Round Two with Ayele

This week, I went on exchanges with my father (Elder Ayele), the term "father" means someone who trained you.  Because my father became AP and I was made a Zone Leader, we got to go on exchanges. Best part of my week!

Let's jump into this week!

Jan 27th

Today was an amazing day! It was nice to have a good number of lessons and just be normal.  Tonight, we start exchanges with the APs, and it will be fun to have an exchange with my father, Elder Ayele.

Jan 28th 

EXCHANGES! I started the day great with Ayele, but all of our planned lessons fell through. I won't lie, being on exchange made me realize I’m not doing enough, and I need to be doing more and step it up with my work. I am fighting an uphill battle of culture that has been stuck at this branch for a little bit. So hopefully when I become a senior comp here, I can change it up.  I am also realizing that there are big differences between my companions and me.  This is largely because we come from such different backgrounds and experiences. I won’t lie; it is HARD! This bleeds over into the work because I want to obey the rules and be obedient and work fast and hard.  They just see things differently. I am still struggling with how to overcome that and work through it.

Jan 29th 

Another exchange!!! This time just between my own district members, and today, it was just two of us. It was a nice day. We chilled and had some lessons, and just went finding and really tried getting lots of lessons in. We ended the night with a dance party at our appointment! It was basically us with a strob light and some Ethiopian music while I brushed my teeth. 😊 

Jan 30th 

Today was not a good day, I won't lie. Just lots of ክር ክር (contention), so I was thankful for this day to be over, not gonna lie.  This is a challenging companionship, and being the youngest with three Elders can be difficult, even if I am the Zone leader.

Jan 31

Welp, last day of January. Interesting, isn't it? Time just flies. I’m not here for too long, and I need to keep up the work. Today, sadly, again, lessons fell through, and so it was another midday. We schedule lessons, and we are supposed to meet people at the church to take the lessons. However, follow-through is something that does not happen a lot, and it can be very frustrating.  I do not think that this is a productive way to teach. However, I have to be careful how I implement change, as there are two other opinions that I am living with.  But its ok! Next week will be better, I feel it!

February 1st 

Sunday, and with it brought a “Fast and testimony” meeting! It was awesome and such a nice meeting to hear everyone's testimonies, and I encourage everyone to listen and enjoy testimony meetings. Today, after church, we were talking with some people and got lots of member appointments, which is awesome. Because I love to visit members and really get to know them. After church, someone came up and said, “Can we meet on Tuesday?” Obviously, I said yes! And his name was Teddy, so we will see where this goes. Pray for Heiwet because she hasn't been showing up recently or showing up really late. Pray for her 🙏 

Feb 2

P- DAY Today, we actually are going to do a bit. We are going to the Chinese market, and we are going to go shopping and get some nice food! There is a big Chinese influence in Ethiopia because the Chinese are here building things and doing infrastructure.  So, because of this, there is China food market.  It’s about time I started cooking, so I am going to learn some new things from my comps and wash my clothes today. The washing machine is still broken, so I must continue to wash my clothes by hand.  That is not good. Then we hang them up to dry because we do not have a dryer.  Overall, 10/10 P-day