In last week's group email he mentioned how he feels much more like himself now and much happier! He seemed to be a little down in his last area for some reason, but now even just reading emails I can see his personality again and he does seem much happier. He feels like he is really settling in now and beginning to love the people. Loving the people is so important!
Sand art at Toti Beach
Mikel with his companion, Elder Sibeko
It's water, don't worry. hahaha
"My companion be older was weird at first but no I am used it it and we get a long pretty well. I have now had the two oldest people in the entire mission as my companions so that cool. but He is a cool guy, everyone I have talked to dosnt like him but he is okay, I definitely like him a lot more than my previous comp, but I did learn a lot from mashava and definitely grew a lot as well. Well you say your life is repetitive but mine is more so haha thats why I love just hearing about your days they just seem so interesting. I am doing good, I am actaully the happiest I have been in prob 2 or 3 months just because I feel like my goofy self again and get to laugh with the members, we meet a lot of less actives and that my goal is to work with the less actives not to baptize so you find that if you come to ttheir house and just say church church church they wont want you to come because you are just giving them fire and making them feel guilty and bad so I go and try and be their friend which means having fun and when I have fun with them I grow to love them and then when you see them come to church ah you just die you are so happy!!!!
Me and my current companion work so hard and we are super obedient to the rules, which causes for some hard and good work so we have been enjoying because I actually like working hard, even though I am lazy when it comes to getting out of the house into the area to teach, there isnt much better :)"
QUESTIONS from mom...
1. When was the last time you laughed with your companion and why? What makes you laugh in your area? How do you stay light hearted? Um I think the last time me and my companion laughed we were at a member’s house and we were just talking and making jokes. I love just trying to make others laugh and so Ill dance my silly little dances and just have fun. Something that Elder Agyman would always say was no one will make your mission fun for you, you have to do it yourself. so I always just try going into people’s house to make them smile, if you get to actually love them then the work just comes naturally, this gospel is about love. Like Joseph smith says you could call our religion kindness.
2. What has your mission president been doing to inspire the mission? What do you love about your mission president? I love our mission president, President Z! is the best he just encourages us to be a creative mission to think outside the box to get people to see the joy of the gospel, he encourages us to go forth with zeal and enthusiasm!!!
3. Are there any inside jokes in your mission? What is your current mission theme right now? Um, Inside jokes about mission, Im not sure, we call those females that get missionaries in trouble snakes. you need to be careful... they bite
our them or mission vision is 2 Nephi 20:13
4. What was your favorite meal from members during the mission so far? um back in Kimberley we had just some nice chicken it was cooked so good and we had the best mashed potatoes. we dont eat mashed potatoes much so it made me think of home which is why I loved it so much!
5. What is your favorite smell in your area right now? Least favorite? my favorite smell haha um probably my deodorant haha but actually I like the smell of the ocean or if it rains. The worst smell is the burning of trash in the township, that smells terrible.
6. What are some of the local sayings and interesting things people say in your area? well the best one is what they call white people if you are in the township. its gqongqa. thet q's are clicks and so its hard to say but its awesome haha Ill go to people and just say in zulu that my name is gqongqa, I have learned quite a bit of Zulu now and can ask a nice handful of questions, it will be cool to tell you some during Christmas!
Mutton and Curry!
In this week's email, he talked about how much he loves doing magic tricks for the little kids in his area. He was pretty good at a few card tricks in high school I remember, so I'm sure the kids there love it. He said he also does a coin trick for them that just makes them lose their mind haha. He is loving learning Zulu because it shows the native people that he came from the US to embrace, not to enforce. He loves the culture and the people so much.
:)
Monkeys!
"Since we have been working with a lot of less actives we have been doing fun activities like these to give them a spiritual thought and let them see that the gospel can be fun and they should come back to church. No one wants someone to come into their home and give them fire telling them they need to repent or they need to do 1,2,3 but rather just having them enjoy your company will make them want to come back. when you see a missionary your first thought is church, we dont have to mention it. but by constant visits and being a friend they usually gain the desire to come back again."
Rope Swing!
Mikel and Elder Kaitoo (K2). HE says that he is really cool and he enjoys being around him a lot!
Elder Kaitoo emailed his mom and said he just wished he could give her a hug, so she sent him this blanket :) haha!
QUESTIONS from mom:
1. How has the atonement strengthened you as a missionary this week? I love the atonement and it is the source of my testimony and love for this amazing gospel. I love that the atonement is for each of us and helps us repent and all that but its so much more, Christ literally felt our pain and struggles and sorrow, and doubt and grief and torment, but thats not all, he isnt just with us in times of deep sadness and trouble but almost more so he is there in the times of great joy and peace and love, he is all around us trough the good and not just the bad! when we smile, he smiles, when we cry He cries. It makes me think of Heavenly father and how He is just like any great parent. you find that as a parent you now find joy in the accomplishments of your children and I may be able to say you find more joy in theirs than in your own! so again, when we laugh, smile and jump for joy you better believe He is as well!!! :)
2. How often do you do laundry? Do you have a washer and dryer in your apartment?
I have a washer in our boarding but its super small so you can only do a couple of shirts so I do laundry every week sometimes twice to thrice a week and then we have racks we hang them on to dry.
3. Are there street vendors in your area? If so do they offer good food? Snacks?
In the townships there are what they call tuck shops which usually can sell candy and that kind of stuff and then there are some that sell magwinya's which are like scones and they sell chips (frys) and you just put tomato sauce on it. That's the most common but at times they can sell other stuff but I've never bought anything besides sweets and gwinyas.
4. Do you feel like you are an equal participant in the lessons that you teach? Me and me companion do a pretty good job at switching off when to speak, our teaching styles are a little different but that's okay.
5. How do you like your ward? Do you get fed more member meals in this area then in Kimberly? My ward is nice, I love the people and the members feed us! its awesome to change from not getting fed before to now being fed just about every night!!!
More pictures from his window... so pretty!
Right now, I'm having a hard time with this whole emailing thing. It was hard at first of course, because I was so used to talking to him every day, but it's especially hard right now. His emails to me are really short and not very descriptive. I'm not being critical of him at all because I know he has a limited time and other people to write, but our emails to each other are just kind of getting repetitive. I'm not sure how to fix that either, so it's making me sad :(
It's crazy that he's been out for 5 months now when day one feels like it was just yesterday. Life has changed so much since then, it's like I've gone through different "stages". The before he left stage, the while he was leaving stage, the after he left stage, the soccer season stage, the injured stage, now I'm in the recovery stage. And each stage feels like a completely separate part of my life. I was a different person in each stage, I felt different things, there have been different people involved in my life in each stage. It really just feels like none of the "stages" are connected and I was changed by each one but as I've gone through another I've been changed again. My gosh there's been too much change in my life since June. Mikel left, all of my guy friends have left/are leaving, my girl friends left for college as well and are leaving on missions in the next 6 months or so. I moved out of my house, I haven't made a single friend outside of my soccer team in college. I can't play soccer for the time being. I know that change is good but I haven't felt like I've been in a comfortable situation where I felt that I could relax in months. I just don't feel like myself. I think part of that is because having him with me became a part of me, and it's good that I'm learning to be independent. But mostly I think that not having a friend group or someone to talk to constantly has made me put up a wall for other people. I don't talk about myself or share my feelings with anyone because I'm not comfortable enough with anyone yet. So for the most part, me not feeling like myself is my own fault because I haven't made friends yet and it always takes forever for me to open up to others. Ugh. I'll try again next semester.
19 months to go!
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