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