December 2, 2013 - First Area - Richards Bay

December 2, 2013 FAM BAM, so wow its been a while since I could email, like a week or a half or so and its been crazy. Africa is so different. I thought south Africa was gonna be nice but its not close haha. its pretty poor where I serve but where I live its not to bad. my zone is in Richards Bay but I Serve in two little towns about 30 min from there. its call esikhawini and port dunford. its pretty sketchy. but im getting use to it. I live in a town called empangeni its okay nice but nothing fancy. I've seen a few monkeys while we're driving but haven't had a chance to take a picture yet, Sorry Katie. haha but anyway ya my comp is Elder Josh Rogers he's from gilbert and went to gilbert high school he was in rotc and drama... so ya we match up pretty good.. hahaha but anyway one of the first things he and the other elders said to me was that im in one of the nerdiest zones in the mission its pretty weird and they are all a little different but im making the best of it. the all play this nerdy card game called Magic its so funny watching them. but one of them is a music major and is crazy on the piano and gives everyone a theme song. when we walk into the room and he's on the piano he plays its. mines pretty funny cause he switches it over to the organ and place Take Me Out To The Ballgame. but its fun im trying to make the best of it. Theres one elder out of the 10 in my zone that's cool his names Elder Morhouse he's from Idaho and played baseball too but he had to get tommy john on his arms so he didn't play last year. But any way I guess you all wanna hear about the mission! its funny im learning a lot the first night I got here I stayed in a 4 man boarding but the next day which was Wed. me and my comp switched and went into a nicer 2 man boarding. its weird just being with him tho we are suppose to being getting a new 4 man boarding tho cause the one the district has now is a piece of crap so once we get the new one I should be in it. but the first lesson I had was with Phey & Siya (their names are much longer but that's just a shorter version) they are brothers who are 14 & 15 they were just baptized right before I got here. they live in a tiny hut with a few little bros and sisters and they're parents are around too, the next lesson was the most shocking since I've been out the kids name is Sphiwe he's 12 and lives on his own in a house. his dad is in Mozambique working and just sends him money the kid is amazing. we have a baptism date set for him in Jan so it'll be cool. its hard to understand people here some speak English and I can kinda understand some have a heavy accent, and some are to stubborn to speak English, but i'll get it. the speak a lot of Zulu in my area which is the clicking one haha I've already got some words down its pretty cool! the hardest is probably the names tho the people speak so softly and its hard to hear them so I think they get frustrated when I ask "what?" like 3 times haha after a while I just ask my comp what they are saying and even then I cant pronounce it. but i'll get it and i'll pick up Zulu as I go. but I think Saturday was the best day of my mission so far. we had a zone conference with the Zackrison (mission Pres) and also Elder Carl B. Cook and his wife. at first I was intimidated by elder Cook because he is a member of the 70, has spoken in general conference and also is the President of the South East Africa Area which is pretty legit but him and his wife are absolutely amazing. during the conference I sat on the front row like mom always told me because the teacher knows the listeners and the people that really want to be there sit on the front. he taught us for about an hour and 30 min about how people need to either know, feel, or do to become converted. he told us we need to look for those that have done all three because they wont leave the church after just a little while. he had such a great spirit about me and the spirit in the room was so strong. after he was done he said always likes to meet with 2 missionaries and just interview and talk with them. he picked me first it was so cool. the man was so loving and caring he was so easy to talk to one on one. but anyway that was pretty much the week so far its been good so far not too hot yet its been cloudy and rainy which is nice because Richards Bay is the hottest area in the mission so yay for that... NOT. but anyways I love you all so much and miss you so much!! do whats right and because people only see what you do so if you do good things people will know you truly are a good person and they wont be able to question anything about you. LOVE YOU ALL TONS! Love, Elder Sorenson