Hey Family!
Guess what, I got mail!!! It was so exciting, but I have realized that I don't need you to write your emails on dear elder. Dear elder is amazing for letters, but it is confusing for emails and I usually print the emails off anyway. But other than that, thanks for the letters! I have not received the package yet, but we will also get mail next week, we have to drive to the office. (that's what usually happens, we go forever without mail and then get to check it twice back to back)
Well sounds like everyone is doing good! Canada sounds pretty fun and Grant continues to make me laugh ha ha and you haven't started school yet!? Have I really only been in South Africa for a month!? HA Let me know how school is going.
Dad I was finally able to track down those questions you sent me, so I will go through those. I may have already answered some, if not all, but Just in case I will answer them.
1. Am I happy?
Well judging from some of the letters I read, I must of made it sound like I was miserable the first week or two. Not the case. I was definitely home sick, but I got over it. Yes I am happy. I really starting to get attached to the people I serve with and for. I had my first confirmation yesterday in church. I was pretty nervous because I could not say this ladies last name. Her name starts with a sound I did not know my mouth was capable of making, so I spent all my time before hand concentrating of the name, and then when I stood up in front of the ward I was like oh man...I have no idea what to say! So I said her name and it flowed SO well! and then I let the spirit guide for the rest of the blessing. It was a really neat experience.
2. Tell us about Elder Onsongo (my companion), his family, and their history in the Church.
Well Elder Onsongo is from Kenya. The lord has a sense of humor and he put me with someone I have almost nothing in common with, but It has been a good experience. We have our differences, but We also have a testimony of the gospel, and a willingness to share it in common. We are getting along well. He is a recent convert. He grew up very religious in the Catholic, and Roman Catholic, and he knows the bible inside and out. Very smart guy, but about 3 years ago he met the missionaries and joined the church. That is something I have really noticed lately. The people that know the bible for themselves and do not rely on a preacher to teach them seem to accept the gospel pretty well seeing as how the bible talks about the falling away, the restoration, etc. I do not however know too much about his family other than that all accept for one of them joined the church at different times after he did.
3. Do the two of us lif\ve in the flat alone?
No, we have a 4 man district and we all live together. I have really enjoyed this. Elder Kelly and Littlefield are the other Elders in our flat. Elder Kelly is the man. He is from Australia and also a recent convert. He actually joined the church the same day that Elder Onsongo did 3 years ago. He however has a much different background. He is big into motor cross (however you spell that) and he is in the Australian army. He is very down to earth and good with people. He is the one that loves my pens....so much that I am left without my pens..ha ha.
Elder Littlefield is from California. Honestly, I don't even know how to describe him. But he is the one that wants the balloons so that he can make balloon animals? so...yea, he is a really nice guy. Like the rest of the district, he is very strong in the gospel. Everyone in the flat has a strong testimony and we get along pretty well.
I need to move faster I am running out of time!
4. Mission President and his wife.
My mission President is the man. I do not know if I talked about my first interview with him or not, but we spent a lot of time talking about how he was the CEO of American express. He is also close friends with the president of the LDS business college. We had a lot to talk about in our interview, he is a great guy. I do not know much about the mission before I came here, but apparently he turned this mission around. I do not however know much, if anything about this wife. I have only seen her once or twice and that was for a very short time. Ill just assume that she is just as awesome?
5. Do I feel safe?
ha ha funny question...Yes, yes I do. It is not as dangerous as people were making it sound before I left, but then again it is not Keller, Texas. It is important to recognize the danger could be there, but it can be avoided. I have areas within my area that we stay clear of, we have a couple on their mission here that are over security, and most important, I am set apart as a servant of the Lord, so I am protected by that, and the people know who the missionaries are and they are usually pretty friendly. But to sum it up, yes, It is safe. I will not even get robbed in this area let alone physically harmed, so you have no need to worry. (oh I posted a couple pictures of my biggest danger, the dogs ha ha, but this area has very little dog bites, so once again, no worries)
6. The ward and Branch?
Well we have 1 ward and 1 branch in our area. Daveyton ward and a singles ward branch (which has a couple white people in it ha ha). The ward is good. It could use a lot of work though. They are very divided and no one knows who the members are. They are not unified, so That is something I am trying to work on even though I don't have any control over the ward. It is also lacking with the priesthood, so our main focus is to find and teach father led families.
We also are trying to open up a branch on the other side of my area, we had our first meeting yesterday ( a mini church) and we only had 7 people there, but it went well. We are going to do a little tracking there to find people, but for the most part they are very accepting there.)
7. What is a typical day like?
8. Tell about an investigator?
for the sake of time I will answer these next week. I am almost out of time.
9. What on earth did I mean by the comment about hearing from me every month or every other month?
Well I should be able to email in every area I am in, every week or two, but I was referring to receiving mail. In a large portion of the mission they live many many many hours away from the mission so they only get mail during transfers IF someone near them is getting transferred. So that would mean I get mail about every 6 weeks. In this area I get mail about...once every two and a half to 3 weeks. give or take a week.
Oh random facts:
I posted a picture of my first chicken foot.
and I came across these "prophetic insights" that sister Boyer gave to me before I left and it was like Christmas day! they were so cool! I only have the ones for the new test. but they were awesome, the whole flat was in on reading some of those! So thank you sister Boyer!
If you want specific questions answered please bullet point them like dad did, that was really helpful. I usually get kicked off the computer and THEN realize the questions I forgot to answer ha ha
Oh man, I only have a min or two for my thought of the week!
My thought for this week was overcoming the desires of the body and yielding to the desires of the spirit. I was going to get way into it, but i have no time. but as we read in Mosiah 3 19, the natural man is an enemy to God. This is a very true statement. The natural man desires things of this world. The natural man is the one who says eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. In 2 Nephi 2:27-29 and 2 Nephi 10:23 and 24 it talks about this and how we need to act upon the desires of the spirit. Well I really cant get into it more. I am getting kicked off.
Love you family! Thanks for your letters and your support!
Elder Williams
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