Monday, March 22, 2010
March 22, 2010
Good morning everybody! Hope you've had an enjoyable week. Things here are great. I've definitely seen the Lord at work during this week as well as the past. We've seen and been blessed with things we're trying to do in this area. Both myself and my companioin, and the other companionship, are working hard to be creative in our efforts, and seeing success while doing it. Cleary has not been this successful for a long time, even as i've been able to look through past weeks before i got here. Both companionships are working hard, using members, finding, and getting people to church more than ever before. And i'm assuming it'll stay that way in the coming weeks. As a district, we're having a good time while doing it also. We enjoy eachother, and know when to take things serious and know when to enjoy the work as well. So in a general sense, things are fine. I really cant say that anything way fantasitc has happened. We're finding more and more people that are interested. Even more families. Something that i have seen though is an increased desire for people to read the Book of Mormon. This really has been a blessing. One of the investigators, Mara, who will be getting baptized next week, is now in Helaman of her reading. She's cruisin. Another two investigators, Gine and her daughter Tiffany set a goal that they would finish 1 Nephi before we see them again, just in a couple of days. As well as others have said they cant wait to read it for themselves and find out what this "book" is talking about. I love it when that happens. Honestly, the BOM is one of the great conversion tools that we posses, and it's a shame when we have to force reading on to people that never really have that desire to just open it up for themselves and start reading. That's why, if they just start reading and praying about it without our bugging them to do it, their prayers will be answered so much faster. I love it! And am enjoying watching other people grow to love it as well...(not that i havent for the whole time i've been on mission, but here it sticks out). So just after studies on Saturday, i got a nice phone call from a family member. Can you guess who? Yup it was our family from here in SA. The Smiths. So it definitely came as a surprise, but it was great to talk to him. (i had passed on my phone # to him) As he might have been sending emails to you...those of you (mom) who know where he stays...but for those of you who dont...he lives down the coast in a small place called Still Bay. A good few hour drive from where i currently am. But basically we just briefly spoke about what i've been up to and if i get to sight see and what not...I probably dont live the lavish life like he would expect someone to live if they come to SA to visit...but i've definitely seen a lot since i've been here...and enjoyed it. We just said we need to stay in touch and we'll be meeting for sure. How awesome would that be! What a great opportunity it would be to get to see that side of the family...that makes the trip worth it eh?haha, well, a little more worth it i suppose. All i can say is that life is fine, there are no complaints. Unfortunately i havent been playing any games of skate with anybody this week...but that doesnt mean that my district isn't trying to learn. After a few falls they usually quit for the day, but Elder Onen has the spirit of wanting to learn so he usually gets back on even if he takes a tumble...it's pretty funny. He's the most committed. There's not much else to say...Cleary is going just fine. It's a big area...still learning but feeling much better about it. That's all to say! Elder Devenney Pics...Ochanda looks huge on the left, msilasye, onen, me. You can see the chapel just down below, and the lake behind us is called...you guessed it, Salt Lake. :)other is back in East London near the ocean...
Monday, March 15, 2010
March 15, 2010
Heeellooo.... Good morning. This week as you can guess...is going to be a bit better than last week. It's given me more days to figure out the area and feel more comfortable. I've been able to meet more and more of the members and build that relationship. And was even able to go to church for the first time yesterday since the previous week was stake conference. The branch is good for the most part. It's a functioning branch, more so than some of the other branches i've been in. As for the week, we've been able to see Mara, one who does have a baptismal date. She's the foreign exchange student living with a member family. She's doing excellent. She'll be ready on the 28th of March, which she as well as we, are excited for. She's progressing so fast. She's now in Helaman in her reading and just cruises through the BOM. We also have Marcel, the other guy with a baptismal date. When we met him on Saturday we spoke about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what what, he's doing alright just facing some Word of Wisdom issues that he's trying to overcome. He's doing alright tho. We expressed how we're going to have to move his date back a few weeks, probably for sometime in April, and it's for his best. When we first told him that he was a bit bummed, but by the time we explained everything he understood and agreed with it. He knows he wouldn't be ready for baptism on the 28th of this month, and if he did, then he might go back to his old ways which we definitely dont want. So we're setting a new goal that he can work toward which is fine with him. Other than that we have a pretty big teaching pool of a few different families. We might be giving two more baptismal dates this coming week to a mother and daughter. Gine and tiffany. But we'll see how things go... During and after lunches i've been teaching the elders in my district to ride my skateboard. haha. They love the challenge but Elder Onen, how's a kinda big guy, who probably is the best at riding it, fell two times right on his butt, got up, but later on realized he could hardly walk. It was way funny. We had to fetch him early last night because he's in the walking area..Anyway, it brings for some good laughs. They wanna be good at riding it before the transfer is over... But on that note, i did see two skaters at one point in my area when we had a few mintues before an appointment. The first ones i've seen. They were skating in the road so i couldnt help but stop the car and go talk to them. One of them was actually pretty good. There were just two, and the one that was better is sponsered by Element SA and also Billabong. So using the other kids' skate and his shoes, i challenged him to a game of SKATE for fun. (Like PIG) it went for a little while, and he actually ended up beating me. just barely tho. I put up a good fight for not having anything i was used to and being in my whites. But i got their names and stuff and who konws, maybe it'll turn into teaching opportunities right! ;) That's what i'll hope for. But next time i skate with them, i'll have my own stuff and i'll be able to skate better...haha. Nah it was just for fun. So things here in Cleary are good tho. Elder Ochanda is alright. I wont tell you things that bug me, but for the most part we're getting along. My district is chill and they're a load of fun. We enjoy ourselves. We're working hard and focusing on working with our ward and branch leaders especially our branch mission leader. That's a focus for the mission. Since we also had Zone Conference and had Elder Kaliker of the Seventy here with us, that's what he wants us to do. It's something we're already doing...but just a refocus. It was a good zone conference and talked as well a lot about prayer and why not more investigators are joining the church, it's because they truly do not pray even when they say they do....So we're going to try to work on that. But yeah, i've seen some great humility being shown throughout the district, and we're working for unity as well. There's great things ahead for Cleary. And even our stats were tons higher than it has been in this area for a long time. So that is showing that we're not only getting high numbers, but also working smart in doing so. Yeah...that's really about it i'd say. The week is just busy busy with teaching and testifying. Haha. That's all we do. Still learning the area but adapting quickly to the new situation as i always seem to do. There's really no issues...I hope your'e all safe, happy, and enjoying life. Thanks for everything! Much love, Elder Devenney pics are my district now, by the ocean with a dude in speedo in EL, and a chopped up whaleshark in EL
Monday, March 8, 2010
March 8th 2010
Hello.
There will be a bit to tell as some of you already know my news...Yes i've left the great city of East London and the great ward that was so kind to me and who i loved...to a new branch, new area, and new city. The city of Port Elizabeth is about 3 hours away from EL. Before i tell you what happened on the day i left, i can fill you in on earlier this week. Transfer news came on Wednesday morning and i would be leaving Thursday. We figured i wouldnt be going anywhere because the news could even come Tuesday night and we hadn't heard anything. It was a surprise as it came the next morning informing me that i'd be leaving. So i had wednesday to say my goodbyes to those i could. I stopped by quite a few of the members and some investigators and gave them my best and told them how much i had appreciated their help and friendship. My time there really was too short...and it was a bummer that i'd leave but hey, i guess i just gotta go.
So i packed and headed for the bus station the following morning on thursday. Public transport is disgusting. There were 5 of us traveling by bus to PE. I sat in the back left side of the bus, very last seat, crammed because no african is as tall as me and they make the seats super close to eachother...luckily i was by the window that would open up just an inch for some breathing air. The place smelled...was hot...and was not an enjoyable ride. I'm pretty sure i was the only one on the bus that was white...not that it realy matters. But hey, after 4 hours or so on the bus, we made it to PE and i got my companion. Elder Ochanda from Kenya. I knew him a bit when he first started when i was out in Queenstown. He's only been out for about 6 months...but is a good guy. He's tall like me...But yeah. I'm still just a District leader, and there's 4 in the district. We live in PE but work an area about 15 minutes away called Cleary Estate. It's larger than i expected. Kinda more lower class. Full of muslims and Christians. The church is luckily a building, but it's just a branch right now. It's slowly growing. I am in the driving area...and the other two are walking/biking. It's unfortunate how things worked out...because elder ochanda used to be in the walking area for 6 weeks, now came over to this new area...so he hardly knows anybody in our area. And as well, Elder Onen was working in my area, and now just went to the other walking area. So it's kinda like a double white wash where none of us have a great idea where we are going or who our investigators are etc. It's been tough. We've had Elder Onen show us around our area and where some members and investigators stay. It'll take about a week to get used to everything. Others in my district are Elder Msilayse from Tanzania, and Onen from Uganda, and Ochanda from Kenya. I'm sure everything will be alright...sometimes being with all africans can be a bit hard to adjust...but i think it'll be fine.
We have 2 that will be getting baptized on the 28th of March. One is an exchange student from Switzerland who has a strong testimony already. She's staying in a member home. Within 3 weeks she's read half the BOM and is way excited about everything. Her parents support her decision, and even back at home she lives very close to the Temple there. And she had no idea what it was before she was being taught. So yeah...then the other one is a guy named Marcel. Cool cool guy. He's pretty excited for things also. Idunno how old he is exactly...twentysomething. But yeah that's kinda it for those coming up. We might have a mother and daughter with a baptismal date here pretty soon as well.
Sunday we had a stake conference. That was really nice. Tons of people were there. It was great to see. Yeah...idunno what else to tell ya. The area that i'm working is mainly a colored area...meaning mostly colored people. Their ways of living are quite a bit different...they love the smoking and drinking and partying...it's a sad thing. It's kinda like being back in my greenie area in Paarl...i havent been in a mostly colored area since that time. Our living courters...as in our boarding is super small and i dont like it. We have bunk beds and if i lay flat my feet and my head can touch each end of the boards. It's way lame. haha. But i'll survive. Things other than that are pretty good. I dont have many complaints. Idunno how long i'll be here...i have a feeling it'll be a short time for me...we'll see tho. That's all i have time to say! Much love,
Elder Devenney
There will be a bit to tell as some of you already know my news...Yes i've left the great city of East London and the great ward that was so kind to me and who i loved...to a new branch, new area, and new city. The city of Port Elizabeth is about 3 hours away from EL. Before i tell you what happened on the day i left, i can fill you in on earlier this week. Transfer news came on Wednesday morning and i would be leaving Thursday. We figured i wouldnt be going anywhere because the news could even come Tuesday night and we hadn't heard anything. It was a surprise as it came the next morning informing me that i'd be leaving. So i had wednesday to say my goodbyes to those i could. I stopped by quite a few of the members and some investigators and gave them my best and told them how much i had appreciated their help and friendship. My time there really was too short...and it was a bummer that i'd leave but hey, i guess i just gotta go.
So i packed and headed for the bus station the following morning on thursday. Public transport is disgusting. There were 5 of us traveling by bus to PE. I sat in the back left side of the bus, very last seat, crammed because no african is as tall as me and they make the seats super close to eachother...luckily i was by the window that would open up just an inch for some breathing air. The place smelled...was hot...and was not an enjoyable ride. I'm pretty sure i was the only one on the bus that was white...not that it realy matters. But hey, after 4 hours or so on the bus, we made it to PE and i got my companion. Elder Ochanda from Kenya. I knew him a bit when he first started when i was out in Queenstown. He's only been out for about 6 months...but is a good guy. He's tall like me...But yeah. I'm still just a District leader, and there's 4 in the district. We live in PE but work an area about 15 minutes away called Cleary Estate. It's larger than i expected. Kinda more lower class. Full of muslims and Christians. The church is luckily a building, but it's just a branch right now. It's slowly growing. I am in the driving area...and the other two are walking/biking. It's unfortunate how things worked out...because elder ochanda used to be in the walking area for 6 weeks, now came over to this new area...so he hardly knows anybody in our area. And as well, Elder Onen was working in my area, and now just went to the other walking area. So it's kinda like a double white wash where none of us have a great idea where we are going or who our investigators are etc. It's been tough. We've had Elder Onen show us around our area and where some members and investigators stay. It'll take about a week to get used to everything. Others in my district are Elder Msilayse from Tanzania, and Onen from Uganda, and Ochanda from Kenya. I'm sure everything will be alright...sometimes being with all africans can be a bit hard to adjust...but i think it'll be fine.
We have 2 that will be getting baptized on the 28th of March. One is an exchange student from Switzerland who has a strong testimony already. She's staying in a member home. Within 3 weeks she's read half the BOM and is way excited about everything. Her parents support her decision, and even back at home she lives very close to the Temple there. And she had no idea what it was before she was being taught. So yeah...then the other one is a guy named Marcel. Cool cool guy. He's pretty excited for things also. Idunno how old he is exactly...twentysomething. But yeah that's kinda it for those coming up. We might have a mother and daughter with a baptismal date here pretty soon as well.
Sunday we had a stake conference. That was really nice. Tons of people were there. It was great to see. Yeah...idunno what else to tell ya. The area that i'm working is mainly a colored area...meaning mostly colored people. Their ways of living are quite a bit different...they love the smoking and drinking and partying...it's a sad thing. It's kinda like being back in my greenie area in Paarl...i havent been in a mostly colored area since that time. Our living courters...as in our boarding is super small and i dont like it. We have bunk beds and if i lay flat my feet and my head can touch each end of the boards. It's way lame. haha. But i'll survive. Things other than that are pretty good. I dont have many complaints. Idunno how long i'll be here...i have a feeling it'll be a short time for me...we'll see tho. That's all i have time to say! Much love,
Elder Devenney
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Feb 22, 2010
Sorry about not writing last week...i spent forever trying to set up a new "myldsmail" account...so as you can see this will be my new email for the next little while. It's good though because it's basically the same as gmail. I no longer have to worry about a little amount of space and constantly having to delete old emails like i had to with the old system...so they actually did something right this time in setting it up through gmail and hopefully i'll be able to attach more photos and things like that. But yeah, that's the reason why i didnt write anything last week...
This week has been interesting, but good i'd say. Even last week was good. I can sorta try to fill you in on the previous week first. We had a DL training thing, and will no longer be having workshops anymore with the AP's. It's just gonna be DL training meetings instead...but it went well. We just spoke about how the DL's role and how important it is etc etc. Things are going really good right now tho in the district as well as with us personally in our area. I cant really remember too much last week...so i'll just go on to this week...
It started great...played tennis again on monday for a few hours with Coultas...it was super hot but so fun. Then we had a great FHE with the King's family. A single mother and her 5 kids. Good family in the ward tho. So that was pretty sweet. That night i went on exchanges with Elder Larson in his area. We had a blast. So i was there all of tuesday as well and got back to my area tuesday night. We walked forever i swear...about 8 kms in the morning because we had to take the car to get serviced and so we tried to see some people but things didn't exactly work out...but we still made the best of it. Then got back, had some great appointments with some people in their area that are progressing toward baptism in the coming weeks. Yeah, it just went really well and we enjoyed ourselves.
Got back in my area on Wednesday and had a good day. Once a week we get together with Ethan Flowerday, our Ward mission leaders son who just got his mission call this past week to go to the London South mission. He's pretty stoked about that. Leaves at the end of May. But we get together with him and watch the PMG dvds and talk a bit about mission and things. He likes it and the parents appreciate it. That night we were supposed to have a great lesson planned with an investigator family and they were even going to give us food but we ended up having to change that appointment because Pres. Probst came in and wanted all the EL elders to have interviews that night. Pres. and I had a good interview and things are going well. He asked a lot how the members were liking us missionaries...(they've had some jokers and the members in this area can tell a lot if missionaries are serious or not and things like that) anyway...i told him that we have a great relationship with the ward and the members. Which is very true. I'm pretty sure everybody likes us. So that basically ended our night after interviews.
Thursday we drove out to Butterworth. About a 120 km drive north of our area...dont go there too often, just once a transfer or so to see a Part member family up there. They only come to church once in a while but came a couple weeks ago and brought their 24 year old daughter and she's pretty interested and wants to learn more. So we spent a few hours out there and taught her the restoration and things like that, and it went really well. Butterworth is pretty junky tho...big township and not a white person to be found. But i guess it's nice sorta...haha. That night we just drove back, got back late, and had a good correlation meeting with Bro Flowerday. I think he's pleased with our efforts and stuff.
Friday, had the usual, District meeting and what not. A lot of our appointments didnt hold. We saw an 18 year old kid and taught him, visited a few others, but then the day kinda fell apart. That night we hadn't eaten so we needed to take our dinner hour and decided to go to Guidos, a pizzaria place. Dang good! We went there last weekend for dinner also. We decided if we dont have a dinner appointment with a member on friday that's where we'll go and eat. It's cheap too for the two of us to just share a large pizza or something.
Saturday we did some good work. We took out a Less active guy, bro Somonono to fellowship with us. We just found out as he's trying to come back to the church, and looking for employment, that he's been smoking a bit, so he's been feeling really bad. But we took him out and had a good time. Got to see a couple people, knocked on some doors and got in a taught some great lessons to some families about faith. Things went great. We dropped him back in Beacon Bay and met another fellowshipper, Leon Kaschula, (Bishops son) he's an RM and what not. We took him to that white family, shaun and karin who were referred to us and who we were supposed to see on Wednesday but had interviews instead and had to cancel. Well it was good to have Leon there because he's local and wha tnot and they were able to meet some other members. Well It had been about 10 days since we last spoke with them, and the first appointment went so good they were really happy with us. Found us really mature and liked what we had to say. But it looks like satan crept in...Karin, who does most of the talking in their relationship, and knows a bit in the Bible, apparently did a bit of research on the internet about the church and of course came across some anit-mormon stuff. Yo, it was bad! We couldnt even get through the entire Restoration because she had already read so much bad stuff about Joseph Smith. And she wouldnt have anything to do with the Book of Mormon anymore. We were there for about an hour and a half trying to explain things. But she would always jump the gun and try to say something that we were just about to answer if she'd just stay quiet. It wasn't the best lesson, and both Cooney and Leon were getting a bit anxious to say things. Luckily we didnt just bash or anything like that, but she basically expressed how they dont want to be involved with this type of church and she doesn't even want to read the BOM. She almost gave it back to us, but i told her that she should give it back to Barbara (the member that gave it to her) out of respect. So yeah it was a shame that it happened like that...there's no way she was willing to listen to us too much. I have had anti mormon stuff been brought out on us before, but not that bad. I just felt bad for the whole situation...it's stupid what some people put on the internet...
But on a better note, right after that appointment...We were invited by Bro Flowerday and his family to go out to eat at Ocean Basket for his birthday. So we were pretty stoked for that. It was a fish place, dang good, but pretty pricey...anyway. it was a nice night. Sunday was stake conference out in Mdantsane...the second largest township in SA...but they have 2 beautiful chapels out there and so that's where it was held. It was in the morning and then after we were fed by Sister Human at her place...and even some other elders came and hung out there. We then visited a Less active guy for a while. Then taught a great Part member family from Nigeria that we found. Very very powerful lesson. The home was a great place and the family was so awesome. So something could happen there. The mother is the only member and we happened to knock on her door and find her. She just had a baby about a month ago and so she cant really go anywhere. Then that night we just spent time with the landlady and the family where we stay. Had some dessert and got to visit with them for a while, so that was our night. Things are on a high. We had a bit of an increase in our stats this week which was really really great to have. So it felt pretty successful for the most part. Other than that...nothing much going on. Still healthy for the most part and enjoying it here. I'm pretty sure i'll stay here for another transfer...but we'll see. Next week is when we'll find out about transfer news...but yeah...things are good. Thanks! Elder Devenney
please forward this on to the usual people if needed...thanks
This week has been interesting, but good i'd say. Even last week was good. I can sorta try to fill you in on the previous week first. We had a DL training thing, and will no longer be having workshops anymore with the AP's. It's just gonna be DL training meetings instead...but it went well. We just spoke about how the DL's role and how important it is etc etc. Things are going really good right now tho in the district as well as with us personally in our area. I cant really remember too much last week...so i'll just go on to this week...
It started great...played tennis again on monday for a few hours with Coultas...it was super hot but so fun. Then we had a great FHE with the King's family. A single mother and her 5 kids. Good family in the ward tho. So that was pretty sweet. That night i went on exchanges with Elder Larson in his area. We had a blast. So i was there all of tuesday as well and got back to my area tuesday night. We walked forever i swear...about 8 kms in the morning because we had to take the car to get serviced and so we tried to see some people but things didn't exactly work out...but we still made the best of it. Then got back, had some great appointments with some people in their area that are progressing toward baptism in the coming weeks. Yeah, it just went really well and we enjoyed ourselves.
Got back in my area on Wednesday and had a good day. Once a week we get together with Ethan Flowerday, our Ward mission leaders son who just got his mission call this past week to go to the London South mission. He's pretty stoked about that. Leaves at the end of May. But we get together with him and watch the PMG dvds and talk a bit about mission and things. He likes it and the parents appreciate it. That night we were supposed to have a great lesson planned with an investigator family and they were even going to give us food but we ended up having to change that appointment because Pres. Probst came in and wanted all the EL elders to have interviews that night. Pres. and I had a good interview and things are going well. He asked a lot how the members were liking us missionaries...(they've had some jokers and the members in this area can tell a lot if missionaries are serious or not and things like that) anyway...i told him that we have a great relationship with the ward and the members. Which is very true. I'm pretty sure everybody likes us. So that basically ended our night after interviews.
Thursday we drove out to Butterworth. About a 120 km drive north of our area...dont go there too often, just once a transfer or so to see a Part member family up there. They only come to church once in a while but came a couple weeks ago and brought their 24 year old daughter and she's pretty interested and wants to learn more. So we spent a few hours out there and taught her the restoration and things like that, and it went really well. Butterworth is pretty junky tho...big township and not a white person to be found. But i guess it's nice sorta...haha. That night we just drove back, got back late, and had a good correlation meeting with Bro Flowerday. I think he's pleased with our efforts and stuff.
Friday, had the usual, District meeting and what not. A lot of our appointments didnt hold. We saw an 18 year old kid and taught him, visited a few others, but then the day kinda fell apart. That night we hadn't eaten so we needed to take our dinner hour and decided to go to Guidos, a pizzaria place. Dang good! We went there last weekend for dinner also. We decided if we dont have a dinner appointment with a member on friday that's where we'll go and eat. It's cheap too for the two of us to just share a large pizza or something.
Saturday we did some good work. We took out a Less active guy, bro Somonono to fellowship with us. We just found out as he's trying to come back to the church, and looking for employment, that he's been smoking a bit, so he's been feeling really bad. But we took him out and had a good time. Got to see a couple people, knocked on some doors and got in a taught some great lessons to some families about faith. Things went great. We dropped him back in Beacon Bay and met another fellowshipper, Leon Kaschula, (Bishops son) he's an RM and what not. We took him to that white family, shaun and karin who were referred to us and who we were supposed to see on Wednesday but had interviews instead and had to cancel. Well it was good to have Leon there because he's local and wha tnot and they were able to meet some other members. Well It had been about 10 days since we last spoke with them, and the first appointment went so good they were really happy with us. Found us really mature and liked what we had to say. But it looks like satan crept in...Karin, who does most of the talking in their relationship, and knows a bit in the Bible, apparently did a bit of research on the internet about the church and of course came across some anit-mormon stuff. Yo, it was bad! We couldnt even get through the entire Restoration because she had already read so much bad stuff about Joseph Smith. And she wouldnt have anything to do with the Book of Mormon anymore. We were there for about an hour and a half trying to explain things. But she would always jump the gun and try to say something that we were just about to answer if she'd just stay quiet. It wasn't the best lesson, and both Cooney and Leon were getting a bit anxious to say things. Luckily we didnt just bash or anything like that, but she basically expressed how they dont want to be involved with this type of church and she doesn't even want to read the BOM. She almost gave it back to us, but i told her that she should give it back to Barbara (the member that gave it to her) out of respect. So yeah it was a shame that it happened like that...there's no way she was willing to listen to us too much. I have had anti mormon stuff been brought out on us before, but not that bad. I just felt bad for the whole situation...it's stupid what some people put on the internet...
But on a better note, right after that appointment...We were invited by Bro Flowerday and his family to go out to eat at Ocean Basket for his birthday. So we were pretty stoked for that. It was a fish place, dang good, but pretty pricey...anyway. it was a nice night. Sunday was stake conference out in Mdantsane...the second largest township in SA...but they have 2 beautiful chapels out there and so that's where it was held. It was in the morning and then after we were fed by Sister Human at her place...and even some other elders came and hung out there. We then visited a Less active guy for a while. Then taught a great Part member family from Nigeria that we found. Very very powerful lesson. The home was a great place and the family was so awesome. So something could happen there. The mother is the only member and we happened to knock on her door and find her. She just had a baby about a month ago and so she cant really go anywhere. Then that night we just spent time with the landlady and the family where we stay. Had some dessert and got to visit with them for a while, so that was our night. Things are on a high. We had a bit of an increase in our stats this week which was really really great to have. So it felt pretty successful for the most part. Other than that...nothing much going on. Still healthy for the most part and enjoying it here. I'm pretty sure i'll stay here for another transfer...but we'll see. Next week is when we'll find out about transfer news...but yeah...things are good. Thanks! Elder Devenney
please forward this on to the usual people if needed...thanks
Monday, February 8, 2010
Feb 8, 2010
The week started out quite well...last monday after all the usual, Elder Coultas from England and I played tennis for about 3 hours. I was so stoked to play. I hadn't played all mission and i pretty much felt like i was just as good as before i left for mish. So i was pretty happy about that. No one else wanted to play so it was just the two of us. We played 4 sets. I won...(not to brag but just to tell ya...) it was 7-5 6-4 3-6 6-3. So we were pretty evenly matched for the most part...but i prevailed!
I went on exchanges monday night through tuesday with Elder Gouws. Remember my 3some in Cape Town...yeah so he's the new ZL i'm sure i told you but yeah we hung out and worked in my area on tuesday and it went really well. We had some great lessons and we able to follow up on a few referrals that were given to us. This week for some reason has been a great referral week. We've received quite a few. And they've been really good ones as well. Father leds. We got this one from a member who came up to us last sunday and told us to visit this family, she was going to give a BOM to them and we were to do the rest...haha. So we get there, i cant remember which day exactly...o it was saturday...i'm jumping ahead...but it's ok...and we got there and it's a white father led family who had been going through a lot of junk at their last church. And havent been back for about 8 months. Their names are Shaun and Karin. They also have kids...But yeah apparently there was a lot of gossip and false things being said about the family...like that they were witches and false christs and weird weird things...even as they tried to defend themselves the pastuer or whatever just made things worse..so they left. And haven't been back. But luckily as we got there...we were able to answer their questions perfectly and got to talk about a lot of different things. Ranging from Faith, to the plan of salvation...gospel of Jesus Christ, and the BOM. We were there way too long, about an hour and a half. But at the end they were very "impressed" as they said...and really gained respect for us. At first when the wife saw us come in she of course doubted cuz we're just young guys...(especially Cooney since everyone thinks he's 16) but yeah...it was a great appointment. We're going back soonish and they even offered to feed us and we could teach. On our second appointment! We were pretty stoked about that. haha. But we're excited about them.
We've also seen the Harty family and had a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation with a member...an older lady, Sister Joan came with us and bore an excellent testimony which helped a ton. I think they really liked what we have been saying and now we just gotta get them to church...still working on that one.
For District Meeting on Friday i usually like to start out with an object lesson and i usually rotate it around the district. But this week i wanted to do it. I did one using my skateboard and tied it into faith...blindfolded all the elders and did a "plan ride" trick...it's hard to explain but it's way way funny and everybody enjoyed it. My district meetings are getting better and i think everybody enjoys them...which is way appreciated because i've been in some DM's that are just terrible and boring. So i try to make them interesting.
Saturday we played soccer and then dug some gardens later for the Van Tonder family. The cute kid family. They have this little girl Shelby who's like almost 4 that i'm pretty sure i wanna take with me. Kids are awesome. haha. Church was also really good on sunday. it was a good fast and testimony sunday...sometimes they can be a bit hard to stay comfortable through...but it was really nice. Both saturday night and sunday night we ate food with our landlady and her family...the Van Tonders...(the ones we dug for was her oldest son and family) but yeah saturday we were invited for a Braai...which was great...then ate there again after lunch. That was pretty much our week i'd say.
It's starting to warm up and the weather is hard to predict...it's just really humid. We golfed today if i havent already said...we already played 9 holes with this Scottish guy who's the father of a member. He's a nonmember. But we had a blast playing, although it was way hot...Still had fun. He's a good guy. Yeah that's all i have to say for now i guess. Thanks for everything! Have a great week!
Elder Devenney
I went on exchanges monday night through tuesday with Elder Gouws. Remember my 3some in Cape Town...yeah so he's the new ZL i'm sure i told you but yeah we hung out and worked in my area on tuesday and it went really well. We had some great lessons and we able to follow up on a few referrals that were given to us. This week for some reason has been a great referral week. We've received quite a few. And they've been really good ones as well. Father leds. We got this one from a member who came up to us last sunday and told us to visit this family, she was going to give a BOM to them and we were to do the rest...haha. So we get there, i cant remember which day exactly...o it was saturday...i'm jumping ahead...but it's ok...and we got there and it's a white father led family who had been going through a lot of junk at their last church. And havent been back for about 8 months. Their names are Shaun and Karin. They also have kids...But yeah apparently there was a lot of gossip and false things being said about the family...like that they were witches and false christs and weird weird things...even as they tried to defend themselves the pastuer or whatever just made things worse..so they left. And haven't been back. But luckily as we got there...we were able to answer their questions perfectly and got to talk about a lot of different things. Ranging from Faith, to the plan of salvation...gospel of Jesus Christ, and the BOM. We were there way too long, about an hour and a half. But at the end they were very "impressed" as they said...and really gained respect for us. At first when the wife saw us come in she of course doubted cuz we're just young guys...(especially Cooney since everyone thinks he's 16) but yeah...it was a great appointment. We're going back soonish and they even offered to feed us and we could teach. On our second appointment! We were pretty stoked about that. haha. But we're excited about them.
We've also seen the Harty family and had a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation with a member...an older lady, Sister Joan came with us and bore an excellent testimony which helped a ton. I think they really liked what we have been saying and now we just gotta get them to church...still working on that one.
For District Meeting on Friday i usually like to start out with an object lesson and i usually rotate it around the district. But this week i wanted to do it. I did one using my skateboard and tied it into faith...blindfolded all the elders and did a "plan ride" trick...it's hard to explain but it's way way funny and everybody enjoyed it. My district meetings are getting better and i think everybody enjoys them...which is way appreciated because i've been in some DM's that are just terrible and boring. So i try to make them interesting.
Saturday we played soccer and then dug some gardens later for the Van Tonder family. The cute kid family. They have this little girl Shelby who's like almost 4 that i'm pretty sure i wanna take with me. Kids are awesome. haha. Church was also really good on sunday. it was a good fast and testimony sunday...sometimes they can be a bit hard to stay comfortable through...but it was really nice. Both saturday night and sunday night we ate food with our landlady and her family...the Van Tonders...(the ones we dug for was her oldest son and family) but yeah saturday we were invited for a Braai...which was great...then ate there again after lunch. That was pretty much our week i'd say.
It's starting to warm up and the weather is hard to predict...it's just really humid. We golfed today if i havent already said...we already played 9 holes with this Scottish guy who's the father of a member. He's a nonmember. But we had a blast playing, although it was way hot...Still had fun. He's a good guy. Yeah that's all i have to say for now i guess. Thanks for everything! Have a great week!
Elder Devenney
Monday, February 1, 2010
Feb 1, 2010
Hey there! Well i'll start from the beginning of this past week. We went golfing believe it or not...for last pday. It was 4 of us driving around getting lost trying to find this golf course a little ways out...well we eventually got there. It was a nice cloudy overcast day...and even started raining about half way through but we didnt mind. We only had 2 sets of clubs with us...and did all 18 holes. It was basically my first time golfing all mission. So it was pretty fun. We were the only ones on the course i'd say...and it was cheap cheap! it was 45 rand for 18 holes...so like 7 bucks. Yeah it was awesome. it took us like 4 1/2 hours to finish tho...so that was the downer...but it was way fun. The course was close to the ocean...and we could see it from some holes...and we even had families of springbok running through some of the course.
The next day we saw the Harty family. That white family that we're teaching and taught about the BOM with them...they new some...but nothing that was really correct...so we helped them get a better understanding about it as well as the bible. We invited them to come to church and the wife was way into it...at the Catholic church she's never been able to take the sacrament there because she's not a member so that's always bugged her but we told her she could at our church and she was happy about that. The wife was more excited about coming than the husband and he said that he didnt want to promise...well unfortunately they didnt come...which kinda sucks but hopefully next week we will. We're planning to take Bro Flowerday our Ward mission leader with us this coming week. So hopefully that'll be successful.
We're still teaching betty and elijah but i think they have some concerns a bit...and they flaked out of coming to church this sunday which is way stuipd...so we're kinda just thinking about what to do next with them...
We had Zone Conference on Thursday which was pretty good. I got picked for another spontaneous talk that was way gay and i'm pretty sure no one prepared for...i had written some things down but didnt really understand it nor did anybody else...so i kinda just made some stuff up and i suppose it made sense...haha. It was some scripture in D&C 29 i think...about spiritual vs temporal laws...but as for the rest of the conference it went really well. Our focus this transfer is on Health and budgeting. Keeping ourselves physically, mentally, and spiritually healthy. So we went over exercising a lot and also about how to budget our money. It's a big thing they're pushing for. So we got a chart and everything to track all our purchases and what what. Trying to make it so our money doesnt run out before the 2 weeks til we get more...but yeah that's about it. It was pretty good.
Had a nice district meeting on Friday morning...I focused on just safety when driving and as well just all the followups that we've gone over in the past. It was really good...After lunch on friday we went over to Michael and Mandy Van Nikerk's place and helped them move a bed to another room...well it sounded easy...but it wasn't. It was like this huge bunk bed log bed that needed to be taken apart and put back together and it had a huge desk thing on the bottom...Michael and Mandy are great...they always have us over for waffles and stuff and invite us for food lots...recently married couple in their 30's i'd say...mandy has been a member forever and has a boy and a girl, 16 and 11. Michael is a convert of only about 2 years...but yeah mandy is prego with another baby. They're awesome...anyway...that took about 3 hours to move that bed...it sucked. haha. Then we just had appointments after...
Saturday we played soccer in the morning...that was nice. We got a referral from a member family in the other ward of a lady that lives in our area. So we went and saw her. She's about 25 going through a divorce and we were able to meet with her and her mother and sister and some other kids...it went really well. At the end of our discussion...which was basically about faith and just kinda building the relationship and getting to know eachother and sharing thoughts what what...she expressed that she's had many people from other churches to their house in the past and we were the first ones that she's really felt good about and completely agreed with what we shared. So we felt pretty happy about that. Then after that we went to the Flowerday's again and we helped make dinner. We made Calamari and it was dang good! That took a while. Jackie...the mother...had her brother pass away just a few days ago...so it was kinda a cheer up dinner thing. But it went really well. Great family...they do too much for us...haha.
Sunday church was good...nothing too much going on...our original DA that we were supposed to have with the Faku family fell through and the Flowerday's just said come over and they'd feed us. So we did...and that was super nice. We ended up watching our SACTM end of year dvd slideshow with them which was great because Ethan is about to get his mission call in the post hopefully in the next week or two and it was kinda encouragement to get excited...It was a good ender to the night. That's about it...
Today we hope to play tennis...i've been wanting to for so long...and we organized all the equipment so it should be awesome.
Cooney and i are doing fine. We're getting along and what not...it's taken about a week and a half to get used to eachother but i thnk we're finally past the "honeymoon" part of the transfer and we feel pretty normal around eachother. haha. So yeah...doing good.
Thanks for everything! Much love,
Elder Devenney
The next day we saw the Harty family. That white family that we're teaching and taught about the BOM with them...they new some...but nothing that was really correct...so we helped them get a better understanding about it as well as the bible. We invited them to come to church and the wife was way into it...at the Catholic church she's never been able to take the sacrament there because she's not a member so that's always bugged her but we told her she could at our church and she was happy about that. The wife was more excited about coming than the husband and he said that he didnt want to promise...well unfortunately they didnt come...which kinda sucks but hopefully next week we will. We're planning to take Bro Flowerday our Ward mission leader with us this coming week. So hopefully that'll be successful.
We're still teaching betty and elijah but i think they have some concerns a bit...and they flaked out of coming to church this sunday which is way stuipd...so we're kinda just thinking about what to do next with them...
We had Zone Conference on Thursday which was pretty good. I got picked for another spontaneous talk that was way gay and i'm pretty sure no one prepared for...i had written some things down but didnt really understand it nor did anybody else...so i kinda just made some stuff up and i suppose it made sense...haha. It was some scripture in D&C 29 i think...about spiritual vs temporal laws...but as for the rest of the conference it went really well. Our focus this transfer is on Health and budgeting. Keeping ourselves physically, mentally, and spiritually healthy. So we went over exercising a lot and also about how to budget our money. It's a big thing they're pushing for. So we got a chart and everything to track all our purchases and what what. Trying to make it so our money doesnt run out before the 2 weeks til we get more...but yeah that's about it. It was pretty good.
Had a nice district meeting on Friday morning...I focused on just safety when driving and as well just all the followups that we've gone over in the past. It was really good...After lunch on friday we went over to Michael and Mandy Van Nikerk's place and helped them move a bed to another room...well it sounded easy...but it wasn't. It was like this huge bunk bed log bed that needed to be taken apart and put back together and it had a huge desk thing on the bottom...Michael and Mandy are great...they always have us over for waffles and stuff and invite us for food lots...recently married couple in their 30's i'd say...mandy has been a member forever and has a boy and a girl, 16 and 11. Michael is a convert of only about 2 years...but yeah mandy is prego with another baby. They're awesome...anyway...that took about 3 hours to move that bed...it sucked. haha. Then we just had appointments after...
Saturday we played soccer in the morning...that was nice. We got a referral from a member family in the other ward of a lady that lives in our area. So we went and saw her. She's about 25 going through a divorce and we were able to meet with her and her mother and sister and some other kids...it went really well. At the end of our discussion...which was basically about faith and just kinda building the relationship and getting to know eachother and sharing thoughts what what...she expressed that she's had many people from other churches to their house in the past and we were the first ones that she's really felt good about and completely agreed with what we shared. So we felt pretty happy about that. Then after that we went to the Flowerday's again and we helped make dinner. We made Calamari and it was dang good! That took a while. Jackie...the mother...had her brother pass away just a few days ago...so it was kinda a cheer up dinner thing. But it went really well. Great family...they do too much for us...haha.
Sunday church was good...nothing too much going on...our original DA that we were supposed to have with the Faku family fell through and the Flowerday's just said come over and they'd feed us. So we did...and that was super nice. We ended up watching our SACTM end of year dvd slideshow with them which was great because Ethan is about to get his mission call in the post hopefully in the next week or two and it was kinda encouragement to get excited...It was a good ender to the night. That's about it...
Today we hope to play tennis...i've been wanting to for so long...and we organized all the equipment so it should be awesome.
Cooney and i are doing fine. We're getting along and what not...it's taken about a week and a half to get used to eachother but i thnk we're finally past the "honeymoon" part of the transfer and we feel pretty normal around eachother. haha. So yeah...doing good.
Thanks for everything! Much love,
Elder Devenney
Monday, January 25, 2010
Jan 25, 2010
Well with transfers last week a couple of new things happened...Elder Turner and i knew that transfers were coming up this past week so we did a lot of saying goodbye to some members...had some great dinner appointments and just did all the last minute things we needed to do. Tuesday night late we got the phone call saying that Turner would be leaving and i'd get my new comp...Thursday was transfer day...we went out to meet my new comp who was driving 8 hours or so to get to East London...so I'm still in the same area, but Elder Turner left me to go to Mthatha...Elder Cooney is now my new companion. He's from Seattle, Washington. He's a ball of energy i'll tell ya what...haha. He's only been out for about 6 months and has only just left his greenie area to be with me. He has been in another place, George, for the past 6 months. It's almost like if you've seen "The Best Two Years" and if you know how excited some new missionaries can be...that's kinda what it's like. It makes for an interesting situation sometimes, but he's a good kid. We're a bit different...but i'm sure we'll get along...
So i've been just showing him around the area...showing him to the new members. That sort of stuff. I felt bad for the kid yesterday at church becuase everybody was giving him junk because he's a pretty small kid and looks like he should still be in high school...everybody was like "young mens is over there" or "Dude are you training!" thinkin he's green...a bunch of other stuff. It's just funny tho. I think he laughed it off so it's no worries. I told him not to worry about it too much...
As for things that have happened during the week...O and other good news. Elder Gouws, if you remember when i was in the 3some in Bellville in Cape Town...i was with Elder Gouws and Lotulelei...well Gouws has been in CT since that time and is now just gone ZL here in East London and is in my District so it's pretty sweet that i get to see that guy again. He's my skate bud...There were some other changes that happened through the zone but nothing too hectic...Elder Schamel was in EL last transfer and i saw him lots...but he's now gone to another place...i'm sure i'll see him again tho.
We've been teaching lots and working hard...got like 5 or 6 father led families that we're teaching...now just gotta get them to church which is always the most difficult thing to do. A new focus is going to be working in Gonubie and even with the ward...they want to do some service projects up in that area...so we've been asked to put a lot of emphasis on going up there...apparently there are some bad rumors about the church spreading through that area...idunno exactly...but yeah Bro Flowerday has told us to focus up there for the next little while.
Other than that things are going just fine...there's relaly not too much going on i'd say...we had a nice DA last night with the Van Tonder family. They gave us some good homemade mac and cheese and they have such cute kids. Four of them...all blonde haired blue eyed. Way cute. But we got talking about conspiracies and a lot of random other stuff at the dinner table...it was pretty interesting...i love converstaions like that. Gets me thinking. Well that's all i have to report...short i know but hope it's alright...
Much Love,Elder Devenney
So i've been just showing him around the area...showing him to the new members. That sort of stuff. I felt bad for the kid yesterday at church becuase everybody was giving him junk because he's a pretty small kid and looks like he should still be in high school...everybody was like "young mens is over there" or "Dude are you training!" thinkin he's green...a bunch of other stuff. It's just funny tho. I think he laughed it off so it's no worries. I told him not to worry about it too much...
As for things that have happened during the week...O and other good news. Elder Gouws, if you remember when i was in the 3some in Bellville in Cape Town...i was with Elder Gouws and Lotulelei...well Gouws has been in CT since that time and is now just gone ZL here in East London and is in my District so it's pretty sweet that i get to see that guy again. He's my skate bud...There were some other changes that happened through the zone but nothing too hectic...Elder Schamel was in EL last transfer and i saw him lots...but he's now gone to another place...i'm sure i'll see him again tho.
We've been teaching lots and working hard...got like 5 or 6 father led families that we're teaching...now just gotta get them to church which is always the most difficult thing to do. A new focus is going to be working in Gonubie and even with the ward...they want to do some service projects up in that area...so we've been asked to put a lot of emphasis on going up there...apparently there are some bad rumors about the church spreading through that area...idunno exactly...but yeah Bro Flowerday has told us to focus up there for the next little while.
Other than that things are going just fine...there's relaly not too much going on i'd say...we had a nice DA last night with the Van Tonder family. They gave us some good homemade mac and cheese and they have such cute kids. Four of them...all blonde haired blue eyed. Way cute. But we got talking about conspiracies and a lot of random other stuff at the dinner table...it was pretty interesting...i love converstaions like that. Gets me thinking. Well that's all i have to report...short i know but hope it's alright...
Much Love,Elder Devenney
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
