1/12/15 Great things happening.

Hey Fam,                                   Jan 12, 2015

This week was definitely one of the most exciting/crazy weeks of my mission thus far. Every day we had a meeting of some kind, but we were still able to get a lot of work done in the area as well. So I'll get to the week:)

Another beautiful sunset!

Monday- after emailing, we went to a snake park that is owned by a bishop in a neighboring ward. It was so sweet, Dub would have been so jealous. I got to hold a Boomslang, Snotted Cobra and a bunch of other things :)

Tuesday- It was transfers, so I had to say goodbye to Elder Allen who I have grown close to this last 4 and a half. He is going to Sunnyside, which is home to a lot of universities so the work continues. My new district leader is Elder Wood from the UK. Maybe I'll pick up an accent? We came back to the area and got back to work.Our boy Washington continues to progress and will be baptized January 25th. So that is pretty sweet! First baptism in Alberton in almost a year.

Wednesday- The only day in the week that we didn't have any meetings or anything scheduled, so we took advantage and continued the work. The coolest thing is there is this less-active family that we have
been working with that has came to church the last 3 weeks after not attending for 7 years. They just needed some love via Elders Weg and Bhead. We also were able to teach one of our investigators who received his answer to the Book of Mormon. So you will be able to hear more about that pretty soon.

Thursday- We got to go to new missionary orientation. It was kind of  weird to think that exactly 3 months ago. I was sitting in that exact same spot, learning those exact same things and ready to take on the
world. Oh how I have learned haahahahha.

Friday-exchanges with the zone leaders :) I love exchanges!

Saturday- One of the greatest days on my mission thus far. Jonothan Smith, our ward missionary, who was baptized a year ago and has his mission call to Durban went through the temple. I was humbled to be
his escort. What an amazing experience, I have had a lot of time to reflect on what I have learned these last months and I wouldn't trade it for anything. The temple was an awesome place to go, especially to
be an escort. It was definitely one of those things that I will remember forever.

Sunday- We continue to be blessed with our investigators attending church. The sundays continue to get better and better. I'll cut the email short because time is running short,  but I promise to write more next week.
Love Elder Bhead

 

1/5/15 A New Year

Jan 5th, 2015

 

Another great week has passed here in Africa and I find myself back on the same rubbish computer for another email. It was tough hearing about Grandma Broadhead, but I knew that when we skyped that she was going to pass on soon. You never really develop a love for the Plan of Salvation until you experience it. I can only imagine the reunion with Grandpa, I wish I could have seen it. This week definitely has taught me a ton, from losing a loved one to seeing the mighty change in heart, it has been a rollercoaster. So I'll get to the week.

Tuesday-Elder Weg and I have been trying to see a lot of the less-active people in our ward and it has turned out great. They are just those who have become lost in the midst of temptations as Lehi explained. Other than that we met with Washington and he is on date for the 25th, so the next couple weeks here will be exciting ones!

Wednesday-On New Year’s Eve, we worked until 6. Everyone was sooooo drunk, it was funny but at the same time it is really tough to teach someone about the first vision when they are incoherent. So at 6 we went and picked up Germiston elders and came back and played Uno till 10 30 and ate tres leches. Best New Years Eve ever. We awoke to people screaming, I thought I was in Black Hawk Down (No worries. . . I only saw the edited version J). Then we went back to bed.

Thursday- One of the coolest days on my mission so far. So we woke up and there is a nature reserve right next to our flat, so we decided to go exploring and ended up in the bush running with zebras and wildebeest. I'll send the pics next week. No greater way to begin the New Year than by running with zebra right? We then played rugby and soccer and went to eat all you can eat pizza after so a great day together. I’ll fast forward to Sunday

 

Sunday-easily the most fulfilling day on my mission so far. So we woke up and went to church. 4 of our investigators showed up. Washington walked 45 minutes to church; talk about commitment. Then 3 less-active families came as well. It is nice to see that you are making a difference in #hasteningthework .

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Bhead
Ether 12:4

12/29/14 A Great Way to Spend Christmas

Dec 29, 2014

Ho Ho Ho hows everybody? This week has been one for the memories that is for sure. Christmastime in Africa is verrrrrrrrrrrrrry different than it is back home. Most people just make it seem like it is another day. So Elder Weg and I took it upon ourselves to spread some Christmas cheer down in the land of Alberton.

Tuesday- Elder Allen from Germiston came to A-town for the day. It was one of the busiest days in Alberton we have had. Appointments every hour and did a lot of teaching so it was a great way to start off the week!

 Wednesday- So on this special Christmas eve we woke up and went to work. We had a couple of appointments and went and grabbed a couple of bags full of children’s toys and took them to the township to give to the kids there. It was definitely something special, being able to spread the Christmas cheer and give them a present that they wouldn't have ever gotten. We took the rest of the toys to Florence, who runs a creshe (preschool) there. She was so excited that her kids would actually have toys to play with. Then we went and celebrated the Christmas with O'Friels. It was just like being at home. We sang carols and just had a good time. We left some mangos and old milk out for Santa to come by and drop off some presents.

Thursday- Christmas!!!!!!!!! We woke up and nothing had happened to the mangos...strange. We went up and picked up Elder Allen and Manuma and went to the Christmas party at the mission office. It was great.
We got to see all of the old friends that had been transferred and the Dunns put on the greatest Christmas celebration ever. We finished it with watching Meet the Mormons (first people in Africa to watch it:)
and then played soccer and basketball. We came back the the flat and Elder Weg made some Tres Leches and then we went to our Ward missionary who was opening his mission call. He is going to Durban!!!!
Elder Weg and I were so excited hahaah. Then we skyped. Man, it was good to see the fam. You all look good, minus Dub, he looked like death. Great way to end the day!

Friday- Back 2 Work. We had district meeting continued to work. We saw Washington, who continues to progress, he will be baptized in the upcoming month. He shared a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon.
He has a job that makes him work every other Sunday so that will be tough.

Saturday- Miracle Alert, we met with Plethani, who had seen missionaries in Durban while he was going to college there. He shared with us why he loves the LDS church so much and talked to us about
being baptized. The Lord really does put you in the right place at the right time. We finished with Eleanor, who continues to progress toward baptism! The work is going great!

Sunday- Church started at 9 and 15 people were there. I was asked to give a talk and people started to roll in. We topped out at about 50 people there. Wayyyyy different than missionary farewells in Utah.
Where the front 2 rows = 50 people. So it was a great week!

It definitely was a Christmas that I will remember forever, not receiving anything but truly giving everything I have to try and help out the people here in Alberton. There definitely was a different feeling than those back home. But, I'm glad to get back to work until New Years.   

 Happy New Years and have safe holidays!
Elder Broadhead

12/22/14 Christmas Miracles- Singing. . . Yes!

 

The Elders Singing

Umjanii,

 I can't believe Christmas is already here. It doesn't even feel like it because its 30 degrees and sunshine everyday. However, the christmas spirit is still here and gets stronger each and every day. So I'll go through the week!

Tuesday-  Things canceled in the morning so we contacted for 2 hours and t hen we went to see Shimmy. He is exactly as his name sounds. We get there and he pulls out 2 pages of a Bible study he did cross referancing the BOM and Bible. His is silky smooth in gospel terms as well. You aren't supposed to have favorites as a missionary but this guy is up there.

Wednesday-We started off the day going to Bedfordview and singing at a disabled peoples home. Let's just say we have done a lot of singing. Elder Wegrowski compared me to a flex hybrid of David Archuletta and R. Kelly.So I'll take that as a compliment.After singing,  we went to another elderly home in our area and saw a lady named Ethel. She has 2 broken hips, a broken cocyx, and a puntured liver but is still hanging in there. She is a legend! We also got to see Moses, who had seen missionaries in Durban and then moved to Joburg and lost contact. So he is very promising!!!

Thursday- We woke up and went for a nice run. The weather here is amazing, it is like STG in the spring everyday here so talk about sweet. We had a really packed day with appointments but I'll just tell you about one of them. I told you about Mahlatse, we went and saw her and taught her about the Gospel. So she just started breaking down, and we just taught about repentance and baptism and it was one of those times on your mission when you first-hand realize that you are changing peoples lives. Humbling experience.

Friday-Interviews and Zone conf. Check the mish blog for sweet pics. Then we got back and taught washington. He struggles with emglish so the lessons are painfully slow but we had a great lesson on the P.O.S and as we are about to close this guy comes out and starts talking with us and it turns out he used to be a ward mission leader in durban. things happened and he left the church and he wants to come back. talk about miracles!

Saturday-The party continued and we had a Brie put on by the Stake Mission Leader. So we showed up played some soccer and then ate a ton of food. 2 Zones make up our stake so it was a great time to get together and show off my soccer skillz.

Sunday- The week of singing continued and breaking news. Elder Weg and I did a musical number for sacrament meeting hahahahah. The windows were cracking when I went for the high C note but I pulled it of. Who knew I would be singing hymns in front of everybody here in Africa in Dec? not me:) We also had 5 investigators at church so that made the day even sweeter. Shimmy was there as well hahaha

I can't believe it is already christmas time and I look forward to skyping you all on Thursday.See you then!

Elder Bhead

Mosiah 2:41

12/15/14 Love being busy!

Whadddup  Fam,                                                   Dec 15^th, 2014

 it's that time of the year again. It is crazy to think how 4 months have already passed. Time flies when you are working hard and having fun. This week was one of the most hectic weeks of my mission. Everyday there was either a meeting of some kind or a party/wedding that we attended. So I got a firsthand look at the African traditional wedding. Anyways I will go through the days.

Pre-decorations

 

Tuesday-We went and had a Christmas party with our friends at Broken Wings, we also did some beating and listened to some Afrikaans Christmas Hymns (Hoo-den-dak Mufrow) I say it nearly everyday ahahahah. Then we saw our investigator named Washington, who is on date for the 4 of January. He continues to progress so I'll keep ya'll updated. 

 

Wednesday- Our mission has put together this calendar of things to do every day to progress the work. So the theme was to contact three former investigators. So we see this guy named Gugu, he is like an ancient African warrior I swear. He is like 6'5 looks like Elder Wagner hahahaah. Anyways he talked to us about why he had stopped meeting the missionaries and wants to come back to church! Awesome to see how the Lord works! 

 

Decorated!!! Merry Christmas Everyone!

Thursday- We were pleased to have our mission tour, where we heard from Pres. and Sis  Dunn and Carl B. Cook of the Seventy. It was sweet to hear from a General Authority. He said something that really stuck to me, "If you want to have progressing investigators, you have to be a progressing missionary." Not only is it true in missionary work. I think of Ray Lewis pumping his guys up saying "If you want something work for it." After Zone Conference, we had exchanges, so Elder Manumau came to A-Town.

 

Friday-District meeting and African weddings and YSA activities. So we didn't teach a lot but we were busy all day. So African weddings are the greatest things on the earth, except no one shows up until like 3 hours after the time they said. it was supposed to start at 5 and we got there and they were still setting up chairs haahah. We did some service and took off to our YSA Christmas party. Where we had a braii (BBQ) in the nice weather and did like a white elephant thing. Elder Wegrowski and I got two huge things filled with African chocolate.

 

Saturday-Ward Christmas party, another braii (BBQ) and chilling in the nice weather here in Africa. 

 

Sunday-Church and then we were busy all the day. Cool story, so we looked for this former investigator and turned out she moved. But, we talked to this sweet kid named Shimmy. Yes his name is Shimmy. He is 18 and is the golden investigator. So it was definitely a bright spot in this brilliant week. 

The Lord is definitely preparing people here in Alberton. It is just a matter of finding them. But, my testimony of obedience and diligence has grown immensely since I have been here in South Africa. Work, work, work. We have been blessed here in A-town and I am glad I have 2 more months here to work!

 

Have a great week!

Elder Broadhead

Jacob 6:12

 

12/8/14 Florence

Hey Fam,           Dec 8th, 2014

 

The computers are reaaallly slow today, if I had to  compare them to something it would probably be Dub in 6th grade  running a 40 yard dash. haha don't be angry dub, but this week has  been one of the most fulfilling weeks of my mission so far. I will  start with  the big news.

 

 You remember Florence? Elder Martin and I  had taught her for 7 weeks and then we turned her over to some other  elders. She was being baptized on sunday in Vooslorus and guess who  she choose to baptize her. Talk about a fulfilling experience, seeing  someone who you had begun to teach progress all the way and ultimately  follow the example of our Savior and be baptized. It was one of those  experiences that you just know that what you are doing is truly the  Lords work. She is amazing and bore a powerful testimony on the  truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith being a true  prophet. I still predict that she will be the relief society president  in a couple of years.

 

So I will get to the rest of our week.
Tuesday-We started off our day giving some service at a special needs  home. I feel like Napolean because I've made like a bagillion of  bracelets. We also met with a powerful family. I told you a little bit  about it last week about how he knocked on our car window. So we show  up and turns out they just haven't had the transport to get to church  and can't get a hold of anyone to come and see them. They read out of  Gospel Principles and the standard works every night. Talk about an  amazing family. It is amazing the joy that comes from seeing a family  rooted in the gospel, especially if they are a part-member family.  Miracles continue to happen, we see them tonight so I will let you  know how it goes.

 Wednesday-The miracles continue to roll in. We have truly been blessed  these last couple of weeks in Alberton. So we met this guy named John  on the street and go back to talk to him at his house. He had all the  golden investigator comments like "I've been looking for a true  church, but the ones that I have gone to just don't feel right." and  so forth. So we taught him and his daughter about the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. Another miracle!

 Thursday-Just the usual of teaching and seeing members. We met with  another of our investigators, Tracy, whose daughter was baptized about  8 months ago. Things are going well with her and she absolutely loves  having us over every Thursday!

 Friday-met some of my favorite investigators, Muoller and his wife  from Zimbabwe. They are the sweetest people I have ever met. We talked  about Joseph Smith with them and they had heard of him back in Zimbabwe  (the church is huge there) so we just talked and they have already  read the first 5 chapters in Nephi. MIRACLES EVERYWHERE

 Saturday- the most exciting thing that happened today was that I made some pap and chakalaka. It is amazing. All of our appointments  canceled. :( still a miracle I didn't burn down the kitchen 

 

 Sunday- Other than baptizing Florence this week, another fulfilling  thing happened. At church we were giving a lesson about service in  investigator class and one of our investigators bore her testimony  about us as missionaries. It was one of the most powerful testimonies'  I have heard in my life. Just another reassurance that this is God's  work. and the gospel truly can change people. Like I said, this week has been one of the best ones so far. I am  looking forward to continuing the work here in Alberton with my son  Elder Wegrowski. btw I cracked the funniest joke on Saturday night. We  were fasting and I heard the faucet go on so I just yelled "I'm
watching you Wegrowski, alwayyyyyys watching". we both had a good
laugh. Mission life is great

 Elder Broadhead
1st Timothy 4:12

12/1/14 Thanksgiving Feast

What up Fam,            Dec 1, 2014

This week definitely has been a whirlwind one. So last Monday, I went to the new trainers meeting and it was great!!. It is crazy to think that 3 months have already flown by and I have the opportunity to serve a greenie for the next three months. 

Tuesday- It was transfers and I found out who I was going to train. Drum roll please...................................  his name is Elder Wegrowski, from .................................... Temecula, California. Before anything else, I have already cracked the Mike Mazoski joke from Monsters Inc over 20 times this week. He is 18 years old and a month younger than myself so it will be great. He is very organized and likes to work hard so we will make these next three months ones for the record books. It has been interesting to look back three months ago and see how much I have learned. 

Wednesday-We had one of our greatest days in Alberton, so it was pretty cool way to introduce "Elder Weg" to the mission life. We were teaching almost for every hour of the day. We met this awesome family that is from Zimbabwe, and because of the poverty there they moved to South Africa. He and his family live in a small tin shack the size of a ping pong table. It was definitely a humbling experience to teach someone so humble. They were very responsive to the gospel and especially liked the Book of Mormon . Fingers crossed, and a lot of prayers are being said. 

Thursday- HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!  The people do not celebrate thanksgiving here of course. Interestingly, the people don't even know what a turkey is. We went into a meat shop to buy one and they just kept saying "Chikun?" So I tried to explain it as a giant chicken that can fly. Obviously it worked because they found one in the back.

So we went over and hung out with the Elders from Germiston and cooked up a sweet turkey, I stuffed it with some bread and sprinkled some curry on it. We also cooked up some turkey liver and heart and ate all of it :) So it was definitely one that I will remember for the rest of my life. All of our appointments canceled but we were still thankful:).

Friday-I witnessed one of the greatest miracles, no coincidence, that I have seen so far in my mission so far. We had just gotten done teaching our 5 o’clock appointment and were on our way to the next one when we get a message telling us that our next appointment couldn't make it. So I pulled over to regroup and go to our back-up plans. So I call our mission leader and then this guy knocks on the passenger window. Elder Wegrowski, being new, thinks this white guy is going to try to carjack us so he doesn't even acknowledge this guy trying to talk to us. So I ended the call and rolled down the window to find out that he is a former investigator that is married to a less-active member and he wants to come back the church. So I got out of the car and gave him a hug and we see him tomorrow. Miracles happen. 

Saturday- We contacted almost the entire day. I got home and couldn't speak my voice was gone because I talked so much. :(

Sunday- One of our investigators had sprained her ankle really bad, to the point that she couldn't walk at all. But, we get to church and see her hobbling to one of the benches to sit down. She definitely put the team on her back. It  is amazing to see people that some are so committed. 

Each week, as we continue to work hard, the blessings continue to POUR in. It truly is amazing to see the Lords hand in every thing we do. It is an honor to take this time out to dedicate it to serve and teach people about  Him. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Chega A Ve

Elder Broadhead 
D&C 6:33