Dear Family,
Sorry I am a day late about Emailing! I knew Momma might get a little ancy, so I had a lady at the area office email a note to you. It makes me laugh how quickly missionaries make friends with people. 1 Second you are meeting someone and 2 minutes later you are having them send an email to your mother with an update.
Elder Molai and I got a call from the assistants this week telling us about a kid in Benoni (first city I lived in) who received a call to Australia on his mission, but his visa was not in yet. His stake president wanted him to get into the field and have some good experience before his papers get in, so naturally they called us. Monday morning we made the four hour trip down to Johannesburg and met with him (Elder Stewart), his father, the assistants, and President & Sister Omer. It was neat to meet his dad and when they had to say good bye it brought back memories of oh so long ago when I was leaving. He is a good kid, 19, born and raised in South Africa, but his extended family comes from Ireland. Once we picked him up we turned around and made the trek back to Nelspruit. Elder Molai doesn't like driving so I drove both ways and I was pretty tired after a day of driving. Now Elder Molai and I are training! We are pretty excited about that. We don't have any idea how long he will be with us.
Earlier this week President and Sister Omer came to Nelspruit to interview/meet us. It was a pretty good time. President Omer is humble and soft spoken much like President Poulsen. Sister Omer however is still getting her eyes opened to the world of Africa. I feel a little sorry for her having to get used to this large change. It is apparent when a senior couple comes to the mission and has get used to mission life/Africa. I know it is hard on them, but they are so needed in the mission field and their work is greatly appreciated.
Yesterday Sister Omer seemed to be more open and used to the mission. We will see them again Saturday when I go to the leadership meeting. Another four hour drive.
This past week I have spent a lot of time studying 1 Nephi 8 (Lehi's dream). I literally spent hour upon hour going line by line on this chapter. It has grown to be my favorite and I love studying it. This week we were at President Atkinson's (mission presidency), and some how our conversation turned to 1 Nephi 8, so I had the opportunity to go through it with him. I asked him the the questions that I had and they led to some very helpful topics. The scriptures are so sweet. There was one powerful point I got from one of the particular verses in that chapter that I shared with him and he was like "I have a note next to every verse in this page EXCEPT for that verse that you just pointed out." It was fun because we were able to combine our studies of the topic and see things that the other had not even thought of.
This Sunday we had 6 visitors from the church auditing department on assignment from Salt Lake. They were down here in South Africa and had to visit the game parks that are around us. The reason I bring this up is because one of the guys made me laugh quite a bit. He brought me back to the American Wards. When we started Sacrament meeting with a hymn, he did not reach for the multiple hymn books that were on either side of him, oh no! Not when you have an ipad with you! He decided to go to the hymn app on his Ipad. It made me laugh, but it didn't stop there! When I was asked to teach the next class I was passing out Gospel Principles books to everyone. I went to hand a book to him, but NO, not when he has a gospel principles app on his Ipad haha. Then I told them the page number we were opening up to and h was like "Elder, I'm sorry, but what Chapter is that? My IPAD Doesn't have page numbers". I was like oh my goodness! If only we were all cool enough to have an Ipad haha.
Well, I hope all is well back home. How is Cami doing all by herself in Texas? Tell her not to forget her brother! Mom I will check for your package on Friday when we see President Omer (President travels with our post).
Thanks for everything!
Love you all
Elder Blake Williams
PS. Sorry I can't send pictures through this email shop. It is not the nicest shop in the world. Outside the door is where they bring those huge bags of clothes that people donate to the "poor kids in Africa". If you have ever wondered where your free donations of clothing to Africa end up, I can tell you. It comes in a huge bag which is taken to the middle of fairly rich town, and then it is sold to whoever can pay the most for it. T.I.A (this is Africa)
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