First Baptism!

Michael had his first baptism and it sounds like it went great.
Here's the email we received this week!
Sent March 2, 2009


hello family, hows it?

well i am happy to announce that everything went smoothly with the baptism! It rained a little bit but it was ok! And don't worry there were no evil spirits that got washed off into the pool! I was so happy about all of it! and i got close to tearing up in sacrament meeting during the confirmation.... and other great news is that one of our investigator families, the Tsela's came to church on sunday! it was awesome! it was the first time that we had more than one investigator at church since Elder Mbhele has been here! So that was very exciting i actually asked a couple members to make sure that they said hello and welcomed them. Our branch has had troubles in the past welcoming visitors, and i decided that as long as i am here noone is going to come to the lords church and feel unwelcome!!! So that was definately awesome to have them there and to have the members actually step up and fellowship! :)
Anyways.... in other news we got a refferal from the kanyamazane elders and i think we will be teaching that family as well. It's this girl named Sepasihle and when she lived in township she was going to church almost every sunday for like 4 months and wanted to be baptised but they never got to teach her before she moved into town, but now that she's living with her family we hope that they will be as excited about the gospel as she is!
So things are definately picking up! i want this area to be exploding when i leave it. When i came in it was totally dormant but i now see how much potential it really has and how many great things can happen as long as we work hard and depend on the lord for help! I say it time and time again but that is the key to success in the mission field! Hard Work, Lots of Prayer, and Trust in the lord. With those three things in place the work progressess beyond what you thought was possible!
But as far as questions that were asked let me answer a few of them:
Pap(pronounced "pop")- Is the stable food of south africa, it is pretty much the same thing as fufu in Congo! If you can buy maize meal in the states then get some, put it into a pot, add water, butter, and a little salt. and stir until it hardens but is still soft. Then get some cans of baked beans, mix them into a pot, add some mince, if you can buy curry powder get some and put some of that into there. as well as onions and other stuff. anyways when its all done you plop some pap onto your place, then put the beans all over it like a gravy on mashed potatoes. It's soooo good! If you can't manage it right now, then wait and i'll do it for christmas dinner in 2010. haha
But hearing about all those memories with jeff made me crack up a bit. those were good times!
Welp to close i just want to reiterate how great things are here and how much i love the work, it is awesome, and i truly do love every minute of it! And just a little shambocking for the family and branch, that being If you guys aren't doin any member missionary work, then you best be getting on that! It doesn't have to be anything huge just always be ready and prepared for those opportunities that arise to share the gospel. Believe me, the elders can use all the help that they can get from you!

And lastly, you guys should definately shoot elder mbhele an email for next week, here is his email address!
jabumbhele@myldsmail.net

Welp, thats about it for this week! i hope you all have a great week! I can't wait to hear from you soon!

-elder j