Hello everyone!!!
Its great to hear from you all again this week and hear that everyone is having great times and really enjoying! Also glad that everyone is loving baby Davis! I am definitely loving the pics I keep getting! So this last week has been kind of hectic and kind of awesome! As you all know, I have been transferred Botsabhelo. So I am going to try and tell you everything about everything so this email might be kind of scattered but I will do my best!
So real quick, Monday was my last day in Phutha. I was saying goodbyes and I think one of the hardest goodbyes came from a family that I wasn't expecting. We went to the Tsh--- home and were talking with them for a while. P--- Tsh--- was the first person I baptized but was in the other elders area. Well it was time to go and I was doing ok saying bye to mama and P--- but when I turned to Sis S--- (the 8 year old little sister that I sent a pic of one time) I couldn't hold back. I grew really close to her and saying goodbye was like saying goodbye to Brenner again. It was rough. But I did it and all was well.
Tuesday the real fun began! We woke up early and got everything packed up and got ready to go. We went to Bethlehem at about 7:30 and Elders Kai--, Ak--, and Es-- left to Durban. The rest of us, stayed and had a party! We cruised some bikes around town and went to the mall. At 4 my bus came and it was time for me to go. I said goodbye to everyone, especially hard was Elder Kak---! I will miss that kid like crazy! But he is coming to stay with us someday so no worries. But I got on and was off! For the first 3 hours, I was with Elder Mah--- who was going to Welkom to be the ZL. When he got off, I traveled another 3 hours alone. They were playing XMen First Class on the bus and it was so hard not to get sucked into it! Finally, we arrived in Bloemfontein and I meet with pretty much the whole Zone. They were all there to welcome me and it was way cool! Me, Elder Ad-- and Elder Hal-- all went to McDonalds and then to the boarding.
Ok so basically its impossible to describe everything at this point so now its just going to be random things about everything ok.
So Elder Ad-- is my companion. He is from Kampala Uganda and is the darkest man on earth! haha! He is 28 years old and was in the military back home. I was worried about that, but he is the coolest guy! We get along perfectly!! He is very active so we go running every morning and play soccer a lot. He loves soccer and music. He is in the same group as Elder Mak--- so he is pretty old on mission and will probably go to be a Zone Leader next transfer. But right now the 2 of us are in a threesome with Elder Hal--. Elder Hal-- is from England. He is so so so cool! He is super funny as well and has an awesome english accent! But the 3 of us are working both areas in Bots because his companion had visa problems and cant come into the country yet. All 3 of us get along so great and it is so fun working with these guys! I love it!
Botsabhelo is one of the biggest town ships in all of SA and it is definitely a township... The place is very very rural and primitive. About every other or every third house is a tin shack, and the not shacks are still not houses. All the houses have an outhouse and not an actual bathroom. People hand wash outside in buckets, shower with buckets, and really live like you would expect when you think of Africa... The church is in an old mortuary building. It is very small but it is maintained and looks nice on the inside. The outside is covered in bars and has a huge razor wire fence around the outside which is a little less attractive...
But thank goodness we don't stay there!! Our boarding is on the outskirts of Bloemfontein. We stay in like a big neighborhood complex called Eden Park. Its for big (rich) people so its really nice and really safe! Like we leave stuff outside and the windows open and no one robs us or anything! Its like the celestial kingdom! But there are only the 3 of us staying there, Elder Hal--'s companion probably won't come so we will be in a threesome the whole transfer probably. Its just so clean and nice compared to phutha!! Like I feel so much better just being out of that house!
My time in the actual area has been pretty limited. Its about a 30 min drive there and back each day so it cuts into the time there. This area though is struggling bad. Its one of the worst areas in the mission right now and is seeing zero progress. We have been seeing less actives and trying to meet with investigators but no one is seeing us. We went through the whole teaching pool in 2 days... Looks like we will be tracting like crazy! But it is a township and usually thats where you can find the most people to teach so I am thinking we will be able to find a lot of success if we truly work hard.
So for story time this week, its about the same as a couple weeks back. We went to a less active that stays in really the smallest tin shack ever. We were going to visit and we started talking about the Atonement. Well everything was going great and the spirit was strong, but then she started breast feeding as well. We were all disappointed! The worst part of the whole thing was when she was finished, she just left herself sitting there! No spirit, we were finished. I just stared out the door. I hate this culture...
But overall, I am excited to be here in this area. I have great companions, and it has given me a great attitude on everything. The area might be hard, but I know if we work hard and put our faith in our Heavenly Father we will see miracles here in Botsabhelo. I also need to work hard and find investigators because Elder Ad-- told me that I might be training here next transfer! He had requested that his companion would be someone that would be training next transfer and now I am here! Guess we will see what happens!
I love you all so much and I hope you have another great week! Let me know what things I left out and what you would like to know. I try to remember everything but its hard to get it all sometimes! Salagahotsho!
Love Elder Peterson
