South Africa: Week 2. 8/10/2010

How is everyone doing!?

Sorry I was not able to write yesterday. It was woman's day here in Africa and everything was shut down! Good to hear from everyone and to hear things are going well back home.

Have I mentioned how crazy Africa is? Everyone keeps asking about my plane ride, so I will put Africa on hold and tell about that for a second. The plane ride was SO long! 2 days of travel. As a group we placed 3 Book of Mormons. I only got 1 out. Um, nothing to interesting happened, accept I came to the conclusion that no one in England believes in God. I talked with this 25ish year old girl on my longest flight and she had all the questions about why we are dressed in suits, Africa, the name tag, etc. So naturally I gave her the first lesson and she had a ton of questions (she didn't believe in God either). But after the first lesson she decided that she wanted to trump me with a question, so she was like "so what is your churches stance on certain drugs....such as coffee?" I was taken back because I have never heard coffee and drugs used in the same sentence by a non member. Long story short I had the best word of wisdom lesson OF MY LIFE! I answered every question so well and I thought I was making so much progress! That was until about 30 seconds after our discussion, the beverage cart came around and she ordered, what else besides a coffee and a vodka. Back to ground zero! Other than that the flight was long, but alright.

My mission president is awesome. We talked for about 10 min in our first interview about how sweet it is that he was the CEO of American Express. He is awesome. Everyone also wants to know about zone conference? My mission is said to be twice the size of Texas. Some areas are 12 hours away from the mission home and I have been told zone conference is about once every 4ish months. But myself and the MTC Elders I came over with are within an hour or two of the mission home. I have been able to see them a couple times which is good.

This week my focus was to fully get over my home sickness. It hit me hard a couple times. This has probably been the biggest trial of my life, but as we know, the harder the trial, the stronger we become after getting over it, so I am excited for that part. Three things have really helped me get over the home sickness. Those are:

1. To Smile. This seams weird, but I got the idea from those AWFUL runs that Caroline used to take me on! Every time I got to the point that I wanted to fall over and die I would simple physically smile. I am not sure why, but just smiling, even when you hurt inside makes you happier and gives you strength to go on.

2. Getting involved. This one is self explanatory. Every time I felt home sick I found myself becoming quieter and shutting down during our lessons. Once I felt the home sickness starting I would open my mouth, get involved, and become attached to the investigators.

3. Jeremiah 16:16. We had a district meeting the other day and we went over this scripture. It talks about how Christ will send his fishers of men. We talked about how the time to fish for saints is over. The time to receive the gospel is becoming shorter and shorter and it is time to HUNT for me, we got really into it, but the conclusion I came to was that our message is too important to waste time felling home sick.

So conclusion. Share the gospel with everyone! At home we tend to be fishers. "if my neighbor asks what I believe, and how I find happiness THEN I will tell them about the gospel." FALSE! instead say that they need the gospel (because they do) and go share it with them in small and simple ways.

Enough said. I have also gotten questions about the food. ha ha oh the food. They eat a lot of what you call pep. It is ground up white corn mixed with water. Long story short is that it does not have flavor. They also have this gravy that has chunks of who know what in it, and there is ALWAYS chicken. If you are lucky then the members can afford rice. We get fed about twice a week. I have also had liver, and my dinner appointment that fell through was supposed to be boiled intestines. Its not the flavor of the food that gets me but rather the amount of food. When we get food we get A LOT of food surprisingly, so we don't get food that often, but when you do get food they are making up for all the meals you missed. It is very offensive to not finish ALL the food, so you have to somehow force it down which has been a struggle every time I eat. I usually get to about halfway through my meal and then hit that wall that I think I cannot possible eat another bite! It is at this point that I have to take a step back and remind myself that I represent the Church, the lord Jesus Christ, and My family, and that I WILL find a way to get that food in me. Its hard, but its worked so far.

We also had our first funeral this week. funerals are very very common here in Africa and on any given Saturday you can ride around and find countless funerals going on. This week a girl in our ward Cami's age passed away from some stomach sickness. It was very very sad. I noticed many differences in the funerals over here than at home. I will mention differences in other letters because I can tell these will be common occurrences, but One thing that stood out to me was that after the church service everyone drives to the grave (which is a crowded place on Saturdays) and the first thing they do is lower the body into the grave. There is a lot of singing going on during this and then the grave is dedicated. Immediately after it is dedicated It is burried. As my District Leader said (who by the way is awesome, I get along with him the best. He is a recent convert from Australia and is in the military there) he said it doesn't matter who you are, what you drive, or how expensive your suit is, you grab a shovel and bury the grave. This was a huge difference from the U.S funerals. The father here has to physically put in the first shovel of dirt to bury his child. Very Very sad, but I was left with the same thought after that funeral as all the other ones I have been to. Just imagine that your last day on earth is today. What things do you want people to look back and say about you.

Well family I have to go. I love and miss you all.
Thank you for your letters, I have been able to check mail twice which has been a blessing, so thanks!

Elder Williams

PS mom if you send me a package, which you definitely do not have to. The other 3 elders in my flat don't even get mail so it will be bad if I start getting constant packages as well, but I want pens! Pilot G-2 click pens, black. Um...I had something else I needed. Maybe a motab CD. But other than that I am good. Thanks!