Week 37

whats up fam? hows everything? how was the week? the week was good. we got bunked alot. meriam and mpho dropped us due to being offended by a member. a member told meriam that she asks the elders too many questions and that we dont like that. meriam cried and doesnt want to see us anymore.... that sucks!! i was devastated. i loved those people so much. 

my comps cool things are good. this area is tough we've been getting bunked alot and people are too busy. church was good we had an investigator that we dropped came to church. 

things are crazy in the mission. we have a lot of elders from other missions due to visa waiters,the disease called ebola in upper africa, and a country called Lesotho in our mission is having political issues, and we have a lot of new missionaries coming in so its getting crowded. we have a 6 man boarding now. the two new elders are cool. they use the bikes and we walk now. walking is nice though. I enjoy it. 

this week one of our investigators mthathaleli passed his baptismal interview he will get baptized this weekend! weve been teaching him since july i was a little nervous to baptize him because i didnt feel he was ready but hes devloped a strong testimony and has a had a mighty change of heart. hes more than ready. im so happy about that and were watching general conference saturday and sunday so thats sick! 

jace is a stud. he is growing up so fast its crazy.  thats cool he is going to homecoming. thats sick riggs is playing soccer. they love soccer here and im trying to learn. im getting better though. i am happy gage is enjoying scouts. i wish  i coudlve done scouts. i hope dads surgery goes well. i marked it in my missionary planner and ill keep him in my prayers. 

riggs gave a sweet talk. its well prepared. he will do great giving it in sacrament meeting.

oh i havent gotten mail in ages due to the post offices being on strike hahaha so the mission isnt getting any mail. but once they open everything will be delivered. 

the phots were awesome and i loved the quotes. christmas is coming very soon which is sick cant wait to talk to you guys on skype. hope you have a great week. love and miss you all. take care.
elder bryant

Week 36

hey guys dont have much time. im doing well.  glad to hear the family is doing well. thats sick jordan got his mission call. im so happy for him.  thats crazy syd got married. she looked so happy so thats cool.  hope dads surgery goes well. ill keep him in my prayers. the photos were way cool and i loved the quotes. i even wrote them down in my planner. we have a baptism for the 5th of october so im stoked  for that. ill send some photos. love you guys have a great week.

-elder bryant

Week 35

hey! my week was good. my comp and i are still together which is sick. im for sure leaving next transfer because itll be 6 months in this area. unfortunately elder chapman (tongan from california) and elder neilsen (from idaho) are leaving. they are so cool and we always have a good time together.

meriam and mpho are alright we recently found out that the wife has a drinking problem but its nothing the Lord cant fix.

church was good we had stake conference in bloemfontein(3 hours away). 

i havent got your package or your letter but people will be leaving and coming to their new areas on tuesday so when hopefully when the new elders come theyll have mail with them if theyre coming from durban. if not ill wait probably till week three when we have ztm. im stoked to get your pakcage though.

dj said he never got an email from me. i guess i had the wrong address but its fixed now so thats good.

i usually fix my own breakfast and lunch sometimes people feed us dinner. for breakfast i have cereal, eggs, or oatmeal. mainly cereal though. for lunch i usually eat, grilled cheese, spaghetti, sometimes french toast, or an egg and noodle omelet (an elder showed me how to cook it). people usually feed us pap or rice with meat or some squash. i love squash but im sick of pap and rice haha ill never eat that back home.

its getting pretty hot winter is over. we are on bikes so im getting darker and darker each day. im drenched in sweat too when we arrive to appointments haha. i got spf 70 sunblock though so it should help. it rarely if ever rains here.

im healthy doing fine. my comp is a little sick but hes getting better. i live in a four man boarding. the other elders are cool except one hes an african and he’s 26. i live with elder nielsen the cool guy from idaho but hes leaving. were getting another american. i heard hes cool so it should be nice.

i hear from my mom, nesha, and tierra alot. theyre pretty supportive nesha said shell be sending me a letter. i think they are getting use to things now.

i dont have much to say this week because we got bunked a lot for some reason. for example, on saturday we had a full day appointments every hour. we got bunked the entire day only our 7:00 didnt bunk. it was a very spiritual lesson. our investigator amos is struggling his wife is sick in the hospital and he hates it. he began to cry hard in the lesson. we taught according to his needs and talked about faith, hope, and the saviors atonement. we left him ether 12 to read. he’s on b date. even though we got bunked the entire day that one lesson we did have made up for everything else.

we have an investigator named mthathaleili whos going to be baptized this month im stoked for that. we just have to teach him lesson 5 and then he will be interviewed and enter the waters of baptism. weve been working with this guy alot since july, but we wanted him to be prepared and not just baptize a less active. weve both prayed about it and feel hes ready. we can tell that hes changed alot.  

the photos are awesome my lil bros are studs. 

love you guys. enjoy the week aye.

-elder bryant

Week 34

it was sad hearing that story of the young boy. please send my regards and deepest love to that family. ill keep them in my prayers. tell riggs to keep his head up aye. 

i apologize for not emailing yesterday. we had deep cleaning and then drove 3 hours to pj for our zone activity so we had no time to shop, email, or anything. thats why i am emailing today our mission president approved. the zone activity was very fun we played b ball and had a braii. we ate BAKED POTATOES i miss that so much. a nice baked potato with cheese and bacon bits ah im drooling right now. 

im happy you got my letter and loved the book mark. i havent recieved your package yet but the transfer is almost over so ill get it soon. 

oh ya we get transfer news this saturday. my mission  president said ill be staying for one more transfer so im stoked because my comp is dope and we have a great family we are teaching. the interviews were good. i love my mission president he is a nice guy and he really cares about his elders. he is from LA but his home is in utah. hes an awesome guy.

dj finally emailed me so thats cool. thats cool jace won his football game. tell him congrats.

im happy to hear all is going well. you guys are being blessed which is nice that means my prayers are being answered. 

what the heck i cant believe syd is getting married???? she was suppose to wait for me.

hahaah nah thats cool. shell have like 8 kids by the time i get home. thats weird haha. tell her i said congrats aye. 

id love to meet jean and ross they sound like great people. this week was nothing to spectacular. we got bunked almost everyday of every hour this whole week. we did alot of contacting and tracting.

meriam and mpho (the great family were teaching) came to church again and loved it. meriam struggles with reading so we are helping her with that. shes a good reader though shes not confident. im really hoping president keeps me here one more transfer so i can see them get baptized. sometimes

president gets crazy with transfers so im a lil nervous. id be devastated if i left this family. i have so much christlike love for them. sorry i dont have much to write... not much happened this week.

love and miss you guys.

-elder bryant

Week 33

itah njane? hows it guys? im doing great. the week was alright. thanks for getting back to me about dj. ill email him from that address. thank you very much for the package as well. means a lot. im stoked to get it and that baseball tee is lakka. that was a good choice you made. i know packages are expensive  thanks so much. i got one of your letters this week but still havent got the choclate chip one yet. we have interviews with the mission president on thursday theyll have mail so hopefully ill be getting some.

my comp is dope things are great. riding bikes is fun we always pretend to do tricks and hit jumps hahaah. we look like typical missionaries. ill send a photo next week.

thats sick you and dad got a calling together. im sure those kids will enjoy your class.

time goes by too fast. its crazy its been a year since i opened my call.

i cant believe coltens been out for a year as well. eish!

thats awesome jordans putting in his papers. let me know where he gets called to serve aye.

not much happened this week. my comp is the dl so weve been on exchanges pretty much the whole week. we only had one investigator come to church and it was a less active. hopefully this week will be better. i gave a talk this sunday during sacrament meeting. i spoke about prayer. i actually stuck to my topic hahaha. it went well. ill mail my talk to you in a letter.

tell jace he looks like a stud on the field, tell haley to keep being reckless, and tell colten to keep on keepin. the photos are great. love you guys. have a kumnadi week.

-elder bryant

Week 32

hows it? hows the fam? I'm happy, healthy, and handsome(as usual). this

week was just amazing. my comp is dope. i get out of the shower and he

polishes my shoes, i forgot to make my bed and he made it for me, and

he cooks me lunch. hes super cool and we have a great companionship. im

hoping were together for another transfer. 

our area is doing good a lot better than it use to be. we have 6 families in 

our teaching pool. we recieved a referral from a member in our branch and 

this family is amazing. theyve met with missionaries in the past they are very

accepting to our message. theyve been struggling the husband was

unemployed for 6 months and theyve been stressing due to bills and not

being able to provide for simple necessities. unemployment rate is 50

% percent right now in south africa. he almost thought about committing

a crime for money thats how bad the family needed money. him and his

wife had been praying for help and for a job but nothing happened.

they started to question if God existed because they felt he wasnt

answering their prayers. get this we meet them once and introduced the

restoration  they asked us to pray for them. my comp and i mentioned

them in our prayers; a few days later the husband gets a call for a

interview and passes the interview now he has a job. what a miracle

and blessing.  Heavenly Father answers prayers, he lives , and he

loves us more than we can imagine. somtimes we just have to be patient

when waiting for answers to our prayers. i know that God knew when the

right timing was to get him a job just when he met missionaries so it

would testify that we are true representatives of Jesus Christ. they

came to church yesterday and loved they even invited us over for

dinner. they expressed how grateful for they are for us. the wife

began to cry and opened us to us and shared some sensitive matters.  we

had a wonderful visit with them the wife said this is her church she

joining it. the husband just wants to know more but is willing to

join. he asks super good questions its cool though when im not too

sure about answering one of his questions i go " my companion has a

great answer for that"  and he chucks it back at me hahah. but we

teach well and answer his questions. im so glad i decided to serve a

mission. i wouldve never met these wonderful people. i know that i was

sent to south africa for specific reasons and when the Lords wants me

to go to kenya ill go. its so cool to see the gospel bless peoples

lives. 

thanks for sending the package. doesnt matter which baseball

tee you sent ill be happy. but it wasnt the ice cream one aye? i cant

wear that. i got your letters and postcard from san diego but not the

chocolatre chip cookie one. ill mail you a letter today i put a little

gift inside for you. i havent really got many packages  i dont know

who said that but its all good. thats weird everyones in school. glad

to hear things are well. the photos are dope. its nice to see your

guys faces. presidnet palmer is right i better enjoy it aye. my comp

is awesome. him and my trainer are my favorite comps so far. my

favorite part about mission is learning doctrine, growing, seeing the

Lord more abundantly in my life, and seeing the gospel bless/ change

peoples lives. hardest part is getting crappy companions they just

test you on all levels and make life miserable haha. the thing i miss

the most is family , friends, and food. the food here is alright but i

miss the food back home. love and miss you guys. have a good week.

cheers aye.-elder bryant

Week 25

Hey fam. Hows it? I am feeling much better. I am not sick anymore so that's cool. My comp got sick this week so we stayed in for two days. He got the flu as well. But we were able to work a little bit so that was nice.

I really enjoyed those quotes. They are very inspiring. My comp is still the same, but I am learning and growing. I am gaining a lot of patience. I just do what I am suppose to and work hard.  He does things he knows he shouldn't do, but he is 27 and he is almost 18 months on mission. So, he knows better and he knows why he is here. I am not his babysitter. I tell him when he shouldn't do stuff but he has his agency.  I am pretty sure he will be leaving this transfer, so I am anxious to see who my next comp is. I hope he is cool and wants to work.

I am glad you guys had fun on the fourth. The fourth was a regular working day for us, but after our last appointment the other American elders and I went and ate pizza. It was nice. We just talked about America the whole time haha.

Those are dope pics on Cali. The fam looks great. Whose that random guy in the photo? Looks like a hippie ... looks like chunk aka gunner hahaha .

What the heck? School starts soon? Didn't summer just start?  The next time the senior couples go to the temple I'm going to ask them to pick up some cool things so I can send home. I'm in AFRICA. I gotta send some souvenirs. Why is Gunner's family moving ???  That's too far from our house. Tell them not to move. That's crazy Jakes moving as well. How is he by the way?  Its getting colder and colder here you would  be surprised.

Olivia, one of our investigators, is power. She came to church for the second time and we have her on a b date for the 27th. She thanked us for teaching her and said she cant wait to be baptized and have the holy ghost as her constant companion. The spirit is strong in her lessons. We are teaching her husband as well but he wont come to church. We want to baptize them both. They are a great family. They are from Mozambique . 

That's pretty much all this week . We missed a lot due to the two days we didn't work, because my comp was sick. But he is better now and hopefully we will have a better week. That's a cool screenshot of Nesha's photo. She's the best.  Tomorrow we get mail, so hopefully I have some letters from you . Ill write back asap. Love you guys. Take care aye.

elder bryant

Week 23

Hey my week was good. I am glad you got my letter. We haven't taught at the police station yet. Soon though. The picture I sent was the missionaries at a open house for a chapel we had awhile ago.

Hahaha, ya I guess I am changing so that's good.  I still deal with a lot of racist Afrikaans but its gucci.

Transfer news came. I am still with my same comp in the same area. Its cool though. We get along so its cool.  Things are starting to happen in our area though. Our hard work is paying off. Yesterday we put a family on bdate. The mom came to church and told us how she felt the spirit. We taught them yesterday the spirit was burning. It was way cool. I felt so much joy yesterday it was sweet.

I am happy Jace is doing great in sports. That's dope. Those are nice pics.  It was good to see a pic of all the moms. Gage is a stud. He is going to be a pro skater one day aye. hahah that pic of all of us is hilarious. I’m jelly you guys are going to San Diego. Have fun though aye. I look forward to getting your photos. Ill send some photos today. Not much happened this week. We are finding a lot of less actives but they’re all Afrikaans and racist. it should be fun though. Love you guys. Take care aye.

elder bryant