week 76

Sorry for the short emails the last couple weeks, I'm pretty drained to be honest. I have a car again, but being in township is exhausting. The people are difficult to teach so you have to work a lot harder. You always have to be watching to make sure no one is doing anything funny. It may not sound all that hard, but after 18 months I can barely get out of bed in the morning, so please bear with me haha. 

Let's see here, so you asked about last Monday... we drove the hour to Pretoria and walked around the National Mall for 8 hours. Anyone who knows me knows that isn't my idea of a good time, but hey, everyone else enjoyed it. I guess that's what matters. I found an American magazine called Recoil, and I couldn't resist looking... it pretty much made my life. I miss my guns.

Our Bishop is frustrating me. We wanted to have an activity. We listed a couple of ideas, and he said no to all. His justification for this? The ward is having an activity in September and in December. Yes, two a year... that's definitely enough. Hmm. Then he said we are not allowed to teach at the chapel, but the First Presidency has told missionaries to do so. It can be hard working with ward leaders.

On the positive side we are teaching a lot of awesome people. The best is probably a guy named Thabo, he is a business owner. Sells water. The water here has been destroyed by the mining industry, so not only do you get the runs by drinking it, but you also get cancer. Awesome. Anyways, he is one of the most intelligent people I have met this side. He is level-headed and willing to listen, and that right there is half the battle. He is not on date to be baptized yet, but the last lesson we had was on baptism, and I'm pretty sure we made a lot of progress. Everywhere I have been sent to serve, I have felt that I was there for a specific person, and I feel I was sent here to help him. He is a sweet guy. 

I'm still trying to make a plan for when I get home. At the moment I am still considering enlisting in the Air Force, but I'm looking into ROTC scholarships too. I'd rather go to University, but I have forgotten everything I learned in high school, and I don't think I would make the requirements for the scholarship at this point. If I do enlist I think I'll do it at the end of the summer, so I can spend some time at home before moving on to the next thing. In all honesty, I have no idea what I'll do, it is a whole lot of thoughts, but so far nothing seems to be sticking. 

Anyways. that's what I got.

Love yah all lots! 

Also... uhm. President is attempting to extend my mission...so there is a chance I won't be home until mid-December... but yeah, haha, I'll keep you posted. 

Love, Elder Kelly  

week 75: on to Kwa Guqa

Transfers were Tuesday, and I'm back in the middle of nowhere. I'm in Mpumalanga province now, in a township called Kwa Guqa (there is a click on the Q that is ridiculously hard to pronounce...) The ward here has a nice chapel. It is near a town called Witbank, and about 2 hours from my previous area of Nelspruit. 

(click on map to enlarge)

It is pretty darn ghetto. It is crazy, I just went from one of the richest areas of South Africa, where I would see Bentleys daily, back to the third world. Wow, is it a transition. We get fed a lot which is nice, but the food is ehh... great... so much my stomach has been dying all week haha. 

My new companion is Elder Bryner from Utah. All is well, we have fun. We have a pretty nice flat in all reality. We are in what appears to be the richest area of Witbank. 

We are going to Pretoria ( the country capital) today to see if we can find something fun to do. It is about 100 kilos away. Let's see here, that's about all I've got. 

I don't feel very well at the moment and it is hard for me to be all that creative. 

Love yah

Elder Kelly

week 74

So I guess I am being transferred on Tuesday. I really hope that I go back into the middle of nowhere, I like it better than the townships. I will probably be in a car again, which is good and bad. I really love mountain biking, but most of the areas in this mission are too dangerous or spread out so they put people in cars. The work here has been slow. We are continuing to try to find and support inactive members.

I haven't really been thinking about home, but my Mission President told me that next time we meet he wants me to have a plan for when I get home. Now I think about it all the time, and I can't believe how fast time is going. They say that in the mission field the days are long but the weeks are short, and it is true. Not going to lie, I am excited to get home. I'm not quitting early, I am going to work really hard the next six months. But I am looking forward to getting back. There are things I took for granted, like having electricity all the time. Also, people talk about racism in the U.S., but it is nothing compared to South Africa.

Something I've been thinking about is obedience. People say "on your mission you have to do this" or "you have to do that" but that isn't true. You don't have to do anything. But you will be a lot happier if you do. Life is like that. We can do whatever we want, but if you break the commandments, or just live for yourself, you'll end up being miserable.

My testimony of the Book of Mormon continues to grow. The other day I was in a bad mood and didn't feel like doing anything. So I just started reading. I read for a long time, and when I stopped I felt better.

Well, that's all I've got. I was going to write a spiritual thought but I forgot it at my flat. Happy Mother's day to all the moms who read my blog.

Love,
Elder Kelly

week 73

This week was pretty great. Not a lot happened, but it was nice. The work this side is hard, and there were two holidays this week so most people were either gone or drunk. Thank you for doing that Fasfa stuff for me, I really appreciate it! I'm currently working on trying to figure it out, but my brain is kinda small, so it makes it difficult.

On the bright side, one of the young women from the ward yesterday mentioned (in her words), my "arms and chest are getting huge." This whole biking 40+ k's a day is making me lose lots of weight, and I'm lifting every morning. It is nice. I never thought I would enjoy exercise.

Let's see here, what else should I say. I'm trying to send pictures, but the computer refuses to load them, sorry. There are certain things I won't miss about being in a third world country. 

Honestly not much happened this week. I wrote a spiritual thought to send home, but forgot it at the flat.

My knee is giving me problems. So this week I'm going to eat a lot of celery and hope that helps. People keep telling me it will. Sounds a bit like some crazy African superstition, but hey sometimes they are correct. Not often, but sometimes. This one time they got me to rub some mud on a rash and it made it 10 times worse haha. Good times.

Anyways, that's about all I got.

Love, Kelly