Adventures of Elder O'Hagan: Week 6: The End of a Transfer...

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Week 6: The End of a Transfer

Hello all!

This weeks email will be much better than last weeks. I can promise you that! I've really grown in my faith and testimony this past week and I have a newfound appreciation for this Church and our Lord.

Monday: There isn't much that happened because it was P-day (and I usually just go grocery shopping and study for most of the day) but we did find a DVD in our flat called "Pioneers of Africa". It talks about the development of the Church in Africa and is truly inspiring! I believe that you can find it online, and I highly recommend it if you want to get a better feel of what I am experiencing here in Africa.

Tuesday: HAPPY BELATED HALLOWEEN! Even though they don't celebrate it here I still dressed up! ... as a missionary! Anyways, today was really awesome because I had a successful phone call in Kinyarwanda!! This language is not easy, but it is really cool.

Wednesday: We had Zone Conference with Elder Palmer of the Seventy! It was a truly amazing experience that I'll never forget. It's not often that you get to spend a day learning from (and eating lunch with) a general authority. One interesting thing that happened was that we had three generations of missionaries from one family in the meeting. Elder and Sister Wright (Rwanda Senior Couple), their daughter and son-in-law (President and Sister Collings), and their RM son (Conner Collings). It was really nice to see how missionary work becomes multi-generational and I hope to see that happen in the future in my life!

Thursday: Today I really studied out what faith is and I gained a stronger testimony on how through faith the Lord provides miracles. One of these came through a blessing I was able to give one of our investigators to help her diligently pray to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I won't go into detail, but it truly was by the Spirit that this took place. The second thing that happened miraculously was that we taught a full lesson to a family where each person speaks a different language. They have French, Swahili, and Kinyarwanda! It was interesting for sure!

Friday: Nothing really profound or special, aside from the fact that Hymns are powerful!

Saturday: This was the craziest day of my mission so far! We (mainly Elder Driggs) had planned a Branch activity called Cultural Game Night (CGN). In it there were four countries represented (Kenya, South Africa, Finland, and America) in games, food, and how the gospel got there. It went way better than planned! We had attendance of 120 people! 20% of which were investigators or non-members! This is awesome considering we normally have sacrament attendance of 60-80. However, this meant that we were running all over the place to run everything, and that I was in the kitchen pumping out food with the missionaries and some of the members.

We also had a powerful baptism immediately after for Mucyo Joseline who is also Redempta's daughter! It was amazing to see the love and bond they had as a family during the ordinance and I know that they will truly be powerful members of this Church!

As for this transfer, it has truly changed me as a person. While I am still the same in many ways, I've gained a better understanding and testimony of this Church, The Book of Mormon, and that Jesus Christ knows each of us and loves us fervently. I hope that with this next transfer I will be able to become a better teacher of the gospel as I study and apply His teachings.

I am forever grateful for the love and support that you all have for me and other missionaries. I can feel it each day and I know that it truly helps further the work! I hope that you all continue to brighten the lives of others, and that you can all know that the Lord loves and cares about you, and that I do too!