I'm Sorry, it's been a while and the computer We use in Virginia is kinda sketchy. I'd rather not risk losing all my pictures from my mission on my last 5 weeks or so. So.... until I find A better computer, you might just have to wait till I get home... We'll see how it goes... I LOVE YOU ALL!!!
Monday Sept 10th
well today was good. we were supposed to start transfer planning and moving missionaries but president Thompson said he's calling two new assistants. so we bought them bus tickets and are going to start tomorrow. But we played Monopoly with the entire district and I WON, the railroads helped me out for once!
Tuesday Sept 11th
Well I the two new assistants are Elder Ntaka and Elder Guymon! they're both Amazing! Today we started moving missionaries around and deciding their new areas, so far it's been great. President Thompson gave me Partially my news. He said that in the passed he had a missionary finish as an Assistant but it didn't go too well. Mostly because it's really stressful and it's not the same as regular missionary work. And personally I don't want to finish as an Assistant. I want to do REAL missionary work. so He called me in to his office and sat me down. we prayed then he asked how I'm doing, I said "Great." then he asked if I wanted to finish in the office, I said no. then he asked if I wanted to go back to Kwamashu or Phuthaditjhaba.. that was probably the hardest question of my life. I paused and thought for a while.. then I explained about Max, whos giving his fairwell talk next week. I told him that I easily could have requested to go home a transfer early and see him for a week before he left but something told me not to do that.. so I told him that I don't want my final transfer to be Vacation where I can sit back with My friends in K-smash and relax, personally I wouldn't do anything if I went back to either areas. He smiled and Said that he knew I would say that.. (I dont know how he thought I'd say that) then he explained about Virginia. Virginia is like the Banks of the mission. It's a small town famous for mining.
A few months ago When I was serving in Rocklands I was working with The stake president, President Nyatshoba, and he was working on a plan to split the stake and we helped him a little bit. one of the plans he had was to create a New District. the District will include Welkom, Kroonstad and Phahameng.. and Virginia. However, Virginia has NOTHING. Virginia is about 30 minutes outside of Welkom (in Afrikaans the W is pronounced like a V). Virginia has only a handful of members, maybe 5? So President Thompson invited me to go and OPEN the area. so I'll stay another two weeks and then finish my mission Establishing th church in a small town with Elder Zimunhu.
Wednesday Sept 12th
Finalized our Transfer plans and started Logistics (How missionaries will get to their new areas with a companion and all their bags, Remember, NO CARS) this time its my turn. I want to go home.
Speaking of Going Home Elder Allen has been struggling and is going to go Home today, HONORABLY Because he's sick. but still sad. so we had lunch at Roco Mama's with President and took him to the air port.
Thursday Sept 13th
Continued on Logistics, and had a few appointments.
Also, Siyabonga Passed his Baptismal interview and so did his son. so that was cool.
President also made a few small changes to the transfer board so i have to take a few steps back from Logistics and then continue..
Friday Sept 14th
continued with Logistics and had a few appointments.
the Mara Family are going o be baptized on Sunday so we visited them, they are so darn cool! Ismael and kethia are super super excited. and Lamine went out and got a job last weeks so he can start paying tithing, I think I already told you that, still cool though.
We also met with Susans and brother Shozi and we brought the stake president with us. Susan is the one that needs to be married and then she can be baptized, so we brought president Mhlongo, stake president of Durban, with us so he can help with their "Traditional Marriage problem". the thing is, They paid Lebola and all that fun stuff, but they never signed the paper telling South Africa that "YES" we are Married now. so convincing Baba that he needs to do that is hard. A few months ago President Thompson, Simayile, and Fullmer tired and failed. The thing is, last time they came in to HIS house, sat in his room with HIS children and HIS wife of 5 years and Said 'You are not married". Traditionally they should have been thrown out of the house. Imagine if someone said that to you. because traditionally they are 100% married. but they had one more step to do and they missed it. Soooo... yeah... it was complex and I mostly sat there and listened.
Saturday Sept 15th
Today I was glued to a computer trying to keep a positive attitude. I finished logistics late late tonight and I need to sleep.
Sunday Sept 16th
well everything went well, The Mara family was baptized. They all bore their testimonies and the Spirit was felt.
Monday Sept 17th
we cheated. Elder Ntaka and I went and picked up elder Lahue because the Riese family in Amanzimtoti told heard that Iwas leaving Durban so they Baked TONS of MACARONI AND CHEESE. which is my favorite meal that they cooked when I served their 2 years ago!
Tuesday Sept 18th
Started moving missionaries around and also, the new missionaries came in. Honestly, we have a very.... UNIQUE? group of missionaries. Elder Wilson was cool and so is Elder Chen. Elder Chen is a Chinese Australian with A masters degree in Bio-Medicine or something crazy like that. he's extremely smart. the rest had their own unique qualities that made me happy I wasn't training. That was kinda mean but you weren't there.
Wednesday Sept 19th
I drove ALL OVER THE WORLD and BACK. from Durban bus station to Kwamashu, to Durban again, then to Kwamashu, then down the scarreist road ever to Molweni, to Hillcrest back to Pinetown, and then to Durban to Pinetown, etc. You probably have no idea how far any of those places are from each other, but it was transfer day so ALL of the Logistics I was doing last week went through and THEY WORKED!!!!!! Nothing completely terrib;e happened! I'm SHOCKED!
I even Had time to go to vic street with the departing missionaries.
Thursday Sept 20th
well at 4:00am We picked up missionaries at the bus station and last night I dint get to bed till 1:00am because we had to move some missionaries around to make sure they made the correct bus. But Today was the day that I said goodbye to Elder Fullmer, Lowe Harbertson, Harris, Hauck, Russell, and Phillips. it was pretty sad. they're all AMAZING Missionaries and when they stepped on the plain guess what... my group and I are officially the OLDEST missionaries in SADM. before they left I asked elder Lowe for some of his hair gel cause I'm out. next thing you know all the departing missionaries started giving me tons of free stuff! IT WAS AWESOME!!! It's nice to have friends that'll help you out.
later today we started MLC. it went well and president said some nice things but to be honest... I NEED SLEEP.
Friday Sept 21st
All day MLC.. Im not AP, or a Zone Leader so the only reason I'm here is because President wanted me to present some stuff and give a lesson. after that I went and slept in the back room. You know the picture of me at MLC looking super tired, that's cause I WAS Super tired. So after my part was done, I slept.
Saturday Sept 22nd
I'll admit... I didn't wake up on time today... and I showed Guymon and Ntaka around Durban, introduced them to Members and had some great lessons. I also stopped at Vic street and bought some more stuff for you guys. cause youre awesome. but the coolest thing happened today.
We visited Siyabonga and his son, Amkelo. tomorrow they're going to be baptized by brother Bafo. but Last night Siyabonga had a dream In his dream I swear it was a Lehi dream and the coolest one in the world. talk about spiritual testimony builder....
He dreamed of his aunt who died a few years ago. He said he was wearing a suit and he was standing with a bunch of Priesthood holders and member of the church. He said he was having the time of his life partying it up with his two sons and his wife. then he saw his aunt but she was on the other side of a fence style thingy. she looked like she had been crying but She was happy now. the she called out to him from the other side of the fence and said, "It's my turn, I'm coming."
Yo While Siyabonga told the story I was crying and he was about to cry it was Crazy cool to hear him tell about how excited he is for the Durban temple and to bear testimony about how true the church is. I love this church.
Sunday Sept 23rd
Yep. all is well in Zion. Even though this ward looks like neopolitin Ice Cream. It' one of the happiest wards I ve been to that people love each other and are united in the right things. saying goodbye was really hard wit lots of tears. and the members wrote some really sweet things in my journal. I Love Durban.
Monday Sept 24th
well... It was heritage day... and I spent the day on a bus to Bethlehem. there was a lot of very pretty girls on that bus. and I was alone. it was nice. I think I passed the lords test.
then I arrived in Bethlehem and the Van Heerdens were supposed to pick me up... they were no where to be found... only for like an hour though.. Then they showed up and were like "OH NO howlong have you been waiting?" To calm them down I Lied and said "oh dont worry only like 5-10 minutes the bus just left now now"
then we went and ate dinner at the Van DerLeeks. Brother Van DerLeek is the HUGE guy in Bethlehem, I skyped at his house for christmas last year. we ate a lot of aMaguenya and mince and also Jam. it was nice. then all 7 of us packed in to his Volkswagon bug. Elder Vanderleek weighs about 400 pounds (Literally) and we had a Samoan named Elder Nu'usa so it was a sight to see.
Tuesday Sept 25th
I drove with Elder Zimunhu to Welkom today. You heard me. We DROVE to Welkom today. when youre Friends with the CEO of DELL. Kip G Thompson, you get things done. he gave us permission to drive a car for my last transfer to help us learn the area and also, the boarding not ready for us. but hey, I GET A CAR!!! when we showed up to the boarding I felt like I walked in to the celestial kingdom it was so nice. for the next two weeks while we wait for our new boarding to be approved and signed for, we are staying in the senior sisters boarding while they stay in Lesotho. either way, we have a dryer and tons of closet space!!
we picked up Welkom missionaries and helped find our feet in the new area!
we couldn't spend too much time in Virginia but we drove there today. Let me tell you something. I felt the spirit so strong when we entered. this area is going to explode soon. We have a ward directory so we went to the first member on the list, brother Tshepo Chaka. when we got to his house we met his family (not members but want to come to church) and gave hi grandmother a blessing because she was sick.
then we met brother Mhlahlo whos apparently the branch clerk. He's Awesome.
then we just got home and unpacked.
We talked with the Welkom Elders. Elder B. Walker and Makapella. they said we have a few YSA from Virginia that are excited to work with us. and that all of the Branch esspecially the ones in Virginia have been fasting and praying to recieve missionaries.
Wednesday Sept 26th
well today was great. so right now all the people that stay in virginia are going to Church in welkom. the welkom missionaries have been.. Lets just say.. "Less than stellar". Welkom is excited to see missionaries that leave the boarding and work. so when we stopped by to vthe chapel we met brother belton, who invited us over for dinner. he's a super nice gy with a big ol' beard.
turns out we also have two sisters that have been attending church for a few years that havent been baptized. (Rebecca and Kate).
We also called a family that we saw on the member record, The Hosiasshons. the father is said to be the most stubborn man in the world. His wife and family are all members but he isnt. He's been coming to church for years as well. Elder Maughan, who's in my group, served in Welkom early 2017. I was talking to him at MLC and he said that Brother Hosiasshon is... well... stubborn. Either way, they invited us over for dinner tomorrow. I'm excited to meet him.
Thursday Sept 27th
well turns out he's jewish and not interested in the gospel right now... we'll see how it goes! hahaha
Saturday Sept 29th
well this morning there was a Heritage talent show kinda thing at chuch so I got to meet some people! They seem really nice and they gave us some goooooddd food!:)
but so far we've been able to Identify 5 families and interested people so if we get a building/a meeting area/ classroom we would have roughly 12 people at church! I called president Nyathchoba and he asked how many would be Priesthood holders and there'd be 6.. then he said THATS A BRANCH. but not a very impressive branch. We've also been able to find 8 places that we need to talk to that have potential classrooms where we could do a cottage meeting on sundays. I'm Excited.
Sunday Sept 30th
Today was strange.... we Went to church in Welkom and it was good. we had about 40 people at church and yo.. some of the girls in this branch are very... uhh.. friendly. I was backed in a corner a few times and Zimunhu kept saving me. And the rest of the branch is super nice and friendly too! they let us bare our testimonies and I really enjoyed that. I shared the example of how I went to Pinetown and how Elder Sala and I were given the duty of informing the ward that they would no longer have missionaries, and that Welkom is going to have FOUR now. so they should treat this as a sacred opportunity. I literally heard people saying "Amen." in the chapel, so that was new.
After that the speakers were interesting.. Ive never heard a sacramental talk about how we are going to be Gods one day.. so I can check that one off my bucket list. It still didn't beat Andile's Legendary talk in Phuthaditjhaba about the Law of chastity. that one was amazing. hahahaha
I also learned today to not let Elder ZImunhu talk about politics.... he can go for hourrrssss.... and He did. We visited a member today, the Moshoeshoe family and they kept talking and talking and talking... I may or may not have fallen asleep mentally.
