Elder Kaden Smith: October 24, 2016

Time flies,

2 months already..... Transfer day is tomorrow and it's sad because we'll be saying goodbye to Elder Faingata'a but Elder Hernandez will be training Elder Goss. I'm officially no longer a greenie! It'll be fun to have a new face around but we'll all miss Elder Faingata'a.

We had a lot of appointments and a lot of DA's this past week but the best part was yesterday (Sunday) for sure! Elder Zongoro and I had 4 baptisms,

Mama Bikitsha and her two daughters (her two sons will be baptized the 6th of November)

and Brother Albert.

Mama Bikitsha is the best! She's a very loving mama and is very converted to the gospel. A week before her scheduled baptismal date three weeks ago her husband passed away and it's been hard on the family but they've all stayed strong and are looking forward to the day when they can go to the temple to be sealed! It'll be a wonderful day for sure.

Brother Albert began being taught with his family in Cape Town but he moved back to his other home in Buntingville to check on the place and wanted to continue being taught so Elder Zongoro and I finished all of the lessons and were able to baptize him. He is a very powerful guy and I can see him being a bishop or something someday. He can't wait to help teach his wife and son too when he goes back to Cape Town.

The other Elders (Hernandez and Faingata'a) also had the baptism of Boniswa yesterday. And because one of the Bikitsha girls wanted Elder Hernandez to baptize her all of us missionaries in Mthatha were in whites. It was powerful to see all of us in white together.

Please keep these recent converts in your prayers. We don't want them to go less active and we want them to continue being the strong people they are. It was a wonderful day for sure.

We also got to watch the Sunday session of conference yesterday and it was wonderful to hear the words of the prophet and apostles again. I liked this sessions focus on the family and scripture study. The family is ordained of god and is the most important social unit in time and in eternity. The family is the best place to teach, learn, and apply gospel principles. The family can be a place of safety, peace, and joy. These fundamentals are all important to the family.

Also last Monday for P Day we went to a game reserve at Mthatha dam and saw some cool animals, we want to go back and see some more.

We saw some crazy birds and Springbok and Impalas. Impalas are gigantic deer things! It's amazing to see them right up close when you can drive up next to them and have them snorting and making noises at you. I felt and it looked like I had just walked straight into the lion king movie, all of the tall grasses and african animals, yo it was crazy!

Anyway, all is well in Zion (Mthatha) haha

Until next week!

Elder Smith