January 21, 2008

Hey family its good to hear from you again. I haven't received your package yet but I am going down to Durban for a conference on Friday so I will probably get it then. I did get a package from Grandma and Grandpa. Tell them thanks, I didn't expect it so it made my day. I also received one from the Whitings. Tell them thanks also. I got a bunch of letters from primary kids, youth, and one from Bishop Satchwell and they were really nice. I'm afraid I don't know who some of the people are who sent me letters though. Sounds like things are going good around home. I'm glad to hear that Brayden is keeping the quorum in line. Congratulate Lance on his calling for me too. That is really neat. Spence I heard that the 23's came out do you have a pair yet? haha. I have actually been playing basketball this morning and last week I learned how to play cricket. That is a really cool sport, its like baseball but cooler. Its neat to hear about other guys coming and going on their missions. This transfer we got a new zone leader and a few new guys but I am still with Elder Wiggs, so we won't part ways for another six weeks. Now I guess I will try to answer a few questions. Well I found out this week that statistically that the Durban mission is the second most dangerous mission after the Johannesburg mission, but I don't feel in danger because of obedience and all of the prayers on the missionaries behalf. The city Durban its self is a lot more dangerous than Richards bay too. Well I had an interesting experience this week with the funeral. The family actually asked me to speak. There were around 700 people there and all of them were Zulus except for my companion and I. The other speakers were Lutheran Pastors and the whole funeral was in Zulu except for my talk. There was tons of singing and dancing around the coffin and people yelling and stuff, when I stood up I directed my talk to the family and spoke on how the atonement of Jesus Christ can comfort us and bring us peace. I think that the spirit of my message was very different from those of other speakers. Hopefully the people that were there have a desire to learn more about the Church. This week we also had the best church attendance ever, 40 people, so that was really cool. Oh yeah the woman who is going to be baptized is named Makosi and she may be baptized on the 10th instead.
Well that is most of the news for this week, we got a new car with air conditioning so that has been great, and another mission couple just arrived called the Bartholemews. They will be working with Nseleni and another township called Engwelezan. That will be a big help. My razor died this week and Im really ticked about that so could you send me a new one? I could also use some money in my home account so that when I go down to Durban on friday I can buy some things at the outdoor markets from the Indians for cheap. Well I hope that things go well for you and thanks for everything, I will talk to you next week.