Monday, October 28, 2013
Congratulations! You've won a 5 day/4 night trip to fabulous Bloemfontein South Africa!**
Sawubona!
Man...so this has been one crazy heck of a spiritual weekend! We're out of Kimberley from last Friday all the way til tomorrow, but it's all for a good cause. Friday was Zone Conference (best Zone Conference ever...just wait for it!), Saturday we went on splits with Botshabelo, Sunday was Stake Conference, today is p-day, and tomorrow we have district meetings! Anyway, before the exciting stuff, let's get to our time in Kimberley!
After a p-day in Bloem playing rugby in the pouring rain and hail, we only had two and a half days in our area last week, so we had to make the most of them! We taught like mad, visited members like mad, and and ate like mad at dinner appointments (well, the ones that didn't cancel! Be thankful for what you have, eh?). Couple interesting appointments...there was a new investigator named Thokozani who told us all about a dream he had with beasts and whatnot (this took about an hour) only to answer yes to the question "So you've met with missionaries before?" Ah man...we meet some crazies in Kimberley! He also had lipstick and fingernail polish on, so that was pretty...cool? Sweet? Rad? Whatever the hip young hooligans are saying these days!
After a p-day in Bloem playing rugby in the pouring rain and hail, we only had two and a half days in our area last week, so we had to make the most of them! We taught like mad, visited members like mad, and and ate like mad at dinner appointments (well, the ones that didn't cancel! Be thankful for what you have, eh?). Couple interesting appointments...there was a new investigator named Thokozani who told us all about a dream he had with beasts and whatnot (this took about an hour) only to answer yes to the question "So you've met with missionaries before?" Ah man...we meet some crazies in Kimberley! He also had lipstick and fingernail polish on, so that was pretty...cool? Sweet? Rad? Whatever the hip young hooligans are saying these days!
I think the highlight of our time in Kimberley was a less-active family we visited named the Seekoies. They haven't been to church in years, and so we just got to know them a little bit better. We have an appointment when his wife will be home next week, so that should be pretty rockin! Anywho, they had a friend over, and he was asking about what we do, and I think he was a little suspicious of us... When we asked where he was from he said he was Japanese (he's black) and that his last name is Johnson... When I told him that's my last name too, he paused and thought for a sec...then told me he spells in Janson. Hmmm...interesting. A Japanese black man named Janson. We had a good laugh after though!
But Friday we had to drive to Bloem for Zone Conference...and guess who the speaker was! None other than Elder David. A. Bednar of the Quorum of the 12! Man... I could go into so much detail but I don't have tons of time to email! Unfortunately the Bloem, Swazi, and Lesotho zones didn't get to be there in person, but it was ok because his words were just as powerful on the projector! Every single missionary walked out of the chapel with their minds blown and on a spiritual high... Man. So great. SO great. Oh! And I met Elder Kelsey...he's one of the missionaries in Lesotho. For whoever watches Arrested Development and knows who Stan Sitwell is, he has the same disease as him... For those of you who don't watch Arrested, it's called alopecia and renders you completely hairless. He didn't get it until he was about 14, and at first he was ashamed of it... But then there was one day at a track meet that he heard someone call him Voldemort. He decided he had two options... He could brush it off as nothing or he could go beat the kid up. He decided to take the third option though and just roll with it! So he turned around yelled "Avada Kedavra!" and has been proud of his disease ever since! Super inspiring.
Saturday we stayed with the Botshabelo elders and went on splits with them, just because it wouldn't make sense to drive two hours back to Kimberley just to come back for stake conference... But! We taught, carved pumpkins with some less actives, and had a braai at their place after we were all back.
Sunday was stake conference, and Bishop Causse (sp?) of the Presiding Bishopric and Elder Hamilton of the Seventy both spoke. General Authorities are taking over South Africa! They gave such great talks... And we got to meet and talk with them after! Bishop Causse talked a lot about the hymn Master, the Tempest is Raging. It's turned into one of my favorites since being on mission. Loved it. Two super spiritual experiences in one weekend. Watch out Satan, here we come!!!
The rest of the day Sunday I was with Elder Gold, Elder Francom's replacement and we did some serious work. We taught, we tracted, and as always while tracting...ran into some interesting people. Drunk people, people get their religious ideas from televangelists... Great fun. ;) Elder Gold is the man though. He's from Cali, went surfing everyday...basically living my dream. Anyway, went running with him this morning and he pushed me hard! At this rate I'm gonna be Usain Bolt once I'm back. Watch out Olympics, here I come!!!
Aight that's it for me today. Back to Kimberley tomorrow, and we're gonna have our area on fire!!! Stay well, stay safe, stay positive, and love your lives my friends!
Much love,
Elda Johnson
**No purchase necessary. Terms and conditions do apply. You must provide your own bedding. You may end up on an extremely uncomfortable couch in Bothsabelo's boarding. You must provide your own cereal and milk in the morning. Do not copy or reprint without the expressed written consent of Major League Baseball.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Shared 10/21/13 - Good Bye to the old, Hello to the new, Eating Worms!
Aggies fast food made it to South Africa!
With Elder Reeves
Eating worms......
What the hail?!
Sawubona!
Man this week has been all sorts of crazy... First off we've gotten more rain in the last week than in the last three months combined! We were having lunch at the Ludicks on Wednesday and it even started hailing! And it was like 80 degrees outside, so apparently that can happen!
Anyway, where to begin...last Monday was the last day with Elder Kruger. Man...goodbyes are one thing that never really get easier with time. But there comes a time in every missionary's life when he has to kick his father out of the boarding and send him on a bus to Durban (remember, mission lingo here...Pop Pop is still safely at the house in Fruit Heights!). But we said goodbyes to him, Elder Childs, and Elder Gonzales, all moving on to new chapters on mission.
Tuesday I was in a threesome with the Bloemanda elders. We went and played with some foster kids in the morning, had appointments during the day, and did a whole lot of not eating since our allotment was in a day late...it was brutal! Elder Sakurime would look at me with a hungry face in the middle of lessons and just mouth the word "allotment." Anyway we were kinda forced into fasting that day. But! Elder Reeves and the other Elders coming to this zone arrived by bus at about 10 o'clock that night! First time I see Elder Reeves...he's carrying a guitar and has some sort of animal skin headband on and I know right off the bat this is gonna be a stellar transfer. But we stayed at the Rocklands and Bloemanda boarding and it was off to Kimberley in the morning!
Man... Elder Reeves is the bomb!!! Kinda crazy how much our personalities click. He's a big reggae fan, and he likes 311...no one else I've met on mission has even heard of 311! Ah man this is gonna be a great transfer. And he has some big ideas for Kimberley too! We're gonna have Satan scared out of his mind by the time we're done with him here. But Wednesday, and then most of the week two, we were kind of getting him introduced to a lot of the members and the area. That's where we want to move a lot of our focus to...getting the ward functioning properly. They were a branch here until just a few months ago, so we're going to have meetings reguarly with the bishop and auxiliary leaders to make it a solid ward that we can be proud to take investigators to!Man this week has been all sorts of crazy... First off we've gotten more rain in the last week than in the last three months combined! We were having lunch at the Ludicks on Wednesday and it even started hailing! And it was like 80 degrees outside, so apparently that can happen!
Anyway, where to begin...last Monday was the last day with Elder Kruger. Man...goodbyes are one thing that never really get easier with time. But there comes a time in every missionary's life when he has to kick his father out of the boarding and send him on a bus to Durban (remember, mission lingo here...Pop Pop is still safely at the house in Fruit Heights!). But we said goodbyes to him, Elder Childs, and Elder Gonzales, all moving on to new chapters on mission.
Tuesday I was in a threesome with the Bloemanda elders. We went and played with some foster kids in the morning, had appointments during the day, and did a whole lot of not eating since our allotment was in a day late...it was brutal! Elder Sakurime would look at me with a hungry face in the middle of lessons and just mouth the word "allotment." Anyway we were kinda forced into fasting that day. But! Elder Reeves and the other Elders coming to this zone arrived by bus at about 10 o'clock that night! First time I see Elder Reeves...he's carrying a guitar and has some sort of animal skin headband on and I know right off the bat this is gonna be a stellar transfer. But we stayed at the Rocklands and Bloemanda boarding and it was off to Kimberley in the morning!
Saturday was service and General Conference all day long. The Kimberley ward didn't have a means to watch it, so they had to wait for the DVDs to get here. So Elder Reeves got to see all 10 hours for a second time and it was just as power as the first time. Uchtdorf, Holland, Christofferson, Ballard, and Perry were among some of my favorites. And I think this may have been the first time that I didn't fall asleep once during Conference... Boo. Freaking. Yeah.
And uh...interesting food highlight of the week. Khanyi made us worms last night. More like caterpillars... I thought sheephead was weird until I ate worms. I think I'm officially African forever. I've eaten WORMS!!!
Elder Johnson
PS...special shoutout to Elder Francom for making it back home to Utah safely! Sank you so much for taking the package to mi familia. So much sanks. Amen.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Shared 10/14/13 - Sheep head & feet, Good bye to Elder Francom, Service at the orphanage, and a baptism
With Elder Francom...he is heading home!
Sheep head and feet
Service at the orphanage again...
I'm gonna pop some tags, only got 198.17 rand in my pocket
Sawubona!
So to all my friends out there who have ever played signs with me... In my basement after dances, at the McRae household, and in the second floor lobby of Snow Hall... Those hours and hours of laughing and having good times paid off! Last week Monday we had dinner at the Groblers, the Bloemfontein stake president, and oh man did we play signs, and oh man was I the master. I may have succumbed to all the silly pranks they tried to pull on the new guy earlier in the night (no worries, I ended up with flour on my face and water down my pants), but man oh man... They didn't know who they were dealing with when it came to signs. But that wasn't even the highlight of the night! Probably the hardest I've laughed since I left home... In the middle of the game, it was silent. Dead silent. Then President Grobler had a weird look on his face, and all of a sudden he cut the cheese. We all looked at him, and to this moment, I have no idea if it was an accident or not. Either way, we all busted up laughing. The moral of the story: even the stake president farts.Stay well, stay safe, stay positive, and LOVE YOUR LIVES!
Monday, October 7, 2013
Pictures Shared 10/7/13 - Emoyo Driving Range, Reserve & Big Airplane. Ollie and Service
Emoyo...Driving Range, Reserve, & airplane
Warthog
rhino
hanging a giant banner for ZLs chapel open house
Elder Johnson learned how to ollie
Sister Mpho's yard clean up
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