We Bought a Blender and Ran into a Zombie Girl

I gave this little girl the Hot Wheels car a while back and she carries that car with her everywhere. Her family is super poor and she just loves her new car.

Week one done of this transfer. The area is great and we have a good amount of progressing investigators which is always nice. It's always good to feel rewarded for your hard work!

This week Elder Condie and I bought a blender and we are back to trying to build a hammock. If you remember the last hammock in our yard didn't go so well. haha

We were teaching an investigator, Jefery, in the park, and we heard yelling and swearing down the road. We then see about 12 young adult men carrying one guy into the park towards the little pond in the middle. They were making a ton of noise so I had to ask what they were doing with the guy. They said hadn't bathed in 2 weeks, so they were forcing him to bathe. They were yelling, 

"He hasn't bathed in two weeks! He lives right next to water but he refuses cause he's scared of crocodiles. He needs to take a bath!"

So they carried him to the edge and just started getting him wet (with nasty pond water) and were scrubbing him. It was pretty funny to see! 

 People are always selling DVD's for super cheap on the side of the road. They are often movies that aren't even out of the theater yet! Found someone selling these movies on the street, I didn't know that Magic Mike was a family movie?! haha

We had district meeting in this gazebo thing.   

 Love this picture of me and Elder Mhlungu!

Had to take a picture with a guy wearing a Seattle Seahawks jersey. He couldn't speak English and had no idea what the Seahawks are, maybe I can make it on to the Seahwaks fan page??? Hahaha Mel ;)

 We went to the bush to find a recent convert, and we felt like we should visit an old investigator who had just fallen off the face of the planet. So we went to his house, (or one room shack) and knocked on the door. Then out of the bush walks a younger girl, in her 20's. She walked around very creepily with her arms kind of like the young girl in the King Kong movie with Jack Black (the cannibal little girl). So she walks and stands about 7 feet from us and stares at us. We asked her if Nathan was home, and she didn't respond, nor move. So then the Branch missionary, Prince, spoke Shona to her, and again she didn't respond or move. Then there was this super awkward pause for about ten seconds where no one said anything and she didn't move. So I just held out a restoration pamphlet to her, she looked down at it, stared at it for a few seconds, then took it. We quickly walked away cause it was the creepiest scenario I have had as a missionary yet. We walked away very quickly and looked back just to see her staring at us all the way until we disappeared into the bush. I don't know what was wrong with her, but she seemed possessed. Even our branch missionary was freaking out and saying he had never seen a person act like that in his life. Super creepy. 

People just randomly burn garbage by the side of the road.

African Churches

 

Street signs. One is Packiepa or something like that. It means "life is tough"

Yes...this is a sign marking a bus stop.

   I had my first baptism interview as a District Leader, it brought me back to the time when I waited for Ryanne to get done with her interview! Only here it is a little different. We went to the boy's house, and his mom had locked him inside the gate, so he couldn't get out, so I interviewed him through a fence. Kind of felt like I was interviewing a prisoner hahah.

This little boy did NOT like seeing us white men... he was scared.

 Priesthood donut competition Elder Condie eating a donut... Me I'm trying to avoid breads to see if that will help my stomach issues.

 

*From Cayden's Companion Elder Condie*

"We were sitting in an investigator's home playing Monopoly with 3 kids that are supposed to be baptized next week. We were having a good time, until these evil, black, fanged crickets that were like... 2 feet (inches) long started flying around the house after crawling in under the door. They were really dumb, and kept flying towards the lights (like all bugs do) but when they ran into the bulbs they bounced off with a very audible "PING" and came hurtling towards the ground (and our heads) at speeds usually reserved for F-22s. The game was interrupted for a few minutes, and I actually heard a Zimbabwean squeal at the sight of a bug, until the crickets were thoroughly squished. Elder Cazier ended up winning the game, but I was unnerved for the rest of the night."

The difference between our filtered water and unfiltered water. (in our new blender)

   Last thing, mamas here go by their child's name with Mai (my) in front. So for example, my moms name would be Mai Anderson. I don't know why they do that, but it's just culture!

So my stomach has been the same old same. But I am trying my best to keep a smile :) Love you all, Elder Cazier

What a Wreck!

Well this week sucked. Not really, but kind of. It started really bad but then turned better-ish. 

Transfers happened, and I am staying with Elder Condie but Elder Richardson and Parco are both leaving, and Condie and I are getting their area and I am the District Leader. Our area is huge now, and we have no car. So it will be very interesting. But missionary work should be great!! 

 The crew is officially split up! 

Elder Parco and Richardson saying "Goodbye"

 Seattle Mariners. Funny how things end up on the other side of the world.

  What they do to kids in Zimbabwe when they misbehave.

Home Sweet Home...
(My awesome hand washing tool is the blue plunger looking thing on the floor)

   So Monday was a good day, we went shopping and got some things done that we needed to get done. Everything seemed good till early Tuesday morning when I was woken up at 2 in the morning with the worst stomach pain I have ever felt. I laid on the couch for 30 minutes vomiting and crying till I finally woke my companion up at around 2:40 and got a blessing. It was the worst pain I had ever felt in my life. I had gone through a lot of pain before, but nothing like this! So the Zone Leaders picked me up and rushed me to the hospital. It's a 2 hour drive and we got there in an hour. So by the time I got to the hospital my stomach was feeling a lot better, so they just laid me down on the bed and gave me an IV with some medicine and fluids. So I got there at around 4:45 in the morning, and laid there till 2:30 in the afternoon when the doctor finally met with me. He didn't really address the pain I was having that morning, just said I had stomach cramps or something like that. It was a really frustrating but it is whatever! It was a very boring day, I laid in bed all day just to meet with the doc for 10 minutes. Sis. Mkhabela (the mission presidents wife) sat with me all day. After I left I went to the mission office and ran into Elder Bollinger which was cool! 

Pictures from the hospital, and the needle in my hand. It sucked. I felt like dying.

 Ran into Elder Bollinger at the office after I left the hospital, it's been a long time! Either hes getting shorter or I'm getting taller!! ;) 

 At night we were driving home and a dog ran out of the bushes and we hit it. It was really scary cause I wasn't looking then I hear a loud "WACK" and the airbags exploded and the car filled with smoke. We couldn't see out the windows cause there was so much smoke so we quickly pulled over and the radiator was busted so the car was toast.The dog messed up the front of our car and got blood all over the side. So now we were stuck in the middle of the bush with a broken car. Luckily a really nice guy picked us up in his old truck and towed us to the nearest city, Chegutu, where the zone leaders picked us up and took us home. It was a very long and interesting day. 

The dog left a nice mark on our car.... 😶 

 Packages came!! I love them so much 😊😊 

 The rest of the week went fine for the most part, I had to get more glass out of my finger which was painful. I am getting tired of all the Holidays here. There is literally a holiday every week. So this Thursday is "Africa Day" so all the shops are closing down. People here complain about money, but will find anything they can to not work. So there is a Holiday like every week. It's really frustrating, but is just how things are. 

Issabel! She is 11, and was crying because she had a braid headache! 

 Did service by plucking beans! It was fun! 

 Mama Sheela and Nelly, even the adults want me to "shoot them a photo" 

 That was my week! Hope yours was better then mine was! Felt like I should share this before I leave. The Savior Understands Me: You can watch it HERE. Love you all. Have an amazing week. You are in my prayers
Elder Cazier