Mowing lawns in Sebokeng

Hey fam! Howsit going!  This week has been great! I got a lot of emails about general conference but it's not here yet, we won't see it for probably a couple of weeks haha, so I'm not sure what happened at all, but it sounds like it was good!

This past week was transfers! I'm now in a place called The Vaal (pronounced like hall) in a township called Sebokeng, and it's awesome! Sebokeng (See-bo-king) has its own chapel (which is awesome.  It's nice being in an actual church building and not just a garage or daycare :)) but it's only a branch. Apparently the chapel was built 10 years ago because they figured it would turn into a ward, but there's still not enough people for that yet.  Apparently there hasn't been a lot of growth in the past decade, but it's going super well right now! We have some powerful investigators, mainly a father led family that we did service for, they're super cool. They fed us pap and wors (sausage) and we're going back to them again tonight for family night!

They do this cool thing here called "unite" where all the members and investigators go to the chapel on Saturday and we play games and eat snacks and have a spiritual message, so that's what we did last Saturday and it was super successful! Everyone was laughing and having a good time and the investigators just felt more comfortable, so that'll be about every two weeks!

So yeah, really sorry, but it's a public holiday so we're not at the normal email shop so there's not a lot of time, but I love you all and will talk to you next week! And I'll send a longer email, I promise! Goodbye!

Elder Savage

Doing service for an investigator :)

Oh you know, you just mowing the lawns.

My new comp, Elder Neuenschwander. His mom's german. He just goes by Elder New haha because no one here can say his name. Great guy.

Saw a pink toilet.  You should send it to Grandma Orchard and tell her it reminded me of her.  Haha.  :)

Goodbye Daveyton!

Yup, I'm getting transferred! Spent 4 1/2 months in Daveyton, and now it's time to go somewhere else! It was definitely hard to say goodbye, harder then I thought it would be. At times I was annoyed with the drunks and teenagers calling me Mulungu, but now I'm leaving and I already miss it haha. Funny how it works.

Anyway, it was an awesome last week! On Monday we played basketball with some guys in Daveyton, and even though I suck at basketball I was better than them so it was sweet hahaha. And when we were there I saw this less active who we had been trying to find for six weeks.  He used to come out teaching with us all the time but then he moved and kinda dropped off the grid, so I was able to talk to him and just let him know he's not forgotten, so that was nice. And then afterwards we went and played flag rugby with some members and nonmembers, and one of the members is a member of the seventy! And he's freaking fast too!  I always pictured general authorities as old and slow, but he was a grasshopper haha. And he invited us to his house for a braai afterwards, so it was an awesome day all around! Besides that the week was a little hectic and stressful, and we hardly taught any lessons because there was a fireside on Saturday afternoon and a big baptism on Sunday that we had to plan for, and we had to drive for a doctor’s appointment in Johannesburg (not for me), so it was crazy, but we had fun.

I sent some pictures, but basically the baptism on Sunday went perfectly! There were four 8 year olds getting baptized and then 3 investigators--2 in our area and 1 in Daveyton 2. I've probably talked about the investigators before, Gugu and Busi, they're both super powerful. They were both a little nervous to get baptized, because Africans hate water haha, but it went smoothly hahaha. It was hard to say goodbye to them, but they have good friends in the church so I feel confident that they'll continue to be awesome in the church!

But yeah, that's it for this week, I'm excited to see where I'm transferred tomorrow! I'll have to finish packing tomorrow morning haha, procrastination is the best :) But I love you all, I love the gospel, and I love Daveyton.  I'm sad to leave it, but I know that it'll be for good reasons. Till next time.

Elder Savage

Me and Gugu and her daughter, Ntokozo, the day before she was baptized.

A dope sunset.

Everyone that got baptized! 

 Elders Quorum President (left), Busi’s best friend/fellow shipper (bottom), Relief Society President (right) and me.  Super fun people!

These members make amazing food!!!

Busi and I right after her baptism.

Member Referrals are key.

Howsit going? Going pretty good here, it's been overcast and a little cooler these past two days, which is sweet! This week has been awesome with our investigators and with the food!

I bought a steamer from another elder and it's basically the best thing ever. I can't stand cooking rice... I'm terrible at it and you always have to make sure it doesn't burn, and it's just annoying.  But now I don't have to worry about it!  I just come in at night, put some veggies, potatoes, rice, and chicken in the steamer, go nightly plan, change, and then it's all done! Ah, it's the best!  I'll never go back to normal pots haha.

I also made german pancakes a couple of times this week which were awesome.  They remind me of Saturday mornings back home :) And this elder in the next flat over made chocolate chip cookies last night, they were bomb! Haven't had those in 5 months! It was good to get my fix haha.

They have this dessert here called milk tart.  It's basically a pie, except I don't really know what it's made of haha, but they're amazing. I ate one just now. I'll send you a pic of it next week! There's this Greek guy who has a bakery and he makes them. We just discovered him on Thursday and have already gone to him like 4 times hahaha... milk tarts for days.

But yeah, that's it for food! Our investigators have been doing awesome too! We had like 9 investigators at the North Cluster last week which was sweet! We've stopped tracting as much because the mission president is really focusing on getting member referrals, so that's what we've been working on. We've had more member lessons recently, which I used to think was dumb because they're already members, but when you go in their house and laugh with them and teach them, and show that you're willing to work, they want their friends to be taught as well! So we've been doing that and have already gotten success! We have 3 new investigators at the North Cluster, and 2 new ones at the East that are all member referrals! So the work is going forward, and we have 2 baptisms this Sunday! (Both of the ladies getting baptized were member referrals, so I'm definitely noticing a pattern! I realize why the leaders of the church are putting such a push on member referrals.)

Last night we had a lesson with a cool family that we've been teaching, but they haven't really been keeping any of the commitments. So I was planning on just being like "Hey, if we see you at church then we'll know you're serious." but in district meeting on Friday someone talked about how when you correct people you should be swift and sharp, but then afterwards show an increased love towards them, which goes along with something that Elder Uchtdorf said.  He said that if you have love, then you can be bold, and no matter how bold you are, it won't be overbearing. So that's what I tried to do.  I let the family know that they haven't kept any commitments and keeping commitments is the way they can show that they want to learn more about the gospel, and they got serious, and then I just said that we loved them and we cared about them, and we want what is best for them.  So we finished the lesson, and I could definitely feel that they were more sober, and they realized why we were there. So I'm hoping that they'll be able to pray this week so we can keep teaching them!

Anyway gotta go.  Talk to you all next week, love you! Thanks for everything you do!

Elder Savage

Elder Tye was playing chess in the background, I don't think you can see him though. We were in a mall and they have a giant chessboard so sometimes we do that to find people to teach haha.

ABBA in Africa.

Hey family!

Howzit? From your emails it sounds like it is going awesome! It's going awesome here too!

We had zone conference this week, so that's sweet. . .  you got to see those pictures! (pics below.) It was cool.  Zone conference is always inspiring, even though my khakis got banned haha, but it's alright, the work goes on. We had a lot of sweet lessons this week! Well it was actually an all time low for me with lessons, but the ones we did have were awesome so I wasn't even upset!

One of the good lessons was with the Relief Society president. She's a super nice lady and her kids are awesome, but her husband isn't a member, so we've been teaching him the discussions. The first couple of times I was a little intimidated because he's like 59 and very serious and hardly talks at all, so I wasn't sure if we were really getting through to him. However, when we were there on Thursday night he met Elder Rini for the first time, and they have a lot in common (i.e. goat head is one of their favorite meals), so while his wife served us dinner we just talked to him. At one point music came up and he said that his favorite band was ABBA and I almost started laughing hahaha, cause this guy is so serious I wouldn't even expect him to listen to music.  But apparently back in the day he had every single one of ABBA's records hahaha, so I really wasn't intimidated at all by him after that. It helped me relate to him. We planned on teaching a 40 minute lesson, but I just felt like it was better that he got to know us and trusted us, so after talking for an hour I just shared a quick 10 minute lesson on scripture study that was actually exactly what the son (a member) needed to hear, so it was sweet! It all worked out, and we got fed, so basically a perfect lesson. 10/10 would teach again.

And then Sipho got confirmed in church on Sunday! He's so rad!  He's already been a missionary by just answering people's questions about the Book of Mormon and the church, it's super cool. But he's also had people tear him down for it, like people say that he needs to stay away from the Book of Mormon and they're sending him anti-mormon literature, but he's just like "Yeah I don't really care about that.  When someone says things bad about the church it just makes me want to go to the scriptures and try to find the answer.”  That's a powerful man! No one ever really cared about his religion until we started teaching him the discussions, and now everyone has an opinion on it.  He recognizes that and knows that Satan doesn't want him to be in the church, so it's all good.

The North Cluster has been struggling a little with investigators coming to church, but at Sipho's confirmation there was his friend Tumi (who was also at his baptism), and Tumi brought his friend to church, and Sipho's girlfriend and sister, and his neighbor (who we've been teaching and finally came to church) were also there! I was trying to set an appointment with them one at a time but they were just like "No let's just all meet together!"  So I'm like "Rad!, let's do it Friday night!"  That is what we're doing--we're going to be teaching a recent convert and five investigators all at the same time! I'm seriously so excited, it's gonna be the coolest lesson ever!!!  So yeah, the North Cluster is starting to grow.

That's it for this week.  We’re trying to prepare a few other investigators to be baptized on the 29th, so that's what we'll be working on this week! Hopefully it'll all work out haha. The work is going great, and I'm loving my mission.  South Africa is the best! I love the gospel and I love all of you! Keep doing awesome in America.  Thanks for the emails, talk to everyone next week!

Elder Savage

Me and Elder Mamhere outside the bowling alley

Sipho gets baptized!!

Hey fam, howsit going!

This week was very good. To start, we had a baptism yesterday!!! I'll send a pic, his name is Sipho. About two months ago my trainer and I were driving, and as we drove past a road he was like "I've been feeling that street for a long time," so we tracted it. The first house didn't care to hear our message, so we went to the second house, and they were watching Lord of the Rings (I've probably told this story like 8 times, but it's whatever), and there were some girls there and a 23 year old guy, and he was kind of a joker haha. Afterward, Elder Clegg and I just thought he didn't seem very serious, but then the third time we went there we found him reading the Book of Mormon on his own, so we were like "Whoa this guys pretty cool!" And now he's changed his life and been baptized! In his testimony he said that when we first came to his house he was like, "Yeah, I guess I'll let these guys in" but it was sort of just a whatever thing, he didn't really care that much, but then as we were talking to him a lot of the things we said made sense, so he decided to let us back. It was super cool to hear him talk about it. And he's just a cool guy, he's already been a missionary, he'll read the Book of Mormon at school, or on the train, and people ask him about it and he talks to them about it, and he's just awesome! This next Sunday he'll get confirmed, and then before the month ends we're gonna get him the priesthood, call him as a ward missionary, and get him to the temple for baptisms for the dead! And we're teaching his best friend and other members of his family too, so our goal is for him to be able to baptize them. Pretty exciting stuff! He's definitely a kingdom builder.

That's one thing I've learned from the baptism process this past week, is that I don't want to do anything the day of the baptism haha. My goal is to get someone from the ward to speak, baptize, say the prayers, and confirm the next Sunday, just because if the missionaries do everything, if we teach them without a member present, and we're the only ones they know, then they get attached to us and are bummed out when we leave, and sometimes go less active. So the week has been awesome, Elder Rini and I are on the same page a lot more, because we're learning each other's teaching styles and we just talk a lot about our plans and goals, and we're really working on getting members in most of our lessons, so that our investigators have friends at church and feel welcome! We have three more baptisms lined up for the end of this month, which may be my last Sunday here (everyone seems to feel like I'm leaving, which would be fine, as long as those three people get baptized haha) so hopefully everything goes according to plan! Even though I know it never does hahaha! But I'll still be satisfied with our efforts. We've been working hard, and it's definitely paying off!

Other than that, not too much has happened this week, just getting our teaching pool organized, dropping the people that don't want to hear the message or keep commitments we give them, which can be difficult because I always want to give them another chance, but it's nice having 6 people on date who will actually be baptized than having 14 who aren't very serious. Constantly learning new things about missionary work, the scriptures, and just life in general! My mission is the best, wouldn't trade these past months for anything, I've learned and experienced way too much! I love the gospel, I definitely know it's true, and I've seen it literally change people's lives! I know why I'm here and I'm grateful for it! I love you all, thanks for everything you do! Talk to you next week,

Peace

Sipho is on the right, Ronney, (the ward mission leader), is the one on the left.

Eta?! (What's up?)

Howzit in America! It's going pretty well here! People are wearing snow coats because it's like 65 degrees hahaha. People here hate the cold, but I love it!

This week was pretty sweet, it went by super quickly. Our bikes got a bunch of flat tires, so it was a lot of walking, which sucks because it takes forever, but it was still cool. On Saturday we went to a funeral at the chapel, which was kind of uncomfortable because our Bishop made us sit on the stand and we didn't know who died, but it was whatevs ;) Buuuut besides that the week rocked! We met with Sipho again, and he's sharp (pronounced shop, it means good) for baptism this Sunday! So I'll send you some pics from that. And we were able to meet with some of our other most powerful investigators, and two of them are really excited to get baptized! Their names are Gugu (23) and Busi (around 45). They've had some problems with the word of wisdom, but I always just tell the story of our investigator Olga (who still has to get married but then will be good to get baptized) who was drinking a lot of tea every day, but prayed and was able to quit cold turkey, and is still living it! So it's inspiring for them to hear that, it helps them know that they can change!

Yesterday's fast Sunday was cool as well! In fast and testimony meeting at one of the clusters a lady who's had a lot of challenges recently with family members being sick said that Saturday night she was having a really hard time, and she fell asleep and woke up to an angel who said he was there to comfort her, and then later she fell asleep and an angel came a second time and said that she was the one he was looking for, and that he was sent to comfort her. It was a super cool testimony. She just said that she knew that God knew her and knew her challenges, and she was so grateful for the comfort she received. The spirit was pretty strong, and we had some investigators there so I think they felt the spirit as well! It was pretty cool.

Haha you'd laugh if you saw my food cupboard, it looks like it's owned by an OCD person. The thought of having cockroaches in my flat is too much to handle, so I put like every food item in a plastic bag haha.  A couple weeks ago I had some of Elder Clegg's cereal that he hadn't eaten in forever and there were maggots in it, and it was so disgusting so I just decided to buy plastic baggies for everything! But that's it for this week, love you all and I love my mission! I'm grateful that I'm able to be here, and that I love the people here, because back home I wouldn't say that I had that much love for that many people, but my love for others is definitely growing! Talk to you next week!

Elder Savage

Winter is Coming!

Summer is ending and the cold is coming! Right now it's like 65 degrees and overcast, which is my favorite weather, so hopefully we'll have more days like this! This past week was hectic, but it was good! Transfers changed a lot of stuff!

So I had four guys in my flat, we cover Daveyton 1 (that's me) and Daveyton 2, but my comp and both elders in Daveyton 2 got transferred, so there's 3 new guys in the flat! My comp is Elder Rini from South Africa and he's sweet! He speaks xhosa, which is the coolest language here, so he's been teaching me some stuff. It's a flipping difficult language, the clicks are weird, but I'm getting better! I always tell people "mena xhosa (I'm xhosan)" and they just laugh hahaha. People here are the best.
But yeah me and another elder, Elder Tye, took like 6 black trash bags and just cleared out our flat, because there was so much junk from previous missionaries, so we just threw everything away! The flat's a lot cleaner now, which is awesome because the Spirit can be there a lot more now. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, eh?

So yeah so I'm leading the area now, which is a little hectic, but I'm learning a lot. Learning how to set appointments at the correct times, so we don't have to bike back and forth, learning how to manage my time better so I can get places on time, learning how to get members to feed us hahaha. It's good.

This week was fine with our investigators, for some reason everyone and their mom was gone, so we didn't get to see some of our most promising ones, but we still had some great lessons! You hear those stories about golden investigators who get baptized two weeks after missionaries knock on their door, but I've come to realize just how rare that is! We've found a lot of people like that, who are just awesome and gain a testimony right away, but there's always something holding them back from being baptized, always a lesson that they have a hard time accepting. For some it's the word of wisdom, others it's the law of chastity, but we had some people this past week who are too sick to leave their house, have been in prison, or had abortions, or just can't accept the law of tithing, so it's hard, and we have to learn to work with these people and try to help them with their problems. Usually the only way we can help them is just by inviting them to pray and ask for help, because God knows them better than us, and he knows how to help them in their lives. So that's what we've had to do a lot these past two weeks, just invite people to repent and pray about the things that we teach them.

We had this one guy and his wife, and we stopped by two weeks ago because the wife randomly came to church, even though she didn't know anything about it, and we taught them the restoration and left them with the Book of Mormon. The husband was kind of a joker, but it was fine. So we went back this week and I asked if the husband wanted to join us for the lesson (he was working on his car) and he was like "Yeah, sure." So we started the lesson and asked them if they were able to read the Book of Mormon and he was like "Yeah I wasn't able to read all of it, I'm only about half way through." And I was just like......wait, you read the entire first half in a week? And he was like..."yeah," hahaha I didn't even know what to say hahaha, the most any of our investigators have ever read is like 3 chapters, and he read about 200 pages! He still doesn't know if it's true, but I was like "Dude I promise if you finish it and pray you'll be able to receive an answer," so we'll see if he does it! I'm pretty excited to go back to his house this week haha.

So yeah, that's about it for this week, Elder Rini and I have just been biking and eating peaches like crazy (like every other house has a peach tree, it's magical), so it's been great! Love you all, have a great week, I'll talk to you next time!