Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Wish they celebrated that down here...haha. Maybe we'll try to have our own feast, or maybe just me. (Since Canada doesn't have it either...)
We found a nice family of sisters that we've seen a couple times already. There are like 4-5 sisters living in the same house/area with a few kids, (some older) and their husbands. We've just taught the sisters, them ranging all probably over 40 or so, and it's been fun. They're way nice..but who knows how well they even all understand us. Their english isn't very good. That's one thing that's difficult down here. Most people can speak a bit of english, but it's the second language next to Afrikaans. We're always bringing fellowshippers with us to better explain things to those that don't understand, which is nice. Even if they say they understand us, sometimes i doubt it.
So we're doing some finding the other day and a bunch of kids come up to us and ask us for food/money. This happens quite often. They have their whole little "act" that they do. Some will say it's their birthday, etc. They'll just follow us around even if we tell them we dont have anything for them. Sometimes i feel bad cuz i can tell they actually need stuff, and other times i just get annoyed. Sad i know...But anyway...so we end up going to the store, because we were pretty close, and we got them some bread. We gave it to them and i'm pretty sure they weren't even grateful. They said they liked their bread with meat, and didnt even say thank you. Over and over people will come up to us, assuming we have money, because we're white. I love to be charitable to everyone, but it's frustrating that they assume we have so much when in reality we can't give everything we have to every person that asks us for something. ya know? hmm...we ended up seeing those same kids later on that day at another part of town and they did the same thing...it was lame...
One night we had the President of the Branch, President Kruger, come with us. He's this way cool guy from Cape Town, well actually Belville, he's got this strong accent and it's awesome. Hopefully i'll pick one up in the next little while...haha.
We went in for Zone Workshops in Gugaletu. it went fine...not much there to say. Just focused on working with members and finding the "elect". it wasnt very long, maybe like half day. so yeah...
One of the nice things about being in Paarl is how many Dinner Appointments (DA) we have. Seriously. Compared to other places, from what i've heard, this place is the best. We were supposed to have one on thursday friday and saturday. then sunday we always get fed by someone in the branch. Unfortunately our thursday one fell through...but we still had the others. yay! mmm so good!
Saturday we had our first Sports Activity. It's something that me and Elder Holt came up with to get more of the members, less actives, and investigators involved in. Every saturday from now on from 5-7pm we're having different sports at the church, with a bit of a refreshment after. Of course since saturday was our first time...it wasn't that big of a turn out. Even tho we had told EVERYONE about it. There were just 6 of us...haha. We played some bball at the church and then some soccer inside. It was way fun. Alpha and Kenny both came out. Alpha i probably mentioned a few weeks back but he's LA and so is Kenny. We're working with Alpha's wife cuz she's not a member. Alpha served a mission like 6 years ago, he's awesome. from the congo....yeah...way funny guy. Kenny is that kid with the drug problem that we're trying to get back to church. We visit him a lot and it was way good to see him come out and play with us. He's doing a lot better tho, and we can see it in his personality and his attitude.
Sunday was an exciting day at church. It was the primary program that they've been planning for a while now. We told everyone to come out. It was funny. We had more people at church than any other week. With 7 investigators! it was awesome! transfer high! So many people tell us they'll be at church, but dont come. It's frustrating because we'll visit them so much, they'll promise to be there, then they wont come. then they'll promise again, and still they wont come...it happens so often. I wish people just wouldnt promise, then we wouldnt expect them. But anyway...after church there was a lunch. This doesn't happen very much, which is probably the real reason so many people came out. :) It was good...The rest of the day yesterday was a bit tough, all our appointments fell through, but it happens. we made good time of other stuff.
So i'm officially into my second transfer. They're starting this new thing where transfer news comes in on wednesday, and you leave thursday. But i'm pretty sure i'll still be here in Paarl. They're making it that way so missionaries dont waste so much time. It used to be you get the news on Saturday, then leave wednesday...something like that. But yeah...Hey something i'm looking forward to is driving! i can start this transfer. just gotta fill out the paper work and do a bit for like a month, then it'll be all good! i'm excited! haha.
Alright well I hope you all had a great feast! Love ya!
-Elder Devenney
Monday, November 24, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
November 3, 2008
Dear Family,
Hey another pday down and now I can send you some pictures. (which I (amber) will try and get scanned and posted asap) Hope everything is going well for you. Send that letter to dad please- I couldn’t find his address. Don’t worry you can open it if you want to it has the same pics as Im sending you now….
We went to the africaans monument today and took a bunch of pictures you will see more when I send home my SD card. Ill probably do it in a couple of weeks. Send back that other one if you get a chance- thanks!
You can still let everyone know they can send letters etc to that address…Jessican asked about it in an email I guess…so yeah just let her know.
Things are still good in Paarl. Lots going on and lots to do. All these pics make it look so beautiful which it is, but ill try to take some pics of the parts of paarl we do work in. it’s a bit different. It can be kind of scary at times. But its not too bad so no worries. Hows stuff? Hows Chalka? Family? I wanna hear from you…also send some picts or something that’s always nice you know. Apparently I do have some mail but I wont get it till Thursday when the senior couples come out. Maybe its from your or not well see I guess.
Alright well this was just for the pictures mainly- love you and miss ya!
Hey another pday down and now I can send you some pictures. (which I (amber) will try and get scanned and posted asap) Hope everything is going well for you. Send that letter to dad please- I couldn’t find his address. Don’t worry you can open it if you want to it has the same pics as Im sending you now….
We went to the africaans monument today and took a bunch of pictures you will see more when I send home my SD card. Ill probably do it in a couple of weeks. Send back that other one if you get a chance- thanks!
You can still let everyone know they can send letters etc to that address…Jessican asked about it in an email I guess…so yeah just let her know.
Things are still good in Paarl. Lots going on and lots to do. All these pics make it look so beautiful which it is, but ill try to take some pics of the parts of paarl we do work in. it’s a bit different. It can be kind of scary at times. But its not too bad so no worries. Hows stuff? Hows Chalka? Family? I wanna hear from you…also send some picts or something that’s always nice you know. Apparently I do have some mail but I wont get it till Thursday when the senior couples come out. Maybe its from your or not well see I guess.
Alright well this was just for the pictures mainly- love you and miss ya!
Oct 28, 2008
This was a letter that came...so the posts will be a bit out of order...
Oct 28, 2008
Whats up? How are things? Thought id drop a quick letter with some pics for your pleasure. As you have probably found out I bought a skateboard. Yup. I bought some awesome cheap shoes for like 2.50 us. The skate wasn’t as cheap unfortunately, but hey it makes me happy anyway.
I prob wont talk a whole lot about the work but just know its all good. Me and elder holt, are keeping quite busy down here. Teaching, tracking all that stuff. We probably only tract like an hour a day if that unless an appointment falls through, then we try to do more if we cant visit other people.
Last week we got like 12 new investigators tho, we were excited for that and tons more people have been coming to church now that weve visited them- its been good.
Oh hey sorry if you guys think that ive been somewhat racist( I swear amber does)(( I DO NOT I PROMISE CORY!!)) She emailed me and told me she hopes I don’t see people by color, yeah sorry amber the terms used are what people here use……they have difference communities, and they live separate still….so yeah, but ill just say “people” or whatever. Well see, im just trying to give you a better picture that’s all…but anyway.
I hope you been forwarding the emails and I know amber puts them on the blog, bu yeah just keep it up. I just don’t know everyones address I and I lost that paper with everything….
Ive been looking for people with chaka dogs but I cant find any…all the houses here have gates around their doors and yards and usually a small dog. Unless its in the townships where it’s the apartments or little one room houses. Its crazy, but the people seem to be happy still with whatever they have.
Most people will let us in their homes cuz in the day they just leave their doors open. That’s nice when they’ll at least hear what we have to say.
A lot of appointments and referrals not as much finding…its good tho…Like I said we stay busy.
Well if you can just write me back or something, tell me whats up…I have to pay for the internet by the hour so if you (cant tell what he wrote…) tell me something its easier to write and Ill find the time to read it and reply in the week. Hope you’ve enjoyed the emails so far. Miss you guys and send some music ok, or something….xmas is coming…tell me what you want….the us dollar is 10-1 here and in SA so wire (again cant tell what he wrote) if you want something! Haha.
But yeah x mas music or something or anything…whatever you want. Some stuff is cheaper while other stuff is basically the same.
Ps- its already crazy hot here….in the 90’s. but apparently this isn’t anything yet….January is supposed to be the worst!
Oct 28, 2008
Whats up? How are things? Thought id drop a quick letter with some pics for your pleasure. As you have probably found out I bought a skateboard. Yup. I bought some awesome cheap shoes for like 2.50 us. The skate wasn’t as cheap unfortunately, but hey it makes me happy anyway.
I prob wont talk a whole lot about the work but just know its all good. Me and elder holt, are keeping quite busy down here. Teaching, tracking all that stuff. We probably only tract like an hour a day if that unless an appointment falls through, then we try to do more if we cant visit other people.
Last week we got like 12 new investigators tho, we were excited for that and tons more people have been coming to church now that weve visited them- its been good.
Oh hey sorry if you guys think that ive been somewhat racist( I swear amber does)(( I DO NOT I PROMISE CORY!!)) She emailed me and told me she hopes I don’t see people by color, yeah sorry amber the terms used are what people here use……they have difference communities, and they live separate still….so yeah, but ill just say “people” or whatever. Well see, im just trying to give you a better picture that’s all…but anyway.
I hope you been forwarding the emails and I know amber puts them on the blog, bu yeah just keep it up. I just don’t know everyones address I and I lost that paper with everything….
Ive been looking for people with chaka dogs but I cant find any…all the houses here have gates around their doors and yards and usually a small dog. Unless its in the townships where it’s the apartments or little one room houses. Its crazy, but the people seem to be happy still with whatever they have.
Most people will let us in their homes cuz in the day they just leave their doors open. That’s nice when they’ll at least hear what we have to say.
A lot of appointments and referrals not as much finding…its good tho…Like I said we stay busy.
Well if you can just write me back or something, tell me whats up…I have to pay for the internet by the hour so if you (cant tell what he wrote…) tell me something its easier to write and Ill find the time to read it and reply in the week. Hope you’ve enjoyed the emails so far. Miss you guys and send some music ok, or something….xmas is coming…tell me what you want….the us dollar is 10-1 here and in SA so wire (again cant tell what he wrote) if you want something! Haha.
But yeah x mas music or something or anything…whatever you want. Some stuff is cheaper while other stuff is basically the same.
Ps- its already crazy hot here….in the 90’s. but apparently this isn’t anything yet….January is supposed to be the worst!
Monday, November 17, 2008
November 17, 2008
Hello Everyone!
Paarl has been good this past week. Actually, it isn't only Paarl that we work. Our area is actually Paarl, and up into Wellington. Wellington is a beautiful city full of old buildings and famous for it's wine vinyards. Everything is getting so green now and it'll be beautiful once all the grapes get on the vines. There are different sections of the city that we work also, some inbetween here and wellington. Different parts of the city are named different and it's quite funny. Some names are Chicago, New York, New Orleans, etc. So yeah i've been to places in the states quite a bit. Haha. Our complete area is quite large. I couldnt remember if i told you that but now you know...and have a little better idea of how big our area out here is. Plus it's just the 2 of us when it used to be a small zone back in the day...
This week was good. We had a bunch of DA's, which is always nice. ;) We've started seeing this really old lik 86 year old woman that one of our members took us to. She's in an old rest home and i'm pretty sure she cant even get out of bed. but she realizes she needs to get baptized...or soemthing like that. We've been teaching her but it's just hard cuz we know she wont ever be able to come to church. And how are we expecting her to progress without coming? It's just a weird situation.
This past week we had a couple good days of rain and lightning. It was nice to see. We'd had a few night rains before, but nothing that stayed for a couple days at a time. I got to bust out my sweet rain jacket, and it worked quite well. So thanks! I tried taking some lightning pics one night...it was a little difficult, but i managed to get a couple good shots.
When we were walking around we saw a house with a couple of Huskies. Man those dogs are so pretty. they have white eyes and one of them is going to have puppies in about a month. So we hope to go back and check them out. But the lady we talked to loved her dogs and told us a bunch about them. They're pretty rare down here ya know...everyone has Pit Bulls, or little crazy dogs. Unfortunately whenever i ask if they've heard of a dog like ours, (Chaka), they havent. Some have, but i'm yet to see one. Man i miss that guy...hope he's doing good.
We had a sweet object lesson with this one family that we're again going to see tonight. They're a part memeber family and we did the lesson on faith. We used my skateboard and blindfolded them and built a half pipe and made them drop into it. K not really, but we did blind fold them and we did use my skateboard. It was just a fun activity with them standing on my skateboard and while it gets lifted off the ground, with their hands on my shoulders, i start going to the ground. It's supposed to feel like they're getting really high off the ground when in reality they're only like 6in up. Then eventually they fall and realize it wasn't that bad, it's just funny. We even had our Elders Quor Pres there with us. Good times! I think we did that type of game at some party many years ago...so i suggested it and we tied it into faith...something like that. it was good.
Friday we had a Lekker Braai! We had been planning this for a couple a weeks now at Bro Chris Davids house. That is the guy that ran at Weber State. We got there and ate and everything, it took a while cuz you cook everything over coals. Mainly all the meat and stuff. Braai's are really big down here, every weekend there's a party at our flat. And even saturday night we had another Braai ourselves at our flat. mmm so good!
We've been teaching those two guys from Zimbabwae. Raymond, Teacha, and they had another guy this time, Chris. They're awesome guys. Raymond knows his Bible, but is so stoked for the Book of Mormon. All three of them are wanting to read and have that desire. It's awesome. They just love church, God, the scriptures, everything. Plus they're way cool with us and want us to come all the time if it were possible. Hopefully they'll be coming out to church next week cuz it's the Primary Program and we're going to have a Lunch after. That is very rare and we've been telling everybody about it so they can come. Elder Holt and I also just started this new thing that'll happen on Saturday Evenings. Every Saturday we're going to have a sports night where we can have our investigators, YM, Priesthood, just anyone that wants to come can. it should be a good time. It was announced yesterday and this saturday will be our first time trying it. There are just so many people here that dont come to church, so we're just trying to involve them more and get them to come to these activities. We dont expect it to be big at first, but hopefully it'll get people coming out to have some fun. Plus there will be a snack after, and people only come for the food it seems like. Basketball this week, we'll see how it goes...but i'm excited.
We got told saturday night that we'd be filling in at church again. We both gave talks in sacrament meeting. mmmm it went alright i guess. haha. Since i've been here i've had to give talks at 50% of the sacrament meetings, lets hope that percentage goes down a little...haha. Nah it went fine. i talked on missionary work cuz we're really trying to get the branch and people involved in the work.
Everything else is going pretty good, hope that gives you a glimpse of my week!
-Elder Devenney
Paarl has been good this past week. Actually, it isn't only Paarl that we work. Our area is actually Paarl, and up into Wellington. Wellington is a beautiful city full of old buildings and famous for it's wine vinyards. Everything is getting so green now and it'll be beautiful once all the grapes get on the vines. There are different sections of the city that we work also, some inbetween here and wellington. Different parts of the city are named different and it's quite funny. Some names are Chicago, New York, New Orleans, etc. So yeah i've been to places in the states quite a bit. Haha. Our complete area is quite large. I couldnt remember if i told you that but now you know...and have a little better idea of how big our area out here is. Plus it's just the 2 of us when it used to be a small zone back in the day...
This week was good. We had a bunch of DA's, which is always nice. ;) We've started seeing this really old lik 86 year old woman that one of our members took us to. She's in an old rest home and i'm pretty sure she cant even get out of bed. but she realizes she needs to get baptized...or soemthing like that. We've been teaching her but it's just hard cuz we know she wont ever be able to come to church. And how are we expecting her to progress without coming? It's just a weird situation.
This past week we had a couple good days of rain and lightning. It was nice to see. We'd had a few night rains before, but nothing that stayed for a couple days at a time. I got to bust out my sweet rain jacket, and it worked quite well. So thanks! I tried taking some lightning pics one night...it was a little difficult, but i managed to get a couple good shots.
When we were walking around we saw a house with a couple of Huskies. Man those dogs are so pretty. they have white eyes and one of them is going to have puppies in about a month. So we hope to go back and check them out. But the lady we talked to loved her dogs and told us a bunch about them. They're pretty rare down here ya know...everyone has Pit Bulls, or little crazy dogs. Unfortunately whenever i ask if they've heard of a dog like ours, (Chaka), they havent. Some have, but i'm yet to see one. Man i miss that guy...hope he's doing good.
We had a sweet object lesson with this one family that we're again going to see tonight. They're a part memeber family and we did the lesson on faith. We used my skateboard and blindfolded them and built a half pipe and made them drop into it. K not really, but we did blind fold them and we did use my skateboard. It was just a fun activity with them standing on my skateboard and while it gets lifted off the ground, with their hands on my shoulders, i start going to the ground. It's supposed to feel like they're getting really high off the ground when in reality they're only like 6in up. Then eventually they fall and realize it wasn't that bad, it's just funny. We even had our Elders Quor Pres there with us. Good times! I think we did that type of game at some party many years ago...so i suggested it and we tied it into faith...something like that. it was good.
Friday we had a Lekker Braai! We had been planning this for a couple a weeks now at Bro Chris Davids house. That is the guy that ran at Weber State. We got there and ate and everything, it took a while cuz you cook everything over coals. Mainly all the meat and stuff. Braai's are really big down here, every weekend there's a party at our flat. And even saturday night we had another Braai ourselves at our flat. mmm so good!
We've been teaching those two guys from Zimbabwae. Raymond, Teacha, and they had another guy this time, Chris. They're awesome guys. Raymond knows his Bible, but is so stoked for the Book of Mormon. All three of them are wanting to read and have that desire. It's awesome. They just love church, God, the scriptures, everything. Plus they're way cool with us and want us to come all the time if it were possible. Hopefully they'll be coming out to church next week cuz it's the Primary Program and we're going to have a Lunch after. That is very rare and we've been telling everybody about it so they can come. Elder Holt and I also just started this new thing that'll happen on Saturday Evenings. Every Saturday we're going to have a sports night where we can have our investigators, YM, Priesthood, just anyone that wants to come can. it should be a good time. It was announced yesterday and this saturday will be our first time trying it. There are just so many people here that dont come to church, so we're just trying to involve them more and get them to come to these activities. We dont expect it to be big at first, but hopefully it'll get people coming out to have some fun. Plus there will be a snack after, and people only come for the food it seems like. Basketball this week, we'll see how it goes...but i'm excited.
We got told saturday night that we'd be filling in at church again. We both gave talks in sacrament meeting. mmmm it went alright i guess. haha. Since i've been here i've had to give talks at 50% of the sacrament meetings, lets hope that percentage goes down a little...haha. Nah it went fine. i talked on missionary work cuz we're really trying to get the branch and people involved in the work.
Everything else is going pretty good, hope that gives you a glimpse of my week!
-Elder Devenney
Monday, November 10, 2008
November 1, 2008
Hey Everybody!
So bad news i had this whole thing written out and then i did something and it deleted or just disappeared. yeah...i'll try to make it ok tho.
So Obama eh? i've heard lots this week about him but being missionaries we dont get to see the news or the newspaper so it's just been what people have told me. I hope everyone is happpy with that...i'm sure it'll be alright.
So as for this week...We met this lady named Pauleen Davids from a referral from someone in the branch. She is a former Jehovah Witness and had a lot of questions about what church is the right one. When she was in the Jehovah Witness church, she did Bible study and all that, but didnt feel it was right for her. She just didnt agree with a lot of the stuff that was going on. We had a chance to meet with her a couple times this week and come to find out she's gone through a lot in her life. She likes to talk, and doesnt leave much time for us to say anything, haha. She was given a BOM and has been reading from it. She just finished where Lehi has his dream about the Tree of Life. It was good becuase she told us about herself and some of the things going on in her life and how she's had these dreams and doesnt know if she should take them seriously or not. As a Jehovah Witness they said that dreams are just dreams, and that they shouldnt be taken literally. But as for her, she didnt know what to think. We told her a bit more about the BOM and were able to talk a little bit about how to find her answers. She's been coming to church these past couple of weeks so it's been good to see her. She's way nice.
Saturday we had a Braai (BBQ) and we got some chicken and meat and made a nice fire and cooked up some stuff. it was way good. Even though we didnt get to bed til about 11:30, it was way worth it. We might make it a tradition from now on.
Yesterday was Stake Conference for the South Africa or maybe even all of Africa stakes. It was a broadcast from church headquarters and we had Elder Holland and Pres Uchtdorf talk, along with a few others, it was good. Then we had a nice dinner appointment and had some other people to see. We were trying to find a referral and ended up running into two guys from Zimbabwae instead. These two guys are pretty young, and they're cousins. Their names are Raymond and Teacha and they were very happy to have us there and talk to them. Even tho they didnt have much, just a little room to stay in, they were so willing to buy us a cool drink with the little money they had. They're way awesome and were willing to hear what we had to say. Even though we weren't really there to talk to them. We stayed with them for a while and introduced the BOM. They were way interested in it. They read from the Bible a lot and had some questions to ask us. Raymond was reading and he read about the gift of tongues and wondered why he didnt have that. How can he get this. So he asked us that. We explained to him a bit about what it meant and then i asked him how many languages he could speak. He said 8. 8! that's insane. I basically explained to him that without even knowing it he was blessed in that way and with that talent, and that he should be thankful for it. He understood it better and hadn't even thought about it like that before. They were so interested in what we had to say, which was great, because i'm excited to teach them more. Just awesome guys.
O yeah yesterday at church we had the grandson of the Marriot Hotel Chain there. He's this 27 year old guy who's living in Stellenbosh. His name is Mark Harrison. Way chill guy. Kinda crazy. but yeah it was just pretty random to have him there. we might try to play some golf or bball with him one of these pdays. just thought i'd let you know that.
Everything else is good. Went to the Afrikaans Monument this past week so you'll be getting some pics soon. If you havent already. Love ya and miss ya!
-Elder Devenney
So bad news i had this whole thing written out and then i did something and it deleted or just disappeared. yeah...i'll try to make it ok tho.
So Obama eh? i've heard lots this week about him but being missionaries we dont get to see the news or the newspaper so it's just been what people have told me. I hope everyone is happpy with that...i'm sure it'll be alright.
So as for this week...We met this lady named Pauleen Davids from a referral from someone in the branch. She is a former Jehovah Witness and had a lot of questions about what church is the right one. When she was in the Jehovah Witness church, she did Bible study and all that, but didnt feel it was right for her. She just didnt agree with a lot of the stuff that was going on. We had a chance to meet with her a couple times this week and come to find out she's gone through a lot in her life. She likes to talk, and doesnt leave much time for us to say anything, haha. She was given a BOM and has been reading from it. She just finished where Lehi has his dream about the Tree of Life. It was good becuase she told us about herself and some of the things going on in her life and how she's had these dreams and doesnt know if she should take them seriously or not. As a Jehovah Witness they said that dreams are just dreams, and that they shouldnt be taken literally. But as for her, she didnt know what to think. We told her a bit more about the BOM and were able to talk a little bit about how to find her answers. She's been coming to church these past couple of weeks so it's been good to see her. She's way nice.
Saturday we had a Braai (BBQ) and we got some chicken and meat and made a nice fire and cooked up some stuff. it was way good. Even though we didnt get to bed til about 11:30, it was way worth it. We might make it a tradition from now on.
Yesterday was Stake Conference for the South Africa or maybe even all of Africa stakes. It was a broadcast from church headquarters and we had Elder Holland and Pres Uchtdorf talk, along with a few others, it was good. Then we had a nice dinner appointment and had some other people to see. We were trying to find a referral and ended up running into two guys from Zimbabwae instead. These two guys are pretty young, and they're cousins. Their names are Raymond and Teacha and they were very happy to have us there and talk to them. Even tho they didnt have much, just a little room to stay in, they were so willing to buy us a cool drink with the little money they had. They're way awesome and were willing to hear what we had to say. Even though we weren't really there to talk to them. We stayed with them for a while and introduced the BOM. They were way interested in it. They read from the Bible a lot and had some questions to ask us. Raymond was reading and he read about the gift of tongues and wondered why he didnt have that. How can he get this. So he asked us that. We explained to him a bit about what it meant and then i asked him how many languages he could speak. He said 8. 8! that's insane. I basically explained to him that without even knowing it he was blessed in that way and with that talent, and that he should be thankful for it. He understood it better and hadn't even thought about it like that before. They were so interested in what we had to say, which was great, because i'm excited to teach them more. Just awesome guys.
O yeah yesterday at church we had the grandson of the Marriot Hotel Chain there. He's this 27 year old guy who's living in Stellenbosh. His name is Mark Harrison. Way chill guy. Kinda crazy. but yeah it was just pretty random to have him there. we might try to play some golf or bball with him one of these pdays. just thought i'd let you know that.
Everything else is good. Went to the Afrikaans Monument this past week so you'll be getting some pics soon. If you havent already. Love ya and miss ya!
-Elder Devenney
Monday, November 3, 2008
Nov 2, 2008
(Means white person) little kids like to say it.
Just figured i'd throw something like that in...
So it's been another week here in Paarl...still good. I really like it. I'll send you home some sweet stuff pretty soon...maybe. haha. Xmas is comin up so tell me what you want...it'll be small. i'll do some shopping. O yeah...Christmas came early this year in Paarl...for me that is. Yup yup i bought a skateboard. haha! Dont worry i wont get hurt. I do some exercise in the mornings occasionally...and i'll be skating a bit today for the pday. yay! i'm excited. you'll see pics soon.
As for other stuff...we're working hard. We had Zone Conference this week, it was good. President Probst and his wife spoke to us. it was a all day thing out in Malbury. (Cape Town basically) But yeah. The thing that sucks about being in Paarl is that we're out of Cape Town and being part of the Cape North Zone we dont go there too often. It's just me and Elder Holt up here so we're basically left on our own. but i lke it that way. But yeah the real bad thing is that we dont get Post as often unless for some reason we're down there or the Couple Missionaries bring it up to us. but please send letters too if you all want. thanks!
We saw a huge fire this week. A bunch of shacks burning up! it was intense. Then we witnessed a car robbery...I cant remember if i told you last week but yeah...some dude was getting dragged by hanging on the window trying to stop the thieves...it was intense! but hey it's south africa! #1 in Crime!
On friday i went on Exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I went to Cape Town for a night and into saturday with Elder Fife. (Zone Leader) while the other zone leader came out here and worked with my companion. It was good. We worked in Langa, a township down there. It went pretty well. At the end he had a lot of positive things to say about me and the way i worked so it was good to get that experience. But yeah...
Just teaching lots of lessons and trying to find some new families that wanna hear the message. There are so many churches out here and so many people that dont understand what's really going on and the truth. A lot of the times we'll finish with a lesson and introduce the BOM to them and then they'll just not wanna hear it anymore. Some have even thought that what we're doing is like the JHo Witnesses. It's just crazy! They often say that a church doesnt really matter, and that the church is in "them" "they are the church" it's just kinda funny. We can only tell them so much and then we're just like whatever...
WE have a couple really good progressing investigators. Sydney from the congo. hopefully we'll ask him to get baptized soon. He's just waiting for the answer to his prayers. Uh...idunno what else. haha. We have lots planned for this coming week. should be interesting...we have a good FHE thing going on tonight with the Adense Family. Their kids are crazy. They jump around us all the time. but i love kids. We always go to the little townships and kids will just start following us and grabbing our legs and holding on to us with all their might. it's just funny. i love it. I'm sur they haven't seen too many guys like me before...haha. Still visiting lots of Less active families and trying to get them to come to church. we do that a lot. Everything else is good.
Hope everyone is doing well! Love ya!
-Elder Devenney
Just figured i'd throw something like that in...
So it's been another week here in Paarl...still good. I really like it. I'll send you home some sweet stuff pretty soon...maybe. haha. Xmas is comin up so tell me what you want...it'll be small. i'll do some shopping. O yeah...Christmas came early this year in Paarl...for me that is. Yup yup i bought a skateboard. haha! Dont worry i wont get hurt. I do some exercise in the mornings occasionally...and i'll be skating a bit today for the pday. yay! i'm excited. you'll see pics soon.
As for other stuff...we're working hard. We had Zone Conference this week, it was good. President Probst and his wife spoke to us. it was a all day thing out in Malbury. (Cape Town basically) But yeah. The thing that sucks about being in Paarl is that we're out of Cape Town and being part of the Cape North Zone we dont go there too often. It's just me and Elder Holt up here so we're basically left on our own. but i lke it that way. But yeah the real bad thing is that we dont get Post as often unless for some reason we're down there or the Couple Missionaries bring it up to us. but please send letters too if you all want. thanks!
We saw a huge fire this week. A bunch of shacks burning up! it was intense. Then we witnessed a car robbery...I cant remember if i told you last week but yeah...some dude was getting dragged by hanging on the window trying to stop the thieves...it was intense! but hey it's south africa! #1 in Crime!
On friday i went on Exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I went to Cape Town for a night and into saturday with Elder Fife. (Zone Leader) while the other zone leader came out here and worked with my companion. It was good. We worked in Langa, a township down there. It went pretty well. At the end he had a lot of positive things to say about me and the way i worked so it was good to get that experience. But yeah...
Just teaching lots of lessons and trying to find some new families that wanna hear the message. There are so many churches out here and so many people that dont understand what's really going on and the truth. A lot of the times we'll finish with a lesson and introduce the BOM to them and then they'll just not wanna hear it anymore. Some have even thought that what we're doing is like the JHo Witnesses. It's just crazy! They often say that a church doesnt really matter, and that the church is in "them" "they are the church" it's just kinda funny. We can only tell them so much and then we're just like whatever...
WE have a couple really good progressing investigators. Sydney from the congo. hopefully we'll ask him to get baptized soon. He's just waiting for the answer to his prayers. Uh...idunno what else. haha. We have lots planned for this coming week. should be interesting...we have a good FHE thing going on tonight with the Adense Family. Their kids are crazy. They jump around us all the time. but i love kids. We always go to the little townships and kids will just start following us and grabbing our legs and holding on to us with all their might. it's just funny. i love it. I'm sur they haven't seen too many guys like me before...haha. Still visiting lots of Less active families and trying to get them to come to church. we do that a lot. Everything else is good.
Hope everyone is doing well! Love ya!
-Elder Devenney
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