I've had to draw a lot of strength from the Book of Mormon this past week. Its been a rough week with cancellation after cancellation leaving us with no other option but to tract or contact in the heat of the day. I’ve read about Alma, Amulek, the sons of Mosiah, Alma’s sons and all of their missionary work and most recently about the people of Nephi as they are encompassed in war with the Lamanites. It's pretty cool how their examples can have real life impact on us today; especially me here in SA. There are a couple lessons that I’ve learned that I’d like to share.
The first one kind of carries over from my last 2 areas of Krugersdorp and Centurion. Both affluent towns, the missionary work and people are different from what I'm experiencing now in Soweto. Then, we dealt with a lot of anti-Mormon claims and accusations which caused a lot of doubt to our investigators and even the missionaries. So what I loved from the examples of missionary work in the Book of Mormon are how the Sons of Mosiah and Alma and Amulek responded when faced by people like the unbelieving Lamanites, Korihor, and Zeezrom is how they stood their ground. Imagine, when a lawyer who knows the language of the people tries to twist words and doctrines to suit them how hard it would be to respond when the spotlight is on you and your companion. Or when people straight up deny the Christ. What I saw in them and what helped me to press forward is that they didn’t give up or give in. And ultimately, after the trial of their faith, they saw, and even produced, miracles! So the storal of the mory is stay true to what you believe, ask the Lord to help you in pursuit of truth and remain hopeful!
Another cool lesson I’ve been learning has occurred this week, and I don't think I'm done learning it either! haha. Eish its been a rough week like I said. People have dropped through, it's been HOT, and motivation has been on the waning side. So what did we do? Unfortunately there were some times where we didn’t use our time as valuably as we should have but fortunately, we pressed on and did our tracting and finding and working with the ward members! So we’re happy that we didn’t just totally flop but even today (Saturday) we’re battling to keep hope and faith and motivation. So I was reading about the stripling warriors and the armies of the Nephites when they take back their cities from the Lamanites in Alma 55-59. With the Lord’s help they were able to pull off some miracles but when it came time to hold on to those things, they were in desperate need of reinforcements and didn’t receive much help. Haha it's kind of like us! Last week was so awesome with great miracles but now that its time to hold onto those things, Elder Manuma and I feel like we need some serious reinforcements! So it's up to us to do like Helaman in Alma 58:9-12 by pouring out our hearts to God to ask Him for help in retaining our works and delivering us from the temptations that are directly related to our purification challenge. So a greater part of peace has come to our hearts, or at least to my heart knowing that all I have to worry about is working hard and not giving up or being lazy and the trial will continue until the Lord sees fit but He won't leave us alone. I truly believe he will buoy me up in some great way this weekend and who knows, maybe next week y’all’ll get the update of the cool things that will happen!
So yeah, just another testimony that the Book of Mormon is written for us today and no matter what situation we are in, we NEED it! But yeah, keep us in your prayers please- we would love that! Pray that we can have the mental and physical strength to press forward in righteousness!! Cheers!
Elder Smith
Showing posts with label Joburg Weather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joburg Weather. Show all posts
Monday, September 28, 2015
Monday, March 10, 2014
"I soaked it all up like I would goalie skills at a lacrosse camp! That’s how excited I was for Zone Conference!"
Bonjour, howzit, kunjani, whaddup!?
Hey guys back home! How’s life!? Here in SA it’s still as crazy and wonderful as ever! Elder Matos and I have the coolest experiences, both spiritual and regular, daily! We eat some crazy food at least once a week, meet some cool and weird people, and grow as companions and servants of the Lord!
I guess the most prominent experience we've been going through is the 10 days of consecutive rain haha. Being from Utah, I think the longest time I’ve experienced rain was one whole day, not 10 :P needless to say, we've really found out what about us and our stuff is waterproof haha shoes? For the 1st half of the proselyting day yes. Raincoat? Yes. Umbrella? When I can fit all of me under it, yes haha. Boot of our car? Nope! Looks like we have several waterlogged copies of the book of Mormon to prove that one :P but its all good! It’s a new experience and even tracting in the rain produces more results haha I think it because people feel bad for us so they actually listen to what we have to say. that and the rumor goes around that the more you tract in the rain, the more beautiful your wife is:) so we spend a lot of time in the rain ;) hahaha But yeah, we also have tried more crazy foods! Some better than others but new nonetheless. We’ve had muhodu (cow intestines), sardines, semp beans, and green mangos with salt and chili powder. The first two were fo' sho' nasty and the last two were freakin' amazing!
Are you ready for the Zulu phrase of the week? Here goes: valumnyango = close the door, vulumnyango = open the door. I expect perfect pronunciation next time I see you:)
So another crazy bit about SA, words like the H-word, D-word and the A-word are acceptable here! Yes, even in church and by members! Haha It kinda takes me a second to catch my breath after hearing them AT church but I guess it’s normal for them haha! Welcome to SA!!
We near the 23rd and the 30th where Elder Matos and I have baptisms! It’s cool because both of these sisters, Sandra and Jeanethe, were people that WE found and that WE started teaching. We literally get to see the fruits of our labors:) and they’re very sweet!
We had zone conference this weekend and I loved it!! I soaked it all up like I would goalie skills at a lacrosse camp! That’s how excited I was for ZC! We learned how to internalize our purpose as missionaries (to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel thru faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end) so that we can be Christ-like missionaries and not just do missionary things. We have also been issued a challenge at zone conference to read the BOM in 86 days starting yesterday! If any of you would like to join the SAJM, its 6 pages a day:) keep me posted on your insights if/as you decide to read with us:) **
I hope all is well back home and I want to thank Tangee (my lax momma) for her package of CH Lax gear and schedule so I can cheer on from afar! I love you guys!!
Tha’s ‘bout it!
Elder Smith signing off :)
(**Editor's Note: Elder Smith has invited us all to take the SAJM (South Africa Johannesburg Mission) Book of Mormon Challenge to read the Book of Mormon in 86 days (starting March 9th). If you would like to know why the Book of Mormon is so important, why Mormons call it the "cornerstone of our religion," click here to learn more. On this page, you can read about the BOM, watch a short video clip, ask questions via instant messaging and order your free copy. As Elder Smith said, "I promise, if you really want and need to know of its truth, and are willing to ACT when you get an answer, you will have the truth made known to you!" Anyone who would like to share insights, feelings, thoughts and questions can send them to spencer.smith@ihomer.net)
Hey guys back home! How’s life!? Here in SA it’s still as crazy and wonderful as ever! Elder Matos and I have the coolest experiences, both spiritual and regular, daily! We eat some crazy food at least once a week, meet some cool and weird people, and grow as companions and servants of the Lord!
I guess the most prominent experience we've been going through is the 10 days of consecutive rain haha. Being from Utah, I think the longest time I’ve experienced rain was one whole day, not 10 :P needless to say, we've really found out what about us and our stuff is waterproof haha shoes? For the 1st half of the proselyting day yes. Raincoat? Yes. Umbrella? When I can fit all of me under it, yes haha. Boot of our car? Nope! Looks like we have several waterlogged copies of the book of Mormon to prove that one :P but its all good! It’s a new experience and even tracting in the rain produces more results haha I think it because people feel bad for us so they actually listen to what we have to say. that and the rumor goes around that the more you tract in the rain, the more beautiful your wife is:) so we spend a lot of time in the rain ;) hahaha But yeah, we also have tried more crazy foods! Some better than others but new nonetheless. We’ve had muhodu (cow intestines), sardines, semp beans, and green mangos with salt and chili powder. The first two were fo' sho' nasty and the last two were freakin' amazing!
Are you ready for the Zulu phrase of the week? Here goes: valumnyango = close the door, vulumnyango = open the door. I expect perfect pronunciation next time I see you:)
So another crazy bit about SA, words like the H-word, D-word and the A-word are acceptable here! Yes, even in church and by members! Haha It kinda takes me a second to catch my breath after hearing them AT church but I guess it’s normal for them haha! Welcome to SA!!
We near the 23rd and the 30th where Elder Matos and I have baptisms! It’s cool because both of these sisters, Sandra and Jeanethe, were people that WE found and that WE started teaching. We literally get to see the fruits of our labors:) and they’re very sweet!
We had zone conference this weekend and I loved it!! I soaked it all up like I would goalie skills at a lacrosse camp! That’s how excited I was for ZC! We learned how to internalize our purpose as missionaries (to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel thru faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end) so that we can be Christ-like missionaries and not just do missionary things. We have also been issued a challenge at zone conference to read the BOM in 86 days starting yesterday! If any of you would like to join the SAJM, its 6 pages a day:) keep me posted on your insights if/as you decide to read with us:) **
I hope all is well back home and I want to thank Tangee (my lax momma) for her package of CH Lax gear and schedule so I can cheer on from afar! I love you guys!!
Tha’s ‘bout it!
Elder Smith signing off :)
(**Editor's Note: Elder Smith has invited us all to take the SAJM (South Africa Johannesburg Mission) Book of Mormon Challenge to read the Book of Mormon in 86 days (starting March 9th). If you would like to know why the Book of Mormon is so important, why Mormons call it the "cornerstone of our religion," click here to learn more. On this page, you can read about the BOM, watch a short video clip, ask questions via instant messaging and order your free copy. As Elder Smith said, "I promise, if you really want and need to know of its truth, and are willing to ACT when you get an answer, you will have the truth made known to you!" Anyone who would like to share insights, feelings, thoughts and questions can send them to spencer.smith@ihomer.net)
Monday, December 23, 2013
"We felt the love that Heavenly Father has for ALL of his children"
Hello everybody!!
Aesh (eye-shh): a very common exclamation used just like "jeeze", "whoa" or "oh boy"
Yo (yo): another exclamation to show disbelief
YO! I can’t believe I’ve already been here a month already!! Haha if it keeps flying by like this I think I might miss my whole mission!! Haha 2 years is nothin:) So I have a whole week’s worth of stories to tell but I want to start by saying I love you all very much and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! It's weird having summer for Christmas but I’ll get used to the short sleeve shirts:) haha Well I guess I’ll start with the funny experience I had right after I emailed last Monday. So Elder Matos and I went shopping right? We got our groceries and went to go into another shop when we locked the car (manually, no auto locks) and he says "wait! The keys are still in there!" Yup, the keys were in there. In the ignition too! Yup, the car was still running.. Haha Elder Matos' Venezuelan currency doesn’t work here either so he only has his allotment card and that isn’t very much haha So guess who got to pay the locksmith R950 rand to come unlock the car? Yours truly!! Haha it’s all good though, considering I’ve done it to myself and been considerably embarrassed. Needless to say, I could understand my companion’s feelings and we got thru it safely:) So a little more about South Africa: people here are even more diverse than in the US! People from DRC, Zim, Malawi, etc all come here! In fact, I wish I would have learned a little more French from my dad and it would have come in handy! We’re teaching this guy, Angelo, from DRC and we gave him a French Book of Mormon and his eyes lit up as he said, "I’m going to read this now!" the work is great here! People, including myself, are so humbled by their circumstances that the message of the gospel and hope for eternal happiness really gets to people’s hearts here in a way different than back in Utah. Maybe it’s because everyone knows about the Mormons.. Who knows!? All I know is it’s great to be here! A little hectic sometimes and weird food but its great!! All great except the sight of five or six 12-year-old boys drinking beer in the street, not being able to stand because they are drunk :( It is a different world here for sure!
So on Friday I had an exchange with Elder Nilsen, one of our ZL. He is an awesome kid! I definitely made a friend and he told me I was an amazing missionary because I follow the rules. Haha I laugh because the rules are the only sense of comfort I really have here; knowing they’ll keep me safe. "Well if that’s what it takes then I’ll keep on doing it!" I told him. He is really powerful and I wish I could be his companion next transfer but his airplane is only 50 days away. Haha so for those of you who don’t know that I can’t drive a stick shift, I can’t. Or at least, couldn’t, until Friday haha. Elder Nilsen can’t and so since I kind of know how it works, I had the advantage and luckily we're doing the Lord’s work because the angels pushed our car from our flat to our area!! Haha I went from not knowing how to drive a manual OR drive in SA (the opposite side of the road with crazy divers and taxis) to doing it all in one day! I’ll just say the adrenaline was flowing like crazy!!! Haha I don’t think I stopped praying the whole drive either!
Then Sunday we had a couple cool experiences! After sacrament, the Joburg 1 elders were sick and left so Elder Matos and I got to direct 2 saving ordinances!! A little 8 year old girl in the ward, Chani Gombo, was baptized and confirmed a member of the church by her father! It was very cool to be a part of and it is one of my "gold nuggets" that I will store away (that’s for you Bro. Cooper.) Then, that evening we had two appointments fall through so Elder Matos and I went to Rhoddes Park in Kensington and went to all these families and sang Christmas carols from my mini hymn book! They were either drunk or sober but it didn’t matter because once we started the hymns, their eyes lit up and some of them sang along to the ones they knew!! It was cool because we felt the love that Heavenly father has for ALL of his children and how happy he will be when they can realize the love he has for them and come back into the fold:) It was almost like your experience Bekah!
Anyways, I’m super excited for Christmas and Skyping my family! Even though I get crap from the elders since I’ve only been out a month haha! We also got invited to several family braiis so we won’t go hungry!! (braii (a br-eye) is a bbq)
It’s comforting to know that whatever my mood is at the beginning of the day, when I can serve all day and feel those spiritual highs I go to bed happy and confident and with a bigger testimony of this wonderful gospel:)
MERRY CHRISTMAS AGAIN!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!
Tha's 'bout all!
Love,
Elder David Spencer Tony Smith
Aesh (eye-shh): a very common exclamation used just like "jeeze", "whoa" or "oh boy"
Yo (yo): another exclamation to show disbelief
YO! I can’t believe I’ve already been here a month already!! Haha if it keeps flying by like this I think I might miss my whole mission!! Haha 2 years is nothin:) So I have a whole week’s worth of stories to tell but I want to start by saying I love you all very much and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! It's weird having summer for Christmas but I’ll get used to the short sleeve shirts:) haha Well I guess I’ll start with the funny experience I had right after I emailed last Monday. So Elder Matos and I went shopping right? We got our groceries and went to go into another shop when we locked the car (manually, no auto locks) and he says "wait! The keys are still in there!" Yup, the keys were in there. In the ignition too! Yup, the car was still running.. Haha Elder Matos' Venezuelan currency doesn’t work here either so he only has his allotment card and that isn’t very much haha So guess who got to pay the locksmith R950 rand to come unlock the car? Yours truly!! Haha it’s all good though, considering I’ve done it to myself and been considerably embarrassed. Needless to say, I could understand my companion’s feelings and we got thru it safely:) So a little more about South Africa: people here are even more diverse than in the US! People from DRC, Zim, Malawi, etc all come here! In fact, I wish I would have learned a little more French from my dad and it would have come in handy! We’re teaching this guy, Angelo, from DRC and we gave him a French Book of Mormon and his eyes lit up as he said, "I’m going to read this now!" the work is great here! People, including myself, are so humbled by their circumstances that the message of the gospel and hope for eternal happiness really gets to people’s hearts here in a way different than back in Utah. Maybe it’s because everyone knows about the Mormons.. Who knows!? All I know is it’s great to be here! A little hectic sometimes and weird food but its great!! All great except the sight of five or six 12-year-old boys drinking beer in the street, not being able to stand because they are drunk :( It is a different world here for sure!
So on Friday I had an exchange with Elder Nilsen, one of our ZL. He is an awesome kid! I definitely made a friend and he told me I was an amazing missionary because I follow the rules. Haha I laugh because the rules are the only sense of comfort I really have here; knowing they’ll keep me safe. "Well if that’s what it takes then I’ll keep on doing it!" I told him. He is really powerful and I wish I could be his companion next transfer but his airplane is only 50 days away. Haha so for those of you who don’t know that I can’t drive a stick shift, I can’t. Or at least, couldn’t, until Friday haha. Elder Nilsen can’t and so since I kind of know how it works, I had the advantage and luckily we're doing the Lord’s work because the angels pushed our car from our flat to our area!! Haha I went from not knowing how to drive a manual OR drive in SA (the opposite side of the road with crazy divers and taxis) to doing it all in one day! I’ll just say the adrenaline was flowing like crazy!!! Haha I don’t think I stopped praying the whole drive either!
Then Sunday we had a couple cool experiences! After sacrament, the Joburg 1 elders were sick and left so Elder Matos and I got to direct 2 saving ordinances!! A little 8 year old girl in the ward, Chani Gombo, was baptized and confirmed a member of the church by her father! It was very cool to be a part of and it is one of my "gold nuggets" that I will store away (that’s for you Bro. Cooper.) Then, that evening we had two appointments fall through so Elder Matos and I went to Rhoddes Park in Kensington and went to all these families and sang Christmas carols from my mini hymn book! They were either drunk or sober but it didn’t matter because once we started the hymns, their eyes lit up and some of them sang along to the ones they knew!! It was cool because we felt the love that Heavenly father has for ALL of his children and how happy he will be when they can realize the love he has for them and come back into the fold:) It was almost like your experience Bekah!
Anyways, I’m super excited for Christmas and Skyping my family! Even though I get crap from the elders since I’ve only been out a month haha! We also got invited to several family braiis so we won’t go hungry!! (braii (a br-eye) is a bbq)
It’s comforting to know that whatever my mood is at the beginning of the day, when I can serve all day and feel those spiritual highs I go to bed happy and confident and with a bigger testimony of this wonderful gospel:)
MERRY CHRISTMAS AGAIN!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!
Tha's 'bout all!
Love,
Elder David Spencer Tony Smith
 |
| Elder Smith's kitchen |
 |
| Elder Smith's desk on the right |
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
"Life as a missionary is very interesting to say the least!"
Howzit all!?
Wow, I have officially been here 3 weeks and yet my life is changed! For the better too:)
So my companion who is training me is Elder Manuel Matos from Venezuela. He’s a great guy and I am learning lots! It helps that we get along alright too, I don’t want to beat him up yet ;) haha jk From the stories I’ve heard, it could be worse! But he and I have been assigned to open a new area! Joburg 3. For those who don’t know what that entails, 2 words can cover it fairly simply: hard work. When you open a new area, there are no investigators, no contacts, no nuthin'! haha So we wake up every morning and after 3 hours of study/training we go out proselyting. Proselyting involves tracting (knocking on doors) and street contacting (walking up and down the streets meeting people and introducing ourselves and our message). At least the weather’s nice though (except it rains every single day) because the work is all work haha.
Here in South Africa it’s... well let’s just say not as safe as we're used to back in good ol' Utah. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, rich and poor has a 7ft fence with barbed wire and spikes and sometimes electric surrounding their property. You can imagine how difficult it would be to tract when you can’t knock on any doors, right?? So what we have to do is look for people in their yards or places with intercoms and pray the intercom isn’t broken. It’s just a super different culture here that’ll take some getting used to. My area (Kensington, Bruma and Berea for those with Google maps) has rich and poor areas. The rich people are snobby and tell us to get lost and the poor people don’t speak English; well not all of them anyway. So it’s hard but the work goes on!! I just pray that I get through the day and so far I’ve made it haha:) Life as a missionary is very interesting to say the least! You are really just thrown out on your own! "Here’s R1350*- spend it wisely this month!" (Crazy how we can live off of about $135 huh!?) So if I could give any advice for future missionaries and college students it would be this: learn how to cook, plan, budget and shop!! You won’t regret it!
So those who were in my neighborhood will appreciate this next part! In the MTC I had a friend from Manchester England (yeah a ManU fan, not Chelsea:/ ) named Elder Wild. Do you guys remember Elder Rowlands who served in our stake who was from England?? He lived with Elder Wild!! Elder Wild had Elder Rowland's actual Preach My Gospel book with the words "West Jordan - CH stake” written in it! I thought that it was just the craziest connection!!
I wish I had more time to email and make this blog post not so...unorganized, but we only have one day to do our shopping, laundry, soccer and cleaning so I better hop to it! For those who have emailed, I love every bit of it and tried to reply to them all even if it was just a little bit:) keep them coming!! And for those who haven’t received a letter, they’re coming!! They’ll get there it just takes forever and I have a little time to write each night:) so if you haven’t gotten one, it’s not cause I don’t love you:) it’ll come!
On that note, if I could ask Santa for anything this Christmas, it would be handwritten letters that I can hold and read each night!! Also just happy pictures of all my friends and family smiling:) you wouldn't believe how much it can brighten the day of a person 9,000 miles from home! I know postage is expensive but I can’t print anything off here in an internet cafe. If you email pictures I can look at them once a week which is great! but a hard copy would be even better:) I’d also ask Santa to keep me in his prayers:) All of you, my friends and family, are in my prayers multiple times a day and I thank the Lord for every person He's given me!!
Tha’s ‘bout all!
Love,
Elder Spencer Smith
(*Editor’s note- the local currency is the Rand or R. R1 is equal to about $0.097 USD.)
Wow, I have officially been here 3 weeks and yet my life is changed! For the better too:)
So my companion who is training me is Elder Manuel Matos from Venezuela. He’s a great guy and I am learning lots! It helps that we get along alright too, I don’t want to beat him up yet ;) haha jk From the stories I’ve heard, it could be worse! But he and I have been assigned to open a new area! Joburg 3. For those who don’t know what that entails, 2 words can cover it fairly simply: hard work. When you open a new area, there are no investigators, no contacts, no nuthin'! haha So we wake up every morning and after 3 hours of study/training we go out proselyting. Proselyting involves tracting (knocking on doors) and street contacting (walking up and down the streets meeting people and introducing ourselves and our message). At least the weather’s nice though (except it rains every single day) because the work is all work haha.
Here in South Africa it’s... well let’s just say not as safe as we're used to back in good ol' Utah. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, rich and poor has a 7ft fence with barbed wire and spikes and sometimes electric surrounding their property. You can imagine how difficult it would be to tract when you can’t knock on any doors, right?? So what we have to do is look for people in their yards or places with intercoms and pray the intercom isn’t broken. It’s just a super different culture here that’ll take some getting used to. My area (Kensington, Bruma and Berea for those with Google maps) has rich and poor areas. The rich people are snobby and tell us to get lost and the poor people don’t speak English; well not all of them anyway. So it’s hard but the work goes on!! I just pray that I get through the day and so far I’ve made it haha:) Life as a missionary is very interesting to say the least! You are really just thrown out on your own! "Here’s R1350*- spend it wisely this month!" (Crazy how we can live off of about $135 huh!?) So if I could give any advice for future missionaries and college students it would be this: learn how to cook, plan, budget and shop!! You won’t regret it!
So those who were in my neighborhood will appreciate this next part! In the MTC I had a friend from Manchester England (yeah a ManU fan, not Chelsea:/ ) named Elder Wild. Do you guys remember Elder Rowlands who served in our stake who was from England?? He lived with Elder Wild!! Elder Wild had Elder Rowland's actual Preach My Gospel book with the words "West Jordan - CH stake” written in it! I thought that it was just the craziest connection!!
I wish I had more time to email and make this blog post not so...unorganized, but we only have one day to do our shopping, laundry, soccer and cleaning so I better hop to it! For those who have emailed, I love every bit of it and tried to reply to them all even if it was just a little bit:) keep them coming!! And for those who haven’t received a letter, they’re coming!! They’ll get there it just takes forever and I have a little time to write each night:) so if you haven’t gotten one, it’s not cause I don’t love you:) it’ll come!
On that note, if I could ask Santa for anything this Christmas, it would be handwritten letters that I can hold and read each night!! Also just happy pictures of all my friends and family smiling:) you wouldn't believe how much it can brighten the day of a person 9,000 miles from home! I know postage is expensive but I can’t print anything off here in an internet cafe. If you email pictures I can look at them once a week which is great! but a hard copy would be even better:) I’d also ask Santa to keep me in his prayers:) All of you, my friends and family, are in my prayers multiple times a day and I thank the Lord for every person He's given me!!
Tha’s ‘bout all!
Love,
Elder Spencer Smith
(*Editor’s note- the local currency is the Rand or R. R1 is equal to about $0.097 USD.)
Saturday, December 7, 2013
December 5, 2013
(received 5:04 am)
Sheesh, this is a WHOLE lot different than I expected. I knew it would be hard but not even close to this hard! Trying to focus on the work has been really difficult when all I can think of is how long two years is and how much I love everyone at home. Seriously, I love all of the people that have influenced my life up until I left, especially my close friends. So here it goes. I've gotten a lot of questions about so many things but I only have a limited time to email here in the MTC so I will try to explain as much as I can and answer as much as I can:)
Sheesh, this is a WHOLE lot different than I expected. I knew it would be hard but not even close to this hard! Trying to focus on the work has been really difficult when all I can think of is how long two years is and how much I love everyone at home. Seriously, I love all of the people that have influenced my life up until I left, especially my close friends. So here it goes. I've gotten a lot of questions about so many things but I only have a limited time to email here in the MTC so I will try to explain as much as I can and answer as much as I can:)
So here in the MTC we have a rigid schedule. We wake up at 5:50 and go running and come home and get ready for the day all dressed and packed up by breakfast at 7 o'clock. From there we have classes all morning where we learn the finer points of being a missionary like how to teach, how to ask questions, how to invite the spirit daily into our lives, how to study for our investigators, and how to organize our materials and lives. Then we have lunch and go back to classes for a couple hours when we get to "go to sport" (the new language patterns are so funny and it’s been fun getting used to them and learning how to use them.)
So Joburg is BEAUTIFUL!!!!! I've never seen anything like it anywhere that I've traveled before. It’s green everywhere and the temperature is so nice! It also rains often and when it does it "buckets" or pours! But it’s amazing here:)
I have a list of stuff to type but I’m getting kicked off now so hopefully I can get back on later today, if not, I’ll be out of the MTC in 5 days and ill have more than 45 minutes to email!
I LOVE YOU GUYS!! Please keep me in your prayers if you will:)
(received 6:51 am)
Sorry I got booted off before I could finish all I wanted to say. So yes it’s beautiful here in SA but man is it a different culture! They have beggars at all the stop lights (which is sad but sketchy) and all their cars are little, no big trucks at all! The weirdest thing by far though is driving on the opposite side of the road. Every time I've been in a car I feel like that scene from Galaxy Quest where the kid is pulling the space ship out of the spaceport and all of their heads lean to the side cause he can’t drive hahaha just a funny observation :P Mom I love you! It’s fun to send a couple emails while you're asleep haha! No companions named Botho or anything like that but Elder Moliki is from Joburg and he has taught me so much about humility and many lessons. I’ll let him know my family is praying for him. Dad, your red and blue tie went to the Joburg temple with me so I could take you there with me:) I hope teaching all goes well and your students appreciate it, I know I did when I was in seminary.
The thing I want to tell you is I love you all. I pray about you every night and I cannot describe how much I love you, have I said that enough?? Again I’m limited for time but I have a list of things I still wanted to include:
-send my priesthood line of authority please?
-please send pictures!! friends and family!
-send a scripture mastery card??
-advice for those of my friends and family prepping for missions: make sure you do it for you!!! If you don’t, the whole experience will not be the same and it will be very hard. Also try to do splits with the missionaries at least once!
-in the intro to the pearl of great price, are we related to Franklin D Richards??
I know it’s sporadic but it’s the best with what little time I’m given. I want you all to know I love you beyond measure. The Savior loves you even more than that!! I've found that to be true and a comfort. I know this gospel is true and that by living it, the spirit will always be with us and we will have peace and guidance. I love this gospel and have taken it for granted way too long. 19 years too long but I know that we can all re-focus and the Savior will love us for making the right decisions. Love you all!!!!
Tha's 'bout it!
-Elder S Smith:)
(received 6:51 am)
Sorry I got booted off before I could finish all I wanted to say. So yes it’s beautiful here in SA but man is it a different culture! They have beggars at all the stop lights (which is sad but sketchy) and all their cars are little, no big trucks at all! The weirdest thing by far though is driving on the opposite side of the road. Every time I've been in a car I feel like that scene from Galaxy Quest where the kid is pulling the space ship out of the spaceport and all of their heads lean to the side cause he can’t drive hahaha just a funny observation :P Mom I love you! It’s fun to send a couple emails while you're asleep haha! No companions named Botho or anything like that but Elder Moliki is from Joburg and he has taught me so much about humility and many lessons. I’ll let him know my family is praying for him. Dad, your red and blue tie went to the Joburg temple with me so I could take you there with me:) I hope teaching all goes well and your students appreciate it, I know I did when I was in seminary.
The thing I want to tell you is I love you all. I pray about you every night and I cannot describe how much I love you, have I said that enough?? Again I’m limited for time but I have a list of things I still wanted to include:
-send my priesthood line of authority please?
-please send pictures!! friends and family!
-send a scripture mastery card??
-advice for those of my friends and family prepping for missions: make sure you do it for you!!! If you don’t, the whole experience will not be the same and it will be very hard. Also try to do splits with the missionaries at least once!
-in the intro to the pearl of great price, are we related to Franklin D Richards??
I know it’s sporadic but it’s the best with what little time I’m given. I want you all to know I love you beyond measure. The Savior loves you even more than that!! I've found that to be true and a comfort. I know this gospel is true and that by living it, the spirit will always be with us and we will have peace and guidance. I love this gospel and have taken it for granted way too long. 19 years too long but I know that we can all re-focus and the Savior will love us for making the right decisions. Love you all!!!!
Tha's 'bout it!
-Elder S Smith:)
hail storm (from Sis. Reber)
We had a huge hail storm here at the MTC. It flooded the Atrium...as rain came after the hail stopped.
Water came in under the front door of the MTC. Many of the African missionaries had never seen hail before and they loved it. The excitement was amazing. Sorry if your missionary isn't in the photo...I was busy moping up water.
Love,
Sister Janet Reber
South Africa MTC
Water came in under the front door of the MTC. Many of the African missionaries had never seen hail before and they loved it. The excitement was amazing. Sorry if your missionary isn't in the photo...I was busy moping up water.
Love,
Sister Janet Reber
South Africa MTC
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)