So to begin with I'll discuss my headline... I've officially been on mission for nearly 3 months and a transfer cycle is now complete holy cow does time fly... My new companion is Elder Mhlalase (Mmmm khhlll ah see) um I don't really know how to spell it phonetically haha. He is from Port Elizabeth South Africa and is Xhosa so that is pretty dang sweet I'm going to get a lot better at African languages. He's been on mission now for about a year and man is this kid a Spiritual giant wow every lesson is just like fireworks.... Now time for a sweet story the Anti-Christ.... so Elder Nelson and I were wrapping up our last few days together when we had a referral from a member... this guy was a pastor in the 12 apostles church and heard that we had the authority from apostles that his church had... Now our first lesson he was super receptive and was like yeah I believe all that stuff and I'll have to study this Joseph Smith guy.... so then came monday we sit down and he is like you guys teach lies your church doesn't have authority mine does... we were like yeah we kinda expected you'd say that... but did you pray... He just ignored us and was like yeah you have to get authority from in the flesh not a dream and we were like exactly... that's what happened... then he just started bashing and bashing and bashing and then whipped out perhaps the most crazy quote ever... "Jesus was the word... Now I am the word and the way..." Oh my gosh you should have seen Elder Nelsons face he was like ready to rip the dudes head off! he was like that sir is blaspheme we are leaving so yeah haha we bailed and honestly were just laughing for hours haha the dude was straight up crazy and tripped himself up so many times... another sweet story was that we met this drunk dude on the corner and he kept trying to hook me up with his daughter and I was just like uh... maybe in a few years hahaha I'm a missionary.... and then something amazing happened haha he smelt me and was like ah you smell like a noble tree you must be a man of God hahahahahahahahahahahahahah (Breath) hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!! I couldn't stop laughing anyway its pretty dang sweet because the work goes forth even when we get smelt by crazy people....
This week I got to confirm Mathius Mhike and it was awesome but super sketchy because man are blessings intimidating! We also got to teach a 3 hour primary activity on saturday and oh boy are little kids crazy hahaha it was absolute chaos for 3 hours we just went home that night crashed and didn't even move until like we absolutely had to.
Our big focus now is working with the members because our pool is getting a little small now so we've started introducing the family mission plan, a ward mission plan, and now something called U-nite... This is like a big FHE for an entire neighborhood where we invite members, recent converts, less actives, and then they all invite friends... It's still in the process of building but I really think it's gonna explode out here. Um our goal up til december is for 16 baptisms 4 of which we already got with the Mhike family... We have Mike Fahey who will be getting baptized on the 26th and man is this guy awesome...
So he had a super tough life growing up and now is living next to a member she introduced him to the gospel and man he has the heart of a champion... In 2 days he entirely quit smoking and has become addicted to raisins hahaha and he asked me to baptize him so that will bring my total to 5 which man its crazy Africa is seriously on fire and I love that guy he oof man he's the bomb...
We've also been teaching James and some of his friends Innocent, Joseph, and Issak from Malawi and we met James at a gas station... We were filling up the other night and he was there and was like yo! guys I love the Book of Mormon! I really think I'm getting my answer I'm so happy I met you guys!!! so we are teaching him tonight and I honestly can't wait man Benoni is sweet.
Really something I've found out is how much of an asset every member is to the ward whether the bishop, greeter, or home teachers it really makes the wards awesome and makes people want to stick around... today is a fantastic 26 C and its great to be on mission and in Africa... I don't know what's coming around the corner but I know as we keep working and following all of the rules 100% I'm doin all that I should be...
Hopefully the miracles come... Pray on Y'all and keep it real... Stay Sharp... Nsari Zhakanaka... See you all in a week!
Response to letter from Mom and Dad Sept.13,2010
Ah hello from the other side of the world sounds like you've had quite the week and so have I... That is sweet with the whole Silver Beaver thing and I'm glad it was fun hopefully everything keeps going well with sports back home too. Lets see I got the package on wednesday at transfer meeting so it could have been there for at least 1 week but it was nice the tortilla chips were gone before we got back from roodeport so I decided I needed to go sparingly on the tortillas and honestly I forgot how much I love hot sauce... Um yeah the hair clipper story haha so out here I was told that anything that requires a lot of electricity so : hair clippers, my alarmclock radio, etc would have a tough time running even with the converter so the first day here my clock blew up but I forgot to mention that so I've just been using my watch and the mission cell phone. the clippers worked at first but got louder and louder and louder then caught on fire hahaha so I threw them on the floor and smothered them with my pillow haha. It's awesome you saw the sisters I guess I'll have to try writing them again though it'll be a little while before I'm back to the office. Oh but maybe next friday because we are FINALLY going to the Joburg temple. That's sweet with the Kudu Zela and I'm definitely going to keep looking around... Leon our ward missionary said he thought he knew a place so I'll probably just give him some money for one... So the letter from Mathius was awesome and definitely I'm glad you could write back to him... The whole family is from Zimbabwe and are just super awesome they all speak Shona and honestly like Zimbabweans are all just so humble and awesome. I just confirmed Mathius yesterday and man the Spirit was strong oof its crazy how ridiculous it works out here. In fact all of the Mhike's are baptized and confirmed and man I can't wait to see where the whole conversion goes. It's sweet to hear Thomas is off to Carlsbad as well now I know 7 missionaries there... Summer is just around the corner hear so there are even sweeter sunsets over the Joburg skyline and man I can't wait for rain it is so dry. Glad to hear all is well with Kasey and the family and yeah the lion bite is becoming a scar because I keep picking it on purpose haha. Um I heard from Fetzer and Alexis which was awesome and am so happy for that kid and hopefully soon all of the papers will be done. Transfers were tough haha um it was tough to see Elder Blau go and it looked a bit rough for him too we'll def need to stay in touch but I guess its just part of the circle of mission they say the transfers get harder and harder because you know the missionaries better and better then the next thing you know you're on the way home. and the crazy thing is I've already been through 1 of my 2 winters here and 1 of my 2 springs is half over... honestly I don't know where the time goes... They say the weeks feel like days the months feel like weeks and the years feel like months but the days feel like lifetimes hahaha and it is so true we are constantly working, praying, studying, and it is really rough but there is nothing I'd rather be doing right now and hearing that from the Mhike's seeing the change in them and spending time with other investigators and members just make it awesome...
If you could maybe forward Elder Blau's last email it'd be a good thing to look at to remind me what the work is all about...
Glad to hear you're enjoying the missionary moms and Elder Yugawa from Hawaii's first name is craig if that helps you find his mom... anyway gotta get to writing the chain mail everything here is sweet though...
Elder Blau's last email from South Africa
to everyone well this is my last time emailing on a mission in South Africa and so im goin to go out bearing my testimony. but before that i love being a missionary and i know that there is a time and a season in all things and my season and time are running fast. ive made some awesome friends and have been able to baptize many of our brothers and sisters. ive planted seeds and ive harvested others and my own. the most important helper on my mission however is the companionship of the Holy Ghost, he is the man, he has taught me and testified to me many time that our eldest bro Jesus Christ has come here to this earth and has brought me mercy and the atonement to cure me and cleans me. i love studying about Christ he is so amazing everything about him makes him who he is. ive learned something very important from the church its "its one thing to know about Christ, and another thing to be like Christ" and so thats what the church is doing helping us to be like Christ, we deicide to be like him then the atonement takes over to help us on our way to Perfection. the awesome thing about perfection is that Christ himself has told us to be perfect not just told us but encouraged us and commanded us. and the Lord will give us no commandment that we cant keep, I love the people here in africa i loved my mission i think its safe for me to take Elder Hollands words " My mission means EVERYTHING to me!" and thats true for me. i am different no doubt but different in a since that Christ has given me the atonement. This church is true, Jesus Christ did come and this is His church, Joseph smith is awsome and he is The Prophet of the Restoration, and Thomas S. Monson is a true Prophet, the Book of Mormon is our evidence of this. i love it here and i am excited and scared about leaving. i hope everything goes well everywhere.
With love
ELDER Brendon Blau
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