Durban South Africa Mission: Cinnamon Rolls

Oct 3

DID YOU HEAR PRESIDENT NEISLENS TALK IN GENERAL CONFERENCE ABOUT JOY AND HOW WE CAN FEEL IT NO MATTER WHAT!!!

That was a really cool talk. Especiially when he said "joy isn't dependent upon the state of our lives but upon the focus of our lives.

Really cool

That talk really applied to me this week.

Also that waas like the only talk that i was able to hear and i hope that i can hear the rest of them.

Also back home we would always get cinnamon rolls for conference so i had cinnamon rolls this week....actually i get them like every week but...yeah.

But this week has been full of a lot of trials.

First of all Skhiba (the young man we baptized last week) Literally 2 days after his baptism had to go to the hospital. He was having stomach pains. Turns out that he needed to have his appendix removed... And the hospital that he was admitted too was...for lack of a better word...sketchy. I won't tell you the details but he wasn't being taken care of the way that he should have. But what was really cool was that through all of it, he was still Skhiba. He would smile and make jokes and he kept talking about prayer and he next lost faith. It really made my testimony so much stronger and it was sooooo cool to see that! He was supposed to stay at the hospital for 2 weeks. My branch president came and gave hime a blessing and skhiba was able to leave the hospital on saturday. Three days after the surgery. It was reeeaaaally cool! And something else, on sunday Skhiiba walked alll the way from his home to the church and we were able to confirm him a member and give him the gift of the holy ghost! Really really cool!

Something else that happened is there is this boy in our branch named Re. He's about 17 or 18. He's the coooolest kid and he's so nice. I've never heard him say a mean thing about anybody! and last sunday his mom passed away unexpectedly... It was really hard for all of us. Me and my companion were able to speak at the funeral and as i was talking i really did feel the words just coming to my mouth and i could tell that we were able to touch the hearts of the people that were there. And Re is being strong. The gospel really helps us to be strong during hard times and just as president nelsen said, we can find joy no matter what is going on in our lives. That's the kind of joy that the Savior offers us. A constant never ending joy.

Last sad thing is that it is transfers this week and I will be leaving Ezakheni...This crazy place honestly feels like home to me now. I know every street, every shop, every cool little place, sooooooo many different people and it's just really hard for me to say goodbye. me and my companions have helped 15 people be baptized and i love every single one of them dearly. This area as helped me grow so much as a missionary, but also as a person. Really sad to say goodbye.

I'll be going to Illovo in Durban. I'm going to be with Elder Gelbak...not sure how to spell his name yet but we'll find out... But he's 3 months on mission and just got done training with one of my best friends Elder Hoopes so that's pretty cool. I think that it will be good!

I love you all and i thank you for all of your prayers and support and i hope that you are all happy and feeling joyyyyy!