Welcome back to Adventures in SA with Elder Tucker 1 ( the one stands for superiority Elder Tucker #2)

So  stories: Well the first one: We were teaching these investigators we met on a finding activity at the mall. They have an incredible story.  When we got to the door a new guy was there.  We asked him to join the lesson and he did. We were talking about the Plan of Salvation last lesson so we get going by following up.  The new guy actually had started reading one of the other investigators copies of the B of M and asked for his own. So we were like yeah you can get your own! Then we dove into the lesson and got to the creation and the fall and this guy KNEW HIS BIBLE!  We asked him if he could summarize it for us and he quoted Genesis. It was awesome then he and the others just got talking about the doctrines and things behind them. Thanks to this young man!  Super awesome people.

We have another new investigator who we were teaching about the restoration. We got through and he understood everything but he had one question.  "Why did God and Jesus Christ manifest themselves to Joseph Smith but for Mary it was the angel Gabriel?"  Elder K. and I looked at each other and just let the spirit flow man. I think we talked about how important the church was to god and how it was an answer from God because that's who he asked. Needless to say he was totally content with the answer the spirit gave, fun lesson!

Last Monday I learned how to make magwinya which is like a scone but denser and it was super fun. One of our less active members taught us. I will have pictures of that. I have really no idea what order they are in now. One of them is my companion making magwinya and the other is me. The lady that taught us to make magwinya her name is N. The other picture is with one of our awesome fellow shippers who is actually preparing for his mission he just needs to talk with the stake president and his name is B.

So New years is pretty crazy so this week drunks everywhere. Fun stories I will share coming up on Adventures in SA with Elder Tucker 1

Monday was usual but Tuesday was funny.

We were on exchanges I was in Langa with one of our zone leaders elder W. We were looking for a fellow shipper and came across this family with an open door so what do we do? Go talk to them. They saw us go by once and were like, they have to come here.  We were stunned and then this lady there was like you guys are men of god right? We are like "Yeah we are". She then told us that she could see the Light of Christ and of God written all over our faces. super powerful.

Later that day we were in a lesson when a drunk guy comes to the door and tells us he is just passing by; but wants to meet us later we shrugged it off. Our fellow shipper just starts talking to this guy!  This man was so off his rocker that he started yelling about politics and how much he hated the lady we were visiting! Elder W decides to give him a pass along card to send him on his way.  DOES NOT WORK.  We were sick of the dude so Elder W says "happy birthday good bye".  The man then starts singing happy birthday in Xhosa and twerking on the stairs. We  couldn't keep it together we died laughing. FINALLY he left and we were able to get to another appointment. It was terrible and yet funny.

Boring week until new years eve.  We started out by deep cleaning some of the boarding(appts.) in our zones.  we went to Plumstead some of you may know H. S. he gradated from Woods Cross with us.  He is in my mission this was his boarding. Quite nice stuff. We get a text from the AP and AAPs to hurry back to the flats. We got there to find they had somehow gotten a braai stand (grill). So we bought meats and braaied off our balcony since were on the top floor. The zone leaders then left and the real fun began.  We were going to go let off Chinese lanterns found in the boarding but when we got to where we were gonna send them it was far too windy. So we go back to the flats to send them off the balcony.  Plot twist the first one went down not up onto the balcony of the lady below us. She is nuts. We were laughing so hard but we knew we had to retrieve the paper balloon.  We have some wire for some reason so we tried to fish it off her balcony from ours. NOPE.  We then get a broom and a makeshift hook from the wires to get it. NOPE. The time is now About 11:00 PM.  So we get another broom tape them together to make it longer and go from our balcony. We were close but still nope.  So we get another broom to extend it and we finally got it from Rita's baloney and swung it over to the AP's and called it a night.  Finished this fiasco about 11:30. If anyone is or is about to serve a mission.  OBEY THE RULES!!!!!  The lord will curse you if you don't.

What will happen next week on Adventures in SA? to find the answers to these questions tune in next week. same missionary time, same missionary email.

Ndiyaku thanda

Elder Tucker 1

This has been a very interesting week to say the least. So grab hold of your socks.

Monday: We were enjoying a wonderful P day, you know having a burger, good stuff. Then....BAM call from the zone leaders, "get your emergency kits and non perishable food items and meet at the mission home". We were like "okay". Shoved the burgers in our mouths payed and booked it to the flat. Got dressed in whites and stuff then made it to the mission office.  Now this was the day when we were to get an SD card for the camera to send pictures and also to get toenail polish remover so I wont have orange toes anymore. Then we were told to drive to Belville. We were having a multi zone emergency mission drill. We did a finding activity and handed out 30 copies of the B of M so that was fun. 

 

Tuesday: We had a super powerful zone conference which was just incredible! I learned a lot about the B of M and the Bible. How they testify of each other. The coolest thing I found with that is cross referencing Isaiah 29:11-12 and JSH 64-65.  If you have never done that do it now.

Wednesday was boring except one of our less active members we found out was in a school strike that got on international news.  It was pretty intense from the couple of witnesses that told us of it.  I can't remember what it was called or I would put it in.

Thursday: I started driving. It's a lot easier than I thought it would be, so that was nice. We met a guy who firmly believed that Christ never established a church but had disciples and a ministry- but no church, and the dude wasn't even drunk.

Friday was fun we had a few lessons. I learned about pop.  It's not good at all man.  It's super pasty in my opinion. Super boring day except for the semi heavy misting in the air. 

Saturday was nice because we finally got to go shopping.  I had been out of milk and yogurt and bread for the entire week.  We taught some awesome lessons. I learned that they do not say family in Xhosa it is Ikya which means 'at home". That was very interesting to me. And whenever we do service the people always ask the person were helping; how they got four white men to do their lawn for free?  They tell them to listen to our message,but we still don't get a ton of referrals.  

The people here don't really celebrate Christmas here its mostly just another day. New years is apparently what's insane here so looking forward to that.  

Called the family on Sunday heard that there was a lot of snowfall back home. So drive safe. 

This has been adventures in South africa with Elder Tucker. 

Love you all!

Molweni, Its crazy to think that i have already been out a month. It feels like I just got on the plane for SA yesterday. It has been a very busy and fun week so with out further ado here's my adventures:

Monday:

We went to a place called spur because they had a good deal on burgers on monday and it was good but people here seriously need to learn how to make fries the taste like dust so yeah then we hada multi zone basket ball tournament and taught some lessons to less actives and recent converts. Nothing really happened to crazy that day.

Tuesday:

We moved couches a lot that day it was really weird actually. We taught more lessons one of them being a young women that has an english sort of  accent which I though was really weird because in townships it usually a really thick more African accent. I found out they don't have root beer! Sorry colter no local brew for you. I tried this Soda called Iron Brew which was like cherry coke with a red bull after taste. We gave out a Book of Mormon to a man that came to one of our lessons he was pretty cool.

Wednesday: 

Most of our lessons dropped but it was still a good day because there was Gwinya. which is like a scone but with hamburger meat and fries on it. It was pretty good and super cheap  about ten rand ( maybe eighty cents back home) and we taught one of our favorite member families  they said to "tell everyone hello". I learned how to make a cross in a paper with one tare its intense.

Thursday:

Dropped lessons again but we still had a ton of lessons, and they were all super powerful. We found the quote of the week. We shared Alma 6:5-6 and asked the person we were teaching to interpret the scripture and he said, "It says Nevertheless, so its true." It was hilarious and Elder K and I had to bite our tongues to stop from laughing.

Friday:

This was Elder R year mark, so he was super excited!  So was I, because he is our district leader and we had two people commit to baptism! Only one showed up to church on Sunday but hey that's still one soul coming to be more like Christ so I am happy.

Saturday:

Fun stuff. First Exchange I was with Elder W, who coincidentally has been to eagle point!  He is a very strange person but super powerful and can grab peoples attention like a rainbow.  We only got one lesson in that day but it was good it was the first lesson we had with this lady and we totally slayed it.  We also had a branch party there in Langa and it was super fun because there was a ton of food that was braaied ( sort of like Grilling but better) and it was delicious. Then the best part of the day is I got yelled at by a drunk man.  He asked me how old I was and I said "eighteen".  Then he just started shouting about if I knew what teaching was and it was funny. Elder W. almost fell in the dirt and our fellowshipper had to go to the car.  Drunks are everywhere and they are funny.

Sunday:

Church was great the branch is doing well, we had some talks on the love of Christ and prayer. Really good stuff was taught. On Sundays we go to mama J's house to eat food.  That lady loves her Elders and shows it through the food. She literally brings a mountain of food for you to eat and if you don't eat it, she will never let you live it down. I heard stories about the Elder I replaced.  So I ate it and there was too much I felt like I was about to explode but it was super delicious.

This has been Elder Tuckers Adventures in Cape town. If you have any questions comments or concerns. or would just like to send me an Email. Do so at this address and have a Merry Christmas.  Love you all

Hey everyone, 
     Sorry I couldn't get an email out last week we got transferred to our respective missions . Left Tuesday which is the MTC p-day and mission p day is Monday, so yea.  It's really interesting here. I was the only one of my transfer group to stay in Cape Town everyone else left to go to Eastern Cape.  I am serving in an area called Gugulethu which is a township area, but has some incredible cars.  My trainers name is Elder K. and he is from Highland, UT. He is an  awesome missionary and had just finished up his training weeks before training me, but its way fun.  The language is super awesome, most people speak English. The people are more receptive if you show your trying to learn the language here; which has a lot of different clicks which are difficult to get correct. I have taught quite a few lessons because everyone wants to hear what the new elder has to say.  That has been going awesome thanks to the free time in the MTC I have a lot of scriptures to share.  They play a lot of soccer here and watch Indian soap operas called soapies  which kind of suck, but that is my opinion.  We had a confirmation this week in church of a sister L very powerful woman and her whole family too. That's about it for me but if you have any questions, comments or concerns. Send them to me.

<merrillsj@ldschurch.org>	6:03 AM (14 hours ago)
to me

Dear Tucker Family.

This short email is to inform you that your son has landed safely in Cape town today. He is looking good. We are thankful for his sacrifice and we’re looking forward to serve with him.

The pictures attached are of your son on Signal Hill, Cape Town, overlooking Table Mountain and the city.

May God bless you in this festive season.

Regards.

South Africa Cape Town Mission