Rockin' it in Rocklands

Monday MArch 19th, I think?

today was pretty usual... we played basketball again and Elder Phillips has been bugging me. He just keeps getting under my skin with little unimportant things.. I think I'm Just gonna go to bed...

But first, I'll let you guys know that our last lesson with the Mantje Family was a lot of fun! We did the same thing that we played at the Mkhize's back in Kwamashu. Do unto others as you would have done unto you 3 Nephi?:?. so someone writes down what they want the other person to do..... ANYTHING! And it is usually something supper Embarrassing! However, PLOT TWIST, the person that told them to do something as to do the thing they asked the person to do went he thing was commanded at the things thing thing with the person at the time with the thing.. Its so hard to explain. So If I, Elder Merritt, told Elder Phillips to do 10 Pushups. Elder Phillips would Not do the push ups until I did them First! so everyone goes crazy and makes people do crazy things when theyre actually just digging their own graves! It's always pretty entertaining. Today Kabelo had to repeatedly kiss a painting while he hummed Praise to the man and took his shoes and socks off. Poor guy was not happy when the card was flipped! 

Tuesday March 20th, 2018 

Good day, Lots of appointments, Two Dinner Appointments, we printed off the Prayer chain(it looks so official), and we put a new family on B-date (siles and Elain, a coloured family).

Wednesday March 19th, 2018 - Human Rights day

today We had DDM, we made our own secret language and OLGA PASSED HER BAPTISMAL INTERVIEW!!!!!!!! I'm very excited for her!\

We also went to a Huge celtics stadium for soccer! Its not like the National team, but its better than a college stadium, Id say its about as big and intence as the moda center. Either way, we wanted them to announce the church location and Time during their next game so more people would come. When we got there everything was unlocked.... but no one was there.... so we walked around for a while... super fun!

Thursday March 22nd, 2018

Elder Phillips and I went on Exchanges with Elder Peck and Lowe in Kimberly, the Heart and Diamond Capital of South Africa. Elder Peck is a nice guy and a Hard worker. Kimberly is a nice town:) Elder Phillips wants to serve there so bad! Either way, we had 2 set appointments for the entire day, and 1 of them bunked, They've struggled to gain the trust of members so that was our MAIN goal of the exchange. I asked Elder Peck to hand me the Member list, we chose a random name (Brother Olifant), we went to his house. He was a really nice and he's the young mens our something second councilor, so we walked with him and went and taught some people. very effective. then We met his wife and I asked her about her life story.... ITS CRAZY! Her name is Bongi, she was born in Malaui, some old man tried to marry her sister when she was NINE Years old, so her mom sent them into hiding down in Zimbabwe. While she was in Zimbabwe the old guy had hired people to try and kidnap her and her sister. Somehow they escaped and strangers that she Befriended helped her get a train ticket so that she could meet up with her mom in South Africa. They assisted them with food and help while they were on the train, gave them money so when they got to Jo-burg they could survive. Later, that money ran out and they had to beg for food and struggle to survive, made friends with more strangers who helped her get a trip to Kimberly where her mom stayed, then they reunited, she met her husband, joined the church, and started a family. Her story could honestly become a really good book if someone helped her put it all together. there's a lot more to that story, she was talking fast so I forgot some of it..

Saturday

Well today was a powerful day. We did our weekly planning session and it was very effective. we penned in Gibson at 4:00 just because he wasn't home yesterday. Gibson is the man who when we taught him the Law of chastity, 2 days later he had found, bought, moved, and was already living in a separated house away from his girlfriend. However, when we taught him the word of wisdom, he's been struggling to stop smoking. Today at 3:45 we were eating some KFC just barely down the road from his house (less than 100 meters) when we got 3 please calls from Gibson. He told us to hurry to his house because he was about to do something he was going to regret, we were at his house in 7 seconds (The Lord Hand). When we arrived, he was sitting outside his house struggling to open the door because it jammed. He told us he was going to kill himself when he got inside. I grabbed the door nob it was a little jammed so we talked outside, then I turned the door nob a second time and it opened right up. Even now I have no idea what was keeping the door locked, I imagine angels on the other side refusing to let him enter we went inside and talked more about what happened, he said that he went to go buy stuff for his son in town, he got separated from his girlfriend and made one mistake after another and he ended up spending 5,000 R on a drug called Rock that he smoked. The poor guy. We taught about why he called us. We talked him through it and gave him a blessing and played some cards. He's much better.

Elder Phillips and I were also offered Cocaine at a petrol station..... don't worry we said no.

Pretty crazy day...

 

But my favorite lesson was with Brother Siles, when we taught him last time we invited him to church and when we showed up he was washing his car, we helped out and he said he was washing it for church! He also got a fresh new hair cut and borrowed money to pay for petrol to get to church. When we taught him the lesson he asked about fasting, and we explained the reasons we fast, the blessings that follow, and when we should. Turns out tomorrow is fast sunday so he asked if he could start fasting right after lunch, we said OF COURSE! Powerful man that I can see being a branch president some day. Selis and his son Jonathon M.

Sunday

Brother Siles called us today at 5:30a and asked for directions to our 11:00a church! He was super excited!! We met him at KFC and he followed us the rest of the way, he lives rather far so he's not very familiar with the area. As we were driving to church guess who we saw Biking to church up a big hill? JOSEPH! We've been teaching joseph for a while and we stopped by Saturday just to invite him to read the Book of Mormon and to come to church. He Lost his Leg when he was 19 so he has his own Prosthetic that he had some help making, he's actually pretty good at biking with it, Considering he's been doing it for the last 40 years! But just picture it, a 59 year old man with 1 leg biking all the way to church up mountainous and rocky hills (They don't call it Rocklands for nothing) just so he can come to church and partake of the sacrament. Elder Phillips and I decided we should get him some cool stickers for his leg:) 

Also, Olga Is crazy excited for next weeks baptism!! 

and I Even saw Nkopani at church, he hasnt been in 2 months:)

Rocklands Area- Week 4 of his 12th Transfer

MONDAY MARCH 12TH

Today was really nice:) we played basketball at the Bloemanda chapel for a few hours, all 6 of us:) It was a lot of Fun cause the hoop is like 9 feet so its super easy to dunk on!

TUESDAY MARCH 13TH

today we went to the Senior couples Boarding to use their computer. We had to send in some reports and information to the Mission Office about our Zone.. it took a while but it was a pretty decent day.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 14TH

DDM: pretty usual.

we got bunked a few times but we Got fed again this week courtesy of the Tsoeu family. the ward has helped us quite a bit this last week, we've been fed more than usual! I think they like us!:)

THURSDAY MARCH 15TH

We went to go teach Gibson today and we walked in on him trying to shave his head. A huge chunk of his hair was gone, and his buzzer was broken... we tried to fix it but there was no way of saving it. Therefore, Elder Phillips made a quick trip back to the boarding and grabbed Phillips buzzer, then we came back, and finished shaving his head. Then we had a lesson. Gibson's super nice and understanding, when we taught him about the law of chastity, two days later he moved out of his Girlfriends house and rented his own. Last time we visited him, we told him he needs to quit smoking. He said he'd been smoking 1 cigarette every 2 hours! But today he told us that he's cut it down to 1 a DAY! so he's made huge improvement:) Also he said he'd come to church with his Girlfriend Portia.

FRIDAY MARCH 16TH (Exchanges with Elder Menardin)

I was in Bloemfontein and it was super weird! We were on Bikes, we wore Helmets, we tracted a bunch of GATES and worst of all, WE TAUGHT WHITE PEOPLE!!! It was all so new! to start the day off I was telling Elder Menardin that I havent ridden a bike in like a long time but I figured how hard could it be? Its like riding a bike you can never forget, whoever said that is a liar!! then we  I left the front gate and i watched Elder Menardin cross the road do a wheely and pop his bike over a curb. I paused for a second for traffic, In my mind I ran diagnostics on how I can do the same, then I drove with full boldness over this curb. However, I completely misjudged how heavy his bike was so when I went to pop a wheely I think I only got the tire off the ground like half an inch and I flew straight over the Handlebars into the dirt. That's when I knew it was gonna be a long day. Curb1-ElderMerritt0

After that it all went pretty smoothly, besides the crashing my bike, stepping on a nail, getting yelled at by white people, and now having a really sore butt, It was Actually a really good day! Most people were excepting, We taught a guy that looks just like my dad and we put him on B-date. His name is Garrett, but the G makes a nasty cough sound. 

Also we were tracting today and the craziest thing happened, we knocked on a ladies gate, She Came outside, Had ZERO interest in our message but she has met missionaries in the passed. However, she said what were doing is really good then she offered us lunch... I said we cant just take your food we'd have to work for it.  She agreed and told us to come in and she'll find something for us to do. we Ended up talking to her about her life story outside while we looked at all her birds, dogs, and turtles, then she made us some hot dogs and we cleaned up after her Dogs with some shovels. It was well worth it. Very nice lady!

 today was really good! .

 

at the end of the day we popped elder Jewkes's face pimple brain thing! like an abnormal cyst. a took a video but it was a terrible scene.

 

Saturday MARCH 17TH

pretty good day... thats basically code for, we got bunked a lot but we made it through wit ha good attitude.

at like 8:30 nobody wanted to see us so we went to the KFC at the mall. they were all locked up. however, they saw our badges and let us in, made us some food and all the security guys were using the giant tv to watch a pirates game. They were cool so we joined while we ate for like 15-20minutes. it was nice.

SUNDAY MARCH 18TH

Well church was good, I taught gospel principles (It was pretty funny). our investigators didn't show up so that was a shame:/

At the end of the day we went and met with our Stake President and it went really well. we bounced a lot of Ideas off of each other. Im really excited and he saw our excitement, in fact, he invited us next month to the stake center to attend a meeting and basically "Encourage" (Give fire) to all the local bishops of our stake about including missionaries more in the work. I don't think missionaries have ever been invited to this meeting, but he wanted us to also pitch some good ideas for getting the Stake in shape:) Im excited for them! I think it was mostly because elder Phillips and I talked with the ward today about doing a Prayer chain here. so every day for the month of April a different family will pray for Self-reliance, unity and Love, and Growth(less actives, father led families, Melchizedek priesthood holders). Honestly, were thinking about making a HUGE Chain and having a different ward do it May, then another do it June, then July. By the end of the prayer chain we have just a Powerful chain of prayers!! the Stake would go crazy with success. This is the Zone with some of the least success in the mission.. so we need all the prayers we can get! Progress has been made!

pictures, not much from this week...

me in a tank. cause Im awesome! 

karabo and phllips

saturday night KFC

elder allen and the post office

Rocklands and Zone Conference

Monday March 5th, 2018 (Zone conference)

Well today was pretty stressful. We had to organize a zone conference all the way in Bethlehem (3 hours drive for us, 5 hours for other members of our zone) and it had to start at 9:00am. so we organized missionaries to come to Bloemfontein and spend he night and made sure everyone had a way to get there, and the speakers had to be prepared, etc... However, when conference started it was actually pretty simple. We had prepared a program and everything kinda flowed together smoothly..... for the most part.  I spoke about Finding joy in the work and dealing with discouragement and it was awesome! Probably the best lesson I've ever shared, and from what I heard afterwards everyone else enjoyed it and learned something. the other Lesson I really enjoyed was elder Jewkes' lesson about Finding, he did great! 

It was really nice being able to see Wilson another time before he goes back to Madagascar, seeing my son Elder Bennett, Elder Hinnen and Elder Walker. Really nice guys!

Tuesday March 6th, 2018 (P-day) 

well today started off pretty crappy. The internet cafe we used gave My SD card Camera Reader a Virus so It might have deleted all of my photos.... maybe? so that was a tad bit discouraging.... the only reason I wasn't completely torn down was because I backed them up last week... the only things I lost was me and the Giraffes, and I can Always go back! 

then after we emailed we went to the car and saw that we got a parking ticket... so that sucked. We'll talk to the guys about the ticket and Im sure they'll let it slide.

After that we went to a Museum in Bloemfontein, it was a South African tank Museum. they had literally 200 tanks and military Vehicles. It was kinda difficult to get to the Museum and We found our selves in a Restricted area on the Military base and we were pretty lost... but we figured it out without going to prison.

Finished the day off by getting bunked and elder Phillips did a bunch of card tricks to cheer up Lucky who was having a bad day. And finally we went to the Fefa family for dinner. Holy cow there house was SOOOO hot and the refused to open the door because of mosquitoes. It was, Like ridiculously hot. so hot that you cant sit still. so hot that when they gave us dinner (SUPER HOT RICE AND CHICKEN) i started sweating like crazy. so hot that I looked at my arm and a phone number I had written on my arm was smearing down my forearm. So hot that I stood up to answer a phone call and the only thing that brought me joy was the cool breeze coming threw the key hole that cooled off my hands... and that not even an exaggeration. easily over 100 degrees in there. But we stayed polite shared a lesson about our Testimonies and they gave us some really good food! 

Wednesday March 7th, 2018 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAX!

Well its 6:35am, and I almost want to call the Fefa family and ask if everyone is alive after sleeping in that Microwave house of theirs. But that might offend them.. So I'll pray to see them at church..

first thing we did today was go to see Mpho at 10:00 and he wasn't home, so we drove in to Bloemfontein to take care of our traffic ticket. turns out this is Elder Phillips second one in this area and he never paid the first. We drove in to Bloemfontein, found the place, struggled for a bit trying to find the right floor and room but we figured it out. As we walked in guess what pictures was hanging on the wall? The Picture of Jesus and the Lost lamb, the exact same one that is on the cover of the restoration pamphlet!! Crazy right? what are the odds? so we talked the guy from giving us 2 500Rand tickets, to only 2 100Rand tickets, very convenient.:)

to celebrate Phillips and I went to lunch at a place called Stadium... Its super good:)

after that we had some really good lessons, and found some really prepared people. Im happy.... however, Phillips needs to chew with his mouth closed or Im going to go crazy!!!!!!!

Also, we were bored today so  we stopped a bunch of kids while they played soccer. We decided to make a deal with them, all 8 of them would take a shot at the goal while Elder Phillips And I were the Goalies. If they miss we get the ball, if any of them make it they get our car! They ended up missing so many times that We won their ball, their shoes, 6 of their shirts, plus TWO of them as slaves.... we ended up giving it back, then they chased us and tried steeling our car!

Thursday March 8th, 2018 

Well today the highlight of my day was teaching sister Olga Ngaka. She Loved our last lesson (L1) and this time we taught about the book of Mormon. We asked her about the spirit and I got a new response that Ive never heard. She said that she felt the spirit when she found out that our church didn't want to kill her and harvest her organs for Muthi. She's Albino and people kill Albinos a bit more than you'd expect, especially in KZN, they use albino Body parts for witch craft...Im not even kidding. she almost cried she was so happy, then she said she wants to be baptized. Im excited for her! 

-More lessons and Magic card tricks-

and our final lesson was at the Mantje family, we had them teach us the Restoration. It went well, they were kinda nervous but it was pretty effective. As we were leaving we asked what we could do to help and the father laughed and sarcastically said we could make them dinner. So we took everyone's order and went to work. Just about everyone wanted a P.B&J and a scone so that made it pretty fun and easy:) Nice family!

Friday March 9th, 2018

Today was pretty usual lessons, tracting, Magic tricks... Elder Phillips LOVES Card tricks! I figured them all out after watching them a hundred times! SO together were unstoppable. Also showing people magic tricks is super funny and really good for BRT!

I also, met Sisanda. She is super ready to be baptized!! But she's going out of town for a month, which scares me... 

Saturday March 10th, 2018

Today was nice:) It consisted of 5 bunks a few new investigators that we helped do their hair, a drunk lady that wanted to go to America and to know why Jesus is white, a few really good lessons, Dungeons and Dragons, and a Dinner appointment. none of that is in order by the way.. However we taught Olga again and she is so darn prepared! its awesome!!!!! We taught her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, she's very excited for church tomorrow and to be baptized. that was easily the highlight of my day:)

Also, I really liked our last appointment, we met with Abelwa's family. We went with Rocklands 1 and their family gave us Dinner... It was sooo good!!! they gave us each a baby potato! it was awesome! I love potatoes..... (I just reread what I wrote and I realize how weird I sound... And i really miss taco bell) Okay, Im exhausted. I'm going to bed.

Sunday March 11th, 2018

Olga, Sisanda, and brother Mokgadi all came to church today:) so that felt really nice... Good day!!

16 Months

I asked my sweet boy to give me a recap on his mission areas and his companions. This is what he reported back to me:

Amanzimtoti 4 transfers

2Elder LESUEUR (AZ)

2Elder SCHRAEDEL (UT)

Kwamashu!!!!!!!!! 3 Transfers

1elder OTTLEY (ID)

2elder HARPER (AZ)

Phuthadijhaba 4 transfers

1 elder Abel (ID)

3 elder BENNETT (UT)

Rocklands 

1Elder Phillips (UT)

So 16 months down and 8 more months to go! He is on his 12th transfer out of 17 transfers. I can't believe how fast it is going!

My son who played with lions now walks with giraffes

Monday Feb 26th, 2018

well today I turned 16 months, Maybe it was yesterday? but either way it was a great day..... mainly cause it was P-day and we went into Bloemfontein and I got to walk with a Giraffe! Pretty darn cool... they were pretty tall... I guess thats what theyre known for but still! the pictures dont do it justice! haha theyre at this big animal reserve thing called Naval hill.. either way they have a HUGE statue of Nelson Mandela and its pretty cool. Kinda like in rio where they have the huge Jesus statue... accept its not Jesus, Its just a guy that was in jail and then they voted him President..  Boom roasted.

(Dont be offended if youre south African, I love you guys!)

The Best part was definitely the Giraffes!!! on the top of the hill they have tons of Animals. Zebras, Wildebeest, Some Boks, and even two or three Giraffes! It was really exciting because you can get out and walk up to them and stuff! Super cool. Definitely gonna go back. If you have any suggestions for pictures to take with them let me know! 

after that we went shopping.

then We had a few lessons, We got Bunked and I destroyed some kids in soccer. they were trash.. then again they were like 10 so they just need to catch up!

then we visited a few peoples empty houses cause they werent home... But the houses were cool, Not really they wee just normal Township houses. But our final appointment was home. The Mantje Family (Kele, Thandi, John, and Kabelo) . Super nice! We taught them How to teach us the Restoration! It went well, theyre kinda quiter, but we got some energy out of them.

My companion is Elder Phillips if I Havent mentioned it. He's from Saint George Utah, 19 years old, He's been out 17.85 Months, He's been here in rocklands for 6 weeks, he's probably the nicest and Happiest person I've ever met, but he doesnt really enjoy it here... But it's not too bad so far! I do wish they spoke Zulu and it would be nice if our area was closer to the Chapel. It takes 2 taxi's for our investigators to get to church. Therefore, the Missionary work has been a bit slower... all of last year our ward had 4 Baptisms... so our goal is 5! haha

Tuesday Feb 27th, 2018

One of the duties of a ZL is to plan Zone Conferences... so thats what we did! Monday the 5th is gonna be ours and its gonna be combined with the Phuthaditjhaba Zone! That'll be nice, I'll get to see a lot of Missionaries especially Bennett and Wilson! We coordinated with them today so were all on the same page for Zone Conference. Im gonna speak about "Finding Joy and Dealing with Discouragement". Super nice and fun to talk about! 

Either way we visited and taught some really cool people. I met the Fesa Family, and we read Ether 12:27. We tried to find brother Mei's house and we drove around for an hour and a hlaf.... then we gave up... and then we met the Fefa Family and we discussed "Do unto Others as you would have them do unto you" Perfect lesson. And it was pretty darn funny to. We had everyone write down what they their neighbor to do. For example, do an Imbarrasing dance, make weird cat noises, do 20 push ups, etc.. then we make THEM do it, not their neighbor. Super funny. they basically picked their own punishment. 

wednesday Feb 28th, 2018

DDM by Elder Larsen and Motlhankanyane (Elder Mots for short). we also stopped at the Senior couples house and printed off the Zone Conference agenda. The Hicks are HILARIOUS!!! Brother Hicks brought us some Watermelon and helped answer so of our questions:) 

We tracted, Met a guy named Mpho... very humble man with great questions. We visited Simon and taught Him the Law of Chastity, I dont think I've met such a humble man that loves our message this much. He's definitely ready to be baptized. then we picked up Trapnell and Allen and took them with us to the Tsoeu Family. We taught this family about the Importance of the Book of Mormon and then they DROVE US TO GET BURGERS FOR DINNER! It was Crazy!! They are the nicest family Ever! haha

Thursday March 1st, 2018

Started the day off by writing my Zone Conference talk.... Pretty simple and Straight Forward:)

Before we had Lunch we Visited a Man Named Lucky. He said that he really wants to change and stop smoking and doing drugs and that he wants to go to rehab.. so we told him to talk to bishop.. then we read from 3 Nephi 12 or 13, about being a Light to everyone and coming unto Christ! fingers crossed he comes to church! Really nice guy. After that the Hicks called and we came back to the boarding so they could give us some new bowls, cups, and silverware stuff! Super nice! haha

Friday March 2nd, 2018 (Exchanges)

I was In Bloemonda with Elder Matlankanyane today (Mots). The area didnt have a car and it was like a thousand degrees outside so I have a really bad sunburn on my neck. The day was pretty slow at first but it ended off nice.

Our last appointment was at a Part-member families house... the babe was sitting on the couch staring at the coffee table when I introduced myself and went to shake his hand... When I stretched forth my hand he didnt even blink an eye, and Did Not shake my hand. My first thought was "Whats this guys problem? What'd I do to You man?" But I think I might have rolled my eyes, However, I kept quiet smiled and asked about his day.... Turns out the guy was Completely Blind. Yeah he can't see a thing. Zero Visibility from this guy, So it's a good thing he didnt see me rolling my eyes! Haha I talked to this guy 1 on 1 for like an hour and a half. we went on and on... He asked where I'm from and usually I just say Oregon, its right next to California. HE ALMOST EXPLODED WITH EXCITEMENT. Turns out one of the only things that brings him joy is Music, and his favorite band is the Eagles... So he sang word for word, and a little bit of guitar, of "Hotel California". It was actually really Impressive. We also talked about Billy joel, the Beatles, other bands, We talked about farms, hunting, fishing, Lions, Grizzly bears, etc.. I explained what an Elk looks like and how big it is, which is very difficult to do to a blind guy. And most of all the book of Mormon. He listens to the Book of Mormon on tape and explained a bunch of Book of mormon stories and his reactions as he listend for the first time. He said that his heart was pounding and he was shaking when the lamenites passed by mormon as he cried for the soldiers that he lost. He was such a giddy man who was just so happy! 

I asked him about how he went blind and when he was 40 years old he slipped and fell, and he knocked his head on the ground... Kinda like Anchorman 2 style... then the Missionaries found him 8 or 9 years later. Poor guys had a rough life But he's definitely my new favorite Member out here in Bloemfontein.

Oh before I forget, when the lights turned off He turned to his family and said "Welcome to My world." I died laughing when he said that!!! 

Saturday March 3rd, 2018

Ton of Bunks... this area's making me frustrated..

Sunday March 4th, 2018

Church was nice, I think the lord likes me! I scheduled an Appointment with  Bishops WIFE, in an attempt to visit bishop. Bishops Wife is Zulu so guess what, She made us lunch:)) haha and not only that but bishop was being really cool!! I think he's starting to like us a bit more!! 

Last Day in Phuthaditjhaba and off to his new area!

LAST SUNDAY IN PJ2-- 

Well Sunday was awesome, in fact, it was so darn awesome that I dont have enough time to write about what happened, so you'll have to wait until next week:) 

Just know, we had some baptisms, And church was super emotional... it was hard saying goodbye to all these guys... especially when branch president heard I was leaving and called me and told me to give a talk about Unity and Love

Well well well... Sunday was difficult to get through, last night Branch President asked me to give a talk about Unity and Love so I knew it was going to be difficult. This morning President Moeta called me to the pulpit to give my talk and he said "..and now we will hear from Elder Merritt..*Pause*...  for the very last time." that was heart breaking, So when I got to the stand I ended up just breaking down and crying in front of everyone. It was super Embarrassing. Either way, the talk went well and it was a pretty darn sad day! however, I did end here on a High note

(14 Inv. @ Church, 89 Sacrament attn. and lots of love. My first week here was 1 Inv. @ Church and 49 Sacrament Attn. I wish I could say it went up and up and up, But its been lower than that before,0Inv-31SAC#, Rough day hahaha, Mostly the Holiday season) After Today I felt really Good though, I feel Like I was actually able to make a difference in this area and change a lot of peoples lives. Reactivating Members, Engaging the Branch in missionary work, and Even having a few baptisms. In fact, We had 4 people pass their Baptismal Interview after church, along two other baptisms:) Im happy for them! OH! and I also learned today that Phuthaditjhaba and Bluegumbob got accepted to build a second chapel in Bluegumboche and theyre going to split!

After church we had a baptism for sister Lerato, and Omolemo (Precious). It went smooth. I got to baptize them both and Bluegumbob had two baptisms as well. then we took a bunch of photos with The branch to say goodbye, I love these guys so much! Im not sure I Could've ended on a much Better day than this one I had! GOD IS GREAT!!!!!!!

Then The Police tried to pull us  over tonight but they didnt have lights and we accidentally evaded them... Long story... ask me about it when I get home..

Monday February 19th, 2018

Well it's my last P-day In PJ and the guys didn't want to go see the Lions again so Instead we hiked to the Second Highest Waterfall IN THE WORLD. It was kind of foggy again, but not nearly as bad as last time!! that was a relief!  IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!! Its so darn tall that You cant even see the Bottom! I took a ton of pictures, but they dont even compare to what It actually looks like! The videos were a little it better, But I cant send them, They're too long.

After our hike, we Emailed, I was able to send a bunch of Pictures because it was loading so fast! the only downside of Today was when I got my transfer Logistics and it says I have to take a bus... that stinks, that means I have to pack smart, stressful.

Then we had FHE. Elder Futter taught the lesson and it was about Coming unto Christ, The Theme of the Year! it went well. After the Lesson, we played Mafia and took pictures, and I got to tell the story for Mafia:) we had to be done with FHE by 7:00 because the Mabula Family Invited us over for dinner one last time! the bought us THE MOST DELICIOUS CAKE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. IT WAS AMAZING.then they signed my journal and we took pictures <3 I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.

11:31PM- Just got a phone call in from the AP's and they made changes to my Logistics so I do not have to take a bus anymore! I didn't even ask, Prayers = Answered.

Tuesday February 20th, 2018

Well today was really sad. I said Goodbye and taught a lesson to Lerato, Thabiso, President Moeta, Lesegos Family, Tshepiso, etc:) I got a present from Lesegos family and you'll never guess what it is...... I got a baby gravy holder... I dont know why? But it was really nice of them:) haha

Wednesday February 21st, 2018(GOD BLESS QWAQWA)

Elder Futter left this morning and we had to wait for Hinnens new comp. Therefore, I did a bunch of packing:) I got rid of some stuff that I dont use and i dropped it off at President Moeta.... you know... cause he's a pretty cool guy and the Best branch president that I've had on mission!

Thursday February 22nd, 2018(Back In Durban for MLC)

Drove To DURBAN!!!!!!!!!! just kinda hung out, elder nuusa dropped an egg, played some games and talked with all the Zone Leaders and AP's. MLC means Missionary Leadership Council.

Friday February 23rd, 2018

Spent the night at the mission home last night, and we had an ALL DAY meeting. My favorite part was that we were back in DURBAN! I love this place:)

Either way, Durban was nice and pretty, MLC was long, and then we spent the night at the AP's house just the 4 of us..... Me, Phillips, Jantjies, and Homer. Homer is deaf but he has some headphone things that helps him hear. But when he takes them off he cant hear a thing.  So I played some games with him. He can read lips so we tested his abilities.... He's pretty good! He's from Sherwood, OR.

Saturday February 24th, 2018

.....Then I woke up and got on a bus... it was 13 hours long. I know I said I didnt need to take a bus but I did. so that's what we did allllll day! I was on a bus. I got to Bloemfontien.

Sunday February 25th, 2018 (First Sunday In Rocklands 2)

Well church was..... big... I'm not gonna judge the area early or anything but its not what I expected. The last missionary that served here never talked with Members so We dont know them at all.... the Bishop hates us... and Missionary work is kinda slow. Lots of room for Improvement and i hope to see a lot of progression in the area as I serve:)

Pray for me. Im gonna need some help down here:)