07/28/2014

Well I'm in my second area! I have been transfered to Lenyenye really far in the northeast in the providence Limpopo. It took 5 hours to drive here from the office. There are mountains everywhere and giant trees. I'm so excited to be here. It is like my home. We seriously teach people on the mountain side. We have a bakkie which is a pickup truck. I will send a picture of it. We are in a branch and they are awesome. They give us tons of referrals and help a lot with the missionary work.

My new companion is Elder Cazier. He lives in Germany but is from the USA. His dad works for the air force. He is really cool and we get along great. I have been blessed with companions so far. I don't have a picture of us yet or of the area because we were so busy this week. This area is booming and I'm just excited. We had two baptisms on Sunday. This is where the missionary work is happening. 

There are a ton of senior couples up here. They help a lot with the work and they feed us! haha. Man this area is great. I'm really loving mission. My testimony of the gospel has grown so much. I'm almost 5 months and I don't know where the time has gone. 

I don't have pictures of my companion or area right now because we were so busy this week but I will get them this week. I'm not sure what else to say but if there are any questions just ask. 

Stay close to the Lord everyone. The church is true. I love you all.

Elder Hepworth

07/21/2014

Well that was week six of the transfer and the big news is that I'm being transferred. I don't know where to or with who but I'm excited. I'm finally leaving my first area. I'm becoming experienced on mission and I feel like I just got here ha. They say once you are over four. and a half months you aren't a greeny so my mission status is going up. 

On Wednesday we met a guy named Nathi who as we walked up said he was going to commit suicide. We had a powerful lesson. It was so powerful that we had to take a break after. I hope we helped him out. The next missionaries will continue to visit him. He needs the gospel.

This week we had a lot of fun because I live with a missionary who is going home on Tuesday. Except of Thursday my companion was sick and we sat in the flat all day. On Friday morning we got to go to the temple and we got there and the session was full. So we volunteered to sit out and wait for the next. Then the mission President came in and asked if we wanted to do sealings. We got to proxy for boys and witness. After that we also did a session. It was a long time in the temple but it was fun. 

After that we ate at Yankeys. It was a little like an American burger place. We planned on going to carnivore a place where you eat all kinds of meat but the APs wouldn't let us. We all had a king kong monster burger which is huge. I only ate half. Then we got Mcdonalds shakes after haha. it was a good day. 

Yesterday Wendy the lady who got baptized last week was confirmed and it was a cool experience. I'm having tons of fun in South Africa. I'm happy to be here and I can't believe how fast the time is going. 2 Nephi 1:23 Keep on the amour of righteousness.

Elder Hepworth

07/14/2014

I got my first baptism which is exciting but that is the highlight of the week. Time is going pretty fast out here as we work hard. Our area is really taking off which is exciting but transfers are next week and I think I might be moving to a new area. I will know on Saturday. 

So the baptism was stressful and exhausting. She had to be baptized seven times. It wasn't her fault or the young man who baptized her. The problem was that her gown kept floating and everything must be under the water. It finally worked after seven times though ha. 

We had a nice dinner at there house after. Well it is nice here ha. W had chicken and this bread with nice gravy. We also had salad and potato salad (which is different here) and beat root. The rest of the day we walked a lot and taught a few lessons. In one of the lessons there was a mouse running around. I'm not scared of mice but I was scared it would run up my pant leg so I couldn't focus ha. 

The week was good. It is awesome to see the change in peoples lives the gospel brings. Share the gospel. (D&C 88:81 I hope thats right ha) Warnabrother! 

Love you all!

07/07/2014

I hope everyone had a nice week and good 4th of July. Of course they don't celebrate that here but we did our best. In district meeting we sang the American songs and looked up scriptures where the Book of Mormon talks about America. 

I had a really good week. We worked so hard and it definitely paid off. We taught 24 lessons this week. We found 7 new investigators that seem really powerful. We did a lot of tracting which isn't my favorite but as we went forward in faith we were led to prepared people. I won't tell you about all the people we met but I will as we continue to teach them. 

As we were tracting one day I was really trying to tract with the spirit and I led us to a guy who we taught and wanted to come to institute and I was really excited. Then as we moved on we were walking and we both felt like we needed to turn back. Then a drunk lady called us over and we couldn't get rid of her. Finally we walked away and went to a house in which we got rejected. As we walked out she was standing there with a guy now. He said she tells me you stole her money and I almost laugh. I'm just like you got to be kidding me. He then sees Jesus Christ and I tell him we are missionaries. He just smiles and laughs a little and says sorry guys I will set her straight. It was pretty funny experience. Heavenly Father lets us have a little humor in our work. 

I'm pretty excited for this week because I'm going to have my first baptism. Her name is Wendy and we met her when I was about two months in and I have taught her everything and she is now getting baptized. She is really powerful. We taught her the word of wisdom yesterday and tithing or it was more like she taught us. I'm excited for here and so is she except she is a little nervous. 

Missionary work is awesome. I just reached four months this last week and I can't believe it. I am having a great time out here. I'm finally getting used to everything including teaching. Have a wonderful week everyone. 

Elder Hepworth