5th May 2014

Hey everyone!

 

  Again, this will be a short email! Apologies! This week has been slow again because our car is still broke and the insurance is taking for ever! I am super excited to talk to you guys this Sunday!

  I play rugby again today which is super exciting! Rugby is a man's sport!

 

Love you all!

Elder Prisbrey

 

 

Elder Prisbrey's New Area "Shack City" (Khayelitsha)

 

Elder Sombke and I (last comp)

Elder Steele and I (My Best Friend on Mission)

 

28th April 2014

 

Hello Everyone!

  This email will be short because nothing happened this week and we are rushed! I am going to go play rugby and run over some people! Just like in the good ole days of football 2 years ago.

  Last Tuesday we were unable to go to the area because our car is broken, and it is still broken! So I went to the gym three times and I read a lot of scriptures!

  On Wednesday we got in to some tripanionships (three elders) I went walking with Elder Lund and Elder Khumalo and Elder Bullock went with another companionship. We walked a lot and I was not used to it!  Friday was different. It was me Elder Lund, and Elder Bullock in Elder Lund's area. Three white guys in the middle of Khayelitsha. Everyone was staring at us. Elder Bullock has a theroy that no one will try and rob us unless they have a ratio of 5:1. That is an accurate statement! But Elder Bullock and I got to teach together for the first time and we did pretty awesome for no planning or anything!

  Saturday I was again with Elder Lund and Khumalo.

  Sunday was church and this family that loves Elder Bullock brought us dinner! It was this Africaner Mom and daughter that live like 30 min away. They brought us beef stew, rice, potatoes, MOUNTAIN DEW (I miss that stuff) and a delicious cake. They spent some serious money on us.

  Today we ate at Eastern Food Bizare, just me and Elder Bullock. I ate food from Istanbul! It was like a burrito from cafe rio but bigger! Instead of sour cream for a spread, it was hummus and then delicious chicken! It was called a Shwarma!

 

Love you all!
Elder Prisbrey

Date: Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 3:48 AM

Hey Everyone!

  This week has been interesting! I have left my greenie area of Mdantsane and I am now in Khayelitsh! Khayelitsha is a black township outside of Cape Town. Its straight up ghetto! My companion is Elder Bullock from Pleasant Grove, Utah. He is way cool and we will have a fun 6 weeks together.
  So last Tuesday I said goodbye to everyone in MD which sucked. I hate goodbyes. You all know that! It was like I was home leaving on my mission again. But I am excited to be here in Cape Town!
On Wednesday I flew from East London to Cape Town, which is about a 1.5 hour flight.

  Thursday was chill. Elder Bullock showed me the area and some members. We also worked out! In the apartment complex we are in, we have full access to the gym so hopefully I can take advantage of that. Elder Bullock reminds me of Sean. He is pretty darn big.

  On Friday we had District Meeting. In my district is Me, Elder Bullock, Elder Khumalo and Elder Lund. Elder Lund is a Hoss! He is this big strong kid that was raised on a sheep ranch in Ephraim, Utah. He is the nicest guy ever! He looks like "Hoss" of off Bonanza! We all stay in the same apartment. We all get a long very well so its going to be a fun transfer.

  On Saturday Elder Bullock and I trained with this member around 12. Elder Bullock did MMA before mission and knows some Ju-Jitsu and Mui Thai so he was showing me some stuff. That was fun. After that our car just decided to die. Well it started dying on Friday. We have changed like 20-30 tires in the last 3 days! And we don't have a nice jack, we have a hand crank! But we got really good at it and I'm pretty sure we could be on a NASCAR team! The car ended up being broken into and stuff but nothing inside was of any value thank goodness. So we have no car for a couple days. So today and tomorrow and probably Wednesday will be spent studying, working out, eating, and sleeping! Not too fun but what can I do?

  So yeah, not to much to report on but I am safe and will be smart while I'm in the area and not get in any fights! Just messing, that won't happen! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

  Guess What though!? Cam Stratton is serving in Port Alfred with the Wheelers! I AM SO JEALOUS!!! Maybe I'll go there in 3 months and serve with him. That would be awesome!

  Lately I've been reading Jesus The Christ. I hadn't read it in a while but I'm on like Chapter 32 or so. It talks about the Passover and the sacrament. That book is powerful and very good! I recommend it to everyone!

I love you all! Pray always!
Love,
Elder Prisbrey

 

14th APR 2014

Hey Everyone!
  So this is most likely my last P-Day in Mdantsane.

  Elder Sombke had a procedure done to his foot that has put him out of commission for a while. So this week we did not teach at all!  We stayed in the boarding all day on Wednesday, most of Thursday, and Saturday. I miss working!  I shouldn't complain though, Elder Sombke needed his foot fixed.

  Thursday we had Zone Training/Interviews from our Zone Leaders and from President Wood. That was awesome and uplifting!

  Yesterday (Sunday), we had 6 baptisms in our ward, 2 were from my area! I was blessed with baptizing Siphuxolo!  Linda was also baptized in my area! It was an amazing baptism and the water in the font was brown! I couldn't see the bottom! Dang Africa:) It was also very very cold! Our Ward Mission Leader said we were trying to mimic the water from the River Jordan where Christ was baptized! Lame but funny joke.

 

 

  Tonight I find out my transfer news. I hear through the great vine that I am leaving my area but I have no idea where. So I don't know where I'll be! Somewhere in South Africa! No worries, the Lord will take care of me.

  Sorry for the short email but nothing really happened this week! I'll send some pics! I love you all and miss you! Thanks for everything!  

Love,
Elder Prisbrey

14 APR 2014
Update

Well, I'm getting transferred to Cape Town I believe and we are eating out to celebrate, check the pic!

 

 

 

 

 

31st MARCH 2014

Hey Everyone!

   ...the highlight this week was Conference! I loved every single bit of it! And I didn't fall asleep once! What an accomplishment right?

     Wednesday, I had a delicious dinner! Elder Sombke has introduced me to Toppers. They are a cookie with cream in the middle just like oreos...They are just as good, if not better than Oreos! I can't believe I just said something is as good as oreos but its true! We ate 4 packs between each other for dinner. With Milk of course:) The following morning I paid for my mistake...

     Hanna Leavitt got her Call to Seoul, South Korea! Isn't that crazy?! And I hear Jeremy Waite is going to Kentucky. Cool stuff!

     One of our investigators, Linda Mateta, has a daughter, Ahlumile. She is the cutest thing ever! She turns 6 soon and every time she sees me she stops what she is doing and runs and gives me a hug! Its the best thing ever! Its like she is my niece!

     This week will go by extra quick. We have Zone Traininng and Interviews by President Wood this Thursday.

     Another cool story. I played Cricket for the first time on Friday! I was unprepared for sport except for some shoes so I was playing in my white shirt, slacks and some tennis shoes! I was allowed to play reluctantly because 1. I'm white (JK) 2. I've never played Cricket Before. I soon proved them that my athletic skills are pretty good still! The game of Cricket is super confusing, but after seeing it on so many TV's at members houses, I know how to play. Anyways, long story short, I won the game for my team! Running was easy, it was like doing ladders on a basketball court. Free throw line and back. So yesterday, the former Bishop of 2nd ward already recruited me for his team this Friday!

     The baptisms are still good for this Sunday! We will have regular church from 9 to 12, then watch the Sunday Afternoon Session from 1 to 3, and then have our baptismal service for 7 people after that! We are doing well in MD!

     My favorite talk from Conference has been the talk by Gary E. Stevenson. He is the presiding Bishop I think. He talked about the LDS athletes in the Olympics! I related to that talk so well! It was for Elder Prisbrey! I still have to watch the Sunday Afternoon Session so I might have a favorite talk next week! Who knows:)

     I love you all, thanks for everything. Apply the teachings that you learned from conference! If you don't follow up on it, it will be useless!

24th of March 2014

Hey Everyone!
  This week has flown by and many things were accomplished!  Tuesday was Zone Conference and that was the highlight of my week! For our zone song we sung Hymn 26 "Joseph Smiths First Prayer" to the tune of "Come Thou Font." We sounded like angels! I was in a quartet with Elders Oldroyd, Thayne, and Steele. Our song was the best out of the 3 zones there! For our zone report, we did the Haka! Like a legit Haka that included all of our names and some actual Polynesian words! I think Sister Wheeler recorded it and is putting it up on facebook so go check that out! President and Sister Wood said our report was the best so yeah...straight from the mouth of President Wood!

  The work this week went excellent. We could've done better but people like to cancel on us missionaries! But we have excellent people to teach and have 3 baptisms scheduled for the 13th of April. Hopefully everything goes well and all of them can be baptized! I'd love to see them baptized because most likely after that Sunday, I will be transferred to another area! Today for P-day we started a game of Risk, so after we are done emailing here, I will have "try and take over the world!"

I Love you all! Thanks for the support!
Elder Prisbrey

17th March 2014

Hey Everyone!
    You won't believe what happened today! But I'll get into that later! So NU 17 is just the best area ever! Elder Sombke is down to work hard and smart. We are really doing good. We completed half of our goal for teaching lessons with a member present in just one day! That was Tuesday. Things are looking good for this transfer.

     I have to tell you guys about Sister Lulama Sicam. She is just a golden investigator! She understands so much and comprehends everything we teach her and every scripture she reads. She marks her scriptures and writes down questions when she doesn't grasp a principle. We were meant to teach her! Hopefully everything continues as well as it has been going. Her only issue is getting her to church. She has the desire, but so many things have come up. Her mom has cancer and just tons of stuff have stopped her from coming. We are working on that and she is praying to get to church. We teach her every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 5:00 PM. She is very committed and like I said...just golden:)

     So today we had a Zone Activity.

 

 



We went to a Game Park! I actually got to see some African animals! Elder Steele and I are working on going to another place where we can ride the Elephants!

I love you all:)
Love,
Elder Prisbrey 

 

 

10th March 2014

Thank goodness I am done with Training! I have spread my wings and I am no longer a greenie!

Last Monday we went bowling, and I'm ashamed to say that I bowled a 77. No comment, but today I bowled a 111. I truly am the blind squirrel!

Wednesday-We had to wake up at 5:30 AM and drive Elder Olyabo and Cowley to the airport. I was dead tired! So for a while it was just me and Elder Steele which was nice cause we are good friends! We cleaned up the boarding for a bit so that the new elders would have a clean place to stay. My new companion is Elder Sombke from Virginia though he has lived in Ethiopia and Bosnia and Egypt! 

 

 I have been the senior companion and showing Elder Sombke around the area, introducing him to members and letting him get used to the area. The teaching is slow because of transfers, but this next week is going to be really busy!

Mdantsane 3rd ward has lots of less actives and so we are working with the members to do their home teaching and just to reach out to their friends to do missionary work! We got a list of like 130 prospective Elders that aren't ordained yet.

 

Sunday was nice. We were able to teach 2 lessons. One to Buncwane and Rooibos and the other to Lulama. Buncwane and Rooibos are like eternal investigators. They have been taught by the missionaries for 2 years! Lulama is just a golden investigator and understands everything we tell her and she reads everything we tell her too! She accepted the invitation to be baptized and the only thing keeping her from baptism is going to church! We are working on that with her.  Love you all!
Love,
Elder Prisbrey

Date: Mon, Mar 3, 2014 at 7:19 AM

HELLO!

     Hey everyone! This week has been awesome! I am in such a great mood right now. Its ridiculous! I am filled with the Spirit of Love! That sounds self righteous...sorry:)

     Anyways I have lots to say about this past week so I'll get going!

     Monday..I was in the biggest storm I've ever been in. It was like a hurricane in East London! Nevertheless we still played soccer! I stepped outside and I was drenched within seconds! I almost hurt myself sliding around in the mud but Heavenly Father Made sure I didn't screw up my knee! Haha just messing with you all!
     Tuesday was the normal day of the week. This week was not normal but it was very nice to get back in the area after a hectic weekend! It sucked walking though. My thighs are constantly sore!
     Wednesday...I will try and describe what happened on Wednesday. I was on Exchanges with Elder Steele again since Elder Olyabo was gone. Elder Cowley was with Ndima in my area and I was with Elder Steele. We taught 4 lessons and all 4 were by the Spirit and were just inspired. I learned a lot. We had some down time and we were both hungry so we went to the store to look for some food. We found a white guy there! That is rare. Anyways, we found decent sized cakes for R 25! That is $2.50 back home. We each bought our own and tried to eat it all by ourselves with our hands in the church parking lot. We only got halfway through! Then the gate shut on us and we didn't know the code and had no air time so we could not call anyone to let us out. Thankfully Elder Cowley called us and we explained the situation and he told us the code! After that we went to find a male so we could teach nomso, a golden investigator at 7 pm. It was 6:30 and our male was getting home at 7ish so we went on an adventure! We went down to the greenacre lake/river. It was a dirt road in the bush so like anything could've happned. We saw a couple of shack houses and Elder Steele drove us down there! We are pretty sure a weed farm was somewhere hidden not to far away cause it smelt like weed! The people there looked friendly and I took some hilarious videos on my iPod that I am working on sending you all. It was a very poor family of goat herders. So we took our pictures and videos then got out of there. On our way out a steer almost rammed the car on my side! I was scared out of my mind! Then we spun out of there. The smell of burnt rubber and weed filled the air. Oh it was just a fun day. It was spiritual and so fun. I'm certain that Heavenly Father had His hand in everything we did that day!
    Thursday was fun cause I went on exchanges with Elder Olyabo! He is way cool and he goes home in 3 days! 

     On Friday I turned 3 months old on mission! 21 more months to go. The Time is Far Spent! Gotta keep working hard. For my "click day" my trainer bought me a mcflurry at McDonalds! 

     Saturday was kinda scary. We played soccer and towards the end of the game I tweaked my right knee. It hurt and you know.. I've felt similar pain before when I tore my acl. It was difficult to walk all Saturday and Sunday morning. I fasted and prayed hard that God would please heal me so I could continue on with the work. I promised to not play sport for a month so I could make sure it is healed. By Sunday night, I was walking fine and felt no pain at all. God is a God of Miracles.
    On both Saturday and Sunday, we had 3 dinner appointments. I feel fat. I'm not getting fat but I ate a lot! 

     Tonight I find out who my new companion will be! I'm excited to get a new companion and learn from him and progress in the mission field! Excuse any grammar mistakes and stuff like that. I am in Africa and I'm pretty sure my English is slowly getting worse!
    I love you all and thanks for all the support!
Elder Prisbrey

	Feb 24 (6 days ago)
T.I.A. This Is Africa

  

Hey Everyone!

  Tuesday was way fun! I was on exchanges with Elder Steele in his area. We have become best friends ever since he came into my district. It was fun to be his companion for the day but we had no male fellowshipper for most the day so we had 4 dropped appointments. That day we were poor so we ate some fat cakes (Scones) they cost like 25 cents and they fill you up but they are super unhealthy. I've decided that mission destroys my body. I'm not rich enough to eat well and don't have the time to cook good food. I'm glad that the Lord takes care of his servants. Anyways..so we ate 2 huge fat cakes and that filled us up. The fat cakes were bigger than both my fists put together. Than we went to a members house and she fed us these huge home made rolls...I took like 20 minutes to eat 2 rolls. At least they were home made. So I had like 2 lbs. of dough in my belly and oh it sucked!   

  On Wednesday we had to pick up the Zone Leaders from the Airport at 3:30 PM. So we got to the area really late and I think we taught 1 lesson. It was a long day. I hate not doing anything.  
   Thursday was pretty good. We taught 2 lessons! We had 2 dropped appointments and it was raining hard after our 5:00 PM appointment. Our investigator Siphoxolo is way cool and let us stay until 7:00 PM . We watched the Restoration video with him and his mom.
  Friday was awesome! Elder Richard J. Maynes of the Presidency of the Seventy trained us missionaries! That was a powerful training. He taught us about having a culture of high expectations and how we can be more connected with our purpose as missionaries. It was a good 3 1/2 hour training! I never got bored nor sleepy! Since the training was so long we didn't have a chance to go to the area.

  Next monday, If I can work it out, we might go to an elephant park where we can ride a elephant! It will cost like $45 but that is totally worth it! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and it would be so awesome if I rode an Elephant. Only in Africa right? :)
  Everything is going well! This is my last week of training and I think I'm staying here in MD. I'm excited to have a new companion and move on in my mission!  
   Oh by the way, the Wheelers are trying to set Cam Stratton and I as companions in Port Alfred. Port Alfred is where the wheelers are serving! Hopefully it happens! That would be the time of my life!
   I'll send some pictures! Thanks for all the love and support! I love you all and miss you all!

Love,

Elder Austin Prisbrey

Note from Sister Wheeler (21 FEB 2014):

We were thrilled to spend some time with Elder Prisbrey yesterday at our Zone Conference in East London. We had a three hour training from Elder Richard J. Maynes from the Presidency of the Seventy. Elder Prisbrey is an AWESOME missionary. He is happy and working very hard. Our mission is about triple the size of Texas. We know we will never move out of Port Alfred because of President Wheeler's assignment there. We keep praying that Elder Prisbrey AND Elder Stratton will get transferred to our area. We keep dropping hints to President Wood. How great would that be to have the four of us working together in the same area all from Logandale 5th Ward!

 

Sister Kathy Wheeler and Elder Austin J. Prisbrey

 

     First of all, sometimes I forget my last name is Prisbrey. Everyone calls me elder Prizberry! So sometimes when I introduce myself I say prizberry. Bad habit! But no one here can pronounce Prisbrey. Oh well.
     I am glad you like sushi!  I found a sushi bar here in East London that is cheap on Thursday nights. I have to try it out before I leave here!
    That's good that you will be able to see Kristen! I'm sure you said hi for me already.

    I have slowed down on the memorizing of The Living Christ but I have still retained what I have memorized so that is good. My favorite scripture of the week comes from the Book of Mormon! It is Alma 31:5 & 38. Those are great scriptures! 

     The missionary work is going well! We did have our baptisms yesterday! They were amazing and even though I didn't get in the water to baptize anyone, it was still very fulfilling to see Anelisa  and Linda enter the waters of baptism. Those are the 2 girls from my area. 2 other girls from the other missionaries area were baptized also so that was 4 for the day! In 2 weeks we will be having baptisms as well. Hopefully our investigator that we are planning to be baptized beginning of March stay strong!

     I hear from my fellow missionaries all the time! Skyler is doing well. Sean is training some big islander haha. Cody Johnson is doing well in the Philippines. Jackson loves peru! Oh Landon got called to Argentina! That is exciting! He sent me the video of him opening his call. I just watched and it was so amazing!

Love,
Elder Austin Prisbrey 

Hey Pops!

     Anyways. P-days are awesome! I look forward to each Monday cause that means I get to hear from my family and friends! Today we went bowling after studies, just one game. I didn't have to pay for it because 2 or 3 weeks ago, I bowled the best and set the high score for the day. I bowled a 125, which is my highest score ever in my life! Today I bowled 80, or maybe even less. I started bowling with my left hand on the 7th frame and was doing pretty good, got 2 spares which saved my score from being disastrous. We then went and ate Romans Pizza which is to die for! And now we are emailing! After this we head to the Stake Center in Amalinda which is like 5 min from our flat. We play soccer there for 1 to 3 hours. Some people play volleyball and sometimes even rugby! I absolutely love rugby and sometimes I forget we are just playing "touch" and I try and run through people or break down to tackle someone. Thankfully I haven't actually hit anyone cause I remember at the last second. After sport today, we have a FHE at a members house. Her name is Xoliswa and there will be us four missionaries, a ward missionary and our fellowshipper Ndima. After that..sleep. Sleep is precious.

     I found a Xhosa Book of Mormon Yesterday and soon I will start trying to read it. Ndima is  helping me learn Xhosa by giving me phrases to learn and use each day we see eachother. The Xhosa language is so cool and unique. It is only spoken here in the Eastern Cape (which is a province) in South Africa. Hopefully I get to stay in the Eastern Cape for most of my mission, that is where the xhosa people are. Whites and Coloreds live in Western Cape, like in Cape Town.
    [Xhosa is prounced like... the X is like if you are riding a horse and you click on the side of your mouth to make it go faster. so its the "X" click then just how it is written. Xhosa.]

      Love you dad. Stay safe and say hi to everyone for me.

Hello everyone! And Hello Bishop!

     Things here in SACTM (South Africa Cape Town Mission) are awesome. This week, just like previous weeks has flown by.

     This week has been pretty good but it ended very well! On Tuesday, we had a dinner appointment with the Hongana Family. They are members and they fed all four of us Elders. It was me, my companion Elder Cowley, Elder Olyabo, and Elder Steele. They bought mince (ground beef) and tortillas. We had a real Mexican meal! Oh it was good. The family really spent some money on us. The tortillas here are expensive. R 80 ($8) for 6 tortillas, everyone had at least two burritos! There were 9 of us all together! I will send a picture of the family!
    Wednesday...was interesting. We visited a family that was investigating the church. They told us they don't mind our visits but they have decided to go back to their own church. I wanted to tell them that their church was "the whore of all the earth" but decided not to :) Haha then later, we decided to go try our luck with Sivu and her mom Thobeka. They are the two who denied the Book of Mormon a while back and felt the spirit and everything, but said they were scared. It was me, Elder Cowley, and Ndima, our fellowshipper for the day. Thobeka's oldest child, a guy met us at the door. We never had met before but he had heard all about us missionaries. He told us he had heard many bad things about us from Sivu and Thobeka. Apparently, us testifying of the Book of Mormon and teaching them about it offended Sivu and Thobeka greatly and made them feel uncomfortable. The older brother wasn't happy about that and he wanted to know who out of me and Elder Cowley offended them so great. I told him straight up it was me and explained that they were not respecting my religion as we had respected theirs. I am very thankful for the Holy Ghost. He was there, and he told me what to say, and he calmed down the older brother, because he wanted to fight us.  So we settled all things with words and everything was good. We left in peace. He told us never to come back again. Elder Cowley then out of habit said "Sabunana" Which means "See you later" He started coming after us again but I calmed him down. He said we are lucky he was a nice guy, or the brick that was next to him on the ground would have been in our faces! So long story short I, along with Elder Cowley and Ndima, almost got in a fight! Again I am thankful for the Holy Ghost because that situation could have gotten bad real quick.
    Thursday was just awesome! There was a zone competition put on by Elder and Sister Boyce who are the senior couples in my zone. They said whoever had the cleanest boarding would receive a prize! There ended up being 3 boardings who won, and the Boyce's took us all out to Chinese! It was a legit Chinese place too. Even better than Panda Express! Crazy right?! It was a dream come true!
    Nothing much happened on Friday.
    Saturday sucked. During my studies, I felt like the spirit was gone, and I was worried. I began to wonder what I had done to chase the spirit away. Not having the Spirit is horrible. I couldn't teach,  just like D&C says. Section 42 I think vs 15. I was worried but I didn't give up! I prayed so much on Saturday. 

    Sunday I was still worried about what had happened on Saturday. I talked with Elder Olyabo and he told me not to worry and that I didn't do anything. He was right. I wrote in my journal, "The night is darkest just before the dawn." I think Harvey Dent says that in The Dark Knight.  But I had an awesome spiritual experience on Sunday. Before it though, Sister Mjuza fed us the best meal I have had in a long time. It was comparable to some awesome home cooked meals back home. But back to the spiritual experience.  Elder Cowley went on splits to cover our appointments. He was assisting Elder Olyabo in some baptismal ineterviews for the 2 girls in my area that are getting baptized this Sunday! Whoop Whoop! I was with Ndima at Siphoxolo's house. We taught him about the Book of Mormon by going through the introduction of the Book of Mormon and helping him understand it. The Spirit was strong. Ndima speaks Xhosa obviously and helped me out a lot in explaining the Book of Mormon to Siphoxolo. Afterwards I felt prompted to invite him to be baptized and he accepted! It was so awesome!! We then asked him how he was feeling and identified that he was feeling the Holy Ghost. He told us that he feels it everytime we are at his house and he forgets about all the stress of life and just feels good! Oh it made me smile so big! I have totally forgot about Saturday sucking and I am just very thankful to be on mission. 

   I love you all! And this goes for everyone, you can share whatever you want from this email to whomever you want to share it with! I love and miss you all! Pray always! God Speed.
Love,
Elder Austin Prisbrey

3 February 2014

     I have heard about that talk about the three pillars of eternity. Two weeks ago I started a deep study of the Book of Mormon. I just finished studying chapter 2! I look up every footnote (excluding Topical Guide footnotes) and I write notes in the margins. I will send a pic next week of what it looks like. It is amazing though! I read the verse about 5 times. Ask myself questions, mark the scriptures according to my way of marking, then look up every footnote. I spent 5 minutes on 1 Nehpi 2:16. Look that up!! You will laugh at me I'm sure:) I love the Book of Mormon. It is translated correctly and is essential to my salvation so I want to treasure up the Book of Mormon all I can! I also just read it and I am in Alma 24 I believe. Look up the talk "His Grace is Sufficient" By Brad Wilcox. That is THE best talk I have heard on the atonement. Please, listen to it with dad. It is found on BYU speeches website.
     I am also trying to eat healthy! It is important, especially on mission. Being on a mission is bad for the physical body. You rarely have time to eat nice and take care of it. Thankfully the Lord provides and makes all the difference. I am sore from working out and also tired!
     I do remember that quote* that was on the fridge! I can picture it in my minds eye as I type. That is great. Find a Preach My Gospel. In chapter 6 it talks about Christ-Like attributes and at the end of the chapter, you can take a quiz that will let you know where you are at.
     My favorite scripture(s) of the week is Sections 76 and 77 of the Doctrine and Covenants. 76 talks about the Kingdoms of Glory and lots of good stuff. 77 is significantly shorter and explains some of the symbolism used in the book of Revelations.
     I rarely get to play the piano. Hopefully some time on my mission I will get the chance. I just sent you and both grandparents letters (cards) and in the letter to G. Ashdown, I told her I missed playing the piano for her!
Love you!
Elder Prisbrey

 

*QUOTE by Marvin J. Ashton*

“Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don't judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone's differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn't handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another's weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other.

27th January 2014

Hey Everyone!

          We have a new Elder in my District. His name is Elder Steele. He is from Nephi Utah and is a hunter! He earned his money for mission by being a hunting guide on the Boulder Mountains. He is way cool and we have become great friends already!

    
   I have a happy story as well! On Wednesday when we put Elder Black on the bus to Port Elizabeth, we went into the grocery store and guess what I found??!?!?! I found an American soda, and it was A&W!!!! Real American Root Beer! I savored every sip of that drink of the gods. (Only dad will get that joke).

   Continue to do the small things in this wonderful gospel! Thanks for everything!

 

20th January 2014

  Molwni!!  That is Xhosa language for all you malungu's (white people) back home! Haha, molweni is a greeting to more than one person! I am becoming Xhosa! But not really:) My first transfer is officially done with and it was amazing! N.U. 17 in Mdantsane is the best area I could have gotten as a new missionary! Everything is well here in Zion. 

  So this last week was good! Our investigators are progressing and we have 2 baptismal dates for the 16 of Feb. Two girls, Anelisa-15 years old, and Linda-16 years old. They have both been coming to church for over a year and attend seminary! They are awesome and are strong in the church. Hopefully we can get the 4 other investigators back into progress so that they can have baptismal dates again! The Holidays really killed their progress but now school is in and the holidays are done with so we will invite them again to enter the waters of baptism.
  I am learning to budget my money well and to only shop for things that are needed! I eat day by day and eat a lot of oatmeal! For breakfast of course. I love to put banana's in my oatmeal! It is heavenly:)
  I need to tell you all about my makulu (grandma) on mission! Her name is Sis. Ncokazi! Oh she loves us missionaries and we love her! She always is willing to feed us and she never fails to destroy us with food! She is truly an angel from heaven. She is an incredible lady. My district, Elders Prisbrey, Cowley, Black, and Olyabo, are going to get a picture of us with her, frame it, and give it to her before we all leave! She seriously is a sweet lady and I love her!
  Transfers are this Wednesday. Me, Elder Cowley and Elder Olyabo are staying for sure. Hopefully Elder Black stays as well. Elder Black is from Alabama and is a die hard Alabama fan! He is so redneck and so southern its hilarious. His accent is awesome!

  I miss you all dearly! Nkosi kakulu (thank you very much) for all you do!
  Endia Kutanda! ( I love you!)

 

 

 

 

Email dated: 31 December 2013

 

Favorite Scripture this week:

Doctrine and Covenants Section 121, Verses 7 and 8:

  7. My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

  8. And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

 

"...This last week, we did not teach a lot. Many appointments were dropped because it is the Christmas Holidays. But one lesson we did teach twice was Lesson 3. The Gospel Of Jesus Christ. So that is Chapter 3 of PMG Lesson 3. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the missionary purpose, which is:

    "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through FAITH in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, REPENTANCE, BAPTISM, RECEIVING THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST, and ENDURING THE END." That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end.

A scripture that I like is D&C 121:7-8. I can send you a new favorite every week if you like!

Advice for future missionaries. Learn to lean on your Heavenly Father. Like missionaries leaving home cannot lean on their parents anymore. They are forced almost to build a stronger and better relationship with their Heavenly Father. Another piece of advice is to learn Chapter 3 of PMG. Those are the lessons that missionaries teach people. Knowing those lessons and knowing scriptures to back up what you are saying is very important.

All the new missionaries and their trainers had a training in Cape Town this past Monday. So me, my father, Elder Thayne, and his father, took a road trip to Port Elizabeth to catch a flight to Cape Town. We drove on Sunday and flew Monday.  On Monday morning, about 40 missionaries hiked "Lion's Head" an amazing hike and it provides a beautiful view of Cape Town and the beaches, which really makes me want to go surfing, but I will resist!

We had a training from President Wood Monday night, and me and my father slept at another missionaries flat. Then this morning, we flew to Port Elizabeth, and we are here still. We are with the ZL of P.E. and we do not know where our fathers are. Whatever though. Today is New Years Eve and we will probably get back to East London late tonight. And tomorrow, we are not allowed in the area so we are confined to our flat. So I am in the process of having a 4 day vacation on mission and it is awesome.

By the way! Christmas was amazing for me and I hope it was pleasant for all of you. It was nice to see and talk to everyone!

Love,
Elder Prisbrey"