Random Miracles in Bots!

This week has been one full of random miracles;

Miracle Number One:

We went to teach a less active member who hasn't been to church in a while. We found her there with her friend who said he was just a friend, and taught a surprise restoration. He had tons of questions and said he was coming to church AND bringing the less active member with him. #twobirdswithonestone

Miracle Number Two:

We had a number of Less-Actives come to church, and some of them even bore their testimonies at church. One of the members told me, she hasn't ever heard them bear their testimonies even when they were active members. The Lord is here ladies and gentlemen. #TheLordIsHere!

Miracle Number Three:

My 'son' is fantastic. He is basically me, but from Madagascar. He loves music, plays a little piano, plays the guitar, and sings very well. It was weird hearing the branch yesterday and actually hearing my companion singing the right notes. I love him so much. He is good at English considering how long he has been studying it. His greatest strength is that he's confident, and is never afraid to share his testimony, even if it doesn't totally come out right. He is already contacting people in English, and he shares his testimony during lessons and to me all the time. I am loving training right now. #sweetcompanion

We will be watching conference in two weeks time at the church. I am excited from what I have heard so far. Apparently Elder Renlund was in the Southeast Africa Area Presidency about a year and half ago. 

We have a baptism coming at the end of this month. #prayforus

Love you all!
Loving Africa, and Botshabelo

Elder Preator

 My "son", Kuze and I 

Relief society sisters on heritage day

A cows leg (not uncommon)

Dirt or Snow? Which makes driving harder?

Hello everybody. This week was hectic, I almost flipped the truck...*cough cough* just exaggerating, but driving in dirt is only second to driving in snow. #exaggeration

My companion is now leaving me. I will miss Elder Masinga. My new companion is from Madagascar and doesn't speak english. Looks like I will be teaching english, training, doing missionary work, and being district leader all at the same time. Its going to be a lot of pressure, so wish me luck. #pressurebuilds

Love Elder Preator

The Zone

My companion, Elder Masinga and I (and the favourite baby in the branch)

Worthy Cause to Speed

Pretty eventful week. We had Zone Conference, so I have no more disposition to do evil...I mean, we are going to do our best to work our hardest this week. Looking forward to it. 

This last week we went and saw a giant statue of Nelson Mandela. Pretty sweet. We also saw tons of zebras, and an ostrich. Also in my pictures is a giant spider in our flat. The other is in the upper corner of our shower. Those guys have been there for weeks. We have an agreement; they don’t mess with us, we don’t mess with them. The two in the shower are Angela and Joey.

In other news, we had great church attendance this past week. We filled up the whole makeshift chapel that fits about 45 with like 50. wooohooo. Our investigators are all doing well. We invited Sister Puleng to be baptized, and she said she would pray about it. Normally people just say yes, but then fall through, so that was kind of different. I think that its a good sign. We’ll find out this week. One of our investigators was being taught by the JW’s as well, so we’re just trying to flush all the false out of him.

Last night our District Leader, Elder Santagane felt pains in what we thought was his appendix, so I assumed the role of ambulance driver and broke tons of laws. Didn’t get caught because my cause was worthy, and it was 11 at night and no one was around. I made our hour drive to Bloemfontein in 30 minutes. The highest speed here is 120, and I was going 160. The senior couples told us to hurry so I blame them when the tracker company calls sometime today! :)  He's still feeling sick, but its nothing serious. 

Elder Preator

Freaking Cold in Africa

So I think this weekend I actually fasted for the first time ever. Just thought I would let you know.

Thanks for the jokes. I will send them to all the potential wives. 
   You know what the worst part about multiple wives is?
   Multiple Mother in laws.

My comp fell on a bike this week and I ran over some wire and it caught around our truck's drive shaft and had the playing-card-in-the-spokes-effect. Everyone was giving us that look. We couldn’t find any wire cutters, and we decided, because we were late, we would just go to our area. It fell off on the highway when I was doing 120 (70 Mph).

Its FREAKING COLD IN AFRICA. Thank goodness Summer is coming soon. We had a particular day was in the 40s. Freaking cold! That was the only day that got cold in the day though. Most days are like Colorado in the Winter or Autumn. REALLY cold at night especially without a heater. And it heats up due to the sun. We could see our breath.

Ok I'm going to answer some of your questions:

1. We live next door to the other two elders in our district. The 4 of us however are isolated about an hour outside of the nearest missionaries. 

2. We have our own "outer darkness" zone conference.

3. I have been driving a stick shift truck for like a week and half now.

4. My companion is Elder Masinga. He is from Mpumalanga, South Africa. He is super cool, and we get along very well.

Elder Preator
Love you guys!

Elder Preator

Funeral Fun in Bots!

This week in Botshabelo (Bots), we had some complications, including a funeral in the area we live, Tabanchu.  This is where the other 2 Elders in our district work. For the funeral, we used the car to transport all the necessary accessories; food, tables, chairs, people etc. For 3 days we didn’t or couldn’t go into our area, but we helped them a lot. On Saturday, we had a small service in the morning before going to the chapel for another, and we, the missionaries, had to find transport for everybody else. So we drove and sped down the road chasing a Taxi and honking at him to pull over. Super fun!

My companion is Elder Masinga. He is from Mpumalanga South Africa. He is super cool, and we get along very well. We live next door to the other two elders in our district. The 4 of us, however are isolated about an hour outside of the nearest missionaries in Bloemfontein. (We have our own “outer darkness” zone conference.) In this area, I have been driving a stick shift truck. (For like a week and half now!)

In other news, we have some progressing investigators who if all goes according to plan, will be baptized by the end of September. Ria is a 16 year old girl and she really understands and accepts the gospel. Tomelo (I haven’t actually met him) is 18 I think, but he has had all the discussions, except the JW’s were simultaneously teaching him. So we are in the middle of a battle. The other is Pulang, and she has come to church on her own, progressing very nicely. The work is so nice and I am looking forward to the rest of this transfer with Elder Masinga.

Love you Guys!
Elder Preator

The Funeral in Tabanchu

A Sotho sheperd

(they wear a “sotho blanket” and what looks like a chinese hat and a staff. pretty cool.)

 Elder Masinga after falling off a bike