KRUGER PARK!

It was another awesome week up here in the Northeast.  Kruger Park was amazing and we saw so many animals.  The park is a huge land mass with a road that runs through it.  There is no guarantee that you will see anything.  Some people drive through it and see all the animals, while others see none.  We drove for about six to seven hours and we were the lucky ones.  We saw Zebras, Elephants, Rhinos, Giraffes, Buffalo's, Monkeys, Hyenas and so much more.  Unfortunately the e-mail shop I am in won't allow me to upload pictures, so I don't know when I will be able to put them up.  I will try my best.

We got the Bokkie back this week, so that was sweet.  Driving up in these villages and dirt road areas never gets old.  I love every moment of it.  The people are so powerful here, especially the kids.  There are a few families that have kids and their parents don't go to church, so the kids walk to church by themselves.  These kids are like ages 5 to 10 and they are walking in the dark in the middle of these unsafe areas.  They always manage to make it safely guided by the Lord.

Oh another thing we saw this week was the South Africa Baobab tree.  It is over 6000 years old and it is still living.  It is the biggest thing I have ever seen.  Crazy to think this tree was planted that long ago.  They carved out the inside and did some really cool stuff with it.

I had a talk last week in Matupa, which went very well.  I spoke out of the November 2013 Ensign.  The title of the talk is "Look Forward and Believe," by Elder Dube.  It went well, but I could not stop sweating.  The church building is a little one story hut type deal and it was so hot, especially with my suit on.  I made it, but man is this African sun hot.  Wow!

Well we have a Baptism coming up on the 2nd, so that is pretty exciting.  It is actually his birthday today, so we are gonna go see him.  It was a great week and I hope you all had a good one as well.  Sorry there are no pictures.  You guys are really missing out.  I will try my best, but have a great week and enjoy the life that you're blessed with.

Cheers, Elder Segil

Vyf Maande!!!

Well five down and only nineteen to go.  Pretty crazy how fast time is going.  I don't have much time this week, but just wanted to give a quick update.  Things are going very well up here in our two areas of Modjadji and Matupa.  We are finding lots of people and getting things back on tract.  In the Modjadji branch we have 240 members, but only 40 come, so we have some work to do there.

We work with some wonderful Senior couples.   They are Elder and Sister Butler from the Salt Lake area.  They got here a little over a month ago.  They have been helping us out so much as well as feeding us regularly.  Gotta love the home cooked meals.  They have been such a huge help and I hope I stay here for a long time.  I got to get these 200 people to come back to church.

In other news we have been teaching a man named Cliff for about a month now and he is one of the best investigators I have ever seen.  He has come to church every week since he was introduced to the gospel.  Not to mention he lives over 20 Ks away from the chapel and has to take a taxi every Sunday.  He will be Baptized on the 2nd of March, which is pretty exciting.  I am super happy for him.

Well another great week and sorry no pictures.  Will do my best to put some up next week.  Have a great week everybody.

Cheers, Elder Segil

A Real African Braai!

These weeks just fly by, don't they!?   Especially when you are having fun.  Elder Rakotomalala and I serve in two different areas, so we have lots of work to do.  Our main area in Modjadji, which is a huge area.  We are the farthest area away possible for this mission, so that is pretty sweet.  Another area we serve in is called Matupa, which is a village up in the mountains.  The branch consists of about thirty people that meet in this really small 20 by 10 foot building.  It is really awesome being here.  You know those pictures in magazines you always see with little African kids and then there are white people there helping.  It feels so weird, but awesome to be that white person.

We had a Braai with the Matupa branch, which was lots of fun.  They brought nine live chickens, which we all killed, prepared and ate.  I don't think I have ever had chicken as fresh as this!

One down!

Nothing beats the smell of fresh chicken!

Gotta have Pap!

We made cookies for the Braai

Our living quarters are alright I guess.  I just came from a super nice flat in Bedfordview, so nothing will every be as good as that.  It is pretty much like living in the jungle here.  I look out my window and its like I'm looking outside my tent when I was camping in Montana.  Good stuff.

 My sweet Bockie.  She is in the shop now getting fix.  The last missionary wrecked her as you can see on the lower right hand corner.

MODJADJI!!!

Well that was my week.  Hope you all have a great one.  Happy early Valentines Day!

Cheers, Elder Segil

Modjadji, Northeastern South Africa-My new home!!!

Wow what a crazy two days!  It feels like a week since I'm been on here!  Lots of stuff to talk about, so I will first start off with Monday night at Carnivore.  It was so much fun and the meat was amazing.  The three meats I had besides the normal pork and beef were Crocodile, Zebra and Kudu.  Crocodile was my favourite because it was very tender and had great flavour.  There was a lot of fat and bone to it, so not too much meat to every chunk.  Zebra was very tough, chewy and spicy.  It was pretty good, but really more cool just saying that I ate some Zebra.  The last was Kudu which was in the middle of Crocodile and Zebra.  Not to chewy or Tender, but still very good.   The waiters would go around with slabs of meat or huge skewers and keep giving it to you, until you have had enough and boy did I.  I think the cost of the meal was 200 Rand, not sure because the members treated us.  They are so awesome.  Well that was my Monday night.

Carnivore with Elder Dutson

Crocodile on a skewer

Crocodile

Zebra

The Menu

The next day was Tuesday, transfer day.  I got all done packing in the morning and man have I accumulated a bunch of stuff.  I don't know how I will get in all home.  Oh well too far away to even think about.  Elder Dutson and I headed to the Mission Offices and met up with all the other missionaries in the mission.  After signing journals and talking for a bit, we got the news.  I am going up to the Northeast with my new companion Elder Rakotomalala, Rako for short.  He is from Madagascar and learned English here in South Africa over the 17 months he has been here.  Pretty cool stuff.

Elder Rakotomalala and I

The Northeast is about a six hour drive from central Johannesburg and we had to drive a manual bockie truck all the way there and guess who had to do it.  Me, the one person who doesn't know how to drive a manual but the only one with a license.  It was actually a lot of fun, but man my legs were sore afterwards.  We made it safely and those were my last two days.

Have a great week everybody!

Cheers, Elder Segil

Goodbye Bedforview! :(

Well Transfer News has arrived and I will be leaving Bedforview tomorrow morning.  I will find out what part of South Africa I will be going  tomorrow, so I will make sure to let you all know next Monday.

Other then that, it was a great week here in Bedfordview, except for Elder Dutson and I wrecking on our bikes.  We still don't know what happened, but all of the sudden we ran into each other and were stopped by a concrete wall.  A few scrapes, but we are all good.  I'm glad to say I'm done with bikes, for now at least.  I hope to have a car in my next area.

Tonight some members are taking us to a place called Carnivore.  It is a very nice restaurant that sells all types of meat.  It is a buffet of different kinds of animal meat.  I am going to try some Crocodile, Zebra, Lamb and some Kudu.  It should be a lot of fun and I will be sure to post pictures next week.

I am sad to leave Bedfordview because we have some really awesome people that we are teaching and they are progressing very well.  Sometimes we have to do the ground work and let someone else finish what we started.  Sometimes we get to finish the work that others started.  It does not matter what happens as long as we are doing our best to serve our fellow man.

Hope you all have a great week.

Cheers, Elder Segil