Man! It is so strange to be on
the other side of the mission emails!! This week was INCREDIBLE. I'll have to
ask you to forgive me, for two reasons : 1. These computers don't have spell
check and I'm trying to type quickly! 2. This was seriously the best week of my
life so I'll try to keep it short..ish. ;)
Also, I may have exaggerated a
little bit on the subject... hahaha because Elder Rakotomalala is learning
English and I've been his teacher, we decided that he would teach me Malagsi in
return! So I have been learning a lot of that this week!
Manaona! (Hello!)
It is unbelievable to think
that I have only been here for one week! I literally feel like Ive been here
for AT LEAST a month! The days here at the South Africa MTC are long and jam
packed!! Every day feels like a week, and every week feels like a month! But
that is so good! I feel like I learn and grow SO much every single day!
Everyday I can feel myself becoming more and more like our Savior!
Elder Rakotomalala
(Rah-koo-too-ma-la-la) helps me sooo much to develop christlike attributes. He
is one of the most christlike people I have ever met in my entire life! He has
taught me SO much about humility, patience, faith, and charity. He has an
incredible testimony. It is so simple, but so powerful and genuine. It is a
blessing to be with him everyday. He just converted 4 years ago, he and his
older brother are the only missionaries! I am so amazed by him! Not to mention
that I love him with all my heart! We are best friends! We've got a friendship
handshake and all!
Okay, so I figure you'll want
to hear about the MTC and Africa, so here goes! First, talking to people is a
very... interesting experience... Accents are very thick here and I sometime
have a hard time understanding what people are saying to me.. hahaha
Afrikaaners (white africans) arent as hard to understand! But some of the
Africans.... man.... I dont even think its english sometimes!! Either way,
Africans are the most hilarious people on the Earth. I never stop laughing
here! They are also so kind and so loving, especially of missionaries! Also.
EVERYBODY has crazy names. Theyre all so so cool! Because so many people speak
Afrikaans almost everybody pronounces Weiler correctly!!!! Finally!!! I feel
right at home here in South Africa! ;)
Okay funniest story of the week. It just happened. Our
district, the Ammon District, decided we were going to trek down to KFC and
treat ourselves to a nice, cold Coca-Cola! We were all dying for a soda ahahha
anyway, when we were walking back to the MTC we hear this guy yell
"ELDERS" and we all looked at him and he just yells "HOORAH FOR
ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!" and we all just went nuts and starts cheering and yelling
and it was probably the funniest thing that has ever happened to me! I love
being an Elder.
The MTC is awesome! The food
here is really good! We usually have one familiar meal a day, other than that
we eat traditional African food! African food is very hardy food. Like dairy
and protein all day every day. Also, carbs like you wouldnt believe! hahaha my
favorite is vary sy laoka! (Malagasy for rice and meat) I dont know what they
do to it but maaaannn that stuff is sooo good. The schedule is so exhausting.
Like I didnt know what exahusted meant until my first day here! 16 hour days
where every minute is occupied with spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical
exertion! But I have never been happier! There is seriously nothing else I
would rather be doing in my life!!!!
The MTC is funny because every
little thing that is different is so exciting! The little things get all of us
through the day! For example, at lunch everyday Brother Mokie, the manager of
teaching here, gives us all riddles to solve while we eat. Every day I work
hard to ensure that my mental sharpness is at its prime... and I still feel
like an idiot. hhahahaa his riddles are so so obvious but he is so good at
hiding the answers and the clues to find an answer. Don't worry. I am
documenting all of them so that I can torment you all when I get home with
South Africa mind games muahaha!!! On Monday during sports time, the Elders
from the Johannesburg mission came to play soccer on our field at the MTC, so
we played with them! There were so. many. Africans. And they are all so good at
soccer. Its amazing. BUT we proudly scored against them a couple times!
Everytime we did we all freaked out ahhah we would dog pile the person who
scored and then do the penguin slides and stuff and it was probably the funnest
game of soccer I've played in my life! Also. The showers here are almost as
confusing as the dashboard on an ariplane. There are separate knobs for hot and
cold water and its seriously like rocket science trying not to either freeze or
cook yourself hahahaha
Elder Cook from the First
Quorum of the Seventy spoke to us on Tuesday and that was PERFECT. He spoke
about the church in Africa, missionary work is so different here! The Lord has
surely saved africa for the last days! He spoke mostly on becoming Africans at
heart, that we can't coast through our missions looking down on the African
ways of doing things if we want to succeed in our purpose. I have already begun
to take the African ways to my heart! Their culture is becoming my culture!
Their vocabulary and grammar is becoming my way of speaking! (Our grammar is
very very different from yours. For example: Instead of me saying "I'm on
a mission" I would say "I am on mission" and other different
rules like that!) My favorite word so far, they don't call it Foosball, they
call it Bobby! So we all love to play Bobby every night if we can!
Elder Rakotomalala and I are
currently holding the champion spot in Bobby right now! We are undefeated!!! We
play as a companionship and we are actually pretty good! Looks like we aren't
just good at teaching ;)
Perhaps the highlight of the
week was going to the JoBurg temple! IT IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TEMPLE ON THE
PLANET! The gardens there are unreal! I would take the gardens at JoBurg than
the SLC gardens any day!! They basically had to tear our zone out of the
gardens to go back to the MTC! hahaha The temple is so tiny. Like only 25
people can be in a session at once. So so small. But the exact peace and joy
rests in that tiny sanctuary! That made my whole week! While I was there I
bought a really cool journal and a little book of mormon that have some really
cool african covers! One nice thing about the exchange rate is that 1 Rand is
about $0.08! So everything is about half price than it is in the States!
The second highlight of the
week was definitely sacrament meeting in the MTC! They had all of the Elders
write a two minute talk on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and just called us up
and WOW. It was the most powerful and inspiring testimony I have ever been to!
I took 4 pages of notes, both things that people said and shared and a lot of
enlightenment from the Spirit! It was lowkey the minor leagues of General
Conference. No joke. It was awesome.
Okay I know this is getting
long but please bear with me here. There is some way good stuff coming! (and
I'm almost done)
One of the most terrifying experience of my life was our
ride from the MTC to the temple. It was one hour of pure horror.
Driving/sitting in a car/walking on the sidewalk/even thinking about the road
is gambling with death. hahahaha because so many cops are occupied with crime and
other business they dont really have time to pull people over for traffic
violations, meaning, people have no respect to speed limits, stop signs, red
lights, or even lanes!!!! I think all of us were praying for safety the whole
time! hahaha it is almost worse being a pedestrian! I am more afraid of being
run over than I am of being robbed!!! Oh. We also had a presentation on heath
and safety yesterday. I dont know if they were trying to inform us or trying to
get us to lock ourselves in our flats all day. haha! There are so many medical
precautions we have to take! Not to mention that they told us just to do
whatever anybody tells us what to do if we are confronted on the streets!
GET THIS. After all the shots and vaccines in the US, I
still got FOUR MORE shots here! But the nurses gave me a lolli after...
I think they felt bad for
me....
Elder Rakotomalala and I are
currently teaching two investigators! Alex and Alo! Or as Elder Rakotomalala
refers to them: Brotha Alex and Sister Aloa hahaha they are both progressing
really well!! We committed Alex to baptism yesterday!!!!! Joyous day!!!! Alo is
getting really close to a baptismal commitment as well! She is learning really
quickly! But baptism isn't everything here in Africa. Many many people are baptised
every single weekend! Our purpose as missionaries here is to establish our
wards and branches! To bring people to the temple to make covenants with our
Father! Retention is everything to us! We strive to bring our converts to the
state of conversion that they begin to strengthen and establish their own
branches and wards!
I swear I witness a miracle
every day here. I have seen so much change and growth in myself and all the
other Elders here! I have also seen miracles in Elder Rakototmalala's English!!!
He is getting so good!!! We kind of have our own sign language to communicate
when we dont know how to say it to each other hahaha I have learned that EXACT
obedience is mandatory if you want to be successful! Being exactly obedient
will bring you more joy than anything else in the world!! Not just on a
mission! For you too!! I know that we are all imperfect human beings, but our
Father in Heaven doesn't ask us for perfection, He simply asks for sincere
effort; our BEST effort!
If I were to give any advice to
any future missionary it would be as follows: The mission is NO time to begin
your study of the gospel. DO NOT WAIT. Once you are here all of your gospel
study is for your investigators. You will never study for yourself here! It is
crucial that you begin to familiarize your self with gospel doctrine and
principle before you even get you mission call, if possible!!!
I think my new favorite
scripture is Mosiah 4:19-20! I read it, and the power and conviction that I
felt from those words really meant a lot to me as a missionary! Especially in
Africa! I would recommend that each of you read it! We all have so much that we
can learn from King Benjamin! This reference is powerful and I hope that you
take it to heart!
We were all so sad to hear about
Elder Richard G. Scott passing away. He was an incredible apostle and his words
inspired us all! I am so thankful for the Plan of Salvation and the comfort
that comes from it! I know that his work is not finished as a witness and
apostle of Jesus Christ! My heart is filled with joy to think that he is
reunited with his dear wife once more!
My last request, please pray
for the people here in South Africa! Pray that their hearts and ears will be
opened to our message, that they listen to our message! They are amazing
people, and I know that the gospel holds the answers to their problems! The
message of the Restoration is the answer! Not NGO's (my apologies to the UN). I
am so thankful for your prayers, I can absoulutely feel them strengthen me!
Thank you all so much that sent
me with letters and packages for me to bring to the MTC! I loved all of them!!
They mean so much to me!!!
I hope that you know that I
pray for all of you back in the states every day, multiple times a day! God be
with you!
I love you all so so much!!!!
--
Elder Weiler
We finally got to explore Joburg a little bit!
