Well, I am very sad to hear that the week has been such a roller coaster for you and the rest of the family. I was touched to hear of the service you were able to provide for your family, and hearing that Grandpa Curtis was buried in his overalls makes me smile.
Well, this week has been an awesome week for us, really a week of miracles. We taught the Le Grange family again (Greg and Collette) and extended the invitation to be baptized. They accepted and are excited to take that step in getting closer to God. I am very excited for them, and it is truly a miracle we found them. We gave them the baptismal date of the 24th of February. They already feel very comfortable with us. They are really a sweet family and the kind of family I have always hoped to find as a missionary. Unfortunately they weren’t able to come to church on Sunday cause they’re other son was ill, which was pretty disappointing, but we are still really optimistic.
The other miracle is a brother named Sharington. He is from Malawi (they’re are a lot of Malawian around the Fish Hoek area, especially in Masi, the township). He just showed up in church last week. We saw him later that Sunday. I guess he has been here for five years, and five years ago, he attended the branch. At that time in South Africa there was a lot of xenophobia, and it was really hard for foreigners to get work. But since he attended church he has had steady work for all these five years. He has been working 7 days a week, but has decided that he needed to make God more part of his life, keep the sabbath day holy and attend church. So he has started attending the branch. We have started teaching him, and yesterday he also accepted the invitation to be baptized, also on the 24th of February. We tried to explain why he needs to be baptized, and the whole idea of authority, but I think he still a little confused and thinks he just needs to be baptized so he can be a member of the church. He is still very willing though. He is very humble and always thanks us so much for meeting with him. He lives with his wife Agnus, who joins us for lessons and is also very friendly, but she doesn’t speak English very well and attends a Malawain church in Masi.
I guess the other big news is that last night I got a call from President informing me that I will be training...again. I wasn’t really expecting that till this week when the one of the zone leaders was speculating that it was a possibility. I guess I will find out more tonight and in the coming days. Maybe I am just being paranoid. I have noticed that I really haven’t had any difficulties companion wise. I remember what dad said, if I don’t have any bad comps then I am the bad comp, so maybe some trials are headed my way. I am really grateful that the area is doing really well all of a sudden. Elder Krieger is pretty upset that he is going [getting transferred].
Other things I did this week. Well, I did a baptismal interview on Tuesday for the Zone Leaders. Technically their district leader should have done it, but I think they wanted to make sure I got that experience. But it was a cool experience. It was a 71 year old women who had been introduced to the Gospel by brother Mike, in the Meadowridge Ward. Brother Mike is a recent convert who is terminally ill with cancer. I have gotten to talk with him a few times on exchanges because he feeds the missionaries a lot, but he is really a sweet guy.
Also on Monday we climbed Lions head which was a blast, the trainers out in the Eastern Cape were in for the Trainer/Trainee training so I got to see Elder Sheward, a good buddy of mine from New Zealand. I took pictures but I forgot to bring my camera.
As for the money: I bought a watch, I need to send pictures. Also, I am getting much fewer dinner appointments here then in East London, and I guess I have been spending like get a free meal every day still. So the answer to your question is that I am going to try to do a lot better job budgeting, but if you feel so inclined to put money in there that’s fine too :)
Anyway, well I love you all!
Elder Martin
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