that this is the time to step up our game and become who God wants us to be. I love how President Erickson and the zone leaders put it---this is less of a number and more of a symbol of our desires to be the best disciples that we can be. They compared in to the sacrament. The sacrament is a symbol of the Atonement and as we take it we recommit to try our best to be perfect. It doesn't mean that we will reach perfection that week but it is us showing Heavenly Father that we will try again. I can't wait to see how this goal plays out. I am so glad that I get to be here all year to see it happen.

As I've walked through the area the word, "weary" just kept playing in my head. I have felt that physically and emotionally this week. But it also made me recall a scripture I memorized a few months ago: D&C 64:33. Instead of the word "weary" playing over and over, that scripture replaced it: "Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great." The more that scripture has gone through my head the more I realize that that "great work" that I am laying the foundation of is not necessarily missionary work or the Kingdom of God but that work is ME. "For behold, this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." I am laying the foundation for this great work that Heavenly Father is doing within me. Every time I choose to walk on when I just want to pause and shed little wee tears makes that foundation even better. I am choosing to become celestial rather than carnal (Shout out to Andy for your email last week).

We didn't have as many lessons as I would have hope this week but one lesson made it all work it. Yesterday we taught that family (the Chimwangas) again and again it was so full of the Spirit. They are so prepared it's crazy. They make up for the lack of investigators we have. They not only understand what we teach but the Spirit teaches them further and their responses are so deep. I hope I get to stay in Blantyre long enough to seem that family baptized. I love them so much.

Another thing that made me happy this week was that our branch president, President Matale, came and taught a lesson with us. He is the picture of consecration. He is just overseeing our branch for these few months while they find a new branch president because he is in the district presidency so his family goes to another branch. He goes and visits families in our branch multiple times a week and sacrifices his all to help the branch grow. It's amazing. On Sundays he brings a tiny lunch box, eats after church and all the meetings, and then goes to the area to visit. He's basically another missionary in the branch.

Well, life is fragile and beautiful and strange and adventurous and I am ever grateful to be the Lord's servant on His errand. Pray for the water to come back so I can take a shower again.

Love you forever,

Sister Proctor

Reminiscing and Hoping

Jan. 12, 2015

Seeing Rodrick (and his brother Chifundo) again. Too good.

Out to Chinese in Lusaka! I love all of these sisters.

The Malawi STLs. 

Yes, our height difference is cartoonish.

Sister Falco is a doll. Every time we reunite I just am the happiest.

My sister and friend Priscilla. She is almost a year in the church (in Feb) and she gets her mission call soon!

Darling People,

This week was absolutely lovely because I had the blessing to fly to Lusaka with Sister Dlamini and the Blantyre zone leaders and attend Mission Leadership Council. Every single moment of that two day meeting was pure light. I don't know how I got so blessed to get to be apart of it. When I sit in that room with the other leaders of the mission I feel like a mouse among giants but oh, how wonderful it is. President Erickson picked us up from the airport and on the way back to the mission home he said, "The Lord commanded his disciples to take up their cross and follow him. You are doing it." The Spirit just filled me--it was a good way to walk into MLC.

Being with the other leaders was just so exciting. I got to see Sister Falco and Sister Quaye from Lilongwe and I could hardly suppress my smiles. Sister Lyon and I were the only STLs that were the same from the last MLC. It is just so amazing to be in a room full of such choice people. The first question that President asked was, "What does it mean to you to be apart of this council?" It means the world to me. I feel the Savior's trust in me. I feel like he is calling on my to be bigger than I am. It's the best feeling in the world.

One of the sweetest moments of that council was talking about our mission goals for the year. The one we discussed for a long time was our baptismal goal. With all the numbers from last year and with our vision for what we want Zambia and Malawi to become, we came to set a goal of 750 baptisms. That is a virtual district in one year. As a council, we all knelt down and asked Heavenly Father to accept our goal and when our knees hit the floor it felt like a ripple went through Zambia and Malawi--this is the beginning of something great. It is going to take a lot more obedience and effort and prayer and coordination but I know we can do it. And I know that in that room there were heavenly hosts there to say, "We, too, will help."

The Blantyre zone leaders called on us to do a role play for their part of the council (basically you act out a lesson to practice how you will teach in real life). That was a good reflection of how much I have grown on my mission. I got up there with my companion and taught the Assistants to the President in front of all the zone leaders, sister training leaders, and President and Sister Erickson and I just felt confident. My confidence and ability to listen to the Spirit and teach has grown so much.

Testimony meeting was also sweet. Every single time I bear my testimony I say, "I love being a missionary." It's true! I feel it all the time. I love this. This time is such a blessing. I loved what another Elder said, "God did not call us to be leaders because of any merit to ourselves but he called us to make something of us." I am eternally grateful for a God that sees my eternal potential and now my current weaknesses and flaws.

On the way back from MLC we had a 4 hour stop in Lilongwe before our bus left for Blantyre so I GOT TO GO BACK TO MY OLD AREA. You guys. I never thought I would ever be able to do that (or at least not until I came back to visit my mission some day). It was surreal driving through Lilongwe. I know it was only two months ago but it feels like forever. I got to see Rodrick, my recent convert, and Priscilla, my Malawian sister who taught with us all the time. It was the happiest thing. Little tears filled my eyes as I walked through my area again. When Rodrick opened the door and saw me he screamed and it was adorable. It was bittersweet because though it was wonderful to be back, it wasn't the same. That era of my life is over and I can't go back and experience the same light that once was there when I ran around being a crazy child with Sister Orr. It just reaffirmed to me that I am in the right place here in Blantyre. This is where I am supposed to be and I wouldn't be who I am right now without the challenges that Blantyre has presented to me.

We basically lost all of our investigators in the past two weeks, not from being gone for three days but just because none were progressing and so many just down right rejected us. Even the two who were preparing for baptism and were just golden suddenly moved away without telling us. It was a good thing I was full of hope and optimism for my area after MLC or it could have been really discouraging. 

BUT we pressed forward and yesterday we found the most perfect family ever! It was so exciting! This is something I have waited for my entire mission. I had to pinch myself to see if it was actually real life. We sat down with a mom, a dad, and two kids, they all spoke English, and both parents have good jobs. I just wanted to burst into tears. I have been praying so hard for my area to be rekindled. Teaching them part of the plan of salvation was so full of the Spirit. I can't wait to go back to this family and teach again.

Something I learned at MLC is that the baptismal invitation is not there to actually set a date or have them say yes but it is there to let people know your purpose. Even if you know for a fact that they will say no, it is part of our responsibility as missionaries to invite in the first lesson (or second) to let them know our purpose. Malawians are always open to Bible studies but when they know that we are there to help them make a covenant then it shows us quickly who is serious. 

Well, life is glorious and I am a happy little child here in Malawi serving the Lord. Hope you have a great week!

Love,

Sister Proctor

Monkeys are Getting Married

Jan. 5, 2015

My two Zulu ladies.

Yes, I am gaining many African skills including carrying my scriptures on my head as I walk. It's a work in progress.

Darling Family,

So I guess when it is both sunny and raining at the same time (my favorite weather) South Africans say that, "monkeys are getting married". These are things you learn during rainy season. Also, when you are put with two zulu sisters.

So, I feel like I say this every other week but I got a new companion. I think Heavenly Father is trying to teach me something because sometimes I feel like I'm getting whiplash with all of these sudden transfers. But at the same time I am at peace, I am still happy, and I am so blessed to be here. I say two zulu sisters because Sister Komiha got sent to Lusaka and Sister Griffus was moved to the other area in Blantyre so Sister Mntungwa (Zulu) and I were left companionless. Sister Mntungwa's companion is having visa troubles so she has been with my new companion and I for the week. 

My new companion is Sister Dlamini from Joberg, South Africa. She was called to the Liberia mission and served two months there and then because of the ebola crisis she came here. She is 25 and so short and kind and loves to laugh. She is the second best table tennis player in South Africa. She calls everyone "dear" and she is about the same age on mission as I am. She is also pretty quiet so I am taking the lead quite a lot. But I love her already.

We were walking in our area one day and I saw this guy getting out of his suburban and I about passed him when I just had a feeling to stop and talk to him. He said, "Are you Mormons". No one in Malawi calls us Mormons so we were surprised and said yes. He went on to tell us that he lived with a Mormon family for a year in Arizona in 2013 and learned a lot about the church. His wife even went inside the temple for a temple open house. It was a pretty cool orchestration because how many people in tiny Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, have been to America and further more lived with Mormons. Probably one guy in all of Malawi.

We did more visits with the Relief Society president and counselor on Thursday. They are sweet people. Before we left, we had a small testimony meeting just the five of us and the spirit was so strong. We may not be having a ton of success in our area but we surely are fulfilling the calling to help establish and strengthen the branch. I am coming to love Ndirande branch so much.

Opposition is continuing to hit hard. It's funny how there can be two areas in one branch and one area can be thriving and the other can be suffering. The Elders have about 14 investigators a week and we have about 2. It's a good thing that the Spirit regularly reassures me with hope or I might be tempted to get discouraged. I do have to admit, after a day of walking in the pouring rain and calling every person I could think of and knocking every door I could think of and having every single person say no I shed four tiny tears, but Sister Dlamini gave me a hug and we continued onward.

Something that has really helped me is keeping a small, pocket-sized notebook on my desk and every day I write a page of things that I am grateful for. This is one of my new year's resolutions--to write in that notebook everyday. I was inspired but a friend of mine to start it. Even on days when everything seems wrong and hard and impossible there are a million things to be grateful for. If it is at all raining, no one comes to church. Like literally there were 20 people at the beginning of sacrament meeting. But Alinafe was EARLY, he bore the sweetest testimony, and he received the priesthood. That is enough to make a sour day sweet.

And you know, at the end of a long day of walking in the rain and no success, the fact that we actually had water and it was actually hot was a great blessing too. I will never take advantage of water again. It's the little things, my friends.

Wherever you are, look for all the good things in life. When you change your focus, all of a sudden life is good no matter what.

This next week, Sister Dlamini and I fly to Lusaka for MLC and it will be such a spiritual refresher. I can't wait!

Love you all,

Sister Proctor

Christmas linali bwino

Dec. 28, 2015

My darling Sister Falco.

Blantyre seestaz (yes I just spelled that word that way)

My awesome district--we have the zone leaders and the sister training leaders. It's a powerful group.

Being silly with Agnes and Watipaso Chirwa. Love those two.

Looking smart on Christmas morning.

Cooking with Agnes and Joyce Chirwa. Those two crack me up.

Darling Family,

This has been one of the sweetest, most wonderful, hardest weeks of my mission. I can't even describe to you how joyful all the days leading up to Christmas were. Tears were practically always threatening to come because my happy cup was overflowing. I could count this Christmas as possibly the best of my whole life.

On Monday night and Tuesday morning we had a combined Christmas party/devotional with Lilongwe zone. It was so exciting to see my old zone. I was just buzzing with smiles. I love all those elders and sisters so much. It was especially sweet to see Sister Falco--she has become such a dear friend. She is just one of those people you can talk to forever. Monday night we had a white elephant (too funny--these Africans mwandi!), a big dinner (I also got teary sitting down with my full plate--so many people don't ever experience this kind of meal in their lives), and a viewing of "The Christmas Carol". Yes, we watched a movie. It was weird. And fun. Tuesday was the best of all though. We were given two talks on the sacrament to study Monday night and then Tuesday we got together and had a deep discussion about the sacrament. President said he was directed away from talking about Christmas and told to discuss this specific topic. The Spirit was tangible. After discussing, some of the elders blessed and passed the sacrament. During each prayer, we all knelt together. Wow. It was amazing. The sacrament has come to mean so much more to me on my mission. 

The opposition was raging this week. Pretty much every single appointment was canceled, we had people down right stop us in the middle of talking and tell us to leave them alone, and so many gates were shut in our faces. I feel strongly that the opposition is coming from our change in focus. We used to work a lot in Goliyo and Maplot (the poorer parts of our area) but we have shifted to New Lines and Nyambadwe (the richer areas) where every house has a gate to knock and every gate has a guard to convince to meet the boss. We know that this shift in focus is important for the establishment of the church and that God will help us find success but these first couple weeks of finding will involve a lot of laughing to overcome frustration. All you can really do is laugh.

Christmas Eve we got together as a zone at the Reynolds (senior couple) and watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. It's funny how much you can love people when you have known them for such a short amount of time.

Christmas was just amazing. I've never had a more pure celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. In the morning I opened my package (I LOVE YOU) and all the sisters enjoyed it and then we went to our area and visited every member, recent convert, less active, and investigator we could find. Most were at home and it was so special just to sit down and talk about what THEY could give to Christ this Christmas. I've asked myself a lot too--what gift will I give to the Christ child? We baked cake and shared some of the candy from my package and it was so sweet. One girl, Susan, who we work with a lot said it made her day because it was the only present she got. These people have so little but they love and feel so deeply.

We visited the Chirwa family (Agnes--the one going to London South Mission) and we just had a good time cooking and talking together. It poured rain and in every detail it was so different from the Christmases I've known but it was so full of the Spirit of Christ. I've never felt the Christmas spirit more than this past week. And of course it was lovely to see some of your darling faces over Skype.

I don't know if you can tell but I am really happy. Like inexpressibly so. I love this work, I love these people, I love being His missionary, and life is just beautiful. I hit my 6 month mark this past week and it's caused me to reflect on what I have learned in this short time on my mission. Here are just 5 of the lessons (sorry this email is long but I'm copying some from my journal):

1. I am nothing without God. Literally nothing can happen unless He is on our side. I can try and find and teach people but nothing can move forward without Him. He gives me my daily breath and my strength to make it through each day I wake up exhausted. He hand is what pushes me to continue walking even after every single appointment is canceled. There is nothing but my will that he can't take from me in an instant. It is only through His mercy that I have anything. I am so small but with Him I can endure all things.

2. Christ's Atonement CAN change my weaknesses to strengths. My mission has brought to my attention many weaknesses I never even realized I had. I'm not as generous, charitable, patient, or optimistic as I wish I was but something that I've seen is that as I pray for the Atonement to empower me to change, little by little I do change and that is a miracle. Change, as a human being, a life time pursuit and it is only though the Atonement that we can change to become like our Heavenly Father.

3. Seeing other people's contexts. Especially when you stay with a companion 24/7 charity is so necessary and the only way you can have long term charity for others' weaknesses is if you come to understand their context and background. On my mission, I've really been trying to stop and analyze people instead of jumping to conclusions and assuming things. Everyone has weaknesses and rather than losing patience you can love them through and help them overcome.

4. Reaching out to everyone. I thought I was pretty good at this before my mission but I was just skimming the surface of where I could be. Your eyes have to be open at all times to see the needs of those around you and how you can help and serve. At church I've learned to greet every single person and it makes you feel more involved and others feel appreciated. It doesn't matter if someone is socially awkward or popular or rich or poor, I can reach out to them and I don't have to feel intimidated.

5. I can happily weather any storm. Even just this morning we didn't have water or electricity in our flat (since yesterday) and it can be sorta rough to live this way sometimes but it's ok. I am grateful in all things. All is well in my soul even when we are rejected all day long and I'm hotter than anything and my body is telling me no. It's ok. I know in whom I have trusted. I know that with God I can handle all things. Here's to the next year of serving the Lord!

Love you all,

Sister Proctor

P.S. The subject of the email means "Christmas was good".

Tikukufunirani Christmas Yabwino

Dec. 22, 2014

Agnes tracting with us. She is beautiful and so funny. We are pretty much best friends.

Teaching sweet Rachel and Magret in their baby house.

.All the branch primary children. The future leaders of Malawi.

Sister Browning and I eating lunch at a tiny bakery.

My cute companion and I at the branch Christmas party

Darlings around the world,

My little heart is exploding with so much gratitude for the Savior. I feel like I am coming to really know Him more than I've ever known Him before. This week one of the branch missionaries that we normally work with was sick so we went to visit her and we taught her an amazing lesson about Christ. Actually, the Spirit really taught me. It was just one of those many moments where I knew my mouth was being filled with what to say. The words that came out of my mouth were not my own. And I learned that the Atonement is much more than we ever think it is. It has been said often that the Atonement is enabling power but that only really hit me as I taught. The Atonement is not just to take us from a low state of sin back to a state of neutrality--sometimes we think that when we repent it's just getting back up to the plain we were at before--but it truly is enabling us to become as he is. Christ wasn't willing to suffer because of our sins but He was willing to suffer because of the infinite and stunning potentials that He knew we could reach with His help. Sin is just the chains He has released us from so that He can lift us higher.

As sister training leaders, Sister Komiha and I did exchanges this week and they were really great. I still feel a bit inadequate and inexperienced to teach other missionaries but I know that I have been called for a reason. I may be training and helping sisters who have double the time on mission than I do but it is causing me to stretch and grow. The first exchange was on Wednesday with Sister Griffus (from US). We laughed a lot (#sollynotsolly<--Malawians struggle with their Rs and Ls) and worked hard. We had a lesson with our eternal investigator, Ian, and it was so powerful. We talked about repentance and shared the story of Alma the Younger and he FINALLY committed to a baptismal date of January 18th. You don't even know how big this is. He is famous for being an eternal investigator. I am praying that he actually follows through. 

On Thursday we worked with Osman, another branch missionary who just got his mission call to the England Birmingham mission. As we walked about from appointment to appointment he told me his conversion story. It blew me away. He used to be a missionary for the Jehovah's Witnesses but every time he talked about life after death he knew he wasn't teaching the truth. One day he saw Elders in the market and stopped them and asked what happens after we die. He couldn't let the missionaries come to his house because he lived with his brother who was extremely J-dub so he began reading everything the Elders could give him. Even when he went away for planting he would call the Elders everyday to let them know about his reading. He eventually moved in with his sister and was able to be baptized. When the leaders of the Jehovah's Witness heard he had changed churches they came to try to fellowship him and teach him and he ended up teaching them the plan of salvation. He is going to be an amazing missionary. Birmingham better prepare itself.

Friday I did an exchange with Sister Browning (from Idaho) who has only been out about three weeks. She is the sister that sort of reminds me of myself a short few months ago. We are very different people but it's still funny to look at her and look at myself and see how far I have come. Agnes Chirwa, who is going to London South (Shae's mission) came with us to a lesson and it felt like I was training the both of them. They were so nervous to begin the lesson and ask him questions but I left them hanging out to dry and they were so proud of themselves afterward. Agnes is seriously the darlingest person ever. I hope all works out with her visa so she can actually go to London and meet Sister Wood! I'll include a picture of Sister Browning and I and also Agnes out tracting with us.

Our branch devotional/party was this week and it was such a success. A ton of investigators came and there were a ton of games and everyone really got involved. The Relief Society were champions in cooking rice for 200 people. They went through all the rice to pick out all the little rocks (yes, that is something you have to do here). Ah, these African women are powerful. The best part was looking around and seeing Alinafe organizing all the primary children to play a game and Rachel and Magret going out of their way to help clean up. It's the little things that mean so much.

There was one day that was really strange this week. It seemed like every person I talked to just made me feel weirder and weirder. One investigator we were teaching, a man from Zimbabwe, stopped mid conversation and asked me if my father was a missionary. I told him my father had been one a long time ago and he said that three months ago God had revealed to him that I would come to his door. That sounds sort of spiritual but it was more on the strange end of the spectrum. Then on the way home this man stopped Sister Komiha and said, "I want to talk to your friend. She is so pretty." Ah, dese people. If only you knew how many men have proposed to me. Too many. I can't seem to blend in here.

Well, Christmas is this week and though I am far away from home and all familiarity the Christmas spirit--the spirit of Christ--is vibrant in my heart. All Christmasy things have been stripped away. There are no lights or trees or wrapped presents or santa clauses, but my testimony of Christ has grown more than any other Christmas I've ever experienced. Malawi may celebrate differently ("It isn't Christmas without chicken and it isn't Christmas without fanta") but the reason for the season remains the same. May we all let Christ be born in us this week.

Love,

Sister Proctor