September 9. 2013

Family,

This week was a good one except that somehow I caught another cold. It sucks but everything else was pretty awesome.

Last Monday Elder Dalton and I went to a Crocodile ranch for a tour. And since we were the only two people there the tour guide took us right down to the crocodiles to feed them. It was awesome. The tour guide was pretty crazy too. At one point he found a piece of PVC pipe and started poking the biggest crocodile they had in the face with it trying to make it mad. The whole time taunting it. It reminded me of that scene in Joe Dirt where he's doing the alligator show smoking a cigarette. It was just like that except with a black guy instead of a redneck.

We also had a zone meeting this week which was pretty lame, but afterward I went on an exchange with Elder Ouma. The same Elder Ouma that I lived with in Molepolole. It was pretty fun. He got to rant a little bit about how crazy his companion is. I already knew that though. I like him a lot. He's a good guy.

One night also as I was climbing into our truck to go to another appointment, I noticed that as I turned our headlights on there was an old woman standing up and peeing in front of the truck and she was so close that I could tell that she was well hydrated. It's a horrific image that is impossible to erase from your mind. 

Something really cool that happened, however, was an experience that we had with one of the families that we are teaching. The mother of the mother in the Kashira family lives in the UK and is a member of the church. One of the members of her ward from the UK is named Janet Taylor and is currently serving as a senior missionary in the genealogy center in the Johannesburg area office. Janet is good friends with the mother in the UK and has sponsored the family at times in their life but has never met them and we arranged to help them meet this last Saturday. It was pretty cool to see how excited they were. I think it helped with our teaching relationship as well.

Over all it was an interesting week. I love and miss you all. Have a good week.

Elder Balmforth

August 26. 2013

Family,

this will be brief. Sorry. This week was slow, but good. We had a bunch of investigators at church though which was cool.

We had our District Conference this week. It was pretty ridiculous. We had it in the same community hall we were having Sacrament meeting in a few weeks ago. There was a ton of people but the sound set up was horrible and the way the church members decorated the hall was super ridiculous. I couldn't understand basically anything that was said, but our investigators said they liked it, so whatever.

I've had some crazy African version of the flu for the last few days too which has sucked. If our toilet was capable of feelings, it would hate me.

Anyway, that's about it. I hope you all have a good week though.

Elder Balmforth

August 19. 2013

Family,

We've finally reached the end of another transfer. Only two left now. That means twelve weeks, crazy right?

I love my new companion, he's probably one of my very favorites that I've had thus far. Actually, he'll probably be my last unless something strange happens. We get along really well though. And, Elder Kavindja, from the other companionship that lives with us is leaving, and we're not exactly sad to see him go. So, all in all, it was a good week.

Our turnout at church this week wasn't anything special, but it was still good. We are still very blessed, and the area is many times better than when I first arrived. It was also good to be back to a normal church schedule again, now that the roof of the chapel is finished.

We did our Mormon helping hands project on Saturday. It was actually a lot of fun to get out and do some service. Nice not to wear Sunday clothes for once. Elder Dalton and I did work, the other two missionaries are some of the laziest guys I've seen though. But it's OK, we're having a change tomorrow.

Next week we have our district conference, and since we live in a mission dependent district, President Omer is like the Stake President, so I get to see him again this week. I like that guy a lot.

Anyway, I love and miss you all. See you soon.

Elder Balmforth

August 13. 2013

Family,

Thank you for all of the birthday wishes. It was really fun. In fact the reason that I couldn't write yesterday is because we had the chance to go to Kruger National Park. It was awesome. It was like a safari where we were able to see wild buffalo, zebra, deer, wart hogs, a leopard, giraffe, and a ton of elephants and hippos. In fact we ended up in the middle of this whole herd of elephants, big and small. Our truck made one of the elephants that we came across mad and it started to make a big scene about our presence. It was really cool. I'll try to send the pictures next week as I don't have a lot of time today.

We had a zone conference in Johannesburg where we watched the new mission president seminar the work of salvation. It was really cool. I loved it. I'm so glad that the presidency decided to show it to the whole church. If you haven't seen it yet, you should.

I was also able to meet my new companion Elder Dalton when I went down. He's from Monroe, UT, is twenty years old and is about six months on mission so far. He's a really cool guy though and I like him a lot. He might be my last, how crazy is that? And, as of today I have only thirteen weeks left. Ninety-two days. One week left of the transfer, and only two more transfers. It feels so weird. Good, but weird.

We also had a good week at church. We're meeting in our chapel again finally, although we can only have sacrament meeting because the entire building isn't finished yet. It was good though. We had the confirmation of Joel who was baptised last week which was cool, and a bunch of our investigators showed up again, even some new ones.

I love and miss you all so very much. I hope your week was as good as mine was. 

Elder Balmforth

August 5.2013

Family,

This week was a good one. We had a baptism for a boy that we've been teaching named Joel yesterday. He's from a part member family. He showed up late and freaked us out though. Punk. The actual baptism and program went smoothly though.

We also had a lot of investigators at church again. The ones we have are coming quite consistently now and most of them are scheduled for baptism at the end of September. It should be good. And all the investigators that came to church stayed afterward to attend the baptism which was really cool.

On Saturday we received a call from President Omer informing us that my companion Elder Pedersen is being transferred early. Apparently some of the missionaries that are supposed to be going to Zimbabwe are having problems obtaining visas, so our mission is temporarily absorbing them until the problem can be sorted out. So they have to shift us around to make it all happen. My new companion's name is Elder Dalton, and yes it's a different Dalton from my second companion. I'll meet him on Thursday when we are going down to Johannesburg for a Zone Conference. He's from the same group as Elder Pedersen, and he tells me that he's a really cool guy. From what I understand though, he's huge.

Other news, Elder Bednar is coming to visit my mission in October so odds are that I'll meet another Apostle. Crazy right?.

That's all folks. I love and miss you all.

Peace out.

Elder Balmforth

July 29.2013

Thobela,

Hello everyone, I hope you each had an awesome week. It was pretty slow, but ended well this side of the world.

We were supposed to have a baptism on Sunday, but the chapel is undergoing some renovations so we had to meet in the Community centre which meant that we didn't have access to the baptismal font. Also, at the rate the construction workers are going it wont be finished for several weeks, so we're not quite sure when the baptism will be. I suppose we could just do it in the river that runs through our area, but I believe that the ratio of water to sewage has shifted in favour of the sewage, and I'm scared enough of the HIV as it is. So we'll wait.

Work was pretty slow going this week, but it ended well. We had a bunch of investigators at church again this week which was awesome. All have a lot of potential for baptism in the upcoming months. It was really cool. Heavenly Father has been blessing Elder Pedersen and I a lot this last little while. We have done something to please the referral gods. We've been getting referrals like crazy.

This week we're half way through the transfer which means I only have 2.5 left which equates to 15 weeks. Crazy right. It has been going by slow and fast all at the same time. I am super excited to come home though.

I love and miss you all.

Peace out.

Elder Balmforth

July 22. 2013

Everyone,

This week was actually a really good one. I'm still happy that it's Monday though. We didn't do anything cool last Monday, nor do we have anything really cool planned for this one, but the work was pretty good.

Yesterday we had two father led families at church that loved it and are planning on coming back next week. One of the we committed to baptism on the 29th of March. Elder Pedersen and I have a lot of hope for them.

We've basically given up tracting. We acquired a copy of the branch's membership list and have been going through and trying to locate part member families and less actives. We've also been visiting weekly each of the main active families in our area to teach them how to have family home evening and to try and squeeze some referrals out of them. It's been working to our benefit so far. And we're only on page 4 out of 21 total. So wish us luck.

We have a baptism planned for next week. A boy named Joel, who has a brother who is a member already. He's a cool kid. I like him a lot. We'll keep you updated as far as that goes.

It has been pretty awesome this week. Heavenly Father has blessed us a lot. I hope it has been the same for you all. I love you.

Elder Balmforth