November 28 Letter from Nkulumane

 Dear Mom

Ha Ha! You are too funny mom! It is not like we blew our money on nothing. We just barely ran out of most of the stuff, but I am fine. Ha Ha! I still have a lot of personal and I keep 40 bucks every allotment as a safety net. I have used only 20 dollars of that. I am fine mom. I did not mean to freak you out. When I am in the service of my Lord my God you have no reason to worry. In the great words of my companion, "Relax. Take it easy." (he had said his roommate had told them to buy all of their food at once, I was worried if he had enough to last the month)

Elder Tom

*****

Dear Family of Mine

Sorry, I do not remember the Rodger's, but I do hope that they are okay and that they are able to handle the loss. This is a time they need to lean on the Lord. (our old bishop was in a bad crash with his son, and his son passed)

Thank you so much for the addresses. i have not yet received the Dear Elder, but thank you for that as well. Also, thank you for getting Josh's letter sent off. Did his mom get my letter? Thank you!

Like I told Jordan, I forgot about Thanksgiving, so I was okay. I hope you were still able to enjoy the holiday. I will definitely pray for and write too Uncle Scott and his family. I pray that I can help them in some way.

Ha Ha! Thank you for the advice Mom! Ha Ha! (some lesbians kissed in front of the elders) It happened right in front of me and I felt like writing that when it happened. Ha Ha! I thought it was funny to share how I felt ;). The Khiwas here creep me out, but they are still God's children. I talk with one before I started emailing. Ha Ha! He made me laugh. He knew I was American just by looking at me.

 About the pictures: I am working on it, I can tell you that. Here they sell cans of drinking chocolate (hot chocolate powder) And I bought a small one and I am going to hid the flash in that. ;)

I am very excited about Charles and Jesse! Wow! Ha Ha! I received an email from Chandler today! That was very nice. I enjoyed very much.

 Jordan is just fine. You are not offending at all. (Jordan wanted to know about baptisms and Jake told him) It is just a personal feeling I had and I just wanted you all to know how I feel about it. Like I told Jordan, if there is anything you want to know just let me know. :) I love you all as well! The greatest blessing that I always give thanks to my Father for is that He suffers me to be his servant. To serve him is my greatest desire. So I am blessed each and every day! :) I am glad you are receiving those blessings. I pray for you every day.

 My Week:

(Monday) Nothing to report. It has been rainy...actually I think it was Monday were I received a tender mercy from my Father in Heaven. We were walking home in the rain from Sizinde which is about a 40 minute walk. It was like 9:00pm and we were going to be late. A random car stopped by us and a man asked if we need a ride. We excitedly and thankfully agreed. The man was very kind and I enjoyed the short drive. We made it home on time and a little more dry.

(Tuesday) Went on splits. I went with Tendai (ward missionary) to prepare some people for baptism. A normal day.

Jake center front, sitting, with hat and glasses

(Wednesday) We had Zone Conference! It was kind of xhing (missionary language for "not good") It was nice to see President Dube and his talks were good, but the rest of it was not that great. I actually gave fire during it. Ha Ha! Elder Robi was giving a presentation and Elders were just bashing him and going off topic. Elder Robi looked so confused, but he was still powerful. I felt bad for him and I was getting ticked so I raised my hand and gave them fire! Ha Ha! Elder Asay said I was going to be the next AP.

(Thursday) It was mostly just preparing 4 people for baptism.

(Friday) Ha Ha! Now Friday was a POWERFUL day! My companion and I went to the chapel to clean the baptismal font. While we were cleaning this guy walks in greets us in gibberish (I mean it was not even Ndebele) and went into the other room. We thought he was a member so we did not think anything of it. What we did not know was that the guy is literally insane and everyone knows him because he comes to church and introduces himself as "Joseph Smith the High Prophet Priest." Ha Ha! So I left with a ward missionary to teach a lesson while my companion stayed to finish cleaning. He told me how when he finished he sent Tendai to go find the guy that came in. he was not anywhere...then...they heard splashing. They went to the font, opened the doors, and found the guy NAKED playing in the water. HAHA! My companion was like, "what are you doing?!" and the guy said, "I am baptizing myself so I can be educated!" Ha Ha! They eventually got him out. Ha Ha it was a hilarious story. Later that night there was a YSA activity and that guy was there. I got a picture with him.:) The rest of the day I was with Pakaenda doing Baptismal interviews. They all passed!

 (Saturday) We had a baptism for 4 people. 1 woman, A recent convert's boy, and 2 brothers. As the service went the two brothers had not shown. Usually when someone does not show we are just sad and do not do anything because it is there choice that they missed, but I had a feeling about those two. When we did the interview one of them came out leaping for joy and the other one even asked when their mom could be baptized. I felt like we should get them. The service was like 2 hours late, but my companion and I ran to Tshabala 20 minutes away. We found the boys. We talked to the mom and found out there was confusion. The boys were able to be baptized. So we ran back with them. Ha Ha that was stressful. After the baptism we went to a preschool graduation. We were invited by a member and I was also invited to be Father Christmas or Santa. Ha Ha! It was POWERFUL! I danced, played with the kids, took photos, and it was so fun! Ha Ha! I was Santa on mission!

(Sunday) The woman and the two brothers were confirmed. We are going to go see the recent convert's son to see why he did not come for confirmation. Sunday was kind of slow but was very nice.
I love you all! Sorry, I do not think I have time to sent photos today. (he forgot to post about my birthday, got permission to get back online and posted again below... and also sent me 3 pictures for my birthday which are posted here on this blog.  I love my son!)

Keep the Faith

Elder Tom
(Jake)

(My most favorite photo of Jake on his mission so far!)

FLIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 I am so sorry! I was trying to write quickly and I did not put HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha Ha! I even wrote in my planner so I would remember! My apologizes mom. I promise i did not forget your birthday. I just thought that i typed it but I did not. Thank you. I love you! And I am trying to live rules. I am not great at it though. I love you birthday girl! (Jake was able to get back online and post this last bit to me, and also post some photos for me - the best birthday gift ever!!) 

Mom-

(I'm having trouble getting music downloaded to send him) The music is not a huge thing for me. Just get it to me when you can. Thank you for trying your best! :)


Love-a-dove,


Jake