Wednesday, February 17, 2016

"I'm so done with this Municipality (Also A Long Awaited Shower Pt. 2)"

Sanibonani!! 

Well I have again found myself is a (less) sketchy email shop and internet is suuuupa expensive so this is gonna be another quick email!! 

Okay so yeah this week has been a very African experience... like suuuuper African. hahaha


But first I just wanna give a shoutout to mormon messages -- I watched like 10 yesterday and I cried. Church is true. 

Secondly, Elder Sixaba is leaving today! We started calling him "Brother Sixaba" this morning hahaha

Thirdly, sorry this email is coming two days late. We had Zone Conference on Monday, A Zone Activity yesterday and, because of President's Day, we had no allotment, so we had no money to pay for internet.... So, yeah. The struggle is real. 

So let me begin my gripe session. I've got beef with the Newcastle Municipality. First and foremost -- last week I got a ticket for pulling a U-Turn in town (okay that was my bad) but the ticket was for 1500 rand!!!!!! That's RIDICULOUSLY expensive. The office gets mad when somebody gets a R1000 ticket for speeding... so... yeesh. 

After we explained some of our surprise to the cop he told us that we could go to the chief prosecutor's office and have the fine reduced; so we go the following day and they tell us that they won't even receive the ticket until 22 March! That's a month and a half after I got the ticket AND if I wanted to have the fine lowered I need to appear before a court on 5 April???? I tried to tell them that I would be long gone out of Newcastle by then, they just responded that I would have to pay the whole ticket ughhhhhhhh 

So yeah that was a bummer but then it got even worse. The next day we had ZTM, and we stopped by our boarding to drop something off when we found a notice that our electricity had been turned off without any warning beforehand. So we contact the office and they pay for our account -- but it took the municipality TWO DAYS to send somebody to turn the electricity back on!!! So we lived in the dark for 2 days. We also couldn't cook or refrigerate any of our food hahahah however, we didn't have it as bad as the Madadeni Elders, theirs was out for 5 days!!

So after having no electricity, a huge ticket, and spoiled food -- what could go wrong? LEMME TELL YA. On Monday we had Zone Conference right? Well we have a really big boarding so all of the other Elders that traveled stayed with us. And the municipality decides to, without any notice, turn off our water. So imagine. 9 guys, one house, no water. Nothing to drink, no showers, and no flushing toilets. hahahah that was definitely a new experience for me!! 

Another fun fact: When the water turned back on, none of us were home; and somebody left a tap open in the bathroom. So when we came back the hall and the bedrooms were flooded. hahahah 

So. Yeah. Pretty Average week in South Africa! ahhaha I can now say that as a missionary, I lived without water and electricity in Africa. #blessed

With all jokes aside, this was a really great week! We were referred to a big family who was so welcoming and happy to receive us. We also had a really amazing experience administering a priesthood blessing to the head of the household. I am so grateful for the Lord, who continues to prepare individuals and their families to receive the message of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ! I know that He guides this work. I love Him and I am so grateful for our loving Heavenly Father! 

Through all of the unfortunate events this week I am so grateful that I had the ability to laugh at our circumstances and to find excitement from living in a new, and more challenging, environment! I know that such peace and joy can only be provided through faith in Jesus Christ, love for our Father in Heaven, and a confidence in His plan! 

I love you all! I hope that all is well in the States! 

#Kanye2020

--
Elder Weiler

I also don't trust this email shop so I'm scared to hook up my camera hahaha


Pictures promised next week!

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