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Catching up on this month's emails

Monday October 1st

well today was a lot of fun:)) haha

we started the day off by going on a hike on Sentinel Peak, it was easily the most beautiful hike Ive ever done. it was so cool! the pictures dont do it Justice:) ill try and send more this week but the internet cafe we use is super slow and we dont get a long time!

Either way we had a lot of fun!! and they had this one part with these super long metal ladders! it was so cool!!! hahaha you'll need to see the pictures! 

But we made a HUGE MISTAKE! we thought we made it to the very top of the mountain but apparently we still had like another 2 miles or something and we missed the best part! so were gonna go back next transfer!

also, Elder Harper gave me a call today and delivered some awesome news! Kwaasa, Pelile, And nthombi All passed their Baptismal Interviews!!!! SO I'M Super HAPPY FOR THEM:)

October 2nd, 2017

Well today I had my first door slammed in my face... so that was new! hahaha But its okay, Elder Abel and I had a pretty good attitude about that! hahaha

Also, I Found out that Elder Lichty Baptized sister mofokeng so I gave him the Phone call and told him that she passed away.. poor guy, but he was happy to hear that she was strong in the gospel until the end:)

Wednesday October 3rd

First of all today I met my first Queen! Queen of the Paballong Village, and were teaching her now:) Shes super nice! she had a lot of good questions

Also, Elder Takau and I were playing football OUTSIDE! and one of our passes may could have maybe possibly broken the neighbors electric fence...... I blame Takau for not catching a perfectly thrown pass... that was Slightly high. The problem was that I did nearly Seven Pushups Prior to playing catch.. so I put a bit of heat on the pass.

But all is well in Zion.

Hahaha

Thursday

Elder Abel and I went to visit Sister Leseho. Shes been Less active for a a while and her family owns a Tuck shop. SO we stropped by for Lunch, and practiced some magic tricks! Im Terrible at magic. But I must not be THAT bad because it got her to come to church this week and watch General Conference:) Nailed it!

Also, Weather Update: Its been raining a lot lately and I LOVE IT! It feels soooo nice, and everything is GREEN!!!!!!!!!!!! so that kinda pumps me up! when everything is dead... well, then I feel dead. But now that its all green and pretty it pumps me up! It looks so much prettier than When I first got here! I thought I'd share that with you guys:) 

Missing the Oregon Rain!

ALSO! WE WERE FED DINNER TODAY! YES, I REPEAT; WE WERE FED DINNER TODAY! Man, I was beginning to forget what it was like to have Dinner appointments. Luckily, The Church is true and our prayers have been answered we had some delicious chicken and rice at the Uithelar Families house! God bless them!

throughout this transfer Takau's been teaching me how to Crock pot effectively. It truly is an Art, and I have a much deeper appreciation for them now!

Saturday October 7th, 2017

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARY!!! I hope you had an AWESOME Birthday! haha I'm sending you a letter in the mail but it'll be a little late! I Apologize! I heard you were Homecoming Princess:) Congratulations!:)) hahaha Keep up the good work and stay away from Boys!

But today we watched the first session of General Conference:) What stood out the Most to me was Elder Rasbands Talk about "Gods Divine Design, Not Coincidences"! and My favorite Quote that he gave was "One day we will look back at all the Meaningful "Coincidences" and see that it was all Divine Design". I dont know He said something like that something along those lines... But It's SOOO True! Its happened so many times on mission:)Its hard to put in to words but I've met a lot of people that made a really big impact on me, and If I would've been placed in that area a month, a week, or even a day too soon or too late, I Might never have met them. The spirit truly helps guide us to people that need our help. 

Sunday October 8th, 2017

"The Greater the Light in our Life; the fewer the Shadows"

So today we had The Second half of General Conference and it  was super good too! :)) 

Im not gonna write a lot cause we have to clean the Boarding tonight, but I thought it was funny today during conference. Everyone in the Chapel was struggling looking down, probably trying to stay awake but then one of the Speakers, I forget who, but he mentioned Nelson Mandela and Everyone sprang to life, all at the same time! I thought that was pretty funny! hahaha and when the guy quoted The Lion King he totally got everyones attention! including myself!

"Look Beyond What You see."

I love you guys so much:) I miss you and I hope you guys had an Awesome week again!

~CTR~

Monday October 9th, 2017

well we emailed, then we went to work... because were moving o

our P-day to Thursday:) so we went out and began to Find, Teach, and do other stuff regular Missionaries do.. 

Tuesday October 10th, 2017

well today was really really good:) Probably one of my best in this area! haha 

Today it Rained super bad so we went to BiBi, the Grocery store, so I could teach elder Abel how to start up a conversation in a different environment.

He didn't know I was planning this so we got there and I was Like "Okay Elder Abel. Lets see if you can do this. I need you to get us one phone number from anyone in this store!"

Shockingly, He Replied "WHAT? How am I gonna do that, I dont even have Pamphlets?"

"Flash them the Name tag. Its got everything they need to know on it. our church, your name, Jesus. thats all they need for now!" 

"Well Im gonna need an example!? come on!" 

So I went to the first Gogo I saw, passed them as I said "Dumelang".. she replied "Oh, Hi you guys arent from around here arent you? 

then she went on and basically made it the EASIEST thing in the world! I got super lucky! haha

Abel was Pretty Ticked off! but it was all in good Spirit hahahahahahaha then we awkwardly walked around the store for about 5 or 10 minutes while Abel tried to talk to them! the guys there weren't giving him the time of day! He said we'll come back tomorrow! haha

Wednesday October 11th, 2017

So we went back to BiBi and he was "Abel" to get three different Phone numbers! Im proud of him! haha We also had DDM, Elder Abel gave the Lesson. it was POWER. haha Hes doing awesome right now:)

Thursday October 12th, 2017

Our real p-day: Today was NICCEEEE! I Swear Depriest Takau and I played football outside the bethlehem Chapel for Hourrsss!!! We had to get our car fixed again cause the breaks sucked so we spent the day with our Zone:) and we finished at an ALL YOU CAN EAT PIZZA PLACE! Im not proud of how many slices I ate though. hahaha

FRIDAY THE 13th

Saturday October 14th, 2017

well we just got transfer news Elder Abel and I are Breaking up. He's gonna go to Richards Bay so I will no longer be training him... instead Im gonna train another Guy! I'll be Training Twice In a row! Im super excited, and nervous! So I dont know who I'll get until Next week:) So Im super Excited!

So More about today; Remember when We went and played basketball a few weeks ago at The University of free State campus? well they gave us a call and the recruited us, Missionaries, as a team in their Final Tournament of the year! so last night we called The Assistance (they said "Well.. you guys have been doing good work soo... as long as you have fun and win) then we started making Preparations. We Designed Uniforms, got our stuff for a Media stand, and well.. designed our uniforms some more! haha we found a bunch of old white shirts, cut the sleeves off and put tons of Mormon Messages on them! Mine had the Church Logo on the back, and the other 3 guys had "Where did I come From?" "Why am I here?" and "Where am I going?".. then we had another one that said WWW.MORMON.ORG! WE HAVE ANSWERS. we figured we'll have to Market this kinda stuff correctly!:) Gotta make people asking themselves these Questions:) 

So the Games were super Intense. all in all we did pretty darn good, a lot better than I was expecting!!!! We ended up getting to the Championship game!!! We took Second Overall and we got some cool Silver Medals and a LUNCH! the team we lost to had 3 players that used to play for south South Africas National team..."So they say"... but it was two guys and a girl, they were insane at shooting threes! we couldn't keep up with those! we ended up losing that game 38-52. which is actually a LOT BETTER THAN I WAS EXPECTING! hahaha BUT WE GOT MEDALS! I feel kinda bad.. we didn't even practice..  BUT we met a LOT of super cool people that seem very interested:) Im excited to go teach these guys:) 

then we went home showered, and taught a few more people today! it was nice! Elder Abel and I got hard core sunburns though! 

Sunday October 15th, 2017

Church was nice:) Elder Abel said his goodbyes to everyone and then we went and had Lunch at president Moetas house:) I love that guy, He's so funny! hahaha

The Other Missionaries went and taught a girl named thabo that they met at basketball. She said that she read the Messages on the backs of our basketball Jerseys and then read the Plan of Salvation Pamphlet, that she picked up at our media stand, she Knows those answers now and it really helped for their Lesson! So that was nice to hear that people benefited in all aspects of that Saturday tournament! hahaha:)

~CTR~

More coming!

Tuesday October 17th, 2017

well today was Elder Abels last day... so we went and he said his goodbyes and stuff... they signed his journal, gave him typical Awkward Missionary hugs, and all that fun stuff! it was nice:) Im gonna miss the guy!

later that Night I played ELder Takau in a game of Rock paper Scissors boxing... It got Pretty competitive.. I ended Up Making a terrible deal with him. winner gets to cut the losers hair however the Winner desires......... Then I lost..... so I bet the   the King sized mattress that we just found in the Garage! and Im not gonna make any excuses or anything but..... Yeah. I lost again. so Takau cut my hair..... reallllllyyyy flippin short. Personally I dont think Ill do it again like this, but its NOT TERRIBLE.  Im more dissapointed about the mattress though! haha

Wednesday October 18th, 2017

I picked Up My Son Today! Elder BENNETT! From  Sandy Utah! He plays the Violin, he's in to Physics, Pottery, and isnt a big fan of sports,also this guys hair is so Blonde it's White, ITS SO COOL!! He's not Much of a talker yet but I think he is still a bit nervous! I Know I was! haha we dont have too much in common yet but I think were gonna get along great! Gonna break this guy in and show him how we work here in AFRICA!! 

Thursday October 19th, 2017

... eish...

Friday October 20th, 2017

Saturday October 21st, 2017

Sunday October 22nd, 2017

Well Crap its already Sunday Night and I totally forgot to write in my journal thingy for you guys to read... sorry!! let me think? did anything out of the ordinary happen this week? not really... weve stayed pretty busy throughout the week so thats been nice:) we met some cool people, had some nice lessons:) Elder Bennett is doing really good right now, hes writing in his journal...Ill interrupt him and ask how mission is going... he said "Pretty good." hes a pretty exciting guy! hahaha 

were getting along well! :) I hope... unless he secretly hates me and is good at hiding it... in that case, were in trouble! But Im pretty sure were good! I hope this guy knows how much I care about him though.. I really want to help him have a good mission! Hes getting a lot more comforatable lately and is talking a lot more:) than at first! so thats nice:)  and hes a Natural in the lessons:)

and lets see.. Church was awesome today! it was combined with Bluegumboch again and it was the Primary Presentation!!!!!!! those kids are ADORABLE! I love listening to their testimonies and all that jazz! haha Church was PACKED TODAY though... luckily we had a pitcher of water at the Sacrament counter cause they Drank it all and we needed More:) it was a record Breaking day at church! :) 

Also, I think dont think ive had more people ever comment on a hair cut more than I had today.... it wasnt you everage hair cut comment, I had people come up to me and say "Yep. I heard you got a hair cut!" 

first of all... How do you respond to that? I just kinda stood there... paused for a second and was like 'yeahhh.. are people talking about it?' then theyre like "uhh.. no? it.. it looks nice." So I told him "Thanks. I grew it myself."

Remind me never to let takau cut my hair again! He sounded so convincing at first! he was like "Im kind of the best in the mission at cutting hair.." actually, after hearing what he did remind me not to let Any Missionary cut my hair! hahaha but It all grows back! hahaha no worries! :)) (Okay, Update: I had him fix it... it looks a lot better! Eish.. it was a struggle this week)

we went and talked with the princess and her brother the Prince again today:) haha it was a normal lesson nothing crazy happened. I just like saying that I got to hang out with the Royal family! hahaha then we had some extra time on the way to our next appointment so we stopped and took pictures on some big ol' Rocks. Yeah. it was about as exciting as it sounds! hahaha

Monday

Bethelhem district came down for a hike! Ill explain more next week when I have more time.... But it was a lot of fun:)

Pictures from Africa

Also We went on a hike today and IT WAS AMAZING! Ill tell you more about it next week when i can sit down and i actually have time. haha Love you guys sorry the Email shop is gonna close soon soon...

11 months down...

Monday September 18th, 2017

Well today was.. meh.. We had to drive to Bethlehem to get our car serviced... which took like Alllll Flippin' day! but it was kinda nice getting to hang out with DePriest... Him and I walked around town a bit.. I met a Trans-gender named sam... so that kept things interesting! You Probably remember hearing a bit about her... Yeah DePriest thought that was the funniest thing when she came up and talked to us... 

But elder DePriest is a super cool guy, he goes home to Colorado in just 4 more weeks! 

Our car got serviced today and the entire flippin thing went from 8:00am-4:00pm. And I barely got to email so I apologize!

But after that I drove back to PJ and we played some basketball:) that part was awesome!

Tuesday 

awesome day! taught some POWERFUL LESSONS with some really nice and prepared people... gave a girl named Perseverance fire not coming to church hahaha (we did it out of love), visited the seminary and institute teacher and got a solid list of less actives that we can go visit! and to top it all off we had a really fun FHE with our branch president, Thabo. We played 30 seconds (south African charades) with him and his family! branch President is only like 27 so hes super funny and has a ton of energy! hahaha we had a good time:) Im looking forward to taking him out on teaching with us!

Wednesday

Elder Takau Gave a Powerful DDM Lesson!  about the priesthood power that we have been given! Super blessed!

later that day we had the opportunity to help sister Mafokeng.. Tomorrow shes going to have her leg amputated. Walking throughout that hospital the saddest sight ever. we gave her a blessing and it hit me really hard knowing hat we have the opportunity to have so much peace in this life knowing our purpose and remembering the plan of salvation, as well a having the opportunity to give priesthood blessings. after we were leaving a few people saw that we gave her a blessing and they asked for one as well.. and because the hospital is so open quickly others took notice and asked for them as well. Next thing you know were out of oil, its getting late, and had to end up only praying for everyone! The spirit was very strong and it was hard to hold back and not break down and cry in that room. Blessed to be in the gospel:) <3

Saturday

well after all our appointments Elder Takau and Lucas Rafael were invited to a Happy Clappy Church inside a tent. So... we went too:) It was CRAZY!! hahaha they had about 500 people in the huge circus tent that they rented and we were the only white people.. and they certainly let everybody know that! hahaha they kept calling us out "We Got white people in the Tent tonight... This tent is Blessed!" it was crazy!! The Prophet came too! He only comes once every four years but sadly we had to leave right before he started to perform all these healings and crazy miracles and things that he prophesied! hahaha a member in bluegumboch stayed and apparently he wanted to meet with us... so that was a bummer..

but they shouted some crazy things such as

"Una Manga Satan!!!" (the devil is a liar)

"When I say Satan you say NOOO!!... SATAN.. NOOOOO!"

"YOU GOTTA BE A LION! YOU GOTTA ROAAARRR! *Drops to one knee and screams into the mic* ROOOAAAARRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!" etc.. 

I Love going to these things! They're soo funny! Im gonna miss them When I get home hahaha

Sunday

well today was sad.. we found out that sister Makukeng passed away:( so we went to her family and shared a message.. Everyone is doing well and still very happy knowing that shes in a better place:)

And church was pretty slow.. it started off with only a few people there, YSA Are in Bloemfontien, and it wwas suuper cold! so at first we didn't have any investigators... so we started to pray... nobody showed up but I felt better for some reason.. Then after church we were saying goodbye to people and There was an older gog that I was talking to and apparently she isnt a member. But she wants to be! So hey we had an investigator the whole time! BLESSINGS!

and Finally, Funny scripture of the week 2 kings 2:23-24 BALD PROPHETS AND BEARS! 

I LOVE YOU

~CTR~

First of all I want to Apologize, last week when I was writing in my type writer thingy that I use to send all these Emails I forgot to delete something, that might have mislead some of you. I did not mean to say that we gave TONS of blessings at the Hospital, we only gave the one. But it was still a powerful blessing and all... sorrryyyy... Elder takau and I were making up a story making it sound Way crazier than it actually was, but I didnt think it was appropriate so I deleted most of it. sorry I forgot a line! haha Dont wanna lie to you guys! 

Monday September 25th

well today marks 11 Months in the mission field so I had to celebrate, thats my number! we went and got HUGE Skambanes! they're pretty darn good! Its a loaf of bread gutted like a fish, stuffed with Chips, lettuce, sausage, 2 eggs, a bunch of other miscellaneous meats, Onion rings and sauces for days! it was a good way to celebrate! haha but the rest of my day was mostly filled with stomach pain and exhaustion! so we decided the best way to get passed it was with ice cream! haha

Oh and we did find a lady that sold us some super nice ties! Were gonna look super nice this Sunday! haha besides the fact that were all like 10 pounds fatter! hahaha

but we did a huge deep clean around the boarding... it was much needed! :)

9:42pm 

Elder Takau and were talking in the other room hanging and stuff when Rafael and Abel come in with a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! Elder Abel is officially a soccer star!! while Takau and I have been talking the other two were practicing the 5 classic soccer skills and Abel has mastered them all! Therefore, they came to give us a show! 

1st move: around the leg kick shot:Nearly knocks takaus camera off his night stand; but he NAILS IT!

2nd Move:swiggle pass; nearly breaks Rafaels alarm clock, still a successful move

3rd: reverse Renaldo fake; Nailed it! we were ready for any possible malfunction.

4th: ball clip and pop! he struggled a bit but made it work

The Finale: BOUNCE JUMP REVERSE HOP AND POP; he repositioned himself in the room in an attempt not to break anything/person. However, due to his excessive adrenaline his left leg contained an incomprehensible amount of unknown strength, and he shattered the bedroom window! poor guy. Lol.

Tuesday September 26th

well today was nice! I worked with Elder Lucas Rafael. we had some really good lessons! but my favorie highlight of the day was when we had about an hour to spare, I could only do one of two things; Eiter go visit one of our investigators and set up an appointment for thursday, OR go get ice cream. and for some reason I was VERY STRONGLY Prompted to go get ice cream. So we did. and it was delicious. And guess who was there... That Exact investigator I wanted to see! so We talked and set up an appointment, AND I got Ice cream. 

Great day. God is Good. hahaha

 

Wednesday September 27th

Well I gave the lesson today at DDM today and it went well, and it was fun! haha Name of my lesson was the 1%.. and it talked about change and how its easy to get 1% Better every day but its even easier to get 1% worse... and I had charts and graphs and stories and I even gave everyone homework! because Rafael and Abel are new I made them Write a letter to themselves when they hit a year and or when theyre at their last transfer, which is what Ill do. And For takau, Hes going home in 8 weeks so I made him write a letter of all his hopes, dreams, and goals for Post mission Life! 

all in all.. I think it went well:)

Thursday September 28th

Today I was With Our beloved District Leader Elder Takau. We had a good day:) had like 9 lessons, met some cool new people, and had time to do a Media stand... when we did the media stand it was kinda slow, so we played the Ukulele at our table and we started to draw some more people in! hahaha:))

Saturday September 30th

When I die I want a Brass Band Played at my Funeral. Today we went and supported Sister Mofokengs family at her funeral. It went really well:) Besides, being really sad.. Elder abel and takau gave a talk about the Plan of salvation! They did AWESOME:) 

Sunday October 1st (Fast Sunday)

Church went well, Every Fast Sunday both Branches come together! So we were combined with Bluegumboch and the other two missionaries as well, that was nice! I taught Gospel Principals class second hour and it was kinda fun:) haha 

so The four of us came up with an awesome Idea to Help pump up the work here in Qwa Qwa! ita called a Prayer Chain. Every day for the Month of october a different Member of the Branch will pray for Unity and Love in the Branch, Less Actives, and Growth! Im excited, I'm excited to see The mi9racles that are to come:)

Also, Abel adn I were tracting today and we were walking passed three kids that were like 10 or 12, but I was like "Whats up guys"

And they kinda looked at us funny, like they wanted somthing... so I was Like " What can we do for you?" and they said " Can we take a picture with you?" I looked at abel kinda funny then I asked " Why? Is it cause were White?" the main kid, I forgot his name, I'll Call Him LeBron, he replied "well.... Yeah.. you know, white people are famous around here." I tried to keep a straight face and I said "Oh,Lebron, so you've seen my show on MTV? Youve seen me on TV Before?" 

man, the look on their face! HA! I was Dying! hahaha but then I was like "Nah Just kidding but sure well take a picture if you take the books"

then we gave them pamphlets and Invited them to church and took some pictures...

either way That made me laugh today! hahaha