Week 39: June 6, 2011

Transfer day this Wednesday, and I will be staying here in Fish Hoek and Elder Senyange is going to Mowbray. My new companion is Elder Mofammere from Lesotho, it's sad to see Senyange go out but he had been here for a long time so his time had run out. This place is just on fire with plenty of people to teach and prepare for Baptism so we have just been working super hard. I have come to find out that the words of Elder Holland are true, that the greatest secret of missionary work is 'work'.

I think it would be good to give you all my diet of current, usually in the morning I will have an apple covered in peanut butter and some oats with some Brown sugar. We have recently simplified things in the afternoon, we usually cook up a huge lunch probably consisting of Pap (maize meal) and some assorted veggies in a tomato like sauce. We eat as much as we can at lunch and have the leftovers for dinner. We really don't have much variety in our meals but we don't really care because we aren't here to eat.

Something interesting happened I think last week, as we were coming out of an appointment we saw an old bakkie (truck) back into our car and then drive off. My immediate reaction was unbelief and I just stood in shock until finally found my senses and jumped the fence of our investigators home and chased the Bakkie down a couple of stop streets later. As it turns out the driver was not insured which isn't illegal here. Anyways there is a little minutiae from my week.
Mom I am pretty sure I received my birthday package, was it the one with the sweaters, sweets and chow mein? and good luck with that job! I will for sure keep you in my prayers always. Thank you so much for your words of encouragement, continue to work hard and pray harder.
Ariel you are getting a pretty big bump there, sounds like everything is working out perfectly timing wise funny thing how in our lives events line up in an almost perfect sequence of events.

Love you all,

Elder Nielsen

Week 37: May 23, 2011

How's it? Excuse the African way of saying Hello,

Thank you all for your letters and continuing support. This week was pretty good, yesterday we baptized two people from Masiphumelele the nearby township one named Susan Mushataganda and Ncebakazi. The program was great and the spirit was so strong as the talks were given as as the actual baptism took place. That makes seven baptisms so far on my mission, but that doesn't matter at all.

For mom, we stay in those apartment buildings just opposite of the sun valley mall, if that helps you at all on Google earth or whatever you used to check out Fishoek. The housing is nice, the only downside is that it has been a missionary boarding since the late nineties at least, so the cleanliness is not up to Hansen par ha-ha. But this morning we did some extensive cleaning and made some headway to getting it cleaner. we found some pretty cool novelty items left behind by other missionaries like a scrap tomato jar (basically just filled up with tomato juice and seeds) from Aug 2008, and no we didn't throw it out we just figured that since it had been around since then it wouldn't hurt to keep around a little longer. The area we are in is relatively safer than the whole of South Africa, in many ways Fishoek reminds me of Seattle because of the people who call it home, except with a SA twang which is awesome and I love it.

Other than the last mentioned, we have scheduled a baptism on June 5th so the work continues to progress and we are really excited about a couple of Investigators who we think have been prepared to receive this the Restored gospel. One is Nosphiwo who can has almost been reading The Book Of Mormon non-stop and is gaining more insights about Jesus Christ and his Gospel with every page she turns. Another is Busisiwe who is a good friend of a member and has been on a search for truth for a while now, and after reading the Restoration pamphlet told us that she too wanted us to teach her and baptize her.

In the MTC we were told that Africa was going to become like South America in terms of the strength of the church, except it would be quicker, and I can see that truly the land of Africa is making leaps and bounds in terms of growth. Many people are finding renewed strength and Faith in Jesus Christ by learning of the Restoration and in consequence the Book of Mormon the record of the 'other sheep' spoken of in John 10:16, who Christ visited after his resurrection. I'm really glad that I was called to serve here and I am really enjoying the time I have been given to do this great work.

Sabonyana,
Elder Nielsen

Week 36: May 16, 2011

Hello family and friends,

it is always good to hear from everyone, Colin and Mom thank you for your continuous letters to me. It is always nice to get caught up with you and your happenings in the past week. This week I had the opportunity of capturing the beauty of Fish Hoek and the many investigators that we have here. It seems like in this area there is a very small percentage of middle class, so either people are from the nice fancy houses on the mountains or beaches or they are from the townships.

Here in Fish Hoek there is a township named Masiphumelele which is where all of the shacks are at. The way these settlements start is first people get on a waiting list for a home provided by the government. so basically the government will build houses for people who don't have a home and provide electricity outhouses and spickets for them to get water. Basically these houses are cinder-block with a tin roof overhead sometimes they will have a proper roof but not always, and a cement floor. The people who don't live in these houses will build shacks around the homes and bum electricity from the nearest house. It is pretty interesting to be walking around a township and see the different way of life that is found there, it's actually very nice for missionary work because during the day people are not in their shacks but are out on the street so we get to talk to lots of people without much effort at all.

We continue to prepare people for baptism here and are having a lot of success, the chapel on Sunday's is completely full and we are trying to figure out how to maneuver the chairs so we can fit more people in there. The members here are great and are really down to earth, and I am really enjoying the work.

Colin I can see you as the best venture scout adviser ever, man that is just what a teenage boy needs just someone who knows how to have fun outdoors and camping trips that turn into lasting memories for them, I am sure you will be able to magnify your calling with excellence. And Mom like I said on the phone I can really see you doing well in primary and helping those children learn and understand basic principles of the gospel.

Love you all,
Chase

Week 34: May 2, 2011

Yes my time in Bellville has come to a close and I am now serving in the Fish Hoek branch, It is really beautiful down here. It is the closest area to Cape Point, and with the move I am now in the Cape South Zone rather than Cape North. Many missionaries want to serve around Cape Town really bad so I am really lucky to have all this time down here.

This area is absolutely stunning, it makes me want to live next to the sea not Seattle close but actually right next to it. Not only is the physical area beautiful but the missionary work here is already booming, and my companion is Elder Senyange who is from Uganda and we are in the same transfer. He is awesome, just a hard worker and loves missionary work so we are going to have a lot of success and some fun as well. If you want to get an idea of what views I get to enjoy for the next 6 weeks at least just Google image "Chapmans peak".

I can't believe it is already May, look forward to the phone call on Sunday that will be nice. I plan on calling around 8 o'clock my time so you guys can do the math and hopefully you will be home from church by then. sorry I don't know what time it is for you guys because we don't use daylight savings and it is confusing my human mind.

Sounds like mom and dad might have to move? wow i just don't know what to tell people when they ask where I am from, for right now I will stick to Washington state, people here have a real complex and always think I am from DC. Oh well just pray for guidance and everything will work itself out just follow the spirit and the answer will be clear no matter how tough a decision it might be to decide to move again.

yes mom I did receive the package you sent, thank you so much for that it was awesome!

Sounds as though everybody else is doing well, continue to do so

Love you all, Elder Nielsen