Last week Mikel got transferred, so I didn't get to hear from him until this Monday. But he sent lots of pictures and awesome emails, so that made me happy :) I'm going to start with his group email because it was super long.
A soccer ball in Bloem
So he got transferred from Kimberly, which is in the middle of South Africa, to Amanzimtoti, which is on the coast just south of Durban. He said they call it Toti for short. He gave a little background of his new area:
"So a little bit about Toti. the word Amanzim means weather, and Toti means sweet so when the Zulu King Shaka came to this place and tasted to water he exclaimed Amanzimtoti saying that the water her was sweet to the taste. They speak Zulu here a lot so I am trying to learn, the only sentences I can remember is greeting people, goodbye, I love my girlfriend
(he always used to say that to me in spanish, so it made me laugh that he learned that in Zulu :), nice to see you and see you later, sorry, thank you, my name is, what is your name?, and other stuff along those lines, I hope to pick up the language because you meet quite a lot of people who cant speak English. Toti is full of hills, its crazy green and beautiful! it reminds me of the pictures my brother in Guatemala has sent. our car is broken so this week we walked baba! we walked and walked and walked as the famous primary song sings. I don't know how many miles but we would walk an hour to an appointment going up these crazy hills that are just shy of being called mountains and then walk an hour back to another so its been hectic but good for my health. Always a bright side."
His companion is Elder Sibeko and he is Xhosa (he said the X makes a click noise). He is 26 years old like his last companion and has been serving for 20 months. He said he loves to work and work hard which is awesome! He was sad to leave Kimberly because he left home for his mission and Kimberly was his first area so it became like home for him. There are a lot of people who he will miss but he is excited to be in his new area to spread the gospel!
Funny story of the week: "Found a giant cockroach in our boarding around 11 at night, we were up till about 12 I think trying to catch it. Me and Elder Dean spent our time that night on the hunt to capture and kill this pest and we would not rest until our mission was complete, after long minutes of struggle, disappointment, close calls and attacks and defense we finally won the battle against the mighty roach and were able to pronounce victory across the lands of our boarding! At one point the roach climb on the sealing and fell right on Elder Dean and started crawling around him, needless to say we screamed like school girls, um I mean he did... ya I was there standing manly with my mop in hand that I was using as a spear. haha. We eventually caught it and put it in Tupperware and poured bleach in it. It died within a minute and then within the next 48 hours the acidic bleach disintegrated all of the roach. There was nothing left, quite cool actually. We left it in the middle of the room so we could watch it die."
When he was transferred he took a bus on Monday night at 8 and arrived at 5 the next morning. He went straight to work with his new companion and was exhausted afterwards. It is more humid in his new area, but they have had some rain which has kept it managable.
Bus ride
View from their apartment! So pretty.
"The people here have seemed to be very nice and especially when I try and fail to speak Zulu to them, they like that a lot. It really shows your love for the people just trying to immerse yourself in their culture instead of bringing in your own.
Didn't get the privilege yet of trying chicken head or feet but hopefully soon. We do see monkeys in the street every now and again."
There are ship containers everywhere that are converted into little shops.
"I forgot to mention about the baptism I had. So my last Sunday in Kimberley I had the amazing opportunity to baptize Sis Philda Williams. We have been teaching her for only a month or two but she has really been prepared for us. She was awesome to teach. When the day of baptism came the water was really low which made it quite difficult to actually put her in the water but it all turned out fine. The font was full but but the plug was not tight and we didn't know so when we went in after church to do the baptism we found the water just to my knees. haha I had to leave her in the water a bit long because her jump suit filled with air and didn't want to go all the way down. It is such an amazing experience to see someone make so many changes in their life to follow the example that Christ gave us. I am truly blessed to be able to see these changes take place in the hearts of so many people. We get rejected by a lot of people but the few, the elect, make it all worth it!!!"
Just some good stuff from him :) "My ponderize this week was Alma 37:6
It talks about how you may think it is foolish that by small and simple things are great things brought to pas, but in many instances small means confounds the wise. I later after studying and thinking replaced the words small with the words Book of Mormon. it reads something like this. (off of memory so if there are any discrepancy please forgive)
"You may think it is foolishness in me, but behold by the book of Mormon and simple things are great things brought to pass, and in many instances does the book of Mormon confound the wise. well compared to the bible the book of Mormon is a relatively small and simple thing. Yet it does confound the wise scholars and priest. yet simple for a child to understand, truly divine!!!"
Mission friends!
Ngiya Xolisa (sorry) I wasn't more descriptive on whats been going on, its just been hectic haha. sizoku bona ntambama (spelling may be wrong but it means ill see you later this afternoon. but not true, I just don't know how to say in the future so I say this instead haha)
Ngubani igama lakho (N-gu-bon-E e-gah-mah la-koo) what is your name?
Anyways Zulu is cool and I love the clicks, they call white people qoqe whis is just two clicks and awesome haha.
Answers to some questions from mom:
Um I have ripped two of my shirts already haha but I am getting them sewn up, they wont look all to nice but they get the job done which is all I need. One ripped on the sleeve it got caught on the door handle and another ripped in the back as I left a members house and a wire from the gate caught it. My shoes seem pretty good, I am going to start polishing them more oft to try and keep the leather happy.
We get to do service just about every week, usually making gardens or weeding, its a bit different than back home, how you make gardens here is you use a pitch fork like thing and pull up the ground or if there are plants already you pull up the ground around it and I guess it helps it grow. Weeding you get a shovel and you slice under the roots and then you rake them up, its pretty labor intensive though and there is usually a ton of weeds, I climbed on top of a house one day and helped nail the roof down, we do painting pretty often as well. Now that I am in a new area I don't know how service goes this side so we will find out!
In Kimberley we were staying in like an apartment attached to the main house where some Afrikaners (white people) lived and they were our land lords. Now in Toti we live in a flat so just a big apartment building.
My sleeping in Kimberley wasn't to bad the bed was nice and I had extra pillows for my back problems but I don't have pillows here so my back is starting to act up but we have been walking a lot so I have been exhausted every day which causes me to sleep well.
For breakfast I will eat maybe eggs and toast or cereal, sometimes I eat yogurt and sometimes french toast but not often. I also have started eating an apple in the morning to try and be healthy.
Where do you email? Seems like you have a lot of time each week? I have been lucky in Kimberley we email in the chapel so it doesn't cost and same with in Toti so that's really cool. We usually get about two hours.
How are the people different there then in Kimberly? The people are very different because they are Zulu people so their culture is not the same at all compared to the Stwanna people. The white people here are usually English instead of Afrikans like in Kimberley but they are amazing people and I love trying to get into the language.
What have been the biggest challenges thus far in your mission? The biggest challenge is actually getting investigators to come to church, they will progress and keep commitments and will really feel the spirit and wont show up which is sad but work is work.
It seems like there are a lot older missionaries there. Is that true or have you just been paired with the exceptions? If they are older why is that? Most African missionaries are in their twenties or twenty when they leave. I think its because of trying to finish their highschool before mission and most people don't graduate when they are 18 they have to redo a couple years. There are also a lot of converts, but most missionaries are probably 20 I have gotten the two oldest in the entire mission. A little odd but good experience I guess :)
What are the languages spoken in new area? I am in the Kwal Zulu Natal so its only Zulu and English, you find a lot of people who don't speak English especially the older ones.
How are the houses? Do you go into any tribal areas? The houses arn't that bad here, I work in town which is pretty nice and township isn't too bad but there are shacks and we do teach in some very small houses. There isn't much of what you would picture tribe wise through anywhere is south Africa, they do have their traditions and a lot of them worship their ancestors. They believe that your ancestors carry the message to God on your behalf. So we meet them a lot this side.
Is it hard being so close to the water and not being able to go in it? I do want to go surfing and canoeing and deep sea fishing but can't which does kind of suck haha.
The Rand
Pictures of his new apartment:
Selfies.. hahaha
It's so crazy that next week he will be out 5 months! The hardest thing for me probably is just feeling like I don't really know what's going on with him. I get emails, I read stories, and occassionally (when he isn't emailing at 3 am) I actually get to email back and forth with him but I still don't really feel that I get to communicate with him. It makes me sad because we always used to talk about everything and we knew what each other was feeling and what was going on. It's so crazy because with my injury, he will never truly know what I went through when we gets home, which is similar to how I won't really know what he experienced on his mission. For both of us this is a time that we are to rely on the Lord and overcome adversity without each other so that we can become who we need to be. Although it's hard I know that this is how it's supposed to be.
"Wow babe, I would almost say youve been to hell and back with this trial, something I learned is that everyone has there own Gethsemane weather it be now or later we will go through something that will push us to the edge, and then a little more. Before Joseph smith saw the light when Heavenly Father and Christ apeared to him, He was first overcome by darkness to the point he thought he was doomed and could do no more but cry out for help from his father and even then the words chocked as he tried to utter what he must of thought would be his final prayer. The light did come, the witness always comes after the trial of faith :) as I always say life is tough, but its good and meant to be. It sucks that I wont ever really know what you are going through and its hard for me to accept that fact and just accept that I am not with you, even today I talk about you daily to people I meet to investigators, members, missionaries. If they ask any question boy do I talk and talk and talk, There is just so much I want to tell them and let them know how lucky I am and how amazing you are and how much I love you! You have been a big strength to me which as you say, you will never know just how much you have helped me through the hard times. I cant wait to be with you forever.
primary programs are my favorite I love them and I just love little kids, I like just playing with them when I go to members or in the street giving them sweets or somthing. I love the kids here, the call me umlungo or qoqe, it means white person in a sorta racist way but its funny. usually you just say sharp to the kids and you do this thing where you put your thumbs together with them its pretty cool.
I love you babe and sorry my emails always suck haha I am surprisingly busy even on mondays, its really weird, I have some letters to send you and I found one I wrote two months ago... ;/ eish I really got to get my crap together haha. thank you so much! I got your letters with the 3 and 4 month pictures, made me tear a little, I love you so much!
Love
Elder Mookie"
