It is Timkit this week!
- Jill Frasier
- Jan 20
- 5 min read
Hello everyone! Hope you are all feeling blessed and feeling the Lord’s love! This week was not the most exciting, and I was honestly frustrated, but it's ok 👍 the work gets done regardless! My frustration did not lie with the work but rather having to make concessions and help my other companions see that obeying rules and doing what we should be doing is the best way go. We all come from different backgrounds and places and life experiences, and it is a learning process for all of us. In my apartment, I am the only one from the United States; the others are all from Africa, and that has taken some patience on my part. Being the zone leader, but also the youngest missionary, has forced me to look inside of myself and rise to the occasion. I am hoping that this next week will be better, as I have contemplated discussing these issues with my companions and moving forward in the best way.
Happy birthday to Elder Christansen. My boy Tate turned 19. Also, Happy birthday, Elder Minson! Being on the same continent is crazy! Keep going, boys! And anyone else's birthday this month, I am thinking of you! I am partial to the fact that January Birthdays are the best!
Jan 13
Today was a really good day! We met with a lady named Height, and she seems really cool. Then, after we went, finding and found 2 people who were interested in hearing our message. Finding means we were out tracting and talking to people on the street and around town, sharing our message. Tomorrow is going to be my first MLC. (Mission Leadership Council)
Jan 14
Well, I hit my 5-month mark! It’s been great, and the work continues! Today was my first MLC. MLC stands for Mission Leadership Council. Those in attendance were the Mission President, Brother Cowley, his wife, Sister Cowley, all the Zone leaders (that is me), Sister training leaders, and anyone else the President invites (usually no one). Today, we just talked about how to improve the mission. Because there are so many of us in leadership who are so new to the mission, like me and another missionary who just finished our training. We did lots of training, and I actually led one of the training sessions. I did not feel qualified, as I am new, and I felt like everyone in the room was smarter than me. However, I learned a lot, and it was nice to be there with everyone, and the ZLs from Hawassa came up. That is a big deal as it takes them about 6 hours to get up to Addis, riding the bus. It was a pleasure to meet some of those people. I feel very blessed to be able to be part of the leadership here in Ethiopia and help the Gospel move forward.
Jan 15
Today wasn’t crazy. We had a lesson scheduled. We usually meet them at the church. However, our friend did not show up. We had a district council meeting, which was a nice opportunity to talk about the progress and work. Our Branch president runs a small school, and he often asks the missionaries to come and help with Math and English. However, when we arrived at the school, there were also two other sets of missionaries who had arrived after us. That was too many, and it is another thing that I need to figure out how to fix. Helping at the school is a welcome change from the grind of missionary work, and so several of the missionaries took advantage of the opportunity. I am going to have to discuss this with the Zone and figure out a schedule so that not everyone is there at the same time. In addition, I also need to figure out how to stress the importance and teach some of the missionaries the importance of being on time. For those of you who know me well, being timely is something that has always been important to me. When we were in Ethiopia in 2023, we were leaving the home of the family who had found me in the forest as a baby. We were in a hurry as it was getting late, and we were concerned about it getting dark. They were not worried, and the oldest son turned to my mom and said, “For you Americans, time is expensive; here in Ethiopia, time is cheap”. This is a challenge in Africa as people spend a lot of time sitting around and visiting, and no one seems to pay attention to time. However, being at the school was a nice change from the day-to-day work of the mission. I spent my time there teaching English.
Jan 16
Today we taught a bunch of lessons. Mostly, we spoke about Joseph Smith. We taught Haiwet again (her name means life). She brought her friend,d also named Haiwet. We had a nice lesson, and they are both very nice. At the end of the day, we taught a member and his family. They are from Gambella. Gambella is an area on the South Sudan border. My previous companion had served in this village as the church just opened this area, and he had taught me a little “Nuer”, which is the tribal language that is spoken in Gambella. When I walked in and greeted them in Nuer, they were shocked. We spent some time with them reading the Book of Mormon.
Jan 17
Not much happened today. We made a lot of calls, reminding people about church and then went over and cleaned the church. (We had gotten chewed out for not having a clean church) After this, we were prepared to give an amazing lesson, and they didn’t show up....
January 18
We had a baptism today! Ashenafi’s daughter got baptized, and it was amazing to see. Today is the start of an Ethiopian holiday called Timket ጥምቀት which means baptism. This is a major festival celebrating Jesus' baptism, with grand processions, prayers, andthe blessing of waters over the next couple of days, involving replicas of the Ark of the Covenant. Because of this, we were told that all Missionaries had to be in their apartments by 2 pm. I took advantage of the extra time by studying. We live in a house in the University District. But one of the senior couples that lives in the building in my old area sent me a video from the balcony of the parade in celebration of Timket. You can see all the people parading in ceremonial Ethiopian attire. It’s fun 👍 just the craziness of Ethiopia.
Love you all! Keep pushing forward!
Elder Frasier