It's a Festivus MIRACLE!

Sanbonani!

Oh boy we walked into the mission office yesterday, and there sitting amongst the pile of packages was a box from good ol' Fruit Heights, UT! The 24 days of Christmas box finally made it here, just in time for Festivus! Bust out the aluminum pole and bring on the feats of strength! Heeyeah! Great stuff. So after zone conference yesterday Elder Okeng and I got to open 22 days worth of Christmas presents with scriptures attached to them, and that ended up being pretty cool. Thanks mama :)

Ah, what a week... December is kinda notorious in South Africa for being kind of a "dead month." People go out of town, everyone is drinking, no snow... But hey, we've been givin' it our best and if anything, I think we spread at least a little bit of Christmas cheer.

One of the biggest lessons I've learned this last transfer has had to do with ministering as a leader. I went into the calling of being a zone leader thinking that if you just be an example to those you're called to serve, everything will go smoothly and all the missionaries in your zone will be the missionaries their mothers think they are. Yeah, rookie mistake... It's not quite that simple. To effectively lead a group of 18 missionaries to being consecrated servants of the Lord that can "speak with the tongue of angels," you have to love them in the same way Christ loves them. Which, is hard sometimes. But that's what set Christ apart from the rest of the world. While the Pharisees refused to mingle with the sinners (which, ironically, includes every single one of us), Christ made a point to dine exclusively with them many times. There's been an elder in our zone I've been concerned about due to his self proclaimed "apostate" practices, and I struggled for a few weeks how to deal with it. Ultimately, I decided to follow Christ's example. We had the whole zone up Monday for soccer on the beach and a braai, which ended up being a hit, and this elder and I were able to bond over a conversation whilst chowing wors. We talked, we laughed, we reminisced over friends back home, and he ended up opening up to me a bit. It turns out he's faced some depression on mission, and the impression I got from him is that, like me, he's trying his very best, and that's all Christ asks of us. Ministering... It doesn't happen a whole zone at a time. One person at a time. Something interesting to think about.

MLC was power this week. President Zackrison... We're blessed with the best mission president in the world (sorry anyone else who's reading this that doesn't get serve with Big Z). He understands ministering, he understands the tough times missionaries go through, he understands revelation, and he just wants all of us to be happy and to be the best missionaries we can be and to one day all be happy together in the Celestial Kingdom. He always makes MLC a spiritual experience... It's not just the nitty gritty issues in the mission, but he ministers to US as leaders. He's kinda like Jack Johnson in the sense that you can't walk out of a meeting with him feeling sad or anything like that. What a guy.

Hmmm... We've been singing a lot of Christmas songs lately. We had a family home evening with Sister Gree's family this week and just spent an hour singing all the Christmas songs in the hymn book over and over again! Ah, there's something about music... I think for Elder Okeng and I our favorite hymn this year has been Far, Far Away on Judea's Plain. Family... If you haven't been listening to the Lower Lights Christmas CDs, go listen to their version of it now now!

We've played the role of cooks this week too. Elder Okeng led us in cooking chapati for Lungile's family this week (which is a Ugandan food that basically is a really thick, slightly sweetened tortilla) and I led us in making chili bites and scrambled eggs with Del Taco sauce for Baba Mkhize's family. Mexican food in South Africa... Lekker lekker!

Eish, there I go talkin' about food again...

Had some great lessons this week. We've been teaching the Plan of Salvation a lot, and I think it's been a big help to Elder Okeng due to the loss of his mother. It's comforting to know God's plan for us. "Because of him, death has no sting, the grave no victory." Lungile's family has loved learning about it, and they accepted the invitation to be baptized! So that's exciting.

Sister Nomthi is one of our very favorite inactive members. She hasn't been to church in a number of years due to a challenge she is facing, and I can honestly say I can't blame her for not wanting to return. Were she to go back right now, odds are many of the members would treat her less than Christ-like, which would do more harm than good. She has a rock solid testimony, though, so our visits to her are just to invite the Spirit and make her happy. There was something cultural or traditional or whatever going on at her house Sunday, so she invited us and one of the sets of missionaries in W over for some Zulu meat. Which is basically sheep cooked without any spices and jeqe. It's all on one plate and everyone just digs in. Man, Zulus... They know how to feast!

Zone conference yesterday was power power power, and we're heading off to the mission Christmas party in just a few minutes! Six of the nine zones in the mission are down for it, so uh... This is huge!

Excited for what lies ahead.

Mele kalikimaka, merry Christmas, sala kahle, stay positive, love your life, all that jazz... Family, see you Thursday. :)

Much love,

Umdala Johnson