Sports. Sin. Money. Commandments.

Sanbonani!

 

So there's an older Indian fellow in the Stanger branch named Brother Benny, and Brother Benny is perhaps my favorite person in Stanger right now. He just kinda does his own thing and lives in his own world of gospel light, and it just works for him. We spent the whole day Saturday working and teaching with him... It was kind of a spurt of him taking us to referrals, and on the way, he'd randomly stop the car and say, "My niece stays here." So of course we had to greet her and make a couple contacts on the way. There was one point where we decided to drop by a member family and share a spiritual thought with them, and Benny led the way. At the door, he started saying "knock knock!" while Elder Mphaka and I were deciding on a scripture to share. "It's up to you," I told him. And just as I say that, Brother Benny continues saying, "Knock knock! It's up to you!" Elder Mphaka and I looked at each other and cracked up. To top everything off, he was called to give a talk on Sunday, and as he addressed the congregation, he informed us he would be speaking on four things: sports, sin, money, and commandments. I guess the list has been longer in the past. Vincent told us at one point, he had six topics. Either way, we were spiritually uplifted as he preached that God doesn't care about winners, he cares about sinners. Brother Benny... What a guy.

 

Yoh! This week... Eh, sometimes weeks in areas outside of Newcastle don't go quite as smoothly, but hey... Somehow you make it work! There's a part in the Prophet of the Restoration movie where the brethren are building the temple. Joseph Smith says, "We're not just building a temple here. The Lord is building us." But hey... Mixed in with all the long walks and the missed appointments due to miscalculated travel time, we'd like to think we accomplished some good.

 

Big Z is encouraging us to teach people in groups, ya know, to reach out and find as many of God's children that are prepared for the restored gospel as we can. So in fulfillment of this exhortation, we taught at a Spur this week! I think I mentioned that last week... Right? Anyway, that went well. The manager and the staff were very welcoming and loved the message we had to share. It's kinda nerve wracking sharing a message in front of a bunch of non-members... But hey, the best way to get over something like that is just going for it!

 

Let's see what else... Oh! Tuesday night we got to talk to Big Z about a referral he had for us in Ballito. I guess some of his grandkids were here a couple weeks back, so they stayed a night or so at a guesthouse right on the beach. He was also telling us about some international surf contest happening there too, and in my mind I was really hoping he'd tell us we could go... No dice. But, being the typical lead by example mission president he is, he gave a Book of Mormon to the head of staff, Wilson, and asked us to follow up on him. So we made plans to visit him and the members staying that side, and man... I think I found where I'm going to retire to. What an absolutely beautiful town. We met up Wilson at the Vetho House and had a lesson in the lobby as the waves were crashing down just outside, and you could smell that cool ocean breeze. We're going to have to see what we can do about having more lessons here... The thing that's gonna make it tough, though, is we had to wait in line two hours for a taxi back to Stanger. Hmmm... Where there's a will, there's a way.

 

This taxi thing is a bit of a bugger. It's a challenge to schedule appointments with people so spread out. Whereas two appointments that are maybe ten minutes apart by car, it may be an hour apart on foot. So that's something we'll have to work around. It's tough... We'll find someone in town, set an appointment with them, and pretty much only be able to work in that section of Stanger for that given day. We've tried limiting it to three areas, then to two, and finally to one, and I think that's what it's gonna have to be.

 

But on the positive side of things! We found a family from Malawi on the street that seem really excited for us to come and teach them, so we're looking forward to that. I'm teaching Vincent how to play guitar right now. He comes and practices while we do our weekly planning on Fridays. And to top everything off, we found an awesome Indian food place called Hot Pot that blows the doors off the two places in Newcastle, both in terms of price and in terms of flavor. Whereas a bunny chow (quarter loaf of bread filled with beans curry) at Food Garden was 28 rand, here it's 6! And 40 rand chicken biryani in Newcastle is only 15 here! The Church is true!

 

We made two trips to Durban last week for a zone activity (volleyball, braai, and a movie at the mission home... Seeing Big Z in jeans = awesome, and seeing The Saratov Approach again = awesome... Fam, if you haven't seen that yet, you should find it and watch it. It's about two missionaries that get kidnapped in Russia) and for zone training meeting, and we'll be making two more trips this week for exchanges and interviews! Whew... And somehow doing it without a car. Wish us luck!

 

This work that we're involved in is tough sometimes, but it's 100% worth it. At the end of the week, if you can look back and say that you've shed a little bit of light on just one darkened soul, you'll know you've done a good thing.

 

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

 

Much love,

 

Umdala Johnson