Got to play in a fun Soccer Game!

Hi Mom and Dad,

Good to hear from you guys, the answer to Logan’s question is no we do not have a swimming pool. I wish!  I miss swimming too much. Too bad when I get home I’m going to go from winter to winter again so I’m not going to be swimming for quite some time. The most I get to swimming is when we baptize people.  Man I forgot to see how many bap I have again sorry but we have a baptism coming up this Saturday. It’s going to be a father named Ndlovu. We were planning on having his wife and another guy named Tshokolo getting baptized but we had to push them back because there not ready yet.

Ha-ha, I’m excited to see harper when I get home. I feel like when I left she was like super small. I guess two years makes you a bit bigger and more able to do things when you’re a child. I also remember how much you used to watch that show in the past; I did not know that that show is still running. I’m glad you’re learning a lot maybe you could implement that elevator idea in our home. It could be pretty sweet.

That’s crazy that Terik is engaged! Yo that seems fast... I guess he has been home about a year though. I have not got the package yet and from what it sounds like it’s not in the office so it might take until transfers before I get it which is April 17. That music video was really cool I really liked the song. It sounded cool mixed in with the Coldplay song. That’s how a lot of African songs are. One guy or woman will shout something then everyone else will shout the same thing and it will go in that motion for the rest of the song. Sometimes in can be very repetitive and a little annoying, but that’s mainly the gospel music that repeats itself way too much. Most of the music is pretty good. There really into rhythms and beats and noise. When put together right, it sounds sweet.

The week has been great though, we played soccer against the Monarch branch which was a lot of fun. It was the most legit soccer game I’ve played my whole mission I think, where we actually had a full team and matching Jerseys and a ref playing on a kinda nice pitch. Quite a few people watched as well, probably because there was like 3 white dudes playing soccer in the middle of Francistown which you don't see every day.

We are also headed down to Gabz tomorrow for Presidents interviews and then leadership training so we should get back Wednesday or Thursday. It’s always nice going down, its kinda like a little vacation, so hope everything goes well. It’s been funny though this week lots of weird things happening at night it seems. Last 2 nights ago I could not sleep and it was funny because I realized how much everyone in our flat talks at night. We all sleep in the same room so i was having like intelligent conversations with everyone while I could not sleep. It was pretty cool. Then Last night I had a dream that this guy was putting a scorpion on me so I woke up and like destroyed by bead and threw my pillow across the room while I was sleeping I guess. I don’t know it just seems like lots of weird things have been happening every night this week it’s been weird. I’m still exhausted from soccer though my legs kill and my face is super red.

But love you guys a lot and tell everyone I say hello. Take care.

Love Justin

Lots of walking this week

Hey mom and dad,

Things are going great. But I did read both yours and mom’s email last time. You guys were kinda acting like I just read one. But I do read both of them. Sorry if I don’t always respond to the things you guys ask or say. It’s hard for me to remember when I start writing back. But everything has been going sweet. We had a lot of walking this week due to the zone leaders being away with the car. But they came back up this week with a pickup instead of the car this time....which I don’t like very much because its stick, but I’m fine with it now. I just like auto better. We were driving to the Gerald Elders this morning to go help them with their yard and all of a sudden I started steering the car and it would like not steer....yo I freaked out. Apparently the power steering somehow went whack, and apparently I’m just like super week because I thought something was very wrong. I guess that’s how cars used to be but I’ve just gotten used to the power steering. So I felt pretty awesome.

Ha man I thought you were serious dad when you were first taking about emailing the ward every week. Ha-ha, man I felt bad but then I realized it was a joke as I continued reading. I understand now though. We are teaching a few families. Recently we started teaching a cool family called the Sebedi family. We have been teaching them a while and we are hoping they will be baptized in April. The father is a solder for Bots, and him and his 11 year old brilliant daughter, Pearl, come to church just about every Sunday. Pearl is super awesome and had come long before the father, when we first started teaching them. She is really smart and really wants to be baptized but we want the fam to do it together. The mom and son are Catholic but hopefully they can come along someday.

We’re also teaching a really cool guy called Kadimo. He is super prepared to hear the gospel. At first we thought he was not serious but has proved us wrong by coming to church 30 min early and has read to Mosiah in 2 weeks and understand’s everything perfectly. There is also this cool girl named Keletso who really surprised us. We were teaching her boyfriend Charles, but he is not serious at all. We went to see if he was home one day and we found her at home and forgot that we gave her a book of Mormon. When we started just talking to her she mentioned she had been reading the book we gave her and we asked her how far she had read. She came out and showed us that she is over half way done with the book of Mormon...ha it was sweet! We did not even realize we had given her one. We then asked if she is praying to see if it’s true...which it is, and then she said, “I thought you said I had to read it first.” But now she is also preparing for this month or next and we have now been teaching her more than the boyfriend. Sorry if I have told you guy’s any of these things already but that’s just a few of the people we are teaching.

The week has been a bit tuff though; we have had a lot of walking to do. My companion is still learning how to ride a bike. He can ride, but not well enough to ride in town where there are cars everywhere, so we just keep walking. Everything is going cool with us though. Elder Dlomo is a sweet guy and we get along great. And now we have another Zulu in the flat, Elder Zondie, who replaced Elder Hill. He is the one that actually got hit in the head and lost his memory. He is a cool guy and we all have fun together. The other night we were all headed to the Risers place to meet the new missionaries in the zone. Me and my comp where hauling it to come and pick up those guys at the flat so we could bring them with us, so I just told Elder Dlomo to throw the keys out the window to them so they could go open up the flat. Ha-ha it was like the most terrible throw! He threw them like completely in the bushes not even close to Elder Zondie or Elder McNelly. So we ended up being even more late searching for the stupid keys. It was pretty funny at the time.

Thanks for searching for those things. It’s fine, I don’t want you guys to kill yourselves looking for them. It’s fine if you can’t. I can’t really think of too much I want. Just whatever you guys feel like. Don’t put in too much, I don’t want it to be super expensive. I don’t think I know the missionary that came home. Last night I had like a super strange dream that I came home, but like no one was home and I was in like New York or somewhere underground trying to find someone I knew. It was really weird. Hopefully it does not come true. But love you guys a lot and hear from you guys next week. Take care.

Justin

Trying to bring less active members back

Hey mom and dad,

I’m writing you right now as I am waiting for that video to load. Computers here are not of the highest technology, things take much longer. So I’m excited to see it and all the changes that are happening around, I just pray it will be done by the time I get home. Yeah, he can ride a bike now but we work in Francistown where there are lots of cars, and a lot of the times we are riding with the cars. We tried to go out one time and he nearly got murdered by a semi. Yo, I was freaked out watching him nearly getting smashed. So from that point on I said nope, you have to really, really know how to ride a bike. So it’s taking time because we don’t have much time to go out in the mornings. We only use the bikes 2 times a week though; on Tuesdays and Fridays so it’s not too bad just walking those days. I’m kinda starting to enjoy walking. Even though our area is huge its nice sometimes just taking a walk. We even take taxis sometimes when we have a bit of money, so its fine. Ha, transfers is not in a while so we’re not going to know for about another 5 weeks who is leaving and whether or not he will get residency. So there is still time.

I’m not sure how many baptisms I have, I don’t really count them anymore. But I can find out. I really have no idea what the number is. Right now though we are really focusing our efforts on finding people who are less active. We got a sheet with every single member in Francistown on it and I could not believe how big it was. If that many people came to church we would have a ward. It’s really sad at how many people are not coming. So we organized the list by areas in which people live and we go to that area on certain days and try to find those people. If they’re there or not, if they are a alive, why they’re not coming to church. So far it’s been hard but I feel like we need to really work on the core of the branch. So baptisms have not been too high.

Man I’m excited to see all the changes when I get back home. it sounds pretty sweet though.  Yeah, I’m grateful that I’m getting help from Mike on registering for school. I’m still not sure where I’m going to end up or what exactly I want to do but I still have a while to think about those things.

Thanks a lot for sending the package. Were you guys able to find any of those random things Selani wanted? If not its fine. He will just have to wait for me to send them to him when I get back. That’s sweet that so many missionaries are heading out. The work really does continue no matter what. That’s something I have realized. It does not matter who may oppose the church or who goes less active or missionaries going apostate. The work will continue with or without them and will continue to fill the earth, no matter what.

I think I’m going to mention that suggestion to our Branch President about what to do when speakers don’t show up or people end up giving 50 second talks (which happens every Sunday). The missionaries are just the default for everything. So I think that’s a sweet idea of having people go up and share their favorite songs. Because people love singing here especially in church.

About the pictures I have some bad news. For some reason my 400 pula camera decided to give up and die...I’m not sure why I guess it thought its service was over. So I can’t really take any pictures except on other peoples cameras, then send it to you guys. It’s is not a problem, there will just be less pictures. I forgot to tell you guys it’s been broken for a while. But love you guys a lot hope the video is done downloading. Take care and hear from you guys next week.

Justin

This week has been great!

Hey mom and dad,

Good to hear from you guys. Transfers came and the only people leaving in are zone are Elder Hill and Elder Morowa. When you are training you stay with your comp for 3 months or 2 transfers. So this will for sure be my last transfer with my "son". Wither or not I go or he goes in April we don’t know. Naturally it would be me but if he does not get residency then I will stay....which is not what I want to happen at all. I would really like to go back to South Africa to finish my mission like I have said in the past. But I don’t know the mind of the Lord so whatever happens, happens.  But I’m praying that he will be able to get his residency so I can go.

I think that’s a good idea about the card. Wherever you feel comfortable sending it just send it there, it should eventually make its way up to me or I will make my way to it. Just as long as I can get it before it expires would be sweet. O I have a random request… one of our members Salani ( I think I have told you guys about him before. He was bap in October and is a sweet member) he has asked me to try and get some things from America for him. If at all possible if you could somehow send up a vote for Mitt Romney shirt and a bumper sticker that says "I’m a Mormon" or something like that. He would be more than happy, if it’s too difficult don’t worry about it.  I told him I would at least ask you guys.

But the weeks been great we went to Gabz to go to zone conference and it was sweet, they’re always awesome! I don't know if I told you guys but we were able to achieve are mission goal of 125 and we got 126...so that was a miracle. The zone leaders also left again this week with the car to go to Joburg so that means lots and lots of walking again until they get back. My comp is still learning how to ride a bike so were on foot quite a bit. Something is kinda going wrong with the computer I’m using so I might have to make this a bit short, it keeps freezing.

 Wait… so you send my letters to whom? I don’t understand… so the ward gets my letters then like distributes them to everyone in the ward? That’s a bit weird. Or am I supposed to like right a specific letter to the ward?

Anyway…sounds like you guys are doing well though.  I am sure grandma is going to be excited to see you guys, so say hi to her for me.  Love you guys and I will talk to you next week!  Sorry I had to cut this email.

Justin    

We had some baptisms this week

Hey dad,

The week was sweet!  We did not get all 4 baptisms because the father led family had some problems with one of the questions so president is going to interview him when he comes down. So now we are hoping for the 24th of March for ndlovu and millient.

 Ha I remember Logan would be like that even when I would be there he wanted his mom to do everything. I wonder why he does that...I’m sure he will grow out of it soon. And thank you for telling me that Jupiter is scary, that does solve many things. One thing I’ll miss when I come back home is the sky here and the moon and sunsets. That’s one of the things I love about Africa is everything in the sky is just so sweet. I can’t really explain it I think I’ve sent a few pictures where the sky is just like red red and it really does look like that. Sometimes the moon is just like HUGE and is really orange, and the clouds are really cool as well, they look 3D if that makes sense. But yah now that I just gave you guys a random report on the sky here...I’m pretty sure that’s the correct address if it’s the one I emailed you a while ago then its correct. The name of the senior couple is the Risers. So I hope that’s enough info. I hope everything will go well with the mailing process. As far as me calling to activate the card I’m not sure if that would work because that would cost the church a lot of money.

Ha-ha yes, I remember the movie. It was funny I was actually just talking to the Woolfs about church movies back home. And they said there is a really good one that came out not to long ago called 17 miracles...not sure if you guys have seen it. But for sure I miss watching movies with you guys. Seems like lots of good ones have been coming out since I’ve been gone, I will have to catch up.

But as far as here goes everything seems to be going well. Transfer news is this Saturday, time has been flying. If everything goes well and my comp gets residency then I will for sure be leaving here on 17th April. but if he doesn’t I could be here another transfer which I really hope does not happen because that would mean I would be here for 7 and a half months which would be way to long for me. So I’m really praying he will get the residency. Church was good are 2 converts elsie and bothlale were both confirmed. The baptisms also went pretty well. I was really worried about elsie though, she was like really scared of the water and when she saw the first person getting baptized she just started crying because she was so scared to get in the water. Finally at the very end she sucked up the courage to go in after a long time. I was praying so hard that the lord would comfort her so she would not be afraid. But in the end everything went really well and they both ended up bearing really good testimonies. The whole zone did pretty good we had quite a few on Sunday I’ll have to send a picture of it.

But love you a lot dad and hear from you next week. Take care!

Justin

This week has been better!

Hey dad,

I think this is the only time on my mission that I have only written to you twice in a row, so we are making history here. But man that’s too bad to hear about Cameron. That poor kid has been through a lot, but he is a tuff dude, I’m sure everything will turn out. I’ll continue to keep him in my prayers.

Yes this week has been a bit better. We actually had a really good week are stats are a bit better and we are hoping to have 4 baptisms this sat. There is one father led family of 2 that will being bap ndlovu (which means elephant) and millient. They also have 2 kids that are too young to be bap but it’s a sweet family. Also we have a girl called Bothlale who has been coming to church for a very long time. But we tend to make sure they come to church more to make sure that they are serious so it’s been about 3-4 months since she has been coming to church. Then we have a woman named Elsy, and she is sweet she is a mother of 2 about 28 years old and she understands the book of mormon better than anyone else I have ever taught on my mission. She loves reading it and every time we leave we give her something to read.  When we come back she explains what she understood from what she read. And she will literally explain almost every single verse without even looking at the book and it’s her first time reading it.  She understands what it means...like spiritually. So those are all who are preparing for the 25th. They are being interviewed today and tomorrow so I hope all goes well.

I did get my allotment card so there is another lot of stress gone. I just owe a bunch of people money because I have been borrowing. But that's no problem. But love you guys a lot tell mom I say hello and love her as well. Talk to you guys next week. Take care!

Justin 

Things are a little slow

Hey dad,

Thanks for the money I still have not received my allotment card but said it should be here tomorrow. So that would be extremely nice, I’m tired of bumming of people and using my home card. But I’m kind of going to have to zoom threw this email, I don’t have much time on the computer today.

 But the week has been pretty good. Things are a bit ruff with the missionary work and it’s really a bit stressful because you always hear of everyone doing really well up here then all of a sudden we come and it’s like my lowest baptism area so far. So I’ve been a little stressed also having a brand new missionary and being a district leader and being very far from the office and everything. Yes I am getting a bit tired. But everything is really going fine I just like to complain sometimes I guess. it’s just difficult because I feel like I’ve been trying to be so obedient but not really seeing the blessings come from it. I guess that's just how it goes sometimes.   But I’m really sorry this is somewhat a depressing email and I really need to go so I have a little time to write mom a little something. But love you a lot dad. I know I say that every email but you have really been an awesome example to me my whole life and I look up to you more than anyone else. I’m glad that I had a father who actually cared about my future and sometimes "pushed" me into doing things that I sometimes did not want to do. Many fathers here abandon their children and they never hear from them again. So I really just wanted to express how much I really appreciate you as my father. God could not have given me a better one. Love you.

Justin

Hey, hey

Hey, hey
Ha, sounds like you guys are quite tired. Mine should not be too long as well; I do want to say before I forget, so about a month ago my allotment card got swallowed by the atm machine for some reason. Currently right now the office in joburg (in my opinion) is not organized right now. They keep saying they are sending a new card and it never comes. Also they said that they would put the money on my comps card, which they have not done yet. So I have had to use my home card for basically everything. It is starting to become very frustrating to me, especially since I’m so far away and cannot really go to the office myself and express some of my feelings. Whenever I call down it seems like nothing gets done. So I’m really sorry for spending a lot as of late, I don’t know if the mission can reimburse you guys or what but hopefully today we will be fine.

As of the week it’s been good. We had to do a lot of walking since the zone leaders went to joburg. The first day they were gone it was extremely hot and almost all are appointments ditched...and I got very crispy. But everything is going really well, me and my "son" are doing well together. And yes he is an African. It was funny the other night he fell asleep while he was praying, ha-ha we were all laughing so hard I even came out and was just eating my dinner while looking at him and laughing, sounds kind of weird but when you don’t have a TV you must look for other resources for entertainment. It was really funny. He was there for alooong time. Also the other night we went to a little village about 20 k's from f town, where Salini lies and we saw a freaking black scorpion. I for myself have never seen like a legit scorpion. I don’t know if we have those ones in America but apparently if it stings you, you have like 20 minutes to live. Kind of scary and we were like 20 min from any type of hospital. But no worries Salini killed it with his foot, so I’m still alive. But it’s good to hear from you guys I want to try to send more pictures. I was trying to send more last time but it only let me send that one. So I’ll try to send more this time. Love you guys! Take care.

Justin