A Test of My Faith
- Dec 9, 2025
- 8 min read
Updated: Dec 10, 2025
Well, I'm sure everyone is aware at this point of what happened to my companion and me. If not, read the entire post for details. I am safe, everyone! After a week of contemplation and rest, I have decided on my own that I am staying out. This incident followed so closely after my last incident of being thrown in jail, is a temporary setback ❤️. I love you all! Please know that all your messages, emails, and family phone calls buoyed me up, and I felt your love, and it really helped me. So, thank you! Let's break down the week
Tuesday
Today was really good! We had some good lessons! We spent a good part of the day walking and finding (looking for people to teach), and had someone yell at us (lol). Later in the day, we taught a lady named Mekeda. It was a good lesson because we had a member of our faith, named Haymanot, which means religion in Amharic, come to the lesson with us. Lessons are always more productive when you can have a member from the area with you. It was a good lesson! We need to progress to a branch (a larger congregation), but we are still a group because we have so few members, because this is such a new area. This is hard because we are literally opening this area up that has never heard of our church, and this means we are literally finding people to share the gospel with. Some days are especially hard, because no one wants to accept the message
Wednesday – THE DAY!
On Wednesday, my companion and I were attacked by 7 men. We were proselytizing in a new area, and we were door-knocking. As we did this, we saw a beautiful Ethiopian Orthodox Church. So, we went inside the grounds, which many missionaries have done before in the past. WE DID NOT GO INTO THE CHURCH. Let me just make that clear. However, in the past, I had been in several Ethiopian Orthodox Churches with my parents when we were in Ethiopia in 2023. We took a few photos and then left. (See below) After this, we knocked on the door of a home that was next to the church. She allowed us to give her a message. After we were finished with the lesson, we left while noticing a guy who was watching us. This guy came up and told us that we went on to holy ground with unholy things. He was referring to our missionary tags and our Bibles, and the Book of Mormon. We apologized and then tried to leave. But he wouldn't leave us alone and kept following us for about a mile. He eventually stopped and picked up some stones. When we saw this, I turned to my comp, and I said 3, 2, 1 run! And so, we did, but he was fast, and I am not. So, my comp and I realized at this moment that we had to fight. We didn’t want to fight, but he started swinging at us. I took a couple of blows to the cheek, which caused a cheek fracture. After some time of trying to fight him off, Elder Ayele tackled the dude to the ground. The fight got bad, and at this time, 6 more guys who were his friends showed up, and we were outnumbered and beaten up. Elder Ayele was beaten with a brick, and I tried to help him, but they ended up grabbing me, and I was getting pelted in the face, blow after blow. ... by the end of it, my comp had a bruised back, and we thought perhaps a concussion from being hit with the brick on the head. But he was lucky, and he was just badly bruised. I had sustained a broken nose, fractured cheek bone and a busted lip. I had blood all over me. There was a large crowd that had gathered to watch, and honestly, that was difficult to know that no one came to our aid. However, the crowd got big enough that we think it is what drove them to run off. For those of you wondering, we were not robbed. We had our front packs with everything in them. Their motive was pure violence, not robbery. Eventually, they stopped, and we walked home scared, lost, and confused! We called our Mission President, who called someone closer to us to come get us. The mission president started driving to meet us at a halfway point. He lives 2 hours away from Adama, the town we were serving in. When the person who lived closer to us in Adama arrived to get us, he told us to pack our bags, we would not be returning to this apartment, we were being emergency transferred. We quickly threw all our belongings into our suitcases and left the town of Adama. We met up with President Cowley, and he took us straight to St. Gabriel's Hospital. We were admitted and checked out. I had a nasal bone fracture with septal deflection, and they performed a closed reduction to get my nose back in place. The miracle of all of this is that I was not in pain. However, as you can all imagine, my mental health and pride were affected. I told my parents that I realized in a fight or flight mode, I prefer “Flight”. However, when there are two of you in a situation, like there was for us, I had no choice but to fight. Needless to say, this was very traumatic for Elder Ayele and me. I could give more details, but I think you all get the picture.
Thursday
Happy 1 year to my comp! Waking up in the hospital is certainly not how we thought we would celebrate! President Cowley was at the Hospital bright and early to check on us, and we were discharged. We were then taken back to the Mission Home to recuperate. We spent time resting because we had not slept much in the hospital the night before. We ate a lot of cheese and watched TV. Not very mission-like, but the Mission leaders allowed us time to rest, think, and decompress. The mission home is in a nice high-rise in the capital of Addis. Sister and President Cowley took great care of us. Towards the end of the night, I was put in contact with a social worker from our church to talk about the incident. Honestly, today there were no expectations, and we were able to just rest and decompress. It was nice.
Friday
Today we woke up early to go back to Adama (the town we had been living in) and filed a police report. It is a two-hour drive from the capital each way. I went with my companion Elder Ayele, President Cowley, and one of the members of our church who is a native of Ethiopia, who could make sure that nothing was lost in translation. We took the police around to where it happened, and they are taking things very seriously! I was a little nervous to return, but it ended up being fine. After the police report, we made our way back up to the capital and just chilled all day. I think I’ll be doing this for a while. Then we were invited to play touch rugby! I couldn't play because.... ( 👃), so I just walked and talked with other Elders around the field. But it was fun to watch the President play with other missionaries and friends. For those who do not know, my Mission leaders are from New Zealand. So, rugby is in their blood. 😊 It was a nice way to wrap up the night.
Saturday
Today we literally did nothing hahaha, the goal for us has been to rest and get better and stronger both mentally and physically. I will say that today I was feeling much better and was not having thoughts any longer about going home or back to the states to finish my mission. The one activity we did go to was when some of the missionaries had a baptism, and we went to that. It was cool to see how that works in the city!
Sunday
Fast Sunday! We went to church, and it was nice. Sister Cowley made the most delicious dinner that evening after we broke our fast. We had pulled pork, sweet potatoes, and some special bread she made from New Zealand. It was SO DELICIOUS! After we had a birthday Cake made especially for one of the senior missionaries, Elder Twitchel. They came over to the Mission Leaders' apartment, and we all celebrated with cake! There were a bunch of missionaries there. Elder Twitchell was having some leg issues and wanted a blessing of healing. There were 14 of us in the circle to offer the blessing. The president said, “Who is the youngest person here? " I answered, "I think that is me". He then said "You will offer the blessing”. So, I offered the blessing of healing for Elder Twitchell’s leg. It was nice to be able to do something for someone else. I paid my first fast offering today. For those not of my faith. This is the amount of money we would have spent on the food for the meals we fasted instead of eating, usually two or three, and give that to our church. This money is used to help people who are in need of assistance and is distributed through our local leaders. It was a peaceful day
Monday
Today I went back to the hospital to make sure my nose is good! They are taking off the bandages, which is a good thing, because they are on my nose, and we all know how stinky bandages get. Try having them right on your nose. Needless to say, good riddance! The Doctor told us that it appears that my nose was set correctly, and the follow-up with the ENT specialist shows that my nose is healing correctly. I will go back for a follow-up in one month. At this point, I have been at the mission home, being well taken care of for several days, and it is time to get back out there. I have received my new assignment close to the Mission Home and will be staying in Addis in the University Branch. Elder Ayele will be transferred to the Ayat Branch, which means we will be separated. I am sad about that. I have been blessed with a wonderful trainer who has taught me much.
I want to end this email with my testimony. This experience is not something I had on my bingo card, and not something I wanted to have happen. I was scared, I felt alone, I felt like just breaking down, and I didn’t want to be a missionary anymore and come home and finish my mission in America. But I kept having this thought. " God didn’t call you to America," and it's true God did not call me Stateside; he called me to Ethiopia to preach! It has been one heck of a training, that’s for sure! And when I look back at this, it will make me stronger. In Alma 14:13 it reads;
13 - And Alma said: Be it according to the will of the Lord. But behold, our work is not finished; therefore, they burn us not
I know my work is not done! I know the lord has something great in store for me! I can now relate to some prophets of old! I am a witness to this gospel and the happiness it brings, the true peace it brings. All of you have sent me some amazing messages, and I am ever so thankful! I will try and get a response to all of you, but there were a lot of people, and if you do not get a reply, please know that I HEARD YOU! And I love you all! I am keeping you all in my prayers! I know the lord has a story for me, and this is a part of it! We can’t go through life without struggles. These past incidents in Adama, Ethiopia, are some of mine. My testimony has doubled in the last couple of days, and “My God” and his son Jesus Christ are who I trust always. They are who I believe in. And I share these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
