Yeah the weather is weird. It's starting to get really
hot some days but it's still a little chilly at times. It should get
really hot in December. Right now there are a lot of rainy days.
Last week it rained and church attendance shot down. People are terrified
of the rain here.
I enjoy teaching from the scriptures, from
Ether 12:6, and talking about how the witness only comes after some sacrifice
and the trial of faith.
Why I love Jeremiah 12:5 so much.
It says if the footmen or the foot soldiers weary you, or if
you have a hard time doing the easy things God asks you to do, then what are
you going to do when it comes time to contend with horses or soldiers on horse
back. You'll have no chance. I feel like I really want to be
obedient to every small little thing that God has asked me to do so that when
it comes time to be faithful to the big stuff then it's no problem.
To Mom:
The mission goals are really nice. President Merrill
put in this program called the standards of excellence just a few months before
I came in and it really caused convert baptisms in the mission to spike
up. Basically the goals are to proselyte for 50 hours a week, teach 15
lessons to investigators with a member present, teach 6 less actives and 6
recent converts each week, get 10 referrals, 10 new investigators, and as a
mission baptize 50 people each month. Me and Elder Greengrass usually get
those standards easily besides the 10 referrals. It is a sweet program
though because it motivates all the missionaries. Our zone doesn't really
have goals I don't think. Our district has a few goals but I don't really
know what they are. My district is the four of us that stay in our
boarding and also the zone leaders. Our district is just in Mdantsane and
also our zone is just in Mdantsane as well. The whole mission has I think
8 or 10 zones or something.. I'm not really sure. Mdantsane is by far the
most fruitful area of the mission though. Especially me and Elder Greengrass'
area. We actually made a goal to teach 30 lessons to investigators with a
member present next week which is a pretty insane goal.
This week was very encouraging for me as far as food
goes. I was able to cook a lot of different things for myself and eat a
variety of fruits and vegetables every day. We get fed by members a lot
especially lately. Last week we had like 6 DAs. We had a couple
days with double DAs as well. When the members feed us they always give
us lots of different vegetables. I've actually been very good with my
money though and me and Elder Greengrass decided we're not going to eat fast
food at all or buy treats at all. I think in a few weeks I will be able
to budget properly so that I don't have to spend any of my personal card at
all. Mission is definitely a learning experience for me. Also I've
been working out every night and I'm trying to start working out every morning
too.
Last week I got some things to help me learn Xhosa so that
is really coming along now. It's a pretty simple language once you get
the clicks down.
Last week was a pretty cool week. First of all the morning
after the election was pretty insane. I was just calling the bishop and
he was telling me the progress of the election and stuff and then he said Trump
won and it was way crazy. We went over to the other Elders boarding and
we were just going insane. A lot of the elders were saying like here
comes the apocalypse and stuff but I was way stoked about it. I think
it's so hilarious that Donald Trump actually became the president of the United
States of America. Every time I think about it I just laugh. But
yes I am way happy it wasn't Hillary. It's crazy how close Hillary came
to winning Utah. I think people in Utah really hate Donald.
Next week we are having a baptism and so the people being
baptized had to have an interview on Saturday. So about 2 months ago a
girl in our ward called Uviwe got her mission call. She had her friends
over and one of them was called Y and so we talked to her briefly.
The next day at church Y was there so we scheduled an appointment to go
see her. When we got to our appointment she was just shaking. I
don't know why but she was just so so nervous to meet us and to have a
lesson. She was really freaked out. After we talked to her a bit
she calmed down a little. After that we started to teach her and she got
comfortable with us and now she loves us. Anyway she reads everything we
give her and she memorizes everything and she is just so prepared for baptism
she's super awesome. But when we told her last week that she was going to
have an interview with a different elder she like got really freaked out.
when we showed up for the interview she was pale and she was visibly
shaking and she was so so nervous. It was funny to us that she was so
freaked out because she was so prepared anyway. But anyway we talked with
her and she calmed down a bit. But she's super powerful and she said she
thinks she might want to go on a mission which would be sweet.
I forgot to tell you this story which is insane. So
when I first got to the area we decided to tract for like 20 minutes just for
fun and we went to this house where there was an old woman sitting in a chair
reading a Xhosa bible. We talked to her for a minute but she said she
can't get out of her chair because of her leg and she didn't seem to really
speak English very well so we left and didn't really think about it.
About a month later we were around the area and a girl about 10 was running
around and she said she loves Jesus Christ and we asked her where she lives and
she pointed to the same house. When we got there the same old lady was
sitting in the same chair. Well we decided that because we were led to
the same house we should set a return appointment even though she doesn't speak
English very well. Well when we went back for the return appointment I
was with one of the zone leaders Elder Muller and we taught her a little bit
about the book of Mormon. It turned out she spoke a bit better English
than we thought. Well we got to know her a bit and found out her name was
N. After the lesson we prayed and then we told her we could give her
a blessing. We laid our hands on her head and blessed her leg to be
completely healed. It was really amazing because we left but when we came
around the next week she wasn't in the chair. And we knocked on the door
and she came walking around the corner and she told us her leg had been
completely healed. Since then we have taught her the restoration and she
said she will walk to church. I think when she understands more she will
be a powerful member.
Anyway it was a powerful week.
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