Really Felt Like a Rebirth

We have been without a car this whole week. On foot. The Zone Leaders who work in Springs give all 4 of us a ride to the area and then we have to walk while the other elders at least have the bikes to get around. It a lot of fun.. not. The mission president was just happy we were safe. He really didnt say much about it.

I'm pretty sure they celebrate Christmas the same way we do. That's the next holiday coming up. Next Monday we are getting together with a bunch of missionaries next Monday and having a big Thanksgiving feast. We will be able to call home for Christmas. I'm excited for that. I am not sure how its going to work but I'll let you know as soon as we get the details figured out.

I have been in Tsakane a while. In fact today is my 4 month in Africa. Then December 14th will be my 4 month in Tsakane. Time is just flying by. Usually they keep you in your greeny area about 6 months. If not it will be 4.5 months. Then after that it really depends on a lot of things but an average time in an area is about 4.5 months if not 3 months. I love this are though. It's true that my companion is pretty quiet but he's way cool and a great teacher. I got really lucky to get him as my follow-up trainer. Really lucky actually....because there are a lot of stuck up missionaries. More than you know.

So this week was pretty frustrating but ended good. As you know our car got wrecked. So the bikes we normally share with the other elders had no way of being transported out of their area that day. Basically that has put Elder Burnett and I on foot for the past week. Not fun. I know that plenty of elders have to walk around the world so I really have no right to complain. It's just hard to plan especially when you don't know how long it takes to walk here or there. Plus when we want to check on someone we have to make sure they are close to us or our next appointment. It makes it pretty frustrating. We had zone conference this week in which we learned to use more effective ways of finding people. We're trying this walk-about thing which you take a member around their neighborhood and ask about the different neighbors they know. Then you try to make a plan and get them to do the missionary work. The missionaries then come in at the end to teach the doctrine. So we'll see how that goes. It was perfect because on Sunday we watched a conference talk on DVD in the combined lesson. The talk was the one by Elder Bednar where he says "missionaries are full time teachers while members are full time finders". That was perfect. Plus on Sunday we had a baptism which always spurs missionary work.

So the baptism went great. We ended up having 5 ladies baptized on Sunday. I got to baptize for the first time and I baptized 3 of the 5. It was way sweet. It was a little unnerving especially since the 3 were fairly big girls. But all went well and it all worked out. It was again very stressfull but it all went ok. The testimony of one in particular, Zola, really struck me. We've taught her a lot (ever since I've been here) and she's really come to feel something strong... she just doesn't say it. But on Sunday she bore it out where she said that the baptism really felt like a rebirth. Yes.... yes. I was so happy. Then we ended the day with some sweet lessons. The week really ended well.

I'm doing well. Healthy and safe! Thanks for your support and prayers! I love
you!

Love, your elder robinson