Hello,
Everything is going good here. I haven't seen any baboons yet but the other elder saw a group of them yesterday. I haven't heard anything about my suitcase yet, I doubt I will ever see it again. We live in a huge house, we have a guest house in our backyard and the only thing that is in it is our washing machine. There are rooms in our house that we don't even use so it's really nice, and fortunately we A/C in two of the rooms. It is really creepy though it looks like something out of a horror movie. When I first got here the trees and grass and everything were overgrown but now it's all been taken care of and it's not so creepy now. We live kind of by the stadium up next to some hills. Lobatse is a working town. Most people who live here have jobs so the houses are pretty nice, but it also depends on what area of Lobatse you look at. We stay in a nice area but the other side of town is not so nice. My companion got residency in Botswana which means he can stay here for two years, the rest of us are here on temporary 90 day visas. We e-mail in a shop a couple of blocks from our house. Elder Albertson left but he came back though and they gave them three day extensions and they are in Gabs right now applying for a thirty day extension, otherwise they will have to go back to SA tomorrow. We know the area pretty good now so it will be ok. Botswana is the best, its hot here but its quiet and peaceful compared to SA and everyone here speaks Setswana. The church is growing really fast here and they hope to have a stake here sometime this year. We drove to Kanye on Friday which is about an hour away and there were goats and donkeys and cows on the side of the road the whole way there. Some people still live in little round huts with thatch roofs. It's what you think of when you think of Africa. A member fed us goat meat the other day it was odd, and apparently they eat donkeys here too. But everything is going good here I can't complain, it rained all night so its cooled down quite a bit. I hope everything is going good for you guys I'll try and take some pictures this week so I have something to send you next week. Good luck with everything I'll talk to you next week.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Hello!
It was really nice to talk to you. I wish I could have talked longer but I was using Sis. Morgan's cell phone and other people needed to call their parents. Don't worry about the birth certificate we got the second one you sent and I was able to apply for residency so everything worked out. That's strange that Jolynn was there the day before and really fortunate. My new companion is Elder Chidzawo from SA, he is one of four Elders who got residency in Botswana. He has been here for six months and will likely stay here until his mission is over in a year. As far as the South Africa Johannesburg Mission goes, I am living the dream. Opening an area in Botswana, I know people who would kill to be me. But at the same time it kind of sucks. I am in Lobatse and there are four missionaries here three of us came here at the same time, Elder Albertson has been here for three months so he is the only one that knows the members and town and stuff and his visa expires on Wednesday so he has to go to the border and probably won't come back. They are going to try and get an extension but its not likely.So we will probably be in a threesome until some one else gets emergency transfer from SA. So we barely know our areas, the members, the investigators and everything else so its going to be a lot of work. If I do get residency I will probably spend the rest of my mission here in Bots, just because of the hassles with visas and all the emergency transfers they have had to do. Here in Lobatse we have a branch of about 80-100 people. It rained hard yesterday so only about thirty people showed up for church. I don't know if you have googled Lobatse or not but it's about a 45 minute drive form Gaborone. It 's just a small town out in the middle of nowhere. We are really close to SA border though. I wish I had some pictures to send but I haven't taken any yet. Which reminds me, one of my suitcases disappeared on the drive up here. We had two cars and a truck and trailer and all of our suitcases were in the trailer. It's asbout a five hour drive form Joburg to Gabs and when we got here I couldn't find my small suitcase. I don't know where it would have gone maybe one of the other elders took it by accident or else someone stole it out of the trailer, I really don't know. It had my big camera and a bunch of ties my shoe shine kit and sewing kit all the letters that I've recieved on my mission and my patriarchal blessing . And a bunch of US money and I can't remember what else. So ya it makes me sick when I think about it but hopefully it will turn-up. I had my name and the address of the mission office written on it so maybe it will find its way back to me. So ya that has kind of ruined my week but other than that Botswana is really cool, I guess there are monkeys and baboons everywhere but I haven't seen any yet, I guess there are also snakes up here like black mambas and stuff so that's a little bit scary. Unfortunately I am riding a bike again. It actually reminds me quite a bit of Utah here, there are mountains and trees. In Soweto there were no trees at all. I will only be able to get packages and letters every six weeks while I am up here because everything gets sent to Joburg and has to wait until transfers for the other missionaries to bring up here. I'm glad to hear Darbin is coming back hopefully I will get to see him some time. I hope everything is going good and I wish you the best.
Love, Elder Finlinson
It was really nice to talk to you. I wish I could have talked longer but I was using Sis. Morgan's cell phone and other people needed to call their parents. Don't worry about the birth certificate we got the second one you sent and I was able to apply for residency so everything worked out. That's strange that Jolynn was there the day before and really fortunate. My new companion is Elder Chidzawo from SA, he is one of four Elders who got residency in Botswana. He has been here for six months and will likely stay here until his mission is over in a year. As far as the South Africa Johannesburg Mission goes, I am living the dream. Opening an area in Botswana, I know people who would kill to be me. But at the same time it kind of sucks. I am in Lobatse and there are four missionaries here three of us came here at the same time, Elder Albertson has been here for three months so he is the only one that knows the members and town and stuff and his visa expires on Wednesday so he has to go to the border and probably won't come back. They are going to try and get an extension but its not likely.So we will probably be in a threesome until some one else gets emergency transfer from SA. So we barely know our areas, the members, the investigators and everything else so its going to be a lot of work. If I do get residency I will probably spend the rest of my mission here in Bots, just because of the hassles with visas and all the emergency transfers they have had to do. Here in Lobatse we have a branch of about 80-100 people. It rained hard yesterday so only about thirty people showed up for church. I don't know if you have googled Lobatse or not but it's about a 45 minute drive form Gaborone. It 's just a small town out in the middle of nowhere. We are really close to SA border though. I wish I had some pictures to send but I haven't taken any yet. Which reminds me, one of my suitcases disappeared on the drive up here. We had two cars and a truck and trailer and all of our suitcases were in the trailer. It's asbout a five hour drive form Joburg to Gabs and when we got here I couldn't find my small suitcase. I don't know where it would have gone maybe one of the other elders took it by accident or else someone stole it out of the trailer, I really don't know. It had my big camera and a bunch of ties my shoe shine kit and sewing kit all the letters that I've recieved on my mission and my patriarchal blessing . And a bunch of US money and I can't remember what else. So ya it makes me sick when I think about it but hopefully it will turn-up. I had my name and the address of the mission office written on it so maybe it will find its way back to me. So ya that has kind of ruined my week but other than that Botswana is really cool, I guess there are monkeys and baboons everywhere but I haven't seen any yet, I guess there are also snakes up here like black mambas and stuff so that's a little bit scary. Unfortunately I am riding a bike again. It actually reminds me quite a bit of Utah here, there are mountains and trees. In Soweto there were no trees at all. I will only be able to get packages and letters every six weeks while I am up here because everything gets sent to Joburg and has to wait until transfers for the other missionaries to bring up here. I'm glad to hear Darbin is coming back hopefully I will get to see him some time. I hope everything is going good and I wish you the best.
Love, Elder Finlinson
Monday, January 10, 2011
Hello,
Yesterday was my birthday and my last Sunday in Pimville, Pres. Poulsen came to church, and we had four baptisms. I got to baptize two of the people so it was pretty cool. I am getting transferred tomorrow, and there is a good chance that I am going to Botswana, I'm not sure yet but I know that there is 11 missionaries going up there tomorrow. They have been having problems with the visa's up there. A bunch of missionaries got emergency transfers because their visa's expired and the government will only issue us 90 day visas. Si if I do go up there I will only be staying for two or three transfers unless they can work something out with the government. So I kind of hope I go up later after they fix the visa problems so I can stay up there for longer. My birthday was boring; I didn't tell anyone it was my birthday so it was good. We got to go to the temple on Friday, it was very nice. Yesterday and today we have just been visiting people in the area so they can write in my journal and take a picture with them so it has been busy trying to find time for everyone.I'm going to miss it here, its one of the best areas in the mission. I hope everything is going good for you guys . I'll talk to you next week. Bye
Elder Finlinson
Yesterday was my birthday and my last Sunday in Pimville, Pres. Poulsen came to church, and we had four baptisms. I got to baptize two of the people so it was pretty cool. I am getting transferred tomorrow, and there is a good chance that I am going to Botswana, I'm not sure yet but I know that there is 11 missionaries going up there tomorrow. They have been having problems with the visa's up there. A bunch of missionaries got emergency transfers because their visa's expired and the government will only issue us 90 day visas. Si if I do go up there I will only be staying for two or three transfers unless they can work something out with the government. So I kind of hope I go up later after they fix the visa problems so I can stay up there for longer. My birthday was boring; I didn't tell anyone it was my birthday so it was good. We got to go to the temple on Friday, it was very nice. Yesterday and today we have just been visiting people in the area so they can write in my journal and take a picture with them so it has been busy trying to find time for everyone.I'm going to miss it here, its one of the best areas in the mission. I hope everything is going good for you guys . I'll talk to you next week. Bye
Elder Finlinson
Monday, January 3, 2011
Hello,
New years Eve was good; we got back to the flat at six and then played card games till 11. On new years day we went to a members home for lunch then we went and explored our area a bit. We went to freedom square in kliptown. It has some historical significance to apartheid and stuff. I sent some pictures that I took while we were there. I'm sending some pictures of the baptisms from the 19th of December. We get transfer news on Saturday, I don't know if I will get transferred or not. My companion might be a zone leader this transfer so if he does I will stay in the area for one or maybe even two more transfers but I really don't know what is going to happen so I am kind of nervous. We should be having four more baptisms this Sunday if everything goes like it should.
I hope you all had a wonderful week and I hope this week goes good for you. good luck with everything.
Elder Finlinson
New years Eve was good; we got back to the flat at six and then played card games till 11. On new years day we went to a members home for lunch then we went and explored our area a bit. We went to freedom square in kliptown. It has some historical significance to apartheid and stuff. I sent some pictures that I took while we were there. I'm sending some pictures of the baptisms from the 19th of December. We get transfer news on Saturday, I don't know if I will get transferred or not. My companion might be a zone leader this transfer so if he does I will stay in the area for one or maybe even two more transfers but I really don't know what is going to happen so I am kind of nervous. We should be having four more baptisms this Sunday if everything goes like it should.
I hope you all had a wonderful week and I hope this week goes good for you. good luck with everything.
Elder Finlinson
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
