Hakuna Matata!!!

Area - Kanye, Botswana
Companion - Elder Dlamini
Letter #41

Ayta! How's it!?

Ha sorry, I just got a bucket of water poured on me that's all :D I was waking out of the bedroom and BAM! I dodged most of it but it was soooo cold!!

Man, everybody is getting so old! Ollie can't be in sixth grade by the time I get home! Not fair! And Nate going to college... So weird. i wish I could go to school with him. that'd be so fun. You need to make sure that Nate turns his papers in on March 3rd and no later so that he can be called to the Joburg mission and be here in time for me to train him before I come home. Sound like a plan stan? ;)

The car sounds Lekker! I'm excited! :D Yep, i got the picture, thanks!

The attempts to revitalize the branch are going well so far.  Recently a family from gabs moved in and they have been members for 10+ years and so they really know how to get things done and even the father is a returned missionary. Things are really starting to turn around now. Going to church used to be so stressful but now things are staring to be a lot more relaxing and enjoyable when we go to church. no matata! Did you know that... hakuna matata is setswana? Well now you do! matata means problem. i can't remember what hakuna means but you can pretty much guess what it means from the song.  Anyway, yeah the branch is doing great. There is now a speaker calendar so everybody knows when they are going to give talks for the rest of the year and so they are all excited and preparing and now us, the missionaries don't have to worry about filling in. I've given three talks since I've been here already! ha. Sister Molebatsi was called as the primary 1st counselor so she is excited for that but she is super nervous for the talk she has to give on october 8th. She is already praying so hard that she can do well. It was funny when they sustained her in sacrament, bro molebatsi didn't hold anything back. he double sustained her by raising both arms as high as he could! They are a great family and are doing their very best to be faithful members, maybe one day he will obtain his dream of being branch president! haha.

We were making a lot of plans to bring members teaching with us but on my birthday my drivers license expired so we can't bring members with us anymore. We can, it is just a lot more difficult cause of how far away everyone stays from each other. when we get the bikes back I'm gonna take a video of the path that we take to get to Mike and Sazi's place. We literally go through the bush to get there. We need that 4runner here in kanye! but question: how do I get my license renewed? is it possible? I know i was supposed to send it or something before it expired but is there anything I can do now?

Man, the dennis' moved? Should I still send that Scripture case that sis dennis asked for? You could also let her know that I found a nativity set but I'm not sure when i will be able to go back and buy it since it was in Pretoria.

Dad, what a boss! haha I'm absolutley positive that you are more in shape than I am. I can barely make it through a ninety minute soccer match as i found that out a couple weeks ago when our branch played another church here in kanye ha. I'll have to get on it for sure. Give me some tips on motivating myself to exercise in the morning. I gotta be honest, I sit on the couch and watch every morning... :/

So I guess you could have assumed by now that I didn't get transferred! :D it's gonna be my first 6 month area! Then again that's what I thought about sunnyside as well and then a week later got Emergency transferred ha. hakuna matata though, I'm excited to be here one more transfer. we've had a lot of random people coming to talk to us and telling us that they want us to come teach them. The Gofhamodimo family is definitely going to be baptized in september. they couldn't come to church yesterday cause they had some family obligations. There's only one thing that sucks about staying here. Elder Dlamini is going home in december and so he is starting to make plans and talk about what he's gonna do when he gets home. He's trunky as the back of a car but he still works hard. Just makes me think about home more when he talks about home so much. i'll survive! Stay focused on the work!

Family I love you tons! Keep being a super awesome family and examples to others!

-Elder Dirkmaat :D