Sept 13, 2010

Well as exciting and successful as last week was...this week wasn't quite up to par. It was still a good week...or maybe i just say it was good to try to seem positive, but yeah, definitely not what it was like last week. It really was a rollercoaster week again. Up and down and hard to keep solid things happening. I can recount a couple of good times tho...We did see the Williams family again..and remember this is a mother led family and we're working with them to progress toward baptism as they've already accepted. Unfortunately she's going through a rough divorce right now, which is causing a lot of stress on the family and particularly to her. So we had a decent appointment with her and her daughter with this guy Ofentse, who will be playing for the sharks (durban rugby team) who's a member of the church. He's going to play next year. He's a big kid but way cool. Anyway, so we took him with us over there and had a good appointment with the mother and daughter. Truly just listening and adapting our teaching to meet their needs. Personal experiences were shared that were exactly what they needed to hear. And Sis Williams, before we had got there, tried to send an sms to cancel on us, but fortuantely the sms never came so we showed up to her house anyway, and in the end it was defintely a discussion she and her daughter needed to hear. We read from the BOM and shared some of our favorite scriptures during times of trial that really help us. By the end, it was exactly what they needed to hear and really helped sis Williams find that comfort... Alright anyway, so i got this new shoulder bag, it's even in one of the pics that i sent, it's pretty rad and people are definitely jealous of it. So i'm going to recount a story of what happened to me when i got that new bag...keep in mind it was only R50 and really cheap. But looks way cool! So i get it on saturday and i go out with Elder Naylor (blond in pics) and we're out and i'm feeling way good about my bag, and he's way jealous of it and all this stuff..and i start talking to this guy through the fence, well just over a fence i guess...it was only up to my chest i'd say. And it's a gate that has bars and it can slide so the car can come in and out. Anyway, so he's got these dogs, 2 of which are pretty mean and one little guy. So as we were following up with this guy and inviting him to church, one of the big dogs jumps through the fence up to his shoulders, so he gets his head through, and bites hold of my new bag! He tore my bag in half! Pamphlets go flying as it's really windy outside. As i fight this dog off he eventually lets go...i'm sure my facial expressing was one of amazement and shock as i looked at my companion. I then turn to the guy we were talking to and all he says is, "sorry about your bag man" i quickly reply, "o no worries, i've had it for a long time" as if to not make the guy realize it meant everything to me...haha. As my companion and i walk back to our car around the corner i really couldnt believe that just happened. I got in the car and said, "that's it, i'm done." Luckily we had a Less active family to see which made my desire to work a little greater. O! And on Sept. 11, still that day, we Americans got together and had a nice Braai, bought some meat and then cooked it, very nice! That was our celebration of the day. Except one English guy had to be there...but it's ok. O then, even that night, which actually cheered me up, my companion and i were invited to a dinner at the Flowerdays from 1st ward. (since i used to be in that ward) So Elder Schamel, Legge (his comp) and us two went there and had a nice dinner. We ate Warthog. It was pretty good. It was really good just to catch up on the family and see how they've been. Their son has now been on mission in London England for about 5 months so it was good to hear how he's been. But yeah, it was a really good evening. Other than that, the week was exactly what i said. Really up and down. Dang, nvm. I remember what else. On friday evening the ward had an activity night in which it was a Talent Show. So all 4 of us in the ward of course went and supported. Last minute we decided to throw down a talent all 4 of us. It was a skit. "A day in the life of a missionary" but we made it pretty funny. We had Elder Fozard (from england, white guy, dark hair in pics) do the commentating, then elder Naylor and myself did the acting out, and we had elder Aires be a couple investigators. It was really funny tho. We had lots of people commment on it after. We just picked random places throughtout the day and acted them out...like for service we swept the stage, and then Elder Naylor and i bumped into eachother and had a sword fight with our broom sticks to show what missionaries really do during service...just random stuff ya know...anyway. It was pretty good and i have it all recorded on my camera. But yeah, that was really a good night for us. Except this older lady in the ward hurt her leg in her talent and we had to help her get home and she fell on me when we laid her back into her bed..it was really funny. But other talents were singing, dancing, art, cooking, etc. There were probably almost 100 people there..so it was a good turn out. Every other day was just usual so nothin to report on. Just finding and teaching. Elder Naylor and i are getting along fine, i hope this email is interesting enough. Count down! 2 more emails then that's it! Yeah!

August 30, 2010

Hey, another week has gone. What i can say is that it's been pretty decent...We moved out of our old place where we were living with two elders..awaiting our new flat that we'd move into...as we got there...we found it a bit different than expected. Small. Definitely. Lacking in mirrors, cupboards, and odd and end things...plus the hot water runs out super quick. But hey, now a week living there...it's not too bad. There are two mdantsane (zone near by) elders who are also living next door to us that just moved in...their place is super small! haha. But for my last month or so...it'll be fine to stay it. It's still getting worked on, and there's lots of construction going on around the house, but we'll deal with it. The week had it's ups and downs. We focused on a lot of finding. As our teaching pool is basically zerooo. We have maybe one progressing investigator who we might give a baptismal date to this week...but other than that...the other elders really didnt work our area much...and so we're starting from ground up. We've found some good people, and do have a lot of appointments set up for this week. So hopefully things will be ok...We've definitely already started sifting through those that are most exciting and we see could have potential..and kinda dropping those who dont. It's what we gotta do. This last month of mine is too short to waste it with jokers. We're struggling to find solid families to teach..so we hope that will change when we follow up on these appointments through the week. The only good thing is we found a guy, saw him 3 times during the week, and he came to church yesterday...so that was nice. His name is Kaya. He's 23 i think. A good guy. We always had to teach him outside on the grass for the first 2 times...but then the last time we saw him a storm was coming so he thankfully let us come into his house...and we had a good chat about the BOM and prayer...And i think he enjoyed church so that was good. Church was nice because it was ward conference so we were able to see the stake presidency talk...and it was focused on 1 nephi 8 and the tree of life. Mostly about the families as well. Good talks...and overall just a good attendance at church. It was fully packed in the room and so they had to open up the back for more seats..which hasn't happened in a long time. So as we've been knocking around on doors all week...well not all week...but at least an hour a day...my comp has been getting more comfortable i think. Even in his teaching. I still do a lot of the talking...which is what i'd rather do anyway...i seem to put things a bit better...but of course he's improving it just takes the time. The two of us are getting along just fine. Anyway, i for some reason have lost my desire to write this email because i'm being distracted. But yeah, things are fine, totally crazy people we're finding, but we're enjoying it. Thanks! Enjoy the week!
Elder Devenney

August 23, 2010

Well, there has been a bit of a change again in my location of the mission, as well as my assignment of responsibilities. No big deal tho. What has happened is that I'm no longer a Zl, but training instead. Which is exactly what i wanted to do before i left this mission. I'm no longer in Port Elizabeth, but headed back to East London, just a different area and different ward. So i used to be in EL 1st ward, but now i'm in EL 3rd ward...which is just a bit different. What's nice about it tho is that since i was here 6 months ago, i already know some of the members in this ward, and i basically know my way around the city, so that's a huge blessing in itself. I'll tell you more about it just now... Elder Moorcroft and i were definitely bummed to say goodbye to eachother, but it had to happen i guess. Yo we had a blast together..probably one of my top favorite companions for sure! I've been so blessed in that area of my mission. I just hope my comps feel the same about me...Anyway, we got a call wednesday morning that i'd be transfered and that i'd be training. I said some good byes to a few peeps and then hopped on a bus that next morning at 6:30 AM! where we travelled to EL. It's about a 4 hour trip. We were thankfully on a nice bus over, they had tv screens and they played some funny jet li movie and then some movie with John Cena in it. We got to EL about mid afternoon, then i got my companion soon after that. His name is Elder Naylor. He's from Centerville, and looks like any greenie would look. A bit awkward, out of place, all that good stuff. I've been trying to make him feel as welcomed as possible so he's not homesick or anything. He's a pretty chill guy tho for sure. He graduated in 2009 and yeah, seems like we'll get a long just fine together. The ward used to have 4 elders in it, then about 6 months ago, because of the shortage of missionaries, they had to take two out. So the ward has only had 2 missionaries in it for that last 6 months. So with my comp and i, we were put back in, and now the ward again has 4 elders. We're basically working an area that has had hardly any work done to it in 6 months. I really dont think we have too many progressing investigators, just a couple Recent Converts, but that's about it. So my comp and i have our hands full to get this area back on it's feet. From our first couple of days in the area tho, we've found that it has a lot of potential. It's a bit of a distance from the chapel tho so that's a bit of a bummer. Well really not too bad, only like a 10 min drive i'd say. But not everyone has cars...It's a bit of a lower class area for the most part. Well not all of it, we have variety to work with so it should be alright. On saturday, it was the Mormon Helping Hands, and there were over 100 peeps that showed up from the ward to go to these two different childrens homes and fix them up, we made a garden, that sort of stuff. It was really nice. And Elder Schamel is now back in EL1st ward, (where i used to be) and so we were together again for this Helping Hands. We were companions during last years helping hands in Namibia so that was pretty sweet to see him again. It's been about 7 1/2 months since i've seen him. Shortly after that, which took most of the morning, we started just knockin around in our area doing some finding. Surprisingly enough, we had tons of success. We taught 2 lessons and got a few good solid return appointments. During this time Elder Naylor turns to me and is like, "do people always want us back this easy" i told him no, so don't get used to it. But truly we've already found some good success and prospective people to work with. We're very grateful about that. Also, this area feeds missionaries a ton! My last area we hardly ever got fed but guess what, the ward has it set up that we have 1 DA every day! that's so sweet! I might just get fat in this area before i come home! haha. K maybe not, but we'll see what happens. On sunday, the church is very nice. It's a different style building. The sacrament room was packed, so that was nice to see. We have an awesome bishop, who i've met before when i used to be here...we actually are living in the back of his house. He's bishop Van Heerden, he's like 28 or something. Very cool guy. After church we took this guy, Andisiwe, who was a little strange, but got to show us around for a little bit. We taught 3 powerful lessons, of which were basically my comps first real lessons being taught. One of which we gave out the BOM and he's like, "technically that was my first BOM placed." He's a goon. He's still learning a lot and has definite room to improve...at one point in the lesson he was teaching about the Apostasy, then stopped, looked at me with a horrid look and had to ask what was next. I kinda just smiled and told him what to say. He's doing really well tho. I'm proud of my boy! And i think he really enjoyed the tracting...probably because we actually found success. O and he even had his first door slammed in his face by this Afrikaaner who i started talking to about Cape Town, specifically Bellville, and i said it was a nice place, and he said "you obviously dont know sh*t" and slammed the door. I told him that one was worth a journal entry! haha. Overall, we have a lot of work to do this coming 6 weeks. I'm excited for the new challenge of training and i think Elder Naylor and i will definitely be doing some good work here. I hope you enjoy the week and i hope this gives a good idea of where i'm at! O yeah, and on last monday we went to Kragga Kamma game park, you'll see a pic or so, and then also we checked out the nelson Mandela Bay soccer stadium in PE. We toured it and it was cool! The pics are me and moorcroft. I'll send others next time.

Post update

Good morning! The week was a bit up and down. We were hardly here in PE at all...since we went and took a road trip down to George and Knysna for exchanges. We left, took some sweet pics along the way...and got down to Knysna. We were in Knysna with the 2 elders there, Elder Randriamalala from Madagascar, and Elder Leach from Washington. It was a good day down there and we for sure enjoyed our exchanges. Our very last appointment we were sitting (elder rand and i) with these 3 dudes around in a little shack and i could fell i'm giong to get sick...i just knew it was going to happen. So as we left Knysna that night, (thursday night) to drive an hour or so to George, yup, i was sick and it all started there. We got to George, and that next morning i woke up with runny nose and the works. I almost didnt feel well enough to go out that day with Elder Frost but i felt that i had better go since it would suck way bad for him not to go on an exchange with me for that day. We just followed up on a bunch of people...then just had one real appointment where i was constantly leaning my head back so snot wouldnt drip out of my nose. But yeah, we spent one more night there, then drove back on Saturday morning, always stopping at sweet places and taking some pics. It's about a 4 hour or a bit more of a drive there, so it's quite a hefty road trip. Elder Moorcroft and I really enjoyed ourselves tho. It was way fun. We got some good instruction given to the Elders and everything, but just the time in the car is the best. We went to tsitsikamma the largest bungy jump in the world, stopped there took some pics and watched some people jump. Eventually we got back to our area, tried to see a couple of people, we saw Deng, made sure he was ready for sunday and the confirmation. Yeah, that was about it on saturday. Sunday i woke up and was still not feeling too great...went to church and all that, it was good. Then we had a way nice meal...o of which i could hardly taste anything that i was eating. That was the biggest bummer. We tried to see some people...but a lot just wasn't working out. Then we went to Bishops house and he gave us a bit of food, at the end of the night, and we just chatted for a little while. We got back and i hit the sack. I'm feeling a bit better today...i've been taking some med and it's been helping. But yeah, that's really all that's going on. I'll just try to send a couple of pics, i think that would make this email so much better. Thanks for everything! Sorry this is short and sucky! Enjoy the week!
Elder Devenney no pics...i suck...they wouldnt get smaller

august 9th
Alright well this week has been pretty good. I'll probably be brief as i've got a few things to do here as well as write this email to you. Um...Really there's not too much to tell. haha. The focus for the week throughout the mission was to improve our Personal and Companionship studies...and Elder Moorcroft and i did decent at it...idunno why but we sometimes get distracted with other things during our studies which cause us just to forget time. There are many great things tho that we talked about throughout the week...actually. One day we had a good deep conversation about some stuff, others we actually felt it better to just do some intense updating in the area book...things like that. But it was a good thing for us to work on, and there's definitely some room for improvement. There's some great things happening, or about to happen with us. Deng, our Sudanese dude who's studying here at the University, should be good to be baptized this coming sunday. So we're pretty stoked about him. He got up and bore his testimony yesterday at church and all i can say is he's awesome. Such a good guy, so yeah that'll be happening this coming sunday. Also at church, we've been teaching this family, the Canterbury's, a white father led family, with kids and everything. Yesterday, one of the sons mark and his gf candice came to church. They're probably like 20 or so...mark is a little strange...i think he might have some funny thing going on in his head. We're teaching about the POS to his family on Saturday and he'll just randomly say, "why do the dogs always bark when the birds are out, does that mean that they know eachother are there?" or he commented on this spray mist that cleans out your eye and takes away all the bad air particles...random stuff! We'll ask him a question, and the response will be just like, "have you guys read that book?" Or something crazy...we kinda just laugh it off or try to relate whatever his answer is to some gospel principle like, "yes mark, that's right, opposition in all things!" haha. K it's hard to describe the situation, he's not mental or anything, just alittle out there i guess...haha. But anyway, him and his gf showed up to church yesterday, his gf is a normal person, but not attractive (thought i could mention that) and it was so funny, as the water was coming around for sacrament, mark was like "i think i'll have two" and took one in each hand, took them like a shot, and put em back in the cup holder. My comp was passing, and i looked up at him and we both couldnt restrain ourselves...luckily we saved a good laugh about it later on. I guess it's just you gotta be there...But anyway...yeah church was good...just a little dry during testimonies... The week has been up and down. A lot of things fell through throughout the week. BUt we still managed to see our usuals. We saw the Rodericks after a few week break from them. It was mostly a just resolving concerns appointment. Kinda about "why does God allow bad things to happen to good people" things like that..they were satisfied with the answers tho. We did quite a bit of Less active work as well. Probably spent a good sufficent time with LA's each day and more in total this week than i've spent since i've been here in this area. Overall things are fine. We're planning some good things today and have a pretty busy day as it is. We have 3 solid appointments later on tonight, so our pday might be a bit shortened. But hopefully we'll be playing some tennis and bball before that. K anyway, really, not too much to tell ya. There's really lots of good stuff happening...so just know we're busy lots of the day...haven't had to do much finding this week since we do have a pretty decent size teaching pool. O and there were these 2 girls from Holland here...and at our Dinner Appointment we got to know them a little bit more. They're here for a service for 8 weeks or something. But yeah, good from far, but far from good. We went to the Fourie family, totally a crazy family. Reminds me of home just a tad. But yeah, tons of food, so good, loved it! it was the best meal for sure of the week. Bro Fourie is nuts tho, it was his bday and he makes the craziest comments ever. I cant explain cuz you'd just have to be there... That's all i have i suppose...Thanks! Elder Devenney Pics this week! One pic is My comp and I and the Cleary District. Elder Malobola on left, Rogers, Tanner, Bagenzi, Me and Moorcroft. Another is from Cleary with the branch pres and 1st coun. Pres Barendse and Bro Pullun. Pres on my left. The other is i think just the soccer stadium at night.

August 2
So i hope this email will be decent. Really i'll just update you overall on how the week went probably. Time is limited as it always seems to be unfortunately. We're pushing to go bowling and we've been writing reports for the past hour + and it's been pretty hectic. But hey, i dont wanna leave this email out so i'll at least write a little bit. The week ended a lot better than last week. We had like no one at church last week, but yesterday we had a bunch of investigators come. It was great. Obviously we planned to have more come than those that actually did, but it's still alright. We had a family of 5 come to church. It was pretty dope! They were friend shipped quite well and got a warm welcome from everyone, and even stayed all 3 hours. it's a family from Rwanda. Father is named Celestin, etc etc. I dunno their surname. But yeah, very nice! Others also showed up, including mama mudapakati, the ma that should be getting baptized soon but yeah, still not ready. Also had Deng! Idunno if you'll remember me saying anything about Deng, but before the world cup he was progressing great. For holiday he went back to Sudan and visited family, and just got back this last week for school starting. He's going into Civil Engineering and is way cool. We saw him friday for the first time back and he's just so ready to be baptized. We gave him a baptismal date for the 8th of august, and of course he said yes. He's so humble, but very wise. One day i'll show pics of all these people...But yeah then we saw him saturday, and he of course came to church...he's sweet. So yeah, he's really our only baptism coming up now...Also had some others come to church...but yeah... Elder Moorcroft and i are doing just fine. I think we laugh too much...every situation we find something to laugh about after. People are just crazy...whether it's the people themselves, the fellowshipper, whatever whatever. That's what's making a good companionship for the two of us. We just get along fine and it makes the work a lot more fun. We're finding a lot of success as well as we're finding and stuff. I went on two exchanges this week...one going back to Cleary with Elder Tanner in his area. I got to see some familiar faces of those that i was teaching when i was there, as well as some members. Including Gine and Tiffany...the recent converts...they're sweet. At least they wont forget about me when i'm home...haha. I built a good friendship i suppose when i was there so it's always great to see them again. I also had Elder Masika, just here in the district in the Lorraine ward, anyway we went on exchanges and it was kinda interesting. He's a good man from Kenya. Yeah he's good just kina young on mission and pretty quiet. Nice guy tho. Oh we also had Zone Conference on Thursday and it was fine. The focus is on "working to strengthen relationships with stake and ward leaders". And we did a workshop about how to make a more effective progress record...which went just fine. It's a long day as usual...and got pretty tiring but it was still nice to see some people. It was a combined zone conference with P.E. and Kwanobuhle zones together. There were lots of things discussed so i wont bore you with that stuff... Our days are getting more and more full and we've just been teaching like crazy it seems. Already our week right now is full til Thursday...almost every hour of the day is packed with appointments...which is a good thing but it can get tiring as well. But we're doing fine. I'll just look at it like a good thing no worries. K idunno what else to say...i'm drawing a blank. I'm enjoying myself....my comp is chill and we get along as i said. No problems nor anything out of the ordinary except random people not wanting to see us for various reasons, rejection, slammed doors, dog chases, sickness from eating greasy egggs that my comp made for me and now i feel a bit weird, yup yup all the usual. I'm good and that's all for the week. Sorry it's a lame one...but Bowling is what we're going to go do and i've been here for wayyy too long already. Peace Elder Devenney

July 26th, 2010

So i hope this email will be decent. Really i'll just update you overall on how the week went probably. Time is limited as it always seems to be unfortunately. We're pushing to go bowling and we've been writing reports for the past hour + and it's been pretty hectic. But hey, i dont wanna leave this email out so i'll at least write a little bit. The week ended a lot better than last week. We had like no one at church last week, but yesterday we had a bunch of investigators come. It was great. Obviously we planned to have more come than those that actually did, but it's still alright. We had a family of 5 come to church. It was pretty dope! They were friend shipped quite well and got a warm welcome from everyone, and even stayed all 3 hours. it's a family from Rwanda. Father is named Celestin, etc etc. I dunno their surname. But yeah, very nice! Others also showed up, including mama mudapakati, the ma that should be getting baptized soon but yeah, still not ready. Also had Deng! Idunno if you'll remember me saying anything about Deng, but before the world cup he was progressing great. For holiday he went back to Sudan and visited family, and just got back this last week for school starting. He's going into Civil Engineering and is way cool. We saw him friday for the first time back and he's just so ready to be baptized. We gave him a baptismal date for the 8th of august, and of course he said yes. He's so humble, but very wise. One day i'll show pics of all these people...But yeah then we saw him saturday, and he of course came to church...he's sweet. So yeah, he's really our only baptism coming up now...Also had some others come to church...but yeah... Elder Moorcroft and i are doing just fine. I think we laugh too much...every situation we find something to laugh about after. People are just crazy...whether it's the people themselves, the fellowshipper, whatever whatever. That's what's making a good companionship for the two of us. We just get along fine and it makes the work a lot more fun. We're finding a lot of success as well as we're finding and stuff. I went on two exchanges this week...one going back to Cleary with Elder Tanner in his area. I got to see some familiar faces of those that i was teaching when i was there, as well as some members. Including Gine and Tiffany...the recent converts...they're sweet. At least they wont forget about me when i'm home...haha. I built a good friendship i suppose when i was there so it's always great to see them again. I also had Elder Masika, just here in the district in the Lorraine ward, anyway we went on exchanges and it was kinda interesting. He's a good man from Kenya. Yeah he's good just kina young on mission and pretty quiet. Nice guy tho. Oh we also had Zone Conference on Thursday and it was fine. The focus is on "working to strengthen relationships with stake and ward leaders". And we did a workshop about how to make a more effective progress record...which went just fine. It's a long day as usual...and got pretty tiring but it was still nice to see some people. It was a combined zone conference with P.E. and Kwanobuhle zones together. There were lots of things discussed so i wont bore you with that stuff... Our days are getting more and more full and we've just been teaching like crazy it seems. Already our week right now is full til Thursday...almost every hour of the day is packed with appointments...which is a good thing but it can get tiring as well. But we're doing fine. I'll just look at it like a good thing no worries. K idunno what else to say...i'm drawing a blank. I'm enjoying myself....my comp is chill and we get along as i said. No problems nor anything out of the ordinary except random people not wanting to see us for various reasons, rejection, slammed doors, dog chases, sickness from eating greasy egggs that my comp made for me and now i feel a bit weird, yup yup all the usual. I'm good and that's all for the week. Sorry it's a lame one...but Bowling is what we're going to go do and i've been here for wayyy too long already. Peace Elder Devenney

July 19, 2010

Well here it is...Another week is starting and i have to now think about some of the interesting things that have happened in this past week...hmmm It was actually a pretty decent week for the most part. Monday started off so great with another great FHE at the Mendu's and we had the Moyo's there again. Yo it was so funny, my comp and i were rolling on the ground when we played 30 seconds. (idunno if you've played that game, but it's great!) Tuesday we were pretty booked up in the evening time but found it difficult to find effective things to do in the early afternoon. The assistants came and at about 6 o clock started our exchange with them. I went with Elder Msimango, he's from Durban, and it went pretty good. Saw some good people...although had to resolve some major concerns with our baptismal canidate...who is basically being a joker and not doing what she's promised to do...She accused us of just moving her bdate back just because we wanted her to wait longer...i dont think she really understands what baptism is fully about so i wont be surprised if we dont move it even farther back becuase she didnt even come to church this sunday. On exchanges on wednesday we had a good time. We did some early afternoon finding and ran into some crazy guy that spoke about how this guy from zambia was a "new Christ" and that he just came out and was getting some followers. Now this is like a pretty well off white guy, who is following this "father Christ" guy from Zambia what what. Apparently this zambian guy is soooo humble, has been writing some books to clarify the Bible, and there's only about 10 people in the whole world that know about him. But he did say something that was interesting, that he doesnt go around to tell people about this zambian guy, but people come to him that want to know, and it's their choice if they want to believe it or not...kinda an interesting take on that. but over all we laughed pretty hard...talk about false junk that's out there. There was more to our conversation but yeah, you get the point. He wasnt too interested in wanting to hear our message...but we were invited back. The rest of the exchange was fine, Elder Msimango and i got along fine, he's in my transfer group but we've hardly ever served around eachother. So it was good bonding time for sure... Thursday we saw some lady in the hospital...saw the Rodericks later that night, and had a way good lesson on obedience and scripture study. We planned to give them a baptismal date if they came to church on sunday...but they didnt show...lame. But yeah, they're a freakin awesome family that we hope will come into the church soon. We saw some members later on and did that stuff...but nothing too much to tell ya... We did find this cool family last saturday who we went to again on saturday this week, and right when we got there the father was all "Oh hey elders..." lets go inside. My comp and i were like...hmmm...no one calls us elders on the 2nd visit...this guy must be a member or something...or been taught before...but yeah we taught his son, and his sons gf, and him, about the plan of salvation. The father was like...yeah this book talks about a lot of good things...i even read about the gifts and stuff. Basically made it even more like...hey this guy knows more than he's telling us. I think we'll try to get more info out of him when we go back next saturday...but we totally think he could be less active or something. but anyway, his family has tons of potential and are pretty smart as well. They're named the Canturbury's. I totally wanted to send a pic but i dont think he's going to happen because i dont have a attachy thingy to yeah...send. So, again...no pics...but we'll see if i find one before i 'm done. I dont think you've seen any pics for about 4 months. Cuz my card is full but ive been way lazy to send it home and it's got pics from when i first got to Cleary like over 4 months ago. As for my comp, Elder Moorcroft. We bonded quite quickly. He's hilarious and we always get to our boarding laughin our heads off about the day...we have fun...we knw when to be serious...but laugh tons and make jokes. It kinda sucks cuz we're both pretty sarcastic...especially around other missionaries...and idunno if they all understand our sarcasm. But whatever i guess...We're doing just fine. It's been pretty nice weather this past week. And uh...i heard that the Springboks have been getting their trash kicked out of them in New Zealand by the All Blacks. Idunno if anyone really cares about rugby...but yup. No other real big news happening right now...things are fine. Just doing really good. We've found lots of new investigators this week again so i just hope we'll hold on to them and keep them progressing. That's it. O and the Billabong surf pro was in Jeffery's Bay and Bishops wife, who is awesome, went down with her fam, kids and all, saturday and got a bunch of posters signed and stuff by the pros...and totally might give me one. She's so cool. She phoned us this morning and let us know that the comp was over and that we shouldn't go to Jay Bay because it would be a waste...it's just outside of PE and i think we wouldnt have been able to go anyway...but it still would have been freakin awesome! Kelly Slater and all them were there apparently. Thanks for everything! That's all i have to say! Enjoy the week! Elder Devenney

July 12, 2010

Alrighty, so this week has been a bit hectic at times but it's going much better now. We had an awesome combined Family Home Evening at the Mendu's (a sweet married couple who are members, mother from zim, husband from sa, they have a cute little baby named luthando) with the Moyo family and we played a cool game and they really enjoyed it for sure. So that was a good start to the week. We saw them also later on in the week and it was a good lesson as we finished the Gospel of Jesus Christ....we would have totally given them a baptismal date but didnt because sis Moyo is going back to the UK at the end of the month..total bummer. So yeah, lame, but it'll be ok. Transfer news came on wednesday morning and found out elder Wall would be leaving me to go to Mdantsane just back in East London. He had been there before, but not to that particular area. He'll also be training a greenie so yeah, pretty good news i guess for him although we were killin this place and getting along so great. But whatev, i'll see him again in a few months so no worries. So wednesday we saw a couple of people and then thursday we took him to the bus station at 6:45 in the morning. Hectic! So i was basically organizing all the transfers by myself for the elders incoming and going. Had to make sure elders were getting on planes and arriving and going to the right places...it ended up alright although at one point, Elder Msilayse took a car key with him from here in PE to East London on a bus, and we were stressing of how we were going to get it back in time and what what. I took an elder and we headed to Gramstown quick quick to catch the bus, got about 30 kms out of PE and then realized that there was no way we'd be able to catch it. We had to get a lock smith to unlock the car, which he made tons of money in about 10 seconds unlocking the car (not that i'd have to pay for of course) just so we could get an elders' luggage out of the car and get him to the airport to head to namibia. So that was the only little upset that we ran into...luckily elders coming to PE from East London which is about a 3 hour bus ride grabbed the key from the elder that took it and we were able to get it back the same day. Anyway, everybody ended up going where they were supposed to and it all worked out fine. My companion is named Elder Moorcroft and he's from Edenvale, Jo-burg. A pretty cool guy. He's been in Paarl (my greenie area) for the past 7 1/2 months. So we had a few things to talk about right off the bat. He's very afrikaans but it's cool...maybe he'll teach me more since i've forgot so much. We've already been working hard lately and the future looks bright for us! haha. It rained hard core yesterday and so there was hardly anyone at church. Our baptism didnt happen because we realized the lady needs probably another month to prepare...her testimony just isnt fully there yet so we'll continue to work with her. We only saw the Rodericks on tuesday and Bro Roderick said a prayer right at the end and it was awesome. That's what we spoke about, and even tho he expressed not being comfortable praying in front of everyone, he did it anyway and it was so cool to hear. that's something that i love, is hearing an investigators first prayer in front of us, and doing it correctly. So sweet! Other than that we've been doing a bit of finding and being kinda successful so far. Having a good time knockin on some new doors in different parts of our area that we havent worked before. Although we've found some crazy people who have their views about the "mormons" we usually just laugh it off. Things should be alright tho this transfer. So yeah, i'll keep ya posted as you know. Thanks for everything! Elder Devenney