The latest and greatest from Mitchell

Montday- P-day

well one really nice part about serving in Kwamashu is that they have a perfect,smallllllll, gym for 3v3 soccer and playing catch:) For Pday we all went to the chapel and played a game with our District:)

our District is made up of 6 Elders

Phoenix Elders: 

Elder Marshal- a "Redneck"from the suburbs  of Utah.

Elder Chiromo: Hes from Zimbabwe and He's 3 months Younger Than I am.

Kwamashu 1 Elders

Elder Isoba: Hes awesome! hes from Uganda, hes super good at soccer, hes been serving in Kwamashu for almost 6 months now... so hes gonna get transferred in the next few weeks:/

Elder Knutsen(District Leader): I call him Elder Knoodles... hes not a fan of that but I think deep down he likes it! hahaha 

Kwamashu 2 Elders

Elder Ottley; Cowboy companion

Elder Gorgeous: who has two thumbs and is super awesome.... oh yeah... THIS GUY!!!

Thursday - May 18th, 2017

well today we went and ate dinner at our Branch Presidents house and he and is his brother are super cool! hahaha they were telling us some CRAZY things that happened on their Missions! haha his brother, Sizwe, was serving in Johannesburg when Elder Holland sent a bunch of the mission home. His mission Was CRAZYYYYY! some Kid died his Hair BLUE when AN APOSTLE WAS COMING, there was a missionary GANG called "the 12 apostates"and those guys died their Garments BLACK! yeah superrrr BADDD! Im glad I wasn't their when that was happening!

he told us this story of a kid in his mission; He got up to go to the Bathroom in the middle of the night and fell, and Knocked his head on the ground. his companion got up and broke down the door to the bathroom, saw him passed out on the ground in a pool of blood! so the he, and the other two elders in the four man boarding took him to the hospital and when he woke up he had lost his memory of not only the last few months but the LAST TWO YEARS OF HIS LIFE. He was asking them where his PROM DATE WAS!!!!!!?? so that was super crazy!! Later bits and pieces of it came back but he still didn't remember the first half of his mission and he had to go home because it was so Traumatic!

POOR GUY!

he also told us a bunch of stories about missionaries getting in fights! they had some super funny stories to tell! hahaha

Friday

well today was pretty much the same as every other day... we tracted for a few hours in the morning, met some new people... we went to visit our investigators in the afternoon... then had two dinner appointments!

im starting to like this area:) tomorrow we are gonna go into Durban and meet with elder Rasband! Im excited... and terrified! hahaha

Saturday

well I got to meet the guy! hes pretty darn cool! hahaha yeah he spoke to us and we learned stuff! successful day:) And I shook his hands... He said I have Big hands and I was flattered! 

but I also got to see a TON of Missionaries so that was AWESOME:))  I got to see five people from the MTC and that was super nice:)) some of the guys are HUGGGGGGEEEEE!!! they've gained a lot of weight! Hahaha Apparently my Friend Elder maughne from the MTC has doubled in size. I saw a picture of him and he has indeed gained some weight! in  the MTC he could dunk a basketball really easily withtwo hands but not the poor guy cant even see the ball when it hits the ground at his feet!  ok ok ok that was pretty mean... I probably have a ton of karma on its way for me right now! hahaha

Sunday

well today was AWESOME! Elder Rasband came and spoke to 3 ZONES! Nearly 2,000 people showed up to listen to Him speak! it was super cool because I got to see People from Amanzimtoti:) I miss that place:) and, Hey, people remembered me! haha so that was nice! 

Im still getting used to this area... its super confusing with lots of windy roads and the addresses here really suck so when you memorize someone address its really difficult.. for example, the Cele's live two roads down, past the Tuck shop, turn right when you pass the big rock and its thehouse with the brown Windows! Hahaha

now imagine how hard it is to get referrals and try to meet them at their house... yeah it sucks! 

but I really enjoyed today:) 

~CTR~

New Area and 6 days until we Skype!!

Monday May 1st

Oh by the way.. Im going to be leaving Wednesday morning and going to Kwamashu where Ill be serving for the next couple months:) Whats super nice is that Im still in the same Zone and Elder Schraedel is now One of the Zone leaders! Which means Ill probably getta come back to Toti in a few weeks for exchanges:)

today was so nice:) a Young boy named Siseku Phungula, hes like 9. He is the SMARTEST Kid I have EVER met in my entire life!!! Like he knows everything about the Restoration... Literally EVERYTHING!!! And he wants to be baptized Sooooo bad! but his dad wouldn't let him.. weve been teaching the both of them and been praying for them sooo much!  Luckily Wednesday morning he woke up and he said it just feels right now! he used to think he was too young for it but now hes a solid Two thumbs up!!!

#BLESSINGS*

Tuesday (last day in Toti)

just went and visited Martell(Powerful Man) We put his on Bdate for May 28th. That'll be a Powerful Sunday:)))

Wednesday (1st day in my new area)

well Kwamashu is super sketchy and Ottley is super cool! He's a cowboy from Idaho! Love the guy so far:) its a TWO man boarding so its, obviously, Just the two of us! 

this area is a lot different... The people here seem very nice and there's a lot of stuff for us to do! Its definitely not the same:/ However, Im excited to go to church and see our Branch:) Ive already met some people here that I already known from my last area. the first house I went to I told them my name was elder Merritt and they said they already knew that, that they were in Toti just two weeks ago and that I baptized their Grand daughter, elihle.. So thats pretty cool, I havent gone very far though.... Honestly, I wanted to go out far away from Durban, somewhere super cold. Were going into winter right Now and Im sick and Tired of the heat! However, Elder Ottely seems to think that I'll be here for another six months... not sure what to think of that...

Saturday

well this week has gone by SUPER FAST! Ottley and I are pretty put together so its super nice! I havent really even been stressed this week, besides moving and having to learn a new area. But We just go from appointment to appointment and just go with the flow:) Hes super strict, But its the good kind! and the best part is that were even more busy than I was in TOTI! were doing a lot more Finding new people to teach!! The Kwamashu Branch has just been split so that means they take the entire area, cut it in  half and they get two new missionaries there! we Got the wrong side:/ the other guys took most of our investigators but thats fine... we'll find some new guys!

OH and if you guys watch the movie "meet the Mormons" you know the one that was in the theatres last year... one of the missionaries that they follow is Elder Armstrong he served here in Kwamashu! so if you wanna get a little better look at where Im serving you guys can watch it:) I havent seen it though... Ottley just told me...

Sunday (Stake conference)

well we had church today in Downtown Durban.. we had stake conference today.. I gotta see a lot of people from Toti so that was nice:) then we went to a few appointments and had THREE Dinners! this place is gonna give me heart disease! Im excited for it:)  

hahaha I hope all is well in America. Enjoy your freedom and God Bless America!

~CTR!~

Elder Merritt

Also 6 days till we getta SKYPE!!!!

Hit 6 months, 3 more baptisms, and his new area...

Well today is Sunday night (May 30th) and I'm all packed and ready for transfer news (assuming that Im leaving). Well we were supposed to get our transfer news on Saturday but our mission President said hes gonna be doing it on Monday now instead:/ so that kinda Blows...

But today was awesome!

WE BAPTIZED MARY JANE, MLONDI, and LINDANI!!!!! it was awesome!!:))) we had 91 people at church tooooo!!!!!!! ad like a gazilion leess actives and Investigators! (maybe not quite that much, but it was a good day:) and we had a really good week too:)

we visited lots of members for lunchs and dinners cause they wanted to say goodbye:) there was a lot of laughter and lots of tears:) it was pretty sweet!

oh and on wednesday I burned my SIX MONTH tie:)

Dont worry i took tons of pictures:)

annndddd yeah not much to report, sorry I didnt use my type writting thingy until now cause Im a busy boy and Im also super lazy when it comes to writting in my journal. sorry, Mom! but ILL SEE YOU ON THE 14THHHH:))))))

Besides all the Teaching and service and stuff this is pretty much what our week consisted of each day

Monday:went to the mall and Schraedel bought a new tie

Tuesday: schraedel was super sick so we cameback to the boarding so he could rest

Wednesday;Burned My Tie

Thursday: I bought a YoYo cause I was bored..

Friday: embarrassed myself at soccer, as usual

saturday: ate TONS of food at the Shabalalas house

Sunday: said more goodbyes, ate food, had 3 baptisms:)

I love you guys:)

~CTR~

Elder Merritt 

"Work work work work work work work" -Rihanna

Monday April 17th:) 

Well today I went on my first african Safari!!!! IT WAS SOOOOO COOL!!! We got to see Spring boks, Wildabeasts, RHINOS, Tons of zebras, Hippos, Giraffs, and lots and lots of other stuff!!!:)))) the only things that they didnt have were big cats Elephants!

IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! I took lots of pictures:) and we got super close to the animals:) its nice cause its just a HUGE plot of land with tons of animals and Restaurants and stuff that is enclosed in a gate. we Just pay a certain amount and we get to drive around and take pictures for as long as we want:))) 

then later when we got back we went to two Family home Evenings! which means we got fed TWICE. AGAINNN!!! the members here set a lot of appointments with us after I gave my talk at church! but youll see in my pictures that Im gaining weight! hahaha Im getting a chubby face! oh well, it just kinda sucks cause I hate working out in the mornings cause them Im tired all day, and I cant work out at night cause our water gets turned off:/ so as a result.... I get fat. oh well! its gonna be a long two years!:)

Tuesday April 18th - Thursday April 20th

"Work work work work work work work"

  -Rihanna

Friday April 21st

Today I went on Exchanges with Elder Takau(AP) in Berea! it was soooo much fun! Takau is super cool! Hes Half Tongan and he has signed to play QB at Dixie State! so it was super nice cause He actually had a REAL FOOTBALL!!!!!!!! So when we woke up we went out and played catch!! ugh! it was soooo much fun! Hes super cool:)

then we went out and taught TONS of lessons to TONS of people and did TONS of fun missionary stuff! being an Assistant to the president means he only gets to do 3 full days of missionary work. the other days he travels the mission and runs errends, goes to meetings, and lots of other boring tasks! 

but yeah! today was a succesful day! and while Elder schraedel and Ngelube (takaus companion) were in toti they interviewed three people for baptism. Mlondi, Lindani, and MARY-JANE! this was mary janes 4th interview (shes kind of a slow learner and is very forgetful.. and she mostly speaks Zulu so it was tough to teach her). and ALL THREE OF THEM PASSED:))))

Im super excited for all of them:)

Saturday April 22nd

Today we when and Visited Mary-Jane and shes SOOOOOOOOOOO Excited that she passed! hahaha

Sunday April 23rd

well today was filled with a lot of different emotions... Brother Leroy was baptized last week, so he was planning to be confirmed, given the priesthood, then baptized his son after church. but he never showed up... He was stuck with his work and was unable to come to his sons baptism:/ his wife came to me and said that she still wants her son to be baptized today and that she wanted me to do it... We talked for a while and I could not convince her to wait... (because her and her kids are moving to Zambia, while leroy continues to work here for the next few months.) Its all super complicated and I couldnt convince her of a way to wait:/ so We went along and did it:) Hes super cute His name is Marlon and were true Homies!! hahaha

*ill send photos:)

I love you guys! I'm gonna be getting my transfer news this saturday! Pray that I go to a super nice area with a DOPE companion!

~CTR~

Elder Merritt