Monday, February 23, 2015

But wait . . . there's more! Backflips in Stanger! (No really, it's ok!)

In response to Mom’s concerns over us learning back flips, don’t worry we have a teacher and he’s teaching us how to do it incrementally so we don’t hurt ourselves.

I wanted to let you know that the first letter I recieved on mission was from the Karlsons and had about 100 rands in it. Shows who my real family is, No just kidding. And yes I know you will tell me to say thank you, but I already did. I also got the letters from the ward and I read all of them. Not because I was looking for money because I spent it all on bulk food storage, but because I had a sincere desire to read everyones letters. 

This week was the best week so far on mission. We had exchanges with the Zone leader who is good friends with my companion. The zone leaders name is Elder Esplin, and he looks just like Jackson. But anyway, we had the most productive day ever with him. We got up and trained for our martial arts, and then we got back and studied and then left for service. We cleaned someone’s yard of tons of weeds, and then they fed us lunch. 

After all of that, we went to the appointment I had been looking forward to for several weeks. Her name is Bridgette, and she’s Zulu. If you have heard about those that are prepared and waiting for the missionaries, she is exactly that. We had a sweet restoration lesson with her, and afterwards when we invited her to be baptized she said, I am just waiting for the date. So we put her on March 22 which happened to be two days after her birthday. We met with her again on Saturday, and we found that she had been studying in the Gospel Principles, The Book of Mormon and the Restoration pamphlet. When we got there we followed up on whether she had any questions. (normally no one has any) she pulled out a notepad of things she either had a question on, or that she learned. She has put more effort into the gospel in this week than I think I did in my entire High School career. Which is sad but she is READY and the Lord has prepared her. We also found lots of success in tracting and contacting people this week, so YEAH. GO US. I attached some pictures of Elder Esplin and some of what the township looks like. Thats Vincent and my comp at Vincent’s home.

I’ve been reading Jesus the Christ. It’s been sweet learning about Jesus’ actual paths that he took and the significance of each individual act. 

I wish it would snow. Its been getting a little cooler, and I've even had to wear a jacket or a sweater. It's great, and I can’t wait for winter. 

Love Elder Preator!!!!


















Kung Fu in Stanger

To those of you who think that all we do is have fun, let's just say we make the most of our Monday. Every other day involves sweat, and sweat and a little more sweat. I need to take some pictures of the place where we are working, but I don't really bring the camera because its likely to get stolen...But maybe I can run really fast.

This week while finding we found this path that goes through the township and its like a sidewalk through the jungle and half of it is falling down hill or crumbling away. Fun stuff. 

Apparently its supposed to get hotter from here. I don't know how that is going to work because we are already hitting mid 40s... Its wont cool down either until march or april. 

Im learning Zulu a lot more than I have been. Elder Petrie is a great teacher.

Story on the reason we are posing like we know kung fuVincent is like a black belt in his martial art so we are always asking him to teach us some moves. We decided after much thought and prayer that we should incorperate it into our morning workouts, so we went to the beach in the morning and ran. Running in sand sucks, but it works those muscles. After we run, vincent teaches us Martial arts, like how to kick, and he holds pads and we learned all the kicks. Now our schedule is beach Tuesdays Thursdays and Saturdays. The other days we are just lazy, we might do some pushups or something.

Heres the pictures from last week. And yeah, so you can see my wet suit. Its totally fine though, dried and like new. I think the salt even cleaned out the stains on it.

Love you all!
Elder Preator









Monday, February 2, 2015

The Trouble Twins

Yes, my new companion is just like me so I'll try not to get into to much trouble! 

Yesterday we were standing out on the rocks on the beach, and it was a stormy day, but the ocean was basically in turmoil. So we were taking some companionship photos and a wave came up and totally soaked us...I was in my suit too. Now it smells like salt. 

Anyway, Im really liking things now. We are teaching people left and right, and we are working now more in the townships. Just yesterday it was my comp, me and Vincent all squished together on this little couch teaching the restoration. I need to take more pictures, and sorry today no pictures, next week ill have to get some to you guys. There is one of me and my comp totally soaked.

Last Monday we played rugby on the beach. I got so much sand everywhere, and we all went and stood in the outdoor beach showers fully clothed and tried to get the sand out. I found out that I really like rugby. I need to get a cool rugby jersey and even some rugby shorts. Just kidding they're too short for me. My companion has some though, because he played rugby at home. 

The mission is great, the Lord is in the work.
Love Elder Preator

Elders P & P in Stanger

I am still in Stanger. And it is still flipping hot! 40s everyday. (That's Celcius which is about 104 degrees F)

My new companion is from Arizona (Glibert) and He has been on mission for 18 months. He is known in the whole mission for being fluent in Zulu and Shoto. So he is teaching me in the mornings. Anyway, his name is Elder Petrie and he gets my sarcasm and even dishes it back so thats nice, and everywhere we go everyone is flabbergasted at these two white guys speaking their language. 

Hes brought a lot of cool ideas to the table too. He said we should go finding by sitting on a park bench and playing the guitar and singing hymns in Zulu. Which actually isn't too hard now that I am getting the pronunciation down.

Elder Preator