Sanbonani!
But only just kidding, Sunday night is actually the night we send our stats in to the zone leaders because we're consecrated missionaries on the Lord's errand. Boo yeah! Take that Satan! But don't worry, that's not to say we don't have some fun every once in a while. Yoh, our hike with Brother Classen last Monday was a lekker start to a lekker week. We pulled up to his place at Vulintaba (which is a Zulu word that means "open mountain"), and there he was just chillin' on his porch swing with his Taylor guitar, playing Belle by Jack Johnson. Sound like me in 30 or 40 years? Yeah, I thought so too. Man, what a life that guy's lived. He's from Germany, and work has taken him all over the world. He was telling us how he thought his time in Turkey was gonna be rough due to the Church not having a presence there, but they were able to make it one of the most spiritual years of their lives. They administered the sacrament at their home and spent the rest of Sundays visiting the places that Paul had preached at, learning all the history behind it. Antioch was among them. Talk about making the best of hard times, eh? Beautiful hike though. Found baboon tracks and even heard a couple yelling off in the distance. Come to find out, Brother Classen told us Sunday that one of the greensman by his place informed him that his morning jogging route goes right past a leopard and three cubs. Thank goodness they're only active at night!
What a day, though... Monday ended off just as well as it started. After the hike, we stopped by Checkers to pick something up for Elder Willombe, and lo and behold we bumped into the Arends family! A minute earlier or later and we would have missed them. Right place at the right time? You betcha. Crazy how often that happens on mission... But we invited them to FHE that night and were able to have a jolly good time together at the Herringtons.
So remember how Swazi's no longer part of our mission? Eish, man all of us are so bummed. The promised land of the mission is gone... But I guess we shouldn't be too down in the dumps. The ZLs came down to South Africa for one last MLC with Big Z, and I guess what I didn't realize is that they're not just losing one zone, but the whole rest of their missions. All the friendships they built here with the members, the missionaries, the mission president... Eish. Not to mention that Mozambique is a Portuguese speaking mission, which is nothing like Zulu or English or Xhosa or Sotho or Tswana or any of the other languages here. So I guess it could be worse. But all things considered, I think they're taking it well. I got to see Reeves one last time, and he was super bummed at first, but he's excited for the new experience. It'll be an adventure, hey? Super cool catching up with him over a quarter chicken, chips, and roll at Nando's...hehe, our Kimberley tradition.
As far as the work here goes, it's moving right along. Wednesday I was on exchanges with Elder Willombe, who's brand new this transfer. Crazy to think I'm as old on mission now as my baba was when I was born, and he goes home next transfer... Yoh, time flies. But Elder Willombe got to meet one of my favorite people to teach, our dear friend Gregory. Gregory's an Indian fellow, and the reason I love teaching him is that he understands and has more of a desire to learn the gospel than anyone I've ever met. Usually he asks a ton of questions and we don't get to cover what we planned, so Elder Marumo and I decided no matter what we were gonna finish the Plan of Salvation this week. So, after a two and a half hour appointment Tuesday and another hour with Elder Willombe on Wednesday, we finished!!! And he gets it! And wants to share it with six million people! That's not just a random number I made up, just by the way... Man, what a guy.
So one little language mannerism with South Africa is that you could say, "I have flu," and mean that you have a runny nose. It means anything. If you have a runny stomach, you have flu. If you're vomiting uncontrollably, you have flu. If you break your leg, your leg has flu. So anyway, I had flu Thursday, and I was super nervous because it was Kindo's baptism that day, and there was no way in the world I was going to miss the baptism of the most converted person in the world. Ah man... Kindo. What an absolutely incredible story. He's from CÙte d'Ivoire, his father was a Muslim, his mother was a Christian, and they grew up in a Jewish culture reading the Torah. He was introduced to the missionaries by Melba, and he told us at first he was hostile towards the Church. But, he was at FHE one night while I was still with Elder Mukonda and accepted the invitation to take the missionary lessons. What truly converted him to the gospel was the Book of Mormon. He was in tears one day as he was reading, and told us he had found himself through the scriptures. It's been a huge testament to me that the Lord is indeed gathering the House of Israel. It's promised that one day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ, and it happens one soul at a time. It's truly amazing to be a part of it. After he came up out of the water, he had such a huge smile on his face. Couldn't help but put one on mine as well.
We had a lesson with him the following day, but more on that in a sec... Our tradition every Friday is a boarding trip to Al-Habib, and we were pleasantly surprised this week to find it under new ownership. Whereas before, we enjoyed our meal peacefully with the cockroaches, they have now been relocated due to a new standard of cleanliness. The new owner, Gabil, is a superstar and is going to take Al-Habib places. The biryani, the naans, the tikka... All as good as ever. The cool thing is Al-Habib is right next to Kindo's place, so we went over there afterwards. He couldn't stop smiling about his baptism, and we shared a thought about the Holy Ghost since that's what comes next. He came up with a spot on analogy for it too. When we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, it's like we get his cell phone number. We can SMS him whenever we want, and he'll send us messages back. He'll even SMS us warnings and messages of comfort, too. But, if we're a bad friend, he'll stop replying. If we don't remain worthy, we'll lose our privilege to his constant companionship. Ah man, Kindo... What a guy!
Saturdays we hold a scripture study class at the chapel, and it's finally starting to bear fruits! We're so excited. Members are bringing non-members, and they're even coming to church! The first couple times we had zero attendance, but hey... Patience, my friends. It's a virtue.
The confirmations happened Sunday, and it was a glorious day. So many good things are happening in Newcastle and I'm just as stoked as ever to be a part of it. There's a chance I leave in a few weeks, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed I get to stay at least one more transfer.
I'm short on time, but hey... Stay tuned next week for some more lekker pics and the story about how I ripped my pants today. :)
Sala kahle, stay positive, and love your lives my friends.
Much love,
Umdala Johnson
No comments:
Post a Comment