12/07/2015

Hey,                                                                                 Dec.7,2015

So this last few weeks have been very busy. Elder Founa left for East London and flew to Cape Town the next morning for his new area in Cape Town. I can tell that he really loved Ilinge. He had tears in his eyes most of Monday night when he was saying goodbye. We will miss him.

So the next couple of days I was in a tricompanionship until Elder Bowers arrived. He arrived Wed night and I bought him is first meal in the African wilderness. Hamburgers. He is 6"5 and weighs roughly 300 pounds. He is from Boise Idaho.

I observed Thanksgiving buy buying some KFC. I miss the nice meals back at the home sooooo much! But this time next year I'll be home anyway so it is all good

The weather has been almost unbearably hot these last few days. It got up to 115 degrees last Tuesday. We have to carry big jugs of water with us when we go to the area. It helps stay hydrated. Summer has set in for South Africa

You will have to forgive me I don't have any new pictures this week. I always forget to bring my camera to the area with me. I have some pictures from when Elder Fonua said goodbye,

This last week has been sort of tough. A lot of people have been dropping appointments. The people that we are teaching are really struggling to keep the commandments. Since it is school holidays many people are visiting other parts of S.A. So most of our teaching pool will be out of Ilinge for December.

However, we have picked up some more investigators through referrals and one of them came to church! So that is nice. We don't do finding in our area. I don't think missionaries have tracted there in over a year.

There is a lot of drinking and immoral things that go on and a lot of the young men and young women in the ward are really struggling with all the bad things going on around them. So we've been teaching a lot of lessons all themed around choosing the right and remembering who you are. So many drunk people stumbling around.

Spiritual highlight this week would be district meeting this last Friday. There is this new elder from Brazil and he spoke about why he served a mission. He said: "Many people feel that serving a mission is a huge sacrifice. In my point of view it is rather a huge privilege serving a mission is the least I could do in giving back with all that I have been blessed with". I wholeheartedly agree with what he said.

I owe every breath I take to my Father in heaven and the minimum I could do is devote two years of my life to him

Love,

Elder Herrick