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