Another accident from Jack

So this week is only the 2nd in the transfer. It feels like it has gone soooo slowww but knowing that i've now been in Rabie Ridge for 8 weeks now (2 months!!) It doesn't feel so long.

So the main main thing is that my birthday package came!!!!!!! I was so happy! The funniest thing was that on Thursday we were out finding some investigators and we get a text from the zone leaders telling us that they have a package for me!!!! I could hardly sleep that night!!! Then on Friday the Zone Leaders dropped by and gave me the package!!! I was so happy! I loved everything inside.

I also got cards from most of the family. 

So I'm going to eat a packet of the chocolate digestives today :) Since it is so rainy and cold we're not going anywhere, we're just going to rest!

I wear my Star Wars PJ bottoms every night, they are very comfy and I love them!

Got a letter from President Spedding which was very nice!

This week we also decided to walk to church together with one of our investigators.I was able to give a talk this Sunday at church, I talked about the importance of being an example. And it went down really well. It was nice for plenty people to thank me for it.

The other funny thing that happened at church was that as usual I was conducting the music. Now the sacrament hymn had no automatic accompaniment, so that meant just singing, which I have no problem with. So one two three and...... NOTHING! Nobody sang :') It was quite funny. I went over to the piano and got Elder Benson to play the first line and then we sang, 

One of the main things this week is quite ironic. We were at bounce (for free) and i try to do 2 consecutive backflip (one straight after the other) The first one goes fine, but the second one, after landing the first one I mess up the jump, which meant that I only got about half way round (upside down) when I landed! Luckily i didn't land on my neck, but I did land on my shoulders which caused my feet to come to my head and hyper-extend my back, and i winded myself. After a little bit of making weird noises because i couldn't breathe I was okay, they brought me an ice pack which helped and then I was able to walk. But the problem was and is that the muscles in my back are still sore, I can't run or jump and if I turn in certain directions it hurts. But I can still teach and walk. So although I was in quite a bit of pain we still went out and worked that night,
and every day since, which I was quite proud of myself for doing!

Funny thing was that while at bounce, one of the staff members comes up to us and tells us she's a member! And she got back off her mission 6 months ago (when i came out!) We asked her where she served she said England, I asked where again and she said Leeds! In fact her last area was Newcastle!! It was a funny experience!

After that we went to Spur for lunch (a nice burger place) and I had a rib burger! They were very nice. And they came and sang and gave me an ice cream because it was my birthday. (Elder Benson told them :') ) So it was a good birthday.

This week has been very cold! I got goosebumps for the first time and right now my fingers are cold making it a little difficult for me to type!

We walked into one of the members houses to go to the toilet, and found them painting the walls. What did we do? Well we grabbed a paint brush and proceeded to help! It was actually quite fun and by the end of it i didn't have a single spot of paint on me! They also said I was very good which was nice :P

Really felt the spirit working this week with people, seeing it in their eyes when they hear it.

One of the best experiences was when we go visit a member and since she wasn't at church I shared my talk with her and she said that it was exactly what she needed. It was a wonderful experience. I really enjoy all the teaching we are doing.

I think that is all for this week.

Love Jack xx

Mooti (black magic) and Sangoma (witch doctor)

Something significant this week is that we are trying to play on each others strength and learn from each other. I think I have mentioned before Elder Samuel remembers people really well and I am more the organiser.

He can take one look at someone and then if we pass him on the street then he'll recognise them which is really useful and something I am very grateful for from him. He's also very good with the members of the ward, he remembers most of them, something that I find difficult to do, especially people I may only see once or twice So that is a big help.  I am better at organisation so I tend to focus on the taking care of the calendar and todolist so in that way we complement each other. I am learning to take the lead during lessons too.

Something that I've become so grateful for is the childhood I had, especially the nurturing in the gospel. Seminary has taught me many things and skills that I use for studying. And if i use my study in the mornings effectively then I find that something i learn applies to someone that day. Also I'm able to draw lessons from things that I learn and apply to others. Something that made me very happy was actually 3 things. 

The first was that one of the members we see on a regular basis was having an off day, so we teach him a lesson about the bread of life, and later that day he texts us and thanks us for the lesson. A similar thing was that the family who we go see on Fridays for family home evening, one of her daughters (who is actually adopted) thanked me for the lessons while we were leaving and she said that they were always good which made me feel good. Then finally one of the other members was Comfort, he's 22 and something funny he said was that he can feel and just sense whenever the missionaries are coming. He later expanded and said that he felt the spirit whenever we came which made me feel even better. One thing that really struck the lesson for the family home evening on Friday this week was emphasising the importance of not excluding people. One thing that was powerful was I shared what i knew about my dad's conversion story, and when I said that his son (having said his son went on his mission) it really made an impact.

One event that happened this week that really showed us that the lord puts people in our path was that we'd just come from a member and were about to walk to a potential investigator when a small kid came up to us and told us that her mother was calling us. So we go over and start talking to her. As a result it turns out that we got a new investigator from it and she sounds really promising. So really we were put into that path to meet that woman. Story about her was that apparently her brother or something had been performing Mooti (black magic) and cursed their house. So they'd called a Sangoma (witch doctor) to come and he determined that there was a snake underneath the house? And they wanted us to pray for their house and protect it. The trouble here is determining what is real and what is just myth. The people here, especially in the township are very superstitious and believe in black magic and sangomas, which are a problem for us, oh no wait I think they'd called a prophet to come and help them.... i don't know. But we gave her a pamflet, introduced the message of the restoration and obtained a return appointment which was quite good :)


So I think i'm on my way to become the chorister here and no one to play but they have one of those automatic pianos but i got asked yesterday to give a talk next week which was interesting. So I will have to think about what I want to talk about... probably missionary work :P We gave a good family home evening lesson on Friday, starting out with a scripture about worship and knowledge.

This one family, the Mlambo family, is really exciting, they're deeply rooted in their church (the Care Bible Church) (the churches here have the most interesting names) but they know what we teach is true, so the challenge lies in helping them transition, and we don't want to loose them because they are really good. The mother believes us and the daughter, Simphwe, she is 17, I showed her the gospel library mobile app and the EFY music and since then when we came back the next week, apparently she hasn't put the gospel library app down and has got rid of all her hip hop music and listens to the music i showed her! So it's really exciting about them.

We're really excited about the Mlambo family and really hope that they come to church one of these days!


Something i miss a LOT from back home is the BBQ's. They call them Braai's here but mostly they are just meat meat meat with nothing green so that is a difference. I shouldn't be thinking about food as I am currently fasting hehe. 

We are going to bounce soon. But i'm going to eat my fudge today that i still have from my Christmas presents :P
Going to treat myself to a maccyd's lunch :)

Anyyywayyy thats about it from me :) I hope that you have a good week and all goes well!

As always, lots of love

Elder Jack :)xxx

Reflection on first 6 months

So this week has been looooonnnngggggg long long long, or so it has felt like it! Probably because of transfers
Wow it is scary how fast time goes. Half a year! On the one hand it feels short, but on the other it feels like mission has been a long time (probably because i'm completely settled into missionary life now)

 

Yeah i'm staying in Mayibuye. I am used to Mayibuye, the people are nice and i'm getting to know everyone, a lot faster than my last area. And hopefully a baptism or too in this transfer so we will see how it goes.

So with taking the lead, i'm learning more and more. I'm almost always the one with my planner out. My potential inv, inv and member pages are full so its really good  as I am learning to be super organised with planning and scheduling. I tend to take the lead in the lessons most of the time and making sure we are always going and doing something. 

It is teaching me a lot. Especially the lesson that if someone doesn't do something they should, you do it yourself! MY companion Elder Samuel is a very good people person, he knows and remembers people really easily and on Sundays he talks to the ward leaders which is a big help. I don't know how he does it but we'll be walking down the street and just greet someone (an inv or a member) who I just failed to recognise, he's good at that which I am grateful for! So if we use our strengths to compliment each other it will work out.

I love my mission a lot! I am very glad that I came on my mission. I have learned a lot and it has really helped me spiritually to understand the gospel more and to strengthen my testimony and every day I learn SO much about life in general.
I have also learned I am so lucky to have my own family as we often see so many broken and challenging family situations here that I have never had to face because of the choices and commitment my parents have taken.
To those with very challenging situations I try to teach them hope that they themselves can break out and have the family life they want.

There will be something that happens that sparks me to research something, I take a course and I learn a new perspective on something, which I use as lessons to teach members. 
I have learnt how important it is for us to partake of the sacrament and how keeping the commandments is such a big part of it. You can't continue to sin and then take the sacrament feeling it will fix it. Actions are required.
So many people just need a helping hand to be "reached out to" because "the fire has just gone out a bit".

One funny thing that happened this week was we were walking to an appointment and this woman calls me over, so we go over and she is sitting next to a... shelter? With some of her friends (or sisters, people mix those things) Anyway she starts talking about because she is hungry she can't read the word of god (bible) or listen to us because she is hungry, this goes on for about 5 minutes during which she points out that I am white, and she is black, and because of that I need to go and buy her some food (or give her money to buy...."food") While they were all drinking. It was interesting to see, and a common thing, that some people see a white person they think money. Anyway i didn't say anything because i didn't want to be judgemental. I let Elder Samuel talk, gave them a pass along card and walked away. I always find giving people pass along cards work well, especially drunk people, if ever they are asking for something, usually money.
Interestingly what she wanted was Phuto. Which is Pap and Inkomazi (which is basically sour milk) Which people here love, but I haven't caught the same love for it :-)

ON Sunday we visited with the Bishop which was nice. He was sharing some stories of the experiences he has had. Oh ....the things that leaders have to deal with :') he he he.

Funny thing. So we... I mean I got mail this week!!! (the only one in the district he he he) I got the family photo album, which I love, the pictures are all really nice and I love them,.
But yes the mail came, and I got a letter from Nana... from 5 MONTHS ago! I was really surprised, it was quite funny, but i counted and i think that i'm only missing maybe 1 or 2 if they've wrote them every week.
Message to anyone who has written to me. If you write to me I will reply, it might take me a month or 2 (to get here and then for me to write back) But I will reply to any letter I get. So if you haven't got a reply.. write again!! (That being said please thank Carol and Ken for their cards, I love them and haven't had the chance to reply yet, i will soon just thank them for me :) )

So the fumigators came on Tuesday and found a nest of cockroaches behind the fridge! There was about a gazillion of them!!!! (I took a pic) It was nasty, so they fumigated the flat and now it is a lot better! Then on Wednesday, Elder Wells from the office came up to fix some of the lights in our flat. We thought it would take maybe an hour or so.. it took 5!! He he he, but Elder Wells bought us KFC so it was okay! It was delicious

The only other thing was Sunday! I love Sundays here. Particularly at church because it's so nice and peaceful. Although this week I was conducting the music. I have started noticing the spirit a lot more at church and I enjoy church a lot.

As a missionary you get asked an unbelievable amount of questions. This week in a lesson someone said "why was the Sabbath changed from Saturday to Sunday" Now there is a question for you to think about hehe. So many could learn a bit from the attitude of Nephi from 1 Nephi 3:7 as the first guide. 

I love you all and I am thankful to everything my parents have taught me in life.

Elder Jack Jorgensen
xxx

We were nearly robbed

Wow, the 6 month mark is here! Thursday will be so! It's scary to think, it's really gone so fast, the MTC feels like yesterday, I'm a quarter way through!

This week has actually been very fast. Thursday to Sunday went very fast, almost in a blur.

A very successful week, 34 lessons or so (23 inv lessons) Which is good, I really enjoy working hard and i feel like I am doing my best, I am very tired at nights and i'm exhausted, yesterday I was so grateful it was p-day today, and answered my question of "if it's the lords work why do we need to rest, won't he help us?" and yes he could, but our bodies still need to rest!

Currently we have over 30 investigators but of varying degree of understanding. Things are looking promising and hopefully this week we will be able to work with some members more, gain a better relationship and get them to commit as well.

Truly i love my mission. Its hard and tiring but then you also experience plenty of the times of the happiest I've ever been. We were talking to an RM about missions and it was a lot of fun!

One such conflicting moment was: We almost got robbed last night. We were walking to an appointment (it was lit, but as with everywhere not very well) anyway while we are walking we pass this group of mid aged people and they say something in Soto, now i'm always listening to around me and i hear the work Magkoa, so i know that they were talking about me (the racists) anyway two guy come along side us and start trying to talk to us. We don't stop and I don't look at them we just keep walking and answer their questions (they were slightly drunk) They ask us where we are going and we reply "this way"
They ask us a couple more times and ask who we are going to see. So we reply without stopping and thankfully they fall behind and leave us alone. :) so all safe :)

We had our carpet cleaned today by some people, the main guy was actually a member! Which was nice to talk to and get to know a little. He said he had family in England and I showed him a picture of Alnwick i have which he really enjoyed.

Will definitely use that family mission plan, which is something we could really use here. There were 190 people at church yesterday, it was full!  They are splitting the congregation soon though so we shall see!

Funny thing that happened this week was that i saw another amusing church name (there is a church on every corner practically) it was called "City of Hope with Prophet Sunshine" so yeah :) Here it isn't a case of do you go to church? More of which Church? And 70% of them you've never heard of. Though the Catholics are the most popular "mainstream' church.

Elder Samuel is a great guy and it is a great experience to be with him. We are from vastly different cultures but can learn a lot from each other.

The week has just gone in a blur i don't remember too much.

Had coco pops for breakfast this week which was very nice, no Weetos in South Africa sadly, i liked those, but all the more to look forward to when I get home
I love my mission and I enjoy it and sometimes I don't want it to end. 

A missionary shared a story in numbers 22 when a donkey talks to one of the prophets, very funny, read it with the family :)

Loved seeing the pictures and managed to upload mine this week. Will try to see if i can get some with the members this week!

Transfers are next week so we will be getting the news on Saturday! Will be a long week :P but always working hard!

Lots of love forever and ever and thinking of you all.

Jack xxxx