March 23, 2015

Dear Mom and Dad

It has been a good normal week for me. I am doing great, and all has been well. 

Last Monday was pretty fun. We went to this place to play soccer, but we were inside these big bubbles and just smashing each other over. It was a Zone activity, so we had like 15 missionaries there. It was a lot of fun, even though I thought it would be dumb. It was mostly fun just running in this big bubble and hitting the other players. I know some of the Elders got pictures, so I will try to get some of them to send to you. 

Tuesday was a normal day of teaching and finding. WE taught MK, Wilahmina &Ester, Chi, and Jackie. All of our investigators are coming a long quite well. I still wish we had more, but it is ok, we are trying to find new people. Wilahmina and Ester are still on track to be baptized on the 19th of April. They are really gaining testimonies and loving church. This ward has been great to them, especially in fellowshipping. I have never had any of my wards that have fellowshipped our investigators so much. It really makes it so nice. They feel excepted and wanted, and it makes their testimony grow much faster. 

Chi is a new guy we are teaching. I guess the missionaries have kind of taught him before. He is dating a member, so he has had a lot to do with the church. He came to church last week, and so we made an appointment with him. We tried calling him before, and he didn't answer, so we just went to his place. Apparently he was pretty offended we didn't call before. His girl friend text us and told us not to do it again. We haven't been able to get a hold of him now, and we are a bit scared that he was offended. I guess we don't feel too bad because we tried calling him and we didn't want to upset him by missing the appointment. 

Jackie is still doing well. She is making progress with smoking, but very slow. She only decreases one cigarette like every week or two. But she is amazing, and trying hard.  

Wednesday we did our normal singing with the old folk!! It was fun, especially because we mixed it up and sang some new songs!! 

We then went to the tuck shop to serve Jackie! I will have to get you some good pictures of that! We then went to see the recent convert boy Aimen. We really have the same routine every week. Wednesday night was really fun. We went to eat at an American Families home! The father is a US consulate at the embassy here in Sandton. They are a really fun family! The kids all play musical instruments, and the one boy plays the Cello. They fed us American food!!!!  It was great! We had a chicken stuffing casserole, and some salad with American Salad dressing they had brought in their suitcase last time they traveled! They also had homemade roles! They sent us home with some sweet rolls as well. It was just a fun night to talk with Americans, and to eat good food! 

Thursday was a pretty slow day. We were taught only a few lessons. Thursdays we stay in the flat for a while doing our planning for the week. We did see an old lady though, and that was fun. She lives alone, and her husband actually pasted away a long time ago in a freak glider accident. He is from Germany, so she had a lot of fun German decorations around her apartment. She really enjoyed our company, and just talking to us about life. It is great to uplift the members in the ward, and it is just as important as teaching. WE also saw sister masters that night and she cooked us an amazing lamb curry. It was really good. Curry dishes are very common among the white people here. It must be because there is a big Indian influence here. We also saw Wilahmina and Ester. WE are just finishing teaching them all the lessons, and then we will just wait for there baptismal date. 

Friday we had our normal district meeting! But I Thursday night was fun because we had some other missionaries come and stay at our flat that night. They had a temple trip Friday morning, and they didn't want to wake up at 4 am. It was nice because Elder Kafusee that was in the MTC with me came. We stayed up pretty late just talking and having fun. So I was pretty tired on Friday.

The rest of the day we had some good meetings. We again with Palesa for the second time. We began just talking about god, and the godhead. It is interesting to teach people the godhead here! They don't really understand that they are separate, or that God and Christ have bodies. We then saw a less active family the Meakers. They have been avoiding us, or really busy. WE used to see them a few times a week, but lately we haven't been. 

Saturday we did some service for sister Masters. WE helped her hang some orange curtains in preparation for Autumn. She is a fun lady. We also saw a great lady named Precilla. She is a Nurse, and works crazy shifts, so we don't get to see her often. We had a really powerful lesson about the Restoration, and Joseph Smith. Her son made the comment "this is so nice, and cool to know this!" He is 15 years old I think. So it is nice to just have good rewarding lessons, even if we aren't teaching a ton! 

Sunday was an early morning with PEC meeting at 7 am. It is nice to be able to work with the PEC in our ward. The leadership in this ward is so great, and so different than my other area's. They are so organized, and get things done, and they want to help us with our work. 

We made some no bake cookies to thank sister masters for all she does for us. We also wrote her a little thank you note. This was good, and she really appreciated it. 

WE are supposed to go to the Botanical Gardens today with Sister Masters, and it will be a lot of fun I think. It is a beautiful area, and there are some cool waterfalls and things! I will get a bunch of pictures. 

Transfers are soon, in one week. They are the 31st of March. I am pretty sure that Elder Peterson will be leaving. We are still getting a long well.  I just wish we could get a long and not have to talk about or feelings and emotions. I sometimes feel like I a on Dr. Phil.  So I guess the transfer will be nice. I do always get nervous for transfers though. I think me and Elder Peterson will try to do some fun stuff together this last week. 

For the most part we are on schedule for baptisms. We have Wilahmina and Ester Scheduled for April 19th. Jackie we did move to the end of April because we want her to be off of her smoking for about 3 weeks. I hope she can make it for her date that is the 26th of April. 

Well thank you for your email, it is great to hear all the details from home. I am trying to keep working hard and doing the right things. I don't want to have any regrets when I get home. I do think about that a lot. Sometimes it is hard to stay motivated.  I think I am just kind of getting burned out though from doing the same think everyday! I will keep working hard though. Thank you for your support and love. 

Love 

Your Son

Elder Brown