Sanibonani from KaNyamazane‏

Friends and family

Well it has been an incredible week of missionary service here in KaNyamazane. This work is true...I don't even know where to start! Maybe we can just begin at the beginning of the week again.

So last Tuesday we finished up the service at Nombulelo and Simphiwe's place. They are doing amazing by the way. She walks the long journey to church every week with a baby on her back and her neighbor brings the other baby. But during the service some neighbors were screaming so we ran over and there was a snake going around haha. So we hunted down the snake and Elder Robinson just destroyed that thing haha you should have seen how happy all the gogo's were. They just kept saying "siyabonga, siybonga" (we thank you). I don't know if I've talked much about gogo's but they are my favorite people here haha. They are so funny and make me so happy...I just smile everytime I see one.

President Poulsen also came this week to interview the district. Afterwards me and Elder Marowa took Sister Poulsen shopping while President interviewed some people for baptism in Nelspruit. It was nice shopping with her and than waiting forever. It will be so weird when we get a new mission President, President Poulsen is such a good man. They also took us out to dinner and I ate probably the nicest meal I've had on mission. It was at a nice restaurant and for awhile it felt like I was home again!

On Wednesday morning we went driving around to all like the high schools in KaNyamazane. We've decided to try something new. We talked to all the principals about sharing during like an assembly and then starting like a study class after schools with the kids. We showed them For the Strength of Youth pamphlets to tell them what we teach the youth in the church. Many of the schools were very receptive haha all the girls were going crazy to see a mlungu (white person) at the school hahaha. Anyways they are on holiday for a week but we will see what happens after the holidays. We're hoping to find some good families through it.

Alright so Conference was incredible. We really do have living Apostles and Prophets today. Wow I loved all the sessions though. It was a different experience watching in a classroom on a TV but the messages and Spirit there was amazing. Mama T and Lifa I think were the only ones there for every single session. And we had the baptisms in between sessions on Sunday. The first session was packed with people so that was sweet. We were really working hard on making the baptisms a spiritual experience this time. So we decided to play a song right before they were baptized. I don't know if anyone remembers (probably only mom) but at my baptism I sang "When I am Baptized". So we decided to have that as a special musical number...no worries I didn't sing but we played it on an iPOD. Everyone loved it and was silent before they were baptized. It was amazing. And then Mama T gave a powerful testimony. I didn't know much of this but her mom wasn't real happy about her leaving her old church. So she shared that whole story and told us how there is one God and there has to be one church. Then she said this is the true church. It was so awesome to hear. Then her very last words were "I will be a member of this church until the day I die". she was even asking for tithing slips before leaving after the last session of Conference. Lifa also gave a great testimony and made everyone laugh a lot haha. There is a lot of people I have met on mission and taught and seen get baptized...but there is just some where you feel like you have known before or you know you were supposed to be with them and meet them. Mama T have no doubt been two of those for me. I love them so much and can't wait to see them in the next life and for Eternities.

Being a missionary is the best. I love this Gospel and this church. We are all a part of a great work preparing for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope all of us can have the testimony that Mama T has and honestly say that "we will never leave this church and it's teachings until the day we die". And the blessings that await us are more than we can imagine. I love you all.

Elder Alder

"Nelson is 100% too much happy", Rambo, Easter, President Poulsen, #1 zone in the mission, first time in 6 years, Lindi‏

Man such a good weekend... like I don't even know where to begin...
but we had an excellent 4 baptisms this month with three yesterday...
Frik (South African Rambo), Nelson(super miracle... stay tunded), and
Nolwazi all made it this week and we have a stellar may lined up...
the only issue was the easter holiday and people being out of town or
we would have had 7 yesterday...

Lets begin with Frik... as you've seen in previous emails... this is
honestly like the coolest guy ever... crazy life story of being
forgotten in the bush in Angola for 10 years... and now a changed
man... yesterday he bore a powerful testimony and just broke into
tears man... so incredible you just had to have been there...

Nolwazi is Thandiwe's daughter who was baptized in January and she is
awesome... she has such a strong testimony and is usually super shy
but yesterday when she bore her testimony it was like a different
person man I'm so proud of these people its ridiculous...

And Nelson... man oh man... so Nelson is from Burundi and has been
being taught english by us... along with the gospel slowly but
surely... so he has been on training for being a fire fighter the past
3 weeks and when he came back tuesday... pow... he has read all the
way to 3rd Nephi... speaks english SOOOO much better and was just like
Missionaries... I need to be baptized... its time to change my life...
so bam sunday it happened... Nelson just stood up and bore his
testimony in still slightly broken english and said " I am so so so
very happy I'm 100% too much happy" man I love that guy... such a
powerful sunday and an awesome way to celebrate easter...

This week we also had president poulsen out here and enjoyed a dinner
all together at Spur, had interviews, and prepared some others for
baptism... so crazy to think they are going home in June... its gonna
be crazy but President Omner I'm sure will be awesome...

Also this week North east zone... Our zone was number 1 in the mission
on goal achievement with 115% of our goals and Nelspruit achieved its
trimester goal for the first time in 6 years... man its awesome to be
a part of...

Another cool story from this week is a girl we met named Lindi... we
tracted into this massive house and she let us in... she seemed pretty
ditzy and we didn't think too much would happen but after watching the
restoration DVD she was just like where is the book of mormon?!?!
give me three weeks, I'll read, I'll pray, I don't care what anyone
says, and when I know its true I'll get baptized... and we were like
alright haha nothin else to say there haha... its powerful when the
spirit is there and people just get it...

well awesome week I'm sure I'm missing a lot but let me just say
mission is the best... I honestly couldn't imagine my life without it
and if you're debating on going, thinking about going as a senior
couple, or anything else... do it... you'll never regret it...
experiences like this week make it not a sacrifice at all but a
privilege... or however you spell that... my english is slowly fading
away... anywho yeah... awesome stuff... I'll send some pics... and I'm
outta here in about 3 weeks time to wherever the wind takes me... back
in Gauteng... or Botswana...

Oh yeah... I went to a traditional funeral and I dedicated the grave
haha crazy stuff...
Enjoy the week

Elder Kenyon "BL" Robinson

Judgement day, general conference, another convert!, 20, "elders... I am trapped in the bathroom."‏

Ke nako! that's right its monday again and it was another great week of mission.... news #1 of this week was Pride Nqathola was baptized yesterday and it was a way powerful program... super good, strong spirit, and member participation yay!!! Pride is seriously awesome haha she is too prepared... like she knew a lot because she nearly finished the book of mormon in the course of teaching her, she accepted everything, and like it was almost difficult to teach her because she knew everything haha but it was powerful yesterday...

General conference was also dope... good reminder to become perfect... haha it seems impossible... but life is all about reaching your full potential in everything you do... if you missed it definitely check out president uchtdorfs talk during priesthood session... super awesome...

So I don't remember if I have mentioned this before but there is a church out of Oakland california that says the world is going to end on may 21st. and there is a huge following in Nelspruit... and this week I got a hold of one of their pamphlets... "some religions believe in scripture other than the bible like the qu'ran, or the book of mormon... may we remind you the only book written by God himself is the Bible..." morons... haha its so contradicting in their pamphlet but whatever... it is however becoming a problem... any appointment we go to people are always like "so is the world really gonna end?" then we always quote the bible and say it will come like a theif in the night but if you are living right you don't need to worry... but man people are so caught up in the hysteria I have a feeling some crazy crap is gonna go down the next month... I'm just dissapointed transfers are on the 18th... I would love to be there when they try to explain how they were wrong...

Also awesome this week everyone passed their interview!!!! Bum bum bum!!! (trumpet fanfare dazzles the crowd) yeah so pride as you know was baptized and we should have another 6 this sunday... including Frik " South African Rambo" so that's totally awesome... and it has rained every day in april so far haha... which means the felt burning is gonna be crazy... :D yay!

something else cool this week just to throw in is how promptings are always the right thing to do... so like as a DL I teach a district meeting every friday and its usually a 45 minute lesson... so this week I kinda decided to talk about reaching your full potential... and bam when conference came to Africa that was a huge recurring message... so the Spirit is awesome... never doubt a prompting... that's my soapbox for the week...

so to finish a cool experience this week was during conference... president sigauke got locked in the bathroom... so we kicked down the door and busted out a window companionship style... and got him out haha it was pretty epic and I've got a sweet gash on my forearm from busting out the window and carrying him out of the window... and bam we kicked down a door... legendary...

anyway sweet week and this next one will be even better...

oh and by the way I'm 20 haha thanks for all the emails and letters everyone ya'll are the best

Sala Kahle

Elder Robinson

Happy Birth Day!!‏

Good Day Elder Rabinson,

Its quite a while before we say hi to you, From My Family , Mathias, Abigail, Tinashe, Shyline

We say Happy Birth Day to you

we miss you so much

its always nice to hear from you all times

Please continue praying for us and teach more people the gospel to that one day we will be living with our heavenly Father one.

We miss you in person at house and also your teachings,

that is soooo lekker, 7, the ANC, 20?!?, I could be a baby‏

well pretty awesome week nothing sensational happened except for POW! we are getting 7 baptisms this month... that's right ladies and gentlemen 11 for the trimester and more than the last 2 years of missionary work. plus may is looking good as well for another 5 or so... so yeah basically this week was a big finishing week a lot of work with our current investigators and helping them prepare for the 17th/ 24th. also cool this week... Frederik Charles Higgs... (frik) our south african rambo got clearance for baptism and it had to go all the way to the first presidency but he is all ready to go... nothing short of a miracle there... and well everything is sweet. when I first got here it was like so overwhelming 7 baptims in the previous 2 years, no branch missionary work, hot, and just leaving my greenie area to now the place is on fire, members are excited, I love the place, all of a sudden i'm a district leader, are converts are CONVERTED, and I love what I'm doing... I've really become a missionary here and honestly it'll be tough to leave in 5 weeks. but eh life goes on and I'll be back someday, plus there is another place that I need to be... so as always the adventure continues and the fire keeps on blazing.

Well this week we got to go to Lydenburg and that was a lot of fun its seriously the sweetest drive in the world through these tall green misty mountains and stone henge looking rocks all around and on monday we had a sweet experience...

so the ANC is a political party in the country that like a lot of people hate because they never deliver on promises and a number of other corrupt things... so elder brey and I thought it would be sweet to go get ANC party shirts... so we made a few phone calls and climbed 9 stories and boom we were in ANC Nelpspruit office... so we got free shirts and it was awesome because like no white people support the ANC so when we both went up there we were like...yeah we know a good cause when we see one... can we get some shirts... they were shocked... like it was so funny and they were shaking our hands asking when we could come campaigning and everything... it was super funny... but honestly you'd have to be in south africa to realize how funny it is to see two white guys in rugby shorts, ANC shirts, eating biltong, and listening to zulu music in the flat... man haha total walking contradiction...

anyway yeah good week... nothing sensational... but just good and the best news of all is 7 new converts to the Nelspruit branch and many more to come...

enjoy the week... I'm 20 in about 13 hours and have now been gone over 9 months so if you haven't written me yet you could have had a child and I wouldn't even know it... so write haha dear elder is free and pretty easy... friz, and fetz I got the letters and have sent some back.

yep keep in touch everyone

Elder Robinson

Faith Week, tropical storm, testimony, here comes the boom, miracles, saving a family and marriage, and TRANSFER NEWZ BUM BUM BUM!!!‏

Welcome to this weeks edition of Mzansi fo sho (south Africa fo sho) and well as of late, we've been working on a chrislike attribute every week and this week was faith week. We kinda based it around Moroni 7: 35-37 my favorite scripture as of late and how faith works the miracle... So honestly Nelspruit has been loaded with miracle after miracle the past transfer and this is the best it has ever done... like bar none... so this week we decided to continue forward expecting the miracles to continue and for all to work out the way the Lord wants and we want it also.
So Lets begin with tuesday... After a good day of teaching and some service out in bushbuckridge hauling water for the villagers and leveling some ground for the out houses we drove back to nelspruit and saw Amos and Nolwazi a father a daughter who we were referred to by Thandiwe our recent convert/ their fiancee and daughter... Amos is the man and is so flippin ready to get baptized he's hard to teach because he knows everything haha but a rule is they can't be living under the same roof and not be married to be baptized... so we've been going to work on working that out and we'll return to that on thursday...
So we got back to Nelspruit and saw some thunderheads out in the distance and watched them roll in... then BAM 70 mph winds, rain, RAIN, hail, and lightning flashes all over... we were predicting the thunder noise and then bam lightning hits like 100 yards away shakes the whole neighborhood glass breaks in some near by houses and power is gone... so we're in a pitch black apartment with basically a hurricane going on outside... we woke up the next morning with uprooted palm trees busted walls, trees through houses and all kinds of craziness... But something else awesome happened...the huge tent "divine visitation" with all of those pastors was blown away hahahhahahaha it was so sweet. all of these people were asking us "so were they false prophets?" haha yes... yes they were...

Also awesome... nelson our friend from Burundi experienced nothing short of a miracle this week... He was in the army and was basically asked to do terrible things he knew was wrong so they took him away from his family and kicked him out of the country never to return... His wife was pregnant with two twin boys whom he has still never met and he came to south africa only knowing french and Swahili... No zulu, Afrikaans, english, or anything... we've been teaching him english for the past 4 months and he is learning like SO well but the problem was he couldn't keep a job because he was a refugee and had no permits or visa... also, he spoke none of the languages but this week... he was hired as a full time fire fighter by a man he met who just knew he had a good heart and would work hard... he'll know get all the necessary papers because its a government job and will make enough money to bring his family here... Oh and he's getting baptized probably next month! Boom man miracle again... thank you faith week

After a lot of service this week we went to Irene, chichi, and CJ on thursday night and our previous lesson with them wasn't the best... like she didn't even know she had to pray about Joseph Smith... but she was reading, coming to church, and praying about which direction to take... so we followed up with that and she was like... "elder Robinson... of course I know its true... how can it not be... the Lord has told me and all it has brought is good... I'm ready to be baptized..." slam bam thank you mam MIRACLE!

Saturday we go to see amos after he just got a job expecting for them to be able to get married now and well... something else happened... appearantly there was a huge fight and he was ready to go back home (modjajiskloof) which is like 3 hours away and to break off the engagement... so with that warm welcome... we taught... and bore sweet testimony about families... how they should be together forever... how we are blessed with parents, kids, brothers, sisters, cousins, etc. for a reason and how the gospel is what truly matters and brings us together... Not little arguments about a R2000 ring or whatever else... man it was powerful... Spirit so strong and thick you could taste it.

It was just one of those weeks where you know that there is nothing you would or should rather be doing... that you are called of God, and that authority is real... In Nelspruit I've learned to BECOME a missionary... not just the lessons, the doctrine, or how to blow someones mind with scriptural knowledge... but how to love those you teach, what the gospel means to all of us, and it's just the bomb. We will make our goal this month and have more baptisms than Nelspruit has had in 3 years... but its not about that... It's about these people getting the gospel and us just being blessed enough to be along for the ride...

we had another epic storm last night and were able to cap off the week by seeing our golden family again... man I love nelspruit right now... its too bad that I'm leaving tuesday...

yep I'm getting transfered....

APRIL FOOLS!!!! yep I'm staying for another 6 weeks in the refiners fire, the land of king lamoni, Mbombela, and the beautiful Lowveld... and I'm excited... I thought for sure I was leaving and I'm so glad to have another transfer here now... so anyway... awesome week sweet sauce, zhakanakasisa, and the adventure continues...

Elder Kenyon "BL" Robinson
Nelspruit, Mpumalanga South Africa