Letter from Michael 9-29-2014 (10 Months)

Letter from Michael 9-29-2014 (10 Months)

I have now served 10 months of missionary work. It is hard to believe. Rabie Ridge is still going well. Transfers are coming up pretty soon after a couple of weeks. Most likely Elder Harris will be the only one leaving and the only one in the district. It has been great serving with him and these last two weeks will be great.

This Sunday our only investigators who came to church was Incabetsi. I don't know what the deal is with everyone else. Joyce's family has been busy though with the death of her mother and all. We taught her kids last week and rescheduled an appointment with all of them. Our recent converts were at church today though. In sacrament meeting Bro. Amos received the priesthood.

Next weekend is going to be very exciting with General conference. Joyce said she would be there for at least half of it. We are watching all of general conference live except for the 2nd Saturday session we will watch Sunday night.

This week in our area everyone's water went out. So we fill a bunch of bottles and water containers to take it to the members. After doing that our own water went out, the pipes clogged, the water began backing up out of the drain in our sink. So our flat is now filthy. At least we have water again after almost a week. So lately we have had tons of service. Very different  from Polokwane. I notice something funny about the areas I have served in. I have a list of all of the areas in our mission in alphabetical order. My 1st area was Polokwane, then Protea Glen. and now Robie Ridge which is all in alphabetical order. So I looked at the next "R" area and it is Randburg or something. It is an area that covers part of Sandton which is apparently the wealthiest city in the southern hemisphere. It would be hilarious if I end up serving there next. Ayway, that was my week.

- Elder Michael Johnson 

Parts of his letter to his mom:

I still felt a bit sick last week but I'm okay now.... all of us now I think. On mission you just almost always have the squirts it seems like. Joyce and Impumi are good but it is hard to see them all at the same time. We will teach them this Wednesday. We did not see Ananias. Elder Christie serving in Rabie Ridge 2 is from Houston, Texas.

Parts of his letter to his dad:

They (Joyce and Impumi ) might be baptised same date. they can't miss church or appointments anymore. Today is cool and overcast. Last night was an insanely loud thunderstorm. It didn't last to long though.

Letter to his cousin Calvin:

To Calvin,

Hey, Calvin! It has been a long time. I enjoyed reading the letter you sent me a few months ago. I hope you are doing well. Serving a mission has been great and I really enjoy it. I know it is a bit of time from home and family but I know it is all worth it. The harder you work the faster time goes. Serving a mission is what the Lord Jesus Christ wants us to do. He will always bless us for our obedience to him and sacrifice. We leave our families for a little while to bless others so that they may be with their families in Heaven forever like us. Our families are eternal and will always be there.

Anyway, How are you doing? Are you still playing soccer? What grade are you in now? Thanks again for your thoughts and the letter you sent. Be happy and be good!

- Michael

Letter from Michael 9-22-2014 –Amos is now a Member

Letter from Michael 9-22-2014 –Amos is now a Member

                        This Sunday Amos received the gift of the Holy Ghost. We found some people to teach while tracting last week. One of them was another man named Amos. Only 1 investigator came to church this Sunday. His name is Ananias. He is a friend of Bulelani's. He jumped in on a lesson before one time when we were teaching Bulelani the Restoration. Ananias said he enjoyed church and also said he would come to Bulelani's house this Saturday for a lesson.

Joyce and Impumi are still great. Joyce's mother just passed away and her family wasn't able to make it to church this Sunday even though they wanted to. Next time we are them we will share the Plan of Salvation with them. That should comfort Joyce after the loss of her mother. Last week we read some of the Book of Mormon with Joyce, Impumi, and Xolani. Xolani is there for the lessons but his job always requires him to work on Sundays. Anyway, we read with them Alma chapter 32 about Faith with them. Joyce absolutely loved it! She thought it was so beautiful she kept going on and on about it. They are understanding the Book of Mormon much better and understand the role of it and why we have put so much focus on it.

                We did some service for a lady in the ward named Nini. She had piles and piles of rat invested garbage in her yard. So we took care of it with some rakes, shovels, and a wheelbarrow. It was hilarious to hear Elder Harris scream like a girl when he saw the first rat. At first we thought it was Nini who screamed. On Saturday night we were at a members house and it started to rain and hail outside. It was the first of the season. Rain or hail in township is horrible for having a conversation. All of their roof are made of those tin sheets so it makes a really loud noise throughout the house. You can be standing next to someone and not hear a word they are saying unless they yell at the top of their lungs to you. It was fun though. Last Monday for P-Day we went to a Mosk in Midrand not far from where we stay. It was very pretty and incredible to hear that it only took them three years to build it. I have some good pictures at the Mosk. Perhaps I send some pictures of it next week. By the way, I don't know if I ever mentioned this but Elder Bednar is the Apostle who looks over south eastern Africa. It used to be Holland a while ago. I can't wait to hear from all of them this coming General Conference. It is about time for me to see one. 

- Elder Michael Johnson 

Part of letter to Michael’s Dad:   Joyce and Impumi were officially put on date last week for the 2nd week of October. They are great! This weekend was rough. I was sick again. Saturday was the worst. I was surprised I made it through the day. I had stomach pain, aches, chile, nausea, head ache, fatigue.... Elder Christ and Elder Harris got it too.

Letter from Michael 9-15, 2014-Amos got Baptized!

Letter from Michael 9-15, 2014-Amos got Baptized!

Well, it has been another week. Amos got baptised on Sunday by Brother Musikito. Finally after years of investigating! Unfortunately his wife didn't make it to the service but at least he did. Three investigators came to church this week namely Amos, Rams, and Vundisa. Rams is doing well and mentioned how much he appreciates us coming to visit and teach him. We are his family. Vundisa is an older woman who we have started to teach. After church yesterday Brother Kevin from the stake presidency came out with Elder Harris and I to visit some less actives. He help out a lot. What a great man!

The weather definitely feels like summer already. Too soon! Two days ago we had to start opening windows and turn on the fan. We always thought that our car had really good air conditioning but now we realize it was just because it was winder and already cold. On Saturday we saw two white guys standing at a super market. It was so odd to see other white people in township. We made eye contact, grinned, and sharped each other from a distance. "Sharp" is like a slang word often used when we would say something like "What's up" or "good good."

On Friday we had a zone conference, It went quite well and I enjoyed it. We talked about a ton of things. We learned about the role of the Book of Mormon and the Holy Spirit in conversion, working with members in missionary  which we now call "Mesh-inary" work, the importance of our calling, and diligence. President Dunn is great and has a lot of enthusiasm that gets us fired up and motivate. He is helping us do great things. In a nutshell that was the week.

- Elder Michael Johnson

Part of letter from his Mom: Investigators are good. We have some new referrals last week who we can contact this week. Yes we do service. I don't know if I told you about us fixing a part member's roof, and helping pull out a big tree for them. The tree thing was rough to get out. I felt like the Steed family without proper equipment. Then last week we hand washed tons of great big blankets for a member. Boy that was some work! Especially wringing the soapy water out and then the rinsing water out.

Centurion Zone at Zone Conference Sept. 2014

Eating at zone conference

See below for last weeks letter.

Letter from Michael 9-8-2014 Car Trouble and Transfers

Letter from Michael 9-8-2014  Car Trouble and Transfers

On Tuesday we had another transfer. One of the 2 Centurion areas in our district got closed. Now we have a 6 man district including the zone leaders. Elder Christie is a missionary in the Rabie Ridge 2 area. He is now training 18 year old Elder Todd from Lehi, Utah and moved to Utah his sophomore year of high school. He seems okay.

On transfer day our car broke. We are not sure but something like the clutch cable might have snapped. So we got a beat up loner car for a few day. Good thing too. We almost didn't get that car. If we didn't we would have to walk many miles to and from our area everyday.

As far as the work this week it was pretty decent considering the dilemmas we had. We Taught all together in one lesson Welehminah, Putsoletso, Inclabetse, and surprise about the law of chastity. Surprise is getting really into the lessons now. He is very excited about the gospel. We had taught them about the law of chastity. Inclabetse, Joyce, and Impumi were the investigators at church yesterday. Surprise said he would come but something must have come up and the same as for Xolani. We also taught Xolani and Impumi last we. Joyce just got home from work and fell asleep so she wasn't there for the lesson. Joyce did participate a lot at church and enjoys it. With Xolani and Impumi we just answered questions and re taught the restoration again because Xolani wasn't there for it last time. Amos we taught on Thursday. We talked to him about his situation with baptism and his wife. He said he talked with the bishop and came to the conclusion that he will be baptised on the 14th this month and he will bring his wife. Finally! After 5 years he will finally be baptised. So that was probably the best news all week. We got a few referrals from last week that we will try to contact this week. That is all for this week.

- Elder Johnson

From his mom:

As of right now we have 5 investigators close to baptism. (Inclabetse, Surprise, Joyce, and Impumi) That was not the centurion area that was closed. The one I went to on exchanges is still there. It is the zone leader area. In Protea Glen I had a South African Zone leader. He is now my new zone leader Hear. Elder Matos from Venezuela is the other one.  Food... I don't remember what I have told you. I have eaten disgusting Mopane worms... ox tail... kidney... pig's head. And non of them were very good to be honest. The pig head actually wasn't that bad when you get past the harry skin.

Awesome, sounds like BYU football might be pretty good this year! Thanks for the update!