Shared 12/30/13 - Christmas Party, Escargot, Naval Hill - Giraffes & Ostrich, Sheep for dinner, S'mores, and a Beautiful Sunset

 













Christmas Party



     

Eating Escargot

The Zone

Naval Hill and Giraffes!!!

Finally seeing a Giraffe

Ostrich too

Game of UNO

Watching a sheep get ready for dinner

S'mores 

Beautiful Sunset!

Show me the Tswana that doesn't love his culture, show me the Afrikaaner who doesn't love to braai, show me the true-blooded Aggie from Utah who doesn't do the Scottsman when the Aggies win!!!

Sawubona! 

Wooo!!! Big shoutout to Aggies for winning the Poinsettia Bowl this week! Elder Reeves and I got the news from the Clusters and spontaneously burst out into the Scottsman in the middle of our boarding, and then ended up teaching it to Khanyi and Sister Mpho. Best Christmas present ever!!! But only just kidding...as exciting as it is, definitely not the highlight of the festive season!

Yho man...I heard from so many missionaries that Christmas away from home is the pits and it sucks and blah blah blah... But I have no idea what the fetch they're talking about. Sure, my family's on the other side of the world. But does that mean they love me any less? Does that mean Christ's love and the true spirit of Christmas isn't there? Heck no! With a positive attitude, any situation you're in for Christmas can be great. 

Monday we had a Christmas party hosted by the Carliles and the Clusters. Amongst the festivities were a visit from President and Sister Reber of the South Africa MTC, a talent show, Nerf wars, dinner at a fancy schmancy New York restaurant, a white elephant, and a whole lot of good times. I graced the zone with a Christmas classic on the guitar at the talent show... The Chanukah Song by Adam Sandler. :) It was a hoot, but doesn't even compare to Elder Gold's talent. You're gonna have to make a mental image here... So imagine a stage with a missionary laying on his back with his feet aimed towards the audience... Now imagine him throwing his feet back behind his head, his shirt falling down to reveal his bare back with two giant eyes painted on it, and then his arms at his side, acting as arms for this giant head that was once his back. He did some magic tricks and other stuff with it and we were all busting up laughing. He's a crazy one that guy... And if that doesn't prove it, I witnessed him attempt (almost successfully) to ride a wild ostrich the next day. Anyway, the whole day was a blast. We are so blessed to have the Carliles and Clusters with us. They do SO much for us missionaries and love us just so much I can't even explain.

The next day, Christmas Eve, we had ZTM in the morning and then lunch/dinner (linner?) with the Van der Leeks afterwards. Again...SO incredibly blessed to get to spend time with them. No matter how much they tell me I'm a fruit cake or remind me of how loud I am, I love them to death. Oh! Funny story real quick... While we were there, Elder Gold and I needed to run and grab a couple memory cards. Karma ended up kicking us in the butt for ditching the party, because we ran out of gas on the way...and neither of us had a phone. But thank goodness for good Samaritans someone let us borrow their phone and we were able to call the Carliles to come rescue us! We ended up kicking karma in the butt again while waiting, in that we placed two Books of Mormon in the process. Car running out of petrol...blessing in disguise? Anyway, we partied a little more, went up to Naval Hill afterwards and guess what... I FINALLY SAW THE GIRAFFES!!! They exist! I can bare witness now! So much fun. It got late, and we headed back to ZLs boarding and ended up playing Monopoly. Craziest thing happened... I discovered a sense of greed inside me that I never knew I had. Eish...we played til like 1:30 in the morning then finally decided to go to sleep. The lateness probably wasn't lekker...seeing as Elder Gold and I had decided to run to the Carliles in the morning instead of driving. It was roughly six miles, so we had to wake up at 5:30 to be able to make it there at 7 AM Christmas morning to Skype home.

Man... Big shoutout to the fam bam for being the fest fam bam in the world. :) Oh man, I missed talking to you guys so much... Although it was only an hour, it was hands down my favorite hour all week.

After Elder Carlile took us back, we had to jump start our car and make our way back to Kimberley (my second to last time driving back...crazy right?). Man it was so good. After ZTM and Christmas, Elder Reeves and I were stoked to be back in the area. We spent time with the Ludicks, Sister Mpho, Khanyi, and Duncan. Practically perfect in every way. Well, for the most part... Elder Reeves ended up with a runny stomach, so we went back to the boarding a little early. Gave me time to open up presents...and man, I had told Sister Mpho and Khanyi that I was a tough cookie and didn't cry at my farewell or while I was talking to my parents on Skype, but when I read the book of letters from the whole family that my mama had made... There were tears. I can't even begin to describe how much I love you all and how thankful I am to have the support and love from everyone. :) Best family ever, and I will fight anyone who tries and tells me otherwise. 

Thursday it was back to work! Oh, one crazy story real quick... I guess I'm a super heavy sleeper, because that night apparently our door handle started moving and Elder Reeves was freaking out. He said he was calling my name and even turned on the lights, but I was dead asleep. Anyway he went and opened the door and there was a tiny dog there. Nothing too out of the ordinary, other than the fact that we don't have a dog and there's no way we could think of that it could get through the gates. We were super confused, but I guess the landlords said it's a neighbors and it comes uninvited every holiday season while its owners are on holiday.

Anyway... work work work. The work in Kimberley is moving forward and I'm so excited to be a part of it! I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but President Grobler's vision for the Bloemfontein stake is to split it into two wards and two districts, which will pave the way for a Bloemfontein temple. To do this, the Kimberley ward has to split. At first we were shaking our heads...even Bishop Tshabalala! But as we've really focused and looked at what needs to be done...it's possible. It's so possible that we even got approval from President Zackrison to bring two more missionaries to Kimberley to make it happen. The plan was introduced to the ward this Sunday, and everyone is so excited. The idea of a temple in Bloemfontein...man. So cool. I get chills just thinking about it. Granted, I won't be here to see it all happen, but I'm just so happy that I've been able to be a part of building the foundation for those who are here ahead of me.

Love you all! Hope you've had the merriest of Christmases, and that your New Years celebrations will be safe and sane. Stay well, stay positive, love your lives.

Baie liefde,

Elder Johnson

Shared 12/25/13 - Chicken feet, Christmas party on Saterdag... What did we do? Braaied, played sand volleyball, and played with water balloons

Chicken Feet

Yummy

Sand volleyball

CRC church 

Christmas Party

In December drinking horchata...

Sawubona!

We blessed the snow down in Africa this week my friends and family. After dropping into the negatives, we were bombarded with with a couple meters of heavy snow. The plows in Kimberley were out in full force, all the schools were shut down, tin shacks were collapsing by the dozen...it's been bad news.

But only just kidding. It's been hot as ever this week! We had our ward Christmas party on Saterdag... What did we do? Braaied, played sand volleyball, played with water balloons... Ya know, typical Christmas stuff. :)

I'm short on time this week, so I'll just include some highlights and then get to the really good juicy stuff next week. Stay tuned.

Have I talked about sphatlo before? It's a food here. Basically a quarter loaf of bread, egg, chips (fries), cheese, palone, Russian (sausage), tomatoes, green onions, and sauces all crammed together. It's a heart attack waiting to happen, but it's absolutely delicious. There's a shop in the township we eat at every once in a while. It's just a couple of guys that run it and they are the dopest dudes ever. We were finally talking to them this week, and lo and behold we ended up teaching them! One of them, Letlhogonolo, has been looking for a church to join. When we started talking about Joseph Smith and how he was confused about religion, he said, "Just like me!" Isn't it great how the Lord prepares people? He's always watchin out for us missionaries.

I can cross another food off the bucket list this week... We helped a ward member paint her house purple, and our reward was chicken feet. I'm short on time so I'll include pictures next week, but what you hear is what you get. Feet, straight from the chicken, battered in spices, with everything still there... Talons and all. They gave Elder Reeves a li'l bit of a runny stomach that night, and I was making fun of him for it, only two hours later to be hit by a gut torpedo and have to run straight to the toilet. Karma sucks :(

But in other good news, Vuyo was sustained as ward mission leader this week, we have been answering President Grobler's plea to find father-led families, our members are getting involved in the missionary work, they're learning to love each other, the work is moving forward, the church is still true, and praise Jesus almighty my guitar finally has strings on it!!! In the words of Thokozani, we've had a "hallelujah week" and expect more good times ahead. 

So to close up, we stayed with the ZLs last night and they took us to the CRC church as a Christmas present. Don't worry I'm not converting or anything, but a lot of investigators attend it so we wanted to see what it was like. You hear the term "happy clappy" churches a lot here, and ohhh man this was as happy clappy as it gets. It was more of a rock concert than actual church. Again, pictures and a video are coming next week. I think they missed the scripture that talks about the Spirit communicating with us in a still small voice... If anything it just confirmed to me the truthfulness of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hoorah for Israel!

Oh and then we made horchata last night too. Blows the doors off the stuff at Cafe Rio. Baie baie BAIE lekker.

Hope everyone has a merry Christmas back home! Don't take for granted the cold or the snow or skiing or anything like that... I'd give so much to be tearing up the slopes right now. But it's cool, because how often in your life do you get to spend Christmas tan, in short sleeves, playing volleyball? 

Stay well, stay positive, love your lives, and have a most merry Christmas!

Baie liefde,

Elda Johnson

Shared 12/16/13 - Rhinos, Car Wash, and Mandela Vigil in Galeshewe

Rhino!

Washing the car

Mandela Vigil in Galeshewe