First week in Sandton!

Wow, okay, I have a lot to write about this week haha. It was pretty hectic.

So the area I'm in is Randburg, and it's completely different from my past areas. It's a town, so people have money, and I mean a lot of money. We cover this little city called Sandton. I’ll send a picture.  It's one of the nicest cities I've ever been in and is super clean.  In the middle of the city is a six story mall.  Driving around all I see are Porches and BMW’s, so it's a pretty new environment. The majority of the ward is white, but there are also a lot of blacks and Indians. So it's been an adjustment, because I have no idea how to act around white people haha. I go to their house and I'm just like a baby giraffe because I don't even know what to do but I'm getting used to them. The other night we went to a black family and it was much more chill, and I felt like I was at home haha.  I'll get used to the mulungu’s.

My companion is Elder Souza, and he's from Brazil.  We were talking before transfers about how I was going to go to his area, and then it happened! So it's pretty sick.

The area is not as easy as a township in regards to missionary work. You can't really tract here because people have big gates with dogs and electric fences, and there's a lot of nice apartment complexes that you can't get into, so mostly we have to work through the members and get referrals. For finding we just do street contacting but we're in a car, so we plan in advance for when to do that. The car I'm in is an automatic, which was super weird at first because I've been driving a manual for 6 months. 

We also did a lot of service this week. On Wednesday ten of us went to the temple for it’s 30 year anniversary because they invited a lot of officials from other churches to the temple grounds for lunch and presentations so they can learn more about our religion. So some of us served food and others (me) helped with the cars and directing people where to go. So that was unique.

On Friday we went to a homeless center in a nearby township and helped some ward members there. It was sort of like a soup kitchen. The members who are there are super sweet.  It was the Bishop and the ward mission leaders' wives. At first they just wanted to feed the homeless, but now they're starting an addiction recovery class for the people who are addicted to Nyaope (a super addictive drug--it's like crack but worse.  People who are on it get so addicted they sell everything they have and then are left homeless, so it's pretty terrible). It made me like the members who are helping them a lot, so hopefully we'll be able to go this week as well! 

On Friday night a crazy thing happened.  Basically our door to our flat broke, so we couldn't get inside so we went and slept over at the zone leader's flat, which was pretty tight haha. And then Saturday we played rugby in the morning with members, and then helped another member move, and the locksmith didn't come until like 4:30 so that's when we finally showered. But it was still a nice day! 

Sunday was the best though. . . it usually is. I've previously been in clusters or branches so it hasn't been to hard for me to get to know all the members, but now I'm in a full-functioning ward with hundreds of members, so I was a little worried about it. I prayed that I would be able to get to know them somehow, or they would get to know me. So we were sitting in church at 8:50 and the Bishop asked if I could introduce myself and give a short testimony.  Then, like 5 minutes later his counselor asked me if I could also give a talk since the first speaker bailed, so I was like "Yeah, okay. " I gave a 5 minute talk on prayer, and it wasn't until afterwards that I realized my prayer had been answered, because it was a way for all of the members to get to know me a little better. So it was pretty cool.

At church there was a new lady (we only have a few investigators, less than 10 altogether, which is still really fortunate for an area like this) and she's a friend of a lady named Sister Lee. Sister Lee and her husband are in their 20's and they're both returned missionaries, so they're the perfect fellowshippers for this new girl, Jade. We set up a time to see Sister Lee and Jade at Lee's house, and then our 7 o'clock cancelled last night so we asked if we could go visit them. We were talking to Jade and she had a lot of questions, and they were textbook questions like “How can I know that God is there?" and “Where do I go when I die?" so it was a super cool lesson. I mean there were 4 missionaries in there, so how could it not be dope! We just did how to begin teaching and talked and ate ice cream, and we're really excited to see Jade again. I'm super lucky that my first week here we got an awesome new investigator!

So yeah, that's it. As I said, I'm once again a greenie, because it's so different here than anything else I've experienced.  It’s like I have to relearn how to be a missionary haha, but it's good. I'm really loving this area. A great first week.

Thanks for everything.  Talk to you all later!

Elder Stephen

Some pictures of an indoor pool and rock climbing wall inside of a wealthy member's home!

Elders Mamhere, Widdison, Carter, Malunga, Brown, Souza, Savage, Derera, Todd and Henderson.

On September 15, 2015 the  South Africa Johannesburg Temple was dedicated. Now 30 years later, there is a Celebration! On this special day, the Johannesburg Zone was invited to help with the event. Over 100 people were invited to a special luncheon to commemorate and celebrate this occasion. Local business, government, and religious leaders form all over Johannesburg were invited to attend. Tours of the temple grounds, foyer and gate room were offered before the lunch.

Last week in Sebokeng!

Hi,

It was a great last week! On Monday we had a district braai and played tennis and then went to a family home evening with a family in the branch. In one of the zones we cover there's 3 families who get together every Monday night for FHE, and it's been really effective for them.  So we have been trying to incorporate that for more families in the branch, and that is what we did Monday night.  We invited investigators and members to the second counselor's home, and it went pretty well. We watched a video from those new life of Jesus Christ bible videos and discussed it. It was a good FHE.

On Tuesday we had a sweet lesson with Lebohang, a recent convert, about the Priesthood. At first he wasn't really interested in getting it but he said he thought about it a lot and was now excited to get it! So he should be able to start blessing the sacrament in a couple of weeks. One thing we've been doing is using Mormon Messages or other church clips because it's nice for people to have a visual thing to see, along with reading from the scriptures, and there's a lot of good clips about the Priesthood and it's power, and how to be worthy of that. So we had really good lessons with 3 priest age recent converts by using those resources.

On Wednesday President Dunn came to Sebokeng again for some secondary baptismal interviews, but the people getting interviewed were a little late so we were able to chat with him for 10 minutes which was cool. He's a great guy, very real and down to earth. When my companion was opening the gate for someone he said "You know, between you and me, you're leaving Sebokeng. But I really think you're gonna enjoy your new assignment." So I was like okay that's cool. I figured I was leaving since I've been here 6 months, but I wasn't really sure what the assignment would be. And then on Friday he called me to be a District Leader. So that's cool. I guess I'll find out where I'll be going tomorrow, and I go for District Leader training today. We'll see how it goes!

Sunday was awesome!  Four people altogether got baptized! Three of them were Mqwati's, the mother and two of the three sons, and now the other son wants to get baptized as well.  We’re still working on the dad, and he's such a good, nice guy.  I have no doubt he'll get baptized sooner or later. And there were something like 17 investigators at church, and some less active members who haven't been in a long time.  It was awesome seeing that and seeing the branch members fellowship them. Sebokeng really is a great place.  I'm sad to leave it, but I know it's in good hands!

So altogether it was a great last week!  Everyone wanted to feed us so I only cooked twice this week haha, and we still have leftovers in the fridge. That's about it. I'll let you know the details of my new area next week! 

Talk to you soon.  Love you all!

Elder Savage

Collen Horomba and I, aka the dopest Zimbabwean ever. 

Me and my homie Loyiso. He's the one who just got the priesthood.

The Mqwati family.

The Maziboku family.

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