Shosholoza. Kulezo ntaba. Stimela siphume South Africa.

Sanbonani!

P-day for who?! We're just emailing today then jumping right back into the work! Work work work... There is no satisfactory substitute! Ok but the catch is we actually did have our p-day already... We sacrificed our Monday to go to the Bafana Bafana vs. Sudan game at Moses Mabhida on Saturday. Which ended up being really neat. South Africa's goal keeper and captain Senzo Meyiwa passed away a couple weeks ago, and this was the first time they played since then. So the whole team was playing for Senzo, and there was tons of national unity and stuff. Man... It's a cool atmosphere at African soccer games. Walking into the stadium, you hear the steady hum of the vuvuzela... Kinda the plastic version of what the angel Moroni is blowing at the top of all the temples. It's just that, and the roar of the crowd for 90 minutes while the players play their li'l hearts. Bafana Bafana ended up winning 2-1! What up!

But don't worry... We're still workin' hard to teach all nations and baptize them!

We had interviews with Big Z this week, which are always a treat. There's something about President Zackrison's interviews... You just walk out of them feeling happy, uplifted, upbeat, and ready to take on the Work of Salvation! Oh, plus... I taught him how to click. So I can check that off the bucket list. Teach the mission president how to click like a Zulu. One of the things we talked about was excellence in missionary work. He was telling me that when you get a group of 150 young men who, for the most part, are converted to the Lord's gospel together, send them out across two South African provinces and Lesotho, and commission them to preach the gospel, no matter what the mission president does or teaches, about 80% of the work is going to get done, which is significant. But what we need to strive for as a mission is to achieve excellence -- the top 20%. And that's where it gets tough. That's where you talk to everyone, and the majority of them shut you down. It's where you work and work and work and it sometimes seems like it bears no fruit. But, you keep on pushing... Because you know in those efforts, there's someone out there that needs to be blessed by your going that extra mile. And as zone leaders, that's what we need to be examples of. Man... Kind of a lot riding on your shoulders, hey?

So we're going to apply that as best we can!

Had some great teaching opportunities this week.

Njabulo and Pamela are doing great as ever. We had a lesson with them this week and tried to invite them to baptism, but the question kind of flew like an aeroplane over Njabula's head. We were reading the Book of Mormon introduction with them, and at the end asked, "If you come to find out that these things are true, will you be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?" Pamela nodded, but Njabulo was just staring at the book, and finally asked, "So the Bible starts with Genesis, and the Book of Mormon starts with Nephi?" Elder Okeng and I just kinda looked at each other, laughed, and then carried on teaching. Haha... We'll get 'em next time! We visited them after church on Sunday since they hadn't made it, and found out their new baby had a little bit of a sickness, so we read a little bit about the Atonement from the Book of Mormon with them, and man... They loved it! The Atonement... The deepest doctrine you can ever learn.

We're teaching a sister named Penny right now. I think I mentioned her last week... She worked in America for a little while. Anyway, it's cool teaching someone about the Fall and then having them just LIGHT up with understanding! So she's power. She told us she was going to go teach her mom about it right then. Not even baptized yet and she's already doing missionary work. What more could you ask for?

Let's see... So this was cool. After the game on Saturday we wanted something to eat, so we were gonna hit up the House of Curries in Durban (because it's been like 4 weeks since I've had Indian Food and I was...well, still am...craving it!!!). Buuuuut when we got there, we realized that at 6:00 on a Saturday night, it looks and sounds much more like a bar... Eating, drinking, being merry... All that stuff. We figured it would probably be a bad idea for a bunch of guys bearing the name of Christ to be amongst all the ruckus, so we went to Nando's instead. But! That ended up being a huge blessing! As we were walking there, a mlungu lady at another restaurant flagged us down and told us she had been telling her friends about us. Turns out she's a member in the Berea ward, and right at that time had been teaching this mlungu couple about the Church. So she asked us for a Book of Mormon and taught them a whole lesson right there. I mean, granted, we didn't do much more than give her the book and add our own testimonies... But hey, talk about being in the right place at the right time! It's amazing what difference members can make in the Work of Salvation! Hoorah for Israel!

What's on the schedule this week... Elder Okeng and I are instructing the zone on Wednesday, we'll be exchanging with the Margate elders right after (don't worry Pop Pop... I'll send pictures!), exchanges with the assistants on Friday, and stake conference this weekend... Meaning I'll get to see the Stanger crew! Busy, busy. But busy is good.

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

Much love,

Umdala Johnson

PS... So our Monday ended up being super hectic. The internet died at the Chatsworth chapel before we could finish, so I typed this up there and saved it on a flash drive. So we went and picked up the other elders and dropped them in the area with the intentions to finish up at the BB chapel. But we forgot the keys... And didn't have the Ks to drive back to the boarding to fetch them. But that's ok! We can borrow them from someone else in the ward! So we did that, only to find out when we got to the church that they were the wrong keys. But that's ok! There's an email shop in Umlazi we can go to. So we get there, and found out their internet isn't working. But that's ok, there's another email shop just around the corner. So we go there, and their internet's down too. But that's ok! Because we think there's an email shop in Isipingo by the other guys' boarding! So we call Elder Hansen and find out that one's super sketchy and expensive... But that's ok, because he told us there's another one the missionaries use in Bluff, just a ten minute drive from the place. So we hop in the car, drive there, only to find out they had just closed. But that's ok, because the worker recognized we were distressed and offered to stay an extra 20 minutes for us. But then, the internet there was just as dead as the other shops. And by this time, it was far past time to be in the area, so we had to tap out. Three hours and a bunch of email shops later, and we hadn't been able to find a single place with internet access... And so! That's the reason this is coming on Tuesday. Don't worry, all is well. :)