Well, today was..what it was. We had service in the morning. We went to help a member move into a new home. I dumped some water off the balcony at one point and missed where I was aiming. I had to apologize to a woman. I still feel bad, and I'm wondering if I should have done more to apologize. Fortunately, I didn't hit her directly, for all I know she didn't even get hit by a drop of water, but I still had to apologize.
Anyway, after service we went and got lunch. It took us a while to find a good "Hotel" (what the call the restaurants here) since the Zimmerman Sisters hadn't found a good place to eat lunch before then.
After that, we went to withdraw our allotments. E. Bamongo ended up getting his card blocked. I was watching (and helping) as he was working, and he entered his pin correctly, but it still blocked him. It was a bit of a headache.
After that, we went to Alfred's place. I picked up my grey suit. It's nice. It's a better fit than the last one because I asked him to leave a little room: "in case I get fat" (I definitely will, I just barely got back to a healthy weight: 155lbs). It looks nice, Alfred even had a completely different reaction from the last time I got a suit. Last time, he was just grateful. This time, he wanted to get pictures with me. It was funny. I'm sending poorly shot selfies so ya'll can see it too.
After that, we got bounced, twice, so we went to a back-up plan. The backup plan was a flippant thing because we didn't have the number for the guy we planned to see, but I knew where he lived.
I mention it was a flippant thing because it suddenly became important and valid. The guy texted us. That. Never. Happens. So we went to see him. E. Tsangu asked him why he texted us, and he told us that he "felt like it." Clearly the spirit - E.Tsangu didn't hesitate to point that out. It was a good lesson, and this guy might progress. The issue is that he is "deeply" involved with his church.
We did some contacting and that was the end of the day. We wanted to plan but abruptly heard that interviews would be tomorrow. We waited around in our Priesthood attire for a few hours waiting for the schedule, but nothing. Eventually, we got the schedule, and I delivered the bad news to E.Tsangu: "We're gonna have to leave at 8 tomorrow, again." "Flip, dang it!" (He likes the Best Two Years) E.Bamongo: "Oh, no." (in a thick but thinning French accent, he's working on it). My reaction mirrored E.Tsangu's. We left at 8 this morning for service, and I always hate when we do that. It means I have to skip my morning shower.
8/2
Wow! President was fast. He (his assistants) called to ask where we were a full 25 minutes (or thereabouts) before my appointment was supposed to begin. I got in, sat down, did the interview, and left. President Mdletshe finished with the last of my companions right as my interview was supposed to begin. He's fast! I like the change in attitude he brings. President Msane definitely had something the missionaries of the past needed, the same is true for us and President Mdletshe. He brings a change this mission needs. It's nice.
I've got to make this very, very clear: I have liked both of my Presidents. I have the same feelings I had when President Monson died: nostalgia, love, and respect, but readiness for what's to come - to see what the next has in store. It's nice.
We actually made good time and got back pretty early. The issue was that various errands we had to do took a while. So we were at the church waiting for a 23-hour early correlation meeting (it had been rescheduled). Unfortunately, the AWML was quite late. The upside is that I got to meet E.Cole's new trainee. I still don't have his name memorized, but I thought it was South African for a long time (17 whole hours!). Nope! He's from DRC. He's still learning English, so he doesn't talk much, but in a few weeks, he'll probably be speaking a bit more.
8/3
Ugh...I've learned my lesson: Mountain Dew tastes good, but it completely messes with my head. For those of you in my family who are gasping in horror: "Erik tried Caffeine???" Yeah, I've had more caffeine on mission than I ever had before in my life: A sip of Pepsi (bleh), A cup of Coke (bleh), and 300mls of Mountain Dew (yum). The mountain dew also taught me that my avoidance of caffeine is a good thing. It's messing with my head right now, the fact that I'm still sick doesn't help anything, but it's still not good.
There was also a moment this morning where I had a: "really guys?" moment with my companions. We finished weekly planning a bit early, so I went to lie down for that extra time. I left my flash with President Nelson's talks running in the speaker, and they were both in the front room listening. Suddenly the both start shouting over to me: "you need to take pills!" I'm like: "yeah, that's a good idea." I take the pills out of my medicine storage (highly recommended) and came into the front room to get water to take the pills. I head what President Nelson's current talk was about: "Drugs."
...
...
...
These two.
Really?
Anyway, we went to lunch after that, then we went and taught a Doctor in his office. That's always a weird experience. It was our second time teaching this guy. I honestly can't tell if he's serious, but I'm hoping he is. I always hope, it's a bad habit.
We met with a new guy today too, a brother named Sammy who E.Tsangu contacted at our cyber on Monday. Not sure what to make of this guy. I let the other two do all the talking, I was out of it. I just did a bit of testifying there at the end.
Our next lesson was even worse as far as participation. The whole thing was in Swahili. I just stopped listening. It was kinda an upside for me since I needed the rest, but it's never fun feeling useless.
We went to visit a member named Winnie after that, just to introduce my companions to her, then we went to Bradley's place. We were supposed to see his sister and her friend, but both of them bounced us, so it turned into a member visit.
When we got back to the flat my two comps made Ugali and Pork. I will freely admit: I've learned the trick to eating ugali, so I don't care anymore. I still dislike it, but I'm used to it. The trick that works for me is that I focus on the piece of meat or veggies and ignore the ugali in my mouth. I find that it works for me, but if I only have soup to dunk it in then I won't be able to deal very well.
8/4
Well, today was a group of poorly planned failures. We were supposed to teach a lesson after church, but a miscommunication prevented it from happening. We were supposed to teach those two kids today, and they left early. The only thing that went right was when we visited S.Linda. That was actually a lot of fun, a good visit - it made up for the rest of the day.
We visited S.Linda and her Husband - Michael - with the "Elders Quorum and Relief Society." There were roughly 16 adults and 3 children.
I spent the evening after we got back cutting off and sewing back on the buttons of my new black shirt. It took forever. It was a second-hand shirt so I'm not surprised, but all the buttons were completely banged up - ready to fall off. It wasn't pretty once I'd taken a closer look. Why did I take a closer look? Because I'd lost one of the buttons on Monday. I only noticed when I realized that I was flashing my garments for all the world to see. I had to adjust my tie and my bag strap to close the gap. It wasn't fun heading back to the flat.
I have two morales to this story: 1: Check your second-hand clothing thoroughly for any needed fixes. 2: Make sure you bring a good sewing kit with you on mission. The only thing I'm missing is a thimble. The extra buttons were really advantageous. It's a good thing that I only needed to use one, I have a funny feeling that they'll become useful later on.
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