Jan 12 Not So Lonely Anymore!

After being alone and having to work in a threesome for 8 days, I finally got a companion! Elder Ngendabanka arrived Friday night.  He seems like a great guy so far, but I mean I've only known him for about 2 days so who knows...(; He is a pretty mellow guy though, not sure if that's because he's an old man or what (he's 8 years older than me!) but it sounds like we're going to have a very pleasant companionship! He is from the country of Burundi (Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world.  80% of the people live below the poverty level.  It is located below Rawanda.) and joined the Church about 3 years ago while he was schooling in the capital city.  He has already finished schooling and I haven't even started haha! He is also among the first missionaries from Burundi so that's awesome! He has a strong testimony and is a great teacher AND he has the gift of tongues! He came on mission not even knowing English and then learned it very fast and is now completely fluent. He spoke his mother tongue and French while living in Burundi and also learned Swahili while living in Kenya to escape the war, so when he came on mission he knew those 3, but has now since picked up English and he learned chiNanja while serving in Lusaka for 6 months! He has served 6 months in Lusaka, Zambia, and also served for 3 months in the Kenya Nairobi mission! He was originally supposed to serve in England though so he has gone through many changes.


As for the week I had, it was a good one but tiring! I was working with Elders Dlamini and Doig and we would switch off working in their area and in mine each day.  I made the most of it and we had a lot of fun together and worked hard each day! They have some awesome members in their area that's for sure!


One of the highlights of the week, though, was seeing the Milore family. We were teaching them back in the beginning of December, but then they went to Lilongwe for the holidays, but actually Bro Milore got severely sick during that time. He developed sores all over his body and in his body that were developing mucus and such. I'm not quite sure but he was not in a good condition and was in the hospital quite awhile.  When we saw him he was still very very weak but most of the
sores were gone except for around his lips and some other places.  I felt the Spirit very strongly prompt us to give him a blessing when he came out and was talking to us.  So we taught him more about the priesthood and blessings and then we were able to give him a blessing and it was so powerful. He and his wife have amazing faith and know the Church has been restored. Even in his state they were bummed they couldn't be baptized on their scheduled date of the 4th of Jan.
We are able to see miracles everyday while serving the Lord and I'm so grateful for all the Lord has been doing for me here on mission.


I'm excited to serve with Elder Ngendabanka and continue to help the Zingwangwa Branch to grow!
Sorry theres no tornados to report on this week, but it is raining super hard now! It rained super hard all night and is still going strong!

Love
Elder Grant Hiltbrand who is currently soaked from traveling to the internet cafe in the rain!

Thought I was back in California for a second.



Just a little door to door.