Sis. Solomon, Dickson Sibanda, and a dead battery

Well this last Monday we watched Toy Story 3!!! It was great. Parents please purchase it :) Then the next day we were going to the Zone Meeting and we get in the car turn the key and nothing. The battery is dead. So we try to push-start it and it isn't working. We must have pushed this car for two or three hundred meters in our suits! Finally, they ask me to try(I have never done it before, but I was the only other one certified to drive mission vehicles...). So I get in, they push it for about ten feet and I let go of the clutch and voila, the car starts! Woot! I don't know why it worked with me but whatever, I was just happy it started at all.

Then in a lesson with Sister Solomon, we were asking about her week and asking some questions about the Book of Mormon. The following is her account(as accurately as I can remember anyway...)

Well after church I came home and I was feeling down, just sad you know? I kind of felt like I should pray but I didn't feel like it. I sat there a long time with my Anesu(her son) and finally I just got up and went inside and I prayed. Then I started reading the Book of Mormon. And it just felt like this burden was lifted, I just felt light, you know? Then I get this call from my husband saying that he is coming back from traveling early and I was so happy because I wasn't expecting that. I just think that these are blessings from me keeping the Sabbath day holy. In fact, I actually prayed about the Book of Mormon and that is when I started to feel better.

Or something to that effect(a perfect memory I have not). But I was floored, I shared one of my experiences with prayer and the Spirit was very strong. We gave her a Baptismal date and she accepted on the basis that when she prayed she received a confirmation. Yes Baptism! Now on to the husband!

But this other lesson we were having during the week we met this guy named Dickson Sibanda. He has met a lot of missionaries in the past and one of them he said was an Elder Hansen and Elder Nick Hansen. So I am not sure but, Nick, do you remember this guy? Because he remembers you! Then during the week my comp got sick. But we were still out and teaching, so the Zone leaders brought the medicine to our area during a lesson and the next lesson we were going to was Dickson. So we show up and we find his mother who is telling about how she is a Preacher/Healer and she found her calling as a Prophetess at age thirteen when she was in grade seven... Anyway back to Dickson, as we are about to go my comp pulls out the medicine and is trying to figure out how many pills he needs to take.

But I was watching Dickson face as my companion did that. His whole demeanor changed. His posture became tight, and bowed and his face displayed a deep longing. He asked, "What are those? Can I take it too?" My companion said, "They are for a flu, do yo have a flu?" To which he quickly replied in the affirmative, accompanied by a very convincing cough to top it off. I added that my comp had to finish all the pills because they were a course and he needed to get welI(I had no idea whether or not they were a course by the way) I was just closing the option that we could give him some. I couldn't believe it! No one else seemed to notice and my companion was oblivious that is for sure. But I could see it, as clearly as if it had been branded on his forehead, this guy is a drug addict. I was shocked because he has a nice family, he is intelligent, and he is a very open person. But as soon as he saw those pills he was gone. Hopefully we will be able to help him.

There is a less active that we have been visiting that finally told me why she wasn't coming to church. She expressed that she hadn't ever told another missionary what she was telling me. Not even the one that worked with her for eight months, but she was telling me because she could she I was "concerned". She is a wonderful person and hopefully with this new open path of communication things will get resolved and she will come back to church. But I am just not really sure why she opened up finally. And to me. I haven't even been here two months.

But at church on Sunday Sis Solomon walked in and we waved and smiled and she sat down. As me and my companion started discussing who we should invite to sit next to her, a sister in front of her turned around and started to talk to her with a smile and they were playing with Anesu. Then across the row a few of the sisters turned and smiled and waved her to come sit in an open chair by them. Which Sis Solomon did and they started chatting as sisters do. I was just in shock, it was like an institute or church video on the perfect scenario for fellowshipping. It was pretty much the highlight of my week and it all lasted about ten seconds but it was fantastic!!!!!

We also started teaching this guy and he knows zero English. So this will be a little bit of a challenge. But he is a good guy, it seems promising. Also Dickson came to church, he was asking quite a number of questions which is good and he is such a good guy and in one of the classes he referred to the thief that was crucified by Christ, and he said that it was never too late to repent. So, it might be difficult to get him to leave his vices, but we come to find out that he is related to one of the members in our branch! Coincidence? I think not! But I think that was my week!(wait let me check my journal....)

I missed a few things actually

-When some bikes were dropped off(not for our area, I was on exchanges) We get on and start to ride off when I discover my back tire is flat. We discuss and we decide to just fill it in the area. Then I get on to go again and the pedal snaps clean off! I decide to just ride it without so we get on to go again and Elder Hewlett's bike seat falls all the way down! hahaha this bikes are not so great quality but they aren't for me, so... oh well!

-I got a letter! Good, right? But wait this letter was from an investigator. And it was very politely telling me that he no longer wished to continue our "bible studies"... Yea that wasn't so awesome. :P

-I found the black version of Chase Gluch! No joke this guy looks just like him!

But now I am finished!!!!!

Love,

Elder Gay

Training, Elder Hales, Birthday and building a house! And Godfrey.... DUN Dun dun....9/13/10

Well this week began with a training and I don't think I have ever sat that long on mission and I don't think I ever want to again. But it was powerful and I learned a lot. One day for lunch President Dube took us out to Dinner and it was to Blue Banana. We had a three course meal. I had chicken nuggets, sweet and sour chicken stir fry and a chocolate brownie with ice cream for dessert! Yum!

But while I was in Harare, the greenies were coming in and I keep getting told that an Elder Hales is looking for me. I am confused because I have no idea who he is but he finally finds me and tells me he knows my family in Ft Lauderdaile and things begin to piece together. He said my blog was inspired. Not that I can take credit because Pam made the blog but I thought that was kind of cool. He actually reminded me of some of my cousins.

But anyway, we drove back and Elder Butler is in my Zone now! You remember from when I fled the country to Zambia and I worked with him? Okay so you probably don't remember but suffice it to say that I am way stoked to be in his Zone!

But we get to the area and I find that one of our investigators has a birthday, on the next time we are scheduled to return(Sis. Solomon). So me and my companion plan to make her a cake. But when the day came, as with so many other days, no power... so we went to town and we bought her a cake! We sang Happy Birthday and we had cake and it was nice!

Also this we were suppose to do service at this one house but it fell through so I look for someone else we can help and we end up helping this guy build a house! I learned how to lay bricks and to align the bricks and the guy actually asked if I had done this before. I said no(because I really hadn't) but it was kind of cool to learn how to do brick laying even if it is a skill I will probably never use again. Woot!

But we were walking along this path and we found this athletic area and we find out there is a gym inside so I go and have a look and it is awesome so I was really excited about going there and getting back in shape. I talked to the owner and I told him we'd be back and I give him a pamphlet(this will prove to be relevant later in the email, don't worry).

Then after Church we were talking in our meeting with the leadership about Sis Solomon and I say that she was there at church that day. They start discussing and they pin point her and apparently everyone thought she was a member. Because in the Sunday School class she was making contributions and participating which really got the branch excited about fellowshipping her. So she will be baptized soon enough.

Then after church I get a text and I will write it exactly as I received it(if you you have small children reading this, tell them to turn away)

hello can Elder GAY
Come and discuss
the bible with me. i
have a problem.i am
a man but a lot of
other men are

So I see this page first and I am wondering who this is, I don't recognize the number and then I press down on the phone and I was incredibly shocked. Read and partake of my surprise

asking me to have
sex with them.

Are you shocked because I know I was! Really? Why me? Anyway so we call him back and I find out it is Godfrey, the guy at the gym I was so excited to go and use! So we might not be using the gym until we learn more about what is going on there. Anyway we plan to see him that very day. We go and my companion isn't saying anything. So I am trying my best to figure out his real concern because this statement I could tell was just the tip of the iceberg. A very large, ominous, fragmented, and looming iceberg. I have no idea why these things happen to me. Why couldn't they happen to someone without my last name? Because these things happening to me are just so ironic that they could make a stone cold killer cry with mirth. And me to cry with disbelief (ok so I really didn't cry but I was very shocked). He also said in a later text that, "love you my elders" Is anyone else concerned?!?!?! I am a little concerned and maybe even more than a little.

Also I found out that Brother Solomon is a diamond dealer! I mean it is all legal, but isn't that insane? He works in the diamond fields of Chiadzwa! Diamonds!!!!!!!!

Love,

Elder Steven Gay

Have a nice day!!!

Traveling, Baptism, and Crispen Sept 6th 2010

Well this last week has been very busy. Very.

We had a pretty regular and powerful P-day in which we watched Tarzan, played soccer and ate pizza. Then the next day we had a District meeting that was ok.... it could have been better but we had some good success and we found out that I am getting a new companion! Elder Xingashe, you say it with a sucking click noise in the beginning, but I have yet to meet him. Because of reasons that will be revealed later. Anyway, later that same day we were back from the day and we were planning, when we get a phone call. I answer, "Hello this is Elder Gay"

"Hello, uh you need to arrange a branch missionary for your companion you will be driving to Harare tomorrow for Zone Leader Council." Comes the response from the other side of the line.

"Uh ok," Says a perplexed Elder Gay, as he thinks but I am not a Zone Leader....

Anyway so I get a Branch missionary and I leave the next morning to Harare. we get there and we don't have really anything to do that night so I drove to Kuwadzana and I saw some of my converts! I felt good to see them.

But the next day we had the council and then we drove back. We had a baptism on Saturday of a girl named Shamiso, it was kind of a pentecostal baptism because it had to be repeated like five times...mostly because she would fight going down in the water and she wouldn't go all the way under.

Then I have to get a branch missionary because my companion was leaving to his new area and I end up working with Crsipen the person we just baptized on Sunday, he wasn't even confirmed yet! But it was powerful. But I am back in Harare for four or five more days for another leadership training. I am traveling so much but I am out of internet time!

Love,

Elder Gay

AHHH!! zone conference 8/23/10

Well this last week we traveled back to Harare for Zone Conference
because Elder Koelliker came. It was an amazing experience. He had
such great counsel and I feel like the work will shoot forward. We are
on the verge of Africa just exploding with missionary work I can feel
it! But somehow I got assigned to organize the photo so I was
instructing everyone to stand hither and thither which I thought was
kind of random. Then I somehow found myself setting up the food for
everyone and then after the Mission President called me out. So I was
wondering what was going on.... But to my surprise he wanted me to
dish the desserts... Then after I found myself back in the kitchen
cleaning ALL the dishes.... How did all these things happen, I don't
have a clue. I even ended up clearing the dishes and being a personal
waiter to the coupe missionaries, President and his wife and Elder and
Sister Koelliker. After all this was over I pondered on how these
things occurred. I have yet to determine a solution but I will
continue to ponder and pray about it.

Also driving in to the mission office we passed the guard who I
always thanked for opening the gate. She smiled accusingly and asked
me where I had been. I said, "Mutare." But I thought it was funny that
she remembered me and knew that I hadn't been around. I have only said
thank you to her. She is not a member but hopefully she will be soon.

But I got to talk to Elder Bonface(in kuwadzana) and he is saying they
have five baptisms this coming Sunday! All people I taught. He also
said that everyone is asking about me, even the drunks I always
invited to church. They are asking for me by name.... strange because
they could never seem to remember when church starts.... But it seems
like they are continuing with the good work! I hope sometime I get to
go back and visit there.

We just had Mormon Helping Hands all over Africa and we went to a deaf
center and we cleaned. Which was good, although sometimes when I tried
to talk to people they didn't respond because they were deaf...
awkward! But in the children's room I saw anti AIDS posters, good,
right? Wrong! They were very explicit pictures on the preventative
methods.... I was telling everyone there not to look at that side of
the room. It was in the children's rooms!!!!! I couldn't believe it.
Anyway this last week has been very busy with traveling and everything
but it is wonderful.

Love,

Elder Gay

P.S. Ricky and Mike, respond to my letters or dinokurova!(I'll beat you.)

Fire, Baptism, and Interview, Aug 30th

Well I am the District leader and the key indicators that were sent to me last week were terrible. So in the District Meeting I prepared what I felt to be an inspiring and edifying call for repentance! I was worried that the missionaries here were slothful and had poor attitudes. So that is what my District Meeting focused on, was diligence and maintaining a good attitude. I was kind of worried that I gave too much fire but then my fears were dispelled when I got this weeks indicators. The lessons more than doubled, we got our contacts, and our new investigators almost quadrupled! I was so much happier with these indicators. But I know we can do even better!

Then on Sunday we had a baptism of someone who was taught by the branch missionaries and we had one of our investigators interviewed and she will be baptized this coming Saturday! Woot! Her name is Shamiso Betserayi. Which is going to be great.

I went on exchanges this week and in one of our lessons this guy was saying he didn't like the Book of Mormon. So we were teaching him about it and we come to find out he had refused to read it because he thought it was the Book of Mammon. Which is understandable, I wouldn't want to read that book either. Then after the lesson I stood up and they all said wow, big guys. I just started laughing. Because I am smaller now than I have been. I need to find a gym.... anyway.

Also this week, in the morning I hear a knocking at our gate. I go out and it is a Sister who is hired by the church to clean the missionaries houses. So we let her in and she started cleaning. And I felt odd the whole time. It didn't sit well with me that someone else was cleaning my mess. Especially a Sister. I felt like I should be doing it. The house is incredibly clean now and I love it but it still felt off to let a Sister clean up after me. I think it goes back to when my Dad would make us clean the hotel rooms before we left. "Leave it better than you found it" he always said and I guess it stuck. Plus it almost felt like I was letting my Mom clean up after me, which should never happen. I don't know am I weird? I mean she was being paid but still.... it didn't feel right.

I have been learning so much from my study of the Scriptures and I find that it is just leading to more questions. The more I find out the more I realize I don't understand hardly anything but it is all right it just means that I won't run out of things to study. :) I love my study time!!! In fact I might need to repent because I feel kind of selfish about that time.... But I'm working on it!

But in one lesson we were having this guy had met the missionaries and had come to church for six months but said he still didn't know. We were addressing his concerns when someone who had joined us just for that day, said, "I think you need to go back to the Restoration.." hahahahaha I loved it. He was having these concerns because he wasn't sure about the Restoration and this guy who we only ever saw this once hit the nail on the head!

But we are finding successes in the area and I find it is because we are talking to everyone. They are starting to see what the Church really is. Also I have come to understand more and more that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has no interest in the Telestial or Terrestial kingdoms. Our only object is the Celestial kingdom! So we have been focused on finding only the best who are prepared and ready for the restored Gospel! We don't want merely to be saved, we want to be exalted! So next time I hear, "I have already been saved." I'll say, "Me too, but have you been exalted? I doubt that you have." Bam!

This work is awesome! Thank you for all the love and support!

Love,

Elder Steven Gay

P.S. Thank you Chase Gluch for the letter! It came all the way from Taiwan!

Aug 9th Letter

Satanism, not American, and Impromptu Speaking


So not a lot happened this week, other than the usual things so this might not be a very exciting email. But if you read on anyway I hope you'll enjoy anyway.

So this week we have been visiting some people and some new people have joined in. In the course of the lesson we find out that they wanted to see the Satanists and if we really suck blood. One of them was particularly funny. She asked why people called us that and what is the Book of Mormon really about. We start explaining and she seems to be accepting it all actually. But she told us that a few months before she had kicked the missionaries out of her property before when they had gone to teach her grown sons who really wanted to learn. She picked up their Book of Mormon, threw it down and yelled at them to, "get it out of the house because I don't want to die!" I started laughing and she said that she would read and pray and that her children would be shocked that she had the book. So hopefully that family will now receive the Gospel.

Also another story I heard from a member is they were at a funeral and there were a lot of non members. It got full and they were opening the cultural hall and, a woman startled at the noise, grabbed her hand and was saying, "I knew I shouldn't have come here. They are going to kill us and in such a beautiful building too. We are going to die! I knew I shouldn't have come here!" Anyway the member kindly explained they were creating more space for those that were standing and she was a member and she would take her on a tour of the building after the service... so unfortunately people have a slight misconception about the church.

Also no one here thinks I am American. People said that I am English, South African, Tongan, Swedish, Danish and yesterday I even heard someone saying he thought I was Korean. But I don't think a single person has said the USA. Do I look racially ambiguous? Or are these people just severely confused?

So then on Sunday at 9 o'clock we get called into the Branch President's office and they ask if we can give talks... we consent and I speak about forgiveness and it's role in repentance. I thought it went well actually.


But that has been the week! Thank you and mail here is slower so if you wrote me and you haven't received a response I might not have gotten your letter or my response might be in the mail.... sorry!

Love,

Elder Gay

Aug 2nd letter

Dear People!

Well this first night I was in my new area we had no water! Yay! But it wasn't that bad because we had buckets with water in them. And the water came back the next morning.

We have been working a lot with some branch missionaries because we didn't know the area yet. But one told me a story of when he went to a lion farm and he saw hundreds of lions and the owner had his arm bitten off by one of them and he sold them to the chinese because they liked the lion meat.... I kept thinking it sounded like a location for some horror movie. Anyway I contacted this guy who was telling us he liked to burn bibles... because he thought they were full of stories. But don't worry he believed in Christ, just not the one from the bible who was crucified... I was so confused. He was thrilled by the shock on our faces too. Satan has a powerful hold on that man. All I was thinking was, "uh.........." I really was very confused.

I taught my first district meeting and it went well. It seemed like it did anyway. But right out of the city there are diamond fields. Yes , I in fact did say diamond fields. The people who were living there had no idea of their value until a few years ago. But until then they had been using them as a currency. Like two diamonds for a loaf of bread... I KNOW, RIGHT?! I just couldn't believe it. The next day our branch missionary, brought his uncut and unpolished black diamond. Apparently a lot of the people here have diamonds but the government is controlling the whole thing rather harshly. So most are afraid to go after the diamonds. But apparently, in parts of that area you can just pick up hundreds of diamonds that are just on the top of the ground. Like pebbles, shiny, high carbon content, very expensive pebbles.

Also, I have been pretty successful in learning the new area. It is not nearly as large as the last area and there are mountains. Which help me out a lot, seeing as that is how I grew up and learned directions. So I can actually get almost anywhere in our area right now without getting lost even once! I was kind of proud of myself(pride is bad:)) Anyway we have been getting to know the members and our branch president. He seems reluctant to work with missionaries but that will change.

Yesterday we met a man named Endy. He was deaf, old, and I think a couple cards short of a whole deck if you know what I mean(in case you didn't, I mean he seemed slightly and quite literally insane). We tried to talk about the Book of Mormon and he started talking about baboons and tourism. Then we tried to pull it back then he went off on 'theology' and the 'phenomenon within the philosophy'. Yea I had no idea what he was talking about but he seemed to be enjoying himself. Then after he blathers on and on he says "Well our time is up but when you come back we will discuss even more." Then he shows us the door. I am not sure what happened during that visit.

But I know that the Church is true and that Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer. Throughout mission I have come to believe Christ and not to just simply believe in Christ. Through him, everything is possible.

Love,

Elder Steven Gay