Good morning USA, October 2, 2017

Hello to everyone. 

Monday like I said we had to go to a different email shop due to the public  holliday closing our usual one. We didnt really do a who lot. The Storms have started so pretty much every night is crazy awesome lightning storms. so thats been way fun. 

Tuesday i went on exchanges with the Zone Leader Elder Reber, we played tag with some kids, went to a day care, and taught some people. taught my first white person. John Voster

Wednesday, we played basketball with a lot of people got some investigators, got invited to a hip hop b-ball tournament, put Phimes friend Tebogo on date, and watched the restoration video with them. 

Thursday we taught an entire family. mom, dad, and 3 teenage kids, the restoration and the LOVED it, this apearently doesn't happen to often, and having a father led family would really help the ward, and keep them all strong in the Ghospel. so expect more on them. 

Friday we were at the WonderPark mall buying some bread since we had allotment again, and we decided to get ice cream, and some guy annonomysly payed for us. So i got a taste of what being a stateside missionary is like. but jokes aside it felt good to know that members are out there. because they're arnt alot. 

Friday was that basketball tournament, and we played in our white shirts and ties, and won it. They were all like, "how are these well dressed White Guys beating us so bad?" it was hillarious, really helped get the name of the church out there, and earned us alot of respect. so that was good.

Saturday we had a Zone activity air softing and then Conference. it was weird to watch it in a chapel, and we still haven't watched sunday afternoon, i heard about Elder Hales, so thats sad. I took a lot of good notes, and we had a decent amount of people show up. even Phime and his friends came to the one in the morning! 

Some notes from Conference::

God will bless you for your best

Avoid the 'Toxic Perfectionism' of comparison and the social media lens 

Read the Family Proclamation and study it deeply and apply it. Like 50% of talks mentioned it. 

                  Salvation is a personal matter, but Exaltation is a family thing

Let God know you are willing to follow his way

Elder Hollands Entire Talk

Humility is something to always strive to have more off. The heart of the widow. Casting in their all knowing that their faith wil be rewarded. 

Gain more that just a testimony of the True-ness of the Book of Mormon, but of its power and Application. 

Light is always there, morning always comes, but sometimes all we can do is wait for the light to retuen , or we can go to the right place, and leave the shadow  (all of President Euchdorfs Preisthood session talk is my favorite one.)

Christ is a souse of healing.

Dont loose focus on Eternal Goal

We can become Fearless though Trust in Christ, and trust  is a two way street. 

Elder Fitz has a bunch of pictures im tranfering over to my flash drive right now, will try to send, but only have a little time left, so might have to next week

Love you all, thinking of the you, the work is good

kthanksbye

 Our chapel

Puppy

 Elder Hamilton

 Funny sign in the City of Sunnyside

Elder Fitz getting braids put in by a member

Pictures at the Big  Abandoned stadium 

Average day's planner 

Elder Hamilton buried in a tomb of blankets we were delivering 

Creepy hair salon 

Car accident 

 Us making a district lunch after district meeting with AP Gilbert in town (middle Elder)

Drawing 

Kids at the day care 

Pheme, Tebogo, Jabu, and Ornille (right to left, Jabu and Ornille are memebers) watching Restoration video on those tiny DVD players 

Message for the Institute 

Elder Fitz breaking his shoelace 

Chicken Feet.  Not even joking, they eat that.

Me in some traditional African clothes on Heritage Day

Week 9, I did a things - September 25, 2017

So, since I did an absolutly terrible job of writing in my journel this week, im not really gonna go very day by day,so my bad. 

the things we did though,

We went back to that big abandoned stadium and got some super cool pictures. those will be included. I drew some pictures last monday. that was fun. 

Tuesday we went and met with a 13 year old member named Jabu, he took us to some of his friends and we goofed around with them and taught the Resotration, 2 of them were way interested and we kept teaching, and both are on date for baptism. Theyre names are Phimi (peemee) and Tebogo (teh bo ho) They should be baptized by the end of October, theyve both come to church and are way interested.  We also taught Sekhoma (Say comb ay) the son of a less active who already knows all the lessons and will be baptized in two weeks, and Amogalang (ammo ha lang) Who will be baptized probably next week. We've been making progress with Masego (ma say ho) and found a time when she's actually home, but she still is super consistently coming to church and we hope to have her baptized by the end of october as well. 

We were going to go see a member named Beverly and her brother Divine on tuesday, and some guys stopped us to invite us to there non-profits first meeting. it was about impoving the more slummy parts of Mabopane and helping orphans. We actually went to it saturday and it was legit, I got some pictures but they were well organized and hat a lot of people show up, they asked us to preach to the crowd about how god loves them, so we kinda did, told them about our church, what we do, and read some scriptures. so that was a wild ride. 

There is a guy named Sabastian Marube, who we've been working with a lot, i cant remember if i've metioned him before, but he is a inactive with a huge grudge aginst the ward, we ran into him on the streets the other day, and said if he came to at least sacrament meeting, we'd give him a 2 litre coke, which worked actually, so we gave him the 2 litre that night, and talked to him. he's actually a well decorated runner. and saturday he ran a casual 30ks because he didn't have work. so that was fun, were gaining a lot of trust with him. 

something ill send a video of is we did a trust fall in district meeting and it went pretty ok, until we decided to do the biggest guy in the district and me and another elder, Elder Sudburry, slammed our heads together, so that was fun. 

Fun fact, the most popular childrens show here is Ben 10, which i watched all of growing up, so that makes me a cool guy to all the little kids when i can actually name the characters. were gonna make a meatloaf today. so woo hooo. 

gearing up for general conference. its gonna be fun to watch in a chapel. we'll see how many people actually show up. 

we had to go to a diferent internet cafe than normal and this on appearently take 5 hours to upload pictures for last week, and this week next week, so sorry to dissapiont i got some videos and a lot of fun pictures. so get hyped. im gonna mess around with this computer and try to find a way to send them that wont take 3 days. 

kthanksbye

This week was a wild ride - September 18, 2017

MONDAY: we went to a nice birthday dinner, ate a real nice burger, then we did our monthly deep clean of the apartment. Really not a lot to report on. 

Tuesday. that was a day I won't forget for a long time. Basically i wont go in to to much detail, but we had an apointment with a less active, and we found her uncoincious as her family was waiting on the ambulence. She had drank something she shouldn't have, she is like 30. so we gave a blessing and waiting with her family. We didn't know weather she lived or died until thursday, when she called us and wanted to see us, she was out of  the hospital and wanted to talk with us, thank us, and get a new book of mormon so she could bring it to church sunday, since she figured that was the only thing that could help her with her struggles. So we did that, and promised to send her uplifting scriptures each night. After 2 days of that we get a text saying "I appriciate what you've done to help me, but I dont want to keep seeing you guys" we said ok, sadly, but we told her we'd still say hi at church, then she said, i wont be comming, delete my numbers and tell the bishop to remove my records. then she vanished. we don't know what happened, and we never will. so that sucks

But back to tuesday. After that whole thing we were driving along and saw a guy with some super nice jordan shoes. so we talked to him, and turns out hes a less active. so we started seeing him. 

Wednesday was exchanges with district Leader Elder Hamilton, the guy who's liceince was stolen. so I had to drive again. that was fun. Taught a blind guy named brother Issac who will be baptized next week. met a family with super cute puppies. 

sorry, computer was wigging out had to move to a new one. 

So Wednesday we met the family with super cute puppies, taught them about a liahona article called 'the gospel path to happiness.' i wont spoil anything since i want you all to read it. it's in the september issue, you can look it up on the gospel library app. 

Thursday, was when all that other stuff happened, and we met with a guy named coleburn. This guy was so mentally destroyed by drugs its insane. He pulls us over and talks about how he grew up "worshiping mormon" and loves the church, but how one day he started seeing airplanes and that was his sign that the universal christian church was the right church, and all this stuff about how different airplanes are signs from God and the Devil, and all this other insanity about they're alititudes and stuff. 

So yeah that was fun.

Every Thursday we have dinner with a member named Sister Velly. Super sweet old lady, retired school teacher, long time member. we had pap and chicken with fries. shared a message about Nephis Psalm. its 2 Nephi 4: 16- the end of the chapter. Read it its a good one. 

Friday was Exchanges with AP Darley in Sunnyside, the big metropolotan sub section of Petoria. Met some cool people, had a powerful 1st lesson with a guy named Evens, he lives with a RM and wanted to know more about the Book of Mormon. so we told him, spirit was strong, he was so into it. Hes buddy the Rm, Antonio, was super helpful. We then ate some awesome beef stew and rice at that wards bishops house. Talked about how we could help the ward

Saturday, we met with a lot of members, mostly less actives and talked about the upcoming general conference and what times the ward will be showing them. I will get to watch both morning sessions live at 6 pm. so thats funny. 

Sunday was a good meeting we had 6 of our Investigators show up, 3 of which were new. 


very spiritual week, but also a very demanding week, 2 exchanges, a lot of apointments, and the who tuesday thing. but the work is true, and we are making progress. so yeah.

I just realized i forgot my camera at the flat, so sorry there are no pictures. WOOPS.

look up that talk, its way way good

That video and whatnot - September 11, 2017

Monday after we emailed We had a final goodbye to some of the elders leaving  the disctrict then tuesday was spent getting the new ones. Elder Chakoe is the new new guy, so im no longer the newest guy. helped him and some others move in, but chakoe is with elder hamilton 4 doors down, so we spend alot of time with them. Hes cool. from a city litterally 15 minutes away from where we stay. 

Wednesday We went to try and meet a less active named Bonkegso, and we have several times before and he wasn't ever home, we went to check again, he wasnt home again, but as we drove to go just street contact, we found him walking down the street. Apearently he has been less active because he's been starting a buisness. A non profit home for the elderly. Hes super cool, has a daughter he wants us to teach. It was super cool finding him. 

Thursday. was a pretty normal day, I had to make an emergency stop at a gas station for reasons, and the guy who got me the key to a thing ended up being the non-member husband of a member who wanted us to meet her non-member husband. So that was cool. 

Friday nothing happened really. A member named Musa asked us to teach him how to be a missionary since he was supposed to do roleplaying for a mutual activity. hes cool, planning to go on mission. nice dude guy. \

Saturday, was birthday, we had scheduled all our apointments for earlier in the day, so by about 5 we were done, so we went back to the flat, got something called a McDonalds ShareBox, which i got a picture of, but is 2 Big macs, 2 quarter pounders, 2 reg fris, 2 small fris, 10 pc nuggets, 2 reg drinks and 2 small drinks for R155, or about$12. so way cheep a ton off food me and Elder Fitz just split it. and then watched the movie the Best Two Years, and then played some card games with the other guys. Fun day, but the Real celebration is today, on p-day, gonna go to a nice resturant with the whole district. and Eat, Drink, and Be Merry. 

Pictures: The Coins are neat, Ill get a picture of the paper money next week, all i had was R100s, but i wanted them all together to show how cool they are. Pictures of my companion in a silly hat, the ShareBox, and a video about how hot its getting. it went up from like 70 to 90 in like a week. So that sucks. the weather was so nice up till now. And also included in your purchase of this email, is the much awaited video of us driving for 30 minutes. Its super action packed, so try not to fall asleep, also its super shakey, which i didn't realize until about 3 minutes ago, so woops. Things are good here, have 4 people on date to be baptized this transfer, the work is true, the book is blue, 
K thanks Bye​

First Transfer Done, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME - September 4, 2017

So my first 6 weeks are done already. so thats a thing. Its all good down here still. Good times in Mabopane. I am gonna do a sort of video tour thing today that ill send next week, give you guys a taste of the reality of living in South Africa. its gonna be good. 

So Monday, nothing really happened, except the power going out. but it wasn't out for that long so it wasn't bad. I started wearing my dress sandals, since its heating up. happy Spring

Tuesday, we went and met a less active named Sabastian Narube, who hates the bishop but knows the church is true, so hes been difficult. Less Actives are a huge problem here, lots of people just stop coming for no reason. at his house we ate something nice, Its called mohodu, its not bad, but not good, sorry i didnt get a picture, becasue mohodu, is cow intestine. so yeah. i ate that

Wednesday, was normal, taught people, found some more less actives, and watched the movie Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration with an investigator who is gonna be baptized later this month, her name is Amogalang, shes 15, very kind. her brother refered us to her and helps us teach her, his name is Musa. 

Thrusday, we saw the worlds slowest sideswipe happen at a 4 way, that i wish i had video of.We saw like 15 cops pour out of a van, arrest a guy at a rode side hair cut shack, and then the cops climbed up on top of the shack, and proceded to toss bag, after bag, after bag of cocaine off the roof, im sure that was worth a ton of money, it was pretty cool to watch. Later that day, I taught the 3rd lesson to some of our investigators. then we went and got all you can eat pizza for 6 dollars at a place called panerattis in the Wonderpark mall by our flats. Malls are crazy here, 

Friday was my First zone conference, it was pretty spiritual, learned a lot about our purpose as missionaries. Got some socks from the mission president as a birthday present. went to the massive Menlyn mall in Pretoria, its massive, like 6 stories and several blocks big. look it up its nuts. got kfc in it. 

Saturday was a lot of meeting and cleaning, the church, our flat. so not alot to talk bout there

Sunday, was a very cool day. We had several appointments cancel, so we went around just trying to find someone, we went down our whole list. many times we just went, lets go check this guy, and they wouldn't be home, but as we left we'd see someone walking down  the street we haven't seen in months, or someone would shout 'ELDERS' and come talk to us about how they met with the elders long ago, and wanted to meet them again, we were so guided unintentionally. We made big breakthroughs with 2 of our most difficult less actives. It was just a very, very powerful day. 

So that was this week. lots happened, some people in the zone are being transferred, so ill get to meet some new Elders. 

Get excited for the video tour, the real Africa experiance, brought to you in full Standard Definition, by a guy who has no skill when it comes to taking pictures a video. Its gonna be a blockbuster event to remember. 

So untill then

bye