Elder Turner McKay Richards

Baptism pictures of Palesa

Turner Street

Turner and Elder Wilkinson had a great time visiting the zoo at Emerald Casino

This week has been kind of crazy! Actually really crazy! Haha! But it was still really good! First. Rachel looked gorgeous! No surprise there though! But she really did look amazing! My family is so awesome!

Okay. So let's start with the Safari! It was at Emerald. The Casino. It's really a nice place though. Anyway. We went in the middle of the day, so there was like nobody here! Anyway. So it was just the two of us! And then the driver of course! He was cool. And he actually used to visit with the missionaries. But then he moved. Anyway. So he was familiar with us! It was really cool though. There were tons of animals. Weird names that I can't remember though :( Sorry! But there are these little things called springbok. They were everywhere! And then Giraffes of course! That was cool! We got pretty close to them! And then there were these big deerish things that we got to feed! That was so cool! You just put the food in your hand and then it just ate like your entire hand! But it was so cool! Haha! There were also zebras and ostriches. It was really cool! Glad that we did that!

So Wednesday. It was Elder Wilkinson's birthday! We had interviews with President Omer. So we drove to the mission home. It's about an hour and a half away. It is such a nice house! It was nice to be there. Good to be in a normal house kind of like home! But interviews were SO good! I love President Omer. He is so gentle and loving! Ah! I can't even explain it! It was such a good interview though. I guess Elder Wilkinson had lots of good things to say about me. According to President Omer. So that is good. And I had plenty of good things to say about him as well! He has been such a great companion! Anyway. We went to Burger King after interviews. There are only two in the whole county! Haha! Actually probably only two in the whole African continent! But it was good! Then we went to the "China Mall". It reminds me of the place we went while we were in Cancun! Found these tie pins that are the South African flag. We have been looking for them for a while! We got home and got ready for dinner. We went to pick up the Asurons. But John came home two hours late. So we didn't get to go to the buffet. It was disappointing. But there wasn't much we could do. But we did get to change the reservation to Thursday!

So Thursday we got to go to the buffet. It was pretty good. Shireen kind of talked it up a lot. But it was still fun! I guess they are under new management since the last time she has been there and it isn't as fun and entertaining anymore! Shame. But it was still fun. The funny thing is the service here. Anywhere you go there is just terrible service! So different from home! Haha! But we had a good night! We took some pictures. Some of Lily and each of us. And Lily and Matthew, the Asuron's kids. Then there is a random picture of Shireen! And then pictures of all of us! I hope they upload. We are at the slow computer place again! Because today is a holiday, so the normal place is closed! But I will send all of them that I can!

This weekend was great because we were able to watch conference! It was so good to be able to FINALLY watch it! There were so many great talks! Lots of answers to questions! I love watching conference! Not many people came though. Which was a shame. There were like maybe fifteen people that came on Saturday. And then on Sunday there were more but after each session there were less and less people! Because we started with Priesthood and then Women's sessions. Then Sunday morning and then Sunday afternoon. It was a great couple of days! Odd to see home though. And see that it looks nice, especially since it is getting cold here! It was fun to see Nudd! Haha! As always!

This week has been good. A lot of saying goodbye to people for Elder Wilkinson. I kept thinking of how sad it was that he had to say bye to everyone and how happy I was that I had at least a month and a half left with all of these people that I have grown to love so much! But Saturday night we were sitting at Rahlda and Dmitri's house and we got a call from President Omer. He told Elder Wilkinson that he would be becoming a Zone Leader. Which was really no surprise. We knew he was leaving and that he would most likely be a ZL. But the unexpected part was when he told us that I would be leaving as well! My stomach just dropped! It is so unusual for a new elder to be transferred after he is done getting trained. But they are rearranging the Zones and making Vereeniging a Zone Leader area! So these last couple days have been spent with mixed emotions. At first I was sad about having to say bye to Elder Wilkinson, but now I have to say goodbye to all of these people that I love so much! On Sunday they announced that I was leaving. It was sad, but nice to see that people will miss me as well! It is sad. I love this area so much and I don't want to say good bye to these people. But I guess that is just part of mission. I am excited to get to go somewhere new though. For a new experience. But still bittersweet. I am afraid that there will be a lot of bittersweet feelings these two years.

Things have been going good though. I love you all so much. Mom I love you and miss you! Can't wait to talk to you in a couple of weeks! Love you tons!