Elephants And Transfers

-What's good. This week was fun, a lot happened. We had Lilithas baptism on Sunday. She was baptized in the river by the church. It was so sweet when she came out of the water, she had the biggest smile on her face. 

-We got transfer news Saturday and I'll be leaving Makhanda/Port Alfred. Which is kind of sad, I'll miss the people here. This place is on the rise now in terms of missionary work. But, I won't miss the water shedding, hahaha. I'm being transferred to Elsies River, so that means I'll be flying back to Cape Town Friday. I've heard Elsies River is a dangerous area with a lot of gang activity. I think it's part of the Cape flats, not actually sure, but it's right in the center of Cape Town. 

-Driving from Port Elizabeth back to Makhanda there are nature reservations on both sides of the road. As we turned a corner we saw a big boy elephant right on the other side of the fence. So, naturally I pulled over and got out to go look and take some pictures. And apparently, he didn't like that. I think it was the flash of my camera. But what happened was he turned right at me and flapped his ears, made a huge elephant sound, and then charged us. I haven't run that fast in 15 months, hahaha. Luckily it was a warning charge. But yo, that fence wouldn't have done anything if he really wanted to get us, hahaha. We were maybe 30 yards from him on the other side of the fence. Crazy stuff. Elder Kennedy took a video and I'll put it in my email.

-Also, today for P-day we went to Addo Elephant Park and man it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. There were elephants all over. They would come right up to our car. So cool! We saw plenty of other animals as well, like zebra, ostriches, kudu, baboon, tortoise, and even a rhino, which is rare so that was awesome. Unfortunately, we didn't see lions or hyenas. 

-In Port Alfred our branch president asked us to go take the sacrament to an elderly member living in Alexandria which is an hour west of Port Alfred. Her name is Sister Barris, and she is the sweetest lady. She doesn't get much visitors, so she was excited when we called her to see if we could come visit. We talked with her for a while, and before we left we had the opportunity to bless and pass her the sacrament. It was a special moment. Sister Barris hasn't been able to take the sacrament for quite some time so she was very emotional. She shared her testimony with us and it was really a special moment. Something I will not forget.

- Our church in Makhanda got robbed (again). And long story short, all the clues add up to it being an inactive member. And mama Stella said she had a vision and knows who it is, she said it is a man named Sandile. Who is in our records. But, too bad I won't be here to see what happens. 

-Instead of sharing a scripture this week I want to share something Elder Silva of the seventy told us at mission tour this week. He said, "We need to choose to Act, not be Acted upon."  This can be applied to pretty much everything. Sin, temptation, phones, getting out of bed, doing school work, going to church, scripture study, etc. We either act or we are acted upon by some other force. God gave us our agency to choose, so choose to act and be free instead of being acted upon by sin and temptation and therefore being bound by chains. In the name of Jesus Christ amen

-Elder Quick