Be Ready, Feel Ready

I know that I am truly blessed to have such an awesome family like I do. Being here makes me realize how blessed I was and sometimes I wish I could go back and make some things right...but at least through all the teachings and love you've given me I was at least able to come around.

It gets pretty close to freezing here but not quite. When I got here last year it was towards the end of winter. It was cold but not too bad. I do have a big snow coat and gloves and a beanie and stuff.

Dumbollo is the stuff that the other guys left on the pot a while ago haha. But I won't leave it cooking in the apartment like they did. It turned out pretty good though. I made some on Thursday. I don't know what sweet bread is. It's very simple though, 1kg flour, about a cup or so of sugar (I eyeball it), and a small package of instant yeast, some warm water, knead the dough and let it rise. Then you put it in a plastic bag, put the plastic bag in a bowl and the bowl in a bigger pot. You put water in the pot, cover and set on medium heat. Then it cooks for about 2.5 hrs. It's pretty good.

Father's day is celebrated here. Nn fact an awesome father and his family was supposed to come to church on Sunday but didn't because they had a big Father's day celebration.

In my spare time I am reading The Miracle of Forgiveness. That is a good book. I wish i would have read it sooner. I will most likely be here in Sharpeville for 6 months. 6 months in an area is the usual...sort of. It just depends on where President needs you when and why.

Well as for this week, not too much happened. Our baptismal candidates all passed their interviews...that is Yvonne, Henslop, and Okuhle. But then Okuhle came to me at church wanting to ask if it would be bad if she cancelled the baptism. I was a little shocked but not too bad. She just felt like she wasn't ready. So I talked to her about it and we said we would decide this week. I made sure she knew that it didn't matter either way but that she should be ready and feel ready. So we'll see. I'm excited to baptize Henslop. I remember when I was told I was staying here for another 6 weeks. I was excited so that I could baptize Henslop. That's gonna be great. Oh and a funny story. So yesterday we introduced Prince to Henslop. Now rememeber that Prince is 73 and can hardly see and Henslop is 79 and cannot see at all. So they start talking together at church. Well come to find out- they used to box together when they were younger in the same boxing league! They knew each other! haha. Then Prince showed Henslop to the gospel principles class. That was funny to see...a man who can hardly walk showing another old man to class. Prince's friend Andres was at church who is another funny old man. Seeing the three of them walk, well shuffle, down the passage was classic. You had to be there. It warmed the heart.

So yea, next Sunday we will be having some baptisms. It will be sweet. Thanks again for all the love and support!

Love, elder robinson

Friends and Freezing

It was actually very very cold this week. It was wet and freezing. But we survived. I was even wearing my big snow coat with my sweater underneath and was still cold! Our tires on our bikes went flat right after we got them and they are pretty useless anyways. We prefer walking, so we just walk.

Alex is doing great on mission. He writes me almost evey week although I didn;t get an email from him this week.

I've made quite a few friends out here. Some missionaries, some members or recent converts. It's been a lot of fun...I guess that's what happens when you work hard...Time goes by and before you know it you've had a lot of success. I'm coming up on a year next month can you believe it?! We see the mission president every 6 weeks in zone conference interviews. I'll see him tomorrow actually.

So this week...not too much new happened. We had about 4 new people show up to church though, 11 investigators with 4 of those people we just met this week basically. Anyways, that is the best to see someone actually come to church when they say they will. Man it's hard to get people to church. But it seems this week we were blessed. Other than that we had some sweet lessons but nothing that stands out too much in my mind. This coming Saturday we will have interviews for the baptisms on the 28th. It shoudl be Okuhle, Yvonne, and Henslop (our blind invetigator). We always have powerful lessons with Henslop because he's blind but you can tell he has felt something so powerful and he's had a mighty change, as the scriptures would say. Oh yeah, I also learned how to make dumbollo...it's an African steamed bread. It's awesome. Now I can make that for you when I get home. I hope you have a big pot though.

Well I'm still healthy and safe. Everything is going great. Much love :)

Love, elder robinson

Henslop

I basically got over my cold. I still had a runny nose all week but I was over the sore throat and achey body last week. Luckily I didn't have to stay inside because of it. Am I warm enough? Well as warm as I can be. You know how some places just aren't prepared for certain climates...I mean like the way the houses are set up. It's just cold. There's no insulation, the walls are brick, the floor has tiles and all we have are two small portable heaters. Yesterday it got below freezing by morning. But it's not too bad. By the time I leave here it should start warming up. I found out that I'll be staying in Sharpeville for the next 6 weeks at least. Transfers are this week and our whole district is the one having one guy leave.

So anyways this week...First of all on Wednesday Elder Kitimbo and I took my guitar proselyting. That was fun. We walked around singing hymns and stuff. It didn't sound too good...you know my voice and my companion doesn't help much. But it was fun. We met some cool people and played for some investigators and recent converts. It was a good day.

So yeah, that was fun.

You'll notice the shacks that go on forever.... you can see that they live in a shack yet they have a dish. The irony.

A picture of the Grace Bible church in Sebokeng. No, that is not a circus. It's a church and it's a very common thing in the townships.

A picture of the Rastafarian "last supper". Please go look up Rastafarian. you will be confused.

A picture of me holding a Christmas tree. I also look very confused. Do you remember the senior couple that worked with us in my last area, the Blooms? Well they are going home this month and gave me their Christmas tree. I wasn't sure what to think. Now I'll have a Christmas tree for Christmas.

Anyway, so the coolest story of the week:
So a few weeks ago we tracted into an old blind guy named Henslop...That's a weird name even for South Africa. He understood English well and was interested. We weren't sure how things were going but everytime we went he kept saying he was praying and he was seeing something different, but wouldn't say much more. Then this last week his son who's been missing for a few weeks turned up dead. It was a horrible situation. We weren't sure how things were going to turn out. On Friday we went to see Henslop. He had about the same expressions, not much was different. But then we taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ and when we got to baptism I asked him if he had a testimony. He proceeded to tell us his story how he's been trying to find the truth for a while. How he was raised in a church and wasted a lot of money on it only to realize it was false. He said he's had many people come to him from different churches but none felt like the truth. Then we came and he said something was different. He said he's been praying and he has felt a change come over his whole house since we've been there. He knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet and he said he is ready with his whole body and soul to join this church. He had never even visited the church but he had felt the spirit. So we put him on baptismal date and we got him to church on Sunday. He was so excited to come to church on Sunday. It was amazing. It is a lot like our experience with Prince. Except this guy is completely blind instead of just partly! We then saw Henslop again Sunday night and he was so happy. We've taught his wife once before but he said he's going to come to church every week from now on and he's going to do everything to get his wife there. I really hope that his wife will also gain a testimony and we can get them both baptized on the 27th of June when Henslop is scheduled.

This week we have one baptism on satuday the 6th of June. Lindiwe is getting baptized. She is the cousin of a member family and has been investigating for about years! She said she just never really took it seriously, you know trying to find the truth and all. But now that she has she is our most golden investigator. She is very excited to be baptized. It's gonna be good.

So yes, things are going very well. I'm having a blast and learning so much about the Book of Mormon again! It is so amazing how everytime you read that book you learn something new. Thanks so much for your support and your testimony. It strengthens mine. Much love and prayers.

Love, elder robinson