9 Months

I'm a little behind on my post this week, it's been super busy! I feel like I'm constantly rushing from one place to another. There's only one more month left in the semester and then my team and I go to Germany! I'm so excited. I'm just excited to take a little break from school. I'm taking summer semester, so I really only get like 3 weeks off, but a break is a break haha. It's so crazy because he has been out for 9 months now! It doesn't feel like that long but looking back it feels like forever. I can't believe how fast time is flying.

Books of Mormon in multiple languages

Saying bye to Elder Kaitoo

Goodbyes with Elder Rakotomalala

RM???

Crossing the border from South Africa to Lesotho

I'm super happy because he got my birthday package this last week! It was just a little late but I'm glad it got to him somewhat close to his birthday :) He said he really liked it and that makes me happy. I did a bunch of "Open When" letters for him, like "Open When you have been out for 1 year" and he said it's torture having to wait to open them but he's excited to do it.

"It has been a fantastic flippin week if I do say so my self!   We have been on bikes for the past week and a half. This area has not had their bakkie for about four months because a previous elder drove it into a ditch.....Ooops. But good news! we got our bakkie back! Oh boy do I love it. There is just something fulfilling about driving a truck, especially a manual haha. It has helped a lot with the work because we can now stay out latter ( previous on bikes we had to be home around 6 because it gets to dangerous when we are out later than that) and we can work in rain or shine! We were able to go to a bit further places which seemed promising in tracting and were able to knock some doors done that side. I work in an area called ha tsetane or something like that and work in the neighboring towns and villages."

Pictures of their boarding

JELLO

"Cool story of the week is that we were approached by some guy in the mall who teaches at a emt college. He asked us if we would be interested in helping him teach a morals class. We gladly accepted his offer and get to meet all the students later today. We will be teaching a two hour class of about 85 students once a week about morals and ethics and of course Jesus Christ! We are stoked about this and think we will all learn from the experience. I am praying it all goes well!!!  The area is starting to pick up, we didn't have anyone in our investigator teaching pool but now we have a few and are continuing to make it grow. We hope to soon be so busy with appointments that we come home and fall asleep before we get to the beds." 

"Minions have invaded!"

"Trying to cool off after biking"

New planner

Trying to hide from the rain

Got soaked anyway!

The money looks pretty cool

"The branch that I am serving in is such a cool one, the members are nice. The only problem we have is a lack of priesthood holders. There are a lot a lot of sisters in the branch. We have an attendance of about 140 on average.

Elder woodland and I have been doing great, we already have so many inside jokes and its like we have been friends for a long time. I have been blessed with a fantastic companion that we both enjoy to work laugh and play! :)  Its a good thing I am off of the bikes now because sleeping was becoming a problem, not that I slept to much but lack there of due to stupid back aches.... (gents take care of any pulled/tore muscle now and dont hurt for it two years later...) It's getting pretty nippy at night where I actually need a real blanket and not just sheets like I have been doing in KZN. You can feel that winter is on its way but for the most part it is still hot, short sleeve weather. 

I wake up every morning with more and more mosquito bites. They are starting to really get on my nerves. the worst is when you wake up in the night because you can hear them buzzing right past your face and its loud! curse you infernal pests!!!"

Pictures of his area

Street signs are really short there!

This is a high school

"So Elder woodland and I are becoming quite the chefs, we don't get fed by any members here so you cook a lot. The other night we made some chicken and it was awesome. We put it in the oven put some garlic, lemon, and spicy chicken flavor sauce over it and flipped it every 30 min for about two hours. The chicken was soooo goooood!!! Lemony and a bit of kick at the end due to the perri perri pepper spice we put on it. ah to die for!!!! Well that is my week I guess. Lesotho has been grand thus far."

Cool cars!

"Had FHE at a Gogo's house and had a fun little wrestle party with the kids"

Haha!

Youth in the branch

They got to be part of a slaughter... gross!

"I love you more than ever and that is what I know for sure that I have done nothing but grow oh so much more fond of you! I love everything about you!!!! I love your mom and her talks, she is just amazing, give her a big hug for me. and then tell her that she needs to give you a hug from me :) :) :) (do it!)

Always ALWAYS ALWAYS never forget. <3 love you babe

Elder Mookie"

Happy Birthday Elder North!

Today is his 19th birthday! On his 17th birthday, we had only been dating for a month or so and he had a game that day, so we just went to dinner and had pie at his house with his family. Last year for his 18th birthday we ate razzles at a park and swung on the swings before we went to dinner and saw a movie. It's weird not to be with him on his birthday this year but he's spending it in the best way - serving the Lord! He said he had a dream about me last night though: "Haha funny story, I had a dream about you last night. I came home for something I cant remember but we got to spend the whole day together but I was having to leave again to come back here and I was sad and gave you another last kiss goodbye which I never want to do. I hate good byes!!!! but It was nice to see you and we were being our goofy silly selves running around an apartment building haha it kinda made me happy. it was like a secret birthday present from you."
I'm kinda bummed because I sent him his birthday package over a month ago and he still hasn't gotten it, and since he got transferred he won't be getting it for a month or so. Oh well.

It's crazy to think back on how much time has passed since we started dating. We were only 16 when we met and that feels so young and so long ago but honestly I still don't feel much older than that. Time is a strange thing. We're coming up on 9 months since he left and that just blows my mind. It's been amazing to see the changes in both of us as we have grown and matured over the time of knowing each other, especially in this time of being apart. From just little 16 year old kids to 18 year old saying goodbye to 19 year old "adults" haha. I'm thankful that I've had him by my side through all of it.

"So yes I have left the country of South Africa and entered into the mountain Kingdom of Lesotho. The language spoken hear is Sotho and you find a lot of people who don't speak English so that tough. I learned a lot of Zulu in my last area where I could greet and ask some questions and some simple demands. I know no Sotho so I feel so lost in the language and communicating with people. It's a beautiful and mountainous place. It does in fact snow here so I am hoping to get the chance to go snow boarding. That's right snow boarding in Africa! Who else can say that?

My new companion is Elder Woodland from Davis Utah. He is a fun guy and we have been getting along really well. but his teaching needs some improvement. I am not really sure if he knows why he is here, he needs to learn the order of the lessons a little better but overall we have been having fun but I am worried that we will ahve to much fun. I really want to work and do good here but I am not sure if he feels the same haha but we have worked pretty well adn since I am his leader I get to really decide what we do and if I want he has no say. so I know we will end up working had which will be good. haha I have been likeing him though. being a district leader dosnt mean much, leadership positions are just a part of mission if you get it or not it dosnt matter. and so its nothing really special. I just have to call in and safe every night and host our district meetings each week and interview the missionaries in my district and just a few other things. but its been good.

We are excited to pick up the work here in Lesotho. I work in an area called Maseru. It's starting to cool down. It is no where near as hot as Toti is right now and it's really dry here and my lips are chapped... eish.......

Missing my families in Toti but already off to a great start here in Lesotho. We started off Friday morning with a cultural day to celebrate Moshoeshoe Day, who is the king of Lesotho I believe. We slaughtered 2 sheep early in the morning so I got some lekker pictures of that. We ate the heart and the men ate the intestine. haha....... ew........ Just about as good as you could imagine which for me wasn't that good haha, we got to be apart of some of the dances and things like that so it was really cool.

The Sotho people are famous for their blankets that they wear all year round, their hats, gum boots, and Shepard sticks. Hopefully I can get some of these traditional items.

The currency is different here so thats cool, it's the same as the rand in terms of economical strength."


"I have to pay to email now which is a bummer but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Yay for extra allotment. so in Lesotho things are more expenisve and you maybe get fed once a week.... if you are lucky. So you are on your own breakfast lunch and dinner every day which gets expensive. now we get the same amount of money as the rest of the mission and it just dosn't work, missionaries have been talking to president and it sounds like we should be getting a little extra money from now on... I sure hope so haha.

Well I have been loving this beautiful place and people already!!! oh ya and domelang mean hello!"


"Well my birthday is um... just another day haha. I actually didnt realize it was my birthday till I was looking in my planner around 8 oclock this morning and saw it said birthday at the top haha. nothing special planned. I did eat french toast though which was pretty lekker.

Love you always babe

Elder North"

Happy 19th Birthday Mookie!

Lesotho

A lady in the area he was serving in sent this picture of him to me on Facebook this week :)

"Now for the subject of the email. Lesotho! Transfer news came today and I am going to Lesotho, for those of you who don't know Lesotho is a country completely surrounded by South Africa. and for those who also don't know South Africa is a country not southern Africa. It is like saying Nigeria, or Uganda or Kenya. It's South Africa not Southern Africa, even though it is in Southern Africa (Check out a map if I confused you). Anyways I will be going to a new country to serve in Maseru Lesotho. (Lesotho is pronounce le, sue, two) I have been hoping I would get to serve there so this was good news to me. Especially since I will be there in the winter time. Remember our winter is your summer. I will be able to see snow!!! It is on the other hand sad to leave this place. Many friends have been made and I will deeply miss them and always leave a part of my heart here in Toti with them. I can't wait for the day to visit again and see them all again."

I remember when he got his call (a year ago last week - crazy!!) and we saw that Lesotho was part of his mission he kept saying how much he hoped he would get to go there. So I'm sure he's so excited!

He said that he will be companions with someone named Woodland and he gets to be district leader there, so that's exciting! I'm looking forward to hearing more about it on Monday.

"So Elder Malala and I were going to visit an investigator we are teaching named Jaxon. Jaxon is a power dude, he is Zulu and lives in Kwamakhutha which is the township here. He lives in a certain suburb that I can't remember the name of, but we already know it to be a more dangerous part of the township. We went and had our fantastic appointment with him and taught a great lesson. He is really understanding the concepts well and looks forward to being baptized on the 3rd of April. As we left we were talking to some people by the truck shop and then one of them started telling us to give him stuff. Now this is not uncommon. Simply because I am a white guy dressed nice I should have money, sadly this is not true for missionaries. I am broke..... so we get asked for money and food a lot and just have to say sorry to people, usually they don't leave you alone but they don't get violent. Well this guy I guess really wanted something that we had so he decided to pull out his knife and hold it firmly. Of course the guy was drunk and probably wouldn't have done this if he had been sober but none the less he pulled the knife on us and asked us for something again. I looked down and saw the way he was holding the knife and decided hmmm... we should leave.... now....... so I made a brisk escape to the car, my companion wasn't too frighten by the experience seeing how he had his bag in his hand ready to swing at the guy if he made any move haha. so that's my great story of the week :)"

Um ok scary story I didn't like that one haha.

"I got to have a fantastic meal this week.... macaroni and chicken heart! I ended up eating probably like 20-30 chicken hearts haha, I thought they were livers until half way done when we realized they were hearts. by then I said well... taste good! haha"

"my comp malala and me, wearing matching pants"

"We had a baptism this week of Qiniso. It was such a wonderful opportunity to officiate in his baptism. I have been with him, pushing him for four months now and missionaries long before me trying to get him to this point but we finally did it! It was incredible! This has been the best baptism I have been apart of because we had to work so hard to get him to where he is today to be able to baptized and come into the church with a heart of gladness and thanksgiving. He has made some incredible changes in his life and it has been a great chance for me to see the impact the gospel truly does have on peoples lives."

Short & Sweet

He didn't have much time to email this week, but he did send some pictures so I'll post those :)

"its okay though, I think two years of loneliness dosnt compare to eternity of companionship.

Aye sitting on the bench is never fun. Believe me I know haha #benchbuddies haha kind of funny because I would have never thought you would also be on the bench, the difference is I wasnt injured I just sucked haha.

I love that talk and I just love how he says if it (the gospel) isnt working for you then just step back, its supposed to be simple and dont make it complected.

sorry not much time this week :("

"Cute pics with Elder Malala, Pinkston and Kaitoo"

"I spray painted the back of my phone while doing service with spray paint with a member. I think it looks quite lekker (nice)"

"I also ended up covering my hand in paint, sadly not picture because I obviously don't want paint on my camera, I sprayed my ring as well haha, hey why not."

"It's better in person, I promise."

"Elder Katioo, me, Pinkston"

"Paintballing!! Accept the message or die.."