Week 17

The Hul's left to go home to Idaho :( I will miss them.

Date:  October 19, 2015
Area: Kimberley, South Africa

Companion: Elder Mashava

Week 17

Well time is actually starting to feel like its just flying past, I haven't decided if that's a good or bad thing yet. I will reach the 4 month mark this week which seems crazy that I haven't seen any of you in that long and funny that comparatively to what I have in front of me its so short. In reality though it is so short! 

So where to begin, hmm. Something awesome I heard this week was about tithing. We were teaching a lesson when my companion then stated that paying tithing is an investment in His company. I can't think of any better company to invest in than that one! haha. The best part about that statement is that it is true, as we pay our tithing God has promised us that he will open the windows of heaven and pour out so many blessings that we won't have room to receive them all.

This little girls name is Olorato and she was doing my hair and then saying in the cutest little girl voice, "oh you look nice elder" haha oh she is too cute!

Another quote I heard this week was "I'm the brain you can forget, and the Heart you will never forget" Elder Mpuanda from Zim said this in our ZTM (zone training meeting) about the Book of Mormon. 

Dinner get tough towards the end of the month.
Plain rice and an egg
Mom note:  He looks good in his pictures so he isn't starving!  :)

This week I got pretty upset when we found out that we have some visitors in our boarding that don't want to leave. We have had ants for a long time, like thousands of them. If you take a scoop of sugar you scoop 70 percent sugar and the rest ants haha. We haven't minded them just because they are ants and who cares. We like the crunch anyways... (joking) but then we recently discovered that the ants were lonely and decided to invite some of their friends, the cockroaches. Me personally well I don't like the cockroaches, they are always so rude and just crash the party. With the ants we could have some fun but when the roaches roll into town all the fun stops. So we now got some more roomies. At least the roaches here are not as big as the ones back home but still they suck... Mission is tough....

Joyful Travels

Anyways moving onward. So we met this guy named Kennedy a while back. He is from Nigeria, cool accents by the way, and Nigerians love gospel. The church thrives there. We were teaching him and he seemed pretty promising until our last meeting where he handed us back all the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon saying that until we show him the word Mormon in the bible that he doesn't want to read from it. The worst part is he wont pray to know if what he reads from the book of Mormon is true. Oh well I enjoyed my time with him none the less. 

We are teaching a lady named Philda and her son Shanedean.  Philda is progressing better than anyone I have met before and will be getting baptized on the 1st of November!  Her son though seems to not be as excited about this whole gospel thing so we do not know for sure if he will be prepared for that day. 

My shirt ripped, I am no longer a greenie.

The past week we have focused on bring the spirit of Elijah into our lessons. The spirit of Elijah refers to temples. I have taught about temples every day this week and the implications there of are outstanding. The temple is truly the house of the Lord, where you can feel His presence more closely than anywhere else on the planet. I was blessed to live so close to a temple and had the opportunity to go frequently. I was able to first hand witness and feel of the power and strength of the temple and how it can bless your life endlessly. Going to the temple here is not an easy thing and takes months of saving money to make the trip. It is so worth it and the blessings add up ten fold. I know that going to the temple will strengthen you and those you go with, you will build a new love. The love of eternity as you come close to the presence of God and His kingdom. It has been amazing for me to see the impact the temple has had on our investigators as we discuss about it. Ah this church is so true! If you don't have a temple recommend, I suggest you get one. If that means meeting with missionaries, bishop, or whoever. Do it, it is so worth it I can promise you and testify to you that you will find answers to prayers, peace of mind and of heart, and feel a love for God that you have never felt before. It is where you can be sealed with your family forever!

If you have time go to https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2010-07-127-strength-beyond-my-own?lang=eng and watch the video of the temple, don't have any distractions while doing so. Just sit, watch and listen to the feelings you get and I can promise you that you will be touched and fill the spirit.

The church in Bloomfontine, South Africa

This week was the primary program, it was the same as home and I loved every second of it!  Best sacrament meetings ever! :)  Kids are just the best, when you watch them sing their songs and say their little lines you can understand and see why Christ has told us to be as little children are.

No explanation with his picture!  HAHA

The beggers get creative.  They just walk around and then
lean down and hold their can out to your window for money

What is Heritage Day, I hear it is September 24th. - Heritage day is like the biggest holiday, sadly our ward didn't do anything because of who knows what and then it was supposed to be pushed to last Saturday but they still didn't do anything haha but ya people wear their traditional clothing and what what but missionaries have to wear whites still.

Soccer in Kasi

How are you and your companion getting along? - We are getting pretty good, I get a long much better now. Instead of bringing up something that he says or does that bothers me I just sit quietly, I don't know if he notices but usually I forget about whatever it was anyways so we end up getting a long better. Its hard just because I am used to having Hailey who understands the way I think and I could bring anything up with her and it would be fine but Mashava has a different personality and so we are still learning but things have been going pretty well.

How do transfers work for you? - Usually if we are in Kimberley since we are so far from the zone, (two hour drive, 160 kilometers) they call us Saturday night and tell us the news of who is going and what what. Then we get logistics on when and where we travel, we go to Bleom and depending on when the person comes is if we stay the night or something like that. We usually will stay the night in Bloem because we have to be in and safe by 9 and if we drive home we wont get there till late. So we meet in Bloem and then everyone disperses from there.  The districts in my zone are Lesotho, Thaba Nchu, Kimberly and Velkom. We all meet in Bloem for Zone conferences or transfers.

 Who is in your boarding with you now? - In my boarding is me, Mashava, Razafindrakoto, and Katimbo.

This is a family picture, me and Elder Adams(next to me) are brothers because we were in the same MTC group. He is training so that means he has a son (the one in front of him) which makes him my niece. so next to Adams son whose name is Batemen is sitting next to his brother Elder Rakotamalala or something like that. and then above us is Adams dad (trainer) and next to his dad is his uncle.

I just realized Ill get to see Jered on skype on Christmas so that made me way happy haha

I love you all and pray for the best to come to you. 

Elder North