and then there was one week left in the transfer

How the heck is everyone! it has been another incredible week in the 083 and summer is just around the corner which is strange because it is almost september... Where to begin... Well the Zulu skill I must say is quite impressive... I've been learning sentence structure and supposedly I speak it like someone from Kwazulunatal... so that's sweet. the clicks are quite impressive and the spear distance and accuracy is lethal haha. I live in Benoni on the corner of Atlas Road and Racecar road so if you wanna google earth that boom that's where its at. Benoni is like a town of 100,000 people but its basically like a town center. surrounding us is Boksburg North and South, Actonville, Wattville, Crystal Park, Putfontein and Kempton park. so its a pretty dang big area maybe 50k's from one side to the other. There is city, shack towns, townships, mansions, and suburbia so its pretty dang diverse here...
The work is awesome the big story of the week, The Mhike's my golden family, are all getting baptized this sunday the 5th... I am so honored to be a part of this like its insane I can't even imagine the rush on sunday... also Mike... Mike is seriously the man haha there is this breakfast I have everymorning called weetbix... its like shredded miniwheats but better. So i mix 4 of them with milk, a bit of sugar, and frosties (frosted flakes) and boom breakfast of champions. it seriously fuels the fire haha. so anywho we go to teach Mike and we get on the subject of breakfast and he's like... "weetbix is the breakfast of champions." and I was like I know right?? so then we discussed and we make it the exact same way... It was one of those unspoken connections that really made me laugh haha and he was like yeah Elder Robinson is the man... These trainings we have are sweet last week we had elder Renland of the 70 and he was so awesome... anyway during the training, he watched us mock teach and he was like Elder Robinson how long have you been out I was like 4 weeks... he was like keep it up miracles will come... so that was pretty flippin sweet.

I'm having a difficult time deciding which language to start. Shona, Zulu, or Afrikaans. 3 is too much and I wanna get good. Brother Juvencio from Zimbabwe is totally pushing shona and he's so awesome and electric he's preparing to leave on a mission and just got baptized like last year. He's on fire I love that guy...

Everything is sweet with Elder Nelson and we are rockin it with the new training we finally set all of our goals for the week. However, my mission family is growing and my tree is quite complex. so Elder Nelson is my father... Elder Opondo is my brother. Elder Blau is my step father/god father. Because of that elder Mchunu is my half brother along with Elder Clark who Elder Nelson follow up trained. Elder Williams, who is my boy, is my brother because that's how we roll so that means elder Onsongo is also my step father. Now... This week I went on exchanges to Springs with Elder McCombs who is also a huge part of my training because he is a zone leader and taught me a lot. So now he is also my step father. the confusing thing is is that there are no women haha so my family tree is like a briar patch right now...

Any who mission is awesome... This week on exchanges we had a missionary meltdown. some of the Elders got in a huge fight and 2 wanted to go home. Since I was with the Zone leaders I got to go counsel and talk it out with them. So greenie Robinson went off and we spent 3 hours in heated argument and settling... But they are all staying and (RANDOM INSERT ELDER WIlliams, Who is my Boy is now here... Mom and Dad His mom's email address is carlyrachelle88@gmail.com... JK that is his sister but you can set it up) back to the story. so all of them are sticking around and we felt bomb... Elder McCombs is like maybe you're doing this for a reason haha maybe you'll be zone leader... honestly that scared the crap out of me... but who knows maybe in time. I don't really think anyone believes I am a greenie which is nice haha everytime I say I've only been out like a month its like "ooh that's greeen..." but anyway its cool

The work has kinda been frustrating because we keep getting ditched but also the people who are electric and on fire make it so worth all of the other hard stuff... Our teaching pool is flippin huge...

but we need to keep working and doing all we can...

Fun fact I am currently in search of a Kuduzela or a battle horn made from a kudu horn appearantly they are fairly cheap so totally I'm going for one...

Everyone read Moroni 7 it is sweet about working through the tough times...
Elder Willams who is my boy's mom's email address is stacey@in-balance.biz
sorry this is random I love you all the work goes forth I'm off to a funeral for brother Claytons father... Sala Kahle all of you!!!!

Zhakanakisisa! (I'm very nice!/ doin super awesome in Shona)‏

Ah hello everyone what to say about this incredible week. First lets put a few things into perspective. In 9 days I have officially been gone for 2 months which honestly blows my mind like I have no idea where the time has gone and honestly its like shoot I better work harder and take more advantage. Now a little bit more about Missionary work. In south Africa, we relate missionary work to life. For example. I was born 2 months ago and my trainer, Elder Nelson, is my father. I have a brother who was also trained by Elder Nelson named, Elder Opondo from Kenya... I being nearly 2 months old have now officially had my baby blessing haha. in just 6 short months I'll be able to be baptized lol and at 12 months I can get the priesthood. At the one year point the life changes, it then works in proportions. for example, Elder Nelson has like three months left or like an 8th of his mission. if the average person lives to be 80, he's like 70 now and he's old. Elder Blau has like 2 weeks left and he is dying haha... so here is young Robinson telling you of his week.
So it finally happened. I own a Zulu Spear. it is 7 feet long and I can throw it like 50 yards so far. it also can be detached from the bottom and become a short stabbing spear. so that's awesome. the hunt for a good shield still continues but soon enough I'll be pretty decked out.
They say you are lost in the work when you start dreaming in your mission language. Well mine is a cacaphony of like 20 languages and it has started to happen. Just last night also, I had the dream about extending commitments and I actually woke up saying " So will you commit to be baptized by someone holding the proper authority on the 5th of September." I also woke up at one point saying "Will you commit to planting the seeds of faith..." honestly I would never say that so I must be some kind of poet in my dreams. anywho yeah I have been officially lost in the work which is awesome.
Glad to hear all is well back home feel free to send forwards, letters, news, from the states its always good to hear from anyone. Um I am currently beginning the study of 3 languages. Afrikaans (which is super easy thanks to german), Zulu (pretty flippin hard), and Shona(also pretty dang hard) and I would like to know if any of you who has a spare few minutes could like find grammar rules, hymns in the languages, or even just awesome words you found. for example, I will teach you how to say I need a piece of cheese.

Zulu: Ngidinga I'cheese (nyi dinga e cheeise)
Shona: Ndinoda Cheese (nyi noda cheese)
Setswana: Ke Tlhoka Cheese (K Tlokha cheese)

See total awesomeness. Things are going well with elder Nelson/papa and we're really taking the training and work to heart and we can see it in our teaching.

Food is awesome. Now I love chicken. But africa LOVES chicken I have chicken like every meal and can't go a block without seeing the colonel, a chicken licken, or a nandos. It is awesome chicken is so bomb you even see chickens running around the townships. This week I've been trying to follow every single rule as close as possible and it really has been helping like just the bonuses are awesome.

Fun stuff that has happened this week is district soccer. Me and elder williams, my boy, have started a soccer games at 545 every morning at the benoni town hall. It is seriously the bomb haha I am getting addicted to soccer its kinda crazy.

This week we started teaching an Afrikaaner man named mike and just walked up to us and was like. um yeah I wanna get baptized what do I need to do. So we taught him and he is as good as gold. The story of Job really touched him because he's been through a lot in life and is like so feeling the BOM and the Spirit we have him on date for the 25th of September. In fact missionary work out here is on fire we have 9 count em 9 baptisms scheduled for this month. man the Spirit is doin work in Africa.

The Mhike's as always are so bomb they are seriously like so awesome. We asked them all to read scriptures. We gave Tinashe the story of Ammon in Alma 17 and 18, Shyleen the story of Nephi and his bow and the Liahona in 1 Nephi 16, We gave Mathius the book of Enos, and we gave Abigayl the strippling warriors mommas boys of Alma 56-57. and guess what. They all read, They taught us the entire stories and principles, shared favorite scriptures, came to chuch, and each and every single one told me how pumped they were to be baptized. Oh and they brought a friend to a lesson for us to teach him too. :D its like holy cow what did we do to deserve this family haha.

I love everyone I teach seriously... Oh sweet cool story so this Afrikaaner woman Elvira has been having a tough go with everything and the old missionaries just couldn't crack her. So we went to visit her after she came to church one week and she was like " Oh by the way, I've quit smoking, drinking, drugs, coffee, tea, and I now consider myself a Mormon." My jaw hit the floor its like dang I just talked to you smiled said I hadn't met you, we come and teach you, and now this? I love it man miracles are happening in Benoni and this is just like 6 of the people we are teaching.

Crazy stuff is happening here though there is a nationwide strike of public service workers, so schools, hospitals, firestations, even some police stations are not in operation and the crowds are dangerous like yesterday we saw cars lit on fire. good thing the lord is on our side.

Next monday we are goin to the Lion park baby. So Rhinos, Lion Cubs, Legit full lions, cheetas, zebras, elephants, giraffes, you name it next week I'm seeing it. Boom baby.

Funny story real quick I taught this guy like a one minute lesson who was so totally tarred up with heroine and he kept asking to hug me so that was pretty nice.

We participated in African helping hands week and built a new center and playgrounds for aids victims.

AH! 30 seconds I love you all. keep praying you're the best

The Robinson

Last night at 8pm your dad and I walked over to the Elder’s flat where they had prepared a feast of steak cooked to order by Elder Robinson who claims to be a master meat chef, mashed potatoes and gravy and rice as a thank you for letting them use our car on and off for over a week while theirs was getting repaired (the mission office did not have any spares), in fact the Elders rode their bikes as much as they possibly could even during the cold snap. Elder Nelson also made a frozen desert of oreos, cream, fruit and who knows what else. It did taste really good though. I made some jello with fruit to contribute. They had all of their doors open and the fan on because it got so smoky in the frying pan in which the meat was cooking. Their mothers would love to see this. They are really appreciative, hard working and thoughtful.

Elder & Sister Wittwer

week 4ish continued

So today I'm going to tell you a little about missionary work... Now first we're going to rewind to the MTC... so when you're on a mission a few things happen the old you is still there but it is changed because you're a missionary... This is not a bad change but kind of a little bit of insanity... so here we go... first off things that were never funny before become hilarious case in point... scripture jokes.... ok now this is like you walk past an automatic light and you say and Elder Robinson said let there be light (light turns on) and there was and it was good. then you walk around the corner... Ah its a little dark over here as well... bam and it was good... honestly we laughed about that for 2 hours.... next... missionary work jokes. I've started a little thing I like to call overheard in the mission field along with my boy elder Williams. So we were in a meeting and they were talking about key indicators which are the statistics we use... anyway so they would give us a scenario and say what key indicator does this meet. for example they would say family of 5 with the mother a member. This would fulfill the Father Led Family category as well as the Less Active Part Member Family category of LAPMF for short. so They asked us one of these and the man said "which of the following key indicators does this meet?" The elder in front of us acting like a total stud said "Yes" I laughed so freakin hard I had to like choke myself with my tie. Its insane haha it really is. But the quote of the week came from one of the security guards in our complex. We have been having car issues and we had borrowed 4 cars in the week for various appointments and leadership things so we finally got back with our old car and were waiting at the security gate and he brought out a visitor form. When he noticed it was us he was like "Ah Bafundis! (preachers) you change cars faster than I change trousers!" Hilarious I still laugh about it.

Also you feel yourself becoming a little bit weird. Elder Nelson is going home in like 3 months and was like how am I going to date again I'll like treat it like a lesson.. its like "will you commit to holding hands tonight? I can promise as you do so..." like Mission jokes are awesome haha that's all I really have to say about that.

So a few awesome things about Africa... The stop lights are called robots... so I figured alright I'll start calling Stop signs autobots and yield signs decepticons... its really starting to catch on haha go transformers....

Simba chips are delightful and the bag is just hilarious a quote from the bag says... " While every young potato aspires to become a simba chippie, only the very best are selected. Simba, The king of Snacks, is very choosy, and so he ensures that every bag is only the best and always roars with flavor." ah man I love reading that... You really start to enjoy the simple things when a missionary. Like for example, I love microwaving my socks everymorning because my feet are always cold. Nothing is quite so awesome as a freshly ironed shirt...

Also I have discovered I love narrating my life in song it really is sweet haha I do it all the time even if its like... That lesson was awesooome! becaause we hhhhahaad the SPIRIT. small and simple things make the mission awesome and keep you sane. well. crazy. I don't know haha but its good.

So this week was pretty dang awesome we had a training about teaching to needs, helping investigators, always having the Spirit in lessons, and just actually caring about all you teach. It works so well this training like made the work explode this week. We had an investigator Lynette walk from Boksburg to the train station, buy a skirt with her last few rand, then walk from the station to church. In the follow up lesson, she taught us and wants to get baptized. just awesome. The Mhike's the family we taught at the end of operation dirtbag have been electric! we went and played soccer with them and honestly I rocked it... Thank you Katie, Spencer, Tiffany, and all of you who went out and played the last few times haha I feel like Tshabalala out here. So they all came to church and in the lesson both Mathius and Abigayl prayed, and there prayers were incredible. Abigayl was like so thankful and powerful and brought the Spirit and her family was pumped. We taught them family home evening and they loved it and said it was just what they needed. Then when Mathius prayed, he was like thank you for my incredible family, thank you for the opportunity and pleasure it is to be baptized all together on the 5th, The blessings you give are incredible and thank you for these awesome missionaries to teach us these things. Man it was awesome the power of prayer is so totally bomb. I love hearing the testimonies of those we teach. Its really incredible.

So something else this week new, was exchanges, I went to Kempton Park with Elder Brendon Blau, and we were comps for 24 hours. We taught this guy named Jackson, his story basically is that he quit his job and has been out of work for a while. His wife basically wears the pants in the relationship and things have been really tough. So we showed up and he was like AH missionaries! I have been waiting for you! I want to talk to you about this book. So he since the tuesday before which had been 3 days read all the way to Mosiah. He was teaching us, he was like Nephi is so smart and its crazy he talked with Christ like 600 years before he came. Laman and Lemuel were stupid they even saw an angel and still didn't obey. He was so pumped about it he was like I know this is the word of God this is what I have to do... I know I need to repent, be baptized and endure to the end... when can I get baptized? Elder Blau like a true stud was like "what are you doing the 12th of september. We're having a baptism, and its not just anyones, it yours, what do you think." He was electric it was awesome. The field is white and ready to harvest even when things are super tough, people wanna listen.

We know have 8 people on date for baptism and I feel really good about 6 of them so if we do the math... I've been on my mission for 6 weeks... That's one a week baby! The Spirit guides, I work and do all I can, Elder Nelson does the same, and the Spirit and they do the rest. It is just awesome.

We've started asking everyone for referrals and to do their home teaching because every member is a missionary, and the work has honestly exploded this week. I'm sure next week I'll have even more crazy stories to tell...

Read Alma 30 its awesome... I've got like 30 seconds... I love you all keep it real and stay strong... Afica is awesome! by until next week!!!

4ish? weeks in Africa

Ah Alaska sounds pretty sweet and once again I'm a little bummed I didn't get to go but guess what I have a two year safari out here so ha... The Aveo is back and it runs like a champ again and the best part is is that it was under warranty so GM of East Rand south Africa paid everything... So ? did you go fishing or did you just enjoy the spoils? and yes salmon is quite delicious fish is big out here because of the southern cape... its the largest concentration of sea life in the world and shark month is going to be filmed out here this year. Yes I miss my disco dancing and all that business and to make matters worse they are having a stake wide disco and swing night... punch to the heart haha... anyway things are still good and we're actually going with the Wittwers today to a traditional shop where I hope to find a lion sculpture, spear, shield, and the like. on last monday I bought a rugby ball so that should have taken out 150 rand or about 23 dollars. This morning I took out 500 rand for the traditional shop so I think that should be like 70 dollars or so... and I think it would be pretty funny if you became a fisherman because then you could wear one of those sweet yellow rain ponchos with the hat and get the sea mist in your evertriumphant musctache. Um yeah the people are awesome out here especially in the ward, we are fed like twice a week by the members and like roobis tea and or custard and icecream like almost every appointment so that's sweet. um yeah as far as anything I really am in need of like tortillas are pretty key, um maybe some powerade or gatorade mix because it's like 8 rand a bottle here which is a little ridiculous for as fast as I drink it. kum as far as like sending the stuff from alaska maybe like the knife and stuff keep at home but the gloves and shirt would be nice. I just don't wanna lug around souveniers. Um if I get a spear/shield today I'll probably send it back by slow boat because its cheapest and it should take like 2 months or so. Yeah so everything is pretty sweet. I'll let you know the rest in the big letter... tootalloo or however that is spelled

3ish Weeks in Afrika 8/10/10

3ish weeks in Afrika‏
8/10/10

So who wants to hear my first incredible mission story?!?!?! well you're going to have to wait because I have some other things to talk about first. So one South Africa is seriously lacking in a few major areas of my food pyramid. One, hot sauce it is like 100 rand for the tiniest bottle, two tortilla chips are non existent, and three powerade mix. This is honestly all I want for Christmas haha ooh and perhaps some tortillas. I never really noticed how much the southwest rubbed off on me. anywho the mission work is awesome like I seriously love it. Our days are almost always full of appointments, trainings, or tracting which is just awesome. Its really funny because I think that everyone out here has a funny accent so I laugh when people talk but then they all are like your accent is crazy where are you from and then I say Utah and they are like "What the heck are you doing here?" Spreading the Gospel and Messin Stuff up. that is what I'm doing. haha just kidding just a lot of hard work and prayers. So I can finally pronounce all of the Zulu alphabet and am learning a bit of conversation now but it is still so crazy. Afrikaans is like second nature to me I can basically read it perfect and it is seriously so similar to German. Keate would be proud I actually taught an Afrikaans speaking family in German so that was sweet the Van Der Westheiyzens are seriously awesome.

Oh sorry this letter is on tuesday. Yesterday was national womens day and everything was closed so today is kind of a half p day. Holidays are seriously so random out here like all of a sudden like two days before they are like oh by the way... Monday is such and such day. I kinda wish America did that but then again nothing would ever get done haha. So we are finding new people and this one guy Nigel was interested so we drove for like an hour to get to this address and guess what? it was an adult shop so we were like DANGER ZONE um we can't come in lets teach you on the street. He works there but is really receptive and looking for a new job so hopefully that works out. But he honestly needs this to survive so hopefully everything works out....

Ok I can't hold it in any longer. AWESOME missionary story. So tuesday was my first time driving and honestly it was nothin motorcycle was the perfect preparation for the cars out here. Except roundabouts are still scary as heck. anyway so we were driving in Boksburg when we started to hear a funny noise and instantly I thought. Fan belt or timing belt. I was totally right... thanks dad... and we were like in the straight up ghetto with no lights on so it was a little sketchy but honestly Elder Nelson and I are pretty flippin gnarly I don't think anyone really wants to mess with us. In fact... other random story we passed this gang of like 10 14 year olds and they were like hey this is our turf and I was just thinking like bring it and then they saw me and they were like never mind haha... Awesome. So anyway are car the fabulous chevy aveo was making a terrible noise and we needed to get home so we took it super slow and got home. The next morning we took it to the dealership and they were like yeah its your timing belt and I was like sweet I rock. totally called that. and then they were like yeah... you can't drive this. So that sucked. So without bikes, or car, and 5 appointments totally spread acrossed our area we began to walk. Here begins Operation Dirtbag as we named it.

So we got back to the flat and carbo loaded 2 plates of rice half a loaf of bread and two chicken breasts later and we were ready to roll. We assumed it would be about 20 kilometers and little did we know how wrong we were. So we walked to Actonville and Wattville which are about 10k's away and taught a 20 minute lesson to Lithewe a recent convert we then had to try to walk all the way to Crystal park which turns out is like 25 kilometers away so we walked. and walked. and walked. and walked. and about 7 k's away they called and cancelled. so we were already late for two appointments and just decided to cancel them. Then all that was left were the Mikhe's. We promised to A be on time and B cook them an american dinner for our next lesson so we were like. boom lets do it. So we walked all the way back to our flat in lakeside and got everything so far about 32 k's on the day. We were so tired, chafed, and blistered and elder Nelson was seriously bummin. He was like we're gonna go walk in the dark and get killed. So I was like. Alright elder Robinson... Lets pray and start tellin jokes, crazy stories and anything to lighten the mood. so I did. I told the story of the gayest night of my life. TPing thomas' house 4 nights in a row, and honestly anything. And you know what we made it there in no time, safely, and on time.

So then the lesson began I had recently been praying to get the flow of lessons a little better and to teach better and guess what. Elder Nelson got a phone call and left me to teach. I was trippin out. anyway we were planning on teaching Ether 12 and that morning I had studied it. And The spirit took over and I rocked it like Mathius, Shyleen, Fortunate... the lady I confirmed, Tinashe, and Abigayl were all feeling it so hard core I felt it so hard core it was just awesome. Fortunate was the only member the others are all non members. Just as I wrapped up. Elder Nelson came back with the Wittwers who were there to give us a ride home. HALLELIJAH prayers are answered. I love the Wittwers seriously so much they are the bomb... anyway so the best part after the awesome lesson and the fact that we didn't have to walk home... We commited all 4 of them... Mathius, Tinashe, Shyleen, and Abigayl to be baptized in September!!!!!! and They all came to church!!!! so long story short... We walked 36 k's or almost 21 miles got bailed on, taught a 20 minute lesson, then rocked another lesson and got BAPTISMAL commitment baby! So freaking awesome I got home and seriously ate pillow after praying it up and woke up with the stiffest legs ever but it was just awesome. Like I felt like renting my coat just like in the scriptures but I decided to wait until they get baptized haha.

As the week went on we got some bikes and were able to get around more. Taught some awesome lessons and grew as a companionship which always rocks. and I've seriously rode like 100 miles this week to so my quads are looking pretty ripped to say the least haha. And we should have our car back tomorrow.

Also the Wittwers let us borrow their car a ton too for long appointments. Ah they are the best I'm totally making them steak dinner in like a week when this is all done. So pretty much The gospel rocks, missionary work rocks, my legs and butt hurt so bad, but everything is incredible. Paul and Alvira are still totally awesome and KJ and Ronald are my Umfanis I love it hear and love more and more people I teach everyday. this work is the shiz seriously.

A scripture for the week for all of you is Alma 18 it talks about the Spirit, Chopping off arms, dudes passing out, and is just incredible.(18 Now when the king had heard these words, he marveled again, for he beheld that Ammon could adiscern his thoughts; but notwithstanding this, king Lamoni did open his mouth, and said unto him: Who art thou? Art thou that Great Spirit, who bknows all things?
19 Ammon answered and said unto him: I am not.
20 And the king said: How knowest thou the thoughts of my heart? Thou mayest speak boldly, and tell me concerning these things; and also tell me by what power ye slew and smote off the arms of my brethren that scattered my flocks—
21 And now, aif thou wilt tell me concerning these things, whatsoever thou desirest I will give unto thee; and if it were needed, I would guard thee with my armies; but I know that thou art more powerful than all they; nevertheless, whatsoever thou desirest of me I will grant it unto thee.)

I still have crazy dreams and talk in my sleep a lot. the best one as of late was waking up and thinking I was in a laundramat meeting my new companion who had no legs... totally awesome. anyway awesome week

We're starting some new training and stuff and its awesome to always be able to learn more and not settle for Plateauing gotta keep working hard and digging deep. I also got to see my boy elder williams. turns out he is in Benoni to and we're going to play soccer 3 times a week in the mornings just awesome. I also got to see Elder Alder, "the crawfish" or Elder Crawford, and some other MTC buds except I still didn't get to see Elder Yugawa which was a bit of a bummer but everything is still awesome.

Can't wait to keep working and all the crazy to come... I love hearing about back home and dear elder letters are free out here so that's nice. I love you all, keep it real, pray for Africa, Pray for missionaries, and pray for yourselves God will hook you up...

Sala Kahle mi Umfanis and however you say sisters. Nkosi loves you.

Elder Raging Lion Robinson... Boom Shaka Laka.

Money conversion as of 8/15/10

1.00 ZAR = 0.136611 USD
South Africa Rand United States Dollars
1 ZAR = 0.136611 USD 1 USD = 7.32003 ZAR


Small bottle hot sauce 100 rand or $13.66

Safe Arrival in the Mission!‏

Dear Brother and Sister Robinson,
I am pleased to inform you that your son, Elder Kenyon Robinson, has arrived in the South Africa Johannesburg Mission and he is doing wonderfully. We are delighted to have him serving with us in the Mission. Elder Robinson will serve initially in the Benoni Area of the Benoni Zone. His companion and trainer is Elder David Nelson from California.
Uplifting and supportive letters from home are important to missionaries. We encourage you to write or e-mail your son weekly. His mailing address throughout his mission will be kenyon.robinson@myldsmail.net . In fact email communications are preferred.
For Letters and Documents sent through pouch (no checks or photographs)
Elder Kenyon Robinson
South Africa Johannesburg Mission
P. O. Box 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-01550
For Packages and Letters sent through Postal Service
Elder Kenyon Robinson
South Africa Johannesburg Mission
Private Bag X4
Ansfrere 1711, South Africa
Packages should be labeled “Missionary Supplies” and be valued less than R300 in order to avoid high custom charges. Missionaries may also receive mail by fax to the Mission Office. We put faxes into the post (mail) delivered to missionaries. The least expensive parcel maybe the US Postal Box which has a flat rate. For secure items please use Fedex or DHL and the physical address: 3 Phillips Avenue, Discovery 1709, South Africa.
We appreciate your support of your missionary and thank you for sharing him with the South Africa Johannesburg Mission. Attached you will find a picture that we took soon after his arrival.
Sincerely,
David E Poulsen, President
South Africa Johannesburg Mission

45 hours of travel and one week in Suid Afrika 08/02/2010

45 hours of travel and one week in Suid Afrika!‏

kenyon.robinson@myldsmail.net

Mon 8/02/10 3:22 AM

So first things first... Toilets and water down sinks do go the opposite direction. I have tried this in many toilets, sinks, banyos or however you spell that, restrooms, or my new personal favorite... the lou. so the question on everyones mind... yes the fish and chips in London were delicious haha actually no the flight was awesome though I didn't get much sleep. The coolest thing was flying over the mediteranean in pitch black then seeing tunisia and tripoli jet out into the water and were shining so insanely bright it was seriously incredible. landing in Africa was awesome we were all so pumped and we all actually had planted two book of mormons or books of mormon whichever you prefer on the way over. Seriously so sweet. um so we got to the customs gate and they were like what are you doing and who is picking you up? so we were like missionary work and this guy that we've never met but yeah he wrote us a letter once. the customs lady was like... "what happens if he cuts off your head THEN WHAT?" so that was a little intimidating haha but I still have a head on my shoulders and all is well. Exchaning dollars to rands was fun there is an elephant on the 20 a lion on the 50 a buffalo on the 100 and a leopard on the 200 so that's rad. Some fun facts about Joburg. it is the #1 highest reported crime area in the world. I was told I will get robbed at least once on my mission, and that we should never fight back... dang it.... The birds are crazy here they look like an ibis but are really short and have like a demon sqwawk that sounds like something you'd here in a horror movie, they wake me up everymorning its super nice... haha they call them kadikatties. Um the trucks are called Bakkis and the hood is the bonnet and the trunk is the boot. Everyone calls us the Bafundi which means Preacher basically. also they call us mulungu totsi or the white bandits which makes me laugh super hard. I have been assigned to serve in the Benoni zone which incorporates actonville, Benoni, a little bit of Kempton park, and Boksburg. It is a really cool and diverse area. We have mansions, huts, tarp shacks, flats or apartments, houses, boarding houses, places the size of my room where 12 people sleep. honestly everything it is cool. The whites are all really nice and they all think I'm an afrikaaner because I look central european then they hear me speak and they are like what the deuce... There are a lot of zimbabweans that we teach and they are all super nice and I love the sweet power hand shakes they all give. I'll get to teaching and families in a bit.The zulu is coming along but I have a really hard time pronouncing c's the best way I can describe it is to suck on your front teeth with your tounge and to click with your bottom teeth. saying Elder Mchunu is ridiculous haha. Um my companions name is Elder Nelson and he's from san deigo he says he really misses his asians and he's a funny kid haha. We work really well together and get along well. We both randomly quote songs, movies, comedians, and just random stuff and its awesome. He's about 4 months from going home and is kinda trippin out but still really works hard and is an awesome example. So the food is awesome here and there is honestly a chicken restaraunt like every 50 yards so I'm basically in heaven. I haven't really ate anything to crazy but I wake up every morning to frosties= frosted flakes and a lunch of a peanut butter and badger free :D honey sandwich. I've honestly only had to cook dinner once the people really take care of you. As far as being nervous about anything I"m not. everyone is so nice I don't even worry about crime if we follow the rules we'll be fine. I am however still like so antsy about driving on the left side of the road it is still so sketchy all the time. Also my feet are always cold I don't know why but I've started double socking it and it works pretty well. I met the wittwers about 48 hours ago and we had an awesome long talk about st George, the morning side stake, Mexican food, people we knew. Elder Paul Warner and Sam Wittwer and its sweet the literally live just acrossed the street. I miss mexican food but we were lucky enough to have them cook for us and I got my hot sauce fix so that was nice.We are always busy here which makes me think I can handle just about anything back home I love reading and studying everymorning and then answering questions people have. The scriptures are seriously the shizz and help so much in teaching and everything we do. Also the power of prayer is ridiculous I can't even begin to talk about how much you see it help. So yesterday was my first sunday and honestly the craziest day ever. To start off I confirmed someone with the holy ghost and gave them a blessing. Her name is fortunate and she is from zimbabwe I don't know if I've ever been more afraid in my life but I just started speaking and the spirit took over. By the end I felt so pumped and she was crying and seriously just so incredible. Then the bishop callled me up and was like just take 10 minutes share your testimony and a little bit about yourself. Once again the Spirit guided, I made everyone laugh and everyone was like we already know we'll love you here. Then we got called to speak at a youth fireside about the atonement so once again some quick prayers were said and we rocked it thanks to the Spirit. So funny story my first night here I had a dream we were camping on the island at sand hollow and it was like me collin Leonard Bryant Martin and everyone then a kadikattie woke me up and I like tried to roll out of bed and I rolled into the wall and I was like where am I? I was like this is not my house. I felt super crazy but then I was like oh yeah mission haha. A cool scripture this week is 2nd Corintians 5:7 which talks about using our faith rather than sight. It helped us get a return appointment with a lady named Maybe. cool names here I've already met a simba and mufasa no joke :DOk so some people we are teaching are the Mikhes from zimbabwe and it is an entire family they are so awesome and we just taught them about bringing the scriptures to life, and keeping the commandments. This week we're gonna cook them an american breakfast and bring up baptism I've got a good feeling about it. Another group is KJ and Ronald who both just got baptized and live in Actonville they are 14 and 15 and so funny they are like " its a big american football player don't mess with him he'll rip your arms out" and appearantly they want biceps like mine... that was nice haha. But there testimonies are golden they both are like we need to be like Elder Robinson and Nelson and then like Nephi haha but seriously they are way rad and love passing the sacrament. One last family is Paul, Alvira, and Zion they are like my golden family. Zion is their new born baby and like everything to them Paul has just became active again and Alvira just got baptized. They are now preparing for the temple and its so incredible. Like the happiness and change in their life like they just burn with the spirit. We can go over there teach a lesson and just spend like 2 hours. Paul and I are like brothers we are so similar its ridiculous they are all so awesome. I've taught like 20 lessons now and feel pretty good about it I love like everyone we taught and I notice my prayers are like always for them and I only pray that I'll be able to get enough sleep for the next day. Once again I love it here it is incredible and I can't wait to see what happens next.To kind of close up, I miss you all a ton and its tough but honestly I have a family here too so it works out. I just gotta keep working, sing an awesome song and do some air kicks every now and again, and pray. Its tough here because people have so little. its tough for them to make it to church and pay tithing but they are so willing in fact Patricia walked 5 miles to get to church. so so so cool! I love you all and crazy as it is I"ve already been gone a month only 100 weeks to go haha. keep praying keep reading keep going to church. All the best, sala khale, Goed Nannd Peace... Elder Robinson

Last 5 Days at MTC 07/23/2010