Thank you! Enkosi Kakulu! Baie Dankie!
Thanks for the email! And the happy bdays! I love you guys so much! I don't even feel like it’s my birthday... I can't believe its already General conference too! I'm just so lucky to have Conference whenever I have my birthday! It's lekker! But thank you again for singing happy birthday to me through your letter! Dad when you mentioned you guys were going to have ribs and icecream cake to celebrate my birthday, I started to drool! ...THAT’S IT, I'm already putting in the order now for my first meal home to be ribs and icecream cake! (Oh it was my companion's bday on the 26th so that was funnish) I now know how to sing happy birthday in 3 languages paha! I think the worst part of this birthday is the fact that I am leaving my teenage years! I don't want to leave being a teenager! It was too much fun! Oh well, I’ll hafta start being mature and old I guess... I have not yet received the Bday package, but I'm sure I will get it soon!
It feels like just yesterday I was in here emailing! Why is the time going by so quickly! SLOW DOWN!!! Congrats on getting 100% mom! Celebrate by doing a happy dance! Actually I'm sure you already did! I can just picture you dancing around with that "I just did it" smile on your face, going "OOWA OOWA OOWA!!" I miss you mom!
How is my car doing? I miss that thing! I'm getting so sick of Chevy Aveo's! But... It's better than biking or walking or taking the taxi! The work moves so much quicker and smoother with a car! It's such a blessing! Thank you for all your support and for the package you sent! I'm excited for it! :) I have been so blessed to have so much support from family and friends! I couldn't ask for better people to be a part of my life!
For this week, on my end, things have been going much better! I'm starting to settle in to my responsibilities and I'm getting more comfortable with everything. Last Monday we were able to go to the Heads again. Well again for me but for Elder Rizoa, it was his first time. Man that place is so beautiful! And there are ridiculously huge houses there! See that big castle on top there! I'm going to own that one day!
After we were at the Heads, we went to our appointment at Sister Tessa's house. Sister Tessa is a member and she invited us over for dinner and also because she had a friend that she knows who is interested in learning more about the church! So when we got there we got to meet Mr. Kuda, a Zimbabwian in his 40's-50's. He is an awesome guy! He is a Reverend at his church and is very intelligent! He is qualified to teach something like 11 different subjects at school and has been a principle of a school before. He LOVES knowledge! He knows a ton about the bible and about everything in general and he just wants to learn as much about anything and everything that he possibly can!
Before we got there, sister Tessa had already given him the Book of Mormon edition of the Liahona (same as the Book of Mormon edition of the Ensign) and he had read through the whole thing and he was very interested in the things that he read and he wanted to know more about our church and its history and about the Book of Mormon and all that stuff! Well, he is a reverend so he likes to preach and talk and preach some more and talk, and so we actually weren't able to share much of our message, but what was very VERY interesting, was the fact that every single thing he said (which he had gained from experience and study and prayer over the years) was exactly in line with what we teach in the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. He wanted to know more about the Gospel we teach because he noticed that it had a lot of good things in it. As I was listening to him, my testimony was strengthened so much in the fact that there really is so much good out there in the world today, and that there are these incredible people out there who are looking for the truth and who are being prepared for the Restored Gospel, and who are truly seeking for more! It also strengthened my testimony that Heavenly Father loves all of His children equally, and for those that truly follow him, and have a desire to learn and grow, he gives to them freely, whether a member or not.
It was amazing to hear of his experiences that he had through his life which taught him important truths of the gospel, and it impressed me how he came to know all of these things through these incredible experiences through his life, and yet these things he learned are taught to us simply and clearly in the Restored Gospel. We have this incredibly huge source of knowledge and truth that is so easily accessible to us, while others in the world are having to go through great experiences to know the same things. Anyways I could go on all day about the impressions I received and the things I learnt from that experience, but short story shorter, we gave him the Restoration pamphlet and a Book of Mormon and he said that he would read it right away, and that he had read books twice that size in a week before. He is a very busy man, and we have not been able to visit with him again since our last visit, but Sister Tessa said that she is going to invite him to come to General Conference, and if he comes to that, I think that would be awesome! Haha! He is so well prepared for the Gospel! Anywho... too much talk about that!
I don't have much time for the rest of the week! We have been having good success in finding those who are prepared to receive the Gospel this week, and I am loving the work! I'm still having difficulties with getting all the work done in the area that needs to be done while still doing all of our studies, but it's coming!
On Tuesday we were fed by some Malawians in the branch (pap, chicken and cauliflower and tomato salad thing...) it was good! (you eat it with your hands by the way) and on Saturday I made burgers and smokey's for the Saayman family! These people (meaning like everyone in the township) only ever eat pap and rice and chicken and potatoes, so I decided to give them a little taste of a classic Canadian Summer day meal! It went well and I cooked it all in the oven (no bbq) but it turned out really nice and they were all like worshipping me because it tasted so good) but to me it just tasted normal. No wonder because all of their food is always so bland... So they really enjoyed that and it was fun and I am doing it again today for the Lahlwane family, so I'll see how that turns out!
Woo! On Sunday Brother Julius received the Aaronic Priesthood and was ordained to the office of a priest! That was lekker! And ya... things are going well! Well I have ranted too much today! Gotta go!
But thank you everybody for all of your love and care for me while I’m on the other side of the world! And Happy Belated Birthday to Marshall!!! I love you man! And Happy Birthday to Grandma! You'da best! And if Dahlin is reading this, Happy Bday to you too! And to anyone elses Bdays I've missed! Sorry I can't remember everything... Anywho! I love ya all! Take luck!
-Elder Jones
Pshaaaa - I never got a birthday wish. What a brat. Kidding! Leonarda - if you see this comment, could you email him and ask him to send me a letter to YOUR house? Because I haven't gotten ANY from him! Not a single one in the last what? 10 months? So sad!
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