Elder Dallin Johnson's Mish: August 2014

Sanbonani!

You know when you start it by giving your companion a haircut, it's gonna be a lekker week. When I'm back Utah side next year and you need a haircut, just hit me up! Five rand and you'll have the most even haircut of your life. I can promise with certainty that every hair on your head will be the same length. I mean granted, you won't have any hair at all on your head, but hey... The shaved look is pretty rockin'.

Still a tough week, but things are absolutely lookin' up! We're getting the taxi and walking around thing figured out, and for now, we've kinda decided we gotta focus our efforts as close to the chapel and boarding as we can. Remember the FREE JUICE stand we did in Newcastle? That made a triumphant return this week! While we were waiting for the Phoenix elders to drive up here for DDM on Wednesday we set it up outside the chapel. We were a little worried in the morning 'cause it looked like it was gonna rain, but the clouds cleared and it heated up and people wanted their juice. People were excited, I think one of the prostitutes that's usually loitering around the chapel when we walk home at night even took a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. Chalk one up for the missionaries!

Been doing as much service as we can... We volunteer at this clinic right across from our boarding and put labels on prescriptions and stuff. But the guy that runs it is Uncle Tough, and man... He's one of my favorite people. Elder Berry had told us the missionaries used to volunteer at this clinic, so we decided to go check it out, and as we did, Uncle Tough was ecstatic to see us! He started telling us all about how much he loves the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and put us right to work. He eventually started asking for more of their music, so we made him a CD with a bunch of their General Conference songs on it. Aaaand we may have slipped President Uchtdorf's talk "Come, Join with Us" on it as well. But as it turns out, missionaries have taught him in the past, and he's some cool leadership guy in the Church of the Holy Ghost, so odds are he won't be converted, but we can at least work together with him to share a message with the youth -- the rising generation. Stay tuned and see how that plays out in the coming weeks.

We ended up in Durban for interviews this week which went super well. Big Z... What a guy. Confirmed a lot of things to me about missionary work. The Lord is doing so much to help us to elevate this work, and I'm so glad to be a part of it. Before I got my mission call and before almost every transfer week, my the thing I pray for is just to know that wherever I end up, that's where the Lord needs me, and that confirmation comes to me every time. I know more than ever why the Lord needs me in the Durban mission, and why I needed to be transferred to Stanger. Sometimes it's for other people, sometimes it's for my own spiritual growth. No matter the reason, though, the Lord always knows best. President Zackrison was saying in a meeting with our zone that morning that Elder Hamilton was proud of how spiritual our mission is. He told President he didn't think it was possible to squeeze any more spirituality out of us, but President told us he's gonna try.

Sister Big Z took us out to lunch that day. At my suggestion, to the House of Curries. It's kind of like... The Red Iguana of Indian Food. It's on Florida Street in Durban, which I guess is the street of all streets to to dine out at in Durban. I'd heard lots about it in the past, and was stoked to finally try it. We all ordered roti wraps (roti being the equivalent of a tortilla), which basically looked like a giant burrito filled with Indian food. Heavenly. Absolutely heavenly. Now keep in mind, that's reflective of my thoughts while I was eating it, not my thoughts while I was on the toilet next day. Eish...

Remember the Tembo family I mentioned last week? From Malawi? Found them on the streets? We had a lesson with them yesterday, and man... Some people just come prepared. They were so excited to have us over, they loved the lesson, they accepted the invitation to baptism, and they even introduced us to their neighbors, without us even asking for a referral! Oh man... Their names are Bright and Octavia, and they are just stellar. A week full of bunked appointments can end up pretty alright when you end it with a lesson like that.

The power was out all over town this morning, so we hit up the King Shaka Visitor Center this morning while we were waiting for power to come back. Pretty sweet. Eish... And I guess the resource center's closing so I'll explain more next week! Woops!

Sala kahle, stay positive, and love your lives my friends.

Much love,

Umdala Johnson