December 12

Elder Sincreah is getting transfered to Richard's Bay, and he is not happy. 2 reasons why:  It's the hottest place in the mission and summer is coming into full swing.  It never rains, but it pours. My new comp is Elder Kongolo from Zimbabwe. He's coming from Swaziland zone, but that's all I know about him. Apparently, he's a really hard worker, and I'm very glad. I'm sure we'll get along very well. I haven't met him yet, but I'll meet him tomorrow.

Everything has been going fine. Our statistics have been dwindling in unbelief because everyone goes crazy here in december. Maybe it's something to do with the heat. It's frustrating because people have been bunking us like crazy, even our good investigators. Everything will be fine. These things happen because when these things happen, people say these things happen, and that's why they happen. I've been wondering lately about what we can do to find more investigators. We can teach anyone, but out of those people, very few will go on to be baptized and remain strong in the Church. The trick is to find those who will build the Kingdom after they're baptized, and bring other people with them.

 We went to see a gogo on saturday and invite her for church. We shared a brief spiritual thought with her, invited her for church, and we were about to leave when she asked us if she could give us a few bananas. We agreed thinking that she would give us 3 or 4, but instead she grabbed a 5 kg bag, dumped out like 30 bananas, wrapped them up in some newspaper, and handed it to us. It was very hard not to laugh out loud, but we managed somehow. She exercises perfect zulu culture with us. As a sign of respect, zulu women stare at the ground as men meet with them, and they only glance up at their eyes to show that they're listening. There are so many other things that she does that I cannot even begin to describe. It's really, really funny because she's this sweet gogo that treats 2 young missionaries like kings.

I got the Christmas package you sent. Thank you so much. The Christmas tree is very nice. I haven't opened anything yet, but I've taken full advantage of all the candy canes that were included in the package.  I love you so much.

Elder Steed