April 25th, 2011

HAPPY EASTER!

Another quick week, I had exchanges, and presidant interviews this week on top of the Easter weekend. So it was a different sort of week. My interview went well, Presidant said I have "Leadership Potential" what ever that means. Easter was pretty great, I didn't get a hat but maybe I should by myself one. We finally watched conferance! It was amazing, I loved every second of it. All of the talks where so inspired. I especially loved the emphisas that was put on welfare work. and the importance of Sisters, and the Relief Society. And everything else. Some of my favorite quotes include
"You can not give yourself poor! you can not give the Lord a crust without reciving a loaf of bread." - Presidant Eyring
"Some times a single phrase of testimony can change somebodies life for eternity." Paul V. Jhonson
And dozens and dozens of others but I've got about 8 pages of notes and not much time to go through them. But let me just say that if anyone wants to know what our church is about, where our value's lie, what our doctrine is, and any in or out they needn't go any farther than listening to the very general authorities, the men and women, who stand at the front of the church and lead the way. And if they listen with real intent and ponder the words they hear, any question you have will be answered.
My Branch president is going to take me and my companion to a Game Park next monday which is very exciting I cant wait.
Attatched is my Happy Easter Photo, and my companion helping Thabiso with his maths.

I love you all, Happy Easters,

Elder Scott Milton Brazee

April 18th, 2011

HOwzit?

This was a very quick week. I did a lot of driving back and forth because we had a couple different meetings in Durban. So we didn't have as much time in the area this week. Our boarding got painted which is nice. And we built a table out of a couple of drawers for Sithembile. Its somewhat stable.... I'll see if I can get a picture for you.
My companion celebrated a year this last Thursday. His girlfriend sent him Lucky Charms ( I don't know if I mentioned but there is no good cereal here, no lucky charms, fruit loops, trix, any of that. ) They were GLORIOUS. I hope, that everything is going well for everyone. I still haven't seen conference yet, we're scheduled to watch it this weekend though. I can't wait.

Sorry this is a short one,
Love,
Elder Scott Brazee

April 11, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

This last week went well, we are working hard. Have I told you about Bernard? He's an investigator we found in our area book that the Elders were teaching about a year and a half ago. He's a really good man, cares a lot about the family and the community. He's the one that we went with to build the chicken coop in the rural area outside Margate. We were teaching a lesson in his home last night when his wife came in and began speaking urgently in Zulu, I couldn't pick up any of the words but Bernard's face looked very alarmed. After they had finished speaking he turned to us and told us that a small child had damaged our car. That could mean any number of things, so we quickly went outside to see what was going on. There was a crowed gathered around our car and the neighbors 1985 Mercedes which had left its parked position on the other side of the street and some how ended up smashed into our rear bumper. There were no witnesses to what happened but after speaking to the nneighbors, with a little help from Bernard we pieced together that the neighbors three year old son had climbed into the drivers seat of his Dad's car and somehow pulled the parking break. Because the road was on a bit of a slope he rolled right into us. There was some damage but nothing terrible, the young boy wasn't hurt and had really no idea what was going on. But this is where the story gets potent. We had decided to park the car a little down from Bernard's house, I'm still getting used to driving on the other side of the road and I thought it would be easier to just pull to the side rather than up onto his driveway. I was parked right in front of a river. If our car hadn't been parked we would have been pulling a very injured little boy out of rushing water instead exchanging information over a smashed light and a few dents. The father was very grateful to us for having our car parked there even though its going to be very very tough for him to find the money to fix his car. How's that for a blessing in disguise.

I hope you are all doing very well, tell Russ I say hello! I'm so excited for him. It'll be great to have him home. You are all in my thoughts and prayers.

Much Love,

Elder Scott Brazee

P.s. Attached is a photo of my in front of a real life Krusty Krab, although to mine and my companions dismay is was recently shut down. And thus my quest to consume a genuine Krabby Patty continues...

April 4th, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

This week went by very quickly. I don't know if I mentioned but last week I helped build a chicken coop in one of the more rural area's, that was pretty fun. I've been doing my best to pick up some Zulu but I've got a long way to go. I've attached some pictures of Croc World, including the before and after of petting an unfamiliar bird, that was a fun day. My finger is perfectly fine by the way it looked WAY worse than it was. Also attached are some pictures of Sithembile's wedding her childrens names are Nawo, and Tabiso. Nawo (I'm not sure how to spell it it's pronounced Nay-Woah) is the smaller one.

I haven't gotten the chance to watch conference yet, technology is a little bit behind here, DVR's are something of the future, and conference comes on in the middle of the night here. Not to mention most people don't have the channel it would be on and/or ready access to the Internet. As a result we wait until the DVDs are produced and watch it all together as a Branch. That'll be in about two weeks. So you guys are pretty lucky.

I've got a food story to share. The other night Sithembele made me and Elder Tidwell each a plate of food, with the preface that if we could eat Madumba's we could eat this (Madumba's are a bit like Potatos but you peel them and eat them raw). After a few bites I could tell that the meat wasn't normal. It didn't tast bad, just a little different. I decided it was wise not to ask what it was until after the meal. Turns out it was chicken hearts... so I've eaten chicken hearts, and I'm a fan. They tasted a lot like Calamari.

Other than that there isn't a whole lot new going on, we had transfer calls last night and I am staying right where I am. It's typical here to stick around the same area for about 6 months, I don't know if thats normal for other missions but I don't mind it, I'm very much enjoying it here and to leave now would be much to soon. Also I don't know if I mentioned but I'm teaching a young man named Thumi to play the guitar, he's the one I'm standing with in the house, he's a very cool kid. One of our two and a half young men in the Branch.

I hope you are all having wonderful weeks!

Love,

Elder Scott Brazee