April 26, 2009

Well in the past week so much has happened...it was amazing to see all the new and changing things going on here. O and what was nice about this morning is we got out and played some soccer as a Zone this morning...then had a nice braai...so we're emailing a bit later than usual. It was so nice to get up and do something in the morning, i hope we do it more often this way.
Well the week started out really good. All throughout the week we've been going on splits. I believe we tried for 3 times this week, but it only happened twice. On these nights i go with one Priesthood holder, while my comp goes with another. How it's been going is we'll drop those two off in an area..and we'll coordinate it so our appointments are all pretty close. Those two will walk the area for the evening while me and my fellowshipper go and drive to our appointments. We get twice as much man hours in during the day and we're able to see twice as many people. Overall in the week we made around 10-15 extra hours of missionary work just thanks to the splits.
This week was busy for me...Wednesday i went on exchanges with Elder Mutiyetsi (from Kenya) in his area. They're in a walking area. So after 7 months i had my first experience walking on mission! Can you believe it! No wonder i'm so out of shape...all the riding around in the car. But it was so funny cuz my first day walking...it just so happened to rain. This week we were blessed with off and on rain for 2 days. Which is quite rare cuz the rainy season was already over...and the winter here is just cooler...and cold at night...but no rain. So yeah we walked around and rain while the lightning was going and we were getting soaked...it was fun. Elder Mutiyetsi wasn't enjoying it tho..but i was! haha. So we had a good exchange...nothing too great happened...then on thursday we had a normal day. Saw lots of people...including Rovy that one "cool guy" i was talking about earlier. Plays in a band...yeah. He asks so many good questions it's hard to even prepare for that guy. But he's way chill. From Angola. But anyway...then we typed up the newsletter...you'll see it soon...then went on a split and found a great family. Two of the girls we found at this family came to church too...so it was great. Then I went on another exchange that night and all of Friday with Elder Christensen to their area...Worked a long day...pretty busy. So basically i was just moving around a lot this week. But it was good to go to some different areas and meet some new people...even if it was just for a day.
The classes we're starting...and have been starting are the one on Fridays where we teach it and it's on Christlike Attributes..i'm sure i told you. Our first week it was just 4 people there. This last week we had 18. We only expect it to continue to grow. We had lots of members and investigators. Everyone's job is to bring a friend...we see good things coming from the class. Saturdays we have institute..that we attend sometimes. We had Bro. Duncan Mcmillan from Cape Town up with us this weekend. He's in charge of all the CES stuff for Institute and Sem and stuff. So he taught an amazing lesson so we HAD to go visit. Then we took his son Joseph on a split with us that night...it turned out to be a terrible night cuz all 3 of our appointments dropped and we couldnt find a place to go all night...but it was still fun. We just followed up on some people. Joseph is just about to turn 19 and working on his papers. He's excited. So yeah after that we just dropped him off back at some hotel place...talked to Duncan about our ideas...and headed back. This week has been so crazy...we've hardly taken full lunch breaks and have never gotten home on time cuz we're running around all the time...droppin people off or appointments..something always happens. But good things are coming from it. Then Sunday was church and i swear it was Missionary day at church...Elder Fragar was asked to give a talk right before Sacrament...Then Gospel Principles we taught...but that's usual...every sunday we teach that...then it just so happened that they decided to combine Priesthood and RS at the end and asked the missionaries to talk about member missionary work. So basically we were busy at church to say the least. It was good tho. O yes another class we're about to start is a mission training class on Sundays. So we'll have classes fri, sat, and sun, all in attempts for people to get more excited and get investigators out. That one will start next sunday.
We go visit Bro Pavano, the Pavano family is solid members. They have 5 daughters i think...just a great family. Anyway, Bro Pavano is like 69 and doesn't come to church. But every sunday we go to his house to give him the Sacrament...it's been a blessing for us to do it too. It's really helped me realize the importance of it and what a blessing it is to give it to someone who has such a strong desire to have it. Then it's always nice to go to that home cuz every time we're there they feed us...yup it's nice:) Alright well things are good...nothing else to say. Hope you all are great! Talk to ya soon!
Elder Devenney