Baptisms and Weights, Oh My!

Yeah, this week was pretty great. We planned on the roof, and found a sweet dam, taught lots of lessons, baptized some people and bought weights. We are working out like day and night. With the weights, the better I feel the better I work so its definitely worth it. And theres this mission culture where everyone works out a ton 6 months before they go home so they can go home looking good. I’m just getting a head start on it. #feelinggoodandvain

We listened to Charles Dickens a Christmas Carol on audio. That was sweet. They acted out all the voices, so for like scrooge it was some old man who emphatically reads his prescribed lines. It was really sweet. #sweetistheword

Our baptism went well. I might have mentioned it last week, but I forgot to fill the font (basically my first baptism as a senior companion) so we ended up snaking the fire hose into the font and double timing it. Super great:) So their names are Gugu (the Mom) and the Owami (the Daughter) They’re doing great and they just got confirmed yesterday. We have a baptism this coming week as well. His name is Mdu, and he’s super cool. I think he’s already planning on going on a mission  We had our gospel principles class yesterday, and when he stood up to introduce himself, he said, “My names Mdu, soon to be a member of the church.”

In regards to the talent show pictures you sent me.  I was wondering which one of the young men was in the front looking super old. Haha. #gottalovethebishop

Love you guys! Hope all of you are having a great week!

Elder Preator

Planning on the roof

Baptism in Richards Bay

Super Teach Week!

We are pretty sure it was a tic bite that made us sick last week. Super minor case, so we didn't need to do anything. By the time it was self diagnosed I was back on top again. 

Its great to hear that Rachel is suffering from her wisdom tooth extraction as I did. #JustKiddingSorta 

Hey is Rachel going to be a senior when I get home? I keep doing the math but it blows my mind every time.

My companion and I had a super great week. We taught more this week than I think I have in any other week on mission. Every day we came home and flopped on the beds. Work is going well. We should have 2 baptisms next week and several the beginning of March. So those pictures are to come!!

Love you guys. Enjoy the pictures.

Elder Preator

Richards Bay - No more puthu!

I haven't taken any pictures with Elder Martin yet, but I will. Do not worry. And he is very fun. Probably too much fun. Let's just say he has seen Napolean Dynamite a few times and we sometimes get on a quoting spree.  #troubletwins?

He also told me that because of his dad's work they travelled a ton, and lived in the netherlands for a while, and visited like all of Europe, some of norht Africa, and he's been to utah and New York and canada and just everwhere. I'm super jealous. But yeah, this transfer is going to be way cool. We are going to work our hardest and see what happens. 

Both of us were pretty sick this last week. Between the tic bite I got, and the bad puthu and tomatos, we didn't have much time to do much missionary work....Because we were either sleeping, on the toilet or super nauseous. #firsttimesickinalongtime

Go broncos!

Love Elder Preator

 And a picture of me and all the Elders from Madagascar

This is a picture of me and Elder Eastmond

Introducing Elder Martin

This week was nice. We baked some nice cinnamon bread so that was the highlight of the week. #chefforhire

Today is transfers, so I'm losing Elder Odhiambo, and I'm getting Elder Martin. He's from Pretoria and I've met him before. This next transfer should be pretty great! We have some anticipated baptisms on their way, so something to look forward to. 

One of those pictures is of part of the township. I think I am going to start taking lots of pictures now. I bought a new memory card for the camera, so theres no limit!

Love you guys lots. Don't freeze to death. Its anticipated to just get hotter here!

BYE!

Elder Preator

Safari in Richards Bay

Things down here are going very well. We had a baptism last week. His name was Aarond and he was confirmed yesterday. He is 20 years old and white. Not someone that I thought we could baptize. But, he has a solid testimony, and his parents, are returning less actives. 

Richards Bay doesn't have it's own Stake (yet). It was part of the Durban stake, but now it is its own district. Basically a Stake, with no keys. President Zackrison holds the keys for the district. The missionaries are all pretty close by. They come to town every Monday, and Saturday to play soccer and email and whatnot. We get to see them all the time. 

They switched out our tiny Aveo, for an Isuzu Bakkie (truck) stick shift. The same one I was driving out in Botshabelo. Super big for this town, but no one else could drive stick, and we didn't want it getting stolen in the township. Thats been our last couple of weeks.

Obviously, we went to the game park, and we got to go with two bakkies, so we went on this long 4x4 path. We bottomed out, and took some sketchy runs anyway, but it was worth it. We saw hyennas, and vultures, and tons of things we didn't think we would see. After 2 pictures at a time per email, I have shown you most of what we saw. There's a lot more pictures, but you can wait to see those. It's only like 9 months anyway. #eatenbylionswouldbeexciting

It's cool to see that you didn't sacrifice performance for looks this time with the pine wood derby car. Nathan must have won some award though. With the church activities and their celebration of mediocrity, there must have surely been a separate prize for each person. #pinewoodderbyrocks

Ok, love you guys! Hope all is well. Just know that I'm over here sweating every day, all day, everyday, allday. #renderingtheflesh

Elder Preator 

Missionaries from the Durban Zone

Pictures from the Game Park: