October 17
"Well fam, guess how this week was.
A) Good
B) ight
C) Cold and miserable
D) So fliping fantastic I want to jump up and down and sing all day long because I love it all so verry verry much even if it was super hot and humid some days!!!!!!!
If you said D, you were almost correct because it was even better than that! :)
Why may you ask!?
Because we found a way awesome family! Ya that's right a family, and not just a family with a mom and some children like we usually find but one with a father, and no not just a father who isn't too interested in his family like the rest of them, this guy was different, this guy was power! He has six children, ya I know right. sooooo many. At least this side that's a lot of kids to come from the same mother and father. (It is a lot this side too, it is just we have tweaked our children by having nine) He loves his family. We went to follow up with him and he didn't read the pamphlet... boo.... buuuuutttt, I aint given up on him, not by a long shot. This guy is future bishop I can see it. All we gotta do is just get him started, if he reads the book of Mormon, He will know it is true and then its easy from there. If they read, it all just goes so smooth, the struggle is to get them to really read and pray. anyways I am super stoked for them and hope and pray that they progress.
On another note, I feel like I am changing... not in a 12 year old boy kind a way, but in a spiritual, emotional, what what kind of way! I don't know, I have thought a lot about what if I come home and haven't changed at all, what if I am the same me, still making the same mistakes, and doing the same stupid things. then did I really do everything I could? well I feel like I am now starting to notice changes in myself, in my desire to serve and all that good stuff. I guess I am still learning how to be a good missionary after 16 months but hey. Maybe one day Ill get there. (it may take a few more missions in my senior years to get their ;) ) But I guess what I am saying is that I feel like I am learning and growing which is super sweetness! And makes me happy about serving a mission. I mean that's part of the reason we are here. So goes the famous saying you can't convert anyone beyond your own conversion and that you will have at least one convert on your mission, being yourself, because we do come to to become more like the Savior and try to encourage others to do the same all along the way. You learn from sharing and you grow by teaching. its super cool. :)
Well I look forward to another great week in the bay as the heat starts to come in.... hope I don't melt."
Then our personal email from that week:
"I cant believe its been a year, I remember actually tearing up when I heard about your acl, I have never felt such a sinking feeling inside my gut before. but I remember just how I knew this would motivate you, how you would gain perspective, and apreciation and so much determintation and you did all that and more. just dont loose that feeling you had on the sideline for so long. the feeling that you would give up all just to be out on the field for 10, to make a difference in a game. How you would go through any pain and torture just to step foot on the grass on game day. that feeling cant leave you, that motivation will continue to propel you!
Oh when I heared about your goal I flipped, my companion might have gotten a bit scared, I dont know. but wow I mean ah, like fetch. haha I dont know I just dont have words. I cant even picture what my reactions will be like in real time. (grass angels like Jules dad haha)
My companion is awesome, he goes home in two weeks time which is going to be weird, especially since I will then be running the zone alone... hmmm... but Ill also have to work in the other missionaries area because the transfer still has four weeks left. thats gonna suck. He is about to go home but still working decently hard. I think this week we are going to really push ourselves though which will be good. because we didnt get that good of stats this week adn we are the ones who are suppose to lead the zone by example. so I am excited for the week to come and get down with the nitty gritty of missionary work... ie knocking on doors! woot woot! haha"
"This week was a pretty decent one. its getting hard to make sure we are staying dedicated because Elder Mupumha goes home next week but we are doing our best!
We met some new investigators this week so I am excited to see where they end up.
An awesome experience this week was this:
So I met this lady in a SupaQuick (car place like a jiffy lube) and she was also getting something fixed on her car, of course I started talking to her and we got her contacts and what not. Well, we tried calling for like two weeks and she would always be super bogus and say she was busy or this or that or what what. super lame right! Like who doesn't want to sit with the missionaries!?!? Well I decided I should try again, usually we just drop these types of bogus but for some reason we hadn't given up. So I dial, and give her a bit of a ring. She answered and we started going down the same old road, "Hey, this is the missionaries, We wanted to set a time when we can come and see you this week and share more about Jesus Christ and how His gospel can help bless our lives ect. ect." her reply " Oh.... Ya, well I have work this week and this and that and I am busy and eish theres this thing and ill get back to you" (they never get back to us.... its sad) Me "Well what time do you knock of work, we do this everyday from 9am to 9pm, so we can work around your schedule." her" okay I am just not really good company right now, I just lost a really close friend and I dont think we should visit." Me " Oh, I am so sorry. You know, one of the messages that we share is that we can be with our families forever, and that we can see our loved ones again. That death is not the end." I barely finished my sentence when she excitingly exclaimed "REALLY!" me "well YES, haha" her " when can I meet you" the end.... so ya that was quite the phone call. its amazing to see how the gospel fits so perfectly into each of our lives. when great truths are brought to us in our time of need, it really is just exciting. We meet with her this week, I really hope she comes and we can have a good lesson. I know this gospel will help her to find peace and joy in life. and comfort beyond anything she has ever experienced.
We also had another great lesson this week with a new investigator. So we were on our way to see this guy names Vusi, we got to his house and saw a young women, we asked her, Ucon Uvusi? she replied ageko, (is vusi here? no he is gone) so we then started talking to her about what we do. we sat down and began to get into teaching and then she started asking us if God will always forgive us. we spent the next hour talking about repentance and the sacrifice Jesus made for us, and how we can repent and recieve forgiveness from sin. it was a power lessons and she had so many great questions. It was stellar! look forward to seeing her again.
Then we walk into church on Sunday and I see a young women sitting down, 15 yrs old, I start talking to her and then come to see that its her first time at this church, she lives across the street and her parents go to separate churches so she usually goes to one down the street but today she decided to come and see what this church was all about. it was cool, she seemed so focused all throughout church and I hope she enjoyed it. we have a meeting with her this week as well and I hope we don't get bunked.
Well that's a bit of my week for ya! its was pretty good :) It's super hot some days and really humid soo... eish..... but its also been rain quite a bit."
His email to me this week was exactly what I needed. I had been feeling a lot of stress and pressure to perform well and do well in school and he just said exactly what I needed to calm down and refocus. He's the best!
"babe... breathe, :) life is good right? relax, and just focus. not on all the things happening right now but on one thing, first think of something that makes you smile (I hope thats me) haha just focus till you see it in your minds eye. breath in and breath out. then look up. be determined. stand tall! babe nothing can keep you down, nothing is bigger than you, nothing, no one is bigger, better, or stronger than you are! You have got this, its all under control I promise. I love you! I am sorry to hear it was a rough week, I know that you've been having a lot of school work, and a lot of expectation and pressure put on you. remember your first game back and your first goal. the thrill. nothing else was going through your mind except to just play! You have been doing amazing! beyond amazing thus far and yes people are now looking at you, you got their attention but what does that change? Nothing It dosnt change a think. You are still just playing the game. dont forget that you love it and the love of the game is all the matters. You play because its who you are, its what you do. You score because its who you are, its what you do. You excel every expectation, limit, and barrier because its who you are. Not because its who others think you are or want you to be. Just do you. Just do you babe and let it work out, I know it will. Because when You are being yourself, and not trying to please or meet to anyone else, you always do it right. I dont know why I am saying any of this, maybe I am completely off topic and this has nothing to do with how you are feeling, or maybe it does. bottom line is no matter what, I love you. thats one thing I know for sure. I love you. Thats one thing that will never change. Love. And I know you love the game. sometimes we become blinded by all the politics and statistics attached to it, we begin focusing on that rather than the game its self. We dont fail because we fall, we fail because we dont get back up. so we had a bad week, we knew it would happen. it always does. that just means we have to get up, and smile through the pain. I know you may still feel like right now you dont have anyone to turn to, ya you have me but writing it out can be difficult especially when just wanting to get it all out quickly. but You do have me babe, youve had me since day one. when an awkward, super weird and messed up 16 year old boy fell in love with you. This boy still loves you :) dont forget it, okay...
I was just telling Kami that whenever I start to get really frustrated or upset about something which still happens a lot on mission, I just picture you. I can see you just looking me dead in the eyes and telling me its okay... calm down... And I do, I calm down and I gain perspective from the situation. after I calm down I can collect my thoughts and really look at whats happening, You help me so often and you dont even know it. You have gotten me through some hard times on my mission. Just because I know you love me, I know you are there and I can feel it. I guess what I mean is that I am here babe. always will be <3
wellllll enough about that :) again not sure if its relevant at all but just felt like it might be. also Ive never been good at the whole advice thing so eish...
haha at least you dont get black eyes as often as Kami haha and at least yours was from a fist instead of a ball. Really I love Kam though haha
Ya she is really into this nate guy. she sent me an email this week just talking about him and wow does is remind me of us... that scares me. Kami is like a little sister to me and if anyone hurts her... oh boy they will have it coming...
But it reminds me of how we fell in love and the adventures we went on and just our fun dates and talking and how you made any situation better or good or fun. I wanted to be with you through everything. you were and are my everything. it was just like a flash back to our temple trips and running around silliness, hike to donut falls and climbing the tree up the mountain side haha man... Those were great. there is an awesome quote I love. "I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them." I sometimes wish I did more, scratch that, I always wish I did more, luckily I will have eternity to make up for it ;)
I love you so much and I am trying to be better and do better every day. bear with me. we can do it, I know!
Elder Mookie"
October 31
"So my companion came to the end of his mission and has now left me.... eish.....
It was an awesome four weeks with Elder Mupumha I learned a lot from him. He is a powerful missionary, we did our best to "die" strong, not easy as I am sure many of you know what its like.
He has a strong testimony and will truly help the work continue in Zimbabwe. Now that he is gone I will most likely get a mini missionary, but we don't have any young men preparing to go on mission in any of the surrounding branches so we will be looking for a return missionary who is available to come and be my companion for the next two weeks. Well we will see what happens, we might have someone who can come work with me he is in his thirties and from Enseleni.
The Family we found a while ago sadly didn't go as we hoped and we have moved on but you know what they say. one door shut, another open. Sometimes we are just planting the seeds to be reaped later.
We were able to meet with Portia, the women who had concerns about a friend who recently passed, because of time we unable to share a lot with her but gave an overview of the plan of salvation, she brought a friend who was visiting from Umlazi who seemed pretty interested as well. I hope things will work out. we are planing a day to see her again soon.
Currently I will be working with Elder Waeni from Zim and Elder Reed from Utah. They were both companions in Lesotho when I first went that side.
An excerpt from my letter to president:
It was an interesting week having it be Elder Mupumhas last week, we tried our best to keep working hard and we did some tracting in town which is of course known to be the hard area and missionaries usually avoid it. I just cant help but think there are people there as well. Mupumha told me he had never worked town and didnt think we would find anyone willing to listen or even kind enough to say hi. We knocked and buzzed quite a bit and got the typical response of passive aggressive notions not interested in our delightful message. On the other hand we found about three people who were very kind hearted and one who became a new investigator. It was a great experience for both of us to see that there really is work to be done all over the place, no matter what the area is I know the Lord will prepare people.
I had the great opportunity to call each member in my zone and do sort of a get to know you, how are you, how do you feel about mission, what can we increase. I got some amazing feedback from the zone and wow, I was blown away by the extreme and dedicated effort they are producing. I am really pushing for the same exciting buzz we had in Lesotho here in the bay. I think our excitement for the work goes a lot further than we see. I think things will really pick up the next two weeks as we all pull together and increase in encouraging each other to aim even higher and be even better."
It's blowing my mind that we're coming up on 7 months to go! Time is flying. Regular season just finished up, the tournaments starts this weekend and we only have one more month of the semester. One more semester to go until he's home!!!
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