Monday, October 2, 2017

October 2 letters

To Dad:

We watched conference this weekend.  It was really great.  Mom said that you liked Elder Renlund's talk which I agree it was really powerful.  I really liked Elder Christofferson's talk.  I wondered if you also liked it because the metaphor of eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ is really a fascinating metaphor to study and I know that you had been studying the symbolism of the sacrament before my mission so I thought you would have liked that one.  Elder Christofferson is just my favorite I love him so much I hope you liked that talk. 

There were a lot of talks that I liked.  I also like Elder Bednar's talk because he doesn't mess around with funny stories and anecdotes he just speaks pure doctrine haha.  And Elder Oaks talk was really powerful.  We are watching Sunday afternoon next week. 

I love you Dad
Thank you for being such a great example to me and a pillar of strength all my life

To Mom:

Aevyn and Aeyla are so cute.  I can't wait to play with them.  Especially since President Lebethoa is really being strict on the rules and we've made a focus on not picking up kids at all or really not playing with them.  That's sad and one of the most difficult sacrifices I've had to make on mission so far. 

We did watch conference this week also.  We watched 2 sessions live and 2 others on a little delay all except Sunday afternoon session which we'll watch next week.  I thought it was an amazing conference.  There was a lot of things that spoke to me a lot.  I really loved Elder Christofferson's talk as usual.  He really speaks with the tongue of angels I'm not going to lie.  But by far my favorite talk was President Nelson's talk.  That was just so powerful I can't stop thinking about it.  

I noticed a couple of themes for the conference.  There was a lot of talk about service and a lot of talk about humility.  I don't know if you also thought that but I thought that was a good take away for me.  There was also a lot and a lot of emphasis on President Monson and a lot of love to him and everyone was quoting him.  It really felt like a final tribute to him or something.  

Another theme that a lot of speakers spoke about was the dangers of social media which I completely agree with.  A lot of speakers brought that up and I think that's really wise because it is a big problem. 

It was amazing for me and we actually managed to get 13 investigators to turn up to conference so that was a really great turnout. Especially since it was only like 5 of us members and 13 investigators.  Not kidding for the last session the investigators outnumbered the members and the session hahahaha.  

I have a lot to write about this week since I didn't get a chance to write last week so excuse my long email. 

First I'll say that the elephant experience was really great.  We rode the elephants for a while which was cool and the guides told us a bunch of facts about elephants which was sweet like the fact that they can lift 400 kgs with their trunk and that us on their back is like a matchbox in our pocket.  After we finished the ride we walked along side the elephants and we led them to a place where they ate some treats and we took lots of pictures with the elephants.  I am sad I didn't bring my camera because it's going to take me like a month to finally get some of those pictures but as soon as they come I'll send them to you. 

After that we led them to another feeding spot and we fed them some treats and took more pictures.  It was weird to touch that trunk thing it was so slimy and it was basically like a hand.  Something funny is that while we were walking with the elephants one of them just decided to grab a tree branch and rip it off and eat it.  Obviously they do that because that's how they live, but I thought it was funny that the elephant ate the branch not the leaves.  Like he literally just ate the wood hahaha.

Last Monday there was a stake event.  5 wards showed up to KwaNobuhle to play a soccer tournament.  Funnily enough we all showed up to where they meet for church, and bear in mind this event has been planned for several months, and they didn't have a place to play or a ball to play with hahahaha.  But no problem we drove around and found a field to play at and they graciously volunteered my ball for the cause of the event.  Unfortunately my ball popped along the way so it has gone the way of all the earth.  If you want to put 20 dollars in my account for me to buy another one that would be heaven sent.  

There were 5 wards and so all of the missionaries were there and we ended up making our own team which was the missionary team to be in the tournament.  Our first game was against KwaMagxaki ward and we easily smashed them.  I scored a pretty sweet goal dribbling through a couple of defenders and after I scored I was running back and a random guy from the sideline yelled "Elder are you from England?"  Hahaha I thought that was funny.  It's so weird to them that a white guy could be good at soccer that the only explanation in their mind is that I must be from England haha.  
But in the end our missionary team played against Uitenhage ward in the final and we also beat them 2-0 so my bishop wasn't happy with me and Elder Khoza hahaha.  But it was all good in the end and all of us missionaries were so proud to represent the mission so well haha. 

A funny story from the week is that we have this investigator named B who we've taught about 4 times.  At his house he has about 6 cousins that we also teach all YSA age.  They have come to church 1 time.  One of the cousins is named T.  On Wednesday night we taught them and after the lesson T said to me "It's my matrix fairwell tomorrow night why don't you come to 5 Peperboom at 6:00 tomorrow"  Matrix fairwell is like prom.     So I was like ok we can move some things around and fit it into our schedule.  So we showed up the next night at 6 and the family showed us in and we sat down behind this massive table of cakes and treats and stuff and waited for whatever was going on.  Apparently in the colored culture it is custom for the person going to prom to have a little gathering of friends where some people give speeches to him and eat and send him on his way.  Well as we were sitting there everyone started looking at me and I was just wondering why they were doing that and then his mom said to me "You can start"  Hahahaha so then I realized that I was actually the master of ceremonies for a ceremony that I have never even seen or know what it is at all hahaha.  So I was like ok what the heck and I stood up and just winged it.  I had my companion give a prayer and then I gave a speech for this kid I barely knew and then I made some jokes and called some other family members to give speeches and then closed with a prayer.  It was really funny for me to be thrown into the deep end so completely but my companion said I handled it well haha.  At least that guy will never forget me and he'll be more likely to be coming to church from now on. 

We're having lots of success with our investigators.  That father led family I told you about N and S and all their kids came to church again for conference.  They are married but not by law so the bishop is going to sort them out legally and they'll be baptized on the 22nd.  

Sister N who is 18 is doing amazingly well.  She reads 1 chapter a day in the Book of Mormon and she's almost done with 2 Nephi now.  She came to 3 sessions of conference and she's also going to be baptized on the 22nd. 

One of our investigators that's been around for many months long before me was supposed to be baptized before I got here but she has a job and she works on Sundays.  Finally she came to us yesterday and told us that she's had enough and she wants to be baptized so she quit her job.  She's going to be baptized on the 22nd. 

We've been really blessed by the Lord and me and my companion are getting along great. 

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