My last email in the mission field

This is certainly something that is very weird. The weirdest thing I think is that I have been looking forward to this moment yet it feels really normal!! Ha ha

I'm not really feeling anything. Most of the emotions about coming home have been in the past 3 transfers! ha ha, I feel pretty good at the minute

Yesterday was quite interesting, I was sitting in sacrament meeting, looking at the clock (I was sitting on the stand) and just for a bit of fun I calculated the time that I had left in hours! ha ha, so right now I have less than 50 hours! he he.
This week has definitely been long, although not the longest of my mission, it's still been pretty long! ha ha.
Lot's of saying goodbye, and running around quite a bit, trying to see everyone.

In terms of teaching, it has been a little slow this week. Lots of things going on but we have been able to get people moving!

The biggest thing this week was that Tumi got baptized!! Finally after a lot of effort and gaining as much trust as we could, she finally made it! Which is a big relief for us, now that she has got to that stage!
Juniour Ledikele also passed his interview! So he is getting baptized next week
And then we also managed to get Shaun to agree to get baptized on the 10th as well! So his interview is this week! He's been coming to church now for the better part of a year! So we are hoping that after he gets baptized, his brother will follow also which seems to be having an effect because he came to church this week!

On Tuesday, brother Jake, who is the first counselor in the bishopric had a braai for me!! It was really nice, it was pretty cool!
Had some nice food and talked with them.

Wednesday we had the MTC experience which was pretty nice. me and the Elder that I was with went tracting, we knocked on 3 doors, and on all 3 doors we managed to teach a lesson! Ha ha, tracting is actually pretty successful here!
On Wednesday we also had a lesson with Lebogang. A powerful referral. We scheduled for 7:30, but she was delayed coming home and she thought that we weren't coming! ha ha, but we just waited there for her. And she came, and we ended up having a really good lesson.

Then also on Friday we had our temple trip! My last time in the Jo'Burg temple, it was a great time and we enjoyed ourselves.

I've been pretty sick this week and it all culminated on Saturday, when we ended up at a members house and I practically lay on the sofa because I had such a big headache! The members were really nice though, they went and bought some painkillers for me and now I feel okay! Africa is trying to spite me one more time before I go!

The week was full of goodbyes and pictures, but mostly on Saturday and Sunday. All went well, and I think this was my easiest round of saying goodbye, mainly because I knew that I was going! A lot of people were sad for me going. 
And on Sunday I gave a talk. I was given freedom to choose what I wanted to talk about.
I talked about some of the things that I had learned on my mission, I still have it so I'll share it with you when I get home, but it was a really good talk, the spirit was very strong while I was giving it and several people came up to me and commented that it was a good talk! So I am happy about that.

Then on Sunday I had my final interview with President Leavitt. A great interview, we talked about my mission and some of my plans for going home! It was a great interview and while reflecting on my mission, I feel that I have been very successful!! Mission Complete!!
There was also a face to face broadcast that they showed in the chapel, which was very nice, and I learned a lot from it!!

All in all I feel that my mission is complete and that all is finished! Look forward to coming home!

It was raining a lot this week and rained the whole day on Saturday! But it is still warm, not sure what I am thinking about the cold weather :3

That's it.

Oh yeah, my companion is training a new missionary already after I have now completed training him ha ha, 3 months out and training!

One week left, saying my goodbyes

This week I feel is the really awkward one, the 2nd last one right before I go home. I will try to remember all the things that happened.

So on Monday, we had a really powerful lesson with Thabang, out investigator who we are really excited about.
Well, we had a really powerful lesson where we talked about baptism and the need for it and linked in the restoration and the Book of Mormon. Thabang is a really great investigator, she keeps all of her commitments and has a lot of potential.
Then on Friday, we had a really good lesson. The best thing is that we committed her to be baptized and she accepted! We have her on date for the 24th of December! We hope that she will make it, but we don't know. She is struggling to come to church for the first time and keeps giving us excuses. So we need to sort out a way to help her
But we have high hopes for her.

We put a lot of people on date this week, Nathi, who is doing really well, we taught him the plan of salvation and hes says it just makes a lot of sense. He is so powerful and really going well, hopefully also be baptized on

December 24th!
We also put Shaun on date too. Shaun is a 17 year old that has been coming to church for like a year!! The reason he hasn't be baptized is because his brother wasn't, and still isn't ready. So we've decided to move forward with him and just baptize him.

The best news this week though was that Tumi, a 10-year-old kid, passed her baptismal interview!! We were a little worried about her because she struggles with English. But we have been having some really great lessons with her because we have built a really strong relationship of trust with her!

Thursday was the highlight of the week. With some dedication, prayers and some real last minute planning, we managed to pull off our Recent Convert Temple trip!! We managed to get about 9 people to go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead, 2 of them were going for the first time!! IT was really successful and quite enjoyable. It was weird because it was the first time that I had gone while being one of the people performing the ordinances, (I was helping with confirmations) rather than the one being a proxy. But we really enjoyed it!

That's about it for this week, not much more going on, all is going well and I am psyching up to go home! I have 'started' sorting things to take home and pack, but it's pretty tough, although I've figured that I only have a few days left :P

I am getting ready to say goodbye to everyone, we had a leaving party organized by Sister Matiti, one of the members, it was pretty good, we only really had lunch but it was very nice. Sister Matiti said some nice things and a couple of the Elders gave some good remarks, it's really funny because we as guys I feel aren't really suited for that sort of thing, it felt almost weird and out of place

A man with a big knife calls but I just walked away

The main event of this week was nothing!! This was the week that I was dreading because we had no event planned for this week! But looking back it actually went pretty well! The week went kinda slow, and I think they are going to keep slowing down the closer I get.

Actually, a couple of things did happen.
So I went on exchanges this week. I went to Dobsonville with Elder Nelsen, while Elder Daniels, the district leader, went with my companion in our area.

This reminded me (for the last time) that I love my own space, in this case my own area. As I know what is going on and I have control over things

The exchange with Elder Nelsen went pretty good! It was his birthday last week Sunday. We had a good time, he got quite lost a couple of times and a few of their appointments fell through, but we made it through the day.
A couple of the highlights was that we taught a really powerful lesson to an investigator, who invited her friend to listen and we managed to teach them both a great lesson!
The other was at out dinner appointment. The mother fed us, but then went and did something else, so it was us in the living room with the member present and with her 13 yr old daughter. The daughter was complaining that she was bored, so we managed to cheer her up by simply playing a couple of games of Uno.

I forgot!! On Monday night we went to an investigator, Thabang. She is a really powerful investigator referral who is very interested in the message. We went and we'd left her with a commitment to read the plan of salvation pamphlet and also to read a chapter in the Book of Mormon, and she'd done both!! It was amazing and we had a great lesson with her. We invited her to come to church, but sadly she canceled at the last minute to come :/ but this week we will get her to come!!

Wednesday we managed to get back into contact with another one of our investigators, Katlego. He is interesting. He was all about getting baptized, but when he realized that baptism is not as it is in other churches, he kinda faded out. He stopped coming because he got a job. So when we saw him we asked what was going on, and he said a couple of things. What is always really interesting is that people, when they have challenges, do the exact opposite of what they should do to get their answers! They stop coming to church and reading the scriptures!
We also had Nathi on Wednesday. He's super powerful, and we finally managed to have a lesson with him! We taught both the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. Even though he struggles with both he committed fully to live both of them! It wasn't so much of a commitment, more of an encouragement. Which he needed because he says that he's going to have to break up with his girlfriend.
Honestly, Nathi is one of the most powerful investigators that I have had on my mission!

On Thursday we had a great lesson with a couple of new investigators. Elder Harris had contacted them on the street, and when we went, both the husband and the wife had read the pamphlet and were quite open to listening to our message, so we are really excited for them
Again on Sunday, we found a family in the Hostel who we contacted a couple of weeks ago, the oldest daughter was asking questions that the restoration answers completely! We are finding some really powerful new investigators now, a move on from all the kids!
It's just a shame that I won't be here much longer, but I am okay with that!

One funny thing happened. When we were walking into the hostel, which is where the miners used to live (it's the poorest part of Soweto, apart from the shacks) we were walking in (we park the car at the petrol station just at the entrance to keep it safe) a guy calls out, he was sitting about 10 meters away, we look and as we do he flicks out a BIG knife. I just look then act uninterested and keep walking. Ha ha, thinking back it was quite funny. He was just trying to scare us but it didn't really work! ha ha.

We are trying to get the last of the kids baptized. We are struggling on with Tumi. A wonderful 10 yr old. She is opening up a lot more now with us, but we are having problems as she says that she doesn't remember, so we got a little impatient and I basically said to her that if she doesn't improve she can't be baptized. I think it shocked her a little but we think it worked. It is her interview this week so we shall see how it goes. Not sure if she is going to pass, but we are just going to see.

It is getting really hot here!! ha ha

That is about it for my week!

"Ah here's a white guy, let's rob him"

The first thing that was happening was that last Sunday the bishop told us of this sister, that was less active, that had been kicked out of her house and was living in a half built shack (it wasn't too bad in reality)

So we went on Tuesday to help out some of the brethren to help her fix up her flat.
We were there for 7 hours!! And we left early!! It was a lot of work! Cementing her shack to the ground, demolishing and transporting the materials from an old shack of hers to the new place, about a 5-10 minute walk.
It was hot too! I was wearing my sunscreen! he he.

But all in all it turned out pretty good, we went back on Wednesday again but couldn't stay too long, but all in all it turned out well. It was great to see how the ward pulled together to help her, even though in total there was only about 7 of us there!

The funniest part was when we got out of the car, transporting sand at her place, and these 3 boys (about 15) walk past, one of them says (in Zulu) "Ah here's a white guy, let's rob him"

Yo, the members that were with us just start going off on this kid, shouting at him and rebuking him! (It was all in Zulu so we only found out after)
Apparently, they scared him quite a bit because he got really nervous and almost ran away. Apparently one of the members was saying that if he did he'd kill him and his family. It was quite intense :')

The other thing was on Wednesday we had the MTC experience, so we got to go with the MTC missionaries for a couple of hours. This time I only got one. So me and Elder Wheeler (from Idaho) went tracting and contacting, and we had some really powerful experiences! We contacted a couple of people that were really interested, gave them Book of Mormons, and actually one of them lives in our area, so weare going to try and see him.
Went tracting, first door that answered, apparently none of the kids spoke English, ha ha so we left. The next door, we taught a really powerful lesson! So hopefully the missionaries in Protea Glen follow up there. They were really prepared for the message and they understood it really well

The best part though was we were walking down the street that we were tracting on and it so happened to be the street where one of the recent converts in the ward lives. She was actually found by me and Hosmer, and was one of the best investigators I've had on my mission, I think I may have mentioned her before, Vuyo is her name
Anyway, we go in, her younger brother recognizes me and is a little excited, he goes and calls her, she was studying, anyway when she comes out she sees me and just stops, and pretty much almost cries! She got very emotional and was so happy to see me, and I was so happy to see her too! It was a great moment. The funniest part was when she came over, then she stopped, and then we shook hands. I could tell that she wanted to hug me but she knew she couldn't, ah the restrictions of mission! he he, but it was great

Fast and testimony meeting this Sunday was also very good, The funniest part was when one member got up and bore his testimony about how he joined the church, he said "I was baptized but I didn't believe it was true!" 
We all laughed about this he he!!

I bore my testimony too, specifically about something that I have learned on mission, it is this:

The gospel is simple. It's very simple. It's not long or hard or complicated, it's plain and straightforward, especially with the help of the Book of Mormon. We don't need to think too hard, but understanding comes as we live the principles of the gospel. As we live the principles first, we learn and understand why we are to keep the commandments, the Holy Ghost reveals to us the ties and connections within the gospel.The way to live the gospel is to live it! As we live it we begin to love it. Not because we are brain washed or because it becomes habit, but because we come to understand why.The reason that this is so hard for us is because the world works the other way around. We need to see the benefits first and be assured of success before we begin. Whereas the gospel requires faith!

I love mission, I am looking forward to coming home, but I will miss doing missionary work! Although I know I can't stay here forever!

Baptism in freezing water

I guess that the biggest thing this week was our baptism on Sunday!!

Khethani got baptized, and the water was freezing!! She wanted me to baptize her, and it was really cold, but she took it really well adn we managed to do it first time!

I love the family (it's a member family, she's 9) they are so kind and hospitable, and we have a great relationship with them, we just gotta make sure that their other kid gets baptized before he turns 9 in April and becomes our problem! ha ha!

We also had Zone Conference this week, my last one!! There are a lot of "lasts" going around at the minute for me. Last Zone Conference, last transfer, last interviews this week! I'm not too, bad, the one thing that is helping is that we have something major planned for every week until I got home. So I don't just have to look forward to the end of the transfer, but I have something to look forward to every week!
The biggest thing is we are having a temple trip on the 16th for our Recent Converts! I am so excited for it, especially because now we have set a firm date and booked it we can get to organizing, and to be honest it hasn't been too hard, the bishop is really on board with it, and is actually going to come along to help. So we are very much looking forward to it!

Zone Conference was really good. They introduced the Christmas iniative, and I have to try and stop myself from being bored by using the excuse that i'll be gone. Although it's true, I still need to keep working hard, which is going pretty well.

I also gave my final departing testimony, which was really weird to give, I didn't really know what to say, so I just bore my testimony, as expected! ha ha. But it was a strange feeling.
To be honest, I'm all mixed up about feelings of coming home. I really love my mission, but I am also excited.

My companion is doing great, we are getting along very well, and things are working out. One of the good things is that we are able to talk about the problems that we have, but also he doesn't hold grudges, which is very nice, as I am not (yet) perfect!!
The problem is as with all new missionaries, they don't really talk too much about it!

Got a great new investigator this week. her name is Thabang, she is a friend of an investigator, who was there when we came to visit. We had our first proper visit with her last week and we are seeing her again today! She seem like she has a lot of potential!!

The other powerful experience that we had is we went teaching with one of the YSA sisters, she is preparing to go on mission so we took her with us for a couple of appointments, and she said that she really enjoyed it! So it's good to see that she will like a mission!

Not much else to mention really, apart from all is going well!

I try not to think about home too much, and I'm pretty good at it. One of the things that I think helps is the fact that I've accepted that I'm going home, and I have a short time left, and I've kinda accepted that I'm not going to be here for everyone's baptisms and that's okay, I still keep doing the best that I can and not going to rush them just so I can be there for it.
Interestingly while writing this a thought came to my head! For at least 2 baptisms, I was transferred out of the area before they got baptized, the first one I wasn't too happy, tried to go back but didn't get permission, and the second one I just kinda accepted it. So now that has prepared me for now! So I still get to keep working hard

About to drive through a small riot

So this week has been slow, I always find that the first week of the transfer goes slow, especially if you have changed areas or companions! Luckily for me, none such, although it has been slower. I am finally using my last planner!! How exciting!!
This week is a busy week, service, and we are also having my last Zone Conference!! Which is exciting

One of the things that we did this week was to fast with a couple of our investigators, Ivan and Shona, they are both young (21 and 17) and are wanting to get baptized. So we decided to fast with them to help them prepare!

Well we did, but unfortunately, we had service the next day! Spent like 2 hours in the sun, it was really tough!! But we made it through!! ha ha.
One of the things that I didn't like is that when I fast I can't eat breakfast! And I had bought myself coco pops!! So I had to wait another day before I could eat them! Ha ha! But it was okay.

On Wednesday we had a little trouble, most of the roads out of Diepkloof were closed, because some of the people decided to have a small riot. They put stones on the road and were burning tires, we were going to drive through but then someone told us that they were throwing stones at cars, so we decided to turn back, thankfully our member present knew another way out so we got home safe!

Talking about being safe, Madagascar has been evacuated of all missionaries because there has been an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague! And lots of people are dying! So they have all been reassigned. 7 of them are

coming to our mission and are going to serve in Swaziland, until it dies down, which they expect will be sometime next APRIL!!!
So we had one of the missionaries with us, Elder Jordan! He was cool, and we had him for a couple of hours!

We had another miracle, we were waiting in an investigators house, while they were doing something, and then this guy walks in the house, (he was invited in) turns out he's actually a member!!! And he wants to come back to church and for us to visit him and teach his nephew!! The lord is truly preparing people!

I love this work and looking forward to this last transfer!!

Done service every day this week

So this week has been pretty busy

We have done service every day this week except Sunday and Monday!
Smashing bricks, planting grass, helping with homework and helping someone move

The last one was the most interesting
So we were helping the Xalabile's move house, literally 5 mins down the road, but we were the only one's there, and it took 6 hours!!! We were exhausted by the end!! Back and forth driving with their stuff!
But the miracle was is that we needed a member present to be with us in the car as we couldn't take the sisters alone with us. So we called up our ward mission leader and he was available, then when we were going

to get him, we realized that he is their home teacher!! It was like a general conference talk!!

The other miracle that we had this week was an investigator that we found
So Thabang is the friend of an investigator, Rosalia. We decided to just pass by to see if she was home, and when we first knocked, the kids tried to send us away, saying that no one was home, well we manage to get in, and talk to her, and she is very interested in religion and more so in the book of mormon!
Well turns out that she has seen it before! She came across it on the internet, but didn't want to get confused, and then we come and force it into her hands! She seems very interested and sound very promising! 
Another miracle was that Noxolo came to church! We haven't even visited her this week but she was there! So we will have to go see her. I think she knows that it is true, but is afraid to change

The best thing of the week was the baptism of Mpumi! a 10 year old niece of a member! I baptized her, it comes after a lot of hard work and patience in trying to get her to understand the gospel!
THe rest of our kids are doing well, and hopefully we'll have a couple of baptisms by the end of the transfer! 

That's about it for this week!

Went to the temple for the 11th time on my mission

Had quite a good week this week!

Yes we did get to see General Conference. We went on Saturday and when we get there, about 15 minutes early, turns out that things weren't really prepared for them and no one had the keys to get the projecter, and the laptop that was used was brought as a backup by one of the members! ha ha, and although it started 30 minutes late we were still able to watch it all. Sunday also went a lot smoother.
I really liked General Conference, it was very uplifting and I got a lot from the messages that were shared. I particularly liked the Sunday afternoon session.
There is also a quote from M Russell Ballard where he warns the members from going to people who profess divine healing and prophecies in return for money... he he, that should correct some of the members here!
Also 7 investigators came and watched at least one of the sessions of conference!! And 3 of them it was the first time at church!!

This week we are also hoping for a baptism, if we can ever get her interview sorted. Her name is Mpumi and she is 9! So she is finally ready after a lot of patience and some challenging teaching, needing interpretations! he he.

This week we also had Zone Conference! My second last zone conference!
This time I was pretty relaxed, and I actually quite enjoyed it! It was nice to gather with lots of other missionaries, although being this old on mission, I know the faces and the names, but not really many to talk to. I only really focused on a couple of them, that I know well! It was also my companion's first Zone Conference! I think he enjoyed it

One of our powerful investigators, Zweli, who was a media referral had an interesting experience. Or rather we did. So we went to his house, trying to find him, and it turns out that he's moved back to Mpumalanga, like 300km away!!
So instead we are now teaching his sister, who is still living there. What the funniest thing is that she wasn't interested the first time we went there, but now she is very interested! So we are looking forward to teaching her.

One of the interesting experiences we had also was while we were teaching Katlego. So we had originally set a baptismal date for the 8th, yesterday, but had taken it away, and forgot to tell him! So he came to church, looking forward to getting baptized, but to no avail. Problem is that he has a very different concept as to what baptism is than we do. So we had to explain that we have to teach him and determine if he is worthy. I foresee a problem with him accepting priesthood leadership and direction, but thankfully they gave a talk about this in the priesthood session so we can tackle it.

I have been up and down in my moods recently, testing my patience, but I am doing well, looking forward to my last transfer!

The big thing this week was we got to go to the temple!!! my 11th time! Using my new recommend!
It was very nice, and a beautiful experience!
The interesting thing though, is I've been waiting to go so I can think about my post-mission activity. I got a distinct impression about my future plans.

Something as well, we watched a talk by Brad Wilcox entitled His Grace is Sufficient at Zone Conference. if you haven't watched it, please do!!

Went to a snake park, great to hold an anaconda.

This week has been an awesome week! Some really cool work has been going on and things are just amazing in the area!

Surprise got confirmed this week! Almost a disaster, as the person who was meant to confirm her didn't turn up to church!! But it was okay, I managed to get everything sorted out! ha ha.
She is doing well, and I was a little worried that she wouldn't come to church because we went by on Saturday and she wasn't there, but she came, so it was all good

Our investigators are progressing well.
From last week we had a couple of great experiences.
One was Noxolo. So Noxolo is 23 years old and has been investigating for a while. We taught her the lesson, but she really wasn't too engaged. So I stopped halfway through and started teaching her, talking about repentance. Then she came out with her real concerns and problems! 

So we were finally able to

get somewhere. The reason that she hadn't been progressing was that she didn't know if she believed the gospel! So we now know where we really stand to help her. What was funny is my companion suggested that we drop her!
I was quite shocked! I was like NO! This is what missionaries are for! To help people build their faith in Christ, not just baptize the people that are prepared!
And this all came from doing the 12-week training program! I am loving it so much, I am learning so much from it all over again, and it is meant for new missionaries! But it's a great refresher for my last transfer.

Training is still going well, and he is getting more comfortable with missionary work and the area. Though I am a little lazy in the mornings, I ma getting better and trying to give him a good example!
My patience has been a little tested the past couple of days, like today, I'm trying to get us moving so we can finish our P-Day activities by 6pm, but he wants to hang out with the rest of the district, and the others aren't helping too much, as they were encouraging it. But I reasoned and it was okay, I've more patience now, and it wasn't a big deal, but still not perfect!
But I'm okay ;)

The best things that happened this week were 3

1. Khetani is the daughter of a member family, I think that I have mentioned her before.
Well the new style that we have developed to teaching is one on one. So I go with Khetani into an adjacent room (don't worry, the door is open and I can still see and hear my companion) and teach her myself, while my companion shares a lesson with the Father, who is preparing to receive the Melchizedek. This we have found works really well! She pays more attention and is actually really smart. We are flying through the lessons and will be baptized soon! So we are excited for her

On the contrary, when we are trying to teach a child, without a translator there, it is really tough, they have a hard time understanding us, so to us, having a member present is really important!

The second and third things were that we had 4 new investigators this week, but we haven't done any finding, no, they were all referrals!
So the first ones were we were in a lesson with an investigator, Pule, he is progressing, although very slowly. But the best part is we are now teaching the mother as well, she has agreed to listen to the lessons, but she is not (yet) interested in changing churches
So at the end of the lesson the mother wants us to go and visit her friend. Apparently she told them about us and they wanted us to visit.
So we go, introduce ourselves, and they want us to teach a discussion right then. So we run back to the car, get a couple Book of Mormons and introduce it to them
They are quite interested to hear the message, especially as we really applied the principles of beginning teaching with them!
But the best part was while we were teaching, we let her give a comment and she basically tells us that she was praying for God to show her direction, she feels like God isn't really in her life, so she was praying for him to show her the way.
The next day was when we visited her!!
It is wonderful and amazing to see that we are really doing the work of the Lord, that he is guiding us to be the answers to people's prayers, and mostly, to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord, to reach out to his children in need

The other was a media referral, from Church Headquarters. We manage to contact him, and after driving around for about we finally fins where he stays, and he is a golden investigator! He really wants the Book of Mormon and while we were teaching him, he was taking notes!
The next day when we go back, he isn't there, so we teach his sister instead, and just a good lesson.
The best part was when she asked: "Is it wrong for me to leave my church and visit another", to which I replied, our faith should not be in a church, but rather in Christ. A Church is just a tool God has given us to come closer to him and work out our salvation. If another church draws us closer to Christ, then we should move to it.
And I can say this because no other gospel will get us closer to Christ than this one! As Paul says, to whom shall we go?

So our week was nice

Today we went to a snake park, it was great, got to hold an anaconda.

This week is going to be really busy!! Service tomorrow, Zone Conference on Wednesday, Temple Trip on Friday and General Conference on Saturday and Sunday
And the rest of the time is fully booked with appointments!! he he

I love you lots and hope all turns out well, looking forward to coming home and trying to hold out for the next 8 weeks.

I am looking forward to home, the work is almost done

This week has been a good week with lots going on

The first one is most definitely the baptism of Surprise!!
So her real name is Simtembile Dzanibe, but everyone just calls her Surprise
So the deal with Surprise is that she is good friends with a member family, and for the most part, she goes to their house after school, because her mother is working and stays there until her mother comes home, this is every day. So she started coming to church with them, wants to be a member, and that's what happened. Haha, nothing major, but this week was finally her baptism. Being 9 years old, short attention span, and us having to adapt our teaching style a bit to best help her, she's finally made it and understands whats going on, eventually.

So the baptism actually came off pretty well, not everything went to plan but it was all good. She wanted my companion, Elder Harris to baptize her, so that happened, and everything worked out well!
So we are very happy about that.

The funniest part was again Elder Harris. Training is still going well, we are enjoying the companionship and he is a good companion! We are doing well and the training is going well.
It's funny because when we do the 12 week training program, he gets bored, which is what I used to do, but now I am the one teaching, I see that it is actually really useful, and I have lots of experience I want to help him understand, but i think I will have to change how we do it, to involve him more and get him interested, but it isn't of great concern.
What was funny was that while we were preparing for the baptism, Elder Harris was trying to do things a particular way, I didn't get in his way, but just gently corrected the course when he was trying to do things that I knew just wasn't worth it. For example, he wanted to baptize her wearing trousers and a shirt, even though he doesn't have any white's of his own...... so we resorted to the jumpsuit, but he was quite set on getting trousers. I was like okay, we can look, but we'll use the jumpsuit as a backup. And that's what happened, we didn't find any.

The other major thing this week is that we had interviews with the mission president!
It was a great meeting to sit down with President Leavitt and talk. I feel like I have a closer connection, but I know that that is simple by virtue of the time that I have been on a mission. Older and more experienced, so a closer connection.
I liked it because we were able to talk about anything but what I really enjoyed was the fact that he asked my opinions and thoughts about things. Like he asked, "are the rules too strict?"
I felt good that he values my opinion, I think it is because I am older and have been in the Mission Leadership Council but I still appreciate it

Got my second temple recommend :)

The other major thing that happened was we were at this members house, the Moketsi's. Their daughter Khetani is 9 and hasn't been baptized, so we are working on that. While we were there, the oldest daughter came in with one of her friends. So while we were sitting we got talking about things and eventually the Book of Mormon. Then proceeded to spend the better part of an HOUR discussing and trying to convince her to take a copy of the Book of Mormon! She wasn't having it, so we discussed, and towards the end, I realized that when I was talking she wasn't actually listening to me, because she would answer my questions, then say something else a little later that completely contradicted what she had said earlier! But I eventually got her to listen, by calling her out and showing that she wasn't listening. She eventually took a Book of Mormon, and she just opened it randomly, saying "let me see what God has to say to me" Opens it to Alma 41:1 and reads: 'And I perceive that thy mind has been worried concerning this thing. But behold, I will explain it unto thee"
We were all shocked and I took that as a basically a miracle! Plain and true

That's about it for this week

Things are still going well but I am looking forward to home, the work is almost done!!

Hopefully going to have a few more baptisms before I go!

Golden investigator story included

So this week has been a pretty good week!
One of the most exciting things though was our investigator Katlego
So Katlego is a single guy who stays with his mum and his grandma, who is like 100 or something.
He was lost for a while, in his words, he'd rebelled from God as he says. But he wanted to come back
So he was looking for a church and one of his friends gave him a Book of Mormon. He read it and had an amazing experience
He says that while he was reading and comparing it to the Bible, while the people and names were different, it was teaching the same gospel and he felt that it was good
He prayed and asked God if it was true and just

felt a small spark of joy within him, and he knew that it was true
So on a Sunday he went on a search to try and find the church, searched and walked a long way! Must be more than 10km trying to find it and ends up at the church next to ours!
He stays for the service there and while there he meets a friend of his that he knew when he was young, and asked him if he knew the church that used the book he had. His friend knew and pointed him to us, he just walked in and sat down!
I'll try and record his story because he tells it better, but it is an amazing story!
General Conference/Liahona material!
We taught him the restoration, and accepts it, taught tithing and he wants to start paying now.
Bore his testimony in fast and testimony meeting. he's pretty much the definition of a golden investigator!

It's been amazing to teach him. We just need to make sure that he understands that he hasn't actually been ordained an evangelist, but we're working on it

The other thing that happened as well is that Surprise, a 9 year old, is getting baptized this Sunday!!
It's been a long struggle to help her understand, but the member family that is fellowshipping her has done a great job to help teach her and help her understand! So we are looking forward to that
She picked my companion to baptize her, ha ha, 3rd week on mission and he is already baptizing someone!
Only problem is that he doesn't have any white clothing, so we are going to have to try and find him a jumpsuit that fits :') ha ha

Our other investigators are progressing really well! Nathi came to church, even though we didn't manage to meet with him this week, but he is still doing really well

Loving Soweto! It is a great place and the people are just amazing. Especially the Ward! The Leadership is powerful
I am loving my last transfers! They are going by so well.

Training is still going well. It is still quite amusing, just some of the things that he says and does. I worked it out that in two weeks time on Friday, is the cross over, I will have less time less that he has been on his mission.
But I don't make him too trunky.

One of the funny things that happened, is that we met with a woman for the first time, and used our standard lesson to get them interested by giving them a Book of Mormon and explaining.
Well we do that, invite them to pray (my companion puts it in the wrong order, invites them to pray then to read... but ah) and then he invites the woman to be baptized.......
I'm sitting there, trying not to show any emotion because i'm torn between amusement and suspense, mainly because we hadn't even taught the first lesson yet, she didn't know about Joseph Smith or even what the church was!
Though it's not wrong to invite someone to be baptized, they need to understand what it means... ha ha it was funny

I don't really think too much of coming home, mainly only in the mornings and sometimes the evenings, because during the day we are always busy doing things!

We got 5 new investigators this week!
1 referral
2 former investigators, who funnily enough have known the missionaries for about 6 months, but have never heard about the Book of Mormon...... so that was interesting
and then the other 2 were contacts that we made ourselves.
Funnily enough I haven't been tracting for over 6 months..... ha ha, there isn't a need, we always have people to see and we are able to find new investigators through other ways. Mainly through referrals or just inviting people to be taught that we meet as we are going about our day
Like one of the contacts, we went to our investigators house, he wasn't there, so I skillfully wove in some comments and questions, and managed to convince his mother to start listening to the messages that we share!

We have interview this week, I am looking forward to meeting with President Leavitt again, see what he has to say! It will be interesting

And then we are also planning to have a temple trip for our recent converts soon! As the temple is less than 30 minutes drive it won't be too hard to organize, so I am looking forward to that!
And then lastly I have been putting my maths skills to use and have been helping some of the members with their maths revision! So they are taking their final exams soon, so we are helping with that! ha ha

Also been encouraging a lot of the YSA, particularly the females, whenever we see them, usually because they are feeding us dinner, I encourage them to serve missions ha ha.

I am trying to catch up on my journal so I can write it in, I'm about 2 weeks behind, but trying not to give up, the problem is that I am always so tired at night, ha ha.
I've been driving every day for almost a solid year now, so I like to sleep! But I still get up on time

South Africa is a great country, full of loving people.

We had some security training for the new missionaries which took like 4 hours! So we didn't really get much time to do anything yesterday, but today we are emailing!!

So this week has been very good! It's gone a little slower because of the new transfer, but I'm sure that things will speed up now!! Especially since we have lots to do all day every day! We literally can't make it to every appointment that we have because things are moving!

Anyway, so the big news: Training!!

I only found out who I am training on Tuesday, his name is Elder Harris, and he is from Cape Town! My third South African companion! 

He is a great guy and a very good missionary! I am enjoying my time with him a lot, and it is good to be able to impart my wisdom to him!
He also is helping me a lot, reminding me of the thingss that I miss out to do, and in a non-direct way, motivating me to be better, and to set a good example for him. So it is a good way to finish the last few weeks of my mission!

The training is going well, we work well together and he is a good teacher. There is of course a reason that he is being trained, he he. It's also quite funny because I see a lot of the greenie habits in him, which is common to every new missionary, and most of it I remember that I was the same. For example he will occasionally comment that something isn't the same as it is back home. It's something that he will adapt to.

In mention of that, I have really come to love South Africa, it is a great country when you can see it for what it really is, the people are great and loving, I've had so many offers to come and stay and be fed for free, it's just great. I have to come back for a holiday as I have already promised so many people I will. 

It's crazy to think that now I such a short time left. I am pretty much 90% finished! It's really weird to think that it has been a whole 2 years!! It's surreal. It doesn't feel too much like 2 years for me, what about you? Does it feel that long for you? ;) (YES)

One of the great things that we learned this week was while we were teaching KB. KB is a young man, who's mother is a member (same place where we found that she is growing, legally, a marijuana plant in her garden, but that's another story) He wants to get baptized and he really knows the gospel well, only problem is that he hasn't  been able to quit smoking yet.
So we started to go over repentance and quitting smoking, but just that morning I had been studying about the qualifications for baptism, particularly in Moroni 6. So while pondering this the impression came to me in the lesson that we were focusing too much on the actions, and not enough on the repentance. Because repentance isn't simply just changing our actions, if we change our actions, but our nature remains the same, eventually we will fall back into the old habits, and have not repented because we have not truly forsaken them
Rather we (I) changed the theme of the lesson to move away from the thought of quitting smoking, and told him that what he actually needed to do was to repent. To change himself and allow the atonement to cleanse him, then his actions will change by themselves, because he has changed. It made a lot more sense this way and the spirit was really present in the lesson, it was great.

This links to something that I learned while studying for the qualifications for baptism. We have this 8 year old who wants to get baptized like next week, and so I was looking over the requirements, particularly studying in Moroni 6. Something that came to me is that often people are too concentrated in the things that we should be doing, rather we should be focused on the people we are BECOMING. This is something that I think was the problem when I did my Duty to God, I was focused on the what I should do, rather than trying to become the person it was moving me to do. I see now why they changed it a few years ago!

One of the things that I almost missed! On transfer day, right before we were about to leave, one of the security guards is running across the car park, shouting for us to come help, the whole of the field behind the mission office had caught fire!!! So we all ran out, grabbing rubbish bins and whatever buckets we could find to try and put out the fire.
All in all we didn't manage to do much, it was too big, the fire hose didn't reach, the people using the fire extinguishers weren't using them properly, they didn't know how, and it just burnt out anyway. The fire..... pickup truck, didn't arrive until it was almost all gone, and by that time all there was to do was to save the trees from burning. In some places the flames were like 2 or 3 meters high.
So it was a very exciting first day for my greenie!

The last thing that I can mention is that yesterday we went to a members house for family home evening, and sitting right there in the living room was this stranger that I didn't know.
Turns out they didn't know him either, he'd just walked in and asked for a cup of tea. And then refused to leave, saying that he needed somewhere to sleep for the night.....
it was really weird
Thankfully the father came home later and kicked him out, he isn't homeless, just wanting to be somewhere else
The worst part is that they even offered him food, and he rejected it, and then started to shout and was trying to impose his own rules in their house,
it was all very strange.

Something that I've been doing a lot is encouraging as many people as I can to go on mission!! Ha ha. It's great, to try and ask people if they want to serve, they say no, and then you ask if they've prayed about it........ then you commit them to ;)

It was quite funny in the trainers meeting, Elder Adams, the AP was saying to the trainers that they are the future of the mission, then he catches my eye, and says: Except you Elder Jorgensen. ha ha.

So that was my week

Transfer and I am training a new missionary

Transfers!!!!!
So I am staying and most likely be staying in Soweto for my last 2 transfers because
I am TRAINING! A brand new missionary! I will find out who it is tomorrow!
My companion is going to Rabie Ridge!! My old area!!! ha ha!

So it is all very exciting, I am looking forward to training, it will be a new experience! Especially my last 2 transfers. It was actually quite funny because President Leavitt asked me the day before what my thoughts were on training, and I just said that I was comfortable with either. Then the next morning he said that we was calling me to do so. So I was expecting it!

Talking about missionaries, I've also got to know one of the APs, Elder Adams, he's from Ireland, the Republic, So I look forward to knowing him when I go home! :)

So Talking about old areas, I got some really cool text messages yesterday.
So Elder Davey (from England) who is serving in Rabie Ridge at the minute and who is going to be my companion's next companion (Elder Bartice).
So he texted me about this investigator that I used to teach in Rabie Ridge. Well when I say teach, me and Elder Samuel found him the first week that we were there, we started teaching him, and I worked with him the whole time that I was there. He was golden and needed the gospel so badly! His only hindrance was that he used to smoke, so we tried to help him with that. But he always used to read the book of Mormon, was always really nice to us, and keep his appointments.

After I left the area I heard that they stopped teaching him. He wasn't progressing as fast as they wanted him to so they stopped. Which was quite sad.

Well when I became a Zone Leader in Centurion, I went on exchanges in Rabie Ridge, and was able to re-introduce the missionaries to him. So they started teaching him again. But it was going to be a lot of work, so I didn't think much of it.
Well the text message I got last night was that he's quit smoking!! He's coming to church every week, and he is going to get baptized!!!!!! AHHHHH I was so happy!! It's wonderful to see that no effort is wasted

The other cool experience was on Sunday
So Sunday was Stake Conference, now I've been looking forward to Stake Conference ever since I came to the area, because it would mean that I could see the members from Glen Ridge again.
Well come Stake Conference, and it was great!!! I got to see a lot of the members again and take pictures with them. But the greatest thing was during the conference.
So we had to get up (we were sitting towards the back) to go to the toilet for my companion. When we come back, someone is sitting in our seats. So we opt to sit out in the hall where they had set up a TV.
I sat at the back and was just writing in my journal because we couldn't hear properly.
When the mission president, President Leavitt, started to speak I moved to the front so I could try and hear him. Then this girl sitting next to me, 2 chairs over, asks what it is I'm doing. I respond that I'm trying to hear. I turn to look and to say more, but I stop.... I look at this girl, and her face seems familiar. To try and help me I ask her name (really awkward), turns out, it's VUYO! The investigator that me and Elder Hosmer found and taught while I was in Glen Ridge, and who was baptized 3 weeks after I left the area!!
I was so happy to see her!!!! Literally, the person I really wanted to find while I was there, and I was sitting next to her!!!
Vuyo is the epitome of why we do missionary work!! She was in a bad state when we met her, but now she is completely changed. She's changed her lifestyle, stopped smoking after 5 years (she's like 18) changed friends, and is happy!! Sh has this different look, a different light about her!
It was amazing! I took pictures

Our investigators are progressing nicely, Pule is getting better and better!

We found this sweet new couple, his name is Nathi, he was referred to the church by a friend, found where the chapel was online and came to church by himself! So we have started teaching him!! Look forward to it very much, and he has a fiancee that sounds interested! Watch this space.

We had an awesome experience with one of the members! So Bulelwa is in college at the minute, and last Sunday we went over to their house to pick up Elder Bartice's journal that they had been signing, and while we were there, she tells us of this great experience in missionary work!
So they had been doing an experiment at school, to measure breathing or something, and they needed to be distracted so they wouldn't think about their breathing. Bulelwa remembered that she had a Book of Mormon in her bag that she carried around just in case, so she gave it to her friend to read and let her keep it afterward.

Well, when we were there she was showing us the messages that she had been sending, she had already read until Alma!! And was loving it!! So we were able to show her how to submit a referral online, for her friend, so that the missionaries would be able to go and visit her! It was awesome to see the ways that people are able to share the gospel

One of the other hilarious things that happened was that we were visiting with a recent convert, whose son is preparing for baptism. He doesn't stay this side, in Soweto. But since he is going to be staying here for like a month, he decided that he wants to get baptized here. So we were like SURE!! Ran through the baptismal interview questions, and everything was okay, so we set a date for 2 weeks from now... but I didn't have a good feeling.
We went back the next day and while we are talking. While we are, he asks us for a Addiction Recovery workbook, that we promised him a while ago..... so now i'm curious, I ask him why.... he gives a small answer, and then the spirit prompted me to ask him if he had quit smoking (the Elders that were teaching him had told us that he had a problem)
He said that he doesn't buy cigarettes for himself, but only with his friends........
So I ask: "When did you last smoke?"
"Today"
........
It was actually kinda amusing, but we have moved his date back like a month, and will keep working with him.

Then Today we went on a tour around Soweto with a member!! It took forever!! Especially because we messed up and ended up having to wait for them to cook lunch, so, all in all, it took like 6 hours!! But it was a nice sunny day, and very enjoyable

Traffic jams, burning tires and no electricity

So this week has gone by really quickly!! But it has been a great week, just going to highlight some parts!

So In general terms, the week has gone well! The investigators are progressing and we are getting somewhere!

Tuesday was our most successful day! It was a good day and we got to see most of the people that we had planned. Including one guy named Gladwin
So his actual name is Musa, and I talked about him last week. So we saw him again this week and taught him the whole restoration....
Unfortunately, he didn't really understand :') so we are going to have to go back over and help him understand!

We had an awkward situation in the which we were supposed to teach a 9-year-old. When we came she wasn't back from school, and she took a whole hour!! Now we weren't too fussed, but the mother really lay into her and gave her quite a hard time! It was quite awkward, so we just left.

Wednesday was a good day, we got to go out with the MTC missionaries and let them experience a bit of the world! Haha. We got 2 missionaries each and went contacting. I had a guy from Utah and also a guy from the Ukraine!
We went contacting, pretty successful, they were both very green haha, I did most of the talking. But we did meet an interesting guy who believed that Jesus, and Christ were two separate people.....

Thursday was Zone Conference! My 3rd last!
It was quite good, they were focusing on key indicators and reporting our stats and things like that. I really enjoyed it just to be able to see people again
I was able to see Elder Chirwa, my previous companion. It was good to see him and he was happy to see me!
I found out that one of my investigators, Jessica, got baptized yesterday in fact! I was so happy to hear that it all worked out!! The work is moving forward!

We also had a memorial service for a member that died, except she was in Poland at the time. So we went, to be from the church, and there were tons of people there! It was a good service, the only problem was is that we didn't understand any of it! Because it was all in Zulu! haha. They were singing lots of songs, so it was pretty nice.
After there was a massive traffic jam, all across Soweto, because some people had blocked the roads by burning tires because they had no electricity.
So we were all using the back roads and were stuck for 30 minutes.

That is about it for this week, I am thinking more of home and preparing to come home. Still working hard!

Funniest thing that happened this week was I cut myself shaving on my nose, and my comp doesn't like blood, so he asked: do you need stitches :') haha. I assured him I didn't