Back To South Africa!

I am not sure why he has started to write us separate letters but he has.  :)
Momma Llama,

First of all, I do not know when they send out my actual dates for returning home, but there is a 99% Chance that I will fly out the night of July 10th and then it is about 2 days of travel. I am still convinced that July 2012 will never come. It is a crazy thought to think that I am not going to be in Africa for the rest of my life! ha

Well I got a call on Saturday that I am being transfered. VERY surprising phone call for many reasons. All they told me is that I will continue in my assignment as a Zone Leader and that I will be serving in SOUTH AFRICA! WHAT!? I finally convinced myself that I was not leaving Botswana and I was OK with that, and then they send me to South Africa.  Out of 200 Elders there are only about 10 that have residency. 8 of those 10 go home in the next 5 months. And it is becoming much harder for missionaries to get residency. I was with the mission president last week when he was informed that the price of registering missionaries for the CHANCE to get residency has jumped from 500 pula to 3,000 pula (about 500 US dollars). Even after paying that 3,000 for each missionary (about 8 missionaries every 6 weeks), that only gives them the chance to get residency, and Chances are so low that during the 7 months that President Omer has been here only 1 Elder has received residency. I don't know if any of this even makes sense, but my point is, is that missionaries have not been able to get residency in Botswana, so they desperately need the 10 of us that do have residency to be in Botswana, and during all of this I am being transferred down to South Africa? It makes me feel like there was revelation in this decision. There would be no other reason to take me out of the Country.
Enough about that. I have not received that package yet, but I am looking. You can just send my mail to South Africa from now on.
My health. ha ha, well I did realize this morning that I am losing weight, but that was expected. I have been eating very healthy sense I got sick, and I am enjoying it! I did not know how to cook with fruits and veggies, but I just got to the store and buy whatever looks fresh and then cook with it. It has been a pretty good learning experience for me. Don't worry about my weight though. All but one of the Zone leader areas in South Africa are rich towns which means I will be fed a lot.
Well I don't know where the time has gone, I need to go finish the e-mails!
I love you
Blake
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Dad
Well, because of time I will have to have you just read moms email that talks about my transfer to South Africa. I am quite surprised, but look forward to it.

I am sad to hear that mom is struggling with back problems. I have been keeping it a secret for a while, but recently my back has started to give me problems again. I have looked into it a bit, keeping in mind the things my chiropractor from Texas told me. I have become convinced that it is a result of my bad posture, not really the way I sit, but as weird as it sounds my head rests to far forward on my shoulders and I think that is throwing my spine off a bit. I am planning on just dealing with it for my last few months, but once I get home I want to go see a very experienced back doctor to see what he can do. I do not want to just fall into the trap that mom is in right now of having someone pop your back for a day or 2 of relief. So if you can keep your eye out for very experienced back doctors, that would be greatly appreciated.

I hope everything works out with the business expansion. That is pretty exciting, but I can imagine it would be slightly stressful for you.

Residency in Canada would be nice. I also have the same impressions that you do about work outside of the US. It is best to keep my options open.

Well shoot, I am going to be a bit sad about leaving this area. It has been a time of growing for me. Being here while the branch was passed over to the members has been a big task and we have been very involved in that. There have been multiple things going on with the Zone and I have learned a lot from that. But most important I am going to miss the new people we have been finding. We only have 5 people on baptism date right now, but 4 of those 5 are VERY strong prepared people. All of those 4 were at church this week and I am sure they will be baptised in February. It will be sad to go, but I am anxious about my new area.
Well I have to go get everything ready for the drive down tomorrow!
Love
Elder Blake Williams