1. Share a testimony building experience
An experience I've had that has definitely strengthened my testimony was meeting Iyabo. We were having trouble finding people who would keep our appointments and had been praying to be led to those that were prepared. We were traveling to a members home for tea (dinner) and we missed the bus because it actually came early. Sister Smith and I were pretty frustrated because normally the buses are late but the one bus we needed to be late actually came early. We were speed walking to the main road to catch a bus that comes quite frequently. We were saying hi to people as we passed but not stopping to talk to anyone. One woman we said hi to stopped suddenly and just asked for one of our books. We were so surprised! We asked her if we could meet and she said we could come over the next day. We came to her house and taught her the Restoration and she accepted the message so easily. I know that God answers our prayers because he has answered mine again and again as I've asked sincerely for help. It may not be exactly how or when you wanted the answer, but if you trust in him and have Faith that he will answer your prayers eventually, he always will. He is our heavenly Father, he loves each of us so much, and because of this love he wants to bless you. The only condition is that we knock, seek, and ask (3 Nephi 14:7)
2. Greatest challenge you've faced as a missionary
Oddly enough, the thing I've had the hardest time with is talking to people on the bus. One of the main principles of finding is that you should talk to everyone. It is only when you do this that you eventually find those that are prepared. For maybe the first 2 or 3 weeks of my mission I was awful at talking to people on the bus. I was too scared to just open my mouth and begin talking. As missionaries, we are promised that if we will just trust in the Lord and open our mouths that they will be filled. I went on exchanges with the STL's at about the same time I was struggling with this. Sister Smith must have told her that I was struggling with It because we ended up spending a few hours just travelling back and forth on the buses talking to people. I was so nervous but I knew that if we were going to be led to those that were prepared that we had to talk to everyone that we had the opportunity to talk to. As I began to trust in the Lord more to help me speak, I was able to find the courage to talk to someone every time we took the bus (which is several times a day). I know that what it says in Ether 12:27 is true: the Lord can help our weaknesses become strengths.
3. What do you wish you were better prepared for? Or what do you wish you had know beforehand?
The one thing I really wish I had done more before my mission was become more familiar with the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. One of the greatest conversion tools is the Book of Mormon because once they have a testimony of the Book of Mormon they know that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored through him. We are encouraged to use the Book of Mormon often in our lessons. It is easy to do that when you know exactly what you are going to talk about but often you don't end up talking about what you think you will talk about. An investigator will ask a question and I'll think "I know there's a scripture that answers that question but I have no idea where it is". So all of you future missionaries out there, I invite you to study the scriptures and become familiar with them. I promise that as you do this that the Lord will call these scriptures to your remembrance at the very moment you need them.
4. What is a story about you and your companion?
The first full day I was in the field (so back in the beginning of June), we were trying to get back into the flat at the end of the day and it turns out Sister Smith had locked the keys in. Elder Forsythe in the mission office had a set of spare keys but we called him about 20 times and he didn't answer. We ended up calling the zone leaders because We were going to be out past 9:30 and so we had to let them know. We had left a window open because it was so hot and we don't have air conditioning. The zone leaders decided to drive over and try to climb in through our window (it's on the 2nd floor). They put a chair down first, then Elder Jensen got on the chair, then Elder Schoonover climbed on his shoulders. There's a little ledge just to the right of our window so he ended up perching on that, pulling our window open, and climbing in. It was so funny to watch! We got into our flat by about 10, after which Elder Forsythe decided to call us back. The whole situation was pretty funny.
5. What is the food like?
The food is not too different. There are many different cultures here but I've mainly just tried the things that the members feed us. The weirdest thing I've tried is somethin Iyabo fed us. It's called "Melon" and it's made with the ground up seeds of Melons. She made a sauce with it and then served it with chicken and shrimp over rice. It was actually not that bad. British pastries are actually so good as well. There's a place called Pilkingtons just down the road from our flat and it has the best pastries. I tried something called a Rocky Road which is fudge with nuts and mallows in it. It was so good.
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