Miracle of the day... His wallet was returned!

Monday June 12th, 2017

well today we celebrated our final P-day of the transfer;Ottley, Chiromo, and Isoba are all getting transferred! Harp, Dooley, and elder RUBEN! are coming! yep I was in the same boarding as Ruben just six weeks ago! so that's cool! he's an Okay guy so thats cool:) he's serving in Phoenix now, which is like 99% Indians!!! not even kidding, its probably even Higher than that!  and Ruben is Indian(but from Fiji) so marshal is the ohguy for a while hahahaha

I haven't really talked to Harp or Dooley so I'm not sure what they're like yet?

Today was nice! #MightyMiracleOfTheDay: we were driving to one of our appointments, cruising through the the sketchy Townships of Kwamashu and we saw a guy washing his car in the road. we looked a little closer and I recognized the guy as one of the people we tracted in to that didn't seem too interested so we hadn't gotten around to visiting him a second time. We made eye contact as he was washing the car... is eyes got super big as he waved ecstatically yelling "mlungu, wait!" at first I thought he wanted money or food so I was like crap, Drive. But then he sprinted back inside as fast as he could! I was like what the heck is this guys deal? Then it hit me.... My heart pounded and I got out of the car and ran inside and gave him a HUGE HUG, as he gave me the wallet I left at his house a few Three weeks ago! 

God Bless that man! were gonna go visit him later this week:))

And what the heck? one of our investigators, Wiseman< gave us a call this morning at 4:00am!!!!!! because he had a bad dream! I was like what the heck? why is he calling me right now!!!!!???? so I told him "hey, hamba tendaza mange... lalagahle" (hey go pray, NOW... goodnight.) and yes! I did do it in Zulu so BOOM that happened:) hahaha

OHH!!! and we went to talk to Brother Jenkins! he moved in to the ward a few months ago... he and his wife are here helping High school students get into college and he's the master at SCHOLARSHIPS!!! I took great notes for when I get home and Ill even FWD the Email I had him send me so max can check it out:) there's some really good stuff:)

Wednesday June 14th, 2017

Today was nice, we went out and taught some people, said some goodbyes for Elder Ottley, went to the Chapel to make some copies of Spiritual thought stuff, So I emailed mom and told her I found my wallet so we can all sleep a little better:) then we went out and said some more goodbyes and took some more pictures:) all in all... good day:)

Thursday June 15th, 2017

Harper got here this morning and we were together all day, in a three pack, until we took him to the mission home Elder Ottley departed, it was a super sad day and I will miss him so so much.

Harper seems pretty cool:) when we dropped off Ottley at the Leadership meeting we asked if we could stay for dinner! Pifut the president said no:/ However, he did give us some money to go buy some food so that was super nice! He also gave us something else.... Elder Lubamba from the Congo... I dont know if I told you guys this but a lot of the missionaries that come out of Africa are a little bit difficult... like this guy was supposed to be transferred to Richard Bay with Elder Fransen (fransens a weird kid!) But this guy just told president NO. He wasn't gonna be his companion. I bet Fransen is happy because this guy is pretty scary, but presi give him a "Powerful Missionary experience" so it looks like were gonna do a LOT of work tomorrow!

Friday

Well Im excited for our Dinner appointments tonight:)) we have a combiiday night at the Tshengilas with Kwamashu 1(Noodles and Dooley) it should be pretty  darn good:)

well we had our dinner appointment and it was, Indeed, delicious. *insert emoji with the tongue sticky out because it tasted good*

Saturday

Elder Harper is actually a pretty cool guy and an AMAZING teacher! super powerful! hes been out for 17 months and loves Rock and roll... apparently he was in a rock band back home... I didn't know we still had those.. but he has an electric Guitar that he brought with him so I hope he can also teach me some more about the Ukulele hahahaha

Today we went to Two Funerals for Kwamashu 1.... one was for a member and the other was for a members uncle... it was kinda sad but they FEED LIKE CRAZY at funerals! so We couldn't turn that down..  and the other was a traditional one so that was super dope!! they sang a bunch of African songs on the side of this huge hill, singing, dancing, and having a lot of fun:) I have no idea what they were singing about cause it was all Zulu but It was super powerful:) and super delicious. Good day

Sunday June 18th

well today was... good and bad... I dont know what it is about me... this area.. I dont get it? thi s is the hardest Ive worked the best Ive taught, the most obedient Ive been... but the least successful:( Im getting very frustrated about this last transfer. Where as K1 Missionaries are bragging about all their baptisms and that they haven't tracted or knocked on a single persons door in six months. frustrating..:/ and very disheartening..

However, today we went to a family that lives up in M section; the Mkhize's. This family is absolutely AWESOME. It was our last appointment of the day, I dont think Ive been in a house where we've laughed so hard, so loud, and for so long. When we were there nobody took turns talking, it was a pool of conversation and you had to stay on your toes and jump in. it was so much fun:) and next week were gonna watch a movie:) we went with k1 and the family consisted of Ma, Phendile, Usam, Zo, and their Brother... I'm not s sure his name? all in all, powerful family:) 

Another week and a new Companion

well fetch guys sorry.... its Saturday night... this might have been my last week with Elder Ottley or even my last week serving in Kwamashu! Crazy right! it has already been Six Weeks!!!! This transfer FLEW BYYY!!! it was a lot of fun, we put a many many kilometers on these shoes, and taught and talked to Countless people. We might not have had any Baptisms, but this was Definitely my hardest working transfer thus far!

Monday: we had boarding checks today. Elder Wood came and inspected our living quarters and him and his wife had ZERO Complaints!!!!!! thats a first! haha Hopefully Ottley and I win the 50R at next Zone Conference. 

then we emailed, talked with the other members of our district, and Played BASKETBALL and Catch:) Im not gonna lie, I dont think I have ever been able to catch a football as well as I have here In south africa.

tuesday-Thursday: this is usually the part of the week that we go hard in the Paint. FIND, TEACH, EAT, REPEAT. the food here is... well.. theres A LOT! and its usually pretty good:) occasionally we'll get a Huge plate of mas and Putu, Some Tripe, or kidneys.. but even that stuff isn't that bad.. Except Mas and Putu. I hate that stuff!

hahaha sadly none of these guys have seen my wallet:/ so thats a huge bummer...

Friday: well we painted one of our investigators houses today:) it looks super good:) we gave it a nice "classic sienna" new look! it definitely has the freshest new look in D-section!

Saturday: well this week I gave Brother Monde's mom my suit pants to Slim up... she definitely slimed them up!! they might be a bit skinnier than I was expecting.. but it was super nice of her:)

Sunday June 11th 

well my companion woke me up at 6:25 with the phone call from the AP's.. they told me I was gonna get Elder Harper! ANOTHER American! hes just getting done from Being a Zone Leader so Hopefully he'll teach me a lot! haha 

Then Mission President called Elder Ottley and told him hes gonna go to New Castle and Be a ZONE LEADER! SO he's really excited about that:) now Im gonna have 3 Zone leader companions! Schraedel went ZL right after me, Ottley went ZL after me, and Now Harper is being released as ZL and getting me:) I've had some awesome companions so far and Im learning a TON!!

but I am gonna miss Elder Ottley.

I love you guys! 

~CTR~

Riots, fires, and machine guns... No big deal Mom!

Week 4

Monday may 22nd

...Well, crap.

not my best day on mission so far.

Tuesday May 23rd

Zone Conference was today.. it was actually really good:) I learned a lot:) we had some really good food too!

well I was layin' in bed talkin to Ottely when we heard gun shots outside.. so its time for bed...

Wednesday May 24th

Today was usual... we were gonna have a baptism this Sunday but his dad hasn't said yes yet so that sucks:/ 

pray for Ntokozos dad's heart to be softened! 

Friday May 26th

well Work is work... africa is africa... Monkeys, Aids, drunk black guys speaking Zulu... pretty much exactly what you'd picture africa to be! hahaha

Sunday May 28th

well another day another dollar... Elder Knight said when were all home from mission studying at BYUI Elder Ottley and I are invited to bear lake with Grandpa Q... His grandpa Is Quentin L. Cook.. you know.. the Apostle.. did I tell you guys that Yet? Well that'll be a lot of fun:)

who came to speak to you guys last week?

Oh and Elder Ottley and I have been tearing our house apart trying to find my Wallet... Mom could you check my account and possibly cancel my card.. we aren't finding it anywhere and I dont want some guy in africa goin out and buying himself so much alcohol that he drinks himself to death! haha 

Please pray that I find that!

Oh and today at church They had me Finally introduce myself, I talked a lot about you guys:) but so far so good:) Im loving Kwamashu:))

I was sooo excited when Zamo came to church with her daughter:) it was super cool:)) she is one of the smartest and most sincerely interested people Ive met while tracting! she was only able to stay for the 1st hour and a half of church but were gonna go see her again this week and she seemed to really enjoy it and said she'd be back next week for sure:) and her daughter is 9 and absolutely adorable:)

sadly niether monde or N.K. showed up for church, theyre both less actives but weve been visiting with them and reading the Book of Mormon with them for the last 4 weeks... they said they were gonna be here today:(

after church we went to the Bhutelazies house for some Super good food:) sister B's son, We call him "China", is preparing for his mission so we answered his question and shared a message about not only preparing for a MISSION, but preparing for the temple and the Melchezidek Priesthood:)

Im gonna try and start tellin you guys more about the people here so you'll be happier to see them In their Whites one of these sundays:)

I love you guys! 

~CTR~

Monday may 29th

Solid day.... went to get the car fixed in Durban.. walked down th Boardwalk by the beach:) then we got picked up by Elder Wood, one of the senior couples so we could come help clean out the mission garage. In exchange for Breakfast and a crockpot! hahaha

then we got our car, went to the chapel, emailed, played catch, went home and got cleaned up, then went to teach Brother and Sister Jones.. hahaha they're an older couple that weve been teaching:) I think this was our 3rd visit:)

on our way home the road was blocked off by a bunch of cops with Big ol' Machine Guns... Apparently people were Rioting again.. Burning Tires, breaking stuff, stealing stuff... not fun stuff... so we turned around and went the back roads..

Tuesday May 30th

well we were out working and having a pretty good day when The AP's called and told us we have to cut our Day short at 5:00p because theres more riots and they dont want us to get into any of that stuff:/ 

so apparently theres this thing called "Xenophobia" going on... That's why people are going crazy right now. people have been kidnapping foreigners (My companion and I are good cause we look like Afrikaners, But elder Isoba definitely looks like he is cause hes super Dark)... so tomorrow we just need to be smart and follow the spirit.

... oh, and still no Luck Finding My wallet:/

However, on the Bright side, because we had to cancel our Dinner Appointments, Ande (the guy you guys met when we skyped) brought us some food because we couldn't leave! Great guy, Good day:)

Wednesday 31st

well we had to come back at 4:30 this time today:/ darn Africans are crazy outside. Burning and stealing stuff!

Friday

well things have all calmed down people here just go crazy when they hear stuff... everyone's fine.. a few shops were broken into, and a few burned down... not too bad.. could've been worse!

 

Saturday

Today was soooo much fun!!!!! we got to go to the Elementary school and taught kids how to read! it was a lot of fun! My group was the best though! we played games and had a lot of fun! hahahaha I'm excited to go back next week!

Sunday

on our way to church I saw a white guy so that was nice:)

but hey, life is great! this aea is really picking up and were finding plenty of people to teach now, so thats nice. I love  you guys and I miss you! enjoy your week! keep me updated:)