Monday, December 29, 2014

December 29, 2014 - Last e-mail of 2014!!!

Merry Christmas

Elder Truscott opening his presents

Elder Truscott and Elder Ratema with their new Marshmallow shooters

Elders with the Xalabile family on Christmas
Well this week for me....of course Skyping home was the highlight. Man it was great and since it was right in the middle of the week it made things go a bit faster from P-Day to P-day for me. Ha ha.
Last Monday we just went to the Queenstown chapel and played some sports. It was super hot, but we played a bit and then went into Sada. Our appt. dropped, so we followed up with some people and it was an alright night I guess.

Like there really isn’t much else to report on besides how great it was to skype home. This week was a slow one. People were busy with Christmas and out with family so our lesson count was low as well.....Christmas was a decent day though! We got up and I opened the gifts you guys sent me, it was really nice :) Ha ha, had some fun with the marshmallow guns, and then just chilled a bit. We had our only apt with the Xalabile family that afternoon, so we went into Sada after picking up some stuff they needed last minute. We had a great dinner with that family. It was really nice and I am really growing to love them. They are great to the missionaries here in Sada. They also got some calls from their son on mission so it made me excited to go and skype.
Well we finished eating, I gave them the one treat box that you sent said Merry Christmas and thank you, and then we shot back to Queenstown to skype!

Chatting was great. I really loved seeing you guys and talking. I had been looking forward to that since Mother’s day ;) haha.
It’s funny, you asked me about the Plaatjies and if I’d heard from them while we were talking, and then right after we hang up, they called and said Merry Christmas and asked how everything was going with me! It was awesome to hear from them, and they did say they were going to email you again, I'm glad that they did :) I love them. They are such an amazing family and I’m glad that they could have a good Christmas. It was great hearing from them and talking to them. I miss that family!

So then the only other thing we really did this week was on Saturday, we went to a members Bro's funeral. Aphelele, a young woman, her brother died last week or so, and Bishop wanted all of us to be at the funeral. It was the first African Funeral service I have been to. It was pretty different. A lot of  preaching and jumping and stomping and stuff, and then lots of singing. But it was nice! And since we are missionaries we got treated like VIP's. haha. We walked in and they ushered us up to the front seats where the family and stuff were sitting, and then up on the stage was where the pastors were sitting, so they took Bishop up there, and then came back to us and were like, you are pastors as well, do you want to sit by your bishop? We said we were fine where we were. haha. But it was nice, and I’m glad that we were able to go and support her and her family. I want to start teaching her family, since neither of her parents are members, so that is what we are trying to do there!

Church on Sunday was good. Last Sunday of 2014! Crazy to think that! But we had a nice sacrament, the Thomas', the senior couple who started here in Sada and then went to East London, were there with their daughters, so the Xalabile's had an amazing lunch after church and it was good to see them, and then we were off for the day! It was a really hot week....only one day was cooler I think, and besides that it was blazing.  But 2015 is pretty much here!! It’s crazy!

I love you and miss you so much mom. Skyping was great and made me miss you so much. I love you so much.
Love,
Elder Truscott

Monday, December 22, 2014

3 Days Until Christmas!!! December 22, 2014

.THE POST DROUGHT IS OVER! (4 of the packages took over 4 months to get to him)

Christmas Zone Conference. Elder Truscott as a Shepard (Cleaning closet style)

Elder Ratema, Elder Mariner, Elder Truscott and Elder Williams


Elder Truscott with Elder Malpage 
This week here in Sada was just the regular.....no more hail storms...its flippin hot here. Ha ha. And ya, the hair was pretty short, I got it cut to a 4 on the sides and a bit over finger length on top cause it was so hot I couldn’t stand it. Cut off the mane for the SA summer. But you can call it the trainer cut as well. Ha ha

The highlight of my week this week was this.....THE POST DROUGHT IS OVER!!  I got like 6 packages this week, which was amazing. geez its been a loooooong freaking time! Thank you so much :) And guess what...this will make you happy....one of them was the one you sent in Aug...with those autographed pics of Al :)!! It finally came. Ha ha. So I got that one, 2 of the Christmas ones, one from Gma and Gpa T, and Aunt Kathy's! Thank you very much!

My son is still doing well.  I like Elder Ratema We just did normal missionary work this week for the most part, but we had exchanges with the zone leaders on Wednesday and then the Christmas zone conference on Saturday, so that split things up nicely! This week in terms of appts was alright, we didn’t do amazing but it wasn’t terrible either. We have been doing finding cause Elder Ratema has the fire to tract and find, which is good, so we have been doing some of that when things drop and getting our teaching pool growing.

Exchanges on Wednesday....I was with Elder Malpage, the zone leader. It was a good day, just a normal day of missionary work honestly. I didn’t think I was going to enjoy the day as much as I did honestly. I wasn’t too excited about that exchange but it turned out to be fine and we taught good lessons, had a powerful day, and ended the day in the village with the Miselo family for our FHE!
So Saturday we had our Christmas Zone Conference......I was bumming pretty hard that we didn’t get to go to East London...cause last year that was the most fun part. This year's Christmas zone conference wasn’t as fun.....I guess they aren’t supposed to be fun but hey, it’s Christmas. We pretty much had a serious conference for the first bit, and then the end was good. We did some Christmas skit thing with Santa and then the Nativity scene (which was kind of weird cause the audience was just the Stapleys, Pres. and Sis. Merrill, and the AP's).....and then watched a movie. We got to watch Heaven is for Real, the one about that book you read! It wasn’t bad, at least it was an actual movie! And then we talked about it doctrinally. After that we went off to the Xalabile family for an FHE with them. That family is really nice and GREAT to the missionaries in Sada....more so than anyone else.
While we were at the FHE Bonga texted and asked if I could teach the Priesthood lesson in church, which I said yes to, so I picked up the manual and then got reading that night. Sunday was good, can’t  complain! We had some new investigators come to church! We tracted into their house last week, and taught them on Tuesday, and they came, their names are Aqhame and Zizipho, and then Soso was at church, so not bad! I ended up teaching gospel principles class last minute, which was good cause then I focused on things to do to make it to the Celestial kingdom and kept it simple with our new investigators, and then after that class Pres. and Sis. Merrill left to make their flight, and then I taught priesthood which was different because the only guys there that can speak in the class were Elder Stapley, my comp, and the quorum president....and a recent convert, but it made for a boring time honestly.
The Xalabile's feed us every week nobody else is signed up, so every week.....haha. We went there after church for lunch and it was great! And then had some appts that dropped and some that held that day!
I love and miss you so much. Trust me, you aren’t the only one who is excited to skype. Man I'm excited to see you guys! I love and miss you tons!
I love and miss you so much!
Love,
Elder Truscott

Monday, December 15, 2014

December 15, 2014 - Elder Truscott has a son

Elder Chaparadza and Elder Truscott

Final District Pic before transfers

Elder Truscott with the golf ball sized hail

Elder Truscott helping clean up yards after the hail storm

Elder Truscott with his new son Elder Ratema 

Elder Truscott hiked up a mountain in Queenstown, 
As for my week here, it seems like a kind of long one!  Last Monday we went out and said some goodbyes after playing sports, and Chaparadza spent Tuesday packing and getting things ready to leave. So Tuesday was a really slow day, just here in Queenstown for the most part! So Elder Chaparadza, Elder Kaufusi, and Elder Arthur all left, so on Tuesday afternoon they drove to East London together and Elder Mariner, Elder Winebrenner, and I stayed behind and were together for that night and Wednesday.

Tuesday night after they left I had to go and do some baptism interviews for Elder Mariner. They had been teaching some kids whose Aunt was a member, so I interviewed them and they were baptized yesterday.

Then Wednesday was another kind of slow day.....we were up late on Monday and Tuesday night......so I wasn’t really feeling well at all...feeling like I had a cold, and my sinuses were all messed up and of course my ears started having problems again.....but we visited a person from Elder Winebrenners area, it was a members mom who was in the hospital from a heart attack. So we visited her, and gave her a blessing, and then went out to Sada for our appt. in the village. It was a nice time...and then afterwards we drove home and the zone leaders told me they were close to Queenstown with my son! We got here right after them, and I met my son! So my new comps name is Elder Ratema, he is from Klegsdorp SA, which is a few hours from Joburg, and he's 19 years old. He's a pretty cool guy, I like him so far....he's really comfortable with everyone and jokes around and it’s not been too bad. The first week of training wasn’t too tough, it just wasn’t the best week to start. Ha ha ha. it was pretty slow.

This week, since the first few days were spent saying goodbyes and not making appts., was pretty slow. We taught a few lessons, like maybe 2 each day, but it wasn’t that great. Luckily Elder Ratema really wants to do finding....got that greenie fire for it, ha ha, so we have been finding a lot, and if everything holds next week we will have 7 new investigators at least! So we are working hard!
So Thursday, Elder Ratema's first day in the field, we were out doing work, and it was super hot in the day, and then all of a sudden it started raining....so we were going to follow up on a referral from Sechaba, and we decided just to go in the rain, so we were at the door of the house around back, and then it started hailing HUGE pieces of hail....like golf balls! It was coming down SUPER hard, like they were just hitting everywhere, so we were running through the mud back to the car, and I had my backpack over my head to cover it, and it was coming down so hard that I knelt behind the back of the car to shelter myself, and I reached into my pocket to grab the keys and SMACK! A big piece of hail hit me square on the head and man it hurt....still hurts a bit, but the massive goose egg is gone down. Ha ha. Dang. It was a crazy storm though, it broke people’s windows all over Sada, even went through peoples roofs, and our car is super dented all over, ha ha. So from the storm peoples yards were really messed up, so we did some service in the afternoons this week. We helped Sis. Chipo clean her yard on Friday afternoon, like raking up all the fallen apples and apricots and leaves and stuff, and then on Saturday we did the same thing, only this time there were lots of weeds, at Sis. Mkoti's house. They were really appreciative, and both times they fed us lunch after helping them and it was nice.

So Elder Ratema is fitting right in, he's a great teacher. He went out with the missionaries tons at home so he is kinda used to it I think. Sunday was good as well....we had 7 investigators at sacrament meeting, which is more than I've had since  I came here....so I'm thinking that the Lord will speed up the work to help Elder Ratema have a great first experience! And then we had lunch with the Xalabile family, and then did some baptism records and had an FHE with the Tyatyeka's...kind of a lazy Sunday and we ate good!

Then This morning we went as a zone and hiked up a mountain in Queenstown, the zone leaders wanted to do it and talk about the goals we had for this transfer and for ourselves....and we woke up and it was kinda rainy and groggy, but we went anyways, and then half way up the mountain when we couldn’t see the top or the bottom we had our meeting and went down. Ha ha, but it was a nice  morning!

I’m looking forward to the transfer, hopefully things keep going well and hopefully I can keep helping Elder Ratema!

Love and Miss you guys,

Elder Truscott


Monday, December 8, 2014

December 8, 2014

Elder Truscott with Elder Chapradza

Elder Truscott, Soso and Elder Chapradza

Elder Truscott, Phila and Elder Chapradza

Elder Truscott and Elder Chapradza with
"2 little girls I dont know their names then Aphelele, Sizipho, and Nosipho"


Well this week seemed like a super long one for me....haha. But I DID find out my transfer news, I've actually known since Tuesday, but I'm going to be training a new missionary here in Sada!

Last Monday was a scorcher....much like today. It’s getting REALLY hot here in Queenstown....so summer time is here for sure. It sucks. haha. So we didn’t even play sports last week, we just ate out and shopped, and then took it easy, but I think today, since the Mtatha Elders are down here, we will play sports with them.

Tuesday was just a normal day, we were teaching and doing the regular appt. thing, and we were about to start a lesson with a young girl named Zandisa (recent convert) when Pres. called and told me that I was going to be training a new Elder. He is from SA, and I'm not quite sure his name. It should be good! So that means that my time with Elder Chaparadza was only a week, but its fine. He has been in Sada for a long time. He will be going to Paarl to be the District Leader there for his last 8 weeks, and then Kaufusi is leaving to Cape Town, and Mariner is getting an Elder Williams who I don’t know at all. So it should be a good transfer coming up! I have high hopes
.
Friday I was on exchanges with Elder Kaufusi, which was really nice. Kaufusi is a sweet guy, and it was a nice day. We were in Sada, and we taught a bit, saw some people that are potential investigators, and just had a really nice day. It was a nice change for the day honestly. All week the lessons were pretty slow....I am glad that I'm training this next transfer cause it will be a great opportunity to get the area going strong. Things are kind of slowing down, and I think a change in comps will help it out. So this week was a bit slow, we taught just a few lessons each day pretty spaced out....so it made for a long feeling week. But since we've known since Tuesday the news Chaparadza said some goodbyes this weekend.

Church on Sunday was alright. Nothing too exciting, Mihlale and Nokuthula were confirmed, and we didn’t have tons of investigators at sacrament meeting, the one we did have is Soso, an 18 year old girl......and the other was a child who's friends with  Zandisa and we've been teaching her.
This morning, the reason I'm emailing a bit later than usual, is that we had a trainers training. Basically just go over some stuff before our new comps come....It’s just me and Elder Best (who's in Mtatha) who are training from our zone, so it was just us 2 doing the training with the Zone Leaders. It was nice...just chatted about the expectations of the greenies, what our expectations were, and what we are expected to be doing...

This next transfer will be a good one! I'm excited, and hopefully I can give the greenie a good  experience! I have my fingers crossed he's cool...but if not I guess I’ll have to try even harder than usual to get along with him., hahaha.

But that is my week this week!

I love and miss you!

Elder Truscott

Monday, December 1, 2014

December is here! - DEC. 1, 2014

The Miselo family.

Elder's eating Thanksgiving dinner. All you can eat ribs at the Spur restraunt

Elder Truscott reading the Liahona

Sada Ward baptisms
This week was an alright one I guess. The tripanionship is over since Swacina is going home about a week early for family stuff, so it’s only Elder Chaparadza and I right now.

Last Monday we just played sports, it was the usual....rugby. It wasn’t bad though....it’s good for me to get some exercise, cause I can feel it big time while running. Ha ha ha.

Tuesday was a really good day in terms of teaching and stuff. We had lots of appointments scheduled (and at this point it was still the tripanionship), so Elder Chaparadza and Elder Swacina went to teach, and me and Bonga went and taught people, and we just did that most of the day until we met back up for an FHE that night. Bonga is growing on me a lot. He's a cool guy. He and our ward mission leader, Sechaba, are pretty cool.

So Thursday was Thanksgiving! We didn’t really have any plans....and nobody invited us over for dinner or anything....so the three of us, Kaufusi and Mariner, and 4 of the Elders working in Queenstown, went to a restaurant called Spur on Thursday night after our appts. For Thanksgiving dinner :) ha ha. On Thursdays they have an all you can eat ribs and wings special....so we did that and it was lots of fun! Not quite the traditional turkey, and no family again this year, but we made the most of it.

Friday I was on exchanges with Elder Mariner in an area called Ilinge. It was a nice exchange! We just had district meeting in the morning, had lunch, and then went to his area and taught a few lessons. Ilinge is pretty rural as well. I met one of their members who claims to have a "Spirit husband" so that is pretty wierd. But it was a nice day.
Then Friday night Sada Ward had a "funeral" for Elder Swacina since it was his last day in the area. It was a really cool thing for them to do for him actually. They surprised him with a big celebration, and drinks and snacks and it was lots of fun :) Elder Mariner and I went there after our appts were done in Ilinge, so we were a bit late, but we still made it for some and it was a good time. A cool thing for the ward to do for him for sure.

Saturday morning Elder Swacina had a career workshop in Queenstown since he's going home, so Elder Chaparadza and I dropped him off at that, and then went out to Sada, and boom....Swacina is gone. From that workshop he went to East London, and then I think he's flying to Cape Town today, then back home tomorrow..... I get a bed now so it’s better....ha ha ha. But we went out to the area after dropping him, and the young men and young women had a fundraiser on Sat. morning to save up for the FSY camp (EFY). They did like a talent show thing and we could buy food for 10 Rand, so we did that for lunch and had a nice time, and then went out to teach. I find teaching lots better now that it’s down to the two of us....for some reason the teaching didn’t quite "click" like it did with my tripanionship with Kupka and Carnieletto.

Sunday was a good day as well. We had two baptisms....again I didn’t really teach them much so I don’t really feel too involved....but it was for a 16 year old boy named Mihlale, who is a stud. And a 19 year old girl named Nokuthula. She's cool too but more quiet. So that was right after church, and also that one kid that we baptized my first week here, Umpho, was confirmed....so that was good for him too. After church and the baptisms, we went out teaching after eating lunch at Bishop Xalabile's. We went with our ward mission leader Sechaba and two young women, Nosipho and Aphelele, so we brought the army to people. We taught a few lessons, and it was good.
In all, this week wasn’t too bad. Not my favorite Thanksgiving week ever of course, I missed you guys like crazy....but its better this year since I know it’s my last one away :) ha ha.

Today is Elder Arthur's Birthday, so the Stapleys made a cake for him and we surprised him before  emailing....and it was really nice. It was nice for them to remember. Arthur is from New Zealand, and is a really cool guy, I like him!
I love you so much and miss you like crazy :)
Love,
Elder Truscott

Monday, November 24, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving 11-24-14

One of our main fellowshippers, Bonga, got his mission call this week!  He is going to the England London South Mission

Elder Truscott with Bonga
As for me this week.....nothing new really. Life in Sada is honestly pretty boring. We just go out there and work/teach lessons...most of which are translated by our fellowshippers, and then come home for dinner after our day....and there were no exchanges this week to break things up.

Last P Day we ended up playing sports with the Queenstown Elders. It was pretty fun, we just played football with them, like 5 on 5, and had a nice time.....everyone says that sports is pretty much what they do here since there isn’t much around....so I'm guessing in my stay here you'll hear that I played sports a few times. Ha ha.

Well this week I was really focusing on learning my area....we learned this week that Elder Swacina is going to be leaving a week or two early so he can be home for family things, so he'll leave maybe this Saturday, and I'm guessing that Elder Chaparadza will leave at the end of this transfer, so I'm really just trying to learn the area. Not super easy since the streets don’t have names and are all dirt so they look close to the same. Ha ha. But I’m getting there for sure.

The tripanionship is alright I guess....but It’s still not too fun sleeping on the floor....but at least it’s only for about a week more.

This week on Tuesday we did have a really powerful lesson ....we saw a guy named Akhona, and he is one of their progressing investigators. Well we got there and we were teaching him the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we taught faith and repentance, and really talked about repentance and stuff, and then asked him to make the changes in his life to help him be more like the Savior. He started crying and told us that he is trying but the one thing holding him back is smoking weed, and that he wants our help to quit. It was pretty cool, we bore testimony that he can stop and that as he lives the gospel he'll be happy. We told him we would be there for him and if he ever needed anything, or got tempted, to send us a message and we'd call him to give him stuff to do or just talk until he felt stronger. Well Thursday we were supposed to see him, and we got a please call from him, I thought he was going to reschedule; Chapradza called and it was him saying he was being tempted and wanted to smoke and wanted help. So we gave him a chapter from the BOM to read and told him to do that and pray, and he said that it helped and he didn’t smoke that day! Pretty cool. We still need to see him to make another appt. for this week though.

Every Wednesday here we go to a place called "the village". It’s like a rural part outside of the rural area. Ha ha. And it’s super far from everything....but there is a member family that stays there so we go there Wednesdays. They are a nice family as well, and it is a good appt every Wednesday it seems like.

I guess another thing I can report on this week was that one of our main fellowshippers, Bonga, got his mission call this week! he was super pumped about that. The Stake President gave it to the Bishop, who brought it to Sada and Bonga opened it on Friday. He is going to the England London South Mission. Pretty cool for him! he's excited and it will be a big change from living in and seeing Sada every day.

This Sunday it was a special Stake Conference...so church was in Queenstown. Sada brought a bus down, and we heard from the Stake President that was broadcast from East London, and then a special DVD with Elder Bednar, President Uchtdorf, some other guy, and a lady that always speaks in conference. They pretty much just cracked down hard on Labola, which is the bride price culture here....Uchtdorf just straight up said "discontinue this practice" and the people were like laughing a bit,  It’s a huge tradition here....but the First Presidency and the Apostles frown upon it I would say.
We had a good turnout...and we had 2 baptism interviews, one for a girl named Nokotula, and one for a 16 year old boy named Mihlale, who is a stud. He's really cool and they are both ready! Again, I didn’t teach them that much, so it’s kinda like I'm just here for them, but it’s still cool for them :)

This week is Thanksgiving! I don’t know what I'll do...since neither of my comps are American...hahaha. But I haven’t really heard anything either, so we will see how the plans turn out!

I love you so much and miss you like crazy. Honestly more than you even know.

Love,

Elder Truscott

Monday, November 17, 2014

November 17, 2014

Elder Truscott and Elder Welsh with the Kumaria Family

Eldridge and Elder Truscott

The Beast, Elder Truscott and Mama Frans

Loading onto the bus on transfer day. Elder Truscott is headed to  East London
Elder Kupa, Elder Truscott, Elder Welsh and Elder Decebal Cuza

Elder Chaparadza, Elder Truscott and Elder Swacina in a tripanionship in Sada 
So let’s see...this week was a tougher one.....
I had to say all my goodbyes in Uitenhage,which seems like a long time ago now....this week dragged.

Saying goodbyes was pretty tough. It sucked saying goodbye to Beast (I won’t ever have a cooler fellow shipper/ward mission leader I'm pretty sure) and Mamma Frans. I printed some pics of us and gave them to them when I said goodbye. It’s amazing to me how much I just grow to LOVE the people, and it’s a weird kind of love too...it’s hard to explain. I'll tell you what, the hardest goodbye to say was to the Big 5.  I printed out their baptism pics and they really loved them. Honestly seeing their excitement about the gospel and their baptism is still so amazing to me. So we showed them those, and then I started saying goodbye and thank you for all they've done for me, and it wasn’t too bad....they were saying how much they are going to miss me and everything, the usual....and started getting a bit emotional. Then they asked me to say one last prayer before I left, and as I prayed I just heard them start crying. I still get emotional thinking about it. It was tough. But their confirmation went well I heard and I'm excited for them.
Then I said goodbye to Mamma Frans she cried, the Mendu's made us a dinner and was really nice. And then I packed until late......

I woke up early and we were off to PE, where I got on a bus to East London...pretty long but whatever...and then from East London I got to hang out there with Carnieletto for a bit! It was cool to see him again and talk about things! Then we all met up at the chapel, the new Elders came, and me, and 3 other Elders serving in Queenstown drove to Queenstown where when we got there (like 8) the senior couple had dinner for us.
Sada is a pretty weird place. Super rural....nobody speaks English and so far honestly it’s been tough. Of course I miss Uitenhage so that doesn’t help...and since it’s a Tripanionship, I’m sleeping on the floor. But this is only a 4 week transfer.  All of our lessons so far have had to be translated.....and church is done in lots of Xhosa....which is fine except I can’t understand it.
But I guess things will get better.
But I’m here in Sada now! Serving here, and it should be alright, they have a few baptism dates so at least the work seems to be going good!
Love,
Elder Truscott

Monday, November 10, 2014

November 10, 2014 -The highlight of the week was obviously the baptisms this Sunday!!

Elder Welsh, Elder Decebal Cuza, Elder Truscott and Elder Kupka in front of the home of
Claudia, Zandi, Phelicia, Princess

Elder Kupka, Elder Truscott and Elder Decebal Cuza

Elder Welsh, Elder Truscott, Claudia, Zandi, Phelicia, Princess, Elder Decabal Cuza and Elder Kupka

Well my last week here in Uitenhage is over! Already been here 4 ½ months! Time flies. But now, according to the missionary board that was sent out....I am going to Sada to be with Elder Swacina and Elder Chaparadza in a tripanionship.
It was a decent week this week, just a completely average one. No exchanges, no conferences, just Elder Welsh and I doing missionary work!  We had a nice week of missionary work.
We moved boardings this week on Thursday....which is a huge pain to be honest. Our new boarding is a big house with us in the back, the Kwano guys in the front of the house, and the zone leaders on a side house. It is fun to be with others, but boy was it a huge pain to move, and our new flat isn’t very big or nice...kind of a pain.
The highlight of the week was obviously the baptisms this Sunday!! Claudia and Phelicia were baptized and it was a great service :) I got to baptize both of them, and it was a great way to end my time here in Uitenhage! They were so excited and happy! It was awesome to see! Especially Claudia, she didn't stop smiling the whole week and on Sunday she was totally excited! Phelicia too, but for some reason she seemed down after the baptism a bit. We still have to figure out why. Their family, for the most part, came to see them get baptized at church, and it was really nice. Total highlight of my time here. Sacrament meeting was good, we had a nice turnout! There were 8 people there from our side, and 8 from the other guys as well, so we had a total of 16 investigators at sacrament meeting this week! We had Claudia, Phelicia (who are still investigators until they are confirmed next week), Christina, Mama Juda's granddaughter, Busi, Motlalepula, a member named Lebo's little sister, and a new investigator named Babalwa. It was a nice way to end the week. It was a super hot week....with a nice ending :)
Now i'm going to have to get all ready for transfers, going off to Sada, so still in the Eastern Cape....
Love,
Elder Truscott

Monday, November 3, 2014

November 3, 2014

Elder Kupka and Elder Welsh

Elder Decebal Cuza (Kupka's son) with Elder Truscott
This week wasn't as bad as last week, that's for sure....it was just an average week. Not too great and not too bad I guess. Just a normal week of doing missionary work.
So guess what.... Last Monday was one year since I baptized Sibu! That's crazy huh!? I was looking through some of my old planners and saw that, it's pretty cool!

This week Tuesday pretty much sucked. Ha ha. I don't know why but people just drop our appointments and it's making me mad! Out of the 7 appts we had scheduled (which would have been an awesome day).....we taught 2 lessons. Super frustrating.

Wednesday was a bit better, and Thursday wasn't too bad either. Friday was actually a great day. I was on exchanges with Elder Kupka, and since neither of the other Elders can drive we were in my area. We had a super good day! Brother Effenaar had given us a referral, and we went and saw him. He's a 20 year old guy who is super interested in the gospel and wants to get his life back on track. Kupka and I had a great lesson with him and he accepted baptism when he comes to find out if it's true, so it was good!! Kupka is a super cool guy and we get along great. So it was a powerful exchange, besides that guy we taught other lessons that were great as well.

Saturday was a weird day. We had correlation with Beast in the morning, where we talk about the missionary work going on and stuff for him to report, and then we went out for our day. We stopped by Eldridge cause he wasn't home for our appt on Friday, and he was there.....but he was acting strange, so I don't know what's going on there.....then we had a kinda frustrating lesson with some new people we started teaching. We've been going through the lists of people missionaries used to visit, seeing if they still want to sit with us and stuff, and we found this family named the Ndyaneli family. Well they wanted us to come back and we tried teaching the restoration, but the dad was just dwelling on the fact that "we think the bible is wrong" and I was getting heated cause he wasn't listening when we said "no we don't".....ha ha. It was tough. I think when he UNDERSTANDS the Book of Mormon he'll be better, it's just hard trying to explain it. Teaching the born again Christian type people is hard..... But we left them with a restoration pamphlet and they said to come back next Saturday.

So that afternoon Kupka sent an SMS asking what President wanted, and apparently he called them looking for me. So I called him back and he asked me questions to see if I'm able to be a district leader, and pretty much told me I'm leaving. I just don't know where to. So that is exciting as well.

Sunday was an alright day. It was drizzling and sorta stormy.....so our turnout at sacrament wasn't good at all. Phelicia came, and the KwaMagkaki Elders told me Motlalepula was there.....so only 2 people in sacrament meeting. It's just getting me down that the people here don't have much commitment. After church we gave Bro. Booyens a blessing. He's super sick. And then we had lunch at mama Hilda's home. She doesn't speak English very well so it's always funny, but it was really nice of her. Then we sat with that referral from Effenaar, taught the restoration and it was great, then saw why Claudia wasn't at church, and had a DA at the Tschibos! So we were pretty much stuffed full of food. We came back and started packing up our boarding, cause we were supposed to move boardings today, but this morning the zone leaders told us that we aren't actually moving until next week now.....
Most likely my last week here in Uitenhage! Hopefully it's a good one full of progressing people and the baptism of Claudia and Phelicia next week! The interviews still need to be done but right now we're planning on them! Should be a good one....hopefully. Ha ha.
Love, Elder Truscott

Monday, October 27, 2014

October 27, 2014 - 9 months to go

Elder Creech, Elder Truscott, Elder Welsh, Elder Decebal Cuza, Elder Kupka,
 Valentine in the sweater, Arthur in the orange shirt,

Nadia in the striped skirt, Elder Tennant, and then kneeling down is
Phiphi in the black dress (that is a nickname, not sure her real name)
and then her daughter mini Phiphi. haha.

Mini Phiphi
This week has been a really hard one for me. I've been waiting for it to end. Ha ha. It just felt like nothing was working out this week! Like I felt I wasn't teaching well, people were dropping....it was just a bad one.

We taught a decent amount of lessons this week, but for some reason I was just super hard on myself all week long. We averaged about 2 or 3 lessons a day, which wouldn't be so bad except on every day we had like 5 or 6 scheduled! People were dropping appointments telling us that "they'll call us when they are free" which basically usually means we'll never hear from them again.

Like the Hendricksa family, that father led family that said they received an answer about Joseph Smith.....they don't really want to sit with us anymore it seems like. The Christofel family, that other father led family that we were excited about, we showed up there for our appt and they were in PE for family things, which we understood, so we went back the next day to see if they were back, and the old lady who was there told us apparently they said we shouldn't come back cause they don't understand that religion of ours.  So we have to go and see what is up with that. Eldridge didn't hold either of his appointments, Melvin (that super sweet guy that works at McDonalds) is being transferred to King Williams Town for sure next month.....things weren't working out for us this week!!

I guess on the bright side the big 5 are still progressing. We talked with Claudia and Phelicia about tithing and fast offerings, and they were excited to pay them! Christina made it 6 days without smoking on her first try, which is good, and now we'll keep building on that. We talked to Claudia and Phelicia about their baptism date. Asked whether they want it moved back to be baptized as a group when Christina is ready, or if they just want to go ahead for the 9th.....they haven't told us yet, but they are cool. Probably the best thing about this week was our one appt with them. We were talking about the 10 commandments, and then in the middle of the lesson Claudia just stopped us and was like "umm guys, we are ready to be baptized". It was pretty cool.

Friday I was on exchanges with elder Decebal-Cuza, Kupka's son. It was a good exchange. We had a nice district meeting, and then had lunch and went out for the day! We taught a few lessons that day and not too much dropped. Decebal-Cuza is a really nice guy too. I like him. He's pretty funny.

This Sunday was a special conference as well. The Presiding Bishop, Gary E. Stevenson was here and spoke to us. So it was a special thing in the PE stake. It was nice, we met at the chapel and then transport took everyone down. We drove ourselves, but we had 5 people come to the conference! Christina, Claudia , Phelicia, Natasha, and Motlalepula all came and it was cool to see them make the effort since we had to be early at the chapel, around 7:30 for the transport. After the conference we had a nice lunch at the big 5 who stay in the other guys area, and then taught some good lessons.....so Sunday was the best day of the week I would say.

I am really hoping for a better week this week.

I can’t wait to hear from you guys.

I love you and miss you,

Elder Truscott

Monday, October 20, 2014

October 20, 2014

Elder Truscott, Elder Welsh, Mampho and,Motlalepula 

Elder Truscott with Bro. Ramano

Elder Welsh, Bro. Ramano, Elder Truscott

Elder Truscott petting a Cheetah
This week went by really fast....even though it was really slow. Ha ha. Lots of our appointments dropped this week, it seemed to be a trend after Tuesday.
But Tuesday was a powerful day! We taught a good amount of lessons and with some really exciting people. We saw that guy Jonathan, who is progressing well. We found out he's living with his girlfriend, so that will have to be addressed at a later date, but besides that he has a strong desire to learn and hear the gospel, so it's cool! Also we sat with a new family that we recently found, it's the Christophel (sp?) family. We were introduced to the mom a few weeks back, then we went and only found the husband home last week and then this week we went and the whole family was there. It's a really nice father led family, and during the lesson they were reading through the pamphlet and looked really interested! Were excited to see if they start progressing, cause were seeing them again tomorrow.
Then Tuesday night started a 24 hour appointment dropping spree. Our 6 and 7 dropped, and then all day Wednesday our appointments dropped until 6 and 7. We did some tracting through town and all that good stuff, but nobody that looks really promising came from it.

Thursday and Friday things got a bit better. We taught a few lessons. We’re still teaching the big 5. Claudia wants to be baptized really badly, and so does Phelicia I think, Claudia is just more vocal about it. Christina is quitting smoking so it will take a little more time. We are just going to ask them what they want, if they want to be baptized together and wait, or go as they are ready.  It was cool, on Friday night we got an SMS from Phelicia saying how we are such great Elders and that she invited all her friends from school to church! It was super nice :)  They are awesome.

Saturday was another slow one....we got to see Melvin though finally! That guy that works at Mcdonalds. Man, he's worked to the bone. He's a manager there and works constantly....and they said that they are going to move him to King Williams Town to open a new McD's store. It sucks and he looked like he was about to cry. Told us that he hasn't spent Christmas with his family for 5 years. I feel really bad for him, he wants to come to church and be baptized so badly but every weekend he gets   called into work. The good thing though is that there are missionaries in King that could continue to sit with him.

Sunday was really hot. It sucked. But we had a nice turnout in sacrament meeting! Christina, Claudia, and Phelicia came, and they brought Natasha, who's their cousin. Also Ramano, a member we've been working with, brought his child's mother Davidene, and Motlalepula went to church, but she attends in a different ward that's closer to her , so as soon as the boundaries change she'll be baptized there! So a total of 6 people, which is pretty good! Jonathan had to go get money for supper so he wasn't able to make it, and Melvin worked, and we’re hoping this week we get some of those people we've met really progressing.... It seems like were just in a slump of sorts. But it's been alright! The week wasn't too bad.
I love you and miss you guys!
Love, Elder Truscott

Monday, October 13, 2014

October 13, 2014

Elder Truscott with Lazola and Sihle 

Saying Goodbye to Lazola and Sihle 
This week we just did the same old same old....worked and tried to find some people to teach! But it was a good one I suppose.

Last Monday was incredibly hot....like one of the hottest days of my whole mission so far. We would go outside; and it would be BURNING! And then not just that, but instead of having a cool breeze, it was a hot wind! How is that possible?

The middle of the week was pretty average. We taught a good amount of lessons on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday was kinda cool, we went to go and follow up on a referral named Jonathan. He had stopped the other Elders and said he wanted us to visit. So we did, and turns out that he had sat with missionaries in the past, but once he got work he stopped going to church, but now he wants to go back. So we introduced the restoration, and he told us that he had just been praying cause he thought the missionaries forgot about him! Kinda cool, invited us back the next day, so this week we got to see him like 3 times and then he came to church! Super cool!! We have high hopes!

Thursday was zone training and interviews, so all morning we were there. We had to walk actually.....our car has a leak, so when it rains the water gets in and it just pools in the back seat....which is pretty nasty, and it smells TERRIBLE.....so we took it in to Toyota on Thursday morning to see what they could find out, and then had to walk to the chapel for zone training. The training was great though. President Merrill's training was really good I thought.

Friday was weird. We were tracting around and then went to teach the big 5, so we were teaching the one sister the restoration, and in the middle of the lesson all these bumps started popping up on my hands!! Like my hand was red and tons of bumps! We just kept teaching, and then afterwards we went to the pharmacy, and they had kind of died down, and the pharmacist said it didn't look serious , but then that night there was some on my face I think too, still are.....and my skin was just crazy this weekend. Like even the Frans family noticed and was like "what happened to your skin?!"....I'm dying or something. So I'm getting all my sheets washed today and who knows....

Sunday was a great day! We had a nice turnout at sacrament meeting! Jonathan was there, Claudia and Phelicia, a guy named Neal who is dating a member, and Motlalepula went to church too but not in Uitenhage, so it was good!! The other guys had lots as well! And the meeting itself was really good.

It was a sad day at the same time.....Sunday Lazola and Sihle officially left to Tsitsikama. It sucked. It was tough, they wanted us to come over one last time after church to say goodbye, so we were there, and they were saying goodbye to mama Frans and it was so sad. Lazola was tearing up, and it was so sad, and then Mama Frans was talking to us, saying how grateful she is for how much we love her son and his wife, and she was crying, and Kupka and I were tearing up big time, and it was just a sad time....but we will definitely see them again. It was great to be able to get to know and love them so much while I've een here. They are great people and I’m glad that Lazola is progressing with work and having these opportunities.

All in all it was a good week! The big 5, especially Claudia, still really want to be baptized, and we are pushing for Nov. 9th with her, and then we have high hopes for Jonathan as well. We are trying to get more people really progressing, like moving towards baptism instead of just sitting with us and then not doing anything....so it's a struggle but were doing alright! I just hope my skin and bump problems go away!
I love and miss you so much!
Love,
Elder Truscott

Monday, October 6, 2014

October 6, 2014 - My time with Elder Carnieletto flew by.

Elder Truscott and Elder Carnieletto 

Elder Kupka and Elder Carnieletto

Elder Ndlovu and Elder Truscott

Elder Welsh is Elder Truscott's new comp from Wales, UK
My time with Elder Carnieletto flew by. Haha. When I was writing in his journal on Tuesday night it made me realize how quickly the past 3 months went here in Uitenhage! We had some great times and memories.
Last Monday of course we found out transfer news, so Tuesday we were out saying goodbyes to each of the families that Carnieletto wanted to. He packed and we said goodbyes throughout the whole day. It was nice, but sad at the same time for him, the people here are great. The Frans house turned into another goodbye like Kivleys, and after that we went back home so Carnieletto could finish up packing and stuff.
Wednesday was a loooong day. Haha. We had to be in PE to drop Carnieletto at the bus stop at 6:30, so we had to wake up around 5 and then leave soon after to make it safe.  So we dropped him off fine and then Kupka and I were in PE hanging out until our comps came in from Cape Town. Haha, we were super hungry cause we figured we'd just eat breakfast in PE, so we went out to find a place. We didn't really want Mcdonalds cause we had just had it, and Spur, a pretty big restaurant chain here, was closed. We were at a big hotel called boardwalk, so we walked in cause we saw the sign for their restaurant. We went in, and when they told us the breakfast buffet was 185 Rand each....we left and waited for Spur to open. Hahaha. We had breakfast finally and then met up with Elder Tennant who was dropping off Ndlovu at the airport....he's home now.....and then waited around. Picked up Sanders, picked up our new companions, and then went back to Uitenhage. After that we got Tennant and went back to PE to get his comp, Elder Creech (remember him!?) who came in by bus at 6.....then back home again. Made for a loooong day that is for sure. Haha. I was exhausted.
But ya, I'm with Elder Welsh. He's from the UK, and lived in Wales before coming here! He's a quiet guy, who's been on mission for 4 ½ months now.
Thursday onwards we just had some good appts, it was a nice week of teaching and stuff. A few dropped appointments, but it's part of it I guess.
Here's a cool story though. So a few weeks ago Carnieletto and I were eating at Mcdonalds, and this guy just came up and was like "hey Elders" and then explained that he was almost baptized but then work transferred him to an area called Jeffrey's bay. We asked if he still had that desire and he said yes and gave us his details, and his name is Melvin. Well this week on Thursday he invited us to his house to sit with him, and he is awesome. Was scheduled to be baptized on the 17th of some month long ago, but then moved on the 15th! He said he doesn't care if he has to start all over he'll do it. So we are just going through the lessons again, but he remembers lots! It was sweet, we taught the restoration, and then asked when we could come back....."tomorrow". That is the first time someone has invited me back the next day! He wants to sit with us like every day! It's been super good so far and I can easily see him being baptized soon!
So we taught some good appts this week, and then Saturday night we watched the morning session of conference live. It was really nice actually.
Sunday for some reason we had normal church, so we had church at 9, and then we were supposed to watch the priesthood session at 11....technical difficulties and we ended up sitting there for an hour and a half, never watched it. But then Sunday night we got to watch a session at 6, and it was alright. I didn't like it as well as the other session we watched, but whatever. Phelicia of the Big 5 came, and  from the other side of the Big 5, who now stay in the other guys area, Valentine came. So it was nice! Sacrament was alright too, and we had Claudia, Phelicia, and Busi there, and the other guys got Valentine and Nadia to come, so all but one of the original big 5 were home at church :) haha. Claudia really wants to be baptized as well, which were happy about!
The work is going on I guess. New companion and new transfer, and I'm sure it will be a good one!
Love,
Elder Truscott

Monday, September 29, 2014

September 29, 2014

Elder Kupka, Elder Ndlovu, Elder Carnieletto and Elder Truscott

Elder Truscott with Eldridge
This week was overall a super fun one. I wasn't sure how the tripanionship was going to work out, but it was super good! I really enjoyed it :) even though it sucked that Kivley was gone, we had a nice last week of this transfer with all 3 of us.
Last Monday we didn't do anything special.....just hung out around Uitenhage. The big thing this week was teaching obviously cause we had to cover both of our areas, so for most of the days we were pretty busy from about 1 o'clock onwards. We taught really well though! Like we would just transition and the other would go, kind of teaching in a circle, and it was really good!
The highlight lesson was probably the one on Friday where we taught a new family that the other guys gave us as a referral. We had Sihle and Lazola with us, and we taught the entire restoration to this family, and it went really, really well. The family was asking good questions and answering our questions well, Lazola and Sihle bore great testimony, and then after we left Sihle was like "wow, I've never felt the spirit like that, that was a great lesson" and was super excited about it! It was pretty cool! But ya, our days this week were spent teaching and going to make visits.
Friday was district meeting, and it was Elder Kupka's first district meeting that he was giving. The zone leaders joined us, and it was Elder Ndlovu's last one cause he's going home. Ha ha. It was a really good one though, Kupka did really good.
Sunday was good too. Eldridge and Asanda were confirmed members of the church and given the gift of the Holy Ghost! It was a rainy day yesterday so a total of 3 investigators from both of our areas went to church, but the important thing was that Eldridge and Asanda made it, which they did. They are going to be great members!
After church we had a nice lunch with the Devinish family, and then got soaked as we went about  working, ha ha. Rain was coming down hard! But the transfer is over. Totally sucks. The last 3 months with Carnieletto have gone really fast and it's been lots of fun! But I'll be here in Uitenhage and next transfer will hopefully be a good one as well!
I love you so much and miss you like crazy. I am just trying to do good over here. I love you and am so grateful for all your support!
Love,

Elder Truscott

Monday, September 22, 2014

September 22, 2014 Then Sunday was the real highlight!! So Eldridge was baptized after church!

Elder Truscott, Elder Kupka, Elder Kivley and Elder Carnieletto
Enjoying McFlurries as a goodbye to Elder Kivley

Elder Truscott with Eldridge and Elder Carnieletto

Elder Truscott, New member Eldridge, Elder Carnieletto,Elder Kivley New member Asanda and Elder Kupka 
Happy and Sad week this week, haha. this morning the Zone Leaders came and took Elder Kivley to the airport.....he's going to Cape Town to be Zone Leader in the stead of Hlophe, but it's a sad one for us, cause Kivley is awesome. But happy cause Eldridge was officially baptized this Sunday!!! And it went great!

Last Monday we just hung out around Uitenhage and got the food and stuff to cook for the Frans'. So just an average p day. Lazola wanted to come out with us every day this past week, so every day we would pick him up from work, then Sihle wanted to come as well, so we'd go get her and then go teach. It was a nice thing to have both of them there, and I think it really helped with the people! It was pretty much an average week this one....all week there isn't much to tell besides the fact that we were teaching and stuff!
Saturday night, since we knew Kivley was leaving, we went to Guidos one last time together. Had a nice dinner there, even sang Kivley a song for goodbye, haha.

Then Sunday was the real highlight!! So Eldridge was baptized after church! He was super excited, and he and a guy named Asanda were both baptized. It was cool. Carnieletto baptized Eldridge, Kivley baptized Asanda, Kupka spoke on baptism, and I spoke on the Holy Ghost. At church, Eldridge and Busi were there, and we really wanted the big 5 to see the baptism cause we've been talking lots about it with them, so we called them second hour, and they came just for the baptism! It was awesome, and the spirit was really strong there and I think especially Claudia and Christina felt it. After church we had lunch at the Septembers home, and then Elder Carnieletto and I had some appointments to go to while the other guys took the car so Kivley could go and say some goodbyes. Our appointments weren't great....one I heard about the story of a false prophet named William Branham for an hour....and the other was a nice chat but his family wasn't home. We joined the other guys for the final few goodbyes, at the Tschibos, and then at the Frans'. Haha, the Frans' turned into a water fight, and we dedicated the home, it's gonna suck to have to leave them!
But It was an alright week in terms of lessons,  But we are in a tripanionship this week! Working all of Uitenhage, haha, should be busy.
Love,

Elder Truscott