May 30 New Flat

This week we spent a lot of time working on getting a new flat for the Lilanda area. Their old flat was probably the most infamous flat in the mission, but now this new one is going to be one of the nicest! I remember Elder Barnard, one of my Zone Leaders last Feb, telling us horror stories from that flat. So we found a great new flat around the same area and had to deal with all the contract matters as well as moving the salvagable items from the old flat to the new one and giving out the other stuff. We got to give out a queen size bed along with some chairs and couches. We gave them to some young men in the ward who were literally sleeping on the concrete floor. That was a humbling experience.

For the rest of the week, though, we got into our area and worked. We have about 6 people currently progressing towards baptism and it's so exciting. One of them is a 17yr old young man who would hang around "Banka's Grocery" and became really good friends with Ngendabanka, so Ngendabanka invited him to come to Church and learn from us. Now the young man, Kelvin, is coming closer to Christ and really liking it. His learning and embracing the gospel will completely alter the course of his life. Previously he probably didn't have very good friends, he doesn't come from a united home where faith is very important, but now he will learn the gospel and serve a mission and grow up in a much better way I'm sure.

"Christ takes the slums out of the people, then the people take themselves out of the slums."

This coming week we will be very busy. Tomorrow we pick up new missionaries and do orientation with them. This will be my first time picking up new missionaries! Then on Wednesday we will wake up very early and travel to Malawi where we will have a conference with both zones in Blantyre. I'm excited to be back in Malawi and to participate in this conference. I might also get to see Rosalia, a not-so-recent convert along with another woman who joined the Church in Lilongwe because Elder Ngendabanka and I called the wrong number!

By the way, on Sunday I sustained Bro Ngendabanka as the 2nd counsellor in Matero Ward's Bishopric!

Love you all,

Elder Grant Hiltbrand