Exchange, Exchange, Exchange!

Hello everyone! This week was good! We spent a lot of time out of our area which is both good and bad, hahahaha.  It is good because it made the week go fast, bad because our area that we are assigned to takes a hit! Let’s hop into the week.

June 2nd 

So, its June...... crazy! Today we had exchanges with the AP’s (assistants to the President), I went on an exchange with Elder Van who is a cool dude. We had a lot of lessons fall through, but we still managed to find a lot of stuff to do! It was what I call a “Lowkey awesome” day. It was nice as I was able to get to know Elder Van better, which is always a bonus of exchanges.  We do exchanges a lot in this mission and it helps break up the normal and I like that they are part of this mission. Got to know van a lot a bit.

June 3rd

Today waws Sister Cowley’s 55^th Birthday! It also coincided with our Mission Leaders Conference.  Because I am a zone leader I participate in these mission leader conferences.  This is the last MLC for the Cowley’s because they go home in July.  Sister Cowley started to say a few words as part of the lesson, and she broke down and started getting emotional.  President Cowley jumped in and jokingly said we couldn’t start that yet.  They have been the best Mission Presidents; we are all going to miss them.  They really have shown love to all of us and treated us with respect and shown great leadership.  It was an awesome MLC!  One thing that Sister Cowley wanted us to do was to wash our companions’ feet.  This is both a symbolic and biblical reference that was part of our lesson.  It was good for us all to think about serving others, especially our companions, but also it was lowkey kind of relaxing lol. After MLC we went to the Arat Kilo (university branch) for another exchange.

June 4th 

Another exchange! I went on exchange with one of the District Leaders named Elder Emmanual. He is a super good Elder. Because Elder Wall had some struggles with the last transfer and was sick, they couldn't leave their apartment a lot, so I showed him where a lot of the members live and basically showed him around the area.  I hope that will be helpful to him and they will be visiting these members and it will help keep the retention rate high. In the evening we went back to our area. 

June 5th

It was a good day! We found 3 people that are interested in hearing our message and we also did some member visits. It was honestly a fun day!  The only bad thing about today is that I woke up with heck of a sore :/ which was not fun. Pushing though, no matter what!

Yes.......this is a goat on someone porch! It will most likely be dinner soon. You purchase the live goats on the street and then walk them back to your home to slaughter and eat.

June 6th 

Sometimes spending a week out of the area cannot be good hahahah. Because we had not been in the area, we had a bunch of our lessons cancelled on us and so it ended up with us doing a lot of walking, talking and finding.  We have been talking to the family that owns the souk next to our home.  I like to build relationships before we move into the message, this is what we have been doing with their family.  Today she invited us to come back and share our message and explain what we are doing here in Ethiopia

June 7th 

It was a good Sunday!  Again, it is Africa and one thing people really struggle with here is time.  Church is no exception.  When church starts at 9:00 am.  That could mean 9:10 or 9:30 or 10:00 😊.  It is a cultural thing,

and I will be honest it is hard sometimes.  Our friend Negersa will be baptized hopefully here soon.  We have been teaching him mostly over the phone and on Sundays because he lives very far away from where we are. There are no members or missionaries closer to him.  We had a good lesson with a nice family that lives right by our home, two-minute walk we have been getting to know them better.  

This is the road we walk out teaching. People's "homes" or places they live are close to this road in the trees.

June 8th

Today I’m just vibing, cleaning clothes, practicing Amharic, random stuff hahaha and a NAP! My body really hurts hahaha.  It is P-day, need I say more!

This week was good and hopefully we can find some more people who are interested and ready to hear our message before transfers! We need to see Burayu become a branch! Right now, we are only a group, and we are hoping we can continue to grow! 

Love you all! Reach out I would love to hear about your life! 

Love Elder Frasier