January 16-22

Monday

well today was perfect!!! it rained almost all day and i LOVED it! haha So we all went to Funland and played some games at the arcade! we hit all FOUR jackpots again! and i even got  mine on my first coin! I think im gonna save all my tickets though.. Im gonna try and get the Helicopters or the nerf gun... I havent decided yet? 

then we went to the reises for family home evening.. again... we played Uno and i crushed all of those fools! 

Great day.

tuesday

"Good news, I saw a dog today!"

-buddy the elf

Anyways yeah we did see a dog but honestly ive See Wayyy more goats than dogs... Especially in the townships!

OH BUT TODAY WE FOUND A FOOD TRUCK!!!! and guess what they sold.... CORN DOGS!!! these ones were really good cause they had cheese inside the meat!! it was definitely a top 5 corn dog... but lets be honest Disneyland has the best ones.

Wednesday

well today we tracted, talked with a couple members, and ate dinner at sister Phindy's house with her family:) I love those guys they're so much fun, and they feed us A LOTT! I gave them our christmas card two weeks ago and they loved it! haha the only problem is that family is gonna make me really fat! ya know what we ate thats actually really good? spaghetti on top of mashed potatoe! it was really good, it kept all my noodles together!

Thursday

well today was one of our slow days so we tried to find new people to teach... and we visited some of our investigators:) one of thems name is freemen and hes actually a pretty cool guy, but when we visited him someone died so they were getting the funeral all arranged and these guys go HARD for funerals!! I havent been to one yet but Lesueur and Eastmand have and they told us theyre ridiculous and long!

But for dinner we went to pannorrottis All you can eat pizzzaaaaa! it was really good, as usual! and i had 13 slices! not my best, i was still recovering from eatting at phindys house the day before! 

oh and today we found a guy thatll take pictures and put them on a tshirt for only 100 rand:) This means he can scan my drawings and put them on one!!!!! this is great news cause i have the perfect one for it:)) so i think ill give it a try:)

Friday

well today Elder Nielson had to go into durban to turn in some driving paperwork so he was able to bring us our MAILLL!!!!!!

IM SOO HAPPYYY! lots of snacks and candys and stuff from  the Slifkas:) theyre pretty darn awesome!!! I feel so loved ! hahahha THANK YOU SO MUCCHHHHH!!!! hahaha:))

Saturday

I got my tshirt printed but the guy didnt do a great job with the details:/ not very impressed with it but its still pretty cool:) ill send you guysa pic of it:) 

Sunday

Today we had SIX INVESTIAGTORS AT CHURCH and a good handful of less active members that weve been visiting:))) im reallly excited for the future:) a couple people werent able to come because they were busy so we could have had 13 investigators! well see how next week goes but for now im really happy:)

love you guys, be safe!!

Mom Talk

This is just a post for me. I love the idea of saving all of Mitchell's emails on a blog so that when he comes home he can look everything over and see what he has accomplished. In the beginning I was editing the typos, grammar, and punctuation. I also took some things out because I worried that someone would read them and think he was being prideful or judgmental.
I am done doing that. If he mis-spells a word or doesn't put in a capital where it should be, it's because he is typing on a little word processor that is smaller than a tablet. Think of an old school Nintendo DS and that is what he is using. If he seems prideful or boasts, it's because he's a teenager and still knows everything. My hope is that whoever reads this sees growth in him as a person and can feel the love that he is growing for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the people of S. Africa.
I miss him everyday, but I don't tell him that in my emails because I don't want him to be anymore homesick than he already is. But honestly everyday I think of something I want to share with him or tell him and it breaks my heart that he is so far away. At the same time, there is NO WHERE else on earth I would want him to be.
Just keeping it real while he is gone. I do hope that you all are enjoying his emails and this blog.

Love,

Elder Merritt's Mom

january 13th, 2016

well the last couple days have been pretty average. not much to report.. we've just been talking to people teaching them lessons and eatting their food:) we never went into Durban because we had to help the mattress company.. we got new beds in our boarding and we helped them install them... I have SO much more respect for those guys! I cant imagine carrying beds every single day... Poor guys:/ 

Oh but today we had Exchanges, which is where I spend the day with Elder Eastmond and Nielson goes with LeSueur... Elder Eastmonds the short guy.. hes really cool but hes not enjoying Elder Nielson.. He was telling me all the stuff that bugs him.. I feel bad for the guy Nielson.. umm.. lets just say you need a lot of patience to be with that guy.. haha but i like Lesueur the only thing that bugs me is how loud he eats and slurpse! mom probably would've stabbed him by now... and probably chopped off the guys tongue. ANYWAYS... today I was in Illovo with Eastmond and we went and talked to a couple of the familys from his ward. They're SOOOO nice:) we helped one of their moms write he talk and it was honestly the BEST lesson ive been in. I felt the spirit so strong and was able to point he to a bunch of different scriptures that applied to prayer:) we crushed it! hahaha oh but before that we went to the church to clean out the baptismal font because theyre haviing TWO baptisms tomorrow:) It should be a lot of fun!

January 14th, 2017

well the baptisms went though smoothly:) those kids are adorable:)) 

oh but later today we went to a members house and they told us to wear regular clothes.. so were like ok i guess were going to do some service for them or something? but when we got there they told us to relax and have fun, you're in Africa and you guys need to enjoy it.. you shouldve seen Elder Neilsons face when they said that! he was terrified cause he thought we might get in trouble! hahaha theyre a really nice family and they even gave me an African braid! but those things are Painful to put in! I cant imagine doing that to my Entire head!!!

ok sorry this week was so short hopefully this week ill write more.... And ill send you guys some pics:)

I hope all is well in America!

January 2nd,2016

today we went to croc-world and it was awesommmeee:) we saw a bunch of birds, eagles, owls, flamingos, etc. we also saw I think 11 of the deadliest snakes in africa, besides the king cobra! but we did get to see a black mamba, green mamba, and another cobra:) and you'll never guess what else we saw... Crocodiles!! hahaha they're hugggeee here!! they actually havent the world oldest crocodile in captivity and it was 116 that day:) so that was pretty darn cool:) I got a bunch of pictures and had a lot of fun:) 

Im excited to go to another area though.. this one is pretty small and theres not much to do... I heard theres a place out in Free State where you get to play with Lions and tigers and cheetahs and stuff! BIG full grown ones and little baby cubs as well:) i saw pictures of missionaries doing that in the Christmas slide show and I really want to do that!

January 4th 2017

Hey mom I got my birthday package and oh my GOSH I LOVE YOU GUYS SOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!!! Im gonna save the bag of watermelon sour patch kids till i get my first baptism though! hahaha and good call sending me back some shirts from home! its realllyyy nice to have that for P days:)) THANKKK YOUUUUU!!!!!!!!! These guys Love the Jerky too:)

Oh my goodness we've been tracting soooooooo much lately. Its been exhausting but it hasn't been very hot so thats been nice to take advantage of haha:)  But my legs hurt so bad! Im pretty out of shape right now! haha but on monday were gonna go into Durban and play soccer with Elder Baumgartner and his ward:) It should be a lot of fun and i think were gonna stay over their and start filming a movie with the other Elders haha It'll give us something to do on P-Day Instead of watching the same church movies each week.. hahaha Elder Eastmond is into movie making and has a good camera to do it.. a few month ago 

January 6th, 2017 Friday

Well today we had a Zone Conference and president Thompson went off! he was teaching us like crazy!! we covered sooo much stuff it was ridiculous! we went from 9:30 to 6:00!!!!!! It was Soooo long but i learned a lot and made a bunch of new friends which is nice to have hahaha

Saturday January 7th I think? 2017

Today was craaazy fun/long! We found a map of our area in our boarding, so we looked at it & decided to do some tracting around our chapel. So our map showed that there was a street that was a culdesac so we said, lets hit that street up! We parked the car at the chapel and went on our way. Only to find out that the cul-de-sac did not exist...we ended up at some trail head that led to a river, we decided, hey, lets see where she takes us. We took some sweet photos though, and had some fun, aaaaaand then we got lost..we were not sure where we were, so we started walking, & walking, & walking..we ended up in Kwa-Makhutha & then Dooneside, which is like a 10 minute DRIVE from the chapel & we had to walk all the way back. Wow we walked far, but we had so much fun. Great great times. 

January 8th, 2016

Sunday was pretty good. Sunday was fast & testimony which went well. We had to teach the youth class because sister Cebekulu had a emergency at home. After church, we took the sacrament to brother Trevor. He is such an awesome guy, he is the 1st counselor in the bishopric, but is very sick. He has a bad heart, and he cannot walk far before getting really tired and out of breath. After that we took the sacrament to sister Sue and gran. Sister Sue's son and daughter-in-law were there. Really cool people, they are headed to China in a few days for the next 7 years to teach English! Then they are moving to Alaska right after that, what an adventurous life! As we were leaving, these 3 little rascals were in the parking lot playing with a camilion! Woah that little guy was so cool, got to hold him & everything. I will send some pics!

Following that, we went to sister Nkosi's & had a FANTASTIC lesson with her two kids, about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It got a little emotional when we were discussing families in the beginning because of their situation, but the spirit was so strong. We were able to put them BOTH on baptismal date! I was like "hey guys if you pray and know this is true.. and you receive a yes.. will you be bapized?" and they said yes! it was awesome! We are so excited about that, it was powerful!!!

welp! I love you guys:) hope all is well in America!

Thursday December 30th, 2016

Hey guys sorry, I forgot where my typing thingy was and was too lazy to look for it until now! haha this week has been nice:) Its been cool, we've had appointments, and have been getting stuff done:) not much to report about the last few days but todays been kinda hectic i guess? We woke up and when my companion went to the kitchen there was a monkey sitting on our washing machine! He looked up and kinda gasped and the thing looked up and ran out the window where it crawled out hahaha! he was not expecting to see that this early! haha

Elder Eastmond woke up with food poisoning and was throwing up all morning so those two didn't leave the boarding all day, hes just been resting and watching all his church movies; Mobsters and Mormons, best two years, the other side of heaven, Singles ward, etc.. Hes lucky we had those or his day would've been super boring!! haha 

Elder LeSueur and I went out to KwaMakutha and talked to a bunch of people again today:) I love going out there, they love talking to us cause we dress all fancy and are Americans and white and all... i just wish the church was closer:/ wed have a lotttt more people at church each week... 

December 31st-January 1st

well today we celebrated new years just watching all the awesome fireworks! it was so much fun!:) so i guess now I've been in Africa for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and now New Years

Oh and this week we gotta go into Durban to get our car fixed, while we waited we walked around town and looked at stuff:) it was really cool seeing a new area! then they gave us our car back with a new battery and we went home:) the next day our car still had the same problem. yeah it kinda blows... were gonna call him again and see if we can take it in AGAIN.. or if we can just use one of the other cars.. either way i want to go to the mission home because one of my PACKAGES IS THERE!!!