We have had no Electricity for a while

Hello,
I was really confused at dads first paragraph but I think with time I will be able to decipher it. But ya we had another sweet week, did not get as many investigators but we have started working in the sisters area now (which is now our area) and it is sweet, their  area is so cool, it’s like quite nice homes with people that have cars and a stable job that are also humble. What every missionary wants. So just like our first 45 min of trackting we got 2 father led contacts and saw one of them during this week. The lesson went awesome and the expressed that they are looking for a church, which is something nice to hear. Church was also sweet. But to be honest Sundays are my least favorite part about mission. Church is always the most stressful time of the week because you want your investigators to come and then when they do come you want church to be perfect, then on top of that you have to worry about a member of the bishopric coming up to you and telling you that they need you to give a 15 min talk at last minute. I’m very excited just to come home, go to church and sit in a nice comfy chair and with no stress whatsoever. It will be nice.

And you are like very close to our home. If you just keep going on that road with the hill on your right side, we are the very first complex there on the left. On the right you should see like some residence area with homes and stuff. But on the right there is a little road that leads into a complex of gated homes and we just stay in the apartments and the end. That’s sweet you guys have been able to go to the games though, will be sweet when all of us are able to go. Thanks for always putting my name in. I really have been wanting to go to the temple for a long time it’s just hard when I’m 12 hours away from it. I really hope I’ll be able to finish my mission in Zanze, where I’m not so in the wilderness like I have been my whole mission. 

Sorry to hear about the noise in your ears, hope it goes away soon, I’ll be praying for it. Strangely we have been finding like lots of blind people lately in ftown...it’s been really weird, I can’t remember if I told you guys this but me and elder van ran into this like random Italian dude that was talking to us on his bike. He is like the strangest man I’ve ever met. When we met him he was wearing like Willy Wonka sunglasses a construction vest with fake dreads on a beat down bike....and he lives in monarch which is the zone leaders area so they have been teaching him and just to add more on the strangeness of this man his wife is an African and she is blind…And they have a child. So I’m pretty sure it’s like the most random couple in bots you will ever find.

But I’ll write to grandma but you need to give me her address so I can write her. Then I can put stuff in it. I’ve had this like bundle of things that I keep meaning to send to you guys but I’ve always held back because I don’t want the stuff to get stolen..And it’s also expensive. But just let me know if you guys would rather me send the stuff or just hold onto it and bring it when I get home. Just let me know. But I went and bought a new card reader so I can send photos so I’m going to try to do that today. Also something that just came to my mind about this week was are freaking electricity has been off for like nearly a month now....because I guess bots gets 90% of their electricity from S.A and they have been having shortages so its effecting bots like crazy the power only comes on like at night while we are sleeping...which obviously does no good. But lately it’s been on alright so I’ve felt like I am living like a third world person lately. Using candles and fires and things, it’s been hard. But love you guy’s a lot I need to go so I send photos. Take care

Love, Justin 

Another Scary Dog Experience!

Hello,

I read both the separate emails so I’ll just reply this one to both, but that’s sweet that you guys are getting ready to go on the cruise, I think you guys are going to have a sweet time. I liked the story a lot of Logan laughing during dad’s testimony; he is going to be a smart kid. Also, sorry to hear about your bad dream dad! Sounds like a nightmare...last night my companion said he heard me scream like really loud and he got up and I was just staring like straight at him and when he got up I was just still staring straight and he was like trying to talk me but I was not responding then I just laid down and went back to sleep, ha-ha he said he was really confused so I guess I still do weird things in my sleep. Sounds like some sweet books you guys are reading, they both sound really cool. The book your reading dad reminds me of elder Uchdorfs talk, You Matter To Him when he talked about how all the stars that we can see on this earth with a telescope are about 10 times more than all the sands on all the beaches and in all the deserts...and that’s just all we can see with are little telescopes. To me that is amazing, makes you feel kind of small.

Everything has been going really good though this side. We have don’t have a lot of trackting and were able to get 18 new investigators. We met some really cool people that will hopefully progress. I also decided to take away the boundaries between us and the sisters so we all have more space to work. I hope it was a good decision we talked about it in are district meeting. So hopefully it will work for the better or that will make me look kind of stupid because it was my idea. That huge family we met is still doing well and our last lesson we gave the whole family book of Mormons which was in total 10. It was really cool I think it’s the most book of Mormons I have handed out in one lesson. Even though all the kids don’t live there and not all of them live even close to the church I really believe that whole family will be baptized someday, probably not while I’m here but in the near future.

Me and my companion had a freaky experience yesterday, and before I tell you this you have to realize how freaking scared my companion is of dogs...like you have no idea how much he hates dogs, for some reasons he had in his childhood I guess but we had to go to one of the members homes to give her some money for are car and we pulled up to the house and it looked like no one was home besides her two dogs (which are huge) so we called her first and she just told us to put the money under the door and she told us her dogs don’t bite, but insisted that we take a stick of some kind....why in the heck would you tell us to grab a stick if your dogs don’t bite?? so anyway my companion grabbed a stick and we started to walk up and dogs just looked at us, so we thought everything was cool, once we put our feet on the property both dogs just did a dead sprint for each of us barking really loud so we both took off down the street because we had to park far away while these dogs are just chasing these two white dudes while everyone is watching us run to the car, and it was also locked so I’m like fiddling with the keys trying to unlock the doors while the dogs are behind us and we were able to get in before we got killed. It was pretty scary...but I’m fine.

So we probably will not have that many bap in Jan but we think Feb. will be a really good month. We are just trying to increase are teaching pool so we can separate the tears. But it’s good to hear from you guys I think I should have time to send pics. But love you guy’s a lot and hope the week goes well.

Love, Justin

Happy New Year!

Hey mom and dad,

Sorry I was not able to email yesterday due to nothing being open over the holidays. Thanks for the pictures I tried to look them but the computer blew them up way to big so I could not see them very well but sounds like everything is good. What? That crazy he got back already from his mission. I feel like he left around the same time I did...guess not. Time fly’s a. That’s awesome that you guys are planning a cruise! I know that has been a dream of moms for a long time. I am sorry to hear about the truck and my car. The story you told kind of reminded me when I ran into the trailer as I was backing out of the drive way....probably not an experience you want to remember again. That’s cool though mom that you were able to pay off all those things. That’s a big blessing. Hopefully things will be less stressful.

The week was good though we have had some blessings of our own. We were trackting in an area called blue town that is a not to of a developed place but it’s okay and the people there are very humble. But every time we are going to one of are appointments there we pass this like randomly pretty nice house that we always just kind of look at wondering why it’s there. So this week we decided to track it and we went inside and just found the mother of the house and her two daughters (who are all pretty old) and we just set up a return appointment when more people would be there because the mother said that she has 9 freaking children! that all stay there and they are like all above the age of like 30 which is first of all kind of strange. But when we came back the next day we brought Salani with us and as we pulled up to the house Salani was like this house? and we told him yes, then he acted like really surprised but did not tell us why until we got in the car, and turns out that like this family is super popular all over ftown I guess because their father who has passed away was like a very respected person in ftown and was also extremely strict and never let his daughters go out of the house....like ever and they even like home schooled them and everything and we met all the kids yesterday and it is just like a super awesome family. They are all very well educated have good jobs have good standards and they just all love each other very much. Just shows what happens I guess when people stay out of the world. But are lesson went really good with them and they are all on date for baptism on Feb 26th. But we just thought that was a sweet story. They are also very into family history which is also sweet, so the senior couple is helping the family with that.

Something also kind of funny that I and my comp were thinking would be cool was we tried to stage a brake in at our flat for the zone leaders. We got home a little early one night and we were planning for the next day and we heard the gate open, and we did not think they knew that we were home because we only have one gate key and usually we wait for them by the gate but we were able to hop the fence. So we hid when they came in and waited for them to go upstairs. When they did we like messed the place up really bad and took their bags and stuff and tried to make it look like super legit. Then we hid in the bathroom. The only stupid mistake that we made was leaving are stupid phone on the table...so we thought we were like so funny just waiting for them to freak out, but they saw are phone and knew we were there. To make a long story short, it just ended up being me and elder van fighting the Scotsman on the other side of the door to the bathroom because he was trying to lock us in there for the night...but he failed. So that ended up being a super fail. But it’s all good. We will try again next time.

But my time is kind of short today so I’ll try to send photos next time hopefully. But love you guy’s a lot and hear from you next week, take care.

Love, Justin  

Happy Holiday's

Dear friends and family!
Alright, just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!  Hope your holidays were as good as ours were.  I am sorry that it's been a while since I have posted a letter, but I am sure you all know how crazy it is during the holidays!  Anyway,  I put all the letters that I have missed into one post along with the pictures that Justin has sent home.  We didn't get a letter the day after Christmas because we were able to talk to him Christmas Day.  This time it was fun because we were able to skype with him.  It was really good to see Justin and I think he enjoyed seeing all of us.  Anyway, Happy Holidays!!!
Love Tara

November 21, 2011
Hey dad,
So I did not get the email from mom but its all good there is always next week. Ha ha don't worry about the guards they just like to show that they have power over us...(even tho they don't) But its all good its just Africa. Every time something happens that's just weird or bazar we as missionaries just say T.I.A (This Is Africa) or T.I.N.A (This Is Not America) and after we say that everything is okay. I have actually thought about starting a T.I.A journal just specifically for T.I.A moments because everyday you see something here that is just like, what in the heck?? Like the other day me and my companion just saw some dude completely naked just strolling through the main shopping center in Francistown with not a care in the world and everyone around seemed not to care....T.I.A, see it just makes you feel better. Anyway enough on that.

Glad the package got sent hopefully I will be able to get it before Christmas, did you send it to the address I gave you guys? Because that was right to Francistown.  I have no idea who the heck you talked to but they had no idea what they were talking about. The zone leaders and francistown never go down to Joburg. No one in Francistown ever goes down there unless we absolutely have to. But don't worry I'm sure I will get it soon. But right now I am actually back in Gabs city in my last area we just barely got down here because there is a mission tour so elder cook of the seventy is coming down to talk with us here tomorrow so that should be pretty sweet. Coming down here tho was not as awesome. We got a flat tire! i don't know what the heck it is with me and flat freaking tires but we took of the tire me and my Africa's man, put on the spare, realized that the spare was flat as well, had to hitch hike a ride to the nearest town which was far away with the sick tire, fill up the tire in ghost town, hitch hike i ride back just realize once we get back to the car one of the senior couples are there by are car and could have saved us all that adventure. But funny story on are ride back to the car it was a white man who first of all spoke Setswanna which is the national language of like all the black people which really rare to find that and he was also listening to Joseph and the amazing dream coat soundtrack....i was like what in the heck. I have no idea where he got that soundtrack from. I told him that the guy singing is a member of are church, but ya that was are awesome day today. After this we are heading to dinner for elder Copans b-day so I'm looking forward to that.
Another funny thing that happened this week i has interviewing one of the sisters investigators for baptism, who is preparing to be baptized this Saturday. so we sat down and i started to just ask the normal questions, then the question came where i asked if she had ever been in a homosexual relationship, just kinda used to the fact that everyone answers no to that question she just very casually said "Yes" like no big deal, i looked at her and asked her if she knew what that meant. then she begin to tell me that that is when a man and a woman are in a relationship.... ha ha i about died but held it in since i was conducting an interview i explained to here what i homosexual relationship is and she was very embarrassed but we just kinda laughed about it and went on with the interview. Which went really well. 

Ha ha i think that's a good idea tho with the bike..man we have such bad luck with that stupid thing. We actually ended up just having to walk because the bikes were so messed up and just ended up taking taxis which was actually really nice, just kinda expensive because there is like 2 types of taxis here, 1 is like a big van type thing which when you enter upon you are basically signing up for getting killed in a terrible accident because it is drunk men that are mentally unstable that probably to not have a license in the first place. Then the 2nd type is a private "nice" taxi...i guess which we ended up taking.

I'm glad everything is going well that home, i don't mean to sound like i am always worrying about you guys but i just get the feeling sometimes that you guys don't sometimes tell me everything. But i promise you my thoughts are on the work. But it is good to hear everything is good. I just don't want you guys to feel like you cant tell me things because you think it will get my mind off the work. But love you a lot dad, I'm lucky to have parents that email me every single week. Love you guys a lot and talk to you soon.

Love, Justin

November 28, 2011

Hey

So I'm going to try to answer your questions first so i don't forget, I sent you guys the address in francistown a few emails ago so you can use that address its the address to the senior couples home so its not very long. Second i totally forgot to get the address again I'm really sorry, i will really try to remember next week. if it helps tho we live next to like the only hill in francistown i think that has like a red tower on the top and we live in a gated community in some apartment complexes....i realize that will be very difficult to follow but ill try to get the address. And i do not have that book that you were talking about mom to answer that question.

But the week has been good, the conference was awesome. elder cook talked alot about changing the mission, when pres Poulsen was here the concentration was alot on getting as many baptisms as possible. Now elder Cook said we are going to change our outlook and instead of baptising as much as possible we are going to try and baptise people that our going to help the church grow. Making sure that we are baptising people who are truly converted to the gospel, because right now the goal for bots is to be its own stake. right now its under Roodeports stake in SA and so we need people that are going to make that happen. He mentioned that like 50% of members are going less active and not coming to church anymore in the church which was kinda a depressing thing to hear. So he said bap could go down quite a bit but that does not matter. you don't need high numbers of people to build things you need people who are dedicated and converted. So it looks like the mission is going to be changing quite a bit. But it was sweet he also talked about lots of other sweet things but that was the main thing. I don't know if you guys know who elder cook is but he is in the seventy and last con he gave the talk where he told the story about walking into the elevator with his head down then pres Monson told him its always better to look up. anyway it was a sweet talk and an awesome zone conference. He is a really cool guy.
But it was awesome to get your guys pictures i love getting pictures. The house looks different tho? did you guys do something different? i don't know why. Maybe I'm going crazy. And dad you look very upset in that one photo ha ha i need pictures of you guys smiling...especially dad. Logan is freaking huge! and Harper too, its so crazy how big they   are I'm excited to see all them when i get home. Did Tara and Jared get ride of there kids? i did not see them in any of the pictures. just making sure.

The week has been good tho, we were able to have 2 baptisms on Saturday, i guess they baptise on Saturdays here so they can confirm them on Sunday which i believe is the same way they do it in the states if i can remember. But everything has been pretty sweet i guess not to much excitement we have just been doing some trackting. I thought it might be a good idea because i don't believe it has really ever been done in f town but we had a pretty good time doing that. We met like 10 ladies over the age of 40 just drinking  it up in there back yard sitting on lawn chairs. it was pretty exciting talking to them.  there  was also like a mentally crazy guy there as well who sicked the dogs on us and we eventually had to run out. We also had a game where we each had to take turns randomly asking people what there favourite part of the chicken is. Its just funny because people in Africa love there chicken and they just take that question so seriously so we get a pretty good kick out of that when we ask it then the people just instantly turn serious and tell us what there favorite part of the chicken is and why....the things that entertain a missionary. We are teaching some great people tho one of which is the Freddy family. they are the ones who stay in the bdf camp with the racist guards. And we went there again yesterday and there was like a line of cars and the guards are just like waving everyone threw then all of a sudden its like aaaa stop the car two white guys. we were the only car that they stopped out of like 4 cars..its okay tho ill get over it. But i hope everything is going well back there and thanks again for the pictures ill try to send some today. Love you guys.

Love Justin 

December 5, 2011
Hello,
And before i say anything, yes, i got the address for you dad but I'm not sure if it will help you to much the address is Plot 16109 Francistown...and that's it. Something else that might help there is a prison kinda close to us, and also the BDF camp if you keep going straight on that road with those things on your left you take you next right. There will also be a soccer pitch before you turn right. Then you go on that road and it curves a little bit and  there is just like a little community right there. And also the "big" hill next to us. Hope that helps we just live in some apartment complexes.

I also have good news on the package, i got a call the other day saying that i got a package at the office, which was really weird because no one ever gets calls that they have a package so that was weird. But transfers is next week so people will be going down and i told elder hill to personally grab it for me and put it in the francistown car. So its all depending on elder hill. so hopefully ill be getting it next week sometime.

Ha ha dang its kinda early to be talking about the call on Christmas isn't it? I feel like that still kinda far away. I don't really have any details on that one we have not really talked about it yet. But i am excited. 2nd to last time ill be calling home before i come home. Kinda crazy. But we got some sick news today that my companion got his residency permit in which means we will be together another transfer...or more. It was good news we were hoping that he would get it and he was also fasting for it to happen. It has not happened that  fast for someone to residency in a long time so it was pretty lucky. The week has been good tho we were able to get awesome stats, we got 13 father led lessons this week. that probably means nothing to you guys but that pretty high. Its the highest iv ever got on my mission so it was awesome to get that. We also had a sweet family come to church yesterday, The Freddy family the ones that stay in the bdf camp. They are awesome. Me and elder van tho are going to try to brake the baptism record in francistown of 15 bap in a month. So that's one of the reasons we were excited that he was staying because we wanted to try to brake it. that would be so sweet if we would be able to pull that off.

Everything else is going really good tho i don't really have to much to say about the week just besides that its good. i realized this week that my skills in talking to white children are very low. we went to this food place called spur and there was a white family next to us and they had to white little girls and i honestly could like not speak to them or make them laugh or anything...it was really weird. I'm so used to little black kids and things that make them laugh and stuff. I don't know it was kinda just a weird experience for me. Elder van was laughing at me because he could tell i was like trying to communicate with them but it was just not working out. And of course i remember the beginning of my mission when i was missing all the little things about home. I still miss those things. It seems like i go threw fazes when like one week ill be like totally into missionary work then another week i kinda think about home a little bit more. I don't know if it was the same for you dad but its not like home sickness or anything its just sometimes you miss home more then other times.

But me and my companion have been trying to do like random acts of service lately and there is this Indian guy that lives next to us and so we went over there one night to ask him if we could wash his car and the morning and you would think that he would be like a little surprised considering that i have never even spoken a word to this guy ever besides just a wave, but no when we asked him he was just like ya, sure, that fine. like not with any excitement or surprised anything at all. so we just said okay and washed his car in the morning. It was funny it was just like he acted like it was just something that we are supposed to do like every morning it was kinda funny. I also met like the smartest 10 year old kid iv ever met on my mission. So we like always give people pamphlets to read and we gave this new family we met the message of the restoration one and we asked them if they would read it and they all said yes like people always do but they never end up reading it anyways, and we went back the next day expecting that no one read anything and we started out by asking if anyone had any questions. And the kid was just like yes, did Joseph  smith really see heavenly father and Jesus Christ in the forest? and we were just like what?? we were so surprised i don't think anyone has ever read that much of the pamphlet before. And then elder van said well How do you think you can know if that is true for your self, Then he answered...i think i have to pray alot. ha ha and we were just like yes...that is exactly what you need to do smart child. It was a pretty amazing experience considering most the people we teach are not that educated and cant even read or understand English that well and just some random ten year old kid comes in and understands the message of the restoration without us even teaching anything. It was sweet. But Its good to hear from you guys again love you all alot and hopefully ill have the package before i talk to you guys again.

Love, Justin  

December 12, 2011

Hey,

Good to hear from you guys, hope you got some good sleep dad and hope everything is still going well with work and everything. Remember if you guys need help with anything let me know. I know I’m half way across the world but I’ll do my best to help. Were you guys able to find our place on google earth?

This week went really well though. Just found out yesterday that I get to head to Joburg tomorrow which is sweet! I have not seen that place for so long. Normally I would not be able to go down there but they are having a meeting for all the district leaders. I’m pretty pumped. I love Joburg...probably because I have not been there too much. But that also means that I should be able to get my package personally, so I can be sure to get it when I get there on Wed.

Everything is going really well though. We have been doing a lot of work in a village outside of Francistown called Boralong. We have a recent convert named Salani...and he is like so powerful. His conversion story is really sweet. He was able to go to the states for a while to do some work in Florida and Disney World and he first ran into missionaries there, and then moved back to Gabs and also found missionaries there but he was never too interested. Then he finally went back to Francistown and ran into them again here and was eventually baptized. I just got here when he was confirmed. He is a sweet guy and has just been taking us to lots of families in Boralong. So yesterday we went and taught two sweet families, one of which the father is like super hard headed and basically told us straight to our faces that we are just boys and don’t know anything. But as we went through the lesson and started to teach he found a lot more respect for us and it just ended up being a super powerful lesson with Salani's powerful testimony at the end. It was just a crazy lesson that started out so out of control because that father just wanted to bash with us the whole time. But at the end the spirit truly testified to him the things that we were saying were true. And both family's excepted a baptism date for the 28th of Jan. So we are hoping that should be an awesome day.

We also like ride bikes 2 times a week, and I can’t remember if I told you guys but the bike I have has no brakes on it because they just don’t work. And so I have been riding a bike with no brakes for over a month now. But this week on one of the days with the bikes I went outside and the brakes were totally fixed so I thought that Elder Copans had fixed them. When we came back at night I thanked him for fixing the bike and he told me he did not do anything and did not even know that they had been fixed. I just thought it was a pretty sweet miracle. Who knows maybe angles fixed the bikes because we might have got in a bad crash or something. So I just thought that was pretty cool. It’s also been raining a TON over here. It’s the rainy season now and when it comes down it freaking comes down. But it’s also nice because everything is getting super green and its starting to get kinda pretty. The week ended good though, we all said bye to elder Copans who is going back home to Washington DC. He is a pretty cool guy and we have had some good times.

Last night as we were waiting for them to get home so they could open the gate for us, my stomach just started to kill for some reason. I was like just lying on the pavement in agony, ha-ha. It was really random but we could not get to the house because we were outside the gate. So elder Van started to hop over the gate with the electric fence so he could open it from the inside. But as he got one leg over and the other leg on the other side of the electric fence it started to shock him right between his legs and he is just like screaming for me to turn off the electricity while I’m lying on the ground screaming as well. Ha-ha, it probably looked so stupid if someone was looking at us. We could not find out where the box was so I had to hop up as well and help him get over....anyway it was pretty pathetic. But I’m all good now. It’s really good to hear from you guys though thanks for the updates and I’ll try to send some pictures. Love you guys a lot and hope the week goes well. Take care!

Love, Justin 


December 19, 2011

Hi mom and dad,

Well the week was pretty good, a loooot of driving tho. Joburg was sweet, it was so sweet to be there again. Its kinda weird i feel like alot closer to home when i go there I'm not sure why but i just love going there. Hopefully my next area will be somewhere in joburg to end my mission. Most likely my next area will be my last so that would be kinda nice if i ended there but if not its cool to. And i also got my package!! it was sweet thanks alot i really needed alot of the things in it. I forgot how comfortable those shoes are that you sent and the shirts are really nice as well. thanks alot for everything.

Decembers are really hard on mission because everyone leaves for there home villages. we had 0 invest at church so that was a huge bummer. Selani would be an awesome missionary the only problem is that he is to old but we told him when he gets married he is able to do that so he is looking forward to that. But there is really honestly not to much to talk about the week its really just been driving. Left for joburg on Tuesday got there on wed, drove back same day. got to ftown Thursday night. then on Friday we had to drive half way to  gabs to trade cars...so it was pretty sweet i guess. The meeting was pretty good. talked alot about not being with the opposite sex, bap interviews. The nicest part of the meeting was just seeing old companions and people from my group that i came up with, that was really nice talking to all them. They where all asking me when i was coming back down since i have been gone for so long.

That's really cool dad that you went and helped. I cant believe my old work pants fit you? that's cool. How did it feel being out in the field again? In ways i sometimes miss working out there, it was a pretty nice job.

And about Christmas that time frame should work good.  If anything goes wrong and I'm not getting a call i will call you guys and just let it ring one time so you can have the number. Hope it all works, I'm excited to talk to you guys it feels like it was not to long ago i was just talking to all of you. But love you all and hear from you guys soon.

Love, Justin