Zone Conference in Durban

Dear Friends, Family, Best Friends, and Acquaintances,

Yesterday we had something called Zone Conference, and Zone Conference is basically when LOTS of missionaries get together and receive instruction and guidance from the mission president, assistants and whoever he asks to teach. He talked for a lot of it about obedience. I loved it because he didnt just chastise us, or even tell us where the line of the rule is. He gave us this talk on how we can receive blessings as we become more obedient. Super powerful and my companion and I made some goals to become more obedient.

The branch asked me to give a talk on the 21st and I think I did pretty well. Ok I did fantastic (remember humility is my best trait). But I learned so much in preparing for that talk. I studied from Jesus the Christ. Fantastic book. READ it. And Some Liahonas and the scriptures. It's a little different preparing a talk without just searching on google for good Christmas talks. I talked about what all the names for Jesus meant and my favorite was just the name Jesus.

Joseph was visited by and angel in a dream and was told mary would conceive a child by the Holy Spirit (Mathew 1), and was told to take Mary to wife and name the child Jesus. According to Russel M. Nelson, the couple would have already known the significance of the name Jesus because in the Hebrew roots, Jesus comes from the word Jehosua, which literally means Jehovah is salvation. So the name Jesus quite literally refers to him becoming the savior of the world. Jesus=Savior.

As far as our work goes, we now have a progressing investigator. Yayy.

Her name is Geli and she started out as a reject. We went up to her door and she began by telling us what every other person tells us, "Im already a believer," even though we mentioned Joseph Smith whom they know nothing about. So she said that but then invited us in for cold drink. We debating not going in because it could be a waste of time, but we ended up talking with her, and everything was casual, and then BOOM restoration. After that we left her with a pamphlet and invited her to church. She didn't come because of her church but we returned and introduced the Book of Mormon and left her with a copy. Never have I seen anyone accept the Book of Mormon like she did. We left her with 2 Nephi 31 to read and I'm confident she will read and pray about it like we invited her to do. It's amazing how us not giving up, and opening our mouths instead of just leaving after getting soda turned a reject upside down.

Loving the work, Loving South Africa.

Sala Kahle

Elder Preator

Sunset in Ballito

This week we had our christmas party!

We had more people show up to this than we have in church, but we had 3 less active families, and some investigators. One of the members cooked a giant pot of Briani which is a mixture of rice and meat and tons of other spices, and when Indians make it they make it spicy. We were able to hear our mission president and his wife speak in our little branch in Stanger. They drove all the way out here for us. He talked about Discovering the gospel, Embracing the gospel, and then Sharing the gospel. He talked about all the things we can do to share the Gift of Christ with everyone, and it was great because member missionary work in Stanger is dismal. Slim to none. Nonexistent! But I believe he encouraged many of our member to do their best in sharing the gospel. He also showed some sweet youtube videos by the church about Christmas. One of them being the Piano Guys playing Oh Emmanuel which I think is now my favorite Christmas song.

I've attached some pictures of my comp and I and also us with the Mission President and his wife.  The first picture was of the district before transfers.  My companion is now the District Leader, and elder Mackie has been transferred.  Elder Mubumha (or something) from Zimbabwe is the newest District member.

Yesterday we were "teaching" this old indian man who when we contacted him was very drunk and sat us down and told us his whole life story. Dont worry the significance of my mentioning him isn't about him it's about what I felt. He was probably the worst "investigator" we have ever had, but my companion and I wanted to have him at least hear our message. He was so bad, he wouldnt stop talking, and if we tried to talk to him about anything he would shut us down. He said at one point "I dont believe Jesus died for our sins" and when we would turn to John 3:16 he would start saying, close the book close the book, I already know it! To be honest It was very funny and I'm sure most missionaries have encountered someone like this before. The significance in this visit, was that after we had given up trying to share the restoration with him, we bore our testimonies. It was at that point when I was telling that drunk man that I knew the things in those pamphlets, in the Book of Mormon, In the family, and all other missionary literature, is true. Every time I bear my testimony it grows. I didn't realize how small it was, until I found out how much it can grow, and how much it is growing. I encourage anyone reading this, to share the Gospel no matter how you feel. Bearing your testimony in love will never offend anyone, and any friend offended by this offer to share the most magnificent gift of Jesus Christ, shouldn't be your friend. Open your mouths! 

After transfers, I am still in Stanger.  I'm still being trained so my comp and I are still together until Jan 18.  That's when he will probably leave and I'll get someone else.  The mission president told me I would probably start out serving here in Stanger for 6 months.  I love the people though and it already feels like home.

Driving in Downtown Durban is ridiculous.  Today I ran a red light because if I hadn't, I would have gotten hit because EVERYONE surrounding me kept going!  There were horns going off and people everywhere.  The cars crossing that had a green light were pissed.

Oh, so I bought a Guitar also and I played it and sang at the Christmas Party!  I also got my first mission haircut today.

South Africa is wonderful. It already feels like home, and I drink so much guava juice its fantastic. Cheers!!

Sala Kahle (stay well)

Love Elder Preator

Hello from the greatest place on earth!!

Hello from the greatest place on earth!!

This last week was pretty sweet, lots of things happening. Tomorrow is transfers and our small district is losing Elder Mackie who served in Pheonix. I'll miss him because him and I could quote Zoolander very well. Other than that, my comp is now district leader, and I am 1 transfer down!!! So great. The time really does fly out here. I cant believe its already December, and Christmas is right upon us!!! 

Anyway, the mission is pushing the work during Christmas time because everyone wants to talk about Christ (maybe not Joseph Smith) but Christ nonetheless. 

So, Summer. Its weird that there isnt snow falling. The winds here are really bad so I guess we might be having Christmas during the WINDter. Nah but its sweet, sipping ice cold drinks and tracting in the sun. Have fun in the states.

Anyway, dont have much time, but I know the Lord loves each and everyone of his children, and I'm having the greatest time of my life recognizing his hand in all things. Pray to Him every day and talk to everyone about the Gospel!! Sorry I have no time! 

Love Elder Preator

Sala Khale

Staple Foods in Africa - Sala Kahle

Dear Friends and Family, 

A staple of food in Africa is pap. It looks the same as mashed potatoes, but is kind of flavorless and comparable to rice. It is meant to be handled with hands and many Zulu cultures eat with their hands. I did this at some investigators' home and burnt my fingers. That was fun. Anyway the food here is really good, and most often involves curry, and chicken. Chicken meaning that they throw in a whole chicken, bones and all into the pot and they put out plates to put the bones on while eating. Indians always serve curry and its always spicy and I love it. So far I havent come across anything ridiculously weird that I am reluctant to try. My comp was talking about the whole goat head thing and that scares me but its been good so far. 

I'm learning Zulu! Slowly and steadily I'm learning the basics like hello, goodbye, how are you, etc. Now basically 90% of the time we greet Zulu people in Zulu, and some are surprised when they hear the "white man" saying it. I would recommend that anyone who wants to hear what Zulu sounds like should look it up on youtube or something. They click and make some sweet sounds with their tongues and I'm falling in love with it.  If the person is Indian I say "hows it". So yeah and I've learned a couple phrases and a sentence that specifically is built to sound cool. It's the frog jumped over the fence. And it's spelled "Ixoxo ligxuma ucingo". X's are clicks from the back of the tongue and C's are that tsk sound I think. With the very front of the tongue. Also H's make a weird SH sound but it sounds like you're getting phlegm from out of your throat. Sala kahle means stay well, and I love saying it. 

As far as people we are teaching, we havent really added to our teaching pool much and our progressing investigators are still the Tembos, and the Mtiyanis. The Tembos' situation is still pretty complicated, but hopefully the mission president who is getting involved will be able to solve them. Anyway, the Mtiyanis ask more questions than we do and our lessons become interactive conversations so that is a very fun experience. And I often see how little I know concerning the Bible. I know what I'm studying now.

So the other day was the end of the semester, and kids in school had their prom. Here it's called the Metric Dance, but its crazy like prom nonetheless. We were driving that night and traffic got so backed up we would have sat there for hours if we hadn't just said forget it and loop back around to where we came from. We saw Ferraris and Aston Martins and all kinds of sports cars taking kids to prom. I also got stopped in a roadblock and breathalized which was sweet. 

As far as service goes, we don't. We do service at the hospital and Clinic, but we sit there and label the whole time. I've put on my tennis shoes twice. Twice. I wore shorts in public once and my jeans once. By the way, my slim jeans fit in here. Everybody wears skinny jeans and button ups and fancy shoes. Even most of the poor people. 

The Lords work is hastening and I'm so glad to be on a mission, and thank you to all who are supporting me back home! I hope your Christmas is a great one, and ill try and enjoy it as we attend our back to back dinner appointments on Christmas, sipping our cold soda in the hot sun. ;)

Much Love from Africa!

Elder Preator

Sala Kahle (stay well)

Epistle to the saints of Colorado

Hello again friends and family, hope all is well in the states and that the holidays will be nice and chilly. It is pretty weird knowing its november but I step outside and I start to sweat. Some days it gets fairly hot but considering I'm in Africa the temperatures here are pretty mild. Given that, it generally rains about 4 or 5 days a week consistently in the afternoons, and when it rains it gets pretty cold I guess. I can still roll in my short sleeves because it feels great for me, although everyone else calls me crazy. 

The work here in the Stanger area and branch is going. It may be going very slow but going nonetheless. This week has been a week full of people not being where they say they will be, which gets frustrating very fast. Here in South Africa most people are very nice and when we knock on their doors and they say they believe in Jesus Christ so they would be ok with us coming back. When we come back at that scheduled time they wont be there about 90% of the occasions. Also most of the workers here work 7 day weeks and work late sometimes so we end up not seeing much of them. The people we did see this week were among the Tembos, Ezron, and the Mtiyanis. 

The Tembos I might have described in a previous account, but they are basically the most faithful of anyone even in our branch, and they aren't baptized yet. They are waiting on a traditional marriage vs modern marriage dispute that should be settled soon. The dispute is as to whether or not traditional marriage counts and if it doesn't, the arrangements that need to be made to get them married. Like I said before, they are able to push through this challenge with enormous amounts of faith, faith I wish I could have had at certain points in my life, and the faith I pray to have every night. The husband even went to stake conference with us where Elders Uchtdorf and Bednar addressed the Southeast Africa area from Salt Lake. He really seemed to enjoy it and is now looking forward to baptism and entering into the path even more.

Ezron is a 22 year old kid who reads in the bible on his own but lately has been reluctant to read in the Book of Mormon. He told us one day that he prayed about joining the church but said that God had a different plan for him. The other day when teaching him and his sisters family about Baptism and the Doctrine of Christ, he looked at us and said I have been awakened and when he prayed he prayed to know if baptism is right for him. If he is able to make that decision he will be a great member who might even serve a mission.

The Mtiyanis consist of Tembi who is this woman who lives with her brother Abraham and his wife. The three of them are very devout in their christian beliefs and we often have very involved and interesting lessons and conversations with them. Most of them were able to attend stake conference as well and they seemed to really enjoy it as well. Also could be a very strong family of converts.

As for me, I'm finally getting into the swing of things. Teaching is almost second nature now and my companion doesn't have to nudge me every time it's my turn to speak. I dont think I've ever prayed as much as I am right now, in fact, the amount of times Ive prayed in this month alone probably compares to the last several years. Ive also never prayed so hard for people before. These people that Im teaching make their way into my prayers and I think about them every day all the time. That has been making this mission fly by. The month is almost up, the transfer is almost up, and it feels like I just got here yesterday.

Last week for - day we saw a dolphin show, so enjoy;)

Here are a few more questions posed to Zach for our information.

1. How has it been driving on the opposite side of the road? Have you gotten used to it yet?

Ive totally gotten used to it, I feel like when I come back the first thing ill do is hop onto zuni going the wrong way. Driving is crazy also because people walk in the streets alot and when its pitch black outside and im speeding I have to sometimes swerve to not hit people so drunk they dont know where they are. Just kidding about speeding I only do that during the day. They also have a tracker on our car so if we go over 120, (which is about 75 Mph ) or if we brake fast, accelerate fast, we get a call from the Senior Couple in charge of the cars. 

2. Are you living in an apartment or with members? Please describe your living conditions.  Is that the case missionwide?

We live in our own apartment and im pretty sure that it is mission wide. It gets so disgusting sometimes, and our fridge leaks when they cut the power or when I accidently move the dial in the fridge. Dont ask. I cant remember if I already told you, but when I sleep I have to lather on mosquito repellent and sleep with a fan. Otherwise, I wake up and it looks like I have leprosy. (because of the mosquito bites). Its happened twice already.

3. What kind of food are you cooking for yourselves?  Do you eat with members often?

I cook an omelet most mornings with cheese, salary, tomatoes, and ham. Salary spelled purposely fiscally. And if not omelet I scramble 4 eggs or sunny side up them and eat them with two slices of toasted wheat bread. For lunch and dinner I have peanut butter and jam and cheese and meats. We generally get a Dinner appointment but when we dont I make a really big sandwhich with meat cheese lettuce mustard and tomatoes. My grocery bill was like 250 rands :) and that will probably last me another week.

4. What kind of fare will you get for Thanksgiving?  Do they have that holiday there or something like it or is it just another summer week?

I dont think there is anything going on. I'm pretty sure South Africa doesnt celebrate the American pioneers slaughtering the descendants of the lamanites in America. Pretty sure it's just another summer week.

Question and Answer Series

This week, I gave Zach a series of questions to see if we could garner more information than normal.  Here are the questions as well as his answers.

1)  Tell us about your companion.  Name would be a good start, etc.
My companion is elder Mphaka pronounced like 'imphaka'. They have a lot of names that start with an M or N its weird. He is from Limpopo which is around Jo-burg and was serving in Seira Leone until Ebola and they shipped all the missionaries to serve in their home countries. His first area here has been Stanger. 

2)  Are there more missionaries in Stanger than the two of you?
Just the two of us

3) What was the flight like to the mission?
The flight was pretty sweet. We had to go to this giant building with lots of people all trying to shine my shoes. We had to go over this weird bridge thing and it brought us to this big cyndrilical thingy that has rows of seats. I didnt know how this thing would get us to durban, but I trusted it. Anyway we sat down in weird chairs that have tables that fold down in front of you!!! in these rows there were like TV screens on the side and if you looked at them they showed you some sweet landscapes or clouds, very soothing. Anyway we sat in these seats for like an hour and then poof we walked out of it and we were in durban. I have no idea what happened and why you would call it a "flight"

4)  How was the mission home and your Mission President?
Great. Also great.

5)  I did enjoy the photos you sent.  It would be grand if you could give some descriptions, otherwise all we see is you and a lot of lizards. Was that a zoo you went to? Did you get to ride a crocodile?
On our first P-day, we went to this place called Crocidile Creek and that guy on the crocodile was our tour guide. He told us all kinds of facts about them and we got to hold one and then we got to hold that snake, and then he gave us a little sample of crocidile meat. Super good.

On a serious note, we are teaching a couple who are Bright Tembo and Octavia Tembo. They are progressing fantastically, but they cant be baptized yet because of marraige issues. They were married traditionally in Zimbabwe but their marraige isnt considered valid by south africa. The church does recognize certain traditional marraiges, especially if the Dowry or Lobola has been paid. In the Tembos situation, Lobola wasnt paid but the two families agreed on the arrangement. Anyway, our branch president is very stubborn because hes indian and he says they need to be married so we have to wait for that to happen. Bright is starting to get uneasy with this whole "the church only wants certain people" and most of the members who they deal with for the marraige situation are quite rude and its been a challenge to keep them close to the gospel. 

Anyway thats really the only promising investigators, and the rest of the week has been pretty average. 

I'm tuning this really old piano in the church so that we can wheel it in to the chapel and finally have some quality music.

Later today we are seeing a dolphin show for P-day with some other missionaries in the Durban zone. I didnt take any pictures this last week but ill be sure to take some today. 

Swag. It does rain here a lot but when everyone else is freaking out because its "freezing" I'll roll around in a short sleeved shirt and be fine.

Hope all is well in the states, 

Love Elder Preator

Settled in Stanger

Hello everyone!  

Things in South Africa are pretty sweet now that Ive settled in. I think in my last letter I failed to describe the kind of town we're in. I mentioned that its like the ghetto of detroit. That only describes the immediate town. The surrounding residential areas are whats called townships. It originated from when the British were here and blacks were seen as a lesser population. The whites lived in the cities or towns and the zulu or blacks lived only in the outer city. The outer city residential area is called a township. In these townships, homes can be a regular home around the size of our first floor (so like a living room, kitchen, and bedrooms) and then the homes range down to a cement cubicle with a tin roof about 6 feet by 6 feet. Some of these homes have electricity for a light and most of the people we see cram a refrigerator, TV, bed, and one even had all that and a washer and dryer. 

One of the members who comes with us often to go tracting and to our appts. is Vincent. He lives with his brother and sister and is going to college. He is the hardest working person ive ever seen and his testimony is if mine is a rock, his is a boulder. He lives in a cement house with a tin roof but his is about 12 by 6. His sister has a baby and every time we have gone over the baby is crying. Anyway he has no job and still manages to come out with us all the time. Sometimes our Dinner Appointments are the only food he gets and people in the branch sometimes buy him the essentials. Despite all this he still walks for about 45 minutes to get to church and comes out with us and puts his whole heart into the work, and hes a pretty great guy. Its amazing to see his humility and diligence. And its humbling for me to see it too.

Other than Vincent, this week we taught many restoration lessons and my comp is making me be the one to extend the baptismal invitation. Sometimes its super awkward but now Ive gotten used to it and the investigators will usually say yes. Now if they'll follow through on that, who knows. We also went door to door the other day in this neighborhood that takes like 20 minutes by car to get to. After a couple of unwavering Hindus and some not promising contacts, we came to this guy who was definitely ready for us to meet him. We told him who we are and what we do and he was eager and enthusiastic for us to come back and teach him. My comp joked saying looks like we found the new branch president. Anyway, we know that the only reason we went to that neighborhood was to find that guy. I even said we should go back because we're late for dinner but we decided to knock one more house and it was this guy. The Lord sent us there to knock and get rejected only to find that guy. He works in mysterious ways. 

Alright things are great, comp is great, branch is great, and the baptism I did was great! Hope all is great at home!  

Driving in Kwadukuza AND Dr. Pepper!

So first of all, I'm driving! Second of all, DR Pepper! With those two things I think I'll be fine. 

I'm in this little town called Stanger by the British Colonization, and renamed Kwadukuza by the Zulu population, and to describe it to you would be like describing the ghetto in Detroit. Despite that, everyone for the most part is pretty nice. Just the other day on the way to Durban (which is an hours drive), we were totally lost and we asked some random guy on the road for directions and he led us there with pretty good instructions. 

Anyway, my companion is from around Jo-burg and was serving in Sierra Leone and was transfered to the Durban mission because of Ebola. He's been on his mission a year but he's only been in Durban specifically Stanger for two transfers (which is three months). Given that, he knows quite a bit of Zulu and talks to people with it all the time. I started doing the same but not as confident. that brings up another point. everyone we speak to is black or really dark indian. Soooo basically I've been able to count the white people I've seen so far this week on one hand. The patriarch for the stake is in this branch and him and his wife are white, there is another lady in our branch that is white, and the dad of one of our investigators is white. Everyone else in our gigantic area is black. 

I've had some curry already and I really like it. One of the indian couples in our branch made us some chicken curry with potatoes. Instead of utensils, they provided tortiallas which we took and used as gloves kinda, and then we used them to soak up the rest of the juice. The other interesting food we had was pumpkin at the patriarch's house. They put lots of sugar on it and we ate it with rice and beef stew and steamed vegetables. I dont know what else to talk about, we get two hours to email but even that goes by fast. I guess the only news on our investigators is that my comp doesnt want to baptize the one he's been teaching and so I'm baptizing him, on sunday. 

Alright Cheers!

Greetings from the South Africa MTC

This is the last photo of our group.  I can’t believe they will leave early in the morning.  The time goes by so quickly while they are here.  This group  has been delightful.  They are obedient and focused.  We have enjoyed them so much.  I am going to miss them.

Tonight will be our Farewell Fireside where we will do our last teaching.  Tomorrow they will have breakfast at 5:00 a.m., we will have a short little devotional, and then they will leave for the airport.  They are all anxious and ready to get to their missions and start declaring the truthfulness of the Gospel.  They are outstanding missionaries and are on their way to becoming the consecrated missionaries the Lord wants them to be.  I love them.

With love, Sister Collins

Hello from the Johannesburg Temple!

Things are good, I now know a butt-load of crap about the gospel to quote nacho libre. Have fun guys, I'm probably having way more fun here where it'll be warm and sunny.

Greetings from South Africa!

Hey everyone, its the first day in the MTC and they're making us email home. Things are great here. Jo-burg is a sweet town and its weird riding on the left. I met 7 other missionaries in london after sitting alone for 4 hours so that was fun.