Confirmations and Conference Explained

Things are going well over here in Africa.

General Conference. I have to admit that I am very jealous that you all got to watch it. I was odd knowing that this past weekend you were all home watching conference. And we were here in Africa just a normal weekend, normal Sunday. We had the option to watch it live, well the ward had the option. But they decided that we should watch the recording because it would be more likely that people would come if it was a recording. Because if we watched it live, it would have been at odd times. So we are watching it recorded on the 26th and 27th. I am super excited. I love conference. I can't wait! It will be good to hear what all of the General Authorities have to say. And to learn from everything they are going to talk about.

Next. We have totally changed our eating habits. It's great. Hard. But great. We decided we are going to eat healthy. So I haven't had fast food this whole week! We have been eating a TON of vegetables, fruits, and basically no sugar and no pop. We have a lot of salad. You kind of get sick of it. We will need to find new healthy options! But it feels good. We have also been running. We wake up and go do sprints and stuff at our complex. There is a rugby field that we planned to go to. We went there the first day and got eaten alive by mosquitoes! I had twenty three bites! Haha! So now we just stay on the road next to the field! It sucks to run, but it makes you feel so much better! Like the days we haven't been able to go, like Sunday, I find myself missing it. And looking forward to it the next morning. Who knows why? I hate running! Haha! But it has been good.

Friday was great. We got to go to the temple. They try to do a temple trip once a transfer. So we didn't go last transfer, but they made sure we could go this transfer. It was so nice. I love the temple! The spirit was so strong! As it always is when you go to the temple. It was so nice. A good time to uplift myself and get back to centre. Ya know? If that makes sense.

I can't think of too much else that happened. Like really. This week wasn't too eventful.

Oh! The confirmations! Haha! That was eventful! Haha! So yesterday, we had five confirmations in our ward. I was asked to confirm Sheila, she and her two girls were baptised. It was nerve racking, but everything went well. I was really nervous that I would mess up and have to do it again! But I didn't! A successful first confirmation is now under my belt! Ha! Elder Wilkinson confirmed her older daughter Phatty, and Brother John, the ward mission leader confirmed the youngest, Mphumi. And then the bishop confirmed his niece, and Dmitri. It was great.

We still have five people on date. It used to be ten, but with all of the baptisms, they went down! But five is still great! We have just been having a struggle getting all of them to see the importance of coming to church. I mean, they act like they see the importance. But then they don't come! It is so frustrating! We don't know what to do! We have one girl that comes to church every week. So that's good. And then a lady that comes every other week because she works every other Sunday. And then the other three have been doing great with lessons, but they don't come to church! But we are really going to work on that with all of them this week!

The weather is still nice here. It still feels like summer to me! The days are still hot, it cools off a lot at night. Which is good. But it is still hot. During the days it feels like the weather hasn't even changed! But it is funny to hear all of the African people talking about how they can feel that winter is coming! I mean, come on! The weather hasn't even changed! Hah! But we will see. Supposedly it gets pretty cold here in the winter!

It is good to hear from you. I love you so much! I hope that everything goes well for everyone at home! Have fun over spring break! I love you so much! So so so much!

Baptisms! the Window is Fixed!

Turner, Dmitri, and Elder Wilkinson - Baptism Day

                                     Lerato with her uncle, cousin and Elder Wilkinson and Elder Richards

Sheili and her daughters: Phatty and Mphumi

So this week was good. We had our baptisms. It was nice. I mean. I didn't have to do that much. We were pretty prepared. The funny thing was everything was going well. But we decided to wash the baptismal clothes at our flat so they would be clean for the people getting baptised. But our washing machine decided to stop working! So it would like wash for half of the cycle and then we would have to take them out to dry them and the were literally soaking wet! Like we got them out of a swimming pool, not a washing machine! Anyway. We got that all worked out. I mean, the clothes worked, but the washing machine is still being weird. Then we got to the chapel on Sunday and started filling up the font. It was filling, but the water wouldn't go warm! So it was filling up with ice cold water! I mean, I didn't care that much because I wasn't doing any of the baptising! I mean that in the least bratty way possible! But we finally got the warm water working. It filled up good, but the water was like green and gross looking! Haha! But it was fine. It all worked in the end. 

The cool thing though, was that Dmitri's family came. When him mom, Rahlda, was baptised in January, none of the family came, but they got them to come for Dmitri. So it was cool that they could be there for that and experience and feel the spirit that was there! Everyone will be confirmed next week during sacrament meeting! It will be exciting for them to be confirmed! I am kind of nervous though, because I will be confirming one of them! So pray for me so that I won't mess up! Haha!

Some good news. I took the driving test. I passed! Haha! So now I will get to have a card that says that I can be the "designated driver" for the companionship! Haha! But I still don't like driving here! But when we went to the office to take the driving test we saw the senior couple that was in charge of fixing the flats. Elder Wilkinson told them that we have been climbing in and out of the window for like the past few weeks. So they felt bad and came down that day! So OUR DOOR IS FIXED! It is nice to be able to come and go through a door! Hah! So our door is fixed now. And they also did other stuff for us. They gave us a new toilet seat. I don't know if I have said this, but our toilet seat has been broken the whole time. But now we have a new one! They are also sending us rugs for our kitchen and our bathroom. So that will be nice. We won't have to use towels! Haha! Now they are also sending us things that we can use to clean the mold off of our ceiling in the bathroom! They are taking our extra torn apart couch, and they are going to get us a nice chair! So it's like our flat is new! Or it is going to be new when they give us the new furniture! Haha! But it's nice!

Nothing too exciting happened here this week. Other than what I said! I hope everything is going well at home I love and miss everyone so much! I think about and pray about everyone every night! I love you guys so much! I love you Mom and Dad. Thank you for all that you have done and are doing for me! I love you!

Love,

Turner

Windows and Preparation for Baptisms

 Turner's District

It's good to hear from you! 
The window. We make sure that nobody sees us climbing in and out. More for the fact that it would just look weird for them to see us climbing in and out of the window. Also, our room is back in a corner, so people don't really see us. And all the people that live by us are old people! So don't worry. I think when you read about the Elders that get robbed and stuff it just unnecessarily scares you! But we are trying to get the door fixed. It's not like we like climbing in and out of the window. But the Senior couple that is supposed to come fix it won't call us back. They were actually supposed to come today or tomorrow. So we will see. But it has to get fixed soon, because we can't really get Elder Wilkinson's stuff in and out of the window when he gets transferred.

Let's see. What happened this week. Not much honestly. Elder Wilkinson and I were actually trying to figure out yesterday what had happened the past week so that we could email home about it and neither of us could think of anything too crazy. So we will see what I can come up with as I start writing!

I guess the first thing is that there were transfers this last week. There are three sets of elders in our district and one elder, Elder Thomas was transferred. He is actually still in our zone, which is odd. But he was the only one that got transferred. His companion, Elder Wood, is now training Elder Arthur, he is African. I can't remember where in Africa that he is from. But yeah. We also got a new Zone Leader because one of them went home this last transfer. There is also a new AP. His name is Elder Bodily, he is from PG. Is he the kid that you emailed his mom? I haven't met him. But Elder Wilkinson says he is from PG, so I wondered if it was the same kid.

What else happened. I feel like the next thing that happened was on Thursday. On Thursday we met a kid named Abednigo and his sister. I talked about how we have been handing out pass along cards. Anyway. Abednigo got one and actually called us. He said he wanted to know more. So we went and met him. He is 25 and his sister is 19. They are both students. Anyway. They told us that they grew up going to church but neither of them were really ever interested in the church that they went to as kids. They said that it never made sense. But we watched the "Finding Faith In Christ" video with them. They loved it and wanted us to come back. So we went back on Saturday. Since then they had watched the DVD multiple times. They both said they wanted to be baptised. So we will see how it goes. But I think it is just a blessing that we are doing our "finding activities" and because we are, the Lord is helping us find people that are really ready for the gospel.

Also on Thursday, our Zone Leaders came down. They came for the baptismal interviews. They have to do interviews for us, because usually the District Leader does them, but Elder Wilkinson is the District Leader, so he can't do them! Anyway. There were five interviewed. The five I talked about last week. They all passed! So they will be baptised this coming Sunday. And then confirmed the next week in Sacrament Meeting! So awesome! I am super excited for them. So Lerato, the bishop's Niece will be baptised by the bishop, and then the rest of them asked for Elder Wilkinson. So he will be baptising them. Then for their confirmations, I will be confirming Sheila, and then Elder Wilkinson will be confirming Sheila's seventeen year old daughter Phatty, and Brother John will do the youngest daughter, Mphumi. Then the bishop will do Dmitri and Lerato.

Let's see. I don't think much else has happened. But the week has gone good. And I am excited for next week! Oh a just a warning. So April 23rd is Elder Wilkinson's birthday. It is also the last week of the transfer, and he will be getting transferred from this area. He has been here for a long time, seven and a half months. So for his birthday and saying goodbye to people that he has come close with, we will be doing some things that I will have to pay for out of my own pocket!

The Work Hastens. . .

Things have been going well this week. I tend to judge my week and days by how well I personally taught that day. Yesterday, I ended pretty well. So I am in good spirits! I just have to remind myself sometimes that I have been out for one transfer, and I am not going to be the perfect missionary. I have to remember that I am new and still learning.

Our flat. The bugs have been gross, especially the maggots. But we haven't had any experiences that have been too bad since then. It is gross. But there isn't much we can do. We keep it clean. And just hope that it helps! Hopefully we can get it sprayed again soon. And hopefully it will work this time. The door though, Mom, don't worry so much about the door. Also, you can't even get into the flat complex is you aren't staying there, or you have someone with you that does. It is a very safe and calm place. As is Vereeniging.

Teaching has been pretty good lately. We have five baptisms planned for the end of this month. Here we baptize the last Sunday of the month, and then confirm the next Sunday, in Sacrament Meeting. Anyway, we have Dmitri - who was going to get baptized last month, but we pushed it to this month, just more time to prepare - he is definitely ready. He has the support of his mom, who was baptized in January. We are also teaching a woman named Sheila, and her two girls, Phatty (17) and Mphumi (12). Sheila attended a funeral at our church and "felt something different" so they just started coming to church. They like it and are very prepared for the gospel. Phatty is only 17 but her knowledge and testimony are strong! We are teaching a young woman named Lerato. She is the Bishop's niece and lives with them permanently. We randomly asked her one day when we were going to teach her and her response was, "today". So we have been teaching her for about a month. She definitely has a good support system and is prepared for the gospel as well.

Other people we have been teaching. Tau. He is a nineteen year old student, loves the church and understands it very well. He just has a hard time getting to church because it is far and he doesn't have funds to pay for the taxi every week. We are also teaching Sophia, a mother. She has looked into several churches, but never been baptized. She is very open to things, which is awesome. We asked her to be baptized next month, and she is hesitant, but we are working with that. We also started teaching Monica, the drunken lady. We hope it will help her life. We are teaching others as well, and there will be more to come about them as we continue teaching.

Here is a funny thing. We have been teaching a Less Active family. They were baptized not too long ago, maybe a year and a half. The Dad doesn't come to church, and sets that example. But we have been working with the rest of the family. There is a girl named Thato, she is super curious about everything. We were talking about the Ghosts, and the Holy Ghost, and evil spirits. I told her not to worry about the evil spirits because she has two powerful things they don't; the Holy Ghost, and a body. She looks at me, in a super concentrated look and asks, "So do those spirits wear clothes?" Haha! It was so funny! Kids. You never know what they are going to say!

The weather. It is funny. Summer is drawing to an end. So it has been raining a ton here. But this past week wasn't too bad. But it was getting colder. It has been in the sixties and overcast, but still pretty nice weather. All of the African's think it is freezing! They laugh when they are wearing coats and Elder Wilkinson and I are still wearing short sleeves! Haha! It is funny! I can't wait to see what winter here is really like! Supposedly it gets pretty cold. But we will see!

This week was good, some Bible bashing though. I don't know my Bible very well, but good thing Elder Wilkinson knows it well! It just shows how blind people can be without the Book Of Mormon! Stubborn people! Haha! But things are good! I am learning so much about the gospel! I love the time I get to read the Book Of Mormon, and I love the things I am learning. I may not be the strongest missionary, but I can say with surety that I know that this church is the only true church on the earth!

Love you all, and miss you all like crazy! And don't worry about praying for me too much. I need the prayers! Haha! Love you!

Love,

Turner

News and too much fast food!

Let me start out by saying, I miss you a ton. But I loved reading your letter. This week was a little bit crazy. We usually have about two hours to email. We are supposed to take an hour and a half. But it works out with the way that we pay that we have two hours on the computers. Anyway. I usually get somewhere between 12 and like 16 emails a week. And it takes me the full two hours to read and respond to everyone. However, when I got on today, I had 27 emails! Holy cow! I guess it shows me that I am loved. But I still only had the two hours. I usually read and respond to your letters last, but I didn't have time today with those two hours. But we are at this Casino for P-Day. It is called Emerald. But they have a computer place as well. So I get extra time today! Don't know if we are supposed to do that, but we are. Anyway. It was nice to read your email and not feel rushed. And feel like I have plenty of time to respond and say what I need to. Anyway, that was nice.

Alright. The questions. Let me see. Money. We get a little over one hundred a month. But the Dollar is more powerful than the Rand. It is about eleven Rand to one Dollar. Supposedly. But things even out because something at home that would be like four dollars is like 40 rand. So it is rough sometimes with money. The hardest part is eating out! We go to KFC a TON! I think I have eaten more KFC here than I have in my entire life! But we have decided that we are going to be better at not eating out! It is just hard, because our area is too far away from our flat to go back to eat. So if we get hungry, we just go get KFC or McDonalds! But we are going to be better at that.

People that feed us in our area. We really don't get fed that often. Basically, Bro. John's family, the ward mission leader, will feed us when ever we are there during meal time. But we try not to be there too often because we don't want to take advantage of them. And then we also get fed by Rahlda and Dmitri. They feel like the always need to feed us. Which they don't. They always have Coke for us. Which is another thing. I have had more cold drink (pop) here than I probably have in my lifetime! It's not good! I mean, it is good taste wise, but not good health wise! Anyway. So we don't actually get fed often.

Roaches. Ugh. So Thursday we decided to deep clean our apartment. Like deep deep clean. The roaches were everywhere. They were all through the fridge, freezer (those ones were dead, but still there), cupboards, bedroom, bathroom. Anyway. So we scrubbed everything. To perfection. We also bought cockroach powder and put it everywhere. I think it will work. But as of now, they are still everywhere. My theory is that they are all coming out of hiding and trying to escape. Because we see them in places that they usually aren't. So I think it will eventually help. But yeah. There was one in my bed once. So I am paranoid now and shake out all of my bedding every night before I go to sleep. So. The clean flat helps. And it is always nice to have a clean place to live anyway, cockroaches or no cockroaches. Oh and we realized that there were cockroach eggs almost everywhere! That was gross!

Black Mold. when we cleaned we scrubbed the bathroom. Just not the ceiling. Which is where most of it is. But we aren't responsible for that. According to the senior couple that is in charge of the housing situation. So..yeah. Not much we can do about that. But at least the shower is clean now! I scrubbed all of the mold out of it on Thursday when we cleaned!

The door. Still broken. One of the senior couples was supposed to come fix it on Wednesday, but they didn't. He has a bad back, so he didn't think he could do the hour drive to our flat complex. So they keep telling us it will get fixed, but it hasn't yet. We are in a relatively safe area. Well it is safe. When they look for flats for the missionaries, that is what they look for. Safe places. So we don't really worry about getting stuff stolen. But there always is a chance that it will. I mean, you can't completely out rule it. Our first day in the field, they talked to us about getting robbed. Most of the times people get robbed it is because they are being stupid. Like the missionaries. They are doing stupid things, like being out at night in the dark.

Alright. This week. On Tuesday we had new missionary orientation. So we had to drive to Roodeport. Which is where the MTC is. Where the MTC is there is a chapel, a CES building and a big field where we played sports in the MTC. Anyway, they are all surrounded by one big gate. But the New Missionary Orientation was in the CES Building. It was good. We were taught by the AP's, President Omer, and Sister Omer. A lot about not being stupid and staying out of trouble. They also explained how things work here a little bit and they went over any questions anyone had. I got to see everyone from the MTC. It was good. I mean, I didn't really make super good friends with anybody in the MTC. But it was good to see them still. After that, they fed us KFC, and then we were on our way back to the area to make it in time for our appointments.

Let's see. What else happened. This week we have done a lot of finding. Our new way is to hand our pass along cards. We write our number on them, which takes forever. not always the most fun. I mean, my hand cramps a lot, because we do about three packs each every time we hand them out! Anyway. We go to the busy parts of town and stand on the corner by the robots (stoplights). And then we hand them out. If people ask what it is, we tell them it's about the Church, and Jesus Christ and that we will come and discuss things with them whenever they want, they just have to call the number on the back. Anyway, we have had a couple of appointment come about from that already. We hope that more will come, but at the very least, it is planting a seed. The people may not even look at them for a couple years, but eventually they will end up in the right hand. The hand of someone ready to hear the gospel. We have also gone tracting. I hate tracting. Haha. I guess it is just my introvert-ness coming through! The houses here are all gated, and they have dogs. So we don't knock doors, we knock gates! And then when the people come out we have that long awkward stare. Waiting in silence for the people to come to the gate. And we just stare at each other. Yeah. Awkward! Haha! But I will get over my dislike for tracting. I need to, it needs to be done.

We got to help someone move again this last Saturday. Her name is Sister Andrews. Single lady, very nice. It was organized by the Elders Quorum President. Anyway. We took John (the ward mission leader) with us. We were the first ones there. We call it African time. When someone says eight, people don't come until like eight thirty. or nine! But this moving was a lot easier. We just loaded some boxes and off we went! Things were a lot more organized and actually clean! Haha! It is nice to get the opportunity to do service though. Good to fill our time doing something a little bit different than the usual!

The one thing that did stem from the moving project was the fact that our ward is not unified AT ALL! It stinks. I mean, like I said, it was organized by the Elders Quorum President, but he wasn't even there! There is also the fact that there is no other help from the other people in the ward! Nobody does their home teaching or visiting teaching! It is so frustrating! The less active people don't like seeing us, but they would totally be reactivated if they were visited by members! So annoying! People are just too into worrying only about themselves! Even the bishop sometimes has weird outlooks on things. But what can you do. He holds the keys to the ward, not us. It is just frustrating when he acts like to have a calling you have to be perfect! He literally won't give a calling to someone unless they are 100% active and strictly following all of the rules. I see the importance of those things, but callings, even if they are simple and small will help those people do the things they are supposed to! It will give them a sense of belonging and a reason to be at church, and a reason to improve their personal lives! Ugh! Oh well. Like I said, we don't hold the keys to the ward.

The blog looks great! Are you going to just post my letters there or what? It is fine with me if you want to. Because I know that there are people that would like to read my emails. Also, elder Wilkinson says that he thinks that there should be a picture of him there! Haha! You did get that picture of us from my first day right? I haven't even seen those, chances are I looked dead though!

Oh, here is some exciting news. Not really, but it is new. I got a haircut. Definitely not my favourite haircut I have ever gotten in my life. Let's just say that people in Utah are a lot better at cutting hair than the people here are! Haha! I think everyone is just used to cutting black people's hair! It isn't bad, I am just afraid to know what the back of it looks like! The lady just wasn't too great at blending the different lengths! Let's hope that it doesn't look bad though!

And Dad, way to go! It is awesome to hear that you are having success with Slim to Win! I will probably be the fattest one in the family when I get home. Whenever we get food from a member it is like 20 pounds of rice! I used to like rice..now..not so much! But guess I will have to get used to it! I still have like two more years of eating it! I also drink WAY too much cold drink (soda, mostly coke). And I eat out too much. McDonalds and KFC are really popular here. And they are nice to eat at because they are food that is close to home! It tastes a little different, but still similar! Haha, so far I haven't gained too much! But let's hope I don't gain any!

Anyway, it was good to hear from everyone. I love you all so much! I look forward to Mondays and the chance I get to hear about everyone and what is going on your lives! It is also nice to let you know what I am doing! Haha! Anyway, like I said I love and miss you a ton!

Love,

Turner

What do you sweep under your fridge?

News from my end. Umm..some good stuff..some not so good stuff.

We will start with the not so good. Well first off, this week hasn't been the greatest. But we have made a lot of plans to pick up our work, and increase our investigator pool. We have just decided that we need to be working harder. And don't worry, we won't work ourselves crazy. Just a little bit harder. It's a good thing.

Next not so good thing. We didn't end up baptising Dmitiri. We decided that his baptism needed to be pushed back a month. He was honestly okay with all of it, and seemed a little bit relieved. There has been some contention with he and his mom lately. Just mostly the fear that they are both slipping back into their old habits. But we had a good lesson, where they were able to open up to each other. They didn't necessarily get anything resolved, but they at least got some stuff out in the open. We encouraged them to have family prayer. Put any feelings or differences aside from at that moment and pray for help  in their relationship and understanding and trust. I think that will be one of the biggest things that will help them this week. We also will be teaching them how to have a family home evening today. So that will be good.

Let's see. What else happened. On Tuesday, we visit a lot of single sisters, and we can't see them without another male member. We have tried the past two weeks to go with the bishop's son, but he has been like hours late. The first time, we ended up taking the Bishop, but this past week we took the Bishops son. But he was still an hour late, so we missed one appointment. But, what can you do. Anyway. We had just dropped him off and we get this phone call from a lady named Monica. We visited her the week before, and she was nice. But definitely has a smoking and drinking problem. Anyway, she just kept calling us and telling us that we needed to hurry to her house. We got there, she was completely plastered. And she is already awkward with us when she is sober. But anyway. Her husband was trying to leave and she was trying to get us to make him stay, and she called the security company to have them come. Anyway, just a super awkward and uncomfortable situation. She made us dinner and really wanted us to stay there with her. Alone. Yeah, perfect. Just what we need, two young guys, with a drunk woman that just wants to flirt! Haha, anyway, we got out of it. She just gave us the food to take. Just an all over uncomfortable situation. Haha! Funny though.

Next. Let's see. It was Sister Shirene's birthday on Friday. She is the ward mission leader's wife. We love them. anyway, she has talked about liking McDonalds sundaes. So we went and got her one, and they just gave us a cup of ice cream! Haha, of Africa. Anyway, we gave it to her. A little disappointing present! Haha, it has just been a joke to go get a "plain sundae" from McDonalds now!

Also, our flat just keeps getting better and better! Haha, not! So you know how there is no door handle? Yeah, the door just completely decided to stop working this last Saturday night. It is stuck shut! So we have to climb out our window! Luckily there is a window big enough that we can fit out of! Haha! It is a tight fit, but it's all we can do! Just imagine two elders climbing out of their window in their suits to get to church on time! Haha!

Church. I gave a talk. Based on President Packer's talk from the last general conference about "The Key to Spiritual Protection". It went fairly well I think. Lots of people told me I did good. But you never know if they are telling the truth, or if they are just saying that because they feel obligated to say something nice. But we will just go with the first idea, that they actually enjoyed the talk! Haha!

Sunday we also went to this family named the Van Royens. They are nice. They have three kids. All very severely ADD. Haha! Anyway, one of us distracts the kids while one will teach. They climb all over us, poke us, play with our hair, and try to make us throw them up and catch them! They are fun, but the family is pretty poor, and is lacking in hygiene. Basically, a lot of people here do. But we leave their house literally dirty from the kids playing with us! Oh well!

 Teaching swim lessons was definitely a good help. I love kids, and there is one family that we are going to start to teach that has a little boy, he is at the ward mission leader's house all the time. Anyway, he loves me now. So that will honestly be a big help! I am super excited to teach this family though. We gave the wife a blessing a week ago. She just had a baby and she was really sick. She was supposed to be in the hospital for like another week and a half, and over her birthday, which she was worried about. Anyway, we have her a blessing, and she ended up getting out a week and a half early and in time for her birthday! Her husband now acts really excited to see us! So that is super cool!

Some more bad hygiene. We helped a family move last Saturday morning. Completely lacking in personal hygiene, and their home is disgusting. It smelled like a combination of old mean, wet dog, cat spray, and poop. And basically it smelled like that for a reason. They moved the fridge, and they had literally just been pushing dog poop under the fridge! The house and their stuff was so gross! Luckily Elder Wilkinson's grandma had sent him some work gloves, so he had a pair I could borrow. Definitely a blessing! It was definitely a gross experience, and I am glad it was over. Don't get me wrong, I was very happy to help, and very glad for the service opportunity, but it was still quite the experience!

It is great to hear from everyone! I love you all so much! I miss everyone like crazy and pray for you all the time! I look forward to next week when I get to hear from everyone again!

Love you all like crazy!

Liver spread, rice, and more

Questions:

Service. No, nobody wants help here. We are planning on helping a family move though. We had planned to help a lady, Regina, clean her house, but she wasn't home. So we didn't get to. However, they did put tile in the church, like in the halls, and replaced all of the windows in the chapel, so the church was filthy. So we went and helped clean on Saturday morning. It was good to do something different!

Members. We go to our ward mission leaders house almost every day. He married and his wife had two kids before they got married. Matthew and Lily are their names. They are a super great family. Very kind. They love the church and have very strong testimonies. Anyway, John, the ward mission leader just got called, and is on fire, really wants to change things in the ward, which is great, because the last ward mission leader supposedly did nothing. His wife, Sherene, is great too. She teaches adult Sunday school. We went to her class this last Sunday, she is very knowledgeable about the gospel. Also, they both have our backs in everything, so that's good! They feed us often. We also have a mother and son. Dmitiri and Rahlda. We see them at least twice a week and they feed us every time. They are great. Rahlda got baptised like two or three weeks ago, and Dmitiri just had has baptismal interview this week and gets baptised on Sunday! Yesterday, we got invited to the old bishop's house for lunch. It was great. They are white, super nice, and not racist, which is a good thing here. We had a very normal meal. Roast beef, potatoes, salad, rice (there is always rice here. always), and pineapple. We then had waffles and ice cream. They are a good family. The were very welcoming. It felt like home.

Church was good. They have recently reorganized some of the auxiliaries, which is great. I wasn't there for the old ones, but Elder Wilkinson said that he can already tell a difference after one week. Last week, my first Sunday here, was stake conference, so not much went on there. At least that I understood.

We have district meeting every Friday. Elder Wilkinson is the District Leader. He does a good job. He says he doesn't, but his lessons are always really good. There are six of us in the district. They are all really cool. We all live in the same flat complex, so we see each other fairly often. Any way, after district meeting we always get fed at a restaurant owned by a member. Just a ton of meat and a TON of rice. It's good, but I am the only one that can't finish. And they all act like I'm an idiot when I can't! Haha, oh well!

First Zone Meeting is this Friday, so we'll see how that is.

Yes, we write the president weekly.

Our area definitely has some poor people, but it is considered a "town". So it is nicer than lots of areas. The other Elders in our district all serve in "townships", which is like tin shacks. But I think as far as right now, I don't need anything as far as things to donate.

Alright. My week.

Last Monday was good. We emailed, then shopped at the fruit and veg. It was good. Lots of fruit and vegetables!  Then we went to this place called pick and pay. A large grocery store. Basically like Wal-Mart. Then we went bowling. And, surprisingly enough, I won! Haha! I bowled like a 129! Crazy huh! Who would have thought I could win at bowling! Haha! Then we went and played "Magic the Gathering". It's like pokemon. Yeah, I don't get it. Then we played Phase 10, luckily I have played that plenty of times with our family! We then ended the day at Rahlda and Dmitri's. They fed us. I had lamb for the first time. It was actually pretty good!

I don't know if I can remember certain days, so I'll just write about different experiences we had!

We got a call from a lady and she asked us to come visit. We went, she is an older lady. I guess she has been to church a couple of times, but has Word of Wisdom problems. Anyway, she basically just wanted company. We told her we would keep coming as long as she would let us share a message with her. Her son is a member and the one pushing it. Any way. She brought out like a platter of crackers and stuff, something that we would have on Christmas Eve at our house! Any way. I learned not to ask what things are. I picked up a cracker, and then asked what was on it. She said liver paste. I had already picked it up, and there was no way I was getting out of it. Ew. I mean, it wasn't like the grossest thing in the world. But just thinking that not only was I eating liver, but it had been processed into a spread! Ick!

Later that same day, Dmitri had his baptismal interview, which was great. The Zone Leaders had to come interview him because Elder Wilkinson is the District Leader and normally does the interviews, but because he taught Dmitiri, he can't do the interview. Anyway, Dmitiri is getting baptised this coming Sunday after church!

What else happened. Oh yeah. The car. That was not a good day. So there is like an entrance/exit to our flat complex with like a key entry thing. Anyway, there is a curb dividing them. So starting from the beginning. It was the first day I was going to drive. Anyway. Driving on the other side of the car and other side of the road is WAY different. My bearings were all off. So I came up to the curb, though I was far away from it, but no. I slammed into it. Bent the rim of our tire. Yeah. Don't worry about it, I'm cool and really good at driving! Not! Anyway, thus far, the car is fine. So that's good. Let's just pray that nothing else happens!

Hmm..not much else has happened that I can think of. The work is good. But hard sometimes because, I don't know if I mentioned last week, but everyone goes to either school or work. So NOBODY is home during the day. So we have a really hard time trying to find things to do during the day. But late afternoons, we are really successful as far as lessons.

Anyway, It was good to hear from everyone. Except for the fact that neither Matthew or Rachel emailed me. Yeah, it's cool guys. We only live like on different continents, and don't have a ton of time during the week to talk, like no time at all! Haha, really though, it's fine. Love you all! I can't wait to hear from you again next week!