Shared 12/15/14 - Umlazi, a wedding, and painting a house

 The house before…..

 ...painting the house…..

 …the house after!

 Cooling in our boarding.

 Wedding at the church.

 Speaking at the wedding.

 With my companion….

Oh, the weather outside is PRIDEFUL!

Sanbonani!

Man... South Africa weather is kinda like Utah weather... It can be summer in the morning and winter by the afternoon. The only difference here is that winter just means rain and it's only like 70 degrees instead of 80, but somehow we still freeze...

This week! Has been crazy. Transfer week is always hectic, and the week ahead is looking to be no different... Where to begin, where to begin...

We have this guy named Qhawe I contacted the first week I was in Umlazi, who I didn't realize at the time was super drunk... But! He was happy to hear what we had to say and was even interested in learning about the Book of Mormon! So  we see him out on the streets all the time, but the thing is every time he's either struggling to walk straight or he's sitting at a tavern. But he always greets us with a smile and a wave. We found out this week that the name "Qhawe" translates to english as "Hero," which Elder Okeng and I had a good laugh about.

We've been trying to get in the Christmas spirit as best we can! So we've got Christmas music going in the car 24/7, Elder Okeng's contemplating buying a Father Christmas suit, we're Christmas tracting, we're singing Christmas songs to members... Just having an all around jolly and merry time! While we were visiting Baba Mnguni this week with a Christmas message, he happened to be enjoying the beautiful South African weather on his back porch with a friend who had been drinking lots and lots of umqombothi. Which, in English, is traditional African beer. He wanted to start arguing with us about... Man, I can't even remember! It was funny whatever it was, and eventually it got to the point where he asked us, "Where does God stay?" As I pondered the question, my thought process was, "Ok, this guy's drunk... He's not going to remember any of this conversation anyway. This is your one chance on mission to teach Kolob to a complete stranger." So, with Elder Holland like confidence, I blurted out "Kolob!" Elder Okeng and Baba Mnguni busted up, and the drunk man just kinda scratched his head in confusion.

We had a couple powerful contacts this week! We were doing some finding in M section, and a gogo answered the door at one of the houses we knocked on. Usually the response of people is, "Oh, I'm busy..." But with her, she saw Christ's name on our name tags and ushered us right into her living room. She told us a little bit about herself and her love of Christ and her family. We had to rush to an appointment right after, but we gave her a Book of Mormon and she couldn't have been more excited. With the Book of Mormon, it's easy to lose sight of what it's true purpose is. Aside from being evidence of the Restoration, evidence that Joseph Smith was a propet, and the keystone of our religion, the primary purpose God brought it forth in these last days is to bring us closer to Christ... It's there to shed light on His earthly mission, His perfect example, and what we need to do to become more like him. And when it's introduced in that way, it opens the doors for people to find truth in it and to feel the Spirit testify to them of its divinity. And that, my friends, is what happened with Gogo Nzama.

On Saturday, somehow I found myself preaching from the Book of Mormon at a Zulu wedding for two non-members... What an experience! Bishop Magaqa is the man. He's got a license to marry, and the chapel is open to anyone -- member and non-member alike --  to host their wedding there. What a fantastic way to do missionary work. I think the only members there were Bishop, his wife, and the missionaries. People saw and mingled with us and saw the Church in a good light. They heard good things coming from the Book of Mormon. They saw us volunteering afterwards to clean up. We didn't get to talk to EVERYONE there, but we were able to plant some seeds for missionaries to harvest in the future. Showing people what we're about... Not simply telling. There's something to be said for things like that.

What's coming up this week... MLC tomorrow, ward Christmas party on Thursday, lots and lots of jolly good times ahead... Christmas time. Great time to be serving the Saviour and doing His work!

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

Much love,

Umdala Johnson

Shared 12/8/14 -Braai, volleyball, soccer and chapati

 Soccer

 Braai

Playing some volleyball

"For us we're missionaries and we have something called White Handbook so we actually can't come visit you tonight at 11..."

Sanbonani!

Another transfer down, five to go... Crazy how time seems to fly! Elder Okeng and I are going to be together for another four weeks or so! Elder and Sister Poelman have put something together for the departing African elders called the Post-MTC.They spend the last two weeks of their missions gaining practical training in plumbing and panel beating so they can go home and be able to sustain themselves a little bit. So Elder Okeng will be doing that, which gives us four weeks to baptize the heck out of everyone in Umlazi! Hurrah for Israel!

I think one of the biggest lessons I've learned this transfer is that there's much more to leadership than achieving results... Elder Okeng has taught me that in a big way. There's the list of things we're required to do every transfer as zone leaders, but then there's the unwritten list that you kind of have to think outside the box for. We saw a lack of unity in a couple districts in the zone, so we decided to do something about that. Last Monday we ended up organizing a family home evening at the Isipingo boarding in hopes of building the brotherhood. As missionaries, we do family home evenings for members and investigators all the time, but how often do we get to have a family home evening for our fellow elders? It ended up being a huge hit! We played some soccer during the day, Elder Okeng cooked chapati for everyone, we played some games, and shared lots and lots of laughs. Brotherhood... There's something to be said about brotherhood.

I've had to eat a little bit of humble pie this transfer (a phrase I'm borrowing from Elder Hansen) in the sense of not being able to work how I'd like... But it's been good. We haven't been able to do as much finding as I'd prefer, but we had a couple really good experiences this week. I'm not a huge fan of tracting in Umlazi, because I feel like it's been tracted to death. I think like three houses in a row one day people said, "Yeah, the missionaries used to visit us... We have the Book of Mormon, and it's great and stuff, but we have our beliefs." But, we press forward! I think it was Thursday, we were in U section, and we knocked on a door and the wife let us in to talk to her husband. Man... One of the most humble babas I've ever met! His name is Reginald, and he had been recovering from a spinal surgery (that was successful, don't worry!) But he was friendly, super positive, welcomed us warmly, and told us all about his faith. We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon, and he looked at it and asked us if it had anything to do with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He promised to start reading it, and we're seeing him again this week! Walking away, I couldn't believe that missionaries had never visited his place... He stays right by a member, his house is right out in the open, and yet... This was his first encounter with the elders! So the moral of the story? Keep pushing... The Lord IS preparing people out there... You just have to find them!

What else has gone on this week... We talked to a couple other people over the course of the week. One dude named Bheki was really excited to tell us all about his coaching career, his marathons he ran, his time in America singing opera... It seemed like if there was anything cool in the world, he'd done it! But he was at least humble enough to accept the invitation to learn more about the Plan of Salvation, so that's pretty cool too. We met another brother named Themba while we were trying to find where a member stays... Themba is the brother of this member, and told us he was actually the one that was wondering about the Book of Mormon when the missionaries started visiting his brother, but somehow he had never actually sat down with the missionaries and learned... Crazy right?!

There's this tuck shop by the chapel that you can buy mgwenyas at. Elder Okeng and I go there almost everyday for mgwenyas. Mgwenyas are basically like... Baseball sized scones. They're super good, and you can get them with like paloney and cheese and stuff and they make a nice li'l sandwich. But eating mgwenyas everyday... Kinda gets old. So Baba Dlamini, who runs the tuck shop, told us his wife can start cooking for us every day to give us more of a variety! Which the four of us in the BB district were totally down for. So she started by making us jeqe and sugar beans this week... Super super good! And guess what... Elder Rowley and Elder Paige have even started teaching them the gospel! The Lord works in mysterious ways, my friends...

Sister Gree is a crazy awesome member in our area, and she invited us all over for her birthday on Saturday, so that was super cool. We braai'd, we played volleyball, we laughed, we had a really really really good time. She ended up being our Sunday lunch appointment too, and she was asking us what we wanted... We unanimously said that on hot days, sometimes a big meal is just too much and that we'd be happy with bread. She laughed, but we kept insisting. And so...on Sunday! We show up to her house and she's made like 290374923 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Best Sunday lunch ever!!!

....do I talk about food too much? Eish...

Hmmm... And this is kinda funny. So for priesthood and relief society this Sunday, it was combined... And for some reason we ended up watching a movie called One Good Man. It's one of those movies that's church themed, but not produced by the Church... Kind of like the Best Two Years! It was super nice and had a good message, but we couldn't figure out why in the world Bishop Magaqa decided to show it as a priesthood lesson... But! We didn't complain! We just enjoyed.

The work goes on... And Christmas is just around the corner! So I'm super duper stoked to share some Christmas messages with people. Share the gift right? Something like that...

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

Much love,

Umdala Johnson

Shared 12/1/14 - Thanksgiving ribs at Spur, wedding, baptism, and the Indian Ocean

 Beautiful views of the Indian Ocean….

 Soccer...

 Double rainbow….

All you can eat ribs at Spur…on Thanksgiving

Mission accomplished…all you can eat ribs, check.

 The Christmas tree is up!

Wedding

Driving on the right side of the car in South Africa

 Baptisms

"Missionary work is a work of love and trust, and it has to be done on that basis." --President Hinckley

Sanbonani!

On mission, you can spend lots of time whining and complaing that "Wah wah wahhh... Thanksgiving without a turkey is gonna be lame!" and stuff like that... Or! You can improvise! So my idea of Nando's with full chickens didn't happen... But! On Thursday nights, Spur has an all-you-can-eat ribs special! So we invited whoever in the zone wanted to come, with the promise that whoever could pound down the most plates of ribs would receive a hug from Elder Paige... And man, did everyone try hard! Proud to say that I put down four plates (and yoh... I was dying afterwards! NO ONE slept that night!), but came in third place after Elder Rowley who managed 4 and a half, and Elder Peterson who put away a whopping 5 and a half plates of ribs! So, he was our grand champion. And because it was Thanksgiving, we all decided as a group the next day that we are thankful for our toilets.

Oh boy... Hectic week! Exchanges up the wazoo, finding, getting bunked, and to end it all off... A missionary farewell, a fireside, three baptisms, one confirmation, one ward council meeting, and a partridge in a pear tree. Where to begin…

Oh! So this is kinda funny. Pamela's been hearing some negative stuff about the Church from a co-worker. There's the typical stuff like we worship Joseph Smith, we don't believe in the Bible, and so on and so forth... But then she also heard we don't wear wedding rings, which... I've never heard before, but it's ok. So she's kinda shying away from wanting us to continue teaching them, but! Njabulo...is power as ever! We were helping them chop down a mango tree on Thursday, and afterwards we were saying goodbye and that we'd see them at our Tuesday appointment, and Njabulo was like, "No! We'll see you Sunday! We're coming to church Sunday! Right, Pam? We went to your dad's church last week, we can go to theirs this week!" He kinda caught her super off guard, which... If you were there was pretty comical. They're like... Man they're just the coolest young couple out there! Once we hit them with eternal families and stuff... We're hoping Pamela will be a little more receptive :)

I was with Elder Moyake on Wednesday in another section of Umlazi... And what a joy it is to work with him! He's one of the most diligent elders out there. We were walking the whole day since their area isn't a driving area, and that was something good... I forget how many people you can talk to when you're not moving around in a car the whole day!

Let's see... Friday we were supposed to see Baba Mkhize, but we got to his home and found out he was working late... Now, remember what I was saying about lobola last week? His wife-to-be isn't too keen on bypassing the Zulu tradtions and signing the marriage papers until he's paid lobola... Which is the only thing really keeping him from being baptized. So we've always kinda been intimidated by his wife, but she invited us in and we were able to have a lesson with her. We taught her the Restoration, and she committed to pray and find out if it's true. So... Progress! Let's hear it for the Spirit!

Saturday I was on exchanges with Elder Sarai, which was kinda funny... We're both serving in the BB ward, so it was exchanges like... A couple neighborhoods over! And all of us were invited to the wedding of the son of a member... So we ended up all of us at the same place a good chunk of the day. Hard to really call it an exchange, but...we roll with it!

Ah man, so the week culminated in three baptisms! The one from our area was Sister Lungile Sithole, and she's as prepared as they come. Crazy enough, she's been investigating and coming to Church for about four years now... So long that everyone's just assumed she's a member! When we told people she was getting baptized, they were like, "...again?" But she decided now she's ready, and her testimony... Man, it was power! Brother Lufuno was baptized from Elder Rowley and Elder Paige's area, and him too... Power. Ziggy Magaqa's one of his buddies at church, and he was the one to baptize him. Seeing someone bring a friend into the gospel... There's not much that's greater to see than that!

We got some crazy news yesterday... Big Z called us after our lunch appointment and asked for Elder Okeng. They talked in the car for a good long while, and come to find out... His mom passed away this weekend. Man... I can't even imagine. But he's a trooper. He's been telling me he's been studying the post-mortal life like crazy lately. Something's been driving him towards that. He's been saying what a blessing it is to know about the Plan of Salvation. It becomes so much more real when you lose someone that close to you. His mom was able to go to the temple last year as well. He knows she's somewhere where she's happy.

So this next week will be something else. President told Elder Okeng if he needs to take a rest for a couple days, that's no problem at all. Lots of love will be heading his way this week. Please keep him in your prayers... I'm sure he'll really appreciate it.

The work moves forward. The gospel is real. The healing power of the Atonement... The Plan of Salvation... It's all fo' real.

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

Much love,

Umdala Johnson