Feb. 16, 2015

Rhinos at a game preserve in Queenstown, SA

Elder Kjeldsen, Elder Ratema, Elder Williams and Elder Truscott
having a Valentines Candlelit spaghetti dinner

Well this week wasn’t the best one. We taught a good amount of lessons and everything...it just wasn’t a very good one for me. I struggled lots this week it was flipping hot, and I've been really really tired all week. I think that and other things contributed to a mentally tiring week.....but it’s alright I guess.
We set some goals for the rest of this transfer....President Merrill mentioned that during his mission he had a "faith extension" thing...where they just set goals, and each week of the month they did something different...so we took that and made one for the rest of this transfer....the first week we decided we would start just by getting up, going to bed, and getting out of the boarding on time, then we will be talking to 3 new people and placing 2 pamphlets every day the next week, then the next we will be getting one new investigator each day, and then the last week of the transfer we decided that we would each teach 30 lessons! They will be good goals, so this morning we officially started it with a  prayer and we are looking forward to the rest of this transfer! 4 weeks left pretty much (including this week).
Most of this week we did normal missionary work. We were just out trying to teach and find people. Another cool experience with that "testing" thing though. We prayed specifically to teach a discussion to someone who could progress, and the first house we went to, there was a makulu (grandma) who spoke perfect English.....that never happens....and then a younger guy. We taught the plan of salvation and they were very interested, and we mentioned the authority of Christ, and the guy was like "when can you come back and talk more about that authority?" so we had another appt. for yesterday, but he wasn’t there.....but it could be good if we follow up to find him who knows though, but it was a great lesson.
Valentines was on Saturday...but we celebrated it on Sunday. We had stake conference this  week....which was supposed (key word) to be broadcasted from East London to the Queenstown chapel. Well we got there, and the power in East London was off, so it couldn’t be broadcasted....so we sang hymns for an hour while we waited...and then they just turned it into another hour of testimony meeting...pretty much a fail.
For Valentines though, every Sunday we eat together as a district, something we started last transfer, so we had a valentines dinner. hahahaha. I made spaghetti and we had a candle lit dinner. It was pretty funny. Valentines on mission.
In terms of investigators, we are still working hard with Sibu. We had a great lesson with him this week, and we are trying to prepare him as quickly as possible cause once he learns and keeps all the commandments, he's ready. He's a total stud. Iviwe is supposed to be baptized this coming Sunday, but we still have to do the interview....and the Makulu and he were out of town for a funeral this weekend, so we haven’t been able to see him, but we have our fingers crossed that he'll do good and be ready, he's only 11, so it should be easy.
Also something really cool....I found out this morning that Sihle Sinama (the young really cute girl if you remember) must be 8 now because she's going to be baptized this week! So awesome :)
But hopefully this next week won’t be so hard for me.....I don’t know
I love you and miss you so much!
Love, Elder Truscott