I have no witty title this week - August 28, 2017

not really a lot happened this week.

Monday after I emailed we went to a place called kota Joe for lunch. It was basically just a high end kota shack with amazing shakes, to rival JCW. I had a ferrero rocher shake, super good. almost bought a second one. then we just chilled in the flat and played some games. 

Tuesday was Exchanges in the big skyscraper filled city of Sunnyside. I was with Elder Haffen. It was fun, mostly met with members and recent converts. Nothing really special happened.

Wednesday we met with some less actives, we've really been focusing on reactivation in our ward, because retention is really low.

Thursday and Friday were more of the same.  just teaching people. 

Saturday we went into an old abandoned soccer stadium, and as a zone, so 14 Elders, we played soccer Ultimate Frisbee and rugby for 5 hours.

the African Elders dominated at soccer, the Americans at ultimate, and rugby was won by the elders who had been out the longest and actually knew how to play. it was super fun, but now im way sore, haven't run like that in a long time, need to get in shape. on the way back we found a place where you can get custom license plates, so im gonna get one this week, as my 1st souvenir. 

after we showered and whatnot we had a Ward Mission Leader stake training that our WML name Sipiwe was putting on. after that we had a Briaa, pronounced Bri, ( barbeque). it was fun, gave the other wards a lot of training in terms of what is expected of the WML. 

Sunday was nothing out of the ordinary, just church, lunch appointment, lunch appointment, dinner apointment, back to the flat to call in for the week to the district leader, and pass out from eating to much. 

This morning we went to a place called MACRO. (owned by WalMart). so that Elder Hamilton could get a hard drive for picture storage, which i probably will end up doing, for securities sake, dont want to loose my pictures. plus a 1TB hard drive is cheap here, like $50. so well see, still deciding.

time is Flying, its already almost been 2 months. im 8% done. so im practically there.

super sad looking mormonad in the mission office, when i was picking up my package​

 ​I made a sandwich. it was super tasty, bacon here is weird, mayo is super good.​

​Cool thing brother jason, a member, had in is house. Ill have to remember it, since its super cool​

​the skeleton keys in our flat.​

Almost 1 month in the field 2 months total 3 french hens, 4 weeks of emails, 5 GOLDEN RINGS - August 21, 2017

So a lot happened this week. So ill start at the beginning.

had a exchange with the district leader, Elder Tree, in a town called Soshenguve. Talked to a lot of cool people, met a lot of people, and met a family with the newest and softest puppy ever. The first dog I've pet since i got here. That was a good time. That was Tuesday.

Wednesday we couldn't go to the area, because of reasons, so we played some games ate some food. Got some prep done for the fiesta. not a lot really happened

Thursday was pretty normal, met with some cool people. A member named Sabelo and his family are supper friendly. They said that if we ever have some time to kill, and want something to eat, just stop by and take some bread or chips, no appointment necessary. They're the best. super nice, and very strong family. 

Friday we spent the whole day doing final prep for the fiesta, bought all the food and prizes, and then spent 4 hours making 160 tortillas by hand. it was fun.

Saturday was the fiesta. I was in charge of cooking. So i made a whole lot of tacos. most people had never had one so that was fun. We played bingo, and the members were waaaayyy into it. Ive never seen a more competitive or serious game of bingo. We then did minute to win it games, and then the pinata. The kids lost their minds. we put so much candy into that thing. Then we watched the cokeville miracle movie. Then we went and ate Kota, the bread meat and fries thing thats like a the size and filling-ness of a betos burrito, for about $1.50, and then slept. 

Sunday was average. Good service, taught some members ate some good food. nothing special

And then today, the reason this email is later than normal, we went on a safari. we had to leave the flat at 5 am but I saw girrafe, zebras, rhinos, so many weird deerish things, birds. Im gonna send like 10 emails worth of pictures it was unreal. There will be some videos with it too. so those are coming.

Time has flown, already almost through the first transfer. Learning more about the culture and language. We had a member write us a bunch of phrases in setswanna. So expect some foreign words in next weeks letter. 

I get to lead the area tommorrow on an exchange with the Assistant to the President Elder Hafen

More pictures to come, gonna take a few emails and elder fitz got most of the good aminal pictures with his crazy nice camera so hes downloading all those, if re run out of time ill send them next week. but ill make sure you get them. 

Week The Third - August 14, 2017

We are having a Fiesta this week, the first time anyone in the ward has ever heard of one, so thats gonna be hillaroius. We made a pinata. There was a luner eclipse that actually blacked out half the moon, but i couldn't get a good picture so sorry. Been having a lot of fun, we have 4 new investigators, one is a DJ and hes fun. We caught a gecko in someones house for them and are keeping it as a pet in our flat. Had to stay in for some riots due to the super corrupt president begin not kicked out. 

There is a holiday that was last wednsday call Womans day. Everyone, i mean litterally anyone who wasnt a child or member, was drunk or high, because its work off for everyone. 

Saw some owls which was cool 

I had to drive on friday because it was exhanges and I went with elder Hamilton who had his license stolen last week. So trial by fire I can drive on the wrong side now. 

Saw the movie 17 Miricles.  Do recomend. 

We went to spurs the 'american' resturaunt. It was pretty good. nothing crazy good though.

I made strogonough. the good kind, with steak and potatoes. that was fun

Painted elder fitz and gilberts faces while working on the pinata. 

Sunsets are still awesome, still don't have anything to complain about

I do actually. They have a thing that "white people never like" its called Achaar. Its a pickled mango and fish oil salsa type thing. 

Hands down the grossest thing ive ever eaten. I was not prepared for it. 

Pap is definitely almost food - August 7, 2017

Pap is still a weird thing to eat, but I'm beginning to like it, which is good. This stuff called Chacalata is like a spicy bean, onion, pepper sauce you put on everything and its way good. (  in the pictures its in the jars, someone gave us a 'take away') Its been a little over 1 month since I left, its gone by pretty fast which is good. 

Something super nice about Africa... Everything is super cheap. I bought a 26 piece Tupperware set, which is halfway decent quality, for 71 Rand, or like $3. you can get a package of 12 'Toppers' a cookie thing similar to Oreo, but I think better, for like 7Rand, like 50c. I'm gonna use my homecard today to buy a nonstick frying pan for myself because the provided pans are a nightmare, ill just take it with me from flat to flat. So the bank is probably gonna freak out. 

I got free weed yesterday. 

Some stoned guy called us over, and we said hi, and he hands me a bag of weed, and says take it for being such good men of God. but as we took it to go dispose of, he was like, no wait it wont get through the airport, so he asked for it back, we gave it to him and then left. So that was funny. 

The Baptism of Beauty Tshepo Lekana went very well. I didn't mess it up or have to do it twice. 

Got a hair cut today, gonna go buy a whole bunch of food today, go to a place called Sacramento Spurs, an ' American Restaurant".

The thing with fries on it is the Kota i talked about last week. Its good. super cheap, like $1 for all that. its big. the size of a half a loaf of bread.