Week One

Dear family,

Thanks so much for all of your emails, I miss all of you guys so much and it is great to hear from home. I only have one hour of email time, so it is easiest if i just send like a long detailed message of what I have been doing and general stuff to dad and he forwards it out to everybody. Seriously so much to say that I don't know where to begin. I guess I'll just start with my companion, Elder Kibirango. So he is actually a really good guy, he is 24 years old and is a fairly recent convert to the church. He is actually a High School teacher back in Uganda, but left his job to serve a mission. He speaks English guys haha but he does have a crazy accent so it took me a few days to really be able to really understand him, he has trouble understanding the American Accent but I Think we have both got it down now. He also speaks another language that i can't understand (that is what he taught back in Uganda). So He has about 20 brothers and sisters...Polygamy is common in Africa so it isn't weird that his dad has four wives. I have a couple of funny stories about him, like i made him his first peanut butter and jelly sandwich ever the other day and now he seriously eats like 3 a day. I also gave him one of my watches because he didn't have one and we have been getting along alright besides like a couple of little things. The MTC is kinda rough because the days are so long, like we seriously are practicing teaching or studying doctrine for like 13 hours a day. We do get an hour on most days to go play sports, which is so nice just to have that little break. I used to play basketball, but now i play soccer with the Africans which is awesome. It is just a park that we play at so sometimes there are other people there but it is fun to get to know them. Sorry my email is all over the place but like i said i only have so long and i have so much to talk to you guys about. I got to go to the Jo-burg temple which was seriously incredible. It is the smallest temple i have ever seen, it is maybe a little bigger than the stake center back home. But the spirit was there and it was probably one of the coolest experiences of my life so far. But also at the temple they had a distribution center that we were able to go shop at for a little bit. My new scriptures were falling apart, and they actually exchanged them for me, so now i am carrying around a zebra fur scripture bag with a zebra fur triple combination, like from a real zebra. I am hoping to be able to pick some up for you guys as Christmas presents.Like i said things are moving a little slow but i know it will pick up as soon as i am able to get out in the field. We drove through the heart of Johannesburg to get to the temple, all i will say is it is going to be an adventure guys haha. Traffic is crazy, i think i mentioned that in my last email. Oh yeah, about the elder with the gold tooth. His name is Elder Motlhaping (Mo-clapping) and he is probably the funniest kid here at the MTC. So his gold tooth was actually a gift from his mom (his sister has one too) for being involved in the church and just being a good kid. i guess they are cool down here, I have seen a couple of people with them. Since i mention him i should also mention Elder Bomba, he is from Zimbabwe and is one of my other favorite elders. He thinks it is so cool that i am from Las Vegas and he is the one i play soccer with (he is dang good). I gave him $20 to buy a scripture case because he didn't have one. Some of these kids have some pretty crazy lives and it is just as crazy that they ended up in the church let alone on missions. It is really humbling to be here in Africa but it has been incredible so far.I love and miss everybody. i will have more to write soon. The food here is alright, i just don't question what is in it and eat it. They have this stuff called pop that i like, basically picture cream of wheat that you put salt on and eat with your hands haha. Love you guys be safe and i will talk to you soon.

P.S My best friend at the MTC is Elder Delahoy, he is from Australia and we get along well.