Shared 1/12/15 - Umlazi South Africa

Mandla, baba! MANDLA!

Sanbonani!

Man, what a week this has been! Threesomes, exchanges, polygamists, sleeping on tile floors... Livin' the dream here in Africa!

Elder Okeng's been at the PMTC all week, so Elders Rowley, Paige, and I have been working our two areas. Threesomes are usually kinda the pits... Coordinating lessons, planning, and studies with two missionaries is tough enough, but throwing a third in adds a crazy twist to the plot... But with a couple consecrated elders like Rowley and Paige, ah... This week's been one for the books.

I think it was Tuesday... We had some time to go tracting in U section, which has been relatively untouched by missionaries in the recent past. The most memorable experience of the day came at the second or third house we knocked on. The ma immediately invited us in and brought us chairs to sit on (this isn't uncommon here as it may be in other parts of the world). Eventually, baba walked in and we were able to have a conversation with him. Elder Rowley started asking about his family, and we learned that he has a whopping 27 children! Aaaaand we also learned that he has three wives. The crazy thing is that's perfectly legal here, and within the Zulu culture, it isn't uncommon. Jacob Zuma... The president of South Africa. He has about five or six wives. I mean... He's not quite Joseph Smith or Brigham Young level, but he's trying! But anyway... He told us about his children and that he can remember all their names and everything. He probably won't be joining the Church, but he took a pamphlet and we were on our merry way.

I think it was Thursday... Yep! Thursday I was on exchanges...well, not exchanges...but I was in a threesome with Elder Merile and Elder Fox in Amanzimtoti. Man, they have a cool area. It's a wealthier area, which makes it a little bit tougher for missionary work, but they're doin' some good work. They're doing a family history stand at the local library and are finding some good people through that, and heck... They're right on the beach! There's always people there, so what better place to go street contacting? That was on our schedule while I was there, and man... The longer I'm out and the more I contact, the more I'm convinced that those who are prepared for the gospel will recognize the missionaries pretty quickly as servants of Jesus Christ, and we'll recognize them. There's really not much of a need to try and be sly and trick someone into having the missionaries over. As we were walking along the beach, we passed by some stands outside with people selling their handcrafted things. One man was selling paintings, and one in particular really caught my eye. Just a simple picture of the beach with a VW Bus parked on it. Pop Pop... I'm trying to remember... I know you like buses, and I know you've told me in the past there's a specific year you like, and you can tell which year it is because of the front window being split or not... Can you remind me on that a little bit? But anyway, without even thinking, I started asking this guy about his painting, and he ended up telling us about it and his life and what he does for fun. Seems like the adventure-loving, outdoorsy type...and the craziest thing of all, he's a mlungu! Which is Zulu slang for white dude! Man, and mlungus are scary to talk to! But there we were, having a normal conversation, and eventually he was the one that asked us about our nametags, and was more than welcome to have a visit from us. Joe Steyn's his name. So that was super cool. Found an awesome dude, and even ended up with a painting out of it. Hurrah for Israel!

What else happened this week... Hmmm... It's been tough trying to find the line between being a benevolent, loving leader, and helping the missionaries to achieve the level of consecration and obedience the Lord's pushing for in this mission. Big Z has been focusing on a few specific rules we need to tighten up on lately...rules that our zone has been struggling with...so it's resulted in a lot of pondering this week. After counseling a bit with Elders Rowley and Paige, we decided to have the zone study a couple scriptures, study the hymn Come, Come, Ye Saints, and then ask each of the district leaders to discuss these passages in relation to what we need to tighten up on. I was a little nervous to see how the zone would take it, but for the most part, they handled it maturely. Elder Moyake told me, "We know what we need to do." That was a relief. There were a couple elders that were still unsatisfied, but... Eish. I guess it's impossible to please everyone. But President offered me some encouraging words this week. "Achieving the degree of personal ministry that we know we should is always hard. It will be a challenge for your whole life -- you will always recognize a gap between what you know you should or "could" be doing to minister to others (including members of your family or even your children) and what you are actually doing. But I'm convinced that as we allow this gap to rest humbly on our minds, with the attitude, "Lord, help me do my best with my assigned ministry," the Lord helps us achieve the right balance of all the things that need to be accomplished." Gotta love Big Z.

We picked up Elder Okeng this Sunday and spent the day in Umlazi with him saying some goodbyes. He was saying it's different saying goodbyes here than in other areas... Since this is his last time. Crazy stuff. I'm sure gonna miss that guy. Haha he's a nut... Usually missionaries will leave a journal for you to sign and leave a message to them as they're going, so Elder Okeng did that... But he also left us one to sign for the future Sister Okeng. So that was a fun letter to write.

What's on the schedule today... Elder Rowley's also going home next week, so we're gonna spend the rest of the day in Chatsworth saying some goodbyes. And I believe one of the investigators we're going to has a drum set... Something I haven't played in a year and a half... So I'm pretty stoked for that. And we're having FHE with their landlords tonight, who are members in Chatsworth... And by request, they're making us homemade mutton bunny chow, which is basically a quarter loaf of bread filled with curry. I'm gonna be a happy elder tonight.

Oh, one more thing before I tap out for today. I hit 18 months this week. Which means I'm no longer a sister missionary! Weeeeeeee!

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

Much love,

Umdala Johnson

Shared 1/5/15 - Soccer, New Years, Carliles, and Natal Lion Park

 New Years Eve...Braai

 Indian food with the Carliles before they fly home.

 The Carliles

 More soccer this week.....

 A little sunburned

 Natal Lion Park

 Nice kitty.....

Up close and personal....

 Zebra too....

I survived the New Years Eve 2014 checkout line at Pick 'N Pay!

Sanbonani!

Man... So we walked into Pick 'N Pay on New Years Eve to buy meat to braai with the other missionaries later that night, and first off... The line for the liquor store outside stretched the length of the whole mall. After laughing about that, we walked into the store, found our meat and charcoal, walked to the checkout counter, and realized that the line to pay was actually wrapping around the entire store... Eish. But it ended up being ok. We met a lady there that has a sister who's a member, and told us stories about how missionaries from all over used to come to her house. Right place at the right time? You bet!

Man... It's been a little bit of a wild week! The weeks of New Years and Christmas are the two weeks of the year that the majority of South Africa gets wasted. So a lot of people have been hung over and stuff, but amongst it all, we've managed to do some good work.

Remember that church we went to last Sunday? We were invited to teach their congregation on Tuesday, and man... THAT was an experience. There were probably about a hundred people there from all over ZA. Newcastle, Limpopo, JoBurg, Ndwedwe... Apparently this pastor's a pretty big deal. So Elders Okeng, Wesonga, Larsen and I decided to share the Plan of Salvation with them, which we knew going into it might conflict with their beliefs, especially since we had plans to teach from the Book of Mormon. But hey... It ended up going well. We each took a chunk of it and shared while someone translated into Zulu. At the end, the pastor allowed members of the congregation to come up and individually ask us questions. We stayed for probably two hours after that and taught probably 7 or 8 preachers and many accepted Books of Mormon. Now, we're not too sure how many of them will read with real intent, so it would be easy to look at the whole ordeal as a waste of time, but hey... We were able to teach individually 7 or 8 preachers that we would never have been able to while tracting. And while we share different beliefs, we all respected each others' views, and the congregation in general was happy for our visit. If anything, they'll be warmed up to visits from missionaries in the future. I had the feeling going into it that there would be at least one person's heart who was touched because of what we shared. Ah, the Plan of Salvation... What a beautiful topic to discuss!

Said goodbye to Elder Okeng today... Well, kind of. Just until next Sunday. He's off to the PMTC, which I don't remember if I've explained in one of these emails yet... Basically Elder Poelman puts it on for the last two weeks of every transfer, and it's basically practical training for the African elders so they can find work when they get home. So Elder Okeng's doing that, and I'll be in a threesome with Elder Rowley and Elder Paige for the next couple weeks. But then Elder Okeng's coming to attend in Umlazi next Sunday, so it's just a see you later for now. Oh! And this is crazy... I talked to Elder Ryan Berghout today who's serving in Uganda, and he's serving in Elder Okeng's home ward! Small world, hey?

Let's see... We've been playing a good amount of soccer this week. It's been the common consensus that bonding with members is one of our best uses of time during this drunken rampage of a holiday season. All the mlungus got sunburned on Saturday. Gosh dang it... Why couldn't I have been born black?!

So this is something... Every once in a while you see someone wearing an MLB hat, yet no one plays baseball here, so you just wondering... Why? You see a lot of Yankees hats, which is more of a fashion thing than anything, but every once in a while you see random teams. Like this week, we were at a petrol station in Chatsworth, and I saw someone in a Cleveland Indians hat, and I was asking myself, of all the teams he could have chosen... Why Cleveland? Then it hit me. The man wearing it was an Indian.

Said goodbye to the Carliles this week... Which is crazy. They came out the same time as me. And they're seeing Mama and Pop Pop next week... Yoh. But it was a great send off. They finally got to try the Indian food they hear so much about in my emails! Hurrah for Israel!

And finally, we had our district activity this morning... This one was a repeat of one we did back in Queensburgh, but the second time definitely beat the first. We went to the Natal Lion Park close to PMB, and man... The lions were ACTIVE today! They were playful, they were climbing on our cars... Good stuff.

Gonna be an interesting week... Had two exchanges planned, but they're just gonna be threesomes now... You gotta do what you gotta do! Lots of good times ahead. Six months left... Gotta make the most of it. I'm gonna miss this place like crazy. 

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

Much love,

Umdala Johnson