04/16/12

Hello everyone,

I know I should have a better attitude about writing this email.  I have SO much support back home and so many people who sacrifice for me.  So I will try to write them for the rest of my mission, but its not easy. President Monson talked about in priesthood session of general conference how when he was a bishop the first presidency of the church committed all the bishops too write to all the members of their wards who were serving in the armed forces MONTHLY!  I can't write a letter to save my life and he wrote 26 letters every month!  So you will be happy to know I wrote three letters this morning.  I think the letter from Mishon helped me have a desire to write because she asked if we were still friends or if I was alive.  Hahahahah. YES, Mishon your letter was one of the three I wrote this morning and duh....we are still friends!  So letters will slowly come.  The Van Sickle's are coming here on the 27th of this month and I will send my letters with them and they will post them from PE.  So it will take a while.
DANG Katee's last email was so blasted long. she always seems to show me up some how. hahaha. Anyways this week was great.  It was a little slow in the work department.  We had General Conference which was AWESOME!  Then interviews with President Wood and a morning of training.  So it was nice. My interview went as it always does short and sweet and nothing much to discuss.  It was a great interview and its always great to be with President Wood.  He is really awesome.
So mom said I haven't told enough about where I am.  So here we go.  I work about a 30 min drive from where I live.  I work in the Mdantsane township.  It is great, my area covers NU (native unit) 15,16 and 18. It also covers Mbekwene unit P and a small university separated from the rest of the area.  No there is no student ward. ha ha ha Mdantsane is a huge town ship that has 3 wards and 2 church buildings.  The members are great and the ward functions great which is a bit of a change.  When the church is in new areas it seams to struggle.  Mdantsane is know for success when it comes to baptisms, however the stake presidency really does not want baptisms.  Really in most the missions our focus is not baptism any more.  It is real growth.  Which means a whole lot of reactivation and retaining new members.  For us we only baptize those who truly understand the covenant they are making.  Less activity is so dangerous.  It would be better for them if they don't make the covenant at all then go less active later. (2nephi 31;14) there are even missionaries here who have been assigned to do less active work and only baptize if they find someone through a part member or less active family.
In this area we have been doing lots of service.  Like painting houses, or yard work.  I like doing the gardens because it helps members and others be self reliant.  Our area is safe mom.  Or at least safe as any.  The people are awesome.  They will almost always let us in and all have a deep desire to follow the savior.
We drive alot because of the size of our area.  We drive a blue Chevy Aveo. (my word mom this is detailed....and boring) hahaha General Conference was awesome!!!!  I loved when President Monsoon spoke on 1 Nephi 3:7.  I love that verse.  It is when the lord commands Nephi to go back to Jerusalem and get the plates.  It wasn't only a dangerous task, but it was hard because they had already walked so far from Jerusalem because the lord had commanded them to leave.  Nephi's brothers complained saying It was a hard thing to do.  Nephi said " I will go and do the things which the lord has commanded for I know the lord giveth no commandments to the children of men save he shall prepare a way for them".  I know whatever the lord asks us to do, we will be able to accomplish it.  Whether it be something specific to us or a general commandment, it is possible.  I have felt the lords help in things that are hard to accomplish.  I know he helps us!
I will talk more about specific people were teaching next time.  I hope every one had a great week.  Love you all and thanks for the love and support given to me each week.  I really appreciate it.  Happy Birthday this week to ADAM!!!!!   I hope your day is great.

 

Love,

Colton

04/09/12

Well another week gone by.  It's so crazy how fast these weeks fly.  Whats crazier is that I get up and do the exact same thing every morning.  Up at half past six, shower, get ready, blah blah.  Some oat meal for the past 18months hahaha but its REALLY worth it!
Well its finally getting cold in Africa and I will never have to go through another African summer!!!!!  Unless I come on another mission here which I would do in a heart beat.  Its nice for it to be cold though I think I'm a little more sensitive to the cold because temperature wise its not that cold but I am FREEZING!  Utah is going to kill me!
We had a great week this week and we taught the first lesson the a girl named Dudu. (yes that is her name) she is awesome.  She comes to church a lot and we all thought she was a member but we visited her and found out she wasn't!  It was a great feeling!  She is so solid.  The lesson was awesome, she understood so well and even said "well yes if his church was lost then god would not want us to be lost as well, so there would have to be a restoration"  DING DING DING!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The room just filled with the spirit and she felt it as well!
This was an awesome Easter.  I remember last year when my district leader in district meeting said it was the best Easter because we have  time to bear testimony every day that the Savior lives and loves us and that he did restore his gospel to the earth through a prophet  who was called of god.  It was my second best Easter because I got to do it again.
So Oma, one of your students wrote me and I lost the return address tell her sorry and maybe you could help me with that address?  Also Ii still can receive post here its just hard to send.  I got post from Oma and Grandma and Courteney and also Cheryl Thomas.  They were awesome letters!  So, thank you very much!
So before I forget happy birthday last week to Brad and Parker Franson!  And this week to Emery and Emily..AND Brayden.  I cannot believe it was a year ago that I got a phone call from Sister Herbert in the office telling me Calee had Brayden!  I was stoked but disappointed I was missing out on it all.  I know why I am here and wouldn't change that for the world.  I hope you all have a great week. 

 

Love,

Colton

04/02/2012

Hello!
Its been a pretty good week.  On Tuesday I got the call that I would be leaving good ole Kwano and going to another large town ship called Mdantsane.  I'm serving in the Mdantsane 3rd ward.  So I was pretty excited but its always hard to leave.  I said good bye to some great people and I'll miss them a lot. There are great people here that I will love!  So I hoped on a big double decker bus and rode for about 5 hours.  It was a nice ride though and I saw elephants on the way.  They were in an elephant reserve and a bunch were just chilling by the road.  I've seen a lot of elephants so its similar to seeing a dear back home.  It was sad to see Elder Fozard go home but he emailed me today and said he is doing well.  I'm excited to be in this area, this ward seems to function really well so I'm excited for that!  My new companion is Elder Giles from Tooele Utah.  He is pretty cool.  He was trained by Elder Fozard at the same time Ii was training Elder Zarbock, so I met him a few times at some training meetings nearly nine months ago.  TIME FLIES!  So here is the bad news.  Post is really unreliable here.  We get post just fine because it comes from Capetown but it will be hard for me to send anything out.  I owe alot of people letters like Mishon and Cameron and Ashlee and Grandma and Oma....I could go on.  So it might take a while.  I can send it with the AP's when they come every six weeks.
So sorry.  But other then that its been a good week.  I have been so tired from moving but its still been good. We had an awesome lesson with a recent convert yesterday!  He sacrificed so much when he was baptized. He automatically began to live the word of wisdom and law of chastity and became very active and totally changed his life.  Yesterday when I asked him why he changed so quickly he said. "most people don't see the big picture, I saw the truth and it was the big picture and I changed my life to live how god would want me to live"  SO TRUE!  Most people cant see the big picture!  He later explained that this life is so short and we have a purpose here.  The purpose is not just to eat drink and be merry.  But that purpose is to come unto Christ by first developing faith in him and our heavenly father.  Then repentance, Baptism by the correct authority, Receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end.  That is how we fulfill our purpose. This life is so short and it is the time god has given us to prepare to live with him.  His way is NOT a suggestion its HIS way.  The life after this is so much longer and we need to prepare now in order to have a good life in the life to come.  I was just so impressed at his understanding.  I to know that this is true.  I know this life will be short and worldly things do not matter.  It is the time to prepare to meet god, nothing else.
I am going to love this area.  Well I hope everyone is having a great week.  Thank you for all you do.

Love,

 Elder Balmforth

Jive, Mama, Jive!! 03/26/12

GREAT!  I left my stupid planner with all the notes in it at home!!!!!!!!!  Freak....oh well I can wing it.  So before I forget I got your letter mom, anyone in the ward who has written me I have written back even if its just a post card.  The post cards get stolen a lot, so I heard. (who on earth would want to steal a post card beats the heck out of me!) Anyways I wrote a TON> so I hope all the ward members that wrote me got their post cards.  I love them all and am so thankful for the support I get.  It means a lot to me.   Oh,  and Oma, happy late birthday.  I also got your letter this week and its always great to hear from ya!  Brandon and Kim, Happy Birthday this week, I hope you have a great day.  So this week is transfers and I have not gotten any solid news, so that will come next week but mom and dad I will have Elder Fozard call you when he gets home.  Man its so weird that their going home its going to be weird but it will be good.  Its nice to see that its not easy for them to leave.  Its a bitter sweat thing!  Anyways the week has been great!  Guess what, ya remember the Mdingane sisters who are preparing for baptism but we were waiting for there family to be happier about it.  Well on Thursday we went to their aunts house and when we showed up we were soaking wet from the HUGE rain storm.  She was so friendly and took us in quick!  Then we taught a little about the restoration and had the sisters bear there awesome testimonies of the restored gospel and of there desire to follow the savior.  They did awesome!  We also bore testimony and the aunt said she would make the family happy about it.  With Xhosa people usually the oldest sibling controls the whole family!  So it was an amazing break through!  Then we committed her to come to church and she said yes!  Which usually mean "I don't want to hurt you feelings so sure, but I'm not really going to show up" haha BUT.......THEY CAME the aunt and the sisters MOM!!!  It was a miracle and a sure answer to our prayers.  It was awesome!!!!!  Plus a bonus+ she is a member of the new apostolic and they love to sing and dance!  So before we left she sang and danced a nice prayer and then prayed.....loud. haha  It was cool!  In my head I was just thinking :"Jive mamma jive"!  These girls deserve to be baptized!  They really want it and they are the most faithful and dedicated people I have taught!  They have not missed one hour of church in over five months!  I can't wait for them!

The weather has been nice this week.  Its warm today but not hot!  You can tell that winter is coming and I'm stoked for that!  We also finished the ward map for the elders quorum and together they came up with areas for home teaching!  Working in this area has been a great experience.  Sure we only had two baptisms but their solid and we re activated many and we really built a strong relationship with the ward and hopefully helped push the home teaching!  Its an amazing place and if I leave it won't be easy to go.  It never is.  Well, I love you all and I'm sure I forgot stuff to say but I'm doing great and lovin it here.  Thanks for all you do.  Have a great week! love ya.

 

Colton

Well its been a great week!  I don't want to jinx it but its been much cooler this week!  I think winter is just around the corner!  So I guess my last summer in Africa is coming to an end.  Usually when things end I hate it but I am SO excited!  I love winter!
Our area is doing well. We have found quite a few new people.  We found this guy last week and he was kind of dodging us and not really interested so we finally met with him again and taught the restoration over again.  He had a total change of heart.  He seemed totally prepared and loved it.  Then yesterday we met with him and taught him about the Book of Mormon and he loved it and understood it so well.  We had been praying that people would be prepared and he was prepared right before our eyes!  It was awesome!
We also fasted with two of our investigators.  Their family is not really happy about baptism and I have never seen any investigators with stronger testimonies right at the start.  They are so faithful!  So we fasted with them and it was a really cool experience.  I know the Lord will prepare a way.   Its just a matter of waiting for HIS timing.
OH.....so it seems like people die here left and right!!!!!  EVERY weekend with out fail we are invited to a funeral.  Elder Fozard and I went to an inactive members funeral and xhosa funerals are the best, we clap sing and jive (dance). haha it was so fun and then after the TWO hour funeral of fun we have the after tears where we eat.  There is always a big line but they make the melanges (whites) go the front.  Which is a little uncomfortable but maybe its because I look malnourished and not because I'm white? haha but it was fun and don't get me wrong we don't just funeral crash we really do mourn with the family.  It was sad to see them bury their loved one and we were not as rude as I sound its just an experience we never get back home and no one knew we were having as much fun as we were.  Maybe I shouldn't share this I sound really bad. but funerals are so different here.
 I forgot it was St. Patties day.  I love corned beef and cabbage but its all good.  I will be there next time.  It sucks seeing my comps and district prepare to go home,  especially Elder Fozard, but I know it will be all good it will be lonley for a while but it will get better then I will be home before you know it.  It goes too fast most of the time.  Well I miss you all so much and I'm so thankful for all everyone does for me while I am serving.  I am so grateful for my family and all that they do for me.  I have been so blessed and I know I forget that sometimes. I am so lucky to have so many people who write and give me strength.  I am so spoiled!  Well I hope everything is going well love you!

Love,
Colton

The Rat Dog 03/12/12

Hello All,

We are walking down the dirt road and we hear barking around the corner so as usual we each pick up a brick and prepare to throw it.  As we turn the corner we stop and and look down, my Ugandan companion says Elder.....Is that a dog?  I look down and laugh so hard....... " a Chiwawa!"  I haven't seen one of those in FOREVER! hahaha he is still confused at what it really was hahaha.  The town ship dogs are usually mean and hungry so we have to defend our selves but even I wasn't to scared of the Rat dog.
We have had a great week this week.  We were able to find four new investigators and were pretty excited about them.  They were all found this weekend so we have appointments this week.  I pray they go well!
We had a great lesson with our recent convert.  She is AWESOME she is in ALMA in the Book of Mormon and she understands so well.  She has one child and stays by herself.  Her husband left her in 2007 and she hasn't heard from him since.  She is so self reliant.  At the same time she is so very poor.  She makes African beads to sell.  She is so humble.  She does know about the church welfare program but would never ask.  So the other day we had an awesome lesson with her and when we were walking out we saw the Van Sickles pull up with the Relief Society president.  We went and talked to them and they said the Bishop stopped by to visit our recent convert and realized how she had nothing!  He had them go to get a list of food that she would need!  When they asked her to make a list she didn't know what to do she has never received help before and was so confused at what to ask for that she said "can I give you the list tomorrow!!!!!!  Man, we do not know how good we have it!  My heart melted when I herd this.  She is so faithful and has great trust in the lord.  I know it is because of her obedience and faith that she was able to find the church and is know receiving help that she never even expected.  I LOVE THESES PEOPLE!
We have been working hard with less actives while still trying to build our teaching pool.  We have been teaching these two sisters they are the most powerful investigators I have ever had.  They would NEVER miss church but their mom doesn't want them to be baptized now, obviously their old enough but it would cause problems in the family.  So we are going to visit their aunt who has al ot of control with the mom.  We will fast and pray with them so hopefully they can be baptized!.
So the other day we were visiting Siphokazi, a recent convert and her son Pakamisa the 6 year old with down syndrome, and he put a hair piece on and said in xhosa " I'm Oprah" hahahahahahahaha I about died. That kid is so funny!
Well as you can see the week was good.  I got letters which was great!  And Brooke, yes I got the tape but don't chance sending stuff with out the Jesus stickers again hahahahahah.  It was an awesome tape, thank you!   MOM and LAURA happy birthday yesterday!  I hope you both had great days!  And Grandpa B happy birthday tomorrow, ya old fart.  Have a great week love ya.

Love,

Colton

No Time 03/05/12

It has been a great week. We had zone conference and it was amazing.  We had a training on working with less actives.  It has been a huge focus in the mission and its not easy work.  People often forget the sacred covenants they make and we are all here in this life to help and lift one another.  One of those covenants is to serve others.  We can do that by going to church with the thought in mind " who can I serve today".  We can also help others to keep active in church so they can receive the blessings the lord has to offer them.  We learned a lot more then just this, but I really like those few points.  We also learned a lot about prayer and what a meaningful prayer really is.  I'm getting kicked out of the email shop now because its closing.  I am really working on having meaningful prayers.  I know that our Heavenly Father is there and that he loves us.  I know he will answer us.  Our area is doing good.  Its been one of those weeks where everything just drops but we spent the time working with less actives and recent converts.  These people are legit!  Our area is on fire and I love this work.  I sent off a few letters and grandma I got your letter.  Thank you!  MOMMA HAPPY BIRTHWEEK!!!!!  I love you all, sorry this is a lame email I will spend more time on one next week.

Love,
Elder Balmforth