Finding encouragement in “The History of the South Africa Mission”

Dear Family,

This week, I think, was a good one. It sure did go really fast. P-Day was a lot of fun, we got to go to Mpongo which was an adventure in itself. It took us a while to get there and we kinda got lost in what people here call “rural areas” which is just kinda like shacks and township houses way out in the boonies. It felt like I was really in Africa, with cows in the middle of the road and stuff. It was a lot of fun. I did get a chance to catch up with Elder Khoni a little, but I am excited he will be down again next week for Zone conference. The game park itself was alright, not nearly as cool as Addo, though. We did see some giraffes and played with the lion cubs through the fence in the petting zoo area. [Photos to follow]

As far as events this week, things went alright. Tuesday was the “Zone Meeting” which was essentially a two hour shambocking on different rules the mission wasn’t doing a good job of keeping. It was a good reminder for me on somethings I need to work better on. We struggled a lot with dropped appointments this week, and I feel that me and Elder Swenson just need to work harder.

Matthew's baptism went really well, he was really excited the whole week for it. Its interesting, he ran into some unexpected financial trouble this week (he managed to work it all out) but it just shows how the devil tries to stop us from making righteous decisions. Abongile was also baptized, he is a funny kid, I taught him with Elder Hama before I got put in the driving area. I guess another girl (also named Abongile) will be getting baptized next Sunday, apparently by me. She was another investigator that we taught together, her aunt is the house keeper in the mission home and she was ready to be baptized very soon off the back, except she liked coffee. Their area is doing great, we just need to get ours going as well. We are still really struggling to get investigators to church, but I pray we will have some this Sunday. We gave Anita and Sinazo baptismal dates this week, but I am starting to doubt that they will be ready by the 16th because they still haven’t been to church yet, and Anita missed and appointment with us on Saturday cause she was getting her hair done (to be more accurate, getting her hair put in, which is apparently like a 4 hour process). But yesterday was a good day, we talked to a lot of people and tracked down some people we have been looking for, so hopefully this next week will bring success and many investigators a church, or at least a few.

One special experience is that yesterday at church I was a little depressed because none of the people we were expecting to see showed up. I was feeling a little down, and was in the library printing off programs for the baptism. I was looking around the library, and I found a book called “The History of the South Africa Mission” I opened it up, and its full of things about Samuel Martin and even called his entrance into the church a “turning point in the history of South Africa.” It was a good reminder of some of the feeling I had when I was called here and it felt like a small way of our Heavenly Father giving me some encouragement.

I got a letter from Elder Fife this week, I was just thinking how crazy its going to be, he will be home in just a little over a month. I look forward to hearing about him coming and visiting our family. Anyway, thats all that I can think of for today. Love you all,

Elder Martin

P.S. Oh, and one thing I forgot about was Saturday was Mormon helping hands, which was a lot of fun. We got to wear the little yellow vests and everything. unfortunately I don't think I got any pictures though. We where helping to do a variety of things around an orphanage. We made some stairs, planted some trees, planted a garden, pulled out a fence, and moved a big pile of dirt. It was a nice project.