In which Elder Smith spends 7 hours in the car and then learns a lesson he'll never forget.

Audio Blog Part 1

Audio Blog Part 2

With Bro. Lebogang, the Facebook referral from Arizona!

Elder Ranjato gets ready to go home!  Elder Willombe will have a new companion

Nelspruit Area

ICYMI- Elder Smith wanted a new feature added to his blog, "Guest Testimonies."  Click the tab just under the title banner to hear testimonies from missionaries and members serving with Elder Smith. 

"It’s motivating to live the right way and work super-super hard so I can set a good example."

This week’s letter consists of answers to many of my questions.  As he says, he frequently runs out of email time so he didn’t write a blog post, but this letter was informative so I wanted to share it. -Mom

Elder Ah Wong baptized Ezrom's daughter, Violet.

                Alright I have to apologize I ran out of time really quickly today in email. I always go in with the best intentions and game plan for how I’m gonna do it and then, like today, I’ll get an email that is unexpected  and my whole thing will be thrown off haha. Oh well I guess it’s all part of it :P and for that, I’m glad I have typie :) so here I go- I think I’ll answer all your questions first then go from there!!
1-How is district leading and working with Elder Ah Wong?” Well, I love both and being DL has its challenges! It’s amazing to see how experience that can only be gained thru companions and time help you to learn how to live and work with all sorts of companions! That being said, the Lord blessed me with Elder Ah Wong because we are very similar and he is just so easy going that he is able to put up with me haha. I love working with him. I don’t think I’ve ever realized how hard of a person I am to live with. I don’t know if its mission but I think I’ve become a bit OCD and stressful. Part of me knows that’s bad and I should be more patient but the other part of me understands because this is the work of salvation and so I can’t just be skippdy-doodle or else my accounting before the Lord won’t be that fun ya know! Another thing I’ve learned so far is that it doesn’t help to complain about any problems because it is what it is so I try to only focus on the good things and the future! District leading, like I said last week has been very eye opening! It’s motivating to live the right way and work super-super hard so I can set a good example. Idk mom, tell me what you think, whenever I make a small mistake I apologize and say I’ll do better and all I get is a weird look like “come on Elder Smith, you were 2 minutes late.” Now it’s not the two minutes I’m worried about but it’s the example that I’m setting. Maybe I’m too worried about being perfect? :)
2-Nelspruit details: so Nelspruit itself  is a town that has its white parts, black parts, colored parts, and then mixed parts make up the majority but it’s all got one thing in common: $$$ or should I say RRR (*R for Rand= South African currency) Haha they are all cheesy! (*Cheesy /Cheese/Cheese-boy = Expensive/Luxurious/Posh)   All nice cars and nice houses and big gates and big mean dogs Haha it’s a far cry from township where you have humble people and humble circumstances. Now all of that is Nelspruit town. Our area goes all the way to Komatipoort by Mozambique, up to Bushbackridge in the north and down on the borders of Swaziland. So it’s about a 3-4 hour drive from one of the ends to the other. It’s BIG! That being said, then you have Kanyamazane which is the other elders’ area and branch in the middle of ours and that’s a township. So for us, we cover the whole range from village to cheese-boy town. Haha but we mainly work in town because that’s where the chapel is and where people can get to church. Once a week we usually pick some far area like Sabie, Lydenburg, Hazyview or Barberton and go there to strengthen the members and teach the few investigators who are out there that come to church. We don’t do finding there cause it’s pointless to teach someone who can’t get to church for baptism. It’s all good tho because they’ll get their chance for the gospel. We’re striving to build up this kingdom so we really only try to teach those who are keeping commitments hardcore. Haha it’s funny to then look back and see how many joker-ish people we had in Daveyton. What that means tho is that we do a ton of finding! Tracting isn’t effective during the day cause everyone has a job and isn’t home so we are trying to do as much parking lot finding as we can. Haha it takes a lot of motivation to get ourselves excited to go talk to grumpy white people :P you can imagine that we jump at the chance to talk to a black guy in a car! It indicates someone who has transport to church, somewhat humble, kind and not rude like most white people. Now don’t get me for a racist cause there are some very nice white people! In fact, in my 11 months on mission I actually taught my first white guy on Friday!! Haha funny thing to think about right? Missionary work is different here that’s for sure but it’s an area that’s teaching me! No time to be lazy here! Haha another funny thing I noticed is that my planner is a lot less full -____- and I like teaching so that sucks a bit but it’s an adjustment. I think that helps build mine and Ah Wong’s relationship because we spend a lot more time facing adversity and finding ways to overcome and still have fun! :)

Found him!  Thanks Google Earth!

3- We live in a complex called Villa De Sutene in a suburb called Stonehenge. That’s where us, the Swans and the Scotts live! Have fun finding us!

We do most of our work in Stonehenge (teaching a lot of students who are down to learn and at a crucial point in their lives) so you can take a look at the streets :)  then a place called “Steiltes” and “West Acres” we spend less time because its more affluent and less kind :P
4-That lady who we thought was a golden investigator is Prudence Tshabalala and we were so excited for her except when we tried to check on her yesterday we knocked and nobody answered (now the funny thing is there were people inside and funny enough when they saw us in the window, they figured they’d play hide-n-seek and not answer for us) so that’s discouraging. What most likely happened is that her brother in law (who is a pastor) probably told her his opinion on us and the Book of Mormon so now we’re trying really hard to see them but they don’t answer our calls or our knocks :/
5- I too loved conference and I love conference  talks! Like the last two weeks I have uploaded 2 talks that have really helped me! I was glad to steal them from Elder Bizimana back in Daveyton because I listen to them as part of my morning routine. The Brethren really are an inspired bunch aren’t they?! It’s crazy somewhere I heard that they receive revelation and do things like 25 years in advance to help us prepare for the future! Now idk if that’s true but it’s pretty amazing! And thank goodness we have this gospel, eh? I have loved being able to read your testimony every week for almost a year as much as you say you have loved being able to share! It is a part of parenting I think I chose to skip out on back home and that choice I regret. But here we are now and I’m thankful you didn’t give up on me! :)
Love, Elder Spencer Smith

Never miss a chance to share the gospel!

This is how we do service projects in South Africa!

We use machetes to clear the forest.

Oops

The first cluster meeting in Daveyton.  They met their first time after I had already left for Nelspruit.

Clegg and the Daveyton kids! 

"Expect Miracles!"

This week's audio blog is all about Zone Meetings, exchanges, a baptism and miracles. 

Click here to hear Elder Smith say "I love anything and everything 'obedience'!"  (Yes, he really said that!)  

The baptism of Brother Esrom

Just for fun, Bobo from Daveyton exhibits his talents in a Zulu Hymn.

October 15, 2014

A P-Day Adventure: "We saw tons of springbok and impala, turtles, warthogs, monkeys, kudus, zebras, giraffes, crocodiles, hippos and 3 out of the Big 5!"

November 3, 2014

“Everybodies(is it y’s?) got a water buffalo, yours is fast but mine is slow. Where did we get them, I don’t know but everybodies got a water buffalooooooo! Tune in next time to hear Elder Smith sing “Everybodies got the African Big 5, we saw three but missing two….”

                Hahaha gotta love Veggie Tales :) but on tha real, yesterday was so siiiiick!! Haha before I came on my mission, I knew very little about the physical part of South Africa, except that the Kruger National park was located in our mission boundary. So with that little gem I told people that I would be able to go the park and, it took me 11 months but yesterday I made it!! Our whole district, thanks to the generosity of the Scotts and Swans, got to go to Kruger! Man it was so cool!!! The layout was exactly what we all THINK our mission looks like and what we all think of when we hear “Africa”. So what you do is you drive around the park, kind of like Yellowstone but not nearly as many people or stops. So you drive around about 30kmh and just keep your eyes peeled for the animals that roam the park! We saw: tons of Springbok and Impala, turtles, warthogs, monkeys, kudus, Zebras, Giraffes, crocodiles, hippos and 3 out of the 5 Big 5! Yo they aren’t kidding when they say “big” either! The water buffalo were big and so were the elephants (it was cool to see that they still had their tusks) but the thing that amazed me the most was the size of the Rhinos! Those things were tanks! Their horns were about a yard long and they were huge! Haha we were glad to see them as well because we’ve heard they are getting relocated because of poaching :/ So unfortunately we missed the leopards and lions but the rumor is that if you see 2 of the 5, you’ve had a great day and we saw 3 so there are no complaints! It was so cool to be able to see these things outside of a zoo setting where they just chill and do their thing in the wild.
                That’s really the biggest thing to report on from this last week, or at least it was one of the highlights. Elder Ah Wong and I are having fun trying new finding ideas by going around to different lodges and Bed+Breakfasts and offering copies of the Book of Mormon for their rooms! Some of the owners reject but we’ve had great success from the receptionists who also ask for a copy of the book! In fact, yesterday morning we got a call from one of the ladies who said that she loves the book and wants to learn more about it and more about the church! SWEEEEET! The Book of Mormon really can convert and it is the greatest tool! So that’s been really fun to see and to do as a part of our finding. We have a baptism on Sunday of a brother named Esrom. Elder Ah Wong and McClellan recontacted him from former investigators and it was inspired because he wasn’t ready before but he sure is now! And the cool thing is that his daughter is going to be baptized the week after him! Then hopefully we’ll start teaching his son! Ahhh I love father led families! Haha so powerful! I love mission!
                On another note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! You’re getting to be an old man! :) I hope you had a great birthday!
                Well, I love you guys!
Love,
Elder Spencer "Tony" Smith

I have thoroughly enjoyed my 6 months in Daveyton!

October 13, 2014

Whaddup!!
                Elder Clegg and I decided that for our last week together we would do our blog post together! So I'm sure you can check it out on his blog "Tanner Clegg, Called to Serve in Africa" as well as here! But we have had a great run as companions as well as I have thoroughly enjoyed my 6 months in Daveyton! I'm on to a new area, new companion, and new calling so wish me luck! Enjoy this weeks audio blog post :)
Love ya!
-Elder David Spencer “Tony” Smith

Audio Blog Post: the companion edition (click here)

Visiting FNB Stadium (aka First Nation Bank Stadium, The Calabash or Soccer City):  Home of the Kaizer Chiefs F.C. and  the 2010 FIFA World Cup.  It is also the site of Nelson Mandela's first speech to Johannesburg after his release from prison in 1990 and was the venue for his memorial service in December 2013.  Click to learn more.

Elder Clegg.  He landed it perfectly ;) 

Elder Clegg and Elder Smith

Representing Copper Hills Lacrosse in the FNB Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa

Joining the Kaizer Chiefs, aka Amakhosi

Saying goodbye to his first "son," Elder Clegg from Lehi, Utah.