Easter in Africa, getting water from the well,

Happy Easter!
Hopefully you all feel the Love of our Savior and were surrounded by friends and family on the day we celebrate the Atonement. We want to share the joy Connor is experiencing on his mission. I try to post all I can. Some items are removed so you are not bored by family chatter. I hope you can continue sending notes of encouragement. If you need his email please let me know. Thanks again for supporting our Son with thoughts and prayers!
Love,
Hollingsworth Family

Gathering Water having some fun

Precious Moments

Notes sent home 3/28

Part of note sent to Me:

Dear Abambo,

Easter was nice. There was no "African" party or anything, But, people would hike to the top of this mountain to say prayers. It was interesting to see the migrations going into the clouds. I want to send souvenirs home, but it is too expensive this side also. I think I might try to send the "important" ones through one and the less important through the other. We do not get fed by members really at all here. The problem is Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, so most people are starving. I have eaten some weird stuff that has messed with my stomach though. Like dried fish fried in red oil stuff. Like the whole fish, head, eyes, fins, tail, and all. It was nice....Sort of. I have to agree. Smiles are contagious. I am famous in my MTC group because I made one of our teachers giggle like a little girl and get nervous when I smiled at her. It makes me feel uncomfortable. (I told him I ordered an OC-1, his favorite thing) So....an OC-1...you think I can run home, paddle it, then run back to Malawi?  

I am glad to hear things are going so well while I am gone!!! I look forward to seeing all that has changed when I get back!!!! Ngiyakuthanda!!!

Love,

Connor

Connors Companion is Elder Mabe. His full name is Shadow Aobakwe Mabe. Connor said he is like one of those ninjas in a video game. He turns 25 next month!!!

Elder Mabe at the well

Connor said they wanted to look Majestic...

Self Titled "Majestic"

Part of a note sent to Kylie:

Hi KyKy,

How was Easter for you? I bet your eggs were pretty and pink! I want to hear you sing! You have the voice of a disney princess!! How was the hunt? Easter is here, but it is not the same. How was Spring Break? was it fun? What did you do? I am so happy you say prayers for me!!!! It makes me feel warm inside. I pray for you too!!! I love you Princess!

Love,

ConCon

Part of note sent to Kelly:

Dear Amayi,

I feel good. I was just starting to get a rash on my arms, but it has gone away. We were told to take it everyday. I just use bug-spray and a net, and also a fan. You get malaria from mosquitoes who bite at night, I think. I should be perfectly fine. I will try to send some more pictures! Chitenjes are just like sarongs! The women tie their chuilodren to their backs using them. It is crazy cool! They come out with new designs like every week! President Erickson is here and we are having Zone Conference tomorrow. Elder Mabe and I are presenting on Finding People and Progressing Investigators. It should be super fun and I am excited to present. I do not know how we will watch conference or if we will be able to. I might just download the talks later from online. I have not found any vitamins, but maybe next Monday I will. I am so happy to hear about everyone having so much fun. It is wonderful to know the love that truly resides at home. I think my whole family has been blessed with talents!!! Which scares me though since where much is given, much is required. Tell everyone that I miss them too!!!  

The week has been quite interesting. I keep teaching in sign language so that is fun. At this point Elder Mabe still does not know sign so I have to teach alone. I find it  super interesting meeting all of the different Muslim people. A member named Sis.Chikapa taught me how to make these thick African tortillas called chipatis. I make them all the time now! I have been missing burritos but now I have them once again! What was crazy this week though is that a few days later we were in the meeting house. Elder Mabe, Elder Brewerton, Elder Kobyana, and I were announced to clean the meetinghouse which is not one of our duties, but we happily accepted. On Saturday while we were cleaning Sis. Chikapa and a few others were present. Randomly she passed out onto the ground. She eventually went to the hospital and is still there. We think it is something to do with hypoglycemia. After, Elder Mabe and I walked one of her kids towards his home. I talked to him all about school, chichewa, and how Elder Mabe is mesala to get his mind off of things. I really hope his mother is ok though. 

We taught a man named Aubrey this week. He is a pastor for another church and like usual he said "Thank you Jesus!!!" the whole time I prayed. He wanted us to hold hands for the closing prayer also. He is quite a funny man who is full of energy. I enjoy teaching him. On Easter, we had a lesson with the Mwales. We talked about the Atonement with them and they gave us chimanga. It was awesome!!! The Mwales are super kind and kind of remind me of being at home. This week I was thinking about Helaman 16:20-22. It talks about how after Samuel the Lamanite told the people about the signs of Christ that will come, how the people rejected it, justified it, and made excuses that he was just trying to decieve them. It made me think of all the signs that we are given today, how we are shown things, such as Spiritual promtpings, but we deny them. We say that those things are not true, we make excuses saying that what we are given are false. We see signs that the second coming is near, but we push away our time to prepare, we act like nothing will happen. But the gathering of Israel has begun, wars and rumors of wars are here, governments are corrupted, people act falsely, the time to prepare is now. 

Mother, I love you. I really do and I miss you. I pray for you and want you to know that I care for you.

Love,

Connor

Making Chipatis