April 22.2013

Family,

I'm sorry for not writing last week. Things were a little bit hectic and all over the place. I hope you forgive me.

This week was pretty uneventful. We haven't had water all week. I think this has bee the longest that we've been without water here. We're going to have to start going to the store and just buying bottles of water.

It's finally starting to cool down a lot too. We've actually begun to turn off the fans around the house and wear sweaters in the mornings. It's been a nice change of pace. I hope it doesn't get as cold here as it does in South Africa though.

We finally had the chance to watch the Sunday sessions of conference this week. they were pretty awesome. I really liked L. Tom Perry's and D. Todd Christopherson's talks. I think Elder Christopherson is my favorite of the 12. He's a super classy guy. I'd like to be like him someday, or at least be able to understand all of the words he uses. 

I really liked the boldness of all of the speakers, especially the 12. It was inspiring.

Elder Fraga was able to talk to his family last night because they're going to be out of the U.S. for mother's day. I'm glad that he was able to talk to them, but it made me really miss home and talking with all of you. I get to call in less than 3 weeks now though.

I love and miss you all.

Elder Balmforth

April 6. 2013

Humans,

Greetings from Botswana. This week has been pretty slow. Elder Fraga was pretty sick for most of the week so our proselyting time was affected. To be honest though, I didn't mind. It was nice to have a break. Turns out he was just really dehydrated. The African sun will do that to you sometimes.

I've had a lot on my mind this week with everything that's been going on this week. It's been pretty distracting. I don't think that I would've gotten a lot done even if Elder Fraga had been feeling well.

We haven't had a chance to watch conference yet. Probably won't for quite a while. I'm looking forward to it though. I hear it's good.

I love and miss you all.

Elder Balmforth

April 2.2013

People,

How are you? Good? Good. Life has been just normal here in Botswana. A lot of drunk people, a lot of naked people, and a lot of false prophets.

Easter here is quite a bit different than it is back home. I've never seen so many people celebrate the atoning sacrifice of the Savior by getting wasted. A part of me just thinks that that isn't the way He wants it done. Just saying though. All of the churches have been doing a bunch of "Miracle Crusades" in celebration of the Easter holiday as well. People just don't seem to grasp what the gift of tongues really is or why vomiting a puppy isn't a miracle (Not one that comes from God anyway).

During most of the holidays here, people leave and go to their home villages so as far as teaching went this week, it was slow. We did go to a zone meeting in Kanye this week. My zone leader insisted that we take a ridiculously long taxi ride to save k's on the car, but after an hour and a half of waiting for the taxi to show up, we drove anyway. It made me happy that my aspiring zone leader didn't get his way.

Anyway, on a more Christlike note, I'm on the last chapter of the Book of Mormon again. I love that book. My goal is to one day be able to say that I've read it scores of times. It's taken me a long time to read it this time because I was reading all of the commentary in the student manual along side it. Next time I think I'm going to read it quite a bit faster. I understand more and more everytime. Read it, it'll blow your mind. I love you all. 

Elder Balmforth out!

March 25. 2013

Good morning,

This week was pretty uneventful as far as unique african experiences go. But we did have quite a bit of success which was awesome. We had a family and several other investigators at church which was awesome. It feels good to have success now and then. Elder Fraga and I have been working pretty hard, so it's nice to see fruits.

Our zone leaders came and went on splits with us this week which was ok, but I don't like when they come because they always just tell us what we need to do better, and then I just hate them because I already know it and they just point it out again. I'm only a little bitter. I guess I'm just not the robot they think a missionary should be. But they don't matter anyway, so it's ok.

On a more fun note though, we've been having a ton of crazy wrestling tournaments with the Elders in my flat. Mainly against Elder Brown. But It's a lot of fun and I'm going to miss this time when it ends.

I'm almost done with the Book of Mormon again. I love it so much. Someday I wan't to be able to say that I've read it scores of times.

I love and miss you all.

Elder Balmforth

March 18. 2013

Family,

Happy St. Patrick's Day yesterday. I don't think they celebrate it here in Botswana, but it's probably a good thing, because the people would just have another excuse to get hammered. And the people are already crazy sometimes even without the added alcohol. 

Church is really hard to get through here sometimes. Some of the members here are just so used to Preachers ranting at the front of congregations that it confuses them as to how the church is actually supposed to be. It's just because the church is still so new here. We finally heard the new mission president's name, but I forgot it, so sorry. You can probably look it up though.

This week was pretty hectic. We spent 3 days in Gaborone working on immigration and having President's interviews and a zone conference. I feel like we haven't spent like any time in our own area. The time we have spent here was pretty awesome though. There's this family named Mpho and Phemo with their son Kevin that is going to get baptized next month that we're working with. They're pretty awesome. We just have to start the ridiculously long marriage process with them now, but they have both decided that is what is best for their family and so it should go pretty smoothly.

Life with Elder Fraga is pretty awesome. Having a companion that you like makes everything in life so much easier. And having a greenie in the flat to beat up helps too.

I love and miss you all.

Elder Balmforth

March 11. 2013 Elder Fraga

ELDER FRAGA IS HERE!!! Elder Fraga is my new companion and it's awsome. I can't believe this actually happened. I did pray and fast for it though. He's like my best friend on mission, and this last week has been so much fun.

This week has been pretty slow. Especially because we only had a couple of actual working days because of all the changes that happened for transfers and it took our new companions forever to come up here from South Africa. This week will probably be the same because tomorrow we have to go down to Gaborone to get all of the immigration stuff done for the new missionaries which takes forever, then we have to go back down on Thursday and stay over night because we have interviews with the mission president one day and then a zone conference the next, so hopefully we're able to get some stuff done in the time that we have.

One night as we were checking up on one of the families we're trying to begin teaching we had to cross this little river and found a ton of these crabs and so we caught a couple of them and took them home and cooked them. We couldn't muster up the courage to eat them though since the water we found them was probably 50 percent cow manure. they do make cool decorations for the flat though, and they turn this cool orange color when you boil them.

Anyway, that's about it.

I love and miss you all.

Elder Balmforth

march 4. 2013

Hello Everyone,

This week has been the longest week of my life. I have felt like the seconds have been hours. It's ridiculous, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm getting a new companion! And one of the AP's said that he's really awesome. I'm hoping that it's Elder Fraga because both he and I have been hinting at it to the AP's. Keep your fingers crossed, I find out tomorrow. But I'm dropping Elder Naku off in Gaborone tonight so he can leave first thing in the morning back to South Africa. 

There were a couple of cool things that happened this week though. First we climbed Kgale Hill, which is the biggest hill in Bots. It's pretty small still, but it was still a really fun hike. We did it first thing in the morning and cooked steak and eggs at the top over a fire. It was awesome. I got some really cool pictures too.

We've also found some really cool families this week. They didn't come to church yet, but I'm trying to be hopeful.

Other than that nothing has happened at all. Other than trying to help people understand that TB Joshua is not a true prophet.

I love you all though, and I miss you.

Elder Balmforth