Week 11-Imbali

Monday: We had one lesson today and then headed to Zone Council in Hillcrest. At zone council we discussed the vision for our zone which is "Servants of the Most High God". After that we had pizza and played some soccer, I also got to talk more with Elder Bender, likely one of the greatest missionaries of this generation. He took me to do my driving test so now I'm allowed to drive and be the designated driver. I also got a Springboks (South Africa Rugby (Kinda like football) team) hat from the mall in Hillcrest.

Tuesday: First day really trying to apply our new vision. The morning was ok, had a couple lessons, tried Kota (not a fan 🤮) but in the afternoon I sat with Elder Magot and said, "alright, we know we're here on the Lords errand, let's act like it" and started being super bold. One person we let them know that God had sent us with the keys to their salvation, and they let us in to teach a lesson. Another was about to send us away, and I told them "are you sure, I promise what we have to share is the most important thing you've ever heard, it will change your life, and you've never heard anything like it" and they let us in. Halfway through the lesson, some kids came in and I was trying to remember how to say "what is your name?" ("Ubani igama lakho") but all that was coming to mind was "Ukhuluma isingisi" ("Do you speak English"). Our new friend could tell I was struggling, so I said "No no, I've got this, I actually know a little Zulu… *ahem* sawubona (hello)"

Wednesday: Tried being more bold, stopping people on the streets and talking to them. I'm pretty sure we interrupted someone's date, they were kinda off the road sitting down talking and Elder Magot asked if we should speak with them. Since we are Servants of the Most High God, we did and gave them our number, though we were told that we were interrupting them 😅. We also spoke with a less active family and encouraged their teenage son to talk to his parents about getting the priesthood. We thought that if he had some responsibility in the church he would help his parents make it more. We got back to the boarding and our Sim card went kaput though, so that's unfortunate… hopefully it's fixed tomorrow.

Thursday: Sim Card got fixed, funny thing happened with a less active member, we were meeting with her and she asked if we could do something for her, and we were like, sure, what's up? And she asked if we could get her a Liahona. Now, for those of you who don't know, the Liahona is a church magazine. The Liahona is also a sort of compass looking thing used by Lehi and his family to cross the ocean from Jerusalem to the promised land, I will attach a picture for reference. See back in the old US of A, the Liahona magazine used to be called the Ensign, so when she asked for a Liahona, I was thinking she was asking for the latter. So I took a second to think, something along the lines of "A Liahona? Does she want a Urim and Thummim while I'm at it?" I started explaining that the Liahona could be seen as a metaphor for the Holy Ghost, giving spiritual guidance as long as you are keeping the commandments. As I'm explaining, she's looking really confused, and Elder Magot leans over and tells me "I think she wants a magazine" 🤦🏼 

Friday: Not a super eventful day, but we did put some kids from the branch on date for December to get baptized, I also taught Elder Magot how to play Ninja. We also went to the fast food place where we got Kota from on Tuesday and I just got chips instead, way better.

Saturday: Saturday+End of Month+Rugby World Cup=A lot of people partying. I baked cookies for Institute, which was canceled 😞. We also got things ready for Amahles baptism the next day, including printing the program and filling the font. It also started pouring down rain that evening, which isn't great because Africans don't go to church when it rains…

Sunday: The rain kept going in the morning, but luckily let up around 8:00. Amahles baptism went great, I even got to put my cookies to use. We also met with Brother Khumalo that evening, he's a return missionary and used to be the branch president. He's amazing to talk to, and you can see how blessed he's been since staying in the church after his mission. He makes me want to go home after mission and be a good RM for the ward.

That's all for this week, sala kahle everyone!

The Imbali district on the way to Zone Council
(Me in a Rugby hat, go Bokkes!)
Me and Elder Magot suffering on the walk up a hill
Kota 🤮 (The Coke came in a glass bottle though, super cool)
Amahle's Baptism!
Aforementioned Liahona from the Book of Mormon

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MTC Week 2

Image
 Awesome first week in Provo for real MTC (Missionary Training Center)! I can't explain how strong the spirit is here. just the constant exposure to peace is so refreshing. The food here is ok, the chocolate milk is actually pretty good, but the cookies and cream milk is where it's at. I also got news that I'd be starting out my mission in the Idaho, Pocatello mission after my time in the MTC until my visa comes in. I'll admit that I was disappointed at first, but now I'm ready to do the Lord's work no matter where that may be, in South Africa or Idaho. It's nice to be able to go to the Provo Temple so much and feel close to the lord as I do work for the other side of the veil. I can't wait to be able to do more as the week goes on and on my mission in general. The biggest takeaway that I've had this week is that the lord sends you to where you need to be. He works through you and your skills to allow the spirit to do the real conversion, all I need
Read more

Week 5- Africa

Image
Sawubona! It's been a great first week in South Africa. Imbali is huge! I was driving a couple days ago, and accidentally ended up on the wrong side of the road, the car I came face to face with pulled up next to me and asked "What country are you from?" When I said America, they said "I KNEW IT" and drove away. 😂 Talking to people is hard here. They all speak Zulu and I don't know Zulu, but I'm slowly picking up some things, like greetings and saying goodbye. Since everyone here has houses fenced off, we have a way of knocking with our voices that Elder Magot has helped me figure out. I even have a Zulu name to help me relate to the people here more. The name is Nkosinathi, meaning "The Lord is with us". I'm hoping that as I reside here I'll be able to understand people better.  We had a baptism on Sunday! Her name is Natasha (she gave me my Zulu name) and she's pretty cool, she had a cool experience when she was reading the book
Read more

Week 12-Imbali

Image
Howsit folks, I hope everyone's doing well. I just realized that this is 3 months out, holy cow time flies by! Let's get right into it Monday: We couldn't go out to teach in the morning because our car was busted. But for lunch, I attempted to eat a McDonalds share bag. It consists of 1 Big Mac, 1 cheeseburger, 1 chicken burger, 1 spicy chicken burger, 2 regular and small fries, 2 regular and small drinks, and 10 nuggets, all for about 230 rand (12ish bucks). It was, what we in the business call, a mistake. I was able to eat everything but one small fry and a Big Mac. I was also dying. We also went to play golf, which I am moderately better at, and even got to play mini golf, though the course we played on wasn't very big. Tuesday: Had a really good appointment in the morning with Mandisa, who we think is really interested in our message. We also met with a less active member, tried to help him feel God's love for him even though he drifted away from the covenant pa
Read more