Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Walked and Walked and Walked and Walked...

I'm glad to hear the family is doing great. You know being away from family and seeing how broken the majority of families are makes me miss our family reunions and just being together with them. It really makes me feel so incredibly blessed to be a part of the family I am.

So this week was pretty eventful. First of all we had heard last week that Saturday March 21st was Human Rights Day or Commemoration day.. commemorating the Sharpeville massacre! Back during aparteid the Blacks had to have this ID book that they called some name that basically meant stupid person or something like that. So Sharpeville residents started to protest so much that they sent an army in.. with a helicopter.. dropped down and just mowed down the crowd. Supposedly 69 people died in the first incident and many others shortly after. So our branch mission leader told us it would not be safe on that day especially with the elections coming up. At first we thought we would be home all day. Then President Poulsen so no, we needed to work...So we did. We came into Sharpeville a little on edge not sure what to expect. Down by the soccer stadium there were huge tents that we saw set up and a huge stage and things like that. On Saturday there were huge buses everywhere bringing people in from everywhere. Anyways first appointment...we were sitting outside and a little boy walked by and stopped, looked at me then came to the gate and tried to get in.
He couldn't and instead just yelled.. makua watsamaiya... meaning "white man get out of here". Not a good start. Luckily we were safe the rest of the day and nothing crazy happened... just tons of people all over Sharpeville.

Another highlight of this week was that Prince made it to church! We had our branch president's wife follow us and she gave him a ride. Man, he was so excited to be there. He even participated in the discussion in combined Relief Society/Priesthood. We were talking about Home Teaching/Visiting Teaching (which he doesnt even know about). It was awesome. I almost shed a tear haha. Then after church we had the baptism of Baipidi. That was awesome. This girl has been ready since we got here.

We are losing our car here in Sharpeville. It's an interesting story...remember when our car was wrecked back in Tsakane and we had to walk for about 3 weeks until there could be a replacement car or ours was fixed? Well the same car has been smashed again. But this time they are taking my car here in Sharpeville and giving it to them. So to clarify- both times that this same car in the Tsakane/ Kwa Thema area has been crashed- I'm the one who ends up without a car. Even when I'm serving in an area at least 2 hours away! Strange coincidence, nay? So now we'll have to get around Sharpeville walking...pray for us. It's going to be a hard transition. We've had days this week with an appointment every half hour. Plus our investigators are spread all over Sharpeville!! But I guess the Lord will provide a way.

Just know that I am healthy and still loving the mission. Love you lots and I always
appreciate the support!

Love, elder robinson

P.S. Do you think you could send me a condensed version of my family history? The people here love their ancestors. So much that they pray to them. When we say that they shouldn't pray to them their response is "you mean to tell me you don't have any ancestors?" So I want to whip out my family history on them!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Hiking and Epiphanies


Preparation day hiking...

Chillin' South Africa Style

First off, Prince is getting baptized. We came to see him this week. Remember his eyes don't even allow him to read the Book of Mormon. So, all he's had is our word and prayer. I asked him flat out how he feels about all this or if he'd received an answer yet.. he said "all I have to say is, it's true". Man, that felt so good. Then when we were teaching him he had one of his epiphanies. Elder Jasi taught him about faith and then he said "so its not faith unless I DO something about it". Man, this guy is amazing...Especially for an old guy! We put him on date for March 27th. It will be a challenge though to get him under the water. I hope I don't have to baptize him...I'm afraid I might break him. I'll send you pictures when he gets baptized. Also this week we had the baptism of 4 sisters!! (not blood sisters). Two young women age and two young adults all from different families. I'll get the pictures to you next week. But the service went great. We had it on Saturday and I was asked to baptize one of them. Then the next day on Sunday I was asked to confirm 2 of them. It was a great weekend for Sharpeville.

I'm not sure we taught any super special lessons this week. It's kind of hard to
remember. We are always super busy. Which is the best way to be on a mission. It makes time go much faster. So now we have 4 people on baptismal date spread out from March to April.

We have transfers this week. Everything is the same with my companion and I. But two guys are leaving my district. Including the district leader. His name is Elder Cunico. He's only a few months older than I on the mission but he's a great leader. I hope our next DL is the same.

So today we went to a Nature Reserve called "suikerbos"... supposedly there are baboons and things there. But all we saw were some spring bok (almost like deer) far in the distance. Plus there was suppose to be this 10k hike but the trail disappeared after about 1k. So we ended up just exploring around going through the bush. It was pretty cool to be out hiking again. I miss the outdoors so much. I miss hiking. I keep telling people that as soon as I get home I'm getting off the plane and walking into the bush to go backpacking for a month. Then I'll be able to go home. haha. That's why I really want to get out of Gauteng. I want to go up to Botswana or the north east province or even down to Lesotho.

Right now it's raining harder outside than I've ever seen it rain. It's ridiculous.
Well thanks again for all the support and prayers. Know that I'm staying safe and healthy and working hard!!

Love, your son elder robinson

Monday, March 9, 2009

Remarkable

I got a letter from on of my recent converts who ended up becoming our branch missionary in Tsakane and coming to teach with us a lot. I told you about him. His name is Wandile. We spent Christmas at his house. Anyways that was a nice surprise. It's amazing to see the change happen in a person's life when the gospel takes affect.

So for this week I think the most interesting experience was a guy named Prince. We tracted into this guy maybe two weeks ago. When we taught him and his wife at first we weren't even sure if he spoke English. But after a short time we realized not only did this old man speak English very well but he also understood all of the concepts very well. So at our first lesson he told us he and his wife we alcoholics. We tried to give him some words of advice to quit and he hasn't touched alcohol since. The bad part is that soon after our first lesson we came back and asked him how he was. He said not good. His wife had left him. To this day she still hasn't come back but that hasn't stopped him from gaining a testimony. I can already see this seed growing inside him. It's amazing. This old man who can barely walk has been on alcohol his entire life. Then here come the missionaries and teach him truth. what do you know, he changes his life around and is coming to know what is really important in life. The level of understanding at his age is remarkable. I mean go read Alma chapter 12 and you'll find some pretty interesting concepts in there that may even be hard for someone well-learned to understand at first. We would teach these things to Prince and he would look at us like every other person(blank stare) but he would then ask very thoughtful questions. Like he will ask "so your saying we can't be free of sins without following the gospel of Jesus Christ?" or "Well then what happens to those who don't free themselves of their sins?". It's great to meet someone who is not just interested in your message because its from God but because he actually wants to know truth from God! Then to have that person be over 70 years old is remarkable.

Anyway so that was my awesome experience this week. We're going to try and put Prince on baptismal date tonight actually. Yesterday we had baptismal interviews. We have 4 people getting baptized on Saturday. That will be awesome! Last night I cooked those cookies you sent me at Christmas. Let me say thank you mom and thanks from all the missionaries in my district. They were a hit. Now I'll have to try and make some from scratch.

Thanks for all the love and support! I know that I am truly blessed to have such loving friends and family. Know that I am safe and healthy and still loving the mission. I love you all!

Love, elder robinson

Monday, March 2, 2009

Intrigued

Last Sunday we were surprised in the middle of the meeting to sing a song that we hadn't even practiced and the piano wasn't even set up! No one was on key until the last verse! It was embarrassing. Then this Sunday we practiced since they will join the stake choir next week for stake conference. With my limited knowledge of the piano and their limited knowledge of singing it was painful.

Well the work continues on. This past week we've had a lot of success in both teaching and finding. The people here are just ready for the gospel, it's only a matter of finding them. Some don't care but some are really interested. I love it when you teach a lesson and by the end they are just amazed. That happened this week with a guy named Alfred. By the end he was just so intrigued at the thought that this could be the gospel of the restored church on the earth! But even the best investigators won't go anywhere if they dont keep commitments. So we'll see, we can only hope and pray.

We also came across a lady tracting yesterday who didn't want to dissappoint us because she had already found the way. She said it was this guy (who she's never met before) that is the next Pastor Chris. Pastor Chris is basically pretty close to every false prophet that the New Testament talks about. He goes around doing huge concerts where he heals people and stuff. Anyway this other guy, named MR Mokoena, supposedly heals all kinds of people. This lady was so into it...I was seriously afraid she was going to jump on us- that's how ecstatic she was! Then she goes on to tell us that she has been bewitched by her husband and basically her whole life story (keep in mind she never wanted to talk to us in the first place) and that she has what doctors tell her is arthritis but since she cant "see" it only feels it she knows she is bewitched. So we told her she should have Mr. Mokoena heal her (she wasnt listening to a word we were saying) and then she said that that is why she's following his church... which is called Durane, by the way. Well that was an experience. We had our ear talked off for half an hour (nothing new) by a lady who was following a clearly false prophet. If some of these people would just read the bible that they hold so close to their hearts but never open... they would not be so easily deceived. It's sad but one day I think they'll have their chance.

Well that's about all that's new here. We're still working hard. This Saturday we have 4 baptismal interviews for the following week. Wweet! Thanks for all the love and support! Tell Camilla I said hi!


Love, your son