Stellenbosch Week 10, I Got My Xhosa Name

This week has been good.  We met with the Sehlabane family which is our new members from Kayamundi which is the township here.  And they gave me my Xhosa name which is "Toando"; apparently means Love in their culture.  That was pretty cool.  They are my favorite people ever, their super comfortable around us now, they told us we're their brothers now.  And they say and ask us whatever now, which is fun and it honesty feels like I've known them for years when it's only been like a couple months.  I made them some cookies this last week and they went crazy when they ate them, it was so funny.  They told me I have to bring more, hahaha, so shoutout to my mom for the recipe.  They also give the best complements every time we meet with them we get something new.  Lol.  They're always so funny and kind of a lot. Ha-ha.  But this week I got "oh so beautiful like Troy Bolten." It was so funny.  They always leave us feeling a lot better about ourselves that's for sure.  

It was fun to watch General Conference on mission.  It's feels like a Holiday here.  Kind of weird that we had to watch it at night though.  It was great though, my favorite talks were probably Elder Holland and Montoya's, and of course President Nelson.  We didn't get to watch the last session though.  

We had some great lessons this week.  Our friend John was still thinking on a baptismal date, but we saw him street contacting and he came up and told us he's ready to be baptized and that the end of October works for him.  So, we put him on date, I’m really happy for him he's a baller.  We also had a great lesson with a girl named "Z", well her real name is some crazy Zulu name that I have no idea how to say lol.  But she told us she believes the Book of Mormon is true and that she wants to come to church.  Those were probably our best 2 lessons of the week.  The rest were mainly just Bible bashers lol.  Which is annoying, but it's also really fun to just argue with these people.  I try to teach them at the beginning, but then they make it a bash so then they just want to argue.  It's actually really beneficial for me.  Stellenbosch is the most American like area in my mission and it's the area where you get the most Bible bashers.  It's nice because I've learned how to defend what I believe using just the Bible and actually explain why I believe what I do.  A lot of the people don’t know exactly what to say either so they just try and change the subject or they get mad which is sad.  Sometimes people just don't want to hear the truth which is sad.  

I had another Exchange this week I went to Strand with Elder Budge.  He's a cool guy, I like Strand it's south of Stellenbosch like 25 mins and it's right of the coast.  It was fun we got to bike up the cost right by the beach for like 15 mins on or way to appointments. The people they teach in Strand are awesome, it's a ton of Zimbabweans and they're the best. 

Also, we were street contacting and we saw 2 guys playing basketball so we challenged them to a 2v2.  It was super fun and we beat them, but it's not the most fun playing in proselyting clothes, lol.  It was cool because after they asked us who we were and what we're doing.  And we got to explain who we are and tell them about the Book of Mormon. 

Spiritual thought: 

I really liked Elder Holland's talk and a quote I liked was:  

"A true Christian cannot follow the Master only in the matters he or she agrees, No. We follow him everywhere, including, if necessary, into arenas filled with tears and trouble, where sometimes we may stand very much alone." 

I thought that was really powerful Elder Holland is a beast.  

Anyways hope you all had a good conference weekend.  Love and miss all of you, shap!! 

-Elder Quick