Drive like a missionary, not like a teenager.

Hey family!

Whats up?  This week was awesome.

We did some service in the mornings and painted for a family.  We also did some gardening for another family. People are always confused when they see me doing a job in the township, because there's not really white people in townships.  And when there are they are usually the big boss in charge of a project, not pulling weeds in front of someone's house haha, but it's chill. It puts us out there more and gets attention from people.


On Wednesday we went up to Roodepoort for zone conference which was awesome! It's an all day thing, from 8 to 3, so we had to wake up a little earlier.  We were able to a ride with other elders so I didn't have to drive :)  And we learned a lot of good stuff, one of which was driving. A senior elder gave a presentation on driving and taking care of our cars, which I really needed haha. The taxi drivers here are notorious for driving fast and crazy and stopping whenever and wherever they want, and last week we took a member to a lesson and he was just like "Elder Savage, you drive exactly like the taxi drivers," hahaha, so that was when I realized I needed to change. So it was good to learn and my driving has improved, I'm trying to drive less like a teenager and more like a missionary.  already.

We got an investigator back! Mmutsi.  She is 30 and has a kid.  We had been teaching her for a little while, and she was progressing really well, coming to church every Sunday and slowly resolving her concerns with the church until she got an internship in a town about 90 minutes away.  She was going to stay with her cousins there.  After 3 weeks the company crumbled, so her internship ended and she's back in Sebokeng. The cool thing is, her cousins that she stayed with are members!  Small world, yeah? So it was a really good experience for her to be able to be around them, and they answered some of her concerns. So she should definitely be getting baptized within the coming weeks!

Sundays are always good. The recent convert Loyiso is 15, and we had taught him a lot about the Priesthood.  He was coming to church for 6 months before getting baptized, so at PEC we asked when he could get the Priesthood. On Sunday morning he had an interview with the Branch President and then in Sacrament meeting we all sustained him as a teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood! And he got ordained during the 3rd hour! It made us super happy, because he'll be able to pass the sacrament and start working on his Duty to God.

Overall it was a great week.  Thanks for the prayers and emails.  Love you all! Talk to you later.
Elder Savage

One door closes and another one opens!

What's up fam!

This week was pretty cool.  We had some sweet lessons. One of them was on Tuesday. So rewind like 3 months . . . we were doing a district finding activity in the zone leaders' area, just street contacting in the city for a couple of hours. I talked to this girl named Lebohang (it's a pretty common name haha, I've probably mentioned like 8 others with the same name) and we tried to visit her but it just didn't really work out. So fast forward to Tuesday, we were going to teach this 15 year old kid but he bailed, so we were like okay, we're in zone 12 which is sort of the outskirts,  and there's not too many people we know around here and it's pretty far from the chapel.  Then I remembered Lebohang so I looked in one of my past planners and found her number, called her and she said she was home and available so we went over there!  She’s 19 and her whole family was there. Her grandma and grandpa, aunts, etc.  So at first I was intimidated because we've been having trouble with old people recently hahaha.  More often than not they're sort of set in their ways and yell at us when we try to teach their grandkids or anything. And then Lebohang said that her grandpa was a pastor and I was just like, “Oh no, it's over!” haha.  But it turns out that none of the kids even attend his church, so he was chill with us teaching them. Anyway, we had a super nice lesson with them, and they all had a lot of really good questions.  The Spirit was strong as we received answers for their questions, and we'll be seeing them again this next week! Sometimes one door closes and another opens, yeah? It was pretty cool.

The week was pretty normal.  We did some service, helped a part member family fix a TV, and the dad (who's not a member) was pleased, so that was nice.

Last night we visited a member that I didn't know very well.  Her name is Veronica, and she is 26. We got to know her a little better, asked her about her goals and stuff, and shared a message about the Book of Mormon.  After we closed with a prayer we didn't feel like we should leave, so we just kept on talking. She eventually said that she wanted to serve a mission but was confused about it because she had started her papers but wasn't sure how to finish them.  She thought she was too old to go on mission, so we were able to clear all that up and refer her to the exact people who could help her restart her papers. She was relieved and happy, and she's going to the police station to get fingerprinted today! And we also found that her 9 year old brother attends church but hasn't been baptized, and her parents (non-members) are cool with him getting baptized! I think their family will all eventually join the church now that 4 of their 5 kids are LDS and we're teaching the 5th one. Especially now that their oldest daughter is preparing to serve a mission! So we were really happy that we were able to help them out because the branch could definitely use some more father led families. So all in all it was a good week.

The only bad thing was that one of the recent converts who got baptized on Sunday snapped.  She has literally gone insane, full out crazy. We found that out on Friday, and it was pretty horrible.  She’s in the hospital currently so she couldn't get confirmed so we're praying.  Hopefully she'll be able to get better. We confirmed the other two people who got baptized last week! They're both doing great.  We take them out teaching with us when we can and they're getting friends in the Branch and the YSA is really reaching out to our investigators. So Sebokeng is doing well! The church is true. It's awesome to see more people join!

Thanks for the emails and all the advice.  Love you all! Talk to you soon.
Elder Savage

FHE lessons and progress among investigators!

Man, this week was nice.

To start, we had a super cool Family Home Evening with a partially active family. We had them all write down their last words of advice to their children if they were to die, and then we put all the pieces of paper in a bowl. So we took them out, skimmed through some, laughed at others, tore some up and then just sort of ignored the rest and put them on the shelf. We asked how they felt and they were like "We kind of want to kill you" hahaha.  Then we asked them, “How do you think the prophets of the Book of Mormon feel when we don't read their words?" And we just dropped that bomb and let them think for a little and then challenged them to start reading from the Book of Mormon everyday and treasuring up the words inside. So it was pretty cool.

On Tuesday President Dunn came by our chapel to do a secondary interview for one of our baptismal candidates and they passed! So that made us happy.

 

I bought Kota twice this week.  I was feeling a little lazy and didn't want to cook haha, but we were fed a couple of nights this week, which was nice!

 

Sunday was the best day!  We had three people get baptized! One of them is a 15 year old kid who has been coming to church for 6 months because no one in his family is a member and he comes out teaching with us when he can.  He’s super excited to serve his own mission, and his parents have given him permission and everything, so it was awesome to be able to baptize him.

Thanks for all the love and support.  Talk to you all next week!

Elder Savage

 

 

My comp got the testaments, so on Saturday night we had a dope movie night. I fell asleep after like 10 minutes but it was still cool haha. 

Marshall McDonald and the new area!

Hey fam!

This week was good, but it was super busy. Now that we have the other area combined with our own we have a lot to do haha... a lot! But it's been good.  It keeps us busy all the time, and we really have to rely on the planning sessions, so if someone drops we know exactly what we want to accomplish.

The other missionaries have a few people who will be getting baptized, and we do as well, so on Saturday I went on exchanges with the district leader so he could do the baptismal interviews. He did 5 altogether, and we left at like 7:30am to get to the first one, so it was a super hectic day, but it was good! Mom & Natalie, thanks for the sheet music again! When I went on exchanges on Saturday the baptismal interviews, most of them, were done at chapels.  So while he was in the room with the person, I was on the piano with my boy Marshall :) (Marshall McDonald has amazing hymn arrangements!) It was therapeutic hahaha. But I was wondering, just like you sent me that sheet music, could you also send me the music for “Clair de Lune?" I have the first page memorized still but I'm just like, ahhh, I need to finish it hahaha. That would be the coolest thing ever. Love you!

The next day was Stake Conference, so no one got baptized, but this next Sunday they will. And one of them will have to be interviewed by the Mission President on Tuesday, so it should be good.  It is nice because this past week we've been able to meet a lot of cool people and have lessons with them from the other guys' area. There's a 17 year old girl who just got baptized recently and is almost done reading the D&C, which I was pretty impressed with. She was a referral from a member, who has also converted his friend, and now we're teaching someone else he knows, so we've gotten to work with him a lot.

Sorry there's not too much that happened this week.  I'm just trying to get to know all the different members and investigators in the other area, we spent most of the week there, trying to find balance with the two areas haha.  It will work out though. Thanks for the prayers and everything!

Love you all.  Talk to you soon.
Elder Savage


We went to a buffet, a really classy one. I'm sending before and after pictures.  As you can see, when it started we were like yeah, let's do this!  And then after we were dead, but it was good though! Ahhh, they have this sort of sticky toffee pudding and they pour custard on it here.  It’s sick!

Absorbing Sebokeng 1!

Hey family, howzit! This week was pretty cool.  We went to interviews at the mission home on Tuesday morning. While a missionary was with President the others were with Sister Dunn doing an etiquette workshop. We ate butternut soup, which was super good, and bread.  She was teaching us how to have good manners and stuff. None of the stuff applies to eating in townships because everyone just sits on couches and eats everything with a spoon, which is super chill, but it was nice to eat free food! And Sister Dunn left the room for like a minute so I was dipping my bread in the soup and just chowed hahaha. Licked the bowl clean!  :)

On Saturday we got big news. So there's 4 of us missionaries in charge of the branch, Sebokeng 1 (the other guys) and Sebokeng 2 (us). We were just told Saturday morning, 3 days before transfers, that the Sebokeng 1 missionaries are leaving and we'll be absorbing their area! And they have like 9 people on date to be baptized within the next 6 weeks, along with our 11 people on date, so it's pretty hectic!!! We spent a lot of time on Saturday and Sunday learning their area and trying to find where all the members, recent converts, investigators, and less actives stay so it was stressful haha, but I think it'll be alright. It was Fast Sunday yesterday so we were able to pray for help with this new responsibility, and the stress is gone now! And the week is like already booked hahaha. So it should be fun.

But yeah besides that not too much happened. The Mqwati family have a cousin who's been at a couple of the lessons.  His name's Themba, and we asked if we could come visit him and he said yes, and I thought he was a pretty quiet kid.  But when it's just us with him he asks questions for days haha. It's good though, because he's very curious and he really wants to know the truth, so I have no doubt he'll receive answers to his prayers.

There are two big South African soccer teams here, the Pirates and the Chiefs, and when they play it gets a little crazy...not near as crazy as Brazil or anything like that, but you can't really teach lessons. But we found a couple of people to talk to that didn't care about soccer, which was nice. And we found this dope chinese food place on Friday. I got Beef ChowMein and deep fried ice cream.  Man, it was nice. I'll send pics next week, yeah? Cool. 

Well I love you all.  Thanks for the emails! Talk to you soon.

Elder Savage

Rugbee, doghouses, and another baptism!

Hey fam! 

The week was chill. It went by pretty quickly. Every other morning we (the 8 missionaries in the complex) wake up at 6:00 am and go play rugbee in our complex, which has a nice big field. It's been pretty fun.  It wakes me up playing in the cold haha. So that's been fun. I usually come back and make german pancakes or french toast or something, which is awesome. 

We did some service this week, and just painted an investigator’s doghouse, but it looked nice hahaha.  Hopefully I'll get a pic this week.

We had a good week.  We took a recent convert teaching with us.  He’s older, in his early 60s, but it was nice. We've worked with him a lot because he had a smoking addiction before baptism and it sort of came back, so we referred him to the branch president, but he's doing great now! Every time we pop in he's always reading the liahona or watching general conference or something, so it's really cool to see.

On Sunday Lebohang got baptized! The power was out, so the water was cold, like ice cold hahaha. I felt bad for him, but he did well. I baptized him but I was just waist deep in the water. And afterwards he gave his testimony and it was super cool, he gave like a perfect testimony, not too long, not too short, no stories, just the things he learned from praying and reading and attending church. And then afterwards he invited us for food at his house so we were like okay! And his mom and sister came to the baptism (the guys in his family are kind of jokers) and we're going to start teaching his sister on Wednesday! So we'll see, but he might just be the first tree in a forest!

That's it for this week.  Thanks for the emails.  Love you all.  Stay well!

Elder Savage 

There's this little corner of the flat that gets water damage from the shower, and yesterday I noticed there was a mushroom growing there! Pretty dope.

Aw yeah, here comes the big show.

Word.

Me, Lebohang in white, his mom in white, his sister, and Elder Mpiyakhe.

The Holy Ghost reveals knowledge about the Book of Mormon!

Hey family, what's up! Good to talk to you again.  This week was pretty nice.

I've had flu the last half of it, but it's alright. Should've gotten the flu shot at transfers. . . next time :)

On Wednesday President Dunn and Sister Dunn came over for companionship study.  Since I'm training, it was a little stressful haha.  We had an emergency cleaning session, but the flat wasn't too bad. It went well though--they're pretty cool.  I learned some cool things from them.  We talked a little about 2 Nephi and President shared some things I'd never heard. After they left, we let out a little sigh of relief hahaha because they said we were doing great and our flat was super clean! And, we were like...yeah :)

We had 3 lessons this week which stood out. The first was with Mmutsi, a 27 year old single mother.  We finished the plan of salvation on Wednesday, and afterward asked her how her Book of Mormon reading/praying is going.  She said it was fine but she still doesn't feel like she's received an answer yet. We had watched the district pmg videos that morning, so we were pumped and were gonna dig and find out if that was true.  So we started asking questions and she said that she's prayed about it, and she understands the Book of Mormon now when she reads (it was pretty confusing for her at first), so we were just like the Holy Ghost reveals knowledge, so maybe you understanding the Book of Mormon was an answer to your prayers, and she was just like hmmm. . . I hadn't thought of that. And then we bore testimony that she had received an answer to her prayers, and it was pretty powerful. Preach My Gospel says to base the lessons around the Book of Mormon because a testimony of it is needed for baptism, so we were stoked that she's finally received an answer!

Another was with Nthombifuthe. She went to church for the first time on Sunday and in Relief Society they talked about temples, and she was pretty confused, so we took a member with us and we explained temples and how God has used them since the time of Moses.  We were short and simple about it, so we were able to clear up everything about it. And then her other concern is the Sabbath Day, and how in the Bible there is no evidence that it was changed from Saturday to Sunday (which isn't totally true--we showed her the scripture in Acts 20 about how the apostles had the Sacrament on the first day after Christ's death, but she wasn't really satisfied with it) so we just said that once she gets a testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon then she'll know that God has commanded us to practice the Sabbath day on Sunday, and she was satisfied with that. It was good we found out her concerns early on so we can address them asap.

And then the last lesson was with a father-led family, Thabo and Mapule. We hadn't seen them in a month and the husband wasn't answering his phone.  They have a big gate that's impossible to get in and they both work full time, so we were ready to drop them but then on Thursday night we felt like we should just drive there, so we did.  As we pulled up the wife came out and the husband drove home! So we were able to teach them and get their new phone numbers. We were pretty grateful the Spirit led us there, otherwise we would've just forgotten about them by now.

So yeah, that's it for this week.  I learned a lot this week, made some mistakes but you learn from them!

Thanks for the emails.  Love you all!  Talk to you next week!
Elder Savage