I'm sorry this will be a short one and I'm not in a good mood now. I just spent so long writing a good letter with stories and jokes in it and even had a picture and of course, this junky email system lost it. I am so furious now and I dont even want to write anything else because it might get lost as well. Just know I"m doing good. My knee still hurts. I'm getting along with my companion. And I hate myldsmail.net. I'm sorry this is short but my time is gone and I have nothing to show for it. Goodbye.
I love you all.-
Elder Langston
Monday, 30 March 2009
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Happy Autumn!
Hello Family and Friends,
How are things going in America? Things are going good here. Its still pretty hot here but the leaves are starting to fall from the trees and leave the dirt ground covered with fall colors. The sky is a warm blue color with a few cotton balls scattered in it. I only wish I could go swimming. I did get the envelope from you, Mom, so thank you very much. It had a lot of good stuff from Bryces mom so tell her I say thanks one million. I was listening to the cd's and getting a little sad. It was nice hearing familiar voices of people that I like.
The doctor said that I'll drive a car for a couple of weeks and take some pills that smell like old fish and we'll see how the knee feels after that. If it's no good, then I'll go under the knife. The doctor said that nothing is wrong in the x-rays but its making too much noise that shouldn't be in a knee of someone my age. It still hurts every now and then and pops on occasions.
Yesterday we had the baptism of Shimmy and it was a good one. I'd send you a picture but I forgot my stuff at the flat. Everything was going well. I taught the combined Priesthood and RS class and we talked about Elder Wirthlin's last talk that he gave. It's a great talk and I like it a lot.
Take care!
Love,Elder Langston
How are things going in America? Things are going good here. Its still pretty hot here but the leaves are starting to fall from the trees and leave the dirt ground covered with fall colors. The sky is a warm blue color with a few cotton balls scattered in it. I only wish I could go swimming. I did get the envelope from you, Mom, so thank you very much. It had a lot of good stuff from Bryces mom so tell her I say thanks one million. I was listening to the cd's and getting a little sad. It was nice hearing familiar voices of people that I like.
The doctor said that I'll drive a car for a couple of weeks and take some pills that smell like old fish and we'll see how the knee feels after that. If it's no good, then I'll go under the knife. The doctor said that nothing is wrong in the x-rays but its making too much noise that shouldn't be in a knee of someone my age. It still hurts every now and then and pops on occasions.
Yesterday we had the baptism of Shimmy and it was a good one. I'd send you a picture but I forgot my stuff at the flat. Everything was going well. I taught the combined Priesthood and RS class and we talked about Elder Wirthlin's last talk that he gave. It's a great talk and I like it a lot.
Take care!
Love,Elder Langston
Monday, 16 March 2009
Yebo, Yebo, Yebo!
Hello Family and friends,
How is everyone doing this fine Monday morning? I'm doing ok. I'm still hanging in there. Just some news about the knee. I saw the mission doctor who was expecting to just give me some pain killers and maybe a shot to make me feel better but after looking at it and hearing where I pain, just a little, he is making me go to the orthopedic surgeon to have some x-rays taken and all that. I'm going on Thursday and I'll find out if I need surgery or not. The mission doctor was thinking that surgery might be the thing to do. If I do need surgery there is a good chance they'll just send me home to get it done, which to be honest, I'd rather have done. My last knee surgery went ok, but I wasn't able to take the proper time to exercise it and get it back to normal. My knee still bothers me sometimes and I dont want to have two messed up knees my whole life. I still got a long way to live and if I have two bad knees that keep me from doing things that I like to do, I'll go crazy. But I'll let you know what happens.
This week was an ok week. Burnett left on Wednesday and I got Elder Morris. He's a cool guy. He also repeats everything I say when we are teaching a lesson and sometimes teaches false doctrine. Other than that, he's a cool guy. He enjoys going to the gym in the morning, which is good. This morning I benched 150 lbs. That's pretty good for not lifting since 9th grade. He's funny at times too. He's got the African humor, where he's only funny because he talks funny.
Yesterday was suppose to be two baptism interviews for our people, but neither of them were home. We are going to try to see one of them tonight, Shimmy, so he can get baptised soon. We've been postponing him for a while, but he's ready now. I'll let you know how it goes. I'll tell you the names of everyone on baptism date and their gender: Shimmy(M), Agent Meshach(M), Rita(F), Cindy(F), Portia(F), Magdeline(F), Jabulile(F), Khabo(F), Siphiwe(M). So almost everyone but the first two are scheduled for April 19th.We did a bit of tracting and found some more guys that are in their twenties to teach. In fact, one of them has had missionaries there before but he said he never bothered to pray to find out if its true. I explained to him what it means if it is true and how important it is. I gave him the challenge again to pray and read and he said he would. As we were leaving, his mom gave us some corn on the cob and we ate it as we walked. It was neat.
We had stake conference yesterday as well. They had it at the civic center because there was too many people to hold it in the chapel. Pres. and Sister Poulson spoke as well as Elder and Sister Young, from the seventy. They talked about member missionary work and family unity mainly. It was nice stuff. Sis. Poulson told a funny story that I'll tell you. In a kindergarten class the kids were drawing pictures. As the teacher walked around to observe the demented pictures that were being sketched with crayons, she came upon a young girl drawing a picture which the teacher found unique. She asked the girl, "what are you drawing?" The girl replied, "I'm drawing a picture of God." The teacher was then befuddled and told the girl, "you're nuts! You can't be drawing God! No one knows what God looks like." Keeping her crayon on the paper and focusing only on her drawing, she replied, "they will in a minute." She then used that as being missionaries. We know something that the world doesn't and so we need to share it with everyone. I added a bit in that story to make it more interesting, just to let you know.
So, the answer to your question is yes, I do live with another companionship. Elder Teare from N.Z. and Elder Hanson from somewhere in Utah. I think its Sandy or something, I would ask him but I dont want him to know that I'm writing about him. I got some shirts for some people already. Did you get sizes for everyone else? I think I'll just make some shirts that say South Africa on them. We've been having some sweet ideas but they'd only be funny here and only to people who don't like the government people.
Thanks for those pictures.
Well, I sure hope I dont lose this email. I'd be so angry if I did. i'm going to stop writing just in case I do lose it. If I write more witty things that are golden and I lose it, ah man, I'd be so upset! Thanks for everything you do for me! I hope Grandma had a great birthday and so did Cyrus. Happy birthday to Corban and Dave this week! Enjoy your special day! I love you all! I'll let you know what happens with the whole knee thing.
Take care and CTR!
Love,
Elder Jordy Boy
How is everyone doing this fine Monday morning? I'm doing ok. I'm still hanging in there. Just some news about the knee. I saw the mission doctor who was expecting to just give me some pain killers and maybe a shot to make me feel better but after looking at it and hearing where I pain, just a little, he is making me go to the orthopedic surgeon to have some x-rays taken and all that. I'm going on Thursday and I'll find out if I need surgery or not. The mission doctor was thinking that surgery might be the thing to do. If I do need surgery there is a good chance they'll just send me home to get it done, which to be honest, I'd rather have done. My last knee surgery went ok, but I wasn't able to take the proper time to exercise it and get it back to normal. My knee still bothers me sometimes and I dont want to have two messed up knees my whole life. I still got a long way to live and if I have two bad knees that keep me from doing things that I like to do, I'll go crazy. But I'll let you know what happens.
This week was an ok week. Burnett left on Wednesday and I got Elder Morris. He's a cool guy. He also repeats everything I say when we are teaching a lesson and sometimes teaches false doctrine. Other than that, he's a cool guy. He enjoys going to the gym in the morning, which is good. This morning I benched 150 lbs. That's pretty good for not lifting since 9th grade. He's funny at times too. He's got the African humor, where he's only funny because he talks funny.
Yesterday was suppose to be two baptism interviews for our people, but neither of them were home. We are going to try to see one of them tonight, Shimmy, so he can get baptised soon. We've been postponing him for a while, but he's ready now. I'll let you know how it goes. I'll tell you the names of everyone on baptism date and their gender: Shimmy(M), Agent Meshach(M), Rita(F), Cindy(F), Portia(F), Magdeline(F), Jabulile(F), Khabo(F), Siphiwe(M). So almost everyone but the first two are scheduled for April 19th.We did a bit of tracting and found some more guys that are in their twenties to teach. In fact, one of them has had missionaries there before but he said he never bothered to pray to find out if its true. I explained to him what it means if it is true and how important it is. I gave him the challenge again to pray and read and he said he would. As we were leaving, his mom gave us some corn on the cob and we ate it as we walked. It was neat.
We had stake conference yesterday as well. They had it at the civic center because there was too many people to hold it in the chapel. Pres. and Sister Poulson spoke as well as Elder and Sister Young, from the seventy. They talked about member missionary work and family unity mainly. It was nice stuff. Sis. Poulson told a funny story that I'll tell you. In a kindergarten class the kids were drawing pictures. As the teacher walked around to observe the demented pictures that were being sketched with crayons, she came upon a young girl drawing a picture which the teacher found unique. She asked the girl, "what are you drawing?" The girl replied, "I'm drawing a picture of God." The teacher was then befuddled and told the girl, "you're nuts! You can't be drawing God! No one knows what God looks like." Keeping her crayon on the paper and focusing only on her drawing, she replied, "they will in a minute." She then used that as being missionaries. We know something that the world doesn't and so we need to share it with everyone. I added a bit in that story to make it more interesting, just to let you know.
So, the answer to your question is yes, I do live with another companionship. Elder Teare from N.Z. and Elder Hanson from somewhere in Utah. I think its Sandy or something, I would ask him but I dont want him to know that I'm writing about him. I got some shirts for some people already. Did you get sizes for everyone else? I think I'll just make some shirts that say South Africa on them. We've been having some sweet ideas but they'd only be funny here and only to people who don't like the government people.
Thanks for those pictures.
Well, I sure hope I dont lose this email. I'd be so angry if I did. i'm going to stop writing just in case I do lose it. If I write more witty things that are golden and I lose it, ah man, I'd be so upset! Thanks for everything you do for me! I hope Grandma had a great birthday and so did Cyrus. Happy birthday to Corban and Dave this week! Enjoy your special day! I love you all! I'll let you know what happens with the whole knee thing.
Take care and CTR!
Love,
Elder Jordy Boy
Monday, 09 March 2009
Chi-Chi-Chi-Chia
Greetings from South Africa,
Howzit? Thanks for the great emails and pictures. I wasn't able to see them all because these computers are slow and I didn't want to wait too long because my time would run out. I have to go see the doctor for my other knee. Its doing the same thing my right knee was doing at the beginning of my mission so I'm hoping I don't get surgery again. I'll let you know though.
So we got transfer news and Elder Burnett is going to Sandton to be a zone leader and I'm getting a guy from Kenya who's only been out six months.
The movie night was great! We had about 26 people show up(not including missionaries) and about 6 of them were investigators and a few were people that I've never met that members just brought and even brought to church on Sunday. It was a good activity. So good that we are planning to do one every month now. I am getting a few more videos from other missionaries that are church related and we're going to watch them. The senior couples made popcorn for everyone and I even saw some tears at the end of the movie. Towards the end the rains started coming but right when we ended with a prayer the rains stopped. We talked to Rita and Cindy, who probably lived the farthest away, and they said that almost right when they got in their house it started to pour that night. It's pretty cool to see how the Lord watches over us.
We had some members who are friends with Phumla's parents go talk to them and try to help the situation but when they reported back, they made it worse. Now we aren't even allowed to go over there. I just don't get it. If the kids are doing good things, reading scriptures, and being happy in their life, why stop the source of all these good things?
We also found a couple of guys that play in a band in their church and they practice almost every night at the church. We walked in one night and chatted with them. We just told them what we do and stuff and that they are sounding good. They asked if we played, and of course we said yes. Burnett rocked the drums and the guys were in awe. They wanted him to come and give them drum lessons. I tuned the guys bass for him and played a little solo on it. They want us to go back when we get a chance and just jam with them, but we'll see what happens. It sure was fun though.
We have one guy who is on baptism date for April and we've been teaching his sister lately. She's been doing okay. She came to the movie and wasn't feeling too good so we gave her a blessing before she headed home with her brother. She also said she was cold so I gave her a jacket of mine that was in the car and told her she could keep it. On Sunday she said that she's feeling much better and knows it was because of the blessing we gave her. She also told us that she wants to be baptized. That's always nice when the people ask to be baptized instead of us bringing it up. We're seeing her this week and we'll set a date and continue teaching her the truth.
Well, thats about all from this side. I'm getting bigger as we go to the gym every morning and I drink protien shakes and eat healthy. I'll try to let you know what happens at the doctors today. I can't remember if there were any particular questions you asked so I'm sorry if I didn't answer them if there were any. I sure love you all! It'll be no time till I'm home having band practice with the kiddies!
Take care and CTR!
Love,
Elder J. "Themba" Langston
Howzit? Thanks for the great emails and pictures. I wasn't able to see them all because these computers are slow and I didn't want to wait too long because my time would run out. I have to go see the doctor for my other knee. Its doing the same thing my right knee was doing at the beginning of my mission so I'm hoping I don't get surgery again. I'll let you know though.
So we got transfer news and Elder Burnett is going to Sandton to be a zone leader and I'm getting a guy from Kenya who's only been out six months.
The movie night was great! We had about 26 people show up(not including missionaries) and about 6 of them were investigators and a few were people that I've never met that members just brought and even brought to church on Sunday. It was a good activity. So good that we are planning to do one every month now. I am getting a few more videos from other missionaries that are church related and we're going to watch them. The senior couples made popcorn for everyone and I even saw some tears at the end of the movie. Towards the end the rains started coming but right when we ended with a prayer the rains stopped. We talked to Rita and Cindy, who probably lived the farthest away, and they said that almost right when they got in their house it started to pour that night. It's pretty cool to see how the Lord watches over us.
We had some members who are friends with Phumla's parents go talk to them and try to help the situation but when they reported back, they made it worse. Now we aren't even allowed to go over there. I just don't get it. If the kids are doing good things, reading scriptures, and being happy in their life, why stop the source of all these good things?
We also found a couple of guys that play in a band in their church and they practice almost every night at the church. We walked in one night and chatted with them. We just told them what we do and stuff and that they are sounding good. They asked if we played, and of course we said yes. Burnett rocked the drums and the guys were in awe. They wanted him to come and give them drum lessons. I tuned the guys bass for him and played a little solo on it. They want us to go back when we get a chance and just jam with them, but we'll see what happens. It sure was fun though.
We have one guy who is on baptism date for April and we've been teaching his sister lately. She's been doing okay. She came to the movie and wasn't feeling too good so we gave her a blessing before she headed home with her brother. She also said she was cold so I gave her a jacket of mine that was in the car and told her she could keep it. On Sunday she said that she's feeling much better and knows it was because of the blessing we gave her. She also told us that she wants to be baptized. That's always nice when the people ask to be baptized instead of us bringing it up. We're seeing her this week and we'll set a date and continue teaching her the truth.
Well, thats about all from this side. I'm getting bigger as we go to the gym every morning and I drink protien shakes and eat healthy. I'll try to let you know what happens at the doctors today. I can't remember if there were any particular questions you asked so I'm sorry if I didn't answer them if there were any. I sure love you all! It'll be no time till I'm home having band practice with the kiddies!
Take care and CTR!
Love,
Elder J. "Themba" Langston
Monday, 02 March 2009
Good Morning my family and friends,
Howzit? Things are going well here in South Africa! The sun is out with only a few clouds blocking it and there is a slight breeze warning us of coming rain. The weather here sure is crazy! The past few days it has been pouring rain! You know that Queen song "Under Pressure"? I always think of the lines, "it never rains but it pours" as I ride my bike or drive the car down the muddy roads here in Tsakane. Its nice though. Winter is coming and there will be not much water. I remember last winter in Thaba Nchu and the water would get turned off at our house in the township. Speaking of which, we are looking to moving to the township in our area now. We found a good house that a member owns and wants to rent it to us. She even offered to pay for a lady to come once a month and just clean the dickens out of the place. It sounds nice, but I doubt it'll happen. Plus if it does, I'll be far away from the gym and wont be able to get the huge body I need to defend myself from Jacob. He always tells me how many pushups he can do and that he'll kick my butt when I get home.
This week has been a busy one. Lots of highs and lows. One of the lowest lows was when we saw Phumla. She told us that her dad doesn't even want her to go to church anymore. It was pretty heartbreaking because she is very sad about it but we told her to not talk back to him and to do what's right and the Lord will provide a way. She's so awesome! In sacrament meeting, the seminary teacher got up to bear her testimony and she said that she got a text that morning from one of her students who wasn't a member yet just bearing her testimony and apologizing for not being able to come to church. The seminary teacher began to cry as she talked about how powerful Phumla is.
Testimony meetings in South Africa are more like story time. This Sunday, everyone was telling how gratefull they are for their friends and would give shout-outs to their friends. Right after their testimony, the friend would go up and return the favor by giving them a shout-out and telling how cool of a person they are. I was going nuts! Even the branch president talked for almost 20 minutes on stuff that wasn't even testimony. And my class was cut short because we didn't get out of Sacrament till half past. Yo! I was going crazy.
We are teaching these girls, Rita(25) and her sister Cindy(10), and we put them on baptism date. They have been having problems with their father, who doesn't live with them, come in their home and yell at their mom and be very abusive. He's been doing that for quite some time. They said that they can't even sleep because of fear that he'll come over in the night. We have been keeping them in our prayers and he hasn't been over for about a week now. Things are getting better for them and they love the gospel! Their mom sits in with us but doesn't understand english well.
We are starting to find some good father led families now. We are starving for good priesthood holders in the branch, but with the Lord's help and being obedient, we'll find them.
This Saturday we are doing a movie night at the school and we are inviting everyone. We told all the members and even made little flyers for them. We challenged each member to bring a friend with them and the senior couples said they'll make popcorn for the movie. Oh yeah, we're going to watch "The Testaments". Hopefully we'll find some new people to teach.
Well, thats how things are going here. Today we are taking the car in to get fixed because it'll rev up to 4000 RPMs when the clutch is in and so we're gonna get that fixed.
I sure love you all! Thank you for all your support and love. I loved the Valentines notes from everyone too. Thanks!
Take care and CTR!
Love, Elder Langston
Howzit? Things are going well here in South Africa! The sun is out with only a few clouds blocking it and there is a slight breeze warning us of coming rain. The weather here sure is crazy! The past few days it has been pouring rain! You know that Queen song "Under Pressure"? I always think of the lines, "it never rains but it pours" as I ride my bike or drive the car down the muddy roads here in Tsakane. Its nice though. Winter is coming and there will be not much water. I remember last winter in Thaba Nchu and the water would get turned off at our house in the township. Speaking of which, we are looking to moving to the township in our area now. We found a good house that a member owns and wants to rent it to us. She even offered to pay for a lady to come once a month and just clean the dickens out of the place. It sounds nice, but I doubt it'll happen. Plus if it does, I'll be far away from the gym and wont be able to get the huge body I need to defend myself from Jacob. He always tells me how many pushups he can do and that he'll kick my butt when I get home.
This week has been a busy one. Lots of highs and lows. One of the lowest lows was when we saw Phumla. She told us that her dad doesn't even want her to go to church anymore. It was pretty heartbreaking because she is very sad about it but we told her to not talk back to him and to do what's right and the Lord will provide a way. She's so awesome! In sacrament meeting, the seminary teacher got up to bear her testimony and she said that she got a text that morning from one of her students who wasn't a member yet just bearing her testimony and apologizing for not being able to come to church. The seminary teacher began to cry as she talked about how powerful Phumla is.
Testimony meetings in South Africa are more like story time. This Sunday, everyone was telling how gratefull they are for their friends and would give shout-outs to their friends. Right after their testimony, the friend would go up and return the favor by giving them a shout-out and telling how cool of a person they are. I was going nuts! Even the branch president talked for almost 20 minutes on stuff that wasn't even testimony. And my class was cut short because we didn't get out of Sacrament till half past. Yo! I was going crazy.
We are teaching these girls, Rita(25) and her sister Cindy(10), and we put them on baptism date. They have been having problems with their father, who doesn't live with them, come in their home and yell at their mom and be very abusive. He's been doing that for quite some time. They said that they can't even sleep because of fear that he'll come over in the night. We have been keeping them in our prayers and he hasn't been over for about a week now. Things are getting better for them and they love the gospel! Their mom sits in with us but doesn't understand english well.
We are starting to find some good father led families now. We are starving for good priesthood holders in the branch, but with the Lord's help and being obedient, we'll find them.
This Saturday we are doing a movie night at the school and we are inviting everyone. We told all the members and even made little flyers for them. We challenged each member to bring a friend with them and the senior couples said they'll make popcorn for the movie. Oh yeah, we're going to watch "The Testaments". Hopefully we'll find some new people to teach.
Well, thats how things are going here. Today we are taking the car in to get fixed because it'll rev up to 4000 RPMs when the clutch is in and so we're gonna get that fixed.
I sure love you all! Thank you for all your support and love. I loved the Valentines notes from everyone too. Thanks!
Take care and CTR!
Love, Elder Langston
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