March 7 letters

To Mom:

This week was good on the work. We got fairly good numbers but unfortunately didn't get any families at church again. However, one new investigator of ours came. Shes a girl who's about 16 years old I think but I don't know her name because we only sat with her one time. She's a referral from a member family so that's good I guess. We're getting closer to some families but swazi is harder than Mozambique. It's ok though because it just means that we need to work harder and teach better and have the spirit more.

We had one really fantastic lesson with a family where we taught the book of Mormon. When we read in the introduction I really saw that the spirit just struck him and he felt a witness that it was true. Then we talked more and it was a really nice and spiritual lesson. I really saw the spirit working with them but unfortunately they didn't come to church which really depressed me but we'll just keep working with them and hopefully they'll come next week.

I cannot believe that Rachel, my baby sister, is going to be in Junior high. I still remember my seventh grade year and being the first in the family there and how I felt so old and whatnot and I can't imagine Rachel being anything more than just a little albeit spunky girl. 

To Dad:

Usually on Pday we are just all too lazy to go and play soccer and end up just taking naps. These days I've just worked out a little bit. Everyone wants to play but no one really makes it happen. I never taught this guy that was the richest guy we just got his contact and he said we could visit another time. Unfortunately it didn't end up working out but it was a cool story nonetheless. They are wealthy because there house is pretty nice it's probably about a fourth the size of our house or 1 sixth or so, and they have a pretty nice car and own a bunch of little flats that they rent to people. The house wasn't insanely big but it was really nice so that was cool. Unfortunately they weren't that great at actually having time for us to visit.

For my diet and exercise let me explain. I work out every morning and night. Monday through Saturday. In the morning I alternate from arms and chest to abs. At night I alternate between 2 cardio work outs. One night burpies and mountain climbers, the other is running up and down the stairs of our apartment complex. Diet-wise, I cut out most all chocolate or treats. In the morning I eat 2 pieces of toast and an egg or two, a really big lunch and then nothing at night. In this mission we don't eat dinner. So missionaries usually eat at night right before bed which puts on fat so I completely cut that out. At lunch I just eat a lot knowing that during the long, hot day, I'll work it all off and then my nightly cardio. I drink one coke while we are on the road to keep me going and then that's it. I used to eat out more at restaurants but these days I cut it down to only Pday and tuesday after district meeting. Pday is usually KFC and tuesday is a pizza place. Its ok because usually no matter what I eat for lunch I'll work it all of during the afternoon at work. As I get even closer to the end I will probably start waking up even earlier and running as well to polish everything off. 

February 29 letters

To Mom:

So the area is going well this week. We worked insanely hard and the area is improving a lot. Elder Goes doesn't speak any English like I said so I've been teaching him pretty intensively. Unfortunately, he's got a long ways to go. Elder Barros and I spoke Portuguese exclusively. They want to work but you really can't do anything if you don't speak the language where you are serving. Elder Goes actually has a really big fire to work but can't do anything because of the communication barrier.

One day this week we were contacting in a new area and we just got totally lost and ended up coming along side one of the queens palaces. It was pretty interesting. We flagged down a car for a ride and they said "you're lost Manzini is the other way" it was pretty funny. We had a really good time this week whilst we worked like lions.

So I've also started a stringent diet/exercise plan and it's going pretty well. I'm really increasing my health. I'll be going home soon so I'm at the end of my time to really increase my fitness here on the mission. It's going really well. My self discipline has really grown from being a missionary. That should serve me really well in the real world as well. 

To Dad:

Honestly this week I worked harder than I think I ever have before so you don't have to worry about me slowing down. Last transfer I was kind of in that mode a little bit but with the new transfer came fresh motivation and now we are working just insanely hard. The area is going well. I hope to be able to get a few of the new families that we found last week at church here in the next week. We have a few really promising prospects. Also, yesterday we knocked a house and got the number of I think the richest person I've ever actually contacted on my mission so that was pretty cool. 

I absolutely cannot wait to come home and see the beautiful new house decor and bask in 1st world country goodness for the rest of my life. I'll tell you dad that you are the only one who kindof understands coming home from a mission like me because you did of course but you have no idea the infinite additional aspects of coming home from a third world country to the United States. Ok maybe a little because you've gone on trips there but not for 2 years. I feel like Iron man when he gets back from being imprisoned in the cave and just demands an American cheeseburger. I am just absolutely pumped to eat at McDonalds or Wendy's, let alone some way nice restaurant. Not to mention the thousand other things about America that make it the best country in the world. 

February 22 letters

To Mom:

The work is going well. Transfers were actually today and I now have a new companion his name is Elder Goes. He is from Brazil as well and is fresh out of the MTC. He speaks absolutely no English so I will need to teach him. It's going to be a transfer of doing all of the talking in the lessons and all the work etc. Elder Barros was transferred just to the next branch here in Swaziland making this 3 different areas in Swaziland in the last 4 transfers. I hope that I leave after the end of this transfer. My whole mission I've basically been transferred where and when I want which is super lucky so I wouldn't be surprised if I left Swaziland this transfer to finish off the last two in Mozambique. 

I'm assuming that I will get the flight information of me coming home towards the end of this transfer so at the end of March. They will call me first and ask what airport I will be going to and stuff as well. I will be coming home with a bunch of other missionaries and they will buy the tickets together so I don't think I have much of a choice as to the layovers and such. I'm almost positive I will be coming home on the 21st of June to arrive on the 22nd but I'm not 100 percent sure. If you want to know I'm sure you can email President Koch and ask. Elder Woolley's parents did the same thing and he said the 21st which is why I'm pretty sure it is but it was kind of a roundabout way of getting that info, through the grapevine kind of thing, so you can ask just to confirm if you want. 

This week was kindof rough with tons of lessons falling through but it's ok. This coming week and transfer are going to be awesome. I'm sure Elder Goes and I will have good success. Elder Donker left my house which is a bummer just because he was a good friend of mine.

To Dad:

With our mission we have a big number goal system that President Koch just instituted but the numbers are all off quite a bit. It will take a bit of adjusting but I'm sure it will turn out pretty good. Here in Swazi we've been getting fairly low numbers. Usually we only get 15-20 lessons per week. In most of my past areas we averaged around 30 lessons per week. On a good week 20 to 25 lessons in Swazi 30-35 in Moz. With contacting we used to have the goal of 35 qualified contacts per week (a male that believes in Jesus Christ, has a wife and a phone) but now each area has a specific goal for it. In my area the goal is 24. 

Here in Swazi the climate is a little colder than Mozambique but  it's a lot like Chimoio. Colder and Dryer than the rest of Mozambique. 

February 15 letter

The doctor was from Ethiopia and he is really good. It went great and I am now fine. It wasn't a surgery it was just kind of a mini surgery. He numbed my foot and then dug around in there and what not and yes it was here in Swazi. Everything was very sanitary and they thought that it was a corn when they first went in. Basically a foreign substance that got in there and then got infected. I got the worm two Thursdays ago or something. It took like 4 days until we went to the doctor because it was hurting too badly. It's called a sand worm. It's white. It's not really a common thing no but I've had a really fortunate mission health wise in comparison to the other missionaries here. For example the same day that I was at the clinic another missionary was there who has been sliced by a knife in a robbery, had two ingrown toenails, a giant spider bite and a serious eye infection. We wear shower shoes to stop all sorts of funky diseases from getting to our feet.

This week was better. We got an investigator at church and have a few other fairly promising options for next week so the work is definitely picking up.

I got my Christmas package yes, it has been super nice and I still have tons of candy to munch on. I'm actually currently chewing on some of the gum that I got so thank you. It was a magnificent package.

February 8 letter

So honestly this week was the most uneventful week ever. 

Last Saturday my foot started hurting really bad and by this Tuesday it was really swollen. I went to the doctor and he put me on some pills to take out the swelling on Tuesday. Then on Thursday he performed a mini surgery on my foot to remove it and it turned out to be a worm in my foot. When he removed it it hurt so flipping bad but it's basically better by now. I hope that I will get to work tomorrow. we go back to get the bandages off tomorrow morning. It's unfortunate but I have not been able to work even once this week.

Saturday and Sunday were district conference so I got a ride there and that was pretty good I guess. 

I ate out every single day this past week because I couldn't get up to cook so the other companionship in our house would pick me up kfc or pizza every day, haha. It was pretty nice to be honest. 

No one came to church unfortunately but this week I hope to be able to actually work with them and I think next week we'll get them to church. 

February 1 letter

This week was kind of disappointing with the families no one came to church but I'm sure that next week we'll get some families at church. Swaziland is just definitely slower going that Moz as far as missionary work goes. 

It's getting difficult to find things to write about these days just wait 4 months and a little and I'll just be home to talk about everything extensively. No I'm kidding but it really is difficult. This week we found a couple of cool families. 

Here in Swaziland and especially right now we do a lot of just walking around and trying to find people, it can be really discouraging but we just need to keep trudging forward. I don't have any pictures for you but I'll try to take some this week to send you something that matters.

January 25 letter

We have yet to go to the capital city or the palace. I really like the house. It's good. Elder Barros is a good companion. By interesting I mean that it's weird having an african, brazilian, brit and american. I've never had such a diverse house. Also, my current zone is made up of more africans than white people. It's really weird. It's the only time I've ever heard of that happening on this mission. 

(In response to some news I told him): That's crazy about all the people so angry with these policies and whatnot. People will fall for stupid reasons but Satan is powerful. Honestly If our conversion is superficial then we will be blown away by the superficial temptations of the devil like disputes over church policy. People are converted to the church and not to the lord, but it needs to be the other way around.. In order for that to happen we must have experiences with the power of atonement. These people have never felt the moving power of the atonement and therefore don't have a truly deep conversion. 

This week was really pretty hard. We now have our first really solid family though. Next week I expect to have a really productive week. It's harder to get the fire to work here in Swaziland because people are much ruder. contacting people on the road is hard because people just make fun of you and stuff. It's fine though, the work is the same.