9/8/14 WEEK 1 Alberton

Monday Sept 8^th, 2014

                                               

 I’m finally here!!!      So I'll start with a recap of    last Monday and fast forward to today.  

Packing day at the MTC.

Monday. I woke up at 4:30 and said goodbye to all the Elders heading to Houston and started packing my own bags. I headed down to the travel office and from there we loaded onto the bus to SLC. I flew to Atlanta with an Elder that was heading to Brazil. I sat next to a lady that was flying into Florida for a big summer party she said that she clearly did not  like Mormons so I  guess I struck out. Then the flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg was CRAZYYYYY not to mention the guy sitting next to me only knew 3 English words which were "Tequilas, Jack, and Thank you". He was crazy. I don't think I ever want to make that flight again. In total I was on a plane for about 15 hours for that flight. oh my lanta I was so excited to get off the plane.

Alberton,  South Africa     Population 202,202.

So I was on the plane until Tuesday evening and I got off and met the President and Sister Dunn and the AP's. Also the sun here is HUGE it lights up the entire sky just like on lion king. I stayed the night at the mission home and said goodbye to the other elders that were just leaving. I said goodbye to my two Madagascar elders. Elder Ratamunkaka and Elder Ramananata crazy fun names. But they were both excited to head back and get on with life. 

Wednesday. I met my trainer!!!!! His name is Elder Martin and he is from Switzerland. He feeds me a lot of Swiss chocolate and makes me orange juice in the morning so we get along pretty well. He is probably one of the most humble elders I know. I really got spoiled with a great trainer. Also on Wednesday I got introduced to my new area ALBERTON!! It is one of the richest parts in Johannesburg so we are called "Doughboys". Interestingly enough the work here is verrrrry slow. Hardly any people answer their gates when we knock. Everyone has a gate and 2 crazy dogs and a electric fence. I guess that means there is a lot of crime here. Also there are no missionaries in the city of Johannesburg . . . . .  people are so crazy.

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   We live with members in our flat (apartment) and they have a 14 year old girl who likes to prank the missionaries. She gave us Oreos filled with toothpaste and also a cake thing filled with water balloons. Elder martin and I ate the Oreos without a blink and  I went to cut the cake and i cut right between all 4 of the water balloons. We left a note and toothpaste under the handles. They are some of the nicest people I have met. They fed us Sunday dinner last night and their house is huge.

    YES!!! that is a  Rhino.

 Thursday and Friday we met members and tried to get appointments but we just ended up tracting and getting chased by dogs. Acceleration is still helping, tell Alison that!!!

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   Saturday we also tracted for like 3 hours and met with members so the work is going well!  We already have matched the stats as the same elders in only 4 days so that is promising. Sunday was the best though we had church and there are 253 members but only 60 showed up. Very different than going to church in Utah.. . . so for lunch we went to this lady's house who is from South Africa and married a guy from Uganda and they cooked a feast. Literally an entire chicken with Pap which is like mashed potatoes. We met a 15 year old and he has wondered about what church is true so we are visiting him soon.

   
   

    Also the people from Zimbabwe and Congo are very very humble and smart. They seem to have a better mind for the gospel than those who are Afrikaans descendents. Sorry about the pictures. I couldn’t find out which was which so i sent random ones. I'll send the ones i wanted to send next week. also the mission pres informed me to be careful with my camera. Probably 50 percent of the missionaries have been robbed and stuff. so Im trying to be careful. I love you mom and your email really uplifted me. take care and i love you so much :)

   I've already got some pretty weird stories but I love it here. Even though I get chased by german sheppards and cussed out by Afrikaans but I love being a missionary :)

   Elder Broadhead