December 27, 2009

Hey everyone. Oh man it was great to hear from you all on Thursday. Calling is so awesome. IT helps me so much It makes me want to work harder. I get a little bit trunky but not to bad. Sure i miss you guys but as long as I'm working hard it's not too bad. Everything is going great. This week was both good and bad. Good because i got to talk to you guys, and bad because of a few things. Christmas was terrible. It was absolutely zero fun. We sat in the flat all day. Played cards and the other games that we had but to no avail. About 7 hours we were sitting around. The reason is that we didn't have a car. The zone leaders kept promising to bring it but they never came. Man it was boring. We also got transfer news on Saturday. My companion is leaving and I'm getting someone new. I have only been here six weeks and I don't know the area very well. Hopefully I will be okay. My new comp will be Elder Pania from Samoa. I'm pretty excited for that every one tells me that he is a pretty cool guy. I will miss Elder Rako though, We weren't together very long and we got along really well. The time is going by so fast. I have some kind of allergies here and its driving me crazy. I'm sneezing all the time. The other day we almost got struck by lighting. I've heard that Joburg and the surrounding areas is the worst place in the world for lighting. There are thunder storms all the time. But as we were walking to our flat behind us was this bright light, as I looked at it the sound hit us. Oh man it was so loud. Lighting struck a building right behind us. I stared right at the lightning it was so weird. It was cool too. We were walking around yesterday and started talking to this lady and i asked how here Christmas was, now these are her exact words. "Oh man it was great, I was so !@#$ing drunk like no body's business." Yeah it was terrible. Some of the people around here that's all they live for. Booze and breaking the law of chastity. Man its depressing. Anyway i love you all thanks for everything that you do. No i don't have my package yet hopefully i will get it today. Sala Kahla

December 20, 2009

Well my Christmas call is going to be a little different this year. I hope it is okay. I wont be calling on Christmas. It will be on Christmas Eve. I really hope that's okay. You will need to call in the morning about 10 am. I'm just really worried that something won't work like someone will have to work or something. I'll be praying. But other that that the week has been okay. On Thursday my comp Elder Rako crashed the car into one of the awnings ( i have no idea how to spell that.) Or the car port outside out flat. So we are without a car for a month. So now we have to get on bikes. We bike to the area at the beginning of the week and bike home at the end. Its about 15 miles away and its a heck of a ride. Our area is huge. So now on a bicycle it takes about 30 minutes to get to appointments instead of 5. Oh well maybe I'll lose some weight. Yesterday at after church we get fed lunch. And because we have no car we had to walk to our area. It took us an hour and a half and we even hitched a ride half the way so we are going to have a rough couple of weeks. On Christmas Eve and day as well as new years eve and day we aren't allowed to work past 6. We need to be in our flat. On Christmas day we are planning to go to a members house and watch all the church DVDs we have. That should be fun. Anyway that was my week glad that things are going so well. If i don't receive your call by 1015 your time i'll probably call from here if its okay. I sure hope everything works out. I love you all.

December 13, 2009

Hey everybody everything is going great. Sorry the emailing is a little bit late this week. We had our Christmas party Monday and half of today. It was pretty fun. We spent like 5 hours playing soccer and rugby. We also play soccer every morning. So I'm getting a lot of practice in, so I'll be able to beat anyone at home at soccer. haha. We just got out of a testimony meeting that was 4 hours long. Oh man it was good but too long. I have an update in my sotho name. I was telling people and I mentioned that i wish i had gotten a zulu name instead of a sotho name (I like zulu better) and they told me that the zulu version of Thabong is Jabulani. So that works even better I don't need to change my middle initial. lol Oh well it's still pretty cool. Last Saturday my bed broke because I'm too stuhla, fat, Oh well they say it happens all the time. Hopefully I'll get it fixed soon. Mom I was wondering if I could get your crepe recipe. sorry nothing that interesting going on this week. I love you all thanks for everything you do. I'll be sure to let you know when I get my package I'm pretty excited for it.

December 6, 2009

Hey how is everything going? things are great over here in the African jungle. The work is great we now have 16 people on date for baptism. Yesterday we went to a wedding. Oh man it was the coolest one i have ever been too. The Guy getting married dressed in traditional zulu clothes and did there dance. I will send pictures. It was such a cool wedding though. My wedding is going to be a lot like that one. Any way thinking about weddings gets me trunky so ill change the subject. Now my sotho name is thabong, Every missionary gets a zulu or sotho name when they come into the area. Its pretty much the first one they come up with that's what you get. And One of the young woman called me Thabong. I was hoping for a Zulu name where i would get to click like Nqobile but oh well. Thabong is pretty cool. Dads chili was a great success. It tasted exactly how i remember it. Oh man it was really good. The other missionaries loved it too. I try to cook. Mostly i cook rice and some African gravy Pap and chicken now I'll be cooking a lot of chili. I am trying my hardest to learn zulu I hope i will be able to speak it really well when i leave. Every time it rains in Katlehong it flash floods. We had parked our car in the street and went and taught a lesson by the time we came out. Our car was half way under the water. Amazingly it still worked no water got in the engine but water got inside and it smelled really bad. It still does. We play soccer every morning for exercise and i rolled my ankle pretty bad. But ever since i rolled it that one time. They have healed really quick. we were teaching a guy named Khaya and we asked him how he was doing, reading the BoM and praying. He said he got his answer. Then he continued to describe what happened. Oh man the spirit was so strong. He said he heard someone talking but he didn't hear any voices. Telling him that the Book of Mormon was true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet of the Lord. Those were his words. That's what you call a golden investigator. He hasn't missed church yet. I love this work, Thanks for everything that you do. Have a good week. Benjamin

November 30, 2009

Hey everyone, This was a pretty good week. Of course it was my birthday; that was awesome. It was my companions birthday on Monday and we went to a buffet called boma. It was really good. Wednesday my birthday was really cool. Out of 7 appointments that we had none of them ditched. That is amazing. We have a little balcony at our flat so we decided to sleep outside it was really nice. At 1:45 in the morning Another elder that stayed close called us for a blessing, Elder Rako anointed and I blessed. He said that the pain in his ear immediately left. That was a really good feeling. That helped my faith i little bit more. I’m so grateful that i have the priesthood to bless others. There was nothing really interesting that happened on thanksgiving. We really didn’t do anything special. We did find out from a drunk lady that Jesus Christ was a criminal. HAHA Beer is the number one selling thing in this country. Every single weekend is bad. Friday was pretty interesting for companionship study we sang some songs in Zulu oh man your throat and mouth get really tired. But I love zulu. I’m going to learn as much of it as i can. Our ward had a Christmas party on Saturday and us 6 missionaries sang silent night in zulu, the people loved it. Especially when you get to click. Its the coolest language ever. Sunday we had baptism. It had been a long time since i have had one. Its about time. On January 10th we have like 10 people hopefully getting baptized. It has been a pretty good week. Oh and i asked for white cheddar cheeseitz. You know the little square crackers. they are also called cheese nips. Anyway the white cheddar ones are the best. Some movie soundtracks would be really awesome too. Like brave heart and gladiator. Any other ones that are cool. And a foot ball. Nice leather one. Well I love you all thanks for everything, se ya when I see ya.
Benjamin

November 15, 2009

Hey everybody everything is going really good over here. I have got a lot of interesting things this week. First of all I haven’t gotten any package yet but I will get them Wednesday if the are in Africa. I don’t know if you got it last time but I would like a nice leather football. That would be a really cool thing to have. I’m tired of rugby and cricket. Wednesday I went on exchanges with the zone leaders in Polokwane. That was a pretty good day. We taught a lot of lessons. One thing we did was we went to go give this less active ladies child a blessing, so elder Lane did that. After that she asked us to bless her home. So we opened our little handbooks and looked at dedicating a home. So I gave that prayer it was very interesting I had never dedicated a home before. Later that night we were teaching a guy and his mom. As we were teaching about the plan of salvation, He was very confused about a lot of things. He wanted to know the point of life if God knows where we go anyway. So I stared at him and asked, “What did Jesus do for us?” he replied he died for us. “What does that mean?” He didn’t answer for a few minutes and then finally said I don’t know can you tell me. So I taught the atonement. Probably the best I’ve ever taught it before. I spoke mostly about justice and mercy and what we had to do to obtain mercy. When I was finished and I bore my testimony. He sat there for a few more minutes and he told me,” you know I have been going to church for so long and no has ever told me that. I have always wondered why Jesus did that. They always say that he died and nothing else.” That was one of the best lessons that I’ve ever had. I’m probably going to never see that guys again. But that’s how it works sometimes. It is so hot up here you can’t even sleep. What ever you are doing you sweat so badly. All the time constantly the humidity kills you. On Saturday we had planned a branch activity and it rained the night before so it was canceled. We were planning on being there pretty much all day. But since it was canceled our day was blank than we had to find a lot of stuff to do. We also got transfer news this week. Turns out I’m leaving. We usually stay in one area for about 6 months, that is how long I’ve been here, but you never really know with president Poulsen. I’m going to Katlehong, in Roodeport. Back in township yahoooooo! No more stinkin' white people to deal with. My new companion will be someone from Madagascar. I’m really excited. Everything is good, Wednesday Ill be going to my new area with my new companion. I love you all. Thanks for everything.
Benjamin

Some pictures

Pop and beef stew and beans, "I eat this a lot"

4th of July celebration

The Great Baubab Tree

Me and the Great Baubab Tree

My Trainer Elder Redd

Elder Kogo (my last companion)

Eric and Pineo's baptism

MTC Group

November 1, 2009

Well first of all I'm very sorry for last week. The computer decided to stop working. So I didn't have time to send off the last big email that every one reads. But hopefully today I'll get through the whole thing without a hitch.
First of all I'll try to fill you in on last week that you missed. I kind of had my life threatened. Elder Ehrenzeller and I were talking to some guys and then he left to the car to grab some pamphlets, and it was just me and this guy. He then says to me "you know I could just kill you and take your car, man that would be easy." Yeah so we just left after that. He didn't kill me so I'm very happy. We went to visit one of our investigators and he was gone but his mother was home. So we talked to her for a few minutes and as we were leaving she asked if we would stay for lunch. We declined because we didn't want to take her food. She said "No it's fine, In our culture we make enough food for a few people in case someone stops by to say hello." Just like we did. So we ate with her and there was plenty for the 3 of us. It's an interesting culture. Another lesson that day was really good. We were teaching a couple outside and in the middle of the lesson a bunch of monkeys started to run around us. In the trees above us too. It was really cool. For Like 5 minutes we watched monkeys. Where else in the world does that happen? One of our investigators gave us a very important piece of information. "If you have to marry an African marry a Venda lady. You can leave for 10 years and she will still be waiting for you. Don't marry a sotho because by the time you get to the gas station she will have another man." Unfortunately that is pretty true. The law of chastity means nothing out here. I ate chicken feet for the fist time. Not a fan its just like eating chicken skin and fat. Not very good, but some people love them.
Okay now to this week. For our P day we decided to do some service. We went to a members house and decided to kill some cockroaches. OH MY GOSH!!!!!! Never again. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever done in my life. The smell, every step you hear the bugs crunching. It was terrible. But we did help the members. That day has been haunting both Elder Ehrenzeller and myself. In our dreams there are cockroaches every where. Every time we see some movement we think its a cockroach. It is driving us crazy. I really hope I never have to do that again. Well we are going to have to. Because it took all day to do their kitchen and we still have another room to tackle. (sigh). Anyway The next day we were in Motupa and one of the members there has a dog named Danger. He is very random. He has bitten me before. He will come up to you like he wants you to pet him, then when you start he bites you, and sometimes he doesn't. But we heard the miraculous story of Dangers life. A few years ago he was hit by a car. And every one thought that he was dead. But there son who was 10 at the time cleaned him up and fed him for 2 months. Put food in his mouth and one day he just woke up. I have never heard of a dog coming out of a coma. It was very interesting. We were talking to a lady named Jossie Reed. I don't know if i have talked about her before. But the other day at her house she called the temple and what goes on in there Bullsh*t. Oh man I was really mad. Any way no one has ever said anything like that before. She is a Seventh Day Adventist, and she believes everything that she reads. Oh well, i think she is justified because she is crazy. We had our zone conference last weekend. Those are always good. I always learn a lot of stuff.
Well I love you all. Thanks for everything. I'll email or at least try next week as usual.
Benjamin

October 18, 2009

Well it’s good to hear from you all. It is so good to get emails. This week has gone by really fast. I turned 8 months today. It’s really hot around here but thankfully we have had a little bit of rain. It’s really hard to get people to come to church. I don’t know why. Everyone promises to come but then for some reason or another they never show up.
We are staying really busy too. We come back to the flat every night totally bushed. It is so hard to get anything done at the post office. When you’re standing in line people just walk to the front and get what they want done. The people in line don’t care either. Finally I couldn’t stand it and told one guy “Hey the end of the line is over there” This was his reply, “Akasibe Selungu” (I don’t know English) what a liar, lol. Oh well I dealt with it and got out of there. I'm trying not to complain. So somewhere in our flat is a cockroach nest. It is probably somewhere in our room. Because every once and awhile we find a huge 2-3 inches long crawling around. The other day when we got back to our flat I saw one. And we were trying to decide how to kill it. It was on top of Elder Ehrenzellers laundry bag. He decided to shoot it with his wrist rocket. I’m not exaggerating when I say it exploded. Pieces flew everywhere. It was pretty awesome.
We taught a lesson to a guy named Jeffery on Thursday. He was pretty much crazy. But he said a phrase like 5 or 6 times and to this day I don’t know what it means. “We’ll see what fries the fish, if not oil.” It was so funny to hear him say. During the lesson he asked us to explain the word restoration to some other people that were there. He knew what it meant but he was sure no one else there did. So we asked him to explain the meaning. “I can’t because I don’t want them to think that I’m better than them so you have to do it.” That was fun.
Yesterday at our cottage meeting in motupa, we were going to pick someone up for church, I mean walk with someone. They didn’t show and we started back towards the house. And we realized that we were going to be late. So we started to run. Now if you’re an African living in a village far away from town, and you see 2 white guys in suits running through your village something is wrong, lol. We got all kinds of strange looks.
Anyway thanks for the prayers and the emails. I love you all, Benjamin

October 11, 2009

Another week of emailing. I love hearing from everybody. Its good to hear that everyone is doing so good. Everthing id fine over here on my side. So I guess my b day is coming up. First of all I want to wish Pattie a happy birthday. Shes what 18. Oh man everyone is leaving me behind. lol. Anyway first of money would be nice. But Music is always nice. The one motab that i do have is reqium by mack wilberg. I would like consider the lillies. I think the other one is called showtime, or something like that. Some classical cds would be really cool. I want the at one of Bach where he pounds away on the organ. That one song that is on fantasia. That would be pretty cool. Music is always good to have. If it is possible some shoes would be nice. Like p day shoes. I have those ones i brought but they are almost done. And they dont make my size anywhere in Tzaneen. I have literally looked everywhere. I need size 13 wide or 15. But only if its possible if not its okay. I cant really think of anything else at the moment but i will tell you some more next week. Things are going good. We had 2 confirmations yesterday. We have just had a good time. There is a sangoma ( a sangoma is a traditional healer ) they belive in ancestors and where crazy stuff, Ill send a picture sometime. There is one named rainbow. He is a famous one around Tzaneen. Anyway elder couch wanted to go see him before he left. He is one interesting character. What he says makes absolutly no sense. But anyway he has some really weird stuff. He has a goat purse. A gout that he killed and took all the suff out but made him a purse. Head tail legs and stuff is still on there. He even sewed a zipper into it. He also has a monkey head on the end of one of his staves. He is weird. He has a gun that is made out of wood that will take peoples power. Anyway, we found this tailor whos makes really nice suits. He is like the best tailor is SA or something like that. But they are exspensive. Like 300 to 400 dollars for a nice 3 peice suit. I want one really bad. If i had the money I would get one. Elder Ehrenzeller wants to get a zebra print 3 peice suit. So he is going to see how much it will be. Other than that stuff everything is going good. Time is flying by. I love you all thanks for everything. Benjamin

October 5, 2009

How's it every body? things are going great over here in the African Jungle. Thankfully we have a satellite to watch conference. It's broadcast live so we miss the last session but don't worry I saw Mom. I made sure everyone else knew it. Whenever I pointed her out everyone says in unison,"Oh earls gettin trunky" for a second I get trunky but then I snap out of it. Everything is going great. Last Saturday we went to a funeral. Oh man that was really interesting. It is so different from your usual funeral. There was never any silence. Not for the whole 3 hours we were there. Even between speakers there are people singing. How it works is if some one knows a song they just start singing then everyone else joins in. So it starts to turn in to a competition. Walking around, between every speaker. Whenever someone gets a chance they start singing. It was really weird. I enjoyed it though. we were the only white people so we were treated like kings. It was nice. Taking to the front of the food lines and everything. They spoke in sotho so I couldn't understand anything they said. And there was even a pastor who preached a little.

It is starting to get really hot. Lately it's been raining and it has been nice. But when the sun is out, in 5 minutes your sweating. The mango's are almost ready. In some of the villages the only trees around are mango trees, just hundreds of them that are natural. Ill get a picture one of these days. But anyway I love you all. Thanks for your prayers. and everything else.
Benjamin

September 27, 2009

Hey everyone, how is everything going over there? From what it sounds like things are good. I'm doing great. Things are looking good up here in Tzaneen. We had 2 baptisms yesterday and i got to do the honors. First time baptizing someone that was really cool. I love the spirit while you are in the water. It was scary because that morning we got a text from one of them saying that they weren't ready. So we dropped everything and went to talk to her. She was in tears, but she said she would come. After the baptisms she bore her testimony and she said that she was so dumb for being scared. The spirit is definitely real and its only in our church. That much i know.
This week was Zone Conference, and it was really cool. Before that we went to a cheese farm. That was really interesting. We learnde how to make cheese. And it is so easy. Pretty much you mix bacteria and milk and yogurt then heat it then let it dry. Depending on how long you let it sit makes the type of cheese. It was interesting. We are staying really busy. Our days are always full which is different than from a few weeks ago. Its very interesting how things around here have changed. Me and Elder Ehrenzeller are getting along great. We work well together and have fun as well. Transfers are coming up and we will see if I go anywhere I don't think so but you never know with Pres Poulsen.
We are kind of running out of things to do on p day so we are coming up with some interesting things. Like today we are going to try a bicycle super-cross. There is a little track in one of the parks around here and we are going to do some time trials. That should be a lot of fun. Anyway thanks for everything. Keep the commandments and all that stuff. Heavenly Father will continue to bless you.

Benjamin

September 20, 2009

Well its great to hear from everyone. I'm glad that everything is going well back home. Everything is going great up here. I'm so stinky busy. I'm so bushed when we get back to the flat. Recently our numbers haven't been that great but that doesn't really matter right. We are working very hard. Elder Ehrenzeller and I are deciding to live the Law of Consecration with our food next transfer so we will see how that goes. The biggest problem we have been having is that our investigators don't come to church. A thing I've noticed about this country is every one is really good at promising, then just as good at breaking that promise. " Oh don't worry you will see me there please don't worry I'll be there". Then no one at church. " Oh sorry I was at a funeral". That is the biggest excuse for anything. People will drive like 3 hours to a funeral for a person they don't even know just because of the free food. It's so annoying. So people every weekend have little vacations from going to peoples funerals. Any way another thing is that it is so hot over here. I've never been this hot in my entire life. It's over 100 degrees and I'm wearing a white shirt and tie. Ive lost some weight i think in sweating all day. Mom can you send me your brownie recipe. The branch president had some American brownies once and absolutely loved them so maybe Ill make them for him or something they are freakin demonati, (delicious in sepedi). Any way I love you all. Thanks for all the prayers.
Benjamin

September 13, 2009

Hey everyone, It's good to hear that everything is going good. Its about time you got those pictures. I was starting to worry. I’m actually very excited to make dinner for you guys. The cool thing about dinner here is that you eat it with your hands. Don’t worry I’ll teach you the techniques and stuff.
The week has been really good. Elder Ehrenzeller is helping me out a lot. He is a really good guy. We are doing a lot better in this area. We just have full days now lots of appointments. It’s so great. We have some baptisms coming up on the 27th. So I’m pretty excited for those. We also had 4 people to church the past 2 weeks. That hasn’t happened in a long time here in Tzaneen.
Mom thank you for the recipe I'm going to try it today I hope I can find all the stuff. I also would like your universal bread recipe, the one that you make breadsticks out of. That would be awesome. We had a few experiments the last couple of weeks. When we are bored on p days we always think of something interesting to cook. The first thing is we tried to make a cake from papaya. That was okay then we tried papaya cookies not so good. The other day I just got done making some fries. And Elder Ehrenzeller asked if I was done with the oil. “Hey lets fry some stuff”. So we did. We fried some bread which was really good. Then we sprinkled some garlic salt then it was even better. The other thing we fried was an apple. It was okay. I bet if we cover it with some kind of breading it would be better.
That would be really awesome if you could send me some motab choir cds. Or classical ones they are both good. Its hard to get music that is okay to listen to over here.
We got some free paintings from one of our investigators. She is a really old lonely Afrikaner. She really just wants someone to talk to. We couldn’t even get thru the first lesson but we ended up with some free paintings that are really good. One of them is a huge rhino that is running another is some kind of bird in the water. But they are really good. People love giving stuff to the missionaries.
We are currently driving a Toyota Yaris that is a terrible car. Don’t ever buy one. All it does is fall apart. All is does is give us trouble. It wastes a lot of our time and the lords money. Now the Chevrolet Aveo is a nice reliable car. If you ever need to buy a cheap car the Aveo is the way to go.
I cant remember If I told you this already or not I cant remember but last week we went to a place called strydom tunnel it’s a cool place where you can buy African stuff. I bought an eternal family Its six people holding hands its really cool. I cant wait to put that on the piano. Another thing was a walking stick with a lion head on it. It had all kinds of cool stuff. I hope that I can bring a lot of this stuff home. Well I love you all very much I miss you but not too bad. Keep up the good work.
Benjamin

September 7, 2009

Hey everyone who reads this. Im not sure how many people they send this too. I'm very sorry about last week the computer was being really dumb. Well I got a new companion, Elder Ehrenzeller from Virginia. He is a really cool guy. He came here with a lot of plans and goals and stuff about the area. So hopefully we can get this place going again. Hes got the Branch President really excited. He is really obedient which helps me. Its really hard being with someone who does really care about the rules. We get along very well.
The work is gong a lot better. We had 4 investigators at church. The Pres Swanapoel (the branch president) was very happy. Some weird things might be happening to our area though. First of all a senior couple is going to come up here. Then the zone leaders in Polokwane want to switch area because Tzaneen is more centeral to the zone. So we will have to go on 2 week splits so we can learn each others areas. That’s not a for sure thing but there is a 90 percent chance it will happen.
Mom can you tell me how to make tartar sauce? And do you think you could send me my balance on my card every week? If its not too much trouble. But everything is going great over here. We are working very hard so the time seems to be flying. It sounds like everything is going good back home. Just don’t accomplish too much while I'm gone.
Well I love you all. May the Lord continue to bless you. Ill see ya when I see ya.
Benjamin

August 23, 2009

Hey Momma, I hope everything is going good. I'm doing great. It seems the Lord has answered some of our prayers. A few days ago we found a series of flat comlpexes. They are golden, they are full of humble black people. Those are the people that are most receptive to the gospel. I just cant help but think its a place where the law of chastity is broken all to often. That's kind of a problem in all of south Africa. 99 percent of all women 18 years old have a baby. Its really sad to think about.
Anyway we are already getting a lot of success. Transfers is in a couple days. I'm staying in Tzaneen and Elder Kogo is going to Rabie Ridge in Tembisa, near Joburg. My new companion is going to be Elder Ehrenzeller. An American so we are going to drive to Joburg on Wednesday. The car that the other elders use in our flat keeps breaking so we all have to cram in the little car with all of their stuff too. That's going to be a very long drive. Both ways.
Hopefully we are going to have a baptism on the 6th. That would be great news. This is going to be my first time taking over an area, so i really have no idea what that's going to be like. I have been sick a few times, nothing serious though just a cold or two. It happens anytime the season changes. Its starting to get really hot over here. Like 95 to 100 degrees. Its very hot. And since our car is going to be given to the Lenyenye elders we will be on bikes. Hopefully ill lose some weight or something.
There is a church called ZCC (zion christian church) Its the church that Ive found is the is the farthest away from Christianity but they still think they are christian. Sure they read the bible and pray to Jesus and stuff but they are pretty messed up. For Example: Their church service is 4 hours of dancing then they read a scripture or two then they go home. I'm not exaggerating at all. They have uniforms too. They have a badge that they wear after they get baptized. There is kind of a competition between all the missionaries in the mission to get one of the ZCC stars ( the badge). Some people are pretty good at getting stuff. Its just like a thrill of the chase kind of thing. Anyway I think I'm pretty close to getting one. We have become pretty good friends with a ZCC prophet, so we think he is going to get me one. Oh Man some people are so confused. So if a get a hold of one of these stars Ill definitely bring it home to show you all.
Its not as miserable as it was because you kind of get used to it being so hard. So I think its important to know the difference between a easy area and a hard area.
Well I love you all, be good keep the commandments. Ill be home soon.
Benjamin

August 17, 2009

Thomela Mama, Lagai? Ee shera linsula modimo. Kina bamissionaries.
How’s a little bit of Sepedi. The week has been okay, a lot of driving. I’ve never driven so much in my life. I drive about 100 miles a day. The Elders that work in Lenyenye broke their car so we have been having to drive them out to their area then picking them up again. I’m so sick of driving.
This week was the worst week I’ve had on mission stat wise. We work so hard but there aren’t any stats to show for it. It’s kinda of depressing because it looks like we are not working. Oh well Heavenly Father knows how hard we are trying.
We were street contacting the other day and this guy called us over to try and sell us something. It’s some herbal stuff. First of all he had no idea what he was talking about. "When your stomach is making noises this one will sweep out your stomach and make you feel better. "Just crazy stuff like that. He went through about 6 different pills and gets to one and then notices my badge." Oh, I can’t sell you this one. It’s for people who have girlfriends. No I can’t sell you this one." Well you can guess what it was for. It was really funny. After that I showed him a Book of Mormon and said this would do all that the pills would and more if he would just read it. Then I said " Except that one, That one is bad. Only after you’re married." He said he would read it. I hope he does. I don’t know… we had a good laugh.
We give out free DVDs to people who call a number on one of the pass-along cards. We are teaching a manager of a furniture store and I asked him if we could play the movie on one of their TV’s for sale. “So people can see how nice the TV. is and the sound, people could see and then they will buy it." I think I said something like that. He said it would be fine. So we left a stack of pass-along cards in the store. So when people asked what that movie was he would just point them to the cards. It has worked pretty well we have given out like 5 DVD’s. So the office is going to send us a box of them.
When you in a tough area you have to think of crazy ways to find people.
I guess I should say "ootaba ichagee lammasoalo" HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mom and to Mike. Well I’m sorry I’m running out of time I only have 20 rand today, so I’ll see you later.
I turn 6 months old tomorrow. Weird huh? Time is going by fast. I love you all.
Benjamin

August 10, 2009

August 10th
Things are going alright. Time is going by very fast. I’ve almost been gone 6 months, that’s weird to think about. The work is going alright we still spend a lot of time finding. The thing we do the most is Business tracting. We do that in the morning. It is going around to the businesses and talking to the people in there. We do that because people won’t be home they will be at work. We have had some success doing that.
We still tract a lot, but there is a severe disadvantage to tracting in town. Everyone has a gate. Some people have call boxes but sometimes they don’t work. It’s a lot easier to say no to someone when you can’t see them. Most of the time we have to bang on everyone’s gate to get them to come outside. About 90% of the time as soon as we say we are missionaries, they turn around and say "Nier dankie" (no thank you). So then we move on. Every once and a while you will get someone who just looks at us and waves us off before we even say anything. Whenever someone does that I always yell " Well we were going to give you 1 million rand but I guess we will just go to the next house." We have a good time tracting.
Street contacting doesn’t work because no one stays in town. They all come from different villages outside town. We don’t give up. Lately we have been trying to teach some of the late night security guards. Because 7 o'clock is too late for these people. The guards have nothing better to do so we teach a lot of them.
I’m learning a lot of the language here. It’s Northern Sotho. I can greet someone and ask where they stay what church they go to and even teach a little bit. The only disadvantage is as soon as I get transferred I’ll have to learn another language.
Church is alright. The Branch Pres is a cool guy. You can tell he works really hard. Most of the time he is the one speaking in church. He doesn’t mean to he just forgets to assign people. We are in charge of the cottage meeting in Motupa. We bring the sacrament and teach them from gospel principles. Yesterday sucked though. Sorry to use that word but there were only 3 of us there. Elder Kogo me and the owner of the house we used. It feels terrible when you work so hard to teach someone and they don’t even come to church. We just feel like we wasted our time teaching those people.
Last week we drove down to Joburg for mission tour. It’s when a GA tours the whole mission and speaks to the missionaries. This year it was Elder Bricknell. He is a very cool guy. It was the most spiritual meeting I’ve been to since my setting apart. I’m also reading a lot. There are so many books around for me to read and study I’m learning so much stuff. That’s one of the things that I think that I’ll bring home is studying. I would love to be in that habit when I get home.
Be nice and keep the commandments. I plan on going to the celestial kingdom. Whether you guys are coming or not, lol.
Benjamin

August 3rd

It is hard to teach without using modern revelation and the book of Mormon, because everyone knows the Bible better than me. Oh well. It will be interesting to have little chats and stuff about that. There are so many ridiculous things that people come up with. Here’s one example. I’ll send something home to explain it better though. "Jesus is holding a giant party in heaven. And all you need to do is accept his free invitation by saying yes I want to come to your cool party." I’m not making this up I’ll send it to you guys back home.

Well I love you Dad keep up the good work. Faith and Honor.
Benjamin

July 27th

Man there are some days I wish you guys could be here with me. It’s so interesting, some days. I will wonder what you would say to some people we talk to. Like people who say that "we don’t need a prophet, because Jesus left us the Holy Spirit who will teach us everything we need to know." Lol what would you say to that. I don’t know just curious. People are so confused. It’s hard sometimes when people don’t want to exercise any kind of faith, or are willing to search. Here is a good scripture. 2 Nephi 32:7. Perfect way to explain how I feel.
But we are having some success. We have a few people on date for baptisms. So this area isn’t completely helpless. But there are a few days that are hard. Like tomorrow we have one appointment. That’s it all day.
Stay true to the faith.
Benjamin

July 20th

Hey,
In my area we have only had 3 baptisms so far this year. I hope we will have some more soon.
I wish I could say more about the work but all we really do is tract. We teach a little bit but all we really do is find and strengthen the members. We confirmed our 2 baptisms yesterday. It was great. It always surprises me how much people have grown and the testimonies they receive.
Whenever I feel down I read Doctrine and Covenants section 122. That’s one of my favorites.
You’re second born in the wilderness. Benjamin AKA Hammer

July 13, 2009

Hey,
Things are going pretty good here. The work is starting to slow down a little. It is a very hard area. But the Lord is still blessing us. We found a really cool white family that seems genuinely interested. I am praying and I have faith. We are doing the worst in the zone with stats. They say that doesn’t matter but me and Elder Kogo are trying really hard.
Benjamin

July 7, 2009

We are starting to have a little success here in Tzaneen. We had to baptisms on Sunday. They were great. The best part is when they get up to bare their testimonies. One of them all she could say was how happy she was.
A couple of weeks ago we went to the great baubab tree. It's like the biggest tree in the world or something. I mean the trunk not the height. It was awesome but sad at the same time. It has apparently been there forever. But the owner decided to make a bar inside. He hollowed it out then sold beer from in there. The tree is barely alive. The spirit of the tree was so hurt. And it hurt Motembe as well, he was really sad. I did my best to bless it, But I didn't really know what to say. But I hope that it helped.
I think that I will come across a lot of things like that. Things that have been hurt by stupid humans. I took pictures and I'll be sure to send them home.

Benjamin

June 29, 2009

This new area is hard, but i think we are starting to have success. I'm pretty sure Heavenly Father is helping us out. Me and my companion are working very hard.
I also have some bad news. We went hiking the other day. It was a really long hike. And when I got back to the car I found that the memory card I was using was gone. So now 4 months of my mission are gone. The only pictures I have are the ones I sent in that email. So I'm pretty mad about that. Everyone from my last area, their pictures are gone.
But other than that things are going okay. Time is starting to pick up. We are already halfway through the transfer.

Benjamin

June 22, 2009

This area is so hard. It's really tough on me sometimes. Its hard to explain. We have hardly any investigators, and we spend 80% of our day tr acting and finding. It's tough... But we never slack. We stay busy all day. In my last area I wondered what was so hard about a mission, but that was because our area was so good. But this area, man it's hard. The missionary I replaced was going home and he wasted a lot of time, so when I got here we had no real people to teach. Just what you call eternal investigators, people who don't progress at all. So enough complaining, but I still like the area. Its beautiful out here.
I figured something out about the atonement the other day. Man it blew my mind. Just as soon as i think that I'm starting to figure something out, I learn something else. That's the incredible thing. Anyway, I love you dad, Keep up the good work.
Benjamin

June 15, 2009

I took some pictures from the hike, don't worry i'll send them home pretty soon. But the area up here is awesome. The flat we are in is so much bigger. There are 4 of us that stay there. We don't teach that many more lessons. It is a lot harder area. because people are behind there huge gates. We probably teach 13 or 14 lessons a week. We also teach in a couple of the villages around the area. Now those places are beautiful. I'll be sure to take a lot of pictures for you guys.
Lasagna flavor hamburger helper is pretty good. I just would like something American. And some cookie or muffin mixes would be pretty good.
Anyway I love you mom keep up the good work.
Benjamin

The hike we went on was pretty cool, but as well very dangerous, we saw some monkeys and a couple cool waterfalls. Then we took another path (we were basically making our own trail). Well we got to the top of the mountain, but we were hiking on like a cliff edge. It was pretty scary. I was really worried, but I never really thought that I should turn around.
I love my new area. Its a really hard place to work but the scenery and the people are really cool. We teach in a couple of the villages around, and we go and are in charge of the sacrament meeting in one of them.
Anyway I love you Dad, keep up the good work.
Faith and Honor Benjamin

June 8, 2009

Yeah I've been transfered. Before we drove up here we got to pick up our new car. A 2009 chevy aveo, automatic, built in cd player, its very nice. Then i had a 4 hour drive to Poloqwane. we stayed the night. Then we drove though some really cool mountains the next day for 2 hours then we got to our flat on Tzaneen. My new companion is Elder Kogo, he is from Kenya. He seems like a pretty cool guy. We seem to get a long very well. The work up here is not as good as it was in my last area. It's a town which is a lot harder to wrok in, the people are a lot more stuborn. I ordered a CTR ring with faith and courage written on it. I'm pretty excited to get it. I sure wish i had more time to write letters. So don't worry I haven't missed a day yet in my journal, and we can still email. If you would like you can send me some hamburger helper. One of the elders in my new flat has his mom send him all kinds of food like, stuffing, muffin mix all kinds of things like that. So i thought that you guys could help me out a little. So mac and cheese, and some hamburger helper would be awesome. Anyway I love you thanks for everything.

Faith and Honor. Benjamin

Hey Mom,

This place is awesome. Its like a jungle. The town where we work isnt that big I cant really tell you a population. But we also go out and teach in some of the villages. Now that is incredible. Yesterday we had a sacrement in someones house. It was me and Elder Kogo and 3 other people that was it. It is such a humbling feeling when you come from a ward of 250 people. The branch in Tzaneen is about 20 people. The branch pres is a good guy though. I'm very thankful to be out here, this is going to be a good area. Today we are going to hike to a huge waterfall. We are pretty much hiking through the jungle, I'm very excited. Dont worry I'll take lots of pictures. Well Mom i love you. I miss you all but its not too bad, if we stay busy the time flies. Anyway have a good day, Keep up the reading.
Love Benjamin

June 1, 2009

I have some surprising news... I'm getting transferred to Tsaneen, its up in the north east, kind of by Krugur. I was very surprised that I was going. Everyone thought that I would stay. I guess that the place is somewhere that everyone wants to go. They say it is like a jungle up here.
Well our family was confirmed yesterday. I got to confirm the 2 kids. I never thought I would do so much. As well as the confirmations I also gave two blessings. There is an overwhelming spirit when it comes to missionary work. I don't know if you can remember it when you where on yours, but I feel it all the time.
Well I am very excited to go to my new area. My new companion is going to be Elder Kogo, he is from Kenya.
Well I love you Dad stay strong. Faith and Honor
Benjamin

May 25th, 2009

Yesterday was the baptism. It was so cool. It was the best day that I have had on my mission so far. After wards they all bore there testimonies. I cried when the father bore his. I haven't felt the spirit that strong in a long time. After that the closing hymn was "I believe in Christ". I cried during that whole song too. It was a pretty amazing day.

There is a scripture that kind of puts how I feel. Maybe you know it... D and C 18: 13-16. I hope that all my baptisms in the future are that good.

May 18, 2009

Hey Dad, How is everything? Everything for me is going great.
I'm not sure how many missionaries are on bikes but I sure don't want to be one of them. We went on exchanges a week ago. I was pretty excited to be on a bike to see what it was like. Oh man I hated it. It was the most that i complained on my mission so far. It rained i got one of my shirts dirty, I was trying to ride with my shoulder bag, lol it was miserable. Heavenly Father will humble me a lot if he gives me a biking area. And now that i have said that he probably will.
We are baptizing a family next week. The Letsipa family. They are all awesome. I was pretty disappointed when Elder Redd said that they all wanted him to baptize them and none for me, But I'm happy now I don't mind. The important thing is they made it :)
One of our investigators went in for surgery to get a catorac removed. In a very shady township hospital. We were going to give him a blessing but he was gone before he got there. The doctor FORGOT to put the lens in when he finished. So now Brother Morare can't read the Book of Mormon. And they set his appointment for the end of July, to put the lens in. So things are going alright.
That's pretty cool to hear about John Huntsman. I'm pretty sure that Pres Poulsen knows him. Because he went to Taiwan on his mission as well.
Well I'm glad that Hannah's birthday went well. I'm sending her present and yours at the same time. So you guys will probably get them some time in June.
Anyway i love you Dad. keep up the god work. You guys will be fine. Because I know your doing the right thing. :)
Sincerely your second born in the wilderness... Benjamin

May 11, 2009

Hey Dad, how are you doing? It was so good to talk to you yesterday. It was really weird though lol. But anyway I'm glad to have gotten the opportunity.
Yeah pres. Zuma. Everyone down here likes the guy. But there are some sketchy things with this guy... but your right I hope that he does some good.
Yeah eggs are doing me some good. Our pans are retarted though. The non-stick stuff rubbed off like after the first week... but i scramble and boil eggs so they are working for me. Fruit too. I eat a lot of bananas. And 100% juice as well. Its really good over here. We have a George Foreman grill as well. So me and another Elder have gotten into grilled cheese and ham and stuff. Slowly but surely I'm figuring out food.
I'm glad that mothers day went well. I can't tell you how happy I am to here that the family is doing so well.
I love you guys so much. Keep doing what your doing. You guys are going to be fine. We just have to have hope and faith.
Benjamin

Monday, April 20, 2009

Hey Mom,

How are you? I'm fine as usual. First thing, Emailing is one of the highlights of my week so will you remind everyone to email me (only if they want to I guess) I love you and Dads emails but it would be nice to hear from Mike Pattie and Hannah.
There are some pretty cool things here I can buy. For example I bought a scripture case with zebra and crocodile skin on it. There is also elephant, impala, rhino and pretty much anything else. They are about 30-35 dollars. So if anyone wants them I can buy them and send them home.
Thanks for the poem. It really does help. I got a package from Lilli last Friday. The candy is already gone though. She sent me a little flash drive so I'm going to put all of the pictures that I have on it, then send it home but I have to do it next week because i forgot my camera.
Anyway I love you mom. Give my love to the family.
Ben


Hey Dad,

I'm great. I would say that I'm a 8.5. (this is in response to the question 'On a scale of 1-10 how do you feel about the mission?')Everything is fine. I'm getting used to the life style. Transfers are Tuesday and Me and Elder Redd are both staying here. I will probably be his last companion.
The elections are on Wednesday and its going to be crazy. We are still working but we are told to be very careful. These people who are voting for Jacob Zuma are very crazy, and they are drunk most of the time as well.
My first official baptisms are next Sunday.. A 20 year old kid named Mbuso and his mom. I'm so excited. Elder Redd is going to baptize them both but I'm giving a talk. They just know Elder Redd better than me, I think that's why. The weather here is fine, its really hot. Its supposed to be turning winter here but its still really hot.
Anyway try not think about how long Ive been gone Ill be home before you know it. I Love you and thanks for everything.
Ben

Some Pictures

Ben in the MTC

Ben's Companion in the MTC


Lion and Rhino Park


Lion and Rhino Park


Thank goodness South Africa has this...