Week 19 - 1st transfer

Hello everybody! hope everything is going well. Let me tell you, this has been a crazy week. It has been my last week here in Kwa-Thema :( I kind of expected it but wasn't 100% sure. Anyhow, we found 11 new people this week. We also had an end of year party for institute. We had cold drink and kotas! it is truly amazing how institute has changed recently. a couple months ago there would only be 3-5 people that would attend. this wednesday we had 22 people who came! it was great. We had fun, and a spiritual time.

Now, the crazy part of the week. So, I was expecting transfer calls this saturday! Usually our Mission President calls us on Saturday night and lets us know if we are leaving, where to, and who our new companion is. well, This was a huge transfer, and the President had to think really hard where to put me ;). So he said the transfer news would be sunday morning. To me it didn't matter when i knew, as long as it was before church on Sunday. I knew this would be the last time I would see the people here in Kwa-Thema. And wow. After being around these people for almost 6 months, this is my family. I genuinely love these people. Well, we got another message saying transfer news will be postponed to Sunday night! at this point I'm freaking out haha. I don't know if I am staying or leaving! I didn't know if i should say goodbyes or not! well, I decided to say goodbye, I bore my testimony, and took pictures with everyone. It was very sad, but I was pretty sure I was leaving. 

Well, come Sunday night: We are just playing some board games with Kwa-Thema 2, and they get a call from President, Elder Mathenjwa is getting transferred! Well, I wait..and I wait... and WAIT MORE. Nothing. I got no call. Ohhh no. I said goodbye, got mentally prepared to leave and I stay!! happy and sad at the same time lolol. well, Late that night the Assistants to President send pictures of the transfer news. I check Kwa-Thema, and my name is not there!!!! what?? I was so confused. I look for my name and.....it is under Midrand!! the emotions for that 4 hours were all over the place, let me tell you. 

I am happy to know where I am going, Midrand is a super rich town. But, We have three wards in our area!! which is crazy. I'm super excited to be serving in a new area and to experience new things. I love you all and the support that you have shown me. Happy holidays!!

With love, Elder High

Week 18

This whole keeping up with writing emails is more difficult than you may think! I am so sorry that I haven't written one in a couple weeks or so. I wrote one out for last week and forgot to send it...:) so here is two letters in one. Hope you enjoy!

Hello everybody, and happy late Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a great time and are lots of food :) Here in South Africa we don't celebrate Thanksgiving (which makes sense) and we don't have anything quite like it. But it's all good! I'm so glad that we are able to facetime our families on holidays. It was great to see everyone. I miss you all but eish I'm glad I'm here where it is warm! 

    My Thanksgiving was really great. I ate some food and played some games with the other elders, which is always a great time. Right now we have a super close district which makes everything better. The work is great, and they are like best friends to me. But yeah that was thanksgiving! 

    This has been a really, really great week. We have been so busy with appointments that we didn't have time set apart for finding, which truly is a blessing. With the weather right now it is super exhausting to be finding in mid day. This week we also planned an activity for the ysa on Saturday which was super fun! we put it together to do something fun for the YSA, and to help the less-actives to return back to church! I would call it a success. the YSA said they had a ton of fun, and we had a few less-actives come to church!! I'll try to find some pictures of the activity to send.  

Well, here's the next letter about this last week, which was super great. This week we had a lot of ups, and a lot of downs. a lot. Tuesday started super strong. we had a super packed day of appointments that all went through! Wednesday rolled around and we had another packed day. We were leaving at 9am to get to an early appt. and got to the car, tried to start it and it wouldn't! not a surprise (it's a chevy, american car in SA) We jumped it 4 other times last week, so we tried to jump it. It wouldn't. so we called a tow truck, which was great. We got towed to a battery centre and they said its a starter. long story short, we were stranded in the wrong locations for hours, couldn't reach insurance because of weather, and a waste of a busy day. We finally got it to another shop and got it fixed! Here in South Afrika it has been raining for the past week, nonstop. No joke, it hasn't stopped! 

     

Besides the rain and the car we had a lot of ups. One was a wedding! we planned a wedding, which for future reference to hire me to plan a wedding... Wow haha. We had like 1 day notice to get everything planned, which might be the quickest wedding in history. But, everything went really smooth! So that was friday, and then she ( Thobeka) asked if she could get baptized Saturday morning because she leaves town sunday. Ok sure!! so we planned it, again with short notice and had a great baptism Saturday. They are a great family. Sunday they got confirmed and left for Eastern Cape. 

I am so grateful for everyone, and my Saviour Jesus Christ. Right now is such a special time. Those who usually aren't religious are able to feel the holy spirit that surrounds Christmas time. It is such a great time to touch other peoples lives. Light the World that the Church is putting on is so simple, and can literally change someone's life. I invite you all to Light the World this Christmas season by remembering why we celebrate Christmas. We can all be missionaries, invite your friends to church services, be a friend. Even less-active members, remind them of Christ by serving, it will make a difference. I look forward to the next week, maybe my last week here in Kwa-Thema, but we will see :)

Love you all, Elder High