July 23, 2018

Man i love Port Elizabeth! This area is awesome but super dangerous haha. My comp is from Brazil and learning English. He only been out for 3ish months so he’s new.

When we arrived on Sunday no one had played the piano in months for their ward so i jumped up there being over confident in my abilities and just slaughtered it hahahah. It was really funny but they were all grateful i could just play! But i got called on to give another talk. Man, i swear i talk every single week!!! but that’s ok. The ward here is awesome. I’m pretty much whitewashing again cause last transfer the elders in the area got hijacked and they had to close the area so we moved here and there hasn’t been missionaries here in a while so the members are all excited to do missionary work and giving us referrals, which is awesome!

I had to say goodbye to my mission buddies this week and it was really sad because I’m going to miss them all lot! Many of the people in this mission are from other countries then America so i won’t see any of them probably ever again. It’s really sad!

There are a lot of elders here that have some anxiety and sometimes they develops into depression.

What you said “You should be the most skilled you are ever going to be as missionary in your last area.  Be a waste to spend 21 months learning how to be a great missionary and then not use those skills” Is great advice and i actually read that in the Book of Mormon which was really cool! I forgot to write about it so maybe i will next week but i realized that! I need to trust in my companion to display and be an instrument even though he has a hard time with English.

Love ya,

Elder Shaw

July 16, 2018

Soooooooooooooo another week down and I still don’t know what to say. Here goes..

Transfers this week and I was transferred to Port Elizabeth. It is beautiful. Google it. It’s a tourist and resort town that is big on surfing. I have been in Fish Hoek for 3 transfers and I’ll tell you my stats;

Investigator lesson: 304

New Investigators: 140

Member referrals: 6

Baptisms: 1

Now that one baptism is from a member referral. People why can’t you do missionary work?! it would be so much more fruitful. But i can’t complain since i rarely ever did myself haha But let me tell ya, if a member gives a referral, ahh it’s the best cause they are super likely to get baptized here!

I don’t know what it is but i think i contract every sickness in the whole world!!!! i was sick again this week and it’s the worst cause you don’t want to stay in but sometimes you just have to! Peeps, any advice on how to build my immune system cause I’m so tired of being sick!

Ok just a little update on those 13 investigators we found last week... ya we are only teaching 3 of them now.... but I’ll take them. They are the best!

As a missionary i feel confident at teaching but then my weakness would be compassion and patience, which go hand in hand. Ya i need to work on that.

Yes, i have thought about reading the Bible dictionary. I actually started it at the beginning of my mission but only got to the Gs and then we started this mission challenge of reading the Book of Mormon so i stopped.

Love you,

Peace love and blessing!

Elder Shaw

July 9, 2018

Ya i probably won’t ever be able to play basketball again here. It was like their whole team who showed up and the AP set it up cause they’re in the posh area hahah. It was fun while it lasted.

My mission presidents name is Thabo Lebethoa and I’ll put money that he will be a general authority! I love him.

Mom, I’m not very observant especially when it comes to myself haha but in gospel...... money is the root of all evil its always leads the Nephites to wickedness sooo give all your money to Africa because they need it.:)

No, i didn’t really buy anything for my birthday. But i just spent it on you guys and souvenirs. I have no idea what I’ll spend on myself!

Man I’m super tired and don’t have much time for a big letter but this week went by super fast. I went on 2 exchanges and hike 2 mountains haha one for the sunrise which was sooo pretty!!!!! Ummm we found 13 new investigators this week which was super nice but i think only 3 are serious soooo we’ve got to find mas!!!! yup pretty much! Hopefully my pictures make up for the rest!

love you family

Elder Shaw