week 5: no water and walking

(view from Elder McClellan's flat)

To start out with I have to get this off my chest. The mission rules say I should write with uhm... class basically. I thought about it, I know most missionary write all professional like, but that's not me.

 

Spiritual thought! dun dun dun:
2 Ne 9:39 "Remember to be carnally-minded is death, and to be spiritually minded is life eternal." I think in this life we all care too much about things. We want a new this or that, and often times we forget what's important which is the Gospel. Jacob 2:18 says "Before ye seek riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God." I kind of want to expand on this thought. This second verse is in context talking about earthly possessions, but it can also just be applied to earthly activities. It's really easy for me to say this given my current predicament of being on a mission, but we all need to do better at focusing on God and his will. Too often we think about what we want instead of what He wants. We have faith in Him, but as we live our lives we tend to put Him in the back of our mind as we go throughout our life. It's been hard, but as I continue to get off my high horse and get in line with the Lord's will I have been majorly blessed. Just a thought, apply this to yourself how you will. Maybe your already perfect at it, I don't really know.
 

This week was unproductive! We had 20 lessons, and well yeah it was hard. I envy elders in the USA! They live such cushy lives with their chapels and active members and their water. Oh yeah we have been without water for a week and our car died! We now walk everywhere. We live about 15ks from our area, and as you can imagine this is quite inconvenient. That coupled with the inability to take a shower makes for a very grumpy missionary at the end of the day. One or the other would be fine, but both together is rough. Luckily the ZLs (zone leaders) are going to let us use their shower later today. Some days we walk well... until my feet bleed haha. Oh well, Curtis emailed me and gave me some tips on how to deal with it so hopefully that will help.

I began reading Jesus the Christ this week. It's not hard, people talk it up a lot haha. It's simple to understand and has an amazing mass of information that everyone should know! I love it, I'm only about 25% through it so far. 

 

The other day I was praying at the end of a lesson and I said "in the name of Jesus Christ" and then started looking around. I forgot Amen, oops. Everyone laughed at me and it was just wonderful :).

 

Last night we were at a DA (dinner appointment) and the Harwards (Senior couple) were supposed to pick us up. They forgot. We were in one of the sketchyest neighborhoods in our area too haha. Luckily they made it back before someone killed us and threw us in a ditch.

 

Its been fairly boring this week. Lots of walking, lots of people shouting "mahua" (white guy), and lots of canceled appointments. Our area is so big it can take us 3 hours to walk from one appointment to the other! It is annoying to say the least haha. 

 

Thursday we had a DA, Elder Wadsworth called to confirm and the person he called said they couldn't do it. He called the wrong person, and about 8:30 we got a call from a very nice old lady saying "well, the food's ready. Are you coming?" That was a "well flip elder" kind of moment! 

 

Life is good, the sun is hot, and the days are long. We got an investigator by the name of James. He is amazing, came to church and he is actually going to come back! Woooo! 

Got interviews with president Tuesday. I'll have to tell him about all the bad things I do and all the girl friends I have haha.

Went to Mokopane Friday on exchange. Was with Elder Jenson. He is funny, we didn't do a whole lot. He is dying (this means his mission is ending), only has 4 months left.

As for everything else, well the work is pretty good. The church is still true, and I have yet to see a lion.

The best way to get me money would be to send a prepaid debt card you can get at Walmart. That's what we use here and they work well. Just make sure it's a visa. If it has a pin then send it via email not in the package. And hide the card in something else. The mail people will steal it. Sooo like send it in a pair of socks or something... Idk. You have to be creative to not get jacked here.

 

My new camera is working well. I feel like this letter has been terrible, I'm sorry. I'm very grumpy.

I've kinda been down at times lately. Don't really know why. The work isn't any harder than before... well it is, but that's not it. I'm not homesick. So I don't know what the problem is haha. I guess it's about that time to walk the 6ks back home. Hope all is well, praying for y'all lots!

 

Love,
Elder McClellan