Monday, February 26, 2018

what is up from the kingdom in the sky


mom i know that you like having flags of the country that your son is serving in but i think that you need to get another for me. i am in another world. well not really but another country i think that that is close enough.

hello world from the land of lesotho. it is pretty cool not many people can say that they served there misions in two countries but hey *cough cough (brushes sholder nonchalantly) haha i can still use big words. but yea lesotho is like another world from south africa everything is either really dry or really green. it is kinda weird. the people are really friendly. to the extent that we had a guy come walking up to us trying to figure out what our badges said. and it struck off a conversaion and now he is a super powerfull investigator. i love it.

second difference between the coast and here is there are mountians here. like real mountians. not the roling hillls of berea. nor the slopes of umlazi. but flat out mountians it is pretty cool. not too many things have changed since i left south africa but now i am with Elder Hauck. he is cool. he used to live in california but now lives in utah. or as everyone calls it here "the factory"  it is pretty cool. Elder hauck has family that lives in bountiful and he visited them regularly and we think that we might have run into one another. on the slippery sledding slopes of bountiful but we dont know. exciting to try to make a link isnt it. 

sorry guys but i havent taken any photos of leribe yet but i am uploading any photos that i have of umlazi now. so you get to see something right?
love you all stay safe and remember who you are. stay true.
Elder Whiting,
Image result for south africa durban mission

Monday, February 19, 2018

final round


hey guys it is elder whiting again here on the station with none other than elder whiting. elder whiting how is it going.

well it has been a wild ride these past few days. and i have had some interesting experiences that i will be talking about later today 

that sounds great but first we have to cover our weather. this last week it has been relentlesly hot again. but there should be some showers later today. as for the future we will just have to see what that will bring. as for now we will go back to elder whiting to learn more about what his life has been like this last week.elder whiting?

yes elder whiting this week has been interesting along the lines of NEW! see i will have seen several new things both in the past present and future. as for the past we will cover the things seen heard and eaten. firstly i saw a bird the other day. it was a small bird but he was determined. i was out in the yard picking some avacado from the tree and one of these little gray birds came out of nowhere and dive bombed me. i was really confused and looked around to see if there was a nest. i couldent find one so is there was no threat to its little ones what the heck was the bird doing. i never saw it after its first aproach but yea it showes that even though i am like 60 times its size it had no fear. man life goals. secondly heard. i heard news in a new way through people aparently the president of south africa resigned. but i was out and about and things where quieter than normal like there was maby one or two cars a min on a road where it is rare to not see a car every 10 to 20 seconds. yea people where aww struck. the new thing that i ate this last week is called. mas or enmas. it is essentially sour milk with phutu in it phutu being like grits that are made with too much grits making it crumbly. it was really weird at first but i think i might have liked it had they not have told me what it was. just goes to show first impressions are extreemly powerfull. so be your best 100 percent of the time.

lastly and yes this deserves its own paragraph. dont judge haters gunna hate. but yea i am getting moved out of south africa. no there isnt a plague or anything just i am going to the landlocked island country of lesutu. confusing nay look at this map and you will get what i meanso yea i  am finally 
getting away from the coast about a 9 hour drive out yay the weels on the bus go round and round round and round round and round.


well folks thats all for today if you have any questions or comments be sure to send them to elder whiting at this address and we will try to answer them for you till next time this is elder whiting wishing you a wonderfull week. BYE!!!!!


*theme song starts to play in the background i dont know what it sounds like you make it up mine kida goes dum da dum dum dum dumba dum.


Elder Whiting,
Image result for south africa durban mission
but 

Monday, February 12, 2018

News Update


hows it going im elder Whiting here in teh studio with Elder whiting and we are here to day to talk about Elder whitings past week so Elder whiting how are things
Well elder Whiting things are going pretty well there has been some ups and downs but in the end things seem to be going fairly well. i have been able to have some great experiences ranging from a baptism of a friend to a marrage purposal. 

that sounds great Elder whiting and we will get back to that but first here is the weather. it has been rainy for the past week which once again i am sure that Elder whiting is gratefull for. and we will just have to wait and see what tomorrow has to bring but it prommises to be interesting. back to Elder whiting SO Elder whiting can you elaborate on your previous statement

I sure can elder Whiting. about 2 weeks back me and my companion whent on exchanges which for those who dont under stand that is where we swap companions for a day. but i whent with Elder Manyaka. and anyway we had a referal from a member about a little girl named lulu. she was incredible she loved the lesson and promised me that one day i would see her be baptized. it was an incredible experience. we also whent on splits with the AP's which stands for the assistants to president. they help the president with his dirty work. no just kidding they are just an extra pair of hands for the mission president so that he can get more stuff done with the time that he has. but that time i was with elder lehue. and i was told about a man that they where teaching. he  is a pastor for another church and dosent want to leave. he has read the book of mormon and elder lehue was telling me that his problem was the priesthood authority. well we got to a point in the lesson where we where going to extend an invitation to go to church. we did and the man said no so we started toing through the standard questions. "do you belive i the book of mormon" "do you belive that H=Joseph Smith was a prophet of god" both answers where yes. then out of the blue elder lehue asked "you know that this is the only true church right?" i thought that he was about to blow it with this investigator. but he just remained silent and we moved on awkwerdly. later in the lesson we asked them again to come to church and about the priesthood. the wife told us that he had to go to his church to preach that he was the pricher for another church. but the guy put up his hand to stop his wife from starting an argument and he turned to her and said a simple but powerfull phrase. "I do not have the authority that i can feel that these guys here have" it blew me away it goes to show that we need to remain worthy of the holy ghost and if we are worthy of it it can make some megasaurus changes in a persons life

oh wait we have a person on the line hello? hello 

oh hi im --------- and i have a question for Elder whiting.

i am here with him right now what is your question?

ok here it is Elder whiting what is your favorite thing about the culture there?

hmm let me think about that... ok here it is there are a few things that i have found interesting but they circulate around one thing and that is labola. for those of you who dont know what that is that is the payment for the wifes hand in marrage. you know mohanna and the 8 cows thing. just learning how the labola works is an interesting thing. and it is no wonder marrage rates are low here see you have to go through this lengthy process of negotiating with the wifes unkle and father on a price then you have to save up for that price then you pay and you get wed there are a lot more steps than that but i havent really delved that deep into it.
i also got to see a cow slaughtered at a traditional wedding that was pretty cool they tied the cows head to a post and then drove a knife into the back of its head. i will not send a video or pictures due to children viewing but yea


thanks for tuning in and see you next time bye
Elder Whiting,
Image result for south africa durban mission

Monday, February 5, 2018

How's It Hangin


what is up friends and family elder whiting here for the news of the life of elder whiting first up the forcast looks like it is rainy like literally everyday but hey he is gratefull for that. just the other day we got his opinion on why. here is what he said,
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so yea things are looking good concidering for the next week it will be cloudy with a high chance of rain yay!!!!
next up we have some news from the man himself. some of you where questioning what it is like to be in the life of an elder in umlazi. what do you have to say elder?
"well elder things are tough in the life of a missionary but here in umlazi we get some benefits. firstly we live in a single story appartment with 2 bedrooms 2 bathrooms a full kitchen a lounge (which doubles as a second study room and a place for a nap later today.) and 1 study room. from the outside it looks like a fortress but on the inside you will fit right in at home. recently me and my companion had an interesting experience. we ran into an investigator that had seen the missionarys 6 years ago and hadent seen them since. they said that just the other day they where cleaning their bookshelf and found a copy of the book of mormon and started reading it that night. the next day. boom there we where knocking on there door wondering if they would like to learn more about itInline image 3
it was a nice experience i tell you. it goes to show that the lord prepares the people that we are to teach. later on that week we had another interesting experience,

we recently have been using what the people around here call public transportation. this ranges from a bus to a taxi to the bed of a members truck that just happens to be traveling in the direction that we need to go. but one day we got taken for a joy ride from umlazi to durban because the taxi driver refused to stop. when he finally realized that there where too slightly agitated elders in the back of the taxi that refused to get out until he got them home he finally turned around. so we made it home safely about an hour later than planned. but we made it.
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rember to tune in next week to the life of elder whiting. until next time this is elder whiting sighning out. 

remember that if you have any coments questions concerns or general stories that you want to share with elder whiting he is accesable through this contact. ethan.whiting@myldsmail.net thank you for supporting
Elder Whiting,
Image result for south africa durban mission

i forgot to add on other disclaimer to the group email and that is that i was incapable of taking pictures for the same reason as last week that is umlazi will not let me bring and carry my camera around. sorry again. hopefully my mother will forgive me. i might be able to get some pictures next week but no promises.

Elder Whiting,
Image result for south africa durban mission