September 25, 2017

Hey everybody. It's crazy, today I'm 13 months now, I'm a teenager again. Wohoo.

This week started out on a nice P-Day to Hermanus. What a beautiful place. Elders Gibbons, Behunin, Myself, and Mthembu hiked Lemoenkop (Lemon Head in Afrikaans) and also stopped at the waterfall on the way. 

On the beautiful drive back we stopped at a pull off and a guy offered to let us take pictures with his bike.... we couldn't turn down the offer. People say their mission is the most beautiful but mine is on top for sure haha. South Africa is such a beautiful country full of so many cool things.

This week we were able to get a new investigator and we saw a lot of members and had tons of DA's (dinner appointments) cause elder Matare is going home this week Wednesday.

Saturday rolled around and I was really anxious for transfer news. I was really expecting to be leaving but I got the call and.....

I'll be staying - which means I'll be here till mid December at least, so I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. What's funny is my "son", Elder Milne, will be Elder Mthembu's next companion so it'll be fun to have him around and in the ward and district. 

Saturday we also had a fun game night FHE with the Malaza family. They're one of the best in the ward. 

On Sunday it was Heritage Day and previously I had a Mama in our area make me a cool custom Xhosa shirt that I chose the fabrics and pattern for. So on Sunday, I dressed like a Xhosa and I was the Whitest Xhosa there. All of the missionaries got to speak and we got some great pictures. I love Xhosa culture, I'm afraid after mission I'll just come back and live here haha. 

Sunday evening we had a great DA at the Mtilas and afterwards we went and had a farewell party for Elder Matare at Bishops and it turned into a Suprise Birthday Party for Elder Mthembu too. It was super fun. Bishop and his wife are the funniest people ever. 

Well, change is coming........ later haha. Until next week in Mandalay

Elder Smith

p.s. nobody spoil conference for me, we'll be watching it on tape delay a week later so no conference reports till then thanks!

September 18, 2017

Hey everyone! Time is flying and my time in Mandalay may be wrapping up soon. I'll receive transfer news this week so I'll be finding out if I'll be staying or leaving. 

This week has been pretty good, different than most. 

A less active family in our ward's father passed away at 79 so we've been busy spending time with them and helping the family. We attended a prayer meeting with them a few times in the evenings. I got to speak a bit one of them. Then on Friday, we went to the slaughtering haha.

Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures but it was pretty crazy, and kind of gross. I helped carry one of the sheep from the truck to the place where they were to kill them. It's interesting how they do it though. 

Saturday we went to the funeral in the morning and I played the piano for the service at the chapel. We then went with the procession to the burial service in the cemetery. It was the first funeral I've been to and it was pretty cool. I'm glad we were able to help the family during this time when they needed it.  Afterwards, we went to their home and feasted on the sheep we slaughtered previous. That was nice. 

We've got a lot of DA's lined up this week as elder Matare will be finishing his mission and I may be leaving the area so things are wrapping up. 

Well until next week! Today we are off to Hermanus to watch whales! Hopefully, we'll see some. Until next week.

Elder Smith

September 11, 2017

Well, for the weekly. 

Hello everyone, 

September is almost halfway over, it's hard to believe. 

This week has been pretty interesting, a little stressful, but ended up nice. 

Monday was just a chill P-Day,

Each time I drive along Baden Powell Drive I love the ocean more and more, It's going to be hard to leave when mission is over. 

Our members are the best, there was a new family that moved into the "mormon house" and they are nonmembers and because of the love they were shown they actually came to church and have had us missionaries over. It's pretty cool, hopefully we'll be able to teach them and have them progress. 

We also had an awesome DA at President Matsaluka's house this week. He's in the stake presidency, his family is the best. 

We were pretty stressed when the Stake Baptism fell through but thankfully for the Langa elders, they invited us to come to their branch baptism, once we got approval from President Lebethoa we planned the baptism for Sunday. Inam was able to get baptized and she was super happy! Afterwards she said she felt she was free from something and we were proud of her. 

Sunday after the baptism we went to the prayer meeting of a less active family who's grandpa had passed away. Xhosa songs are the coolest and they are fun to sing. I also got to speak at it which was nice. 

Well until next week. 

Elder Smith

Inam's Baptism

False Bay from Baden Powell Drive

drawing

September 4, 2017

Hello Everyone! 

This has been a week with the Lebethoa's. 

On Monday I got a fun call that Elder Milne and I got a speeding ticket back in PE, luckily it was super cheap, R75 so no worries haha. Got that taken care of quick. (traffic is monitored by video camera and tickets are mailed out)

Tuesday we had interviews with President Lebethoa in Somerset and it was really nice to talk to him, he's an awesome mission president. 

Friday we had Zone Conference in Bellville with the three zones here in Cape Town and President Lebethoa and his wife gave a powerful training. I love learning from them. 

Saturday I was on Exchanges with Elder Mthembu and we had an interesting Saturday. I was invited to accompany the Khayelitsha ward choir for stake conference (adult and general sessions) so we went and rehearsed with them for a while. At 4:00 we went to a Leadership session of stake conference at Mowbray chapel, and President Lebethoa gave a nice training on ward mission leaders. At 6 (because of choir) we were invited to stay for the Adult Session and the talks were some of my favourite ever on mission. Especially Sis. Lebethoa's and President Holmes (the stake president). The choir performed Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy and the chapel actually had an old Steinway to play on which was nice. 

Sunday we went to the General Session of conference in Meadowridge near Muizenburg. A beautiful side of town. It's crazy how diverse the stake is, I met (non missionaries) members from almost every African nation, USA, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, England, and counting missionaries Brazil. Pretty cool. The focus (for all sessions) was on getting the stake temple worthy. Again Pres Lebethoa and his wife delivered powerful addresses. 

I'd go into detail on a talk from the Adult Session but unfortunately not enough time for now. 

But ya, that was my week, this morning I made 120 peanut butter cookies, fun stuff. 

Until Next Week!

Elder Smith

August 28, 2017

Hey everybody, I'm over the hill now but I'm hoping this next half will be even better and more powerful than the first. Sorry for the short email though. 

On Tuesday I had a great exchange with Elder Wamunyima, I love how the gospel is structured. I love having zone leaders that are willing to help counsel and assist me with my work. We had a powerful day and really enjoyed our time together. He's a great guy. We also had a nice companionship study of Preach My Gospel @ (coordinates, just put it in the address of google maps) -34.072577, 18.669681

Friday instead of our normal district meeting we went into Somerset West and the Zone Leaders gave an awesome training on obedience. We went to their boarding after and Elder Hugo made some nice bread. 

Fun places in Cape Town and our area to look up

-34.018148, 18.624013 - the Chapel

-34.014324, 18.638058 - the intersection @ Site C

-34.015116, 18.631778 - the intersection @ Mandalay/Bongweni

-34.073296, 18.566749 - our place in Strandfontein

-34.072337, 18.653554 - a beautiful spot on Baden Powell Drive

Well Until Next Week!

Elder Smith

Zone Training