Tzaneen WOW

1. Does your companion have big family support or none?
1.He only has brothers and sisters left and one of his brothers is on a mission.

2. Remember Nathan Roberts is serving in Zimbabwe did they ever meet I know that is a total long shot but you never know this world gets smaller every day.
2.No he doesn’t know Nathan.

3. So do you get to eat fresh avocados and mangoes and bananas and paw paws and Litchi fruit?
3.Well it's kinda sad because mangos aren't ready until December but there are avocados, but I don't like avocados. But bananas I have eaten so it's really nice. They have a banana here they call Sweet Banana's. THEY ARE SOOOOO GOOD! Pawpaw’s are growing but their not ripe yet and Litchis aren't in season, But I will hopefully be here for a lot of that. Oranges are in season along with lemons and other stuff.

4. Is the fruit good?
4.yes

5. What kind of house do you live in this time?
5.It's a flat. We are being kicked out at the end of July though... Don't ask me why, I really don't know

6. What are you doing to dissipate that you are Satanists in the eyes of the village of Motupa
6. Well mostly we have tried to serve others at every opportunity that we get. It's been tough but the church is still growing.

7. So when you get discouraged are you going to read D&C 122 or maybe 2 Nephi 32:7
7. I'll get back to you on that one.

8.So now are you going to try learning Sotho I understand many speak this in that area.
8.I Am trying to learn a little Sotho. It's been nice because I know a little Tswana from Soweto and Sotho and Tswana are really similar.

9. Just so you know I would love one of the African Eternal Families made from wood or whatever.
9.......
10. So is this Mutopa close to Mozambique on the map it looks that way except it is spelled with an a not a u so I just wondered.
10.If it is the Motupa near Tzaneen then yes, but Mozambique is still pretty far away.

Are you the senior companion?
11. This is a very strange question which I will answer... I have been on mission longer then him, but I don't know if I'm senior companion or not.

Do you want us to send boxed food to you ever?
12.What kind of boxed food? If it's stuff I can get here then no, but if it's stuff I can't then yes.

Tell one faith promoting story from the week.
13.Well I can just say that this whole experience in Tzaneen has been faith promoting. I've been able to really focus on our work with Elder Makosa and as we have done everything we know we can. We have seen a ton of success. We've found people who are genuinely interested and have even showed it by attending church even when they have little or no money for transportation. People have been calling us for the free books and dvd's that we give and we have seen a lot of good. It goes to show that when you do your part, god DOES his.

Well for the week it's been faith building and we are making great progress with our branch. We just had an official Group Formed in Motupa with a group leader called and counselors called. So we now no longer preside over the meetings in Motupa, But I was just called to be the Branch Clerk here and given the responsibility of Training a member of the church on how to be my assistant Even though I don't have a clue how to do that. (this will take effect next Sunday. Eventually this member will be the clerk when I leave and he is currently the ward mission leader which we are training him to be as well. The reason for all of this is so that we can help him to gain confidence in himself and allow us, the missionaries, to attend ward council meetings to help the work even more. It's a crazy three ring circus here in Tzaneen, but things are improving. The work is improving and we may soon be branching out into other villages around.
Well I was thinking the other day about the times when we see people progress the most and those times were when we taught families that read their scriptures, prayed together and, had weekly family home evening. And as I was thinking about all of this stuff, I was thinking about how those are things that our family used to do all of the time but slowly stopped doing. I don't know how well you have been doing recently but I wanted to add the challenge for everyone reading this to begin doing so tonight and then continue to do daily. I know that it may be hard to organize things like that with all the crazy kids but if you give little assignments to them it will help them be motivated.

A Family Home Evening program should go something like this

Welcoming to family home evening, including an overview of the following (by person conducting)

Opening Hymn (2-3 Min)

Opening Prayer

Spiritual/Scripture thought (1-2 min)

Short lesson on a gospel topic. (10-20 min)

Fun Game (10-20 min)

Closing hymn

Closing Prayer

Refreshments

This is a commitment for each of you to follow weekly. I will be following up to see how things go and this commitment extends to all of my family and extended family. If you are going to do this please let me know through e-mail. I know that it is the way to go if you want to raise strong families and gain trust between husbands and wives, parents and children. I love each of you very much and am grateful for the prayers.

Love Elder Jones

Dear Elder Jones
This letter is from a young man who was in your area just last year. He stated at that time there were only 20 members and that it was hard, I really like what he says at the very end of his letter about hard and easy. Be prepared Dad says for the dry spell now that you have not been thirsty in teaching but we also know you and your determined spirit to not let anything get you down. Plus you can think up the craziest ways to get people’s attention. This Elder also talks in other letters about how a more shall we say enthused companion made it easier after getting a transfer change for a new companion. Well I am sure this week has been very different since that last few months new learning and getting to know the area. I hope that it has been lots of fun. This week I am starting to feel like a beat up run over mother. The boys have way more energy then me and Z is on creation mode twenty-four seven. So we have a pool made out of scrap boards and the little blue chairs but I do not think it will hold water. If he is in the house then he has huts going and makes walls to keep Buddy bear pined in which of course will not work. He dumps the laundry every time I get it in the buckets and swims in it because without fail its everywhere all the time. K is so bored it’s pitiful. He picks on Z one min and then they are the best of friends. He would stay on a horse all day if he could. Mc of course gets lost in his computer games and then we finally have to limit him on how much time he can spend doing that. C is forever in motion again until he hits the bed. Some days I wonder if the house will be standing when they all grow up. On Wed we went to peewee 4-H and the deck door was left open well Jer screamed at C to get that snake out now. Sure enough a rather medium sized blow snake took off behind the TV and down into a crack where trim needs to be put back on. The boys tried to stay up till 2 am getting it to come out and then it disappeared total and never came back out so it’s either found a way out or lost inside there still. They are a lot better about getting the screen door to shut now.
Today we got to see the twins and they are sososososos cute. I will get the pictures sent next week because I still have to load them and it's really late and I want you to at least have a letter from us. They moved back to Utah and are in limbo till their house can be closed from the building permitting and bank stuff they have to do.
Please fast for Jer he will be having his surgery on Tue afternoon as long as tomorrows history is cleared by the people who put him to sleep. Dad can't come with me this time because he has gotten it off so many times and then it's canceled and this time everyone is out of town on vacation so there isn't anyone to trade the shifts with. But Papa, Uncle Jathan, Uncle Shane and and Dad all gave him a blessing and I felt really peaceful
J managed to kill her car by shifting into 1st going 30 miles and hour she thought that was how she needed to gear down to stop at a stop sign. She either tore out the clutch or ripped the transmition to pieces. At least it was Dad that was with her so they could know how to get it off the road. She goes to girls camp in the morning and so she says to tell you she loves you but she is short on time as her an Tasha are right now trying to gather all the gear they need
Mc goes on a hike the day after Jer. surgery so Lori has to come get him because I bet I won't be back yet. They are making us stay over night for observation after the surgery is over.
Brother Larry and Sister Pam Gay are going to serve a mission in Mascow Russia, even Kathrine Howell will be speaking Russia on her mission to the Ukraine. Jer is getting to be rather bossy and very spoiled with his attitude. Primary was rough someone gave their class tootsie rolls and he wanted one he wouldn't let up at all I finally had to leave with him so they could say the prayer. Well I better get this sent out so that you can have a bit of news and smile about our crazy week.