Monday, February 25, 2013

February 25. 2013


Dumela,
This week was freaking hot. I've never sweat so much just sitting still. It's ridiculous. I hope I'm here for the winter, apparently it's pretty mild so that would be awesome.
News. Botswana is going to be separating from the Joburg mission on July 1st. I don't know if I'll still be here or not, but probably since the church just spent a ton of money applying for a residency permit for me. Botswana and Namibia will be one mission. So if I do stay I could potentially serve in 2 missions and 3 countries. That would be pretty cool. It would suck to be separated from a bunch of the friends that I've made in the Joburg mission though. And I like my mission president here a lot too.  If it happens I'll be getting another mission call in the next few months though, so I'll let you know if anything happens.
I feel a lot better this week. The antibiotics the doctor gave me knocked out whatever was going on inside of me pretty quick. I'm glad. I felt like my head was going to explode. I probably just picked up something from our flat because it's pretty nasty, and it's anyone's guess what animals are creeping around inside of it at night. One thing for sure, cockroaches, and a lot of them.
I went on exchanges twice this week which was a really nice break. Even though one of them was in my own area and I still had to run it. I hope this next week goes by fast.
I'm still reading the old testament. I'm not doing it straight. I just add some reading in here and there around my study of the Book of Mormon. There's only so much "if you touch something that touched something that was next to a dead thing, you must wash yourself seven times, kill a goat, three lambs and two oxen, then do the hokie pokie and turn yourself around, then you'll only be considered unclean until the evening" that a guy can take all at one time. Every once in a while I come across something that is ridiculously awesome though. That's why I keep reading it. Kind of an interesting parallel to life I guess though. You have to wade through a lot of annoying stuff, and if you stick to it, you get to see something cool every once in a while.
Anyway, I love and miss you all. Peace out.
Elder Balmforth
P.s. 70/30 rule, totally true.

Monday, February 18, 2013

February 18. 2013

Family,
So last week I was sick, and by the time I emailed last week I thought that I was doing better, but by the end of the day I was feeling horrible. I actually ended up having to go to Gaborone to the doctor because the headaches and sweats and body pains were so bad. The doctor said that I had picked up some bacterial infection, but I don't know what it's called. She gave me some antibiotics and some pain medication and I ended up just trying to sleep for several days until I began to feel better. But now I'm good. But because of all of this, nothing much really happened to report on this week.
Saturday and Sunday we just tracted all day, which was quite an adventure with Elder Naku. 
I'm really excited for the end of the transfer. Only 2 more weeks.
I hope you all had an awesome Valentines day. Worst day for missionaries. I love and miss you all.
Elder Balmforth

Monday, February 11, 2013

february 11. 2013

Family,
Dumela. 
This week has been a little bit slow. I've had the craziest migraine headache that I've ever had and it lasted for like 4 days, 2 of which I could barely get out of bed. It really sucked, and none of the medication that I could find worked. Not that no medication would work, but I'm in a village in the middle of Botswana, so there's not a huge selection.
Other than that though, things are good. I've been battling with my companion to work in areas where people can actually get to church without having to sacrifice their food budget for the week, but it's paying off. We found a family within like 5 minutes of the chapel that are pretty awesome. I have a lot of hope for them.
We have water and electricity right now which is awesome. You never appreciate that kind of stuff until you lose it. The end of the world is really going to suck when we don't have any of that stuff. Another thing I've come  to appreciate is sliced bread and milk that doesn't go bad within hours of opening it. Count your blessings.
The people here are pretty similar in their habits to the people of South Africa  A lot of drinking, a lot of happy clappy churches, and a lot of self proclaimed prophets. If you're wondering what I'm talking about, get on YouTube and look up the "prophet" tb joshua, and you'll see what we contend with everyday. It's pretty sad. One of the big differences is that a ton more people here have aids. In fact since I've been here, I found out that the church publishes a pamphlet called "The Gospel and HIV/AIDS." The illustrations are pretty funny. If you ever get the chance to check it out, I recommend it. That sounds mean. The disease isn't humorous  the pamphlet is.
I went on exchange with Elder Hansen this week. He's the really goofy kid that had the really poofy hair at the airport that came up and started talking to me like we were old friends. He lives in my flat with me. I love him a lot though. He's pretty hilarious.
Anyway, that's about it.
I love and miss you.
Elder Balmforth
























Monday, February 4, 2013

February 4. 2013

Overall, this week was a good one. Especially the time not spent with my companion. Just kidding... But seriously though, it's true. He is crazy prideful, which is odd because he spends an absurd amount of time reading the Book of Mormon. It just doesn't make sense to me. Anyway, this week the work picked up quite a bit, and we had a couple of crazy experiences. First, I paid some guy to come and pile up all the dead branches and garbage and everything else we could find around our house into a couple of big piles and then we set them on fire. The flames were higher than the top of the house, and the heat was so intense that it almost melted Elder Hansen's camera as he was filming the experience from the roof top. It was awesome. Only in Botswana could we do stuff like that and have nobody look at us strange or ask any questions. It was awesome.
Also, while the guy was piling up stuff in the yard, we found a baby black mamba, and a millipede that was like a half an inch thick and almost a foot long. We caught them and put them in a container together and the millipede killed the snake. It was crazy.
I went on exchange with a missionary in my district named Elder Ouma. He's awesome. He's from Kenya but he's hilarious and we spend a lot of the time that we are together in our flat wrestling. I totally win of course.
We met this awesome family this week. Their name is the Odhiambo family, and they're from Kenya. They're pretty awesome. I hope it goes well. Our first visit went really well and they're excited to read the Book of Mormon. 
I love and miss you all and hope you have an awesome week. 
Elder Balmforth