South Africa Saints

Hello everyone, its been a minute since I whipped out the keyboard and wrote an email. Seeing how my last email will be sent out next week 😭 I should probably give an update on life. Then . . . Now Area:  Still Esikhawini  Companion: Still Elder Ballard  The Baptisms in our area didn't go through today, but I got to see a baptism picture of 2 other friends I found in my last area! Yayy! Today was also my last Sunday in my area as I will be traveling down to Durban for all the "fun" departing stuff on Friday... I don't even have a full work week left. Idk how we got to this situation. Since I was leaving, I was asked to share my departing testimony at the branch conference.  I'm not sure how many more times I'll be giving a departing testimony, but it feels like I've done it a thousand times now haha. Looking out at the congregation really made me think about how much these people rely on the missionaries. Our calling is so special and often times the sacr...

Hey sorry for not emailing you. I would say I was too busy to write one, but I wasn't so ... yeah, my bad. So much has happened these past few weeks for me and I'll even do you the pleasure of writing it down in chronological order ☝️🤓 - hit the 2 months LEFT ON MISSION mark😭 - got a text 3 weeks into the transfer saying I was leaving and going to a new area the next day - made it to my new area called Esikhawini!  - had the biggest testimony building experience of my life - met a ton of cool new people and members Ok, so I've been in my new area for a week now and it's actually been super fun! I'm with Elder Ballard (shoutout Bishop). He comes from the ranches of southern Utah and has 10 siblings ... multiply and replenish I guess 🤷‍♂️? He's been out about 9 months now, so its fun to be able to still teach him a thing or three. I'm finally working in a township, a place where people see a white person and are actually surprised haha. Not to mention it is...

Welcome everyone to my not so weekly email where I share some experiences and things I've learned while being here in the wonderful and crazy country of South Africa!  So, this past week we had transfers and both of my old comps were booted out to some other areas and i got two new ones to come and help me in the office... I've only been here for about a month and with some interesting situations that pulled me away from being at the office it was pretty hard to learn all of the new stuff that i needed to then pass on to my two new companions... prayers up! In all honesty though things have been going really well, we had some super cool friends come to church and I think they will be baptized within the next three weeks!  pray for: -Snehlanhla & her sister - The Solomons A super special thing about the area that I currently serve in is that we have the Durban South Africa temple right here in our area and so each week we have the chance to hold our district counsel (small ...

Hi everyone, I hope you're doing just absolutely swell this fine day, the pday kind of flew by so I don't have a whole lot of time to write.  So, I thought I would just kind of brain dump on what's been happening and some stuff that's been going through my mind as the days keep flying.                     \/ This week highlight \/ -The Kasela family got baptized!  Let me tell you why I think this is so cool for me. When I first served in this area 1 year ago, we were teaching a member named Moses and his wife, Sakina. They both speak Swahili and French... safe to say it was not the easiest task to teach them. But through a lot of visits and slow lessons we were able to baptize the mom! Did she show up to her baptism in a speedo branded swim cap ... (yes but that doesn't matter) Now fast forward a whole YEAR, and we are teaching their 3 children, Amina, Jen and Colin!  It was such a blessing to be able to see each member of...

Ok the subject line plus the first three lines of this email I found in a random draft from a whole month ago... and I guess it's been that long since I've sent out a real email so ig lets see what's good? (beginning of Feb) Alright so we got transfer news and... I'm going back to Berea!  Those of you who are new here or just now decided to pay attention to my emails, I have indeed served in this ward before and I'm pretty excited to be going back! (fast forward a whole month lol) Alrighty we are so back! God's been pulling some funny tricks and put my mission in reverse, hit rewind and then pressed start. Last transfer I served in a place called uMnambithi and then was transferred to a place called Berea... if we rewind to last year at this same exact time, I was serving in a place called uMnambithi... and then got transferred to Berea. Now there is a little change though, since being called back to Berea, I'm in a trio and we are in charge of a few differe...

Hey, guys, I'm still alive! Sorry for the lack of email writing it has been a crazy few weeks... or months idk when the last time I wrote was. I'll have to keep it short this week but next week yall batter be watching your inbox like a fat kid watches the last doughnut... First off, 2026?  That's kind of a weird one for me, because it means that at some point this year I won't be wearing the tag anymore, and I'll have to figure out how to navigate that change of lifestyle. I'm beyond grateful for my mission and those who I've been able to teach, but I'm most grateful for my personal learning and growth in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not only the written principles of faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end. But it is how we can apply these things and live them in a way that shows others how good the gospel can be. There is a quote from President Holland that I'll paraphrase. " Teach people t...