First week in the mission field - Kwa-Thema

Hello Everybody! hope everyone is having a great week. My first week in the field has been incredible. I am in an area named Kwa-Thema, which is about 45 minutes outside of Joburg. Last week was a very fun week leaving the MTC. there were only 6 of us missionaries left in the MTC on the last day because the others had to fly to their areas early. so the only ones left were missionaries going to Joburg, which was awesome. they could be some of my future companions! I will say that i do miss the food in the MTC very much, it was nice having 3 meals a day and never being hungry. But, I am so happy to finally be in the field!

   I will try to explain my area as best as I can, but it is hard because nothing compares to it haha. So, my area is called a township. If i were to compare it to the U.S. it would be like the hood, but huge. all of the houses are small little shacks that are not insulated. most of them have families living in them, sometimes around 7 people in one. most are about the size of a normal living room back home, pretty small. So, as anybody would be, i was pretty shocked! i didn't understand how people lived like this! but, they do not know different, and they are totally fine with it! Many of the homes after you walk in are very nice homes though. and everyone has a TV and huge speaker systems! I will say people here LOVE their music. holy, they play music so loud all day and all night. it is crazy. 

    Anyways, so that is what most of my area is like, but there are suburbs to the township called "the shacks". these are pretty sad to see biking through because they are, well, shacks. But these are where the people are most humble! people are so sweet here, its insane. 

  the people here are the kindest people i have ever met. we ride to down the street and everybody says "sawubona" which is hello in zulu. it is considered rude if you don't greet a person walking by. kinda weird because nobody greets strangers walking by in the U.S. another funny quirk here is that nobody uses their front doors! it makes no sense to me but whatever haha. probably the best thing about here is all of the children. no matter what area we are in there are always kids playing soccer in the street or just a big group together laughing, thy are so sweet. All of them think it is so funny to say "Hello" to me because i am white, they always laugh when they say hello. 

   with that said, I am the only white guy here for like 30 miles, which i don't mind! i really don't notice honestly. but the locals do. they think I am like a celebrity or something. i am always getting asked funny questions. like Do I know Beyonce, or Donald trump, or that I look like Joseph Smith. I get a laugh out of it. 

    The hardest thing right now is the language barrier. even though everybody speaks and knows English, they don't use it! everyone in this township speaks Zulu, which is like Xhosa. so we greet and try to small talk in Zulu with the new people. most of the time i have no clue what they are saying, but I will pick it up. it will be hard though, because every area speaks a different language. like I said this one is Zulu, but Kiyeso was Tswana, and others are Afrikaans, and Xhosa. It will be a challenge to understand them all, but it will be a blast.

     Spreading the gospel here is so rewarding just from this weeks efforts, we had 11 new people show up to sacrament, and have met 12 new interested people. it is amazing. I would like to share one experience I had this week. "" Me and elder Bete, My companion from fiji, were going to an appointment we had. I saw a papa fixing his car on the street. I felt like I should stop and talk to him, but i shrugged it off. When we left the appointment, He was still there. So, i stopped to see if he wanted helping fixing his car. he said he was just cleaning it so he was good. we got to know him a little bit and then he said, "I know who you guys are. you are missionaries." we explained that we are and how he has heard of us. Some of his family is members, and he has seen us riding around town. he said he wants to start going to church again, and feels strongly about this. He just hasn't had anybody talk to him about this, or invite him. I know that the lord really does prepare people to receive the gospel and this was 100% one that is ready. I know that we need to listen to our hearts, and not push these promptings to the side. If you really think deeply about it, this is one persons salvation. If we would have ridden by without talking to him, he might never get the chance to know about the gospel for himself, and never experience the happiness it brings. Kinda crazy nay. 

   I have been so blesses this week, with having a great companion to train me and a great area to learn in. I am grateful to be able to be here in Africa and spread the gospel to those willing to hear it. 

   Love you all, Elder High