Oh my goodness. This week has been a legit roller coaster. I want you all to know that there is nothing more thrilling than riding bicycles downhill, in the dark, with no lights, on a twisty road, with cars flying by, in the middle of Africa. #adrenalinejunkie.
So ya this week our car was stolen. It was Thursday about midday. We were at the church and a big white van pulled up. 4 guys came out and demanded the car. We had no choice but to give it to them and watch them pull away in it. They at least let us keep our bags and things which was really nice but we no longer have a vehicle... It was an emotional day to say the least.
But ya those 4 guys were the missionaries from the Kwa Mashu area in Durban ;) I guess there is a shortage of vehicles and theres 8 missionares there that walk 3 hours into their area. So the AP's said they need a car and we are about the only area around that could lose a car and still somewhat manage. So yep ours in now gone and we were given a sick pair of bikes. So we have been biking around a lot the last couple of days. Luckily the Toti 2 elders have a car and can drop us off and pick us up. Otherwise its a 10K bike ride from the boarding to the area. Really though its a blessing in disguise. I am going to lose so much weight and I will have rock hard thighs. No one will touch me in soccer by the end of the transfer. So far I haven't been too sore or tired from it. Other than my backside hurts from sitting on the seat all day. But by the end of the transfer (yes we will be on bikes for a full 6 weeks) I will probably be so drained!
This week has been pretty good though. The bikes make it a lot harder to see as many people as we use to see and our stats for last week about cut in half which about made me sick. Its funny though cause the numbers have gone down but I feel much more like a missionary. We talk to everyone, just hello as we cruise by and it just feels so much better! Its also like the lessons we have are 10 times better. They seem more natural. They are almost more informal and they work better. You feel like having a conversation and not just shooting out information like a computer. Its a great feeling. We had a lesson with Lucky who is Khetiwae's son. We were driving by and we saw him and we stopped and sat down in the shade under some ladies porch and we just started talking and by the end of it we had taught the entire Lesson 3! It was probably my favorite lesson of the week!
This week was kind of hectic with the transfer and things but let me tell you whats been going on:
Monday we just hung out and cruised around while Elder Nzioka said goodbye to everyone. Very normal boring day but nice to relax.
Tuesday we had to go into Durban to drop off missionaries and pick them up. Nzioka left to Dundee and Oluoch from Margate went to Kwa Mashu. We then picked up Elder Chapman who replaced Nzioka. He is a tongan guy who is probably 6' 5" and weighs close to 300. He is a beast! He has a scholarship to play football at BYU as a nose guard so he is basically ginormous! His companion Elder Mastara is like 5' 7" maybe 100 soaking wet. They look awesome together haha! He is super cool though and we get along really really well. He thinks its awesome I wanted to serve in Tonga and says he will cook dog for me one day haha. Elder Rasmussen's new companion is named Elder Ncube (Click on the C) who is brand new straight from the MTC! We got to pick him up and take him home. It was funny though because there is another missionary who is going to be trained by a different Elder Peterson so when I showed up at the Mission Home this kid attacked me and was so excited until I explained his companion was on the other side of the mission and he needed to take a 10 hour bus ride to get there... But I appointed myself as GodFather over the kid!
Wednesday we did service at the Deaf School all morning. It was nice and we got to play more soccer with the kids. I got invited to a B-Day party so that was cool. We went and helped the Mhlanga family more. The house has the foundation, floor, and walls done now. They are hauling! Lots of service today mostly.
Thursday was the day of sadness when we lost the car... We took a lovely walk from the church to the middle of the township about an hour away to meet Tokoso. Had a nice chat with him and then took a long walk back through the township at night to get to the chapel. Long distance but really not that scary. People are very scared but its not that bad I feel like. I will never take any of you there but still.
Friday we got the bikes. The fun began! We had a lesson with Khetiwae and then after we needed to drive from there into the other area and meet at a members house for dinner. Well that place is clear on the other side of Toti and deep into that township. So off we went! This is when we were riding downhill at night through the windiest most awesome road ever! I really felt so awesome! We cruised clear down the road and at the bottom there is a one way bridge that we need to cross. I got about half way and I saw a car coming from the other side. He saw me and stopped and I made it through. Well my companion had slowed down a lot and was a little behind me. The guy didn't see him and started to pull into the bridge and about knocked him but he slipped by and we continued our journey. But now it was straight uphill to get to the township. 1st gear for like 30 mins of pumping and we are barely moving. haha it was an adventure! But then the other guys found us and gave us a ride the rest of the way. I guarantee we got half way there. Our goal is to make it the whole way at the end of the transfer.
Saturday we played soccer in the morning. Mini was there so he is not dying thankfully. We had some investigators come which was nice. Tokoso came like normal, and Lucky came too which was so so good! Then Mongezi came. He was an investigator way way back that we dropped and now is picking up again so that was cool. Had a beautiful morning and played some good games. Scored 2 goals. No big deal. After we went and helped Khetiwae check papers so she could get them all done and come to church. Its been too long since I have done math. 2nd grade math was kicking my butt. We also saw Vusi and family and had a great lesson on the Book of Mormon. They are such a perfect family! Just have to get them to church and I swear they will be sealed in the temple. I feel so good about them.
Sunday we had good meeting at church. 107 people showed! Pretty awesome. Lucky came to church for the first time which was a huge step and he really enjoyed. He was fellowshipped good so hopefully he will keep coming and progressing. We had a lot of meetings with people today but not many lessons. Seemed to be members needing us and people not showing. Bad day for lessons but it was a very nice day. Couldn't ask for better weather thats for sure! You can check the weather online and just be so jealous its ok ;)
Innocent has been working all week again. We have called and talked a few times but thats it... His baptism on the 28th isn't looking too good right now...
Roger is in Richards Bay so we haven't seen him either. He is going to move there permanently in a few months so that will be that.
Things are going good and everything is working out nicely. We are just trying to get used to the bike situation and scheduling things. Proving to be difficult. But things will start working out and we will be able to do lots of work here! I hope everything is going well back home and everyone has a fantastic week! I love you all!
Elder Peterson
Monday, September 22, 2014
Monday, September 15, 2014
Let the Heavens Rejoice!!!
Hello everyone!
Well its a beautiful Spring morning and the sun is out, its like 90% humidity, the temperature makes you want to die, and all is well :) Its the start of a new transfer and things should be awesome! I am staying here with Elder Ngandu in Amanzimtoti. Only Elder Nzioka is leaving from our boarding. He is going to Dundee and the Elder that is coming is named Elder Chapman. He is a ginormous Polynesian guy. His companion Elder Mastara is like a pencil. Cut in half. It should be way fun though! I did learn that Elder Makande is going to Kloof to be his dying area. He will finish his last 3 months there and then he will be going home. Crazy to think he is almost done. But Kloof is in Durban so hopefully I will see him again sometime soon. We also found out that all the elders were taken out of Lesotho for reasons unknown. Big problems and its no longer safe so now Lesotho and Swaziland are gone so we are stuck in South Africa!
The week was good though! On Monday we went to that huge reptile farm I was talking about. Its called Pure Venom and it was absolutely terrifying! It was just snaked and spiders, and lizards, and crocodiles, and chickens, and turtles, emus! Ehh it was all the things that I hate bundled together in one confined area. And I paid 80Rn to see it! But it was way fun! Saw lots of fun things including a huuuuuuuge anaconda that made me so nauseous. It was disgusting and fantastic. We had a good time then went to the Margate boarding to make food. Me and Elder Rasmussen made some pizzas and we all feasted! So mom, you sent me that recipe for pizzas, I taught Elder Kakaire to make them, He taught Rasmussen, and then Rasmussen was reminding me how. The circle of life in Africa im telling ya.
Tuesday we held DDM in their chapel and came home. I made Nzioka drive so I could sleep on the way home. I didn't sleep at all on their floor. I usually can sleep anywhere but not that night. Too many snakes and spiders crawling on me.... But we went into the area and saw Roger. We are still working hard on his smoking and trying to get him to quit. He is doing better but still has a ways to go. But he is great and he wants to follow it so he will eventually. We also went to the Mhlanga and the house was totally down and the foundation was being made. The work is going soooo fast without us haha. They will be finished in a matter of weeks I am telling you. Before I leave here, the house will be made.
Wednesday was interesting. We were going to go to the other area and help an investigator paint the house but she bunked. So we went to help a member make her road. I thought that meant we were going to clear a place for a driveway. Boy was I wrong. We had to clear probably 50 yards of weeds, level the land, and make it wide enough for cars to pass and go down to her house. All with 3 shovels, a rake, and a pick. I have blisters all over my hands. We were seriously finished after! FINISHED! But we had to come home and shower and head out. We meet up with Khetiwae and crew. They have an interesting situation there and its so hard to try and help it out. So Lucky is her son who is 18. He use to be quite the hood rat and causing problems. Then he got in an accident and he decided to change his life around. He quit everything and wants to do whats right. But Khetiwae doesn't want to deal with him anymore. She wants to buy him a small house, put a bed in there, and let him live on his own now. He is only in grade 9 though. So he can't work full time unless he drops out and thats not good. We tried to get some negotiations going and get to a conclusion but things are too rough between them. Very very hard but we want to get him learning and ready for baptism but its not going well...
Thursday was quite fun though. We had lots of open time for finding. But honestly, at the end of the transfer you are just so tired for some reason and tracting and contacting are the last things you want to do. But we went out for it. Just down from the chapel there is a set of robots (Stoplights for you who aren't quite into the African lingo yet ;)). Elder Ngandu took charge in contacting the people walking around and handing out pamphlets and taking details. I was on pass along card duty. When the cars stop at the lights. I would walk down the middle of them and hand them to the people in the cars. Honestly worked really really good! White people actually took things from us!!!!!!!!!!!! Let the heavens rejoice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it was cool because some of the cards have a picture of the Book of Mormon and if the person calls they can get a BoM. Well I would hand them out and a lot of people said, "Hey I love this book! I read it all the time!" or "Hey! I have friends who are mormons! You people are really nice!" It was nice to get some positive reactions for a change! But one guy who was a taxi driver. I went up and offered him one and he just stared at me. I told him it was for a free movie and he just stared at me. I said well maybe these people want some and offered a couple to give to the people in the taxi and he just stared at me. So I asked him, Where are you going right now? and he just stared at me. So I just said, Well looks like you are going no where, Have a good day! Some people just don't wanna talk I guess haha. We laughed pretty good about it. We went and had dinner at Sis Sue's house. She made us a sheep knuckle stew. It sounds really weird and gross but it was quite nice. Just tasted like a beef stew really. Then we finished up at Tokoso's house. That family hasn't been progressing very well lately so we kind of just gave them a little fire and said they will be at the appointments we set. We set for every Tuesday and Thursday so they better be there or we might bring out more fire! But I hate fire so it prob won't happen haha.
Friday we did our planning and just had a very normal day. Up and down to appointments and doing whatever. Mhlanga's house was progressing more, not necessarily them but whatever. Vusi got called to work late shifts this week so we haven't been able to catch him much. Just stopped by before going home to see how he is doing but thats it. His daughter is always home so we stop by and say hi during the day since she is there alone. She asks for pictures so I give her ensigns she can cut pictures out of. But not much excitment today.
Saturday was transfer day. And transfer day is like a holiday in the mission I swear. We started the day by playing Soccer with the ward. Had a good time and the cleats were rocking it. Then after that our Zone Leaders, mostly Baba Elder Makande organized a soccer match between the missionaries and a local team in Umlazi. Figured its a good way to get good relations with a lot of guys at the same time. So we went to Umlazi in deep deep township area and meet up on a field. Well we start kicking around and all the people show up to watch a bunch of Mulungus (White people) play soccer. A decent sized crowd was now there and we were getting nervous. The team named the Trouble Tigers is supposedly quite the good club. Then we heard they were coming around the corner to the field. At this point we are expecting like professional ballers coming around cause the people are excited the kids are running around and we all think we are going to get eaten by some kind of animals! Then we see them. In matching gold and black uniforms storming down the hill. I have never been so petrified in my life! 15 or so thirteen year old boys came charging at us. We didn't know what was happening. The game started and they gave us a serious hiding. Of course all the africans started and me! Here's little Utahn me running around trying to play a sport I've learned over the last 2 months against a bunch of 13 year old veterans! Eish but they ran up and down us and beat us 3-0. the people were laughing so hard and I was just thankful it wasn't my area we were playing in. We came off the field not knowing whether we should laugh or cry. Like yes a bunch of people are our friends now and we handed out lots of pamphlets, but our confidence has hit rock bottom. hahaha I really wish I could describe just how awful that game was. We didn't even play. Its like when senior year football and we played beaver at homecoming and got hammered 55-0. It was quite the experience but it was really quite fun. But my cleats got finished. The insides tore out and I know why they were only $10. Still gonna put tape on them and use them but ya China shop shoes aren't Messi approved. But I got some mail so I was very happy today! And transfer news was good so no problems! Nice day for sure.
Sunday at church was the primary program here as well! From one side of the world to the other they still do the exact same things. It was a nice program though. An afrikaans couple had wandered into the church and I took charge to go and talk with them and make sure they had friends and everything. Things went perfect! People said hi and talked and talked. I sat by them during sacrament and they were during great. They took of the sacrament and all seemed well. The program went and and then probably 15 mins before the end of the service the lady leans over to the man and whispers some things in afrikaans then gets up and walks out. I thought she went to the restroom. A few seconds later he leans to me and says they need to go but they will be back next week. I was hopeful so I walked out with them to get their contacts. As we walked out he asks me, What is the name of this church again? and I told him. He said ok and then told me to go talk to his wife while he ran to the restroom. I went out and asked her how it was. She said "umm it was nice. Not exactly what I expected for a church but its alright." I then explained primary and the program and thats not how it usually is and everything. She didn't seem very satisfied though. I talked to them trying to keep whatever I could going and managed to take their number. They left and I went back in feeling a little down about it but nothing bad. After sacrament Jenny Reise called me over and asked me how it went. I explained what they said and everything. Then she who was sitting behind us and speaks afrikaans told me what she thinks had happened. Right before the lady got up, a child was up front bearing his testimony and said I know the Book of Mormon is true. And thats when she started looking around and talking to the husband. Eish... But we will call them and see what we can do and hopefully they will come back! After church we saw the usual's. Khetiwae and lucky are still not on good terms but he says he will come on Sunday no matter what. Saw Sis Thembisile who is Mini's grandma and she feeds us every sunday night. Well Mini has a serious problem and is going to the hospital probably right now today so thats not good. Not gonna go into details though. Then we finished up at the Riese family for some dessert and to help drown our sorrows in ice cream over the almost lost family. It was a nice day though. Things are going pretty good.
Roger finally got a job though! Only its in Richards Bay which is 2 hours away... So we see him today and then we will see what happens from there...
Innocent is so busy working we couldn't meet him but he should have his off day this week so we can see him and get ready for his baptism on the 28 Sept.
Things went pretty smooth this week and it was a good week. Just glad to get into a new transfer and get things moving forward! I have been so so tired for some reason but its like I got reenergized now? Its gotta be a weird mind thing/placebo effect. But I hope everyone has a fantastic week and I will talk to you all soon! I love you very much!
Elder Peterson
Well its a beautiful Spring morning and the sun is out, its like 90% humidity, the temperature makes you want to die, and all is well :) Its the start of a new transfer and things should be awesome! I am staying here with Elder Ngandu in Amanzimtoti. Only Elder Nzioka is leaving from our boarding. He is going to Dundee and the Elder that is coming is named Elder Chapman. He is a ginormous Polynesian guy. His companion Elder Mastara is like a pencil. Cut in half. It should be way fun though! I did learn that Elder Makande is going to Kloof to be his dying area. He will finish his last 3 months there and then he will be going home. Crazy to think he is almost done. But Kloof is in Durban so hopefully I will see him again sometime soon. We also found out that all the elders were taken out of Lesotho for reasons unknown. Big problems and its no longer safe so now Lesotho and Swaziland are gone so we are stuck in South Africa!
The week was good though! On Monday we went to that huge reptile farm I was talking about. Its called Pure Venom and it was absolutely terrifying! It was just snaked and spiders, and lizards, and crocodiles, and chickens, and turtles, emus! Ehh it was all the things that I hate bundled together in one confined area. And I paid 80Rn to see it! But it was way fun! Saw lots of fun things including a huuuuuuuge anaconda that made me so nauseous. It was disgusting and fantastic. We had a good time then went to the Margate boarding to make food. Me and Elder Rasmussen made some pizzas and we all feasted! So mom, you sent me that recipe for pizzas, I taught Elder Kakaire to make them, He taught Rasmussen, and then Rasmussen was reminding me how. The circle of life in Africa im telling ya.
Tuesday we held DDM in their chapel and came home. I made Nzioka drive so I could sleep on the way home. I didn't sleep at all on their floor. I usually can sleep anywhere but not that night. Too many snakes and spiders crawling on me.... But we went into the area and saw Roger. We are still working hard on his smoking and trying to get him to quit. He is doing better but still has a ways to go. But he is great and he wants to follow it so he will eventually. We also went to the Mhlanga and the house was totally down and the foundation was being made. The work is going soooo fast without us haha. They will be finished in a matter of weeks I am telling you. Before I leave here, the house will be made.
Wednesday was interesting. We were going to go to the other area and help an investigator paint the house but she bunked. So we went to help a member make her road. I thought that meant we were going to clear a place for a driveway. Boy was I wrong. We had to clear probably 50 yards of weeds, level the land, and make it wide enough for cars to pass and go down to her house. All with 3 shovels, a rake, and a pick. I have blisters all over my hands. We were seriously finished after! FINISHED! But we had to come home and shower and head out. We meet up with Khetiwae and crew. They have an interesting situation there and its so hard to try and help it out. So Lucky is her son who is 18. He use to be quite the hood rat and causing problems. Then he got in an accident and he decided to change his life around. He quit everything and wants to do whats right. But Khetiwae doesn't want to deal with him anymore. She wants to buy him a small house, put a bed in there, and let him live on his own now. He is only in grade 9 though. So he can't work full time unless he drops out and thats not good. We tried to get some negotiations going and get to a conclusion but things are too rough between them. Very very hard but we want to get him learning and ready for baptism but its not going well...
Thursday was quite fun though. We had lots of open time for finding. But honestly, at the end of the transfer you are just so tired for some reason and tracting and contacting are the last things you want to do. But we went out for it. Just down from the chapel there is a set of robots (Stoplights for you who aren't quite into the African lingo yet ;)). Elder Ngandu took charge in contacting the people walking around and handing out pamphlets and taking details. I was on pass along card duty. When the cars stop at the lights. I would walk down the middle of them and hand them to the people in the cars. Honestly worked really really good! White people actually took things from us!!!!!!!!!!!! Let the heavens rejoice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it was cool because some of the cards have a picture of the Book of Mormon and if the person calls they can get a BoM. Well I would hand them out and a lot of people said, "Hey I love this book! I read it all the time!" or "Hey! I have friends who are mormons! You people are really nice!" It was nice to get some positive reactions for a change! But one guy who was a taxi driver. I went up and offered him one and he just stared at me. I told him it was for a free movie and he just stared at me. I said well maybe these people want some and offered a couple to give to the people in the taxi and he just stared at me. So I asked him, Where are you going right now? and he just stared at me. So I just said, Well looks like you are going no where, Have a good day! Some people just don't wanna talk I guess haha. We laughed pretty good about it. We went and had dinner at Sis Sue's house. She made us a sheep knuckle stew. It sounds really weird and gross but it was quite nice. Just tasted like a beef stew really. Then we finished up at Tokoso's house. That family hasn't been progressing very well lately so we kind of just gave them a little fire and said they will be at the appointments we set. We set for every Tuesday and Thursday so they better be there or we might bring out more fire! But I hate fire so it prob won't happen haha.
Friday we did our planning and just had a very normal day. Up and down to appointments and doing whatever. Mhlanga's house was progressing more, not necessarily them but whatever. Vusi got called to work late shifts this week so we haven't been able to catch him much. Just stopped by before going home to see how he is doing but thats it. His daughter is always home so we stop by and say hi during the day since she is there alone. She asks for pictures so I give her ensigns she can cut pictures out of. But not much excitment today.
Saturday was transfer day. And transfer day is like a holiday in the mission I swear. We started the day by playing Soccer with the ward. Had a good time and the cleats were rocking it. Then after that our Zone Leaders, mostly Baba Elder Makande organized a soccer match between the missionaries and a local team in Umlazi. Figured its a good way to get good relations with a lot of guys at the same time. So we went to Umlazi in deep deep township area and meet up on a field. Well we start kicking around and all the people show up to watch a bunch of Mulungus (White people) play soccer. A decent sized crowd was now there and we were getting nervous. The team named the Trouble Tigers is supposedly quite the good club. Then we heard they were coming around the corner to the field. At this point we are expecting like professional ballers coming around cause the people are excited the kids are running around and we all think we are going to get eaten by some kind of animals! Then we see them. In matching gold and black uniforms storming down the hill. I have never been so petrified in my life! 15 or so thirteen year old boys came charging at us. We didn't know what was happening. The game started and they gave us a serious hiding. Of course all the africans started and me! Here's little Utahn me running around trying to play a sport I've learned over the last 2 months against a bunch of 13 year old veterans! Eish but they ran up and down us and beat us 3-0. the people were laughing so hard and I was just thankful it wasn't my area we were playing in. We came off the field not knowing whether we should laugh or cry. Like yes a bunch of people are our friends now and we handed out lots of pamphlets, but our confidence has hit rock bottom. hahaha I really wish I could describe just how awful that game was. We didn't even play. Its like when senior year football and we played beaver at homecoming and got hammered 55-0. It was quite the experience but it was really quite fun. But my cleats got finished. The insides tore out and I know why they were only $10. Still gonna put tape on them and use them but ya China shop shoes aren't Messi approved. But I got some mail so I was very happy today! And transfer news was good so no problems! Nice day for sure.
Sunday at church was the primary program here as well! From one side of the world to the other they still do the exact same things. It was a nice program though. An afrikaans couple had wandered into the church and I took charge to go and talk with them and make sure they had friends and everything. Things went perfect! People said hi and talked and talked. I sat by them during sacrament and they were during great. They took of the sacrament and all seemed well. The program went and and then probably 15 mins before the end of the service the lady leans over to the man and whispers some things in afrikaans then gets up and walks out. I thought she went to the restroom. A few seconds later he leans to me and says they need to go but they will be back next week. I was hopeful so I walked out with them to get their contacts. As we walked out he asks me, What is the name of this church again? and I told him. He said ok and then told me to go talk to his wife while he ran to the restroom. I went out and asked her how it was. She said "umm it was nice. Not exactly what I expected for a church but its alright." I then explained primary and the program and thats not how it usually is and everything. She didn't seem very satisfied though. I talked to them trying to keep whatever I could going and managed to take their number. They left and I went back in feeling a little down about it but nothing bad. After sacrament Jenny Reise called me over and asked me how it went. I explained what they said and everything. Then she who was sitting behind us and speaks afrikaans told me what she thinks had happened. Right before the lady got up, a child was up front bearing his testimony and said I know the Book of Mormon is true. And thats when she started looking around and talking to the husband. Eish... But we will call them and see what we can do and hopefully they will come back! After church we saw the usual's. Khetiwae and lucky are still not on good terms but he says he will come on Sunday no matter what. Saw Sis Thembisile who is Mini's grandma and she feeds us every sunday night. Well Mini has a serious problem and is going to the hospital probably right now today so thats not good. Not gonna go into details though. Then we finished up at the Riese family for some dessert and to help drown our sorrows in ice cream over the almost lost family. It was a nice day though. Things are going pretty good.
Roger finally got a job though! Only its in Richards Bay which is 2 hours away... So we see him today and then we will see what happens from there...
Innocent is so busy working we couldn't meet him but he should have his off day this week so we can see him and get ready for his baptism on the 28 Sept.
Things went pretty smooth this week and it was a good week. Just glad to get into a new transfer and get things moving forward! I have been so so tired for some reason but its like I got reenergized now? Its gotta be a weird mind thing/placebo effect. But I hope everyone has a fantastic week and I will talk to you all soon! I love you very much!
Elder Peterson
Monday, September 8, 2014
Tearing Down the House
Hello again!
Well this has been quite the week! I don't know what it is about the last weeks of the transfer but you just start getting so tired and for some reason the work just dies! Its like everything goes against you for like a week and a half and then its fantastic again when the new transfer comes! I don't get it but I am looking forward to the new transfer next week!
Its been a good week, nothing bad has happened, but its just not been as fantastic as the last couple of weeks. I don't know but let me share whats going on-
On Monday after emails we went back to the boarding and meet up with the Zone for our Zone Activity. We ended up playing a nice game of soccer and running around all over the place! Once we were all finished we went back to the house and started our Braai. We started some fires and cooked loads and loads of meat. Like the combined weight of all the meat would be like an entire cow. It was fantastic. We ate and sang and partied until the late hours of the night (which is 9 p.m. cause obviously we have to be in and safe). #LivingDangerous
Tuesday we had our normal DDM and then off to the area. We meet lots of people and had some nice lessons! We meet up with Roger and talked some more about the Word of Wisdom. He promised to live it and we are working on helping him do that. He is trying his best and wants to be baptized but he can't. We don't know exactly how to tell him either but we are working on it. Maybe using Presidents ways of just throwing in Chastity first is the way to go. We also meet with Vusi. Vusi is the younger guy we meet with President. We meet him and his girlfriend and daughter and had the best lesson I swear. Taught about the Plan of Salvation and they all just knew exactly what was going on. They answer questions and explain them perfectly and say the church is true. So awesome!
Wednesday we went to the Deaf school by the church and did some service. We went expecting like a small 1-2 hour weed, clean the leaves kind of job but nope! We got put in charge to watch over the kids while they cleaned up a race track, we had to set up computer networks and haul away old computers, we weeded and watered a garden, we played soccer and ping pong with them, and ate lunch with them. It was actually pretty awesome! The kids aren't all deaf. Its more of a school for deaf and slow learners. We talked to a lot and had a really good time! We saw Khetiwae and her daughter but the son has kind of left.... She hasn't seen him in a few days so no one knows.... We just hope he comes back and he's not back at the Church of Tongues!
Thursday we meet with a less active as well today names Serenity. She is interesting. She comes to church sometimes but has no testimony of the Book of Mormon... She will read the Bible but not the BoM. Its kind of a weird situation but we went and talked a lot and built a good relationship. Now we have to build a strong testimony with her. We will see where it goes. We saw Vusi and family again and they were even better! We finished the Plan of Salvation and talked a little about the Restoration. They still love the lessons! We tried to go see Tokoso but him and his mom got in a fight and he isn't staying there at the moment. We lost him now too... Why do people just run away from home and no one knows where they are???? Frustrating but what can you do?
Friday we did some service for Bro Stephen. We hauled a bunch of tile pavers around. Nothing exciting. We went home and weekly planned for a while then had some lunch. We went and tracted in a super rich part of town. That was a mistake. Didn't get to talk to a single person. A single person. Long day. We did get to play some soccer today though which was awesome! I bought a super cheap knock off pair of cleats from a China Shop and wore them. The members all thought it was awesome! Obviously it is awesome! And we played for a while. I always thought you have to have skill to play soccer, but nope, just have to wear cleats! Makes it so so so much easier! I felt unstoppable! We played a team of 13 year olds and beat them like 56-2! We must be professional ;)
Saturday we saw Vusi again and taught the Restoration more. We explained all about the apostasy and how the same exact church was brought back. He said that it made perfect sense and it seems so true. Such a power lesson! We left him to read the Book of Mormon and we go back soon to see whats going on. We did some more service today. Helped Bro Stephen move a bunch of old furniture out of a storage locker into their house. We went for lunch and I made us some pancakes. Delicious pancakes. We went to the Mhlanga family and their house was missing. We showed up and the house is half gone! I was so confused! As we got closer I could see them knocking it down and shoveling it away. We went and helped! We started beating walls with picks and hammers and shoveled away the rubble. The house is made of like hard mud and concrete so we just broke it up. They want to make a bigger nicer house so we might be helping do that this week!
Sunday we had a packed house at church! 106 people! Usually its like 90ish. But we only had 1 investigator instead of like 8... What do you do? We went and had lunch with the Riese family then off to see Innocent. We watched the movie the Testaments with him to help show the relationship between the BoM and Bible stories and explain more to him. I also gave his kids that bubble wand you had sent me and they loved it! The bubbles started down the road and all the township kids were chasing them everywhere it was kind of funny. We saw Khetiwae and the son is still not home. We talked to her about Pioneers and watched a little of the Legacy to explain the early history of the church. She has been learning so much and doing great! She loves the church and loves the gospel so much! She will be an active member for life. We finished our day with a trip to Mini for dinner where we had steam bread and beans. The meal we get every sunday night. Starting to hate beans again haha.
Its been a relatively boring week and not much has happened. Most of the investigators and doing ok but the work has slowed down way too much. We need something to change so we can get it back up to where it was a few weeks ago! But this week is looking to be pretty good so hopefully it will be! Its the transfer news on Saturday and although me and my companion will be staying, one of the other elders in the boarding will be leaving so someone knew will be here soon. That should be fun to have a change! But I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys whatever fantastic things you are planning! I love you all so much and am always thankful for your love and support. Now i am off to go to the largest snake, spider, and crocodile farm in Africa! All the things I hate and I am going to spend my P-Day there! haha Bye!
Love Elder Peterson
Teaching with President Z; majestic soccer move
Well another week down and what a week it has been! I feel like we have done so much and we have been so busy! Just lots of meetings and activities and the week just cruised by! (Not that its a bad thing!)
On Monday after the normal routine we went back to the boarding and got together with the elders from Umlazi and we went and played soccer on a little soccer pitch down the road. It was super fun and we all had a blast! It was a decent field and I was wearing sandals so I figured I would take them off and just play bare foot. It wasn't bad at all. Only one sticker the whole game and things were fine. Well we went home and thats when the problems happened. I must have broken the arch of my foot or something cause I could not walk!! I ended up limping around for 3 days wanting to cry! But it is back to normal mostly and only hurts if I step weird. But it was a fun day!
Tuesday we took off early and meet with a new investigator named Shadrack. He is definitely prepared for the Restored gospel. He is annoyed with all the religions and knows his isn't even true. We talked about Joseph Smith and the Restoration and he was taking notes like crazy! We got done and he was like thats all great but now he is dead so you are all as lost as the rest of us. Well let us tell you about a man named Thomas S Monson ;) Very good guy! We also got a call from Khetiwae and went to see her. Well someone during the night had tried to break into her home. They had kicked in the door and broken it. When they couldn't get in that way (and somehow no one woke up) he broke a window and used a long stick with a hook on the end to reach in and grab her purse. As he was pulling it across the ground and lifting it up to the window level, thats when Khetiwae had gotten the impression to wake up. She looked over and her bag was floating in mid air! She screamed, grabbed it and fought with the man and took it back. He fled. Crazy story but no one was hurt and nothing was taken. We got the door fixed and her windows replaced. We went to a member family for FHE and dinner and I meet my new best friend named Nokwanda. She is 5 and loves everything I love. Dancing randomly, singing primary songs, and playing guns. We had a lovely time haha.
Wednesday we helped Bro Stephen move a huge concrete picnic table thing from one side of his house, across the back yard, through a fence, and onto the patio by the pool. It was a bunch of pieces and each piece took multiple people to carry. It was seriously one of the worst things ever. But despite almost losing fingers and toes, (Dad, you weren't the lucky one this week I guess) we got it all put together and it looked really nice. We went to the area and meet with Innocent and family. They are all still fantastic and he has just been working hard. I also had a lovely time playing catch with his son. Kids love me. I think I will take over some bubbles some time and we will have a bubble party. We saw Khetiwae again and everything is fine. We sat down and her kids actually meet with us!! Well 2 of the 3 anyways but still! They participated and read and it was a great lesson! We read 3 Nephi 11 and the son wants to be baptized now. The Sis also wants to come to church again! Hopefully the family can join her!
Thursday we spent the morning at the Deaf school that is across the street from the church. We are going to start doing service there so they invited to come over for their sports day. The school was having races and games and whatever so we went and watched and meet some of the teachers and parents. Got some good contacts and had some fun. We also had our interviews with President Zackrison today. It was kind of a normal interview and we just talked about how Toti has been improving and he is glad I am working hard in the town and not as much in the township. Said to keep working hard because the Lord is pleased with what I am doing. Pretty nice to hear that :) Well President also came teaching with us today too... That was definitely intimidating!! You don't want to mess up and you just get so worried! I was so nervous for some reason! But we went and it was actually pretty normal. We went into the first lesson and it was a lady named Elizabeth (Who happens to be Khetiwae's good friend) and Lucky (Who is Khetiwae's son). We were just chatting a little and President asked if she was married. Then talked about how he has been married 40 years and they were both shocked! Then he proceeded to teach the Law of Chastity from step one hahaha. And they were so excited about it! He was just telling them not to have sex and going the whole 9 yards! This was the first time meeting with her so we were kind of scared but she loved it! It worked perfectly some how! Guess we need to start tracting using the Law of Chastity haha! We meet another guy and President talked straight to his soul and the guy accepted the Restoration and Book of Mormon without hastle. I don't know how he does it...? We finished the day with seeing Roger. We planned on sharing the Word of Wisdom. Well we showed up and it was a little late for that. I think he was a little on the tipsy side and the lesson was sort of upside down... Roger also had given us a Bible DVD and he started talking about how he had bought a new video and we needed to watch it and he was going to give it to us and I thought President was going to smite us! Cause he never mentioned Bible or anything spiritual so President probably thought Transformers 4, Frozen, Fast and Furious whatever else. I just stared at the ground trying not to look him in the eye haha. But we got done and went home and talked about the day and he said he was really very impressed with us and he trusted our companionship and everything we were doing. He said the Lord would really bless us if we keep it up. Weight on my shoulders lifted!! Success!!
Friday we meet the Mhlanga Family and their older daughter who has been in Sudan fighting the war just came home so they were all excited and just wanted to hold a huge feast so thats what we did! We ate and ate and ate and celebrated her coming home. Don't know her but I will celebrate sure! Wooooh! We saw Khetiwae and family and talked more about baptism and the restoration. Things are looking good there other than the sons best friend belongs to a... not so normal.... church. He is convinced he can speak in tongues and his parents are over taken by the spirit and people fall down and eish churches here are like nothing I have ever seen before. Like almost hilarious. But we will see what we can do.
Saturday we played some epic soccer in the morning! The ward was practicing and some guys from a club wanted to play us. We did and obviously these guys are really good. Well there was one guy that was a striker and he was way high minded and I didn't like him. I was playing defense as a left back. Well this guy got the ball and was going to score and I couldn't let that happen. So I come running across from the side and just before he can get his shot off, I slide tackled him like a straight superstar! I flew across laying my body on the line! I hit the ball perfectly out of the way, hammered his ankle so he knew not to mess with me again and then stood up all in one fluent majestic movement. I felt absolutely invincible! Everyone was cheering and I looked like a total stud. Then the pain came. I looked down and I had some major road rash up my leg and on my arm and it hurt bad! haha. But I played it off and hobbled around for the rest of the game because obviously I can't show pain in front of all my brethren! But its pretty painful when my pants just rub it all day but it was totally worth it! Well we went home after and me and Elder Rasmussen (Serving in Margate, from Manti, here for exchanges) decided to get pizza. We ordered 3 for some reason and feasted! We ate and ate and ate and pounded them all! Nothing can make you feel emotionally so happy and physically so unhappy as eating 3 large pizzas. Worth it again. We then went to Durban for an Adult Fireside by Elder Cook. They were talking all about families and young couples getting married (President wanted missionaries to attend for this). There was a lot about culture stuff like lebola and paying families and whatever but they wanted people to understand how important it is to start families and be sealed in the temple to complete the Plan of our Heavenly Father. It was a really nice meeting. I am just glad I don't have to pay 11 cows to get married ;) (Don't get any ideas!!)
Sunday we had 9 investigators and less actives at church! It was packed! Very nice service and everyone enjoyed. After we went on exchanges again and I went with Elder Mastara into Illovo which is the township. We went to a members house where they have a Cottage Meeting every week. Basically the members gather and sing, pray, and have a lesson. Like a mini church service. Well I was asked to speak. I talked about how all of us come from different cultures, whether it is from our forefathers or the culture of the world, and how we need to change and adopt the culture of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Focused on how it doesn't matter what the worlds culture is, it is wrong if it is not following the teachings of Christ. Talked about how we can change our culture by keeping the commandments as starters and then developing Christ Like attributes. It was kind of last minute but it worked really really well. A couple missionary always comes and they even said they were really impressed. It was a fun meeting and fun to meet in a semi formal way and teach. We visited around and meet with Bro Cosmos. He is a member that is very very poor. He builds for work and does jobs for poor members of the church for free. He is very humble and doesn't want to ask others for help though. We talked and he hasn't had money for 3 weeks. He hasn't eaten in days. We went on a rescue mission and gathered a bunch of food and took it to him so he could survive another week. Super sad to see but it is so common here. We finished up and came home.
Now this morning I wrote a letter and we went and washed a ladies windows and she made us some cow intestine soup. She wanted us to eat there but we said we were in a rush and asked if we could take it to go. I will not be eating that. Now its off to the beach to play beach volleyball with the zone and to have a braai after! Should be a good day today!
I hope everyone is doing good and has a great week! I love you all very much!
Elder Peterson
Preach My Gospel, Chapter 1
Hello everyone!
This past week has been full of many different experiences but will definitely be a week that I will remember more on my mission!
On Monday we came to email and after spending too long here we went home and just chilled around. I was writing in my journal and I started having lots going through my head and I started to have kind of an emotional breakdown or something... I don't know but I was asking myself some deep soul searching questions and then I kind of snapped and eish it was a dark day for me. But whatever I went to sleep and I woke up and thats when it got better.
Tuesday was probably the best day in forever. After falling apart I wanted to get myself back together and thats what I did. I got up, started exercising, got everything prepared and went straight into studies. I decided to go back to the beginning and studied Chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel, Your Purpose. As I was studying there was a lot that was just hitting me so much and I could really feel the spirit actually helping me understand how I could fix what I was feeling. As we started our companionship study I wanted to share what was going on sort of and some of the things. I was reading a part and the thought came to me that I needed to contact more. Now I absolutely hate contacting. Like I would rather tract and knock on doors all day then have to stand on a corner and contact people for 1 hour. Like I hate it. But I was reading and I kept having the thought that to fulfill my calling as a missionary I needed to 'Find through contacting.' Well Elder Ngandu loves contacting people like he will talk to anyone. So I started to tell him I think he needs to teach me to do that. I explained that I wanted to fulfill my calling better and I read from the last section of that chapter under "A successful missionary' and I stopped and just said, "I want to feel that the Lord is happy with what I am doing."and then I started to cry a little more and had to try and hide it. Such a powerful experience to me. Well as we continued through the day that spirit stayed with us and seriously we taught the gospel. I think we could have converted the Pope today! The only down side to the whole day was when we went to James. James has been doing so good and has loved everything we have told him. But we went today and his Muslim family has cancelled our appointments with him. We are no longer allowed there so the teachings will have to stop... We gave him all we could and then had to part ways... I am just praying that some day he will be able to receive the fullness of the gospel in his life.
Well Wednesday we put that contacting challenge to the test! I knew what I needed to do and we went and did it! We spent the entire morning contacting and got 8! I know you were expecting like 50 but 8 is a lot here in Toti. Thats more in one day than we usually get 2 weeks here! We were walking down the Beach Road talking to people and stopped at a younger couple. We offered them a pass a long card for a free DVD and they explained they were homeless and couldn't watch it. We talked for a bit and told them how much God loved them and offered to come back and meet them again. I was having one of those "the gospel is totally going to change these peoples lives"moments! I gave them 20Rn to go get some food and we took off. Well down the road a ways we talked to a security guard to the high rise and she told us about all these druggies that beg for money cause problems. Then she says and the 2 worst ones are those 2! And sure enough it was the ones I just gave 20 bucks to. Nice.... Thats why I hate contacting haha. But it felt good to fulfill my purpose more.
Thursday was the first day it has rained in months! I swear I can't remember the last time it rained! Well we had a great day and taught lots. We were able to meet with Innocent and every time we talk I just feel so bad for him. He is the most humble man I have ever meet. He has had the roughest life and it is still so hard. His wife is pregnant with baby number 3, he still works as a car guard where he makes no money, he lost his papers that say he is a teacher, and he still tries to come to church every time he can. I just want to buy them food, give them clothes, and find him a job! I feel awful but I am so thankful for him. He is such an example of patience and humility. We talked a lot and he has decided to be baptized at the end of September and then work on teaching his wife so he can baptize her later on. Hopefully their situation gets better and it can happen soon! But funny story. We were there talking and sharing scriptures and all of a sudden his little son walks into the corner pulls down his pants and starts peeing in a pot haha spirit took off but we all had a pretty good laugh.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were all full of very great lessons and we were able to meet with everyone we needed to. So basically we have some great investigators!
Roger is number one right now! I enjoy going to him more than anyone else I think! He is reading the Book of Mormon like crazy, he understands the lessons we share, and he came to church for the first time yesterday! He loved it and wants to come again! We went over after and talked and he had lots of questions and all basically went back to Joseph Smith receiving the priesthood. I think he is really understanding finally that this is the only true church on the face of the earth. At first it was shaky but now he is really understanding I think. Now we have to teach him the commandments and help him prepare to be baptized soon!
Tokoso and his family are doing good! He came to church but no one else. They are however reading the Book of Mormon and doing missionary work. We meet a new member each time we go there and the room is filling up when we teach! We want them to be baptized together as a family but he will be ready way before them.... We will see though!
The Mhlanga Family actually progressed some! We have been teaching mom english lately and she came to church yesterday! She really liked it and said she will come again next week. Hopefully when she starts coming more the other kids will come more as well.
Khetiwae was confirmed yesterday by Bro Rob (The elders quorum president). She was soo happy to finally have the holy ghost and kept telling me she wanted to feel the 'Bubble Bubble' inside of her haha That is spirit in Sis Khetiwae language haha She is a little off her rocker but in the friendliest way! She is the nicest lady here for sure! Now we are working on teaching her more about the church and the way it works and things are going great!
Mini is still doing great and just working on preparing to receive the Melchizedek priesthood in November. He is taking a special class with Bro Rob and should be ready by then. He is also preparing to go to the temple in a few weeks with his grandma to do baptisms for the dead! Should be an awesome experience for him!
Other than that we are still just working on finding people and getting them progressing. I hope things will keep up in the area and keep going as well as they are and start getting better! The ward is still helping us a lot and bringing us new people to teach and we are just trying to work together to make Toti ward grow. We are also still having fun with them too. We played a soccer match on Saturday against Umlazi W ward and beat them 4-0! I guess I am also getting to be quite the soccer player because I started defense as a left back and played the entire game! What can I say ;) And I look pretty good in the bright yellow kit even if the shorts only go to half way down my thigh haha.
Toti is great and we should have another great week. We have interviews with President on Thursday and he asked if he could come teaching with us after for the day.... yippee.... Hopefully we don't get too much fire and things will go well! I hope he likes tracting ;) But I hope everyone has an awesome week and enjoys school and work and whatever else is happening! I love you all very much and am so thankful for all the support and prayers! Salagathle
Elder Peterson
This past week has been full of many different experiences but will definitely be a week that I will remember more on my mission!
On Monday we came to email and after spending too long here we went home and just chilled around. I was writing in my journal and I started having lots going through my head and I started to have kind of an emotional breakdown or something... I don't know but I was asking myself some deep soul searching questions and then I kind of snapped and eish it was a dark day for me. But whatever I went to sleep and I woke up and thats when it got better.
Tuesday was probably the best day in forever. After falling apart I wanted to get myself back together and thats what I did. I got up, started exercising, got everything prepared and went straight into studies. I decided to go back to the beginning and studied Chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel, Your Purpose. As I was studying there was a lot that was just hitting me so much and I could really feel the spirit actually helping me understand how I could fix what I was feeling. As we started our companionship study I wanted to share what was going on sort of and some of the things. I was reading a part and the thought came to me that I needed to contact more. Now I absolutely hate contacting. Like I would rather tract and knock on doors all day then have to stand on a corner and contact people for 1 hour. Like I hate it. But I was reading and I kept having the thought that to fulfill my calling as a missionary I needed to 'Find through contacting.' Well Elder Ngandu loves contacting people like he will talk to anyone. So I started to tell him I think he needs to teach me to do that. I explained that I wanted to fulfill my calling better and I read from the last section of that chapter under "A successful missionary' and I stopped and just said, "I want to feel that the Lord is happy with what I am doing."and then I started to cry a little more and had to try and hide it. Such a powerful experience to me. Well as we continued through the day that spirit stayed with us and seriously we taught the gospel. I think we could have converted the Pope today! The only down side to the whole day was when we went to James. James has been doing so good and has loved everything we have told him. But we went today and his Muslim family has cancelled our appointments with him. We are no longer allowed there so the teachings will have to stop... We gave him all we could and then had to part ways... I am just praying that some day he will be able to receive the fullness of the gospel in his life.
Well Wednesday we put that contacting challenge to the test! I knew what I needed to do and we went and did it! We spent the entire morning contacting and got 8! I know you were expecting like 50 but 8 is a lot here in Toti. Thats more in one day than we usually get 2 weeks here! We were walking down the Beach Road talking to people and stopped at a younger couple. We offered them a pass a long card for a free DVD and they explained they were homeless and couldn't watch it. We talked for a bit and told them how much God loved them and offered to come back and meet them again. I was having one of those "the gospel is totally going to change these peoples lives"moments! I gave them 20Rn to go get some food and we took off. Well down the road a ways we talked to a security guard to the high rise and she told us about all these druggies that beg for money cause problems. Then she says and the 2 worst ones are those 2! And sure enough it was the ones I just gave 20 bucks to. Nice.... Thats why I hate contacting haha. But it felt good to fulfill my purpose more.
Thursday was the first day it has rained in months! I swear I can't remember the last time it rained! Well we had a great day and taught lots. We were able to meet with Innocent and every time we talk I just feel so bad for him. He is the most humble man I have ever meet. He has had the roughest life and it is still so hard. His wife is pregnant with baby number 3, he still works as a car guard where he makes no money, he lost his papers that say he is a teacher, and he still tries to come to church every time he can. I just want to buy them food, give them clothes, and find him a job! I feel awful but I am so thankful for him. He is such an example of patience and humility. We talked a lot and he has decided to be baptized at the end of September and then work on teaching his wife so he can baptize her later on. Hopefully their situation gets better and it can happen soon! But funny story. We were there talking and sharing scriptures and all of a sudden his little son walks into the corner pulls down his pants and starts peeing in a pot haha spirit took off but we all had a pretty good laugh.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were all full of very great lessons and we were able to meet with everyone we needed to. So basically we have some great investigators!
Roger is number one right now! I enjoy going to him more than anyone else I think! He is reading the Book of Mormon like crazy, he understands the lessons we share, and he came to church for the first time yesterday! He loved it and wants to come again! We went over after and talked and he had lots of questions and all basically went back to Joseph Smith receiving the priesthood. I think he is really understanding finally that this is the only true church on the face of the earth. At first it was shaky but now he is really understanding I think. Now we have to teach him the commandments and help him prepare to be baptized soon!
Tokoso and his family are doing good! He came to church but no one else. They are however reading the Book of Mormon and doing missionary work. We meet a new member each time we go there and the room is filling up when we teach! We want them to be baptized together as a family but he will be ready way before them.... We will see though!
The Mhlanga Family actually progressed some! We have been teaching mom english lately and she came to church yesterday! She really liked it and said she will come again next week. Hopefully when she starts coming more the other kids will come more as well.
Khetiwae was confirmed yesterday by Bro Rob (The elders quorum president). She was soo happy to finally have the holy ghost and kept telling me she wanted to feel the 'Bubble Bubble' inside of her haha That is spirit in Sis Khetiwae language haha She is a little off her rocker but in the friendliest way! She is the nicest lady here for sure! Now we are working on teaching her more about the church and the way it works and things are going great!
Mini is still doing great and just working on preparing to receive the Melchizedek priesthood in November. He is taking a special class with Bro Rob and should be ready by then. He is also preparing to go to the temple in a few weeks with his grandma to do baptisms for the dead! Should be an awesome experience for him!
Other than that we are still just working on finding people and getting them progressing. I hope things will keep up in the area and keep going as well as they are and start getting better! The ward is still helping us a lot and bringing us new people to teach and we are just trying to work together to make Toti ward grow. We are also still having fun with them too. We played a soccer match on Saturday against Umlazi W ward and beat them 4-0! I guess I am also getting to be quite the soccer player because I started defense as a left back and played the entire game! What can I say ;) And I look pretty good in the bright yellow kit even if the shorts only go to half way down my thigh haha.
Toti is great and we should have another great week. We have interviews with President on Thursday and he asked if he could come teaching with us after for the day.... yippee.... Hopefully we don't get too much fire and things will go well! I hope he likes tracting ;) But I hope everyone has an awesome week and enjoys school and work and whatever else is happening! I love you all very much and am so thankful for all the support and prayers! Salagathle
Elder Peterson
Monday, July 14, 2014
Rebellious Missionaries--with permission, of course!
Unjani!
Hello again everyone! And Happy Birthday to Brenner and Jacey! Looks like you had quite the celebrations going on! Glad you all had a good week. This side things were quite fantastic as well! I do have very limited time today because we are going to the Mission Home for an activity so I will just touch on the highlights quickly!
Monday we went bowling with the zone. Hilarious to watch the african elders try it out haha. But they caught on quick and did pretty good! I don't mean to brag but I took 3rd place with a whopping 83 points ;)
Saturday we had the ward soccer like usual. It was awesome though because a kid that we talked to on the street (white kid by the way) actually came and played with us and brought his mom to watch! They said we could go over whenever so lets see what happens! Talk to everyone, you never know!
Sunday night, last night, we went over to the Riese family and watched the world cup final! Bro Stephen called President Zackrison and just asked if we could watch and he said yes! So we all showed up for the game at 8pm, the game started at 9 which is normally "in and safe", and we watched until past 12! I feel so rebellious but it was approved so its awesome!
So thats some of the fun things but the teaching this week was awesome too! Yesterday we had the baptism for Mini and he asked me to perform it for him. It was a fantastic service and the talks were perfect. His gran spoke and talked about how she has been praying for a priesthood holder in her home and now he was going to be able to serve that family. It was very very good.
We have been meeting with Khetiwae still and she is doing awesome! She reads the Book of Mormon more than I do I think and always has questions for us. She came to church and watched the baptism. She even invited her son to come and join lessons! She is doing wonderfully.
Tokoso is still power! We went over again and talked about the Plan of Salvation. He understands well and reads the Book of Mormon. He came to church and brought his cousin with him. They both enjoyed and want to come again. He is doing great, mom is a little bit less interested but always participates in lessons. We are hoping to put him on B-Date this week.
The Mhlanga family is still doing good too. The one less active brother came to church with the active brother and the investigator sister. We went over after church and talked about Book of Mormon reading. They all read but only the 1 sis comes to church. Gotta work on that but they are doing great!
Those are our investigators that we are working with. We have fewer numbers, but they are all awesome people with lots of potential! Not only to accept the gospel but even to help the ward. We have been tracting lots, contacting, trying to get into more highrises, just trying to find more quality people. Its been an awesome week and I am looking forward to this week as well! Should be a load of good things happening! Just gotta keep working hard and pushing through the rough finding times.
But all is well and its been a great week! I look forward to talking to you again next week! I love you all!
Elder Peterson
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Moved to the Coast and Must Avoid Attack Dogs
Sawibona! Unjani?
Hello everyone from the land of the Zulu! Oh my goodness I love Zulu eleventy billion times more than Sutu! Mena Kaluma SeZulu!
Anyways, the transfer was awesome! and this new area is awesome! and my new companion is awesome! and Amanzimtoti (Toti) is awesome! Basically so far everything is awesome! (Cue the Lego Movie music now…!)
So first my new companion Elder Gonzales. He is so cool! He is from Boise Idaho, he is 20 and has been on mission for 14 months. He is very talkative and we talk about a lot of random things but its way fun to have someone who can talk about something. He is very into computer/electronic things. We can talk about video games or movies and it all works out fine. He also really enjoys singing so we get into some pretty epic car singing times! Mostly Rolling in the Deep haha. Good guy though and it should be a great transfer!
So the new area is called Amanzimtoti. That is the name of the town. The name of the township is Khamakuta which is also part of our area. We stay in a place called Illovo Beach in the Forest Hills building. Toti is a big city/town right on the beach. Like we run from the boarding to the beach in like 3 mins! The view from our window is right onto the beach! The whole area stretches along the beach which is awesome. The problem with this place is that because of the location it just attracts old rich white people who won't listen to anything... We have been told to focus on town and not in the township so teaching is hard. Elder Gonzales has done some cool things here though. He has gone into all the big apartment buildings/hotels and put cards in all the lobbies since we can't tract there. Also he has set up Family History stands in the city libraries and put articles in the newspaper to get people. We also made a plan to do a car wash in a few weeks where people can come and while we wash the cars they can go into the chapel and watch a short video on the restoration. Gotta think out of the box. We tried tracting the other day. All the houses have huge electric fences and attack dogs. We knock and knock and knock... We went to one house and there was a sign about the dog that was funny and as I was trying to take a pic of it, the dog attacked us haha. I ran like a frightened little girl! But got some funny pic that kind of shows when the dog attacked. We did get to the top of the HighTide building which is the highest point in Toti so that was pretty cool! Should be an awesome area!
The teaching isn't all bad though. We have 2 people on B-Date that will definitely be baptized it sounds like! Mini who is about 20. He has come to church like 11 times in a row and will be baptized on 13 July. And Khitiwae who has come prob 7+ times and loves everything. She is set for the 27 July. There are a couple of families we have been working with and 2 look like they will be baptized sometime. 1 actually comes from Congo where they had found a French BoM. So thats pretty awesome!
But its going to be interesting here. I feel so awkward around white people... Like I don't know what to say to them!! They are some sort of other species and I feel so weird haha! I really forget that I am not black. I just belong with the Africans so much more haha Its so weird I can't even explain it right now! Kind of missing my breadbag soccer playing township kids though... But Toti will be an awesome place! Just gotta be creative and see what we can do! But my Zulu is coming along slowly. The members are teaching me and I already know more Zulu than I do Sutu! Gonna be fluent soon!
I hope everyone has an awesome week and I look forward to talking to you all again next week! If I left anything out or you wanna know more, let me know! I love you all!
Elder Peterson
Hello everyone from the land of the Zulu! Oh my goodness I love Zulu eleventy billion times more than Sutu! Mena Kaluma SeZulu!
Anyways, the transfer was awesome! and this new area is awesome! and my new companion is awesome! and Amanzimtoti (Toti) is awesome! Basically so far everything is awesome! (Cue the Lego Movie music now…!)
So first my new companion Elder Gonzales. He is so cool! He is from Boise Idaho, he is 20 and has been on mission for 14 months. He is very talkative and we talk about a lot of random things but its way fun to have someone who can talk about something. He is very into computer/electronic things. We can talk about video games or movies and it all works out fine. He also really enjoys singing so we get into some pretty epic car singing times! Mostly Rolling in the Deep haha. Good guy though and it should be a great transfer!
So the new area is called Amanzimtoti. That is the name of the town. The name of the township is Khamakuta which is also part of our area. We stay in a place called Illovo Beach in the Forest Hills building. Toti is a big city/town right on the beach. Like we run from the boarding to the beach in like 3 mins! The view from our window is right onto the beach! The whole area stretches along the beach which is awesome. The problem with this place is that because of the location it just attracts old rich white people who won't listen to anything... We have been told to focus on town and not in the township so teaching is hard. Elder Gonzales has done some cool things here though. He has gone into all the big apartment buildings/hotels and put cards in all the lobbies since we can't tract there. Also he has set up Family History stands in the city libraries and put articles in the newspaper to get people. We also made a plan to do a car wash in a few weeks where people can come and while we wash the cars they can go into the chapel and watch a short video on the restoration. Gotta think out of the box. We tried tracting the other day. All the houses have huge electric fences and attack dogs. We knock and knock and knock... We went to one house and there was a sign about the dog that was funny and as I was trying to take a pic of it, the dog attacked us haha. I ran like a frightened little girl! But got some funny pic that kind of shows when the dog attacked. We did get to the top of the HighTide building which is the highest point in Toti so that was pretty cool! Should be an awesome area!
The teaching isn't all bad though. We have 2 people on B-Date that will definitely be baptized it sounds like! Mini who is about 20. He has come to church like 11 times in a row and will be baptized on 13 July. And Khitiwae who has come prob 7+ times and loves everything. She is set for the 27 July. There are a couple of families we have been working with and 2 look like they will be baptized sometime. 1 actually comes from Congo where they had found a French BoM. So thats pretty awesome!
But its going to be interesting here. I feel so awkward around white people... Like I don't know what to say to them!! They are some sort of other species and I feel so weird haha! I really forget that I am not black. I just belong with the Africans so much more haha Its so weird I can't even explain it right now! Kind of missing my breadbag soccer playing township kids though... But Toti will be an awesome place! Just gotta be creative and see what we can do! But my Zulu is coming along slowly. The members are teaching me and I already know more Zulu than I do Sutu! Gonna be fluent soon!
I hope everyone has an awesome week and I look forward to talking to you all again next week! If I left anything out or you wanna know more, let me know! I love you all!
Elder Peterson
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