5-19-2014 This morning was super cool! We rode elephants!! :)

Elder Truscott and Elder Sanders at  Grant and Shanice’s place 

Elder Truscott riding Elephants in East London, SA

This week was a pretty average one to be honest! We were in Grahamstown all week until this morning when we came to East London for p day! But this morning was super cool! We rode elephants!! :) There is a place by East London that we went to, since it was zone p-day, and we got to ride them around the game reserve for about an hour. It was actually really cool, lots of fun! I will send some pics of it :)

Next Monday is transfer news....so my time here in Grahamstown is dwindling for sure, but there are some great people that we're seeing here. It seems like my emails are getting more and more boring as I'm here in Grahamstown, ha ha ha. I've got to leave so something cool can happen! But we just had a nice week of appointments.

We did have a few nice appointments or times this week though. I always look forward to going and seeing Solomon, cause he is just such a sweet guy. So we went over and saw him on Thursday night and had a great appointment over KFC with him, ha ha. Friday after district meeting the four of us got together at the other guys boarding and made a huge thing of nachos for lunch. It was a good time, and they were pretty good... So of course I needed some pictures! Well I put my camera on the stairs on timer and took a few pics.....before it fell off and landed right on the lens. Ya it broke...... I bought a new one at the little picture store in GT and it was the best one that they had....but the freaking thing takes super blurry pics! I don’t know if it is just a setting problem, or what??? Ha ha ha. I will send you a few of the pics now

Then Saturday Grant and Shanice had planned for us to come over that evening and spend some time with them. They were going to cook the food and We were going to cook the dessert :) so Saturday afternoon the other guys had a baptism, which was really good. The lady's name is mama Stella, and she's been being taught for a while, and wanted President Wood to do the baptism. Since it was branch conference this week he was in town so he baptized her and confirmed her while he was here. It was cool for her! So after that we went to our place and grabbed that brownie mix that you sent me, and one of those pans, and went to Grant and Shanices place :) it was fun, we had brownies and ice  cream.....the brownies were a bit burnt around the edges, but they worked ;) and we had a nice meal by them and it was lots of fun :)

Sunday was branch conference and it was really good. I was happy, Emerald and her family came to church, so at least we had a few people in sacrament meeting! The best thing about Grahamstown is the people. I really love the investigators that we have. The Sinama's are great, the only problem is how they live so far away from the chapel.... Grant is such a cool guy. I wish he would be married to Shanice and then baptized, and in time sealed with her and Casey! The new people that we've been teaching have been doing well, holding appointments for the most part so that is a plus ;) we totaled it up during our planning this week, and we have 22 people that are seeing us, so that's isn't bad! The only problem is getting them to baptism! Ha ha, but it's been good.

One more week in Grahamstown most likely, So hopefully it's a good one!

I love and miss you so so much.

Love,

Elder Truscott

I got to Skype home! 5-12-14

Elder Truscott Skyping home for Mother's Day 2014

It sounds like you had a really nice Mothers day  mom :) Some nice gifts, and a nice while of Skyping me made it lots better for me on this end, and I’m just guessing the same for you there :)

Tell me about the "once I get a taste I want more...." I want to Skype so bad...hahaha, after seeing you guys, the typing seems boring. hahaha. But I'll take what I can get! I turn 10 months in about 10 days!

But as far as making things hard for me...not too bad. Of course I really miss you guys, and saying goodbye was tough....that is to be expected. I really needed to talk to you guys though.

I don't even really know what to say about my week besides the fact that I got to Skype home....cause all week I was pretty much just looking forward to skyping. Haha. Plus I'm super happy I have Elder Sanders over the skyping time, cause he's cool....and it's better to have a cool companion when you're skyping! But getting to see you was great mom :) I love and miss you so so much, and I'm very grateful to have you as my mom :)

Honestly this week was pretty average until Sunday! Just a week of appointments! But I guess some cool stuff did happen. So that younger guy we've been teaching, Sean, well we went to go see him again this week and his step dad was there for the first time....turns out he has sat with missionaries before, and remembered tons of stuff, even Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon! The missionaries sat with him in 2006! But we had a powerful lesson on the plan of salvation with them and he was really interested! So that should be a good father led family to start teaching!!

We started teaching another new guy this week too. He's a really funny older guy named Bro. Peterson. He's a cool guy, loves talking about Jesus, so that is pretty cool too. We were just walking and he has a million yard decorations, so Sanders commented and I was like, lets tract it, so we did and he let us in and made a return appointment :)

All week we were waiting for Mother's Day.....so Sunday was a good day :) we showed up to church and all these American guys were there like I told you! They were super cool guys! Out here in SA for a hunting safari! I talked to them quite a bit, haha, it was nice to talk to some American people here!

The branch did a special Mother's Day thing, so all the moms got cupcakes and cookies and stuff after sacrament, so that was nice for them. After church we went up to see our Grahamstown mom, mamma Sinama. Since it was Mother's Day we thought it was only fitting....so we bought her a cake and took it up to her. It sucked though, she was suuper sick, like she couldn't even get out of bed, so we left the cake, gave her a blessing, told her happy Mother's Day and left!

Then the highlight of my week/past few months, I got to Skype home :)

That pretty much sums up my week this week! Haha.

Love,

Elder Truscott

May 5, 2014 Mother's day countdown

Elder Sanders and Elder Truscott at the Sinama's house for Kuhle's birthday 

Trevor with his Birthday package! Finally, only a month late thanks to SA Customs

I got quite a few packages this week mom! Thank you so much :) I finally got the birthday ones!!
Another week down here in Grahamstown! I'm still super happy about my companion. Elder Sanders and I are getting along really well and it seems really nice :)
It was a pretty average beginning of the week. Monday we had an average Grahamstown p-day of doing nothing....haha.
Tuesday was an average day, we had a few dropped appointments, but taught a few lessons before we went to the Sinama's house cause it was Kuhle's birthday :) Sanders and I bought her a cake and took it up there and they had a nice dinner and then we all had dessert :) made for a nice night!
Wednesday was slow, but Thursday was a really good one. We had 6 lessons Thursday so that was nice, we were always busy so that made for a nice day! It's so much better to be busy. Ha ha ha.
Friday we had zone meeting, so we drove down to East London for the meeting, which was fine....nothing special, just a pretty average meeting. The Boyce's, the senior couple in East London, it's their last transfer, so they told us all after the zone meeting that they were taking us all out to lunch! It was so nice of them! The whole East London and Mdantsane zones they took out to a nice lunch! So we got on the road after that and then got back to Grahamstown :)
Church on Sunday was good! It was a really nice meeting actually! Letitia was confirmed, and she said that she wanted me to do it. It's kinda cool to have them choose you to do things like that, always makes you feel good :) so I baptized her last week, and confirmed her this week :) Some of the testimonies were actually really good, and it was nice. We had some good investigators there. And one lady came named Precious, who is a really nice lady. Well she came to ours, and then invited us to go to hers! So Sunday night we went to His People Christian church with her, and it was a pretty fun time. I enjoyed it.
The people are doing good...nothing really to say other than they are how they were last week. Ha ha. Not much of a change!
But it wasn't too bad of a week, I can't complain! Just that it was pretty boring. haha.
I can't wait to chat on Sunday for Mother's Day!!
I love you guys,
Elder Truscott

April 28, 2014 Letitia Walton Baptism

Elder Sanders, Letitia and Elder Truscott

This week was a pretty average week of missionary work to be honest, with a nice ending of Letitia Walton being baptized :)
All week we just had a good few appointments every day and taught really well, so it makes for a nice week. Wednesday was Shakespeare's like 450th birthday, so Alan was into that....had us over that morning to tell us all about "Hamlet", and then that night he took us to some lecture thing by the Shakespeare society, which he's a part of.
Saturday was a nice day as well. We had conference in the morning, which we watched until the power went out....ha ha. That put an end to things there. We were invited Saturday afternoon to go and watch Kaylin do karate! There were matches and stuff going on here in Grahamstown so they said we could come watch, so all of us went up to see. Dang, it was pretty intense! Ha ha. Kaylin destroyed and we saw Sokhana Sinama there too! They all do karate so they were all there, so we got to see them all fight, it was pretty fun!
We have wanted Emerald and Kaylin to stay for the whole time at church for a while now.....and we really wanted them to see the baptism. Their only concern about coming for the whole time was that they wouldn't have time to cook when they got home....ha ha, so on Saturday night we went to Emeralds place and cooked fajitas for them that they could have and then eat after church :) it was lots of fun, and it worked, cause Emerald and Kaylin, and Lushka, a cousin, came to church and stayed for the baptism! Church was different this week because it was conference, but they still came and we tried to explain to them beforehand that it wouldn't be
the same. Conference was great though. It was really nice, and I'm glad we finally got to watch it. In between the conference sessions we had the baptism of Letitia   Nice to see her mom was there to support her :) It was awesome. She wanted me to baptize her, and she was sooo excited for it! It was cool, it was a really stormy day, really rainy, and it was like that all morning, and then just as we were getting the baptism ready the
rain slowed down to a light drizzle and the sun came out a bit, and then afterwards it was back to being stormy! Water was cold, but Letitia was wonderful, it went great :)

We saw a bunch of people this week. It seemed nice to have people holding their appointments!
We have been sitting with a girl named Precious...she has some interesting beliefs about the church, mainly cause she read this book called out of Mormonism and believed everything in it. Ha ha, she gave it to us to read, so we read it and have been doing our best to correct the misconceptions about the church and what we believe. Haha, she's super cool though, I always look forward to her appointments even though she throws bible verses on us like crazy!
Emerald and her family are great. They came, and stayed for the baptism you know....and when we visited them after church Kaylin said that she was super interested in the baptism cause it wasn't how they do it at their church, so we are going to talk to them about why we do it that way tonight :)
Sandiswa's two friends, KG and Anisipo (sisters) are super great to sit with too! They are reading and praying and finding answers.
Grant is still a super cool guy, he's just coming along. He loves the DVD thing; and prefers watching those lately, so we've just been going there and showing them a DVD and talking about what we can apply and
learn..
But ya, it was a nice week overall....boring and average, but that's better than other things I suppose :)

Love,
Elder Truscott

Transfer News! 4-21-14

Elder Truscott and his new companion Elder Sanders

Transfer week!! I got Elder Sanders as my new companion, which is SOO nice. It's going to be a great transfer if the first week is any prophesy ;)

It was nice though, Monday night we got our transfer news, and I stayed in Grahamstown just like I thought I would.

Tuesday we spent saying Ramosoeu's goodbyes, and Wednesday was transfer day! It was nice....got to P.E., dropped him off at the airport, and then just hung out with other Elders until Elder Crowell (Mandas new comp) and Elder Sanders got here from Cape Town! So we got them and then drove back to GT!

Thursday to Sunday we just had a few appointments and did some work, but it was a really slow week....half the week we weren't teaching because of transfers, so we mostly just went around and set appointments for next week, so next week should be better in terms of that I introduced Sanders to some members and the investigators, and we've been having a good time together!

Friday the people here start celebrating Easter, so Friday was "good friday" and all the colored people only eat fish and hot cross buns on that day...breakfast to dinner fish...ha ha ha. So Emerald invited us

over to her place that afternoon and we had some pickled fish with her and her family! It was great :)

Saturday was Leticia's baptism interview, and then she sat with President Budaza at church, and she is going to be baptized this coming Sunday :) I'm super excited! And she said that she wants me to baptize her, so that will be really cool too! I'm super excited to see her progress and be baptized, and she's super excited for it.

The people are coming along good! Leticia is excited and ready, and we started teaching a few new people this week too. Emerald and Kaylin are cool, we just want more members to come with us so they can get used to the members and feel more comfortable! We started teaching a girl named KG (nickname) and her sister Anisipo. They are Sandiswa's friends and were interested when we were there one time, so we have been sitting with them, and they are doing really good. KG said that she prayed to know if the message of the restoration was true and felt like it was, so that is super cool! We are seeing them a couple times a week and they are really good! We also sat with a lady named Precious. She is Nandiles friend and randomly SMS'd us to sit with us. We mainly disagree about the apostasy...she doesn't think it happened....and she thinks after Christ all is finished and we don't need anything but to accept him, and gave us this book about a lady who joined and then left the LDS church....she found it in her church library, ha ha. But it was good, were seeing good people and I'm beyond excited to have a new companion!

Love and miss you so so much!

Love,

Elder Truscott

April 14, 2014

 

Nothing too crazy this week, even though I'm super excited to get transfer news tonight!! Ramosoeu is going home, and I'll be getting a new comp!

We did lots of travel this week too. We drove down to East London because we had the zone training and interviews with President Wood!

The plans changed unexpectedly on Thursday! We were supposed to drive to P.E. on Saturday for Ramosoeu's seminar on job interviews and getting a job and stuff after mission, but then it changed that we had to be there early on Thursday morning! So Thursday morning we were on the road again! Someone(Ramosoeu) told me it was in a place called Uitenhage, which is just off from P.E., so I drove there and we called Elder Bladder (the couple in P.E), who informed us it was actually in P.E.....so after a bit of a struggle  with  directions we got to the chapel there :) The training is just for Elders going home, so Ramosoeu and one other Elder sat there, and then the other guys comp, Elder Whitworth, and I left after about 30 minutes. So I spent the day with him which was nice cause he's super cool and it was a very very nice change. Haha.

Friday, since Ramosoeu is leaving, Emerald had us over that evening for a Poikikos (sp?) haha, it's just a certain way of cooking, outside over coals in a big black pot. It was super good though, and it was a great night there :)

Saturday was just a normal day of working, and then church on Sunday!

Leticia is going to be baptized the week of the 27th, so coming up soon! She wanted to be baptized this Saturday, but the Branch President wanted to postpone it so it could be more planned, so alright :) she's still super excited about it and she'll be great :)

We have been watching those restoration DVD's that you sent me, causethey are super powerful and then if they really feel the spirit I offer to have them keep it :) so Emerald and Grant and Shanice have one, and hopefully they remember that feeling they had while watching it :)

Other than that not too much happened this week! Lots of the students were still out of town for the holiday they had at university, so it was kinda slow.....but speaking of students one of our recent converts, Lonwabo, invited us to his graduation, so we went to that!

But another week down! Transfer news tonight, and start of a new transfer :) should be good!  

Love,

Elder Truscott

1st Baptism in two years in Grahamstown!

Elder Truscott at the Radio Talk Show

Elder Truscott at the Sinama's for a Bday dinner

Elder Truscott with Bro. Allan

Elder Truscott, Sandwisa and Elder Ramosoeu

Last Monday was my birthday, so I e-mailed and had a relaxed day. We had our usual appt with Emerald that night. Oh my gosh do I love that family! They remembered my birthday and bought me a really nice set of deodorants and travel bag! It's amazing! Then she even had cool drink and dessert so we had a great time there last Monday before heading to the FHE.

After the FHE we got to go do a radio show for a bit! It was pretty cool. Apparently the other missionaries ran into a guy in their area who turned out to work for the radio show! So they left their number with him, and he used that number to call and ask if we'd like to go on and talk about our religion for a bit and then answer some questions from callers or him. It was pretty fun actually! I enjoyed it, ha ha ha. Next stop Hollywood ;) but we talked about the origin of the church and the restoration stuff, and then a few people called in to ask questions and stuff! We answered and left the number to contact to get missionaries to come, so it was good! Hopefully something comes
out of it :)

Tuesday the birthday love continued big time! The Sinama's had us over that afternoon because they wanted to have something special for my birthday! So they cooked a super huge meal for us and we ate with them and chilled and had a great time :) it's amazing to see these people show so much love to me! And then that night Alan had us over for my birthday dinner! So he had a super nice dinner and big dessert for us too! Ya I'm gaining weight after this week ;)

So on Saturday we had a baptism! Sandiswa got baptized Saturday morning by Elder Ramosoeu and then I confirmed her on Sunday! It was a great one! It was on a Saturday so we were hoping people would come to support, and we actually had a decent turn out! She was excited and I was super happy :) then Sunday she was confirmed and given the Holy Ghost!

After church on Sunday we went to Grant and Shanices place. We had a "goodbye Brie" for Ramosoeu! It was awesome, we chilled and had a big Brie there and ate and had a good time :) then time to make a few visits before ending the week at the Chases for dinner!
We had less appointments than usual this week, I will blame it on the fact that the University is on break so everyone went home this week so the place is kinda dead....
We met some new people though, when it's a down time we do finding, we've been tracting and following up with what we leave. One young guy we did that with, he is 17. We talked to him last week and left a pamphlet, and this week we went to go follow up! Turns out this kid is a sangoma in training (you will have to google what a sangoma is, but it's basically a traditional healer who does some wierd stuff...)  We sat with him and taught the restoration and when we were talking about the Book of Mormon he said he felt "light", so we told him that was the spirit and left him with the intro to read and set another appt!

Leticia is still doing awesome. She gave herself the 3rd week in April to be baptized so she's looking forward to that! And so are we! It will be great to see her be baptized in a few weeks! The Sinama's are great, they had that birthday thing for me and they are doing some traditional stuff at the house right now, so we didn't go again this week cause the whole family is coming from all over to be there. Haha, but we will see them this coming week and see how everything is :) maybe see a bit of the traditional stuff too. I love the traditional things, I think they are super cool.
But another week gone, and next Monday will be transfer news! My companions last week on mission....he better make the most of it ;)ha ha.

Love,

Elder Truscott