Unjani family????? I love you guys so much and I miss you so much and I can feel your prayers and your love every single day so keep em coming cause I need them! :)

But I've made it to Durban now!!!! I have a ton of stuff on my list to write so this might be sooooo out of order but I'm just gonna type it all and hopefully it all makes sense... hahahaha:)

So first of all, I got sick in the MTC which was super lame. I just got like a cold so I could still go to class and stuff but I just had the worst headaches and my nose was like a snoterfall so that was just great! :) But I'm better now!

We got to watch Elder Scott's funeral live which was pretty cool! I'm so glad that he can be reunited with his wife again! He was talking about her for sooooo long and I bet they are just so happy now! :)

So on Tuesday morning we had to wake up at 4 in the morning in order to make our flight. So we piled into these big vans and we started driving. All of a sudden our driver pulled over and mumbled something in Zulu and got out of the car. We didn't know what was going on but then someone looked over at the dashboard and saw that our car was overheating. So the guy poured water in the engine and we started going again but in like 10 minutes it just overheated again. We had to stop at literally 15 gas stations on the way to the airport just so our car wouldn't explode. So we were soooo late for checking in so we were just sprinting through the airport with all our stuff but we made it so that's good!!

 So we flew to Durban and we Met President Zackrison and the AP's at the airport. One of them is Elder Clayton and the other one is Elder Sixaba and that x in his name is a click btw so that's AWESOME!

But yeah then we went to the mission home and had interviews with the president and he's a waaaay cool guy!! He's super nice and you can just tell that he cares so much for us! But then he assigned us to our areas!!

So I'm serving in a tiny little place called Esikahwini. It's up the coast from Durban by a bigger town called Richard's Bay. But Esikahwini is a township so almost everybodies houses are like shacks and made out of cement and stuff! It's suuuuch a cool place! The roads are mostly dirt and it's just so sick!

My companion is Elder Aygeman! He's from Ghana and he's sooooo cool!! Before he came he went to university to play soccer so he's suuuper good! He's gonna teach me! ;) But he's been an awesome trainer and he's already taught me soooo much!

We live in a house in the township with another companionship. Remember Elder Pinkston? My companion from the mtc? Yeah he lives in the same house as me... hahahaha he's companions with a guy named Elder Nkomo. That means Cow in Zulu! hahaha but he's soooo funny! He's the biggest guy ever but he's such a teddy bear! He's super duper quiet but when he talks he's hilarious. He always knocks on our door to our room at night and when we open it he just gives a thumbs up and walks away...hahaha so funny! :) Everyone gives thumbs up here and it's so awesome! Even the gangters give me thumbs up! hahaha

But yeah They live in our house but they work in a different area called Port Dunford. and we only have one car at our house and they get it.... so we bike everywhere which is AWESOME! It's like mountain biking on all these  dirt hills and stuff! But everyone wants to steal our bikes so we ride really really fast! hahahahaha It's suuuuuper hot here too! It's the hottest place in the mission so when we bike we are just soooooaked! It's brutal! But it's so much fun! All the little kids see me biking and they yell "mhtungu" at me....which means white guy....hahahahaha it's funny. I just smile and give them thumbs up! Seriously, I haven't seen a single white person that isn't a missionary. That's not a joke. There are only Africans here and it's the best thing ever! I get the weirdest looks and I love it! hahaha :)

Driving isn't actually that bad here! I got used to it waaaaayyyy fast! BUUUUT Elder Pinkston said that he knew how to drive stick but there is no way that he does.... he kills it every five seconds. Like we will be on the freeway with people flying past us at 150 k's and we are just dead stopped cause he doesn't know how to drive...it's insane! Hahaha but h'es getting a lot better at it now! so that's super good! People can just walk on the freeways here too... there are nooooo rules! hahaha I saw a guy rolling a wheel barrow down the middle of the freeway the other day hahahaha! So crazy! I love it! :)

So I'll go through a normal day of missionary life!

First, as soon as the rooster crows we get up. But literally the people next to us have roosters and they start yelling at 3 in the morning and these roosters sound like they are dying. Hahahaha but at 6:30 we wake up and work out cause I'm NOT getting fat on my mission! Hahaha but then we study and eat breakfast and get ready for the day. Then we do Mission training cause I'm new. Then we go out at work! The people here are soooo awesome! :) They are all so humble and nice! They are hilarious! Like seriously these people know how to have fun! I feel right at home! I thought teaching would be so much harder but seriously all we do it joke and have a good time cause then they trust us. And then we just pound them with the gospel and they love it!

On Thurstday I asked a 13 year old girl named Sne if she would be baptized on the 1st of November and she said yes so we are suuuuper stoked about that! :) The branch is really small here and really weak so a lot of our work is visiting the members and strengthening them! I've been able to bear my testimony so many times about the book of Mormon and it's been AWESOME! I love it! It's super nice to always have the spirit with you and to always teach with it! So fun! But the people here really seem to like me! Maybe it's my accent or something but they always laugh when I make jokes so that must count for something! Some lady the other day in the middle of our discussion stood up and gave me a hug and I just kind of sat there awkwardly....hahahaha it was so funny! :) But it's been so fun to teach and I can't wait to continue to do this for 2 years! It's just the best feeling ever to be making a difference in a person's life.

Yesterday was Sunday and was AWESOME!!! We woke up early and went to the chapel which is actually just a bunch of those portable trailer things! Soooo sick! So it was super duper small and we cleaned it before all the people got there! During church there were only like 40 people there but that's actually a pretty good number so we were happy about it! :) But It was fast and testimony meeting and it was the best one that I've ever been to in my entire life. Like in Utah, you could seriously wait like 10 minutes before someone stands up but not here! Here everyone just jumps up the second that the mic is open! They can't wait to share their testimony! Seriously I felt the spirit so strongly and It was just so humbling! :)

But we were able to see a little bit of Conference yesterday!!! We actually watched the Saturday morning session live which was like 6 at night for us...hahahah but then we also saw sunday morning live as well!! 3 new apostles!! So crazy! I knew that Elder Rasband was going to be one though! I called that one forever ago!! But their all so cool and their talks were so inspiring and you could just tell that they were all called of God!

There have been so many bugs this week it will be so hard to only pick one! While we were watching conference the biggest cockroach ever was just running around everywhere so that was fun! I've also seen lizards everywhere! I SAW MONKEYS TOO!!! I'm just in a little internet café so we'll see if sending pictures works! But I got some sweeeet pictures this week! :)

Oh also....yesterday, Elder Pinkston broke our garage....hahahaha It wasn't up all the way but it looked like it was and he was pulling the truck into the garage and the top of the truck hit the door and pulled it down on top of the car....hahahaha luckily Elder Nkomo is super man and was able to hold the door up and we got the car out but now our garage door is just hanging there. Our house is just sitting there waiting to be robbed....hahahaha but we have an electric fence and everything so that's awesome! :)

But anyways I think I'm gonna end it here! I could talk forever but I don't think my companion wants to sit here forever! hahaha :)

But I seriously love you so much my family! :) This is suuuuper hard. I'm not going to lie. But It wasn't easy for Jesus Christ so why should it be any different for me. I know that this work will change lives and that through me, God can do so many amazing things! All I need to do is live obediently and work with all my heart might mind and strength. I love this work and I know that this is exactly where I need to be. I can already see how the talents that I've been blessed with are being used here! It's just amazing! :) I see miracles every single day and it's just so awesome! :) THE CHURCH IS TRUE!

Love_elder_eAstmond_

The Johannesburg Temple

Parker's teacher, Brother Ramiaramanana

The first picture in which his mouth has actually been closed.

BUG OF THE WEEK

Parker's words:  "This big guy was just flying all over my room and dive bombing us so that was freaking scary. We beat the devil out of him with a flip flop so that was fun."  :)

"This concludes another bug of the week."

Week 1!!! Sept. 9, 2015

Hey family!! I love you guys so much!

MANAONA!!!! That means Good morning in Malagasy!! Because it is probably morning time for you guys!! But I've been learning Malagasy from the Elder from Madagascar here! His name is Elder Rocotomulala and yes I can say that perfectly! ;) But really I can... sooooo yeah.

The first lesson that we taught, we just got wrecked so hard. like seriously, it was horrible. I didn't realize how hard it is!! Buuuuut our second lesson we did SOOOO much better! So that was really cool! The second lesson we just didn't worry about scripting it as much and just really paid attention to what the spirit was telling us. We were all like crying by the end of the lesson. Seriously it felt so real!!

There is an Elder here from the Congo!! His name is Elder Labamba so you knooooooow that we just sing Para Bailar la bamba to him all day long! ;) it still hasn't gotten old! ;)

If I had to pick one single thing that I have learned the most this week, it is how INCREDIBLY important the Spirit is. Like seriously I don't even know how to stress the importance of having the spirit with you when you teach. If we don't have the spirit, we literally can't even talk. It's happened so so much to me. But as soon as I pray and ask soooo hard to have the spirit with me and If I'm being obedient, words seriously just flow out of my mouth. I will get out of a lesson and just be like, "what the heck just happened....I didn't plan annnny of that" And I've always heard of that happening but I never thought it was true. Words literally flow out of your mouth. It's insane. The Holy Ghost is seriously the MOST important thing as a missionary. With the Spirit I know that I can literally do anything on my mission. I mean anything. I really do mean anything. Like think of the craziest thing you could think of. Yeah. We could do it with the spirit.

The food's not to bad here! It's just....different... hahaha I don't know how to explain it... The other day they fed us just a plain hot dog for breakfast. No bun or anything like that. Just a hot dog and eggs.... I don't know if they were like trying to have is be a sausage or something but yeah... that happened. Hahaha they say that us Americans are just raised on sugar and so everything is like waaaay less sweet here. I actually feel really good all the time cause I'm just eating super duper healthy now so some of you will be proud of me for that! ;) You know who you are! ;) Ohhhh the other day the fed us something called a fat cake! It's like a scone with a bunch of meat in it and it was soooooo good! The fish is super duper good here too! but yeah some stuff is just wacky.

Every single day we had an hour of sports time and we get to play like soccer and stuff like that! On Monday this week the actual Johannesburg missionaries were having their Pday and they all came and played soccer with us and these guys were ALLLLL AFRICAN! Like some of the most african people I've ever seen. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life. I've never seen better soccer players. I wish I could explain to you how good they were but it would literally be impossible!! SOOOO CRAZY! One guys was just the craziest most hilarious guy I've ever met in my life. He would just run around acting like a freaking monkey and doing backflips and stuff. All of this whilst playing soccer so that's just insane...One guy was Astrailian and the most manly man I've ever seen in my life. He looked like he was thirty and he was playing keeper for them and he would just jump five feet in the air, grab the ball with one hand and then LITERALLY throw the ball all the way down to the other goal. Like he tried to score by throwing it to the other goal... and this isn't a tiny field either! SO CRAZY!

There are also some craaaazy birds here! This morning one sounded like a car alarm and there are these ones that sound like this, "HAHA" Like a clown laughing....it's soooo freaky.....

 I also bought a sweeeeet book of mormon here! It has zebra skin in the shape of africa on the front! So tight!

We went to the Johannesburg temple. That was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had in my life. It's just so humbling to think that people will travel from allllll over just to come to this Temple. It was just so cool. It was amazing to be in there with all of the missionaries. The spirit was just so incredibly strong! I can't even describe it.... Just so good :) When we finally got out of the MTC complex it was AMAZING! We could actually go and see the country and it was so amazing! Everyone is so friendly and everyone just says Hi to everyone. This is definitely the place for me. I can feel it. I already love these people so so soooo much!

I can't tell you how much I've already grown so much. I wish I could put it into words but i just can't. I think my favorite day was here. All of the Elders gave little talks on the Atonement and I've never felt the spirit more in my entire life. We were all just crying and you could just tell how much we love the Atonement and how much we know it's true and how much it means to us. Just so amazing.

I am getting a little cabin fever though.... I've only been here a week but it feels like it's been 2 months! They definitely keep you busy! I CAN'T WAIT TO GET OUT INTO THE FIELD!!

I love you all sooooo much and I can't tell you how much I miss you. But I know that this is where I am supposed to be. I know that this gospel is true with all of my heart and I can't wait to share it with people! Plus, what's 2 years compared to eternity! I can be with you guys forever! So whilst I'm out here I'm gonna help as many people as I can to be with their families for eternity too :)

Love, Elder Eastmond <3

P.s. I'll send pictures too! okay love you bye!

Quick note

We have a little time to write today as well! I still don't even know when our actual P day is but I'll figure it out eventually! Hahaha I totally remember when we went to the creamery! So good. Mcdonalds is definitely not as good! hahaha

But Johannesburg is AMAZING! It's so weird that all the cars drive on the other side of the road though! I felt like we were gonna die when we were riding to the MTC! But the time difference is crazy! Even though I I was tired from the flight, I still woke up at like 12:30 last night and totally felt like it was time to wake up! So weird! Then is was impossible to get back to sleep but I don't feel that tired today so that's good! 

But we all woke up pretty early and we went out and played soccer! Or football I guess... haha but it's so sweet here! There is a football pitch, a volleyball court, a basketball court, cricket stuff, rugby balls, foosball, and A PING PONG TABLE!!! But alllll the ping pong balls are broken... I'm so mad! I'll have to wait before I can woop on all of the other Elders! ;) Seriously though it's been so fun! All of the Elders here are soooo awesome and we are all just like best friends!! Already! It's so cool! 

Well I love you guys and I hope that everything is going just swell! I'll talk to you later!!

Elder Eastmond with Elder Grange and Elder Weiler. 

The nice lady from South Africa

(Who's probably thinking, "This is going to be a loooooong 15 hour flight.")

WE WERE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING! 9/16/15

Hey my beautiful and wonderful family!! :) Lots of love from JOHANNESBURG SOUTH AFRICA!!! Seriously I'm so excited to be here and I can't even put it into words!

Did the title of my email scare you???? hahahahahaha well it really did happen.... 

So we took off from the Salt lake city airport and it was kind of a bumpy take off but everything was fine. While we were going up it started to rain. I didn't think much about it I just thought, "oh look, rain." so whilst we were ascending we had to go through this massive cloud. All of a sudden our plane gives this huge lurch, everything shuts off, the air, the lights, everything. And our plane starts to drop. Literally it was crazy. After probably like 7 seconds  everything comes back on and the plane starts to come up again... then the flight attendant comes over the speaker and is all flustered but says, "Hey so the pilots are kind of busy but we did in fact just get struck by lightning. Everything is okay and there is nothing to worry about!........yeah....our plane literally got struck by lightning....I honestly think that the only reason that I am alive right now is that there were like 10 elders on our plane. I think it's just a huuuuge sign that we were all meant to be here.

But we made it to the MTC fine! The flight didn't even feel that long! Most of the time I was sleeping and the rest of the time I was talking to this AWESOME south african lady that was sitting next to me! She told me soooo many cool things! And seriously, flying into Johannesburg airport and looking out the window and just thinking, "wow I'm in Africa" was the CRAAAAZIEST thing ever!

Also, I already had my first mission experience!! in all of our flight stuff we were given a pass a long card and I gave mine away! We were in the Atlanta airport and Elder Weiler, who I love by the way, needed to exchange his dollars for Rand. So we go to the currency exchange place and we are talking to the guy there and he was asking us why we were going to South Africa! And all of us just look at eachother and we are like, "here we gooooo" so Elder Weiler says, "we are going to preach the gospel of the LDS Church!" and the guy was like "how long are you going?" and we said, "2 years!" And his jaw just dropped! He thought that we were lying to him! and I said, "No seriously we are going to serve the people and teach them about our church! In fact, on this card you can learn all about our church if you are interested!" So I gave it to him and he was happy and he took it! Sooooo cool!! Anyways I hope that you are doing well! I'm excited to read all your letters! I wrote this before I even read anything cause I didn't know how much time I had! 

But my companion in the MTC is Elder Pinkston! He's a reaaaaal stickler for the rules so he'll keep me on track! I'll send pictures if I can! 

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! Thanks for everything!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

_elder_eAstmond_

p.s. the A is capitalized because I'm bringing my A game.

After watching Parker go, we got some

breakfast at McDonalds, then went to Scheels
 to see if we could quit whimpering.

Devin is weird.