Hello Everyone! 

It has been another good week! 
Elder Reynolds and I were doing companionship study outside of a butchery and then a guy came and sat down next to us, so we started talking to him. Turns out, all he wanted to do was bash with us. In the end, he pulled out 2 small books and gave them to us and he told us if we found any doctrine in it that was not in the bible to burn it. That night when we got back to the boarding we were reading in them and guess what we found haha! False doctrine, so you know what we did? We burned them haha! This week has been another powerful week! We found another 18 people so I am super happy about that! We have been working hard! And I am seeing the blessings come from it! I hope you all have a great week! 

Love Ya, 

ELDER BOYER


TIDBITS FROM MOM AND DADS NOTES -

Yeah, I am definitely still trying to learn the language. The mission is English and all of the lessons are done in English, so if you want to learn the language you have to do it on your own time. It has been fun though, to be able to learn some of the words and stuff. The lessons are going well. I think I have figured out a little better how I like to teach. There is no Halloween here, but Elder Reynolds and I might talk to the Bishop and set up like a trunk or treat, haha. 

But yeah, I am safe, thank you! And very happy! Yeah, we exercise in the mornings. There is not a lot of exercises I know how to do, but I do something ha-ha.

          Today we are going to be hanging out with one of our fellowshippers . He leaves                   for his mission on Thursday, so he wanted to do something fun with us. 
         He is going to Zimbabwe.  Yeah, we do our laundry in our boarding mostly on P -Day,           but sometimes during the week if needed.  To keep our collars looking nice we use               this green bar called sunlight.

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Okay, Sorry guys if this is a short email, I don't have too much time today. But, it sounds like you want to hear more about the South African Culture. So I will do my best to talk more about it but if you have more questions let me know.

This week Elder Reynolds and I have been killing it! This week we found 20 new people to teach! Elder Reynolds has really been helping me to grow! This week we had Zone conference so that was pretty sweet! But in my interview with the mission president, he said that there is a really big chance of me training next transfer! So, that is pretty crazy to think that I could be training just after I finish training myself ha-ha. This Sunday, Lutho received the Holy Ghost so that was awesome and next week he will be receiving the priesthood. We also had quite a few people come to church so that was exciting as well. 

Next week I will try and write more and send more pictures! 

Much Love,

Mdala Boyer

MOLWENI EVERYONE!

This week has been a great one. Transfers were on Wednesday and I got my new companion! His name is Elder Reynolds and he is from England. I forgot to take pictures so you will have to wait until next week to see him, haha. But he is a super funny guy and is super experienced. This is his last transfer which means I will be killing him, haha. He has already taught me so much and I have already seen so much success in our area. In just the past 3 days we have found 10 new people to teach. I am super super excited for this transfer and for more great weeks to come. 

On Sunday, we had Lutho's Baptism! It was so so powerful! Afterward, The Bishop had him come up and bear his testimony, and literally, the kid is so powerful and I am so grateful I have been able to teach him. The whole day he had such a big smile on his face! It was also super good for the other people we have been teaching to be able to see his baptism and see how the whole thing works.

This week has been a Testimony builder to me that the Lord helps us as we strive to do his work. I have seen that as we have set goals and prayed for help to accomplish them. The Lord provides a way for us. It reminds me of 1 Nephi 3:7 when it says that as we strive to keep the commandments the Lord will prepare a way for us to do so.

Hamba Gahle! Yako Tanda!

-Elder Boyer

Hello everyone!

It's been a great week! On Monday we were at the Sakati's for FHE and we had a Braii which was so cool! And we made a peach cobbler! It actually turned out pretty good!
Another thing that happened was on Saturday, I received transfer news!! I am getting a new companion named Elder Reynolds. I have never met him but Elder Allred says he is a super good missionary and a great guy! And Elder Sovereign is going to be training! I have really enjoyed being companions with Elder Allred and Elder Sovereign but I am ready to be able to just focus on my area and the people in my area. This weekend we did a lot of service too. We pulled out a whole bunch of trees and bushes at the Sakatis and also painted Sister Deliwe's house some more.
General Conference has been pretty sweet too! I don't know if it is because I am a missionary now or if this Conference has just been super powerful but I feel like I have gotten so much out of it. We have been able to watch 3 of the sessions so far, they are doing the others next week on Sunday. We have just watched them at the chapel on a projector.  I don't know which one is my favorite. They were all so so powerful. I have been feeling good no problems with health. My scripture bag is now torn pretty bad ha-ha. I probably need a new one. I don't think I can get one here but I will have to try and find out.
It has been pretty hot this week. Last week was kinda rainy but it is definitely starting to become summer. My clothes have been good! Now that it is hotter I wish I had more short sleeves though ha-ha. But, it is alright. I have been sleeping good. my bed is not the best but it is sleepable.

This week I got to try some new foods.
Umphokoqo which is maze mill mixed with amasi which is sour old milk. It was pretty nasty ha-ha.
Next, was Taki Taki's and that is chicken feet. Nails and all, haha. That one was actually pretty good!
Then I had Umqhushu which is something called  "samp and beans".

Well, I am about out of time so I will talk to you guys soon!

Sala kakuhle! Everyone! Yako tanda!

Elder Boyer

Molweni Everyone! 

This week has been a pretty solid week! We were able to get Lutho's Baptism interview done and we are now planning on having his baptism on the 14th. We had his baptism announced today at church. Also, speaking of Church, now that we are covering two wards we are going to 6 hours of church! By the end of the day my brain is so fried, ha-ha. 

This week we had a lot of lessons with a lot of new people (Oh yeah, they are called new people now not investigators) which was really nice. But, on Monday while we were at the Sakati house for FHE where we met two of Mama Sakati's nieces (Danai and Lutho) that are now living with them because their mom died. Which is super sad. But out of the blue they just said that they wanted to get Baptized which was super cool so we have started to teach them. But, in that first lesson we had with them while we were talking about the Priesthood, Danai asked if we could give her a priesthood blessing because she had been having a lot of terrible night mares about her mom and stuff. And so, of course we gave her one. It was a really awesome experience because the next time we came she said that that night she had a dream that she was with all of her classmates and she was teaching them the things that we had taught her, and she said she slept super good. And she said that it was an answer to her prayers. Super cool right!?

This week we also had the opportunity to do some service for a lady in our ward.(Sister Deliwe) We painted her house which was a first for me. Elder Allred said that it is a pretty common thing to paint peoples houses as a missionary. But, It was also nice because she fed us afterwards, ha-ha. 

They give us a copy of the Liahona each month so that has been really nice to be able to read whenever I have down time in the Boarding. 

The money actually lasts pretty good. They give us 900 rand twice a month ($63.72). On the 15th and on the 30th. It has also been nice to have a DA almost every night so that definitely helps with the money. Our P-Days are pretty busy. We usually wake up, do our usual morning routine, clean the boarding and then go email at a mall about 15 minutes from the boarding. We also do all our shopping at the mall at a store called Pick n Pay. Then, we will go eat somewhere and then go do something in the area or go play soccer with the kids in our ward. 

But again, thank you for the pictures and thank you for  sending me the family history story. I will have to try and print it off to read it or something. Also, you are the best! Thank you for your support. Sure love ya!

Elder Boyer

Hello Everyone! 


Its been great to hear from everyone! I don't have a lot to share this week but here it is.

So on Saturday we were supposed to have the baptismal interview for Lutho but we got the wrong address for where he was going to be and he wasn't answering his  phone so now hopefully we will be able to have the interview this week and he will still be able to be baptized on the 30th. 

And then Nosipiwo the other person we had on date has not been answering my phone calls or texts and has not been coming to church. We tried stopping by and when we got there the door was wide open but then all of a sudden it was shut really fast and was locked. And when we knocked nobody answered. So that has been kinda weird. 

Now that my companion is gone it has been a little stressful because I am now in charge of the MD 2 area. But it has also been good because it is making me learn faster and I am starting learn the area more. We have also been doing lots of knocking doors because a lot of our lessons fell through. 

(In the following note, Brett answers some questions I asked him)

Hey Mamma! 

Its good to hear from you too!   

Since they want us to walk around more, everyone kinda just stares at us, Ha-Ha!!  And then we start talking a little bit of Xhosa and then they smile and laugh, but sometimes they think we are fluent in Xhosa so they just start talking to us in Xhosa and we have to explain that we only speak a little. Yeah, they have everything for the most part in the grocery stores just different brands

So we live in a place called Cambridge and it is like a 30 minute drive to our area called Mdantsane. Right now, Elder Sovereign is the only one who can drive the car. Elder Allred can't because he got in an accident and they took his driving privileges. But I am going to be taking my driving test with the Zone leaders on Wednesday and then I will be able to drive. 

Yes,  I moved into their boarding when my companion left. I will have to send pictures.

The members here in Mdantsane are awesome they feed us a lot. But, Elder Allred cooks and we do the dishes for dinner. 

LITTLE BOY AT MIJIAS HOUSE

PRETTY SUNSET

A TYPICAL  XHOSA MEAL. MEAT, MORE MEAT, BREAD AND COKE

KIDS PLAYHOUSES

What a HECTIC week!

So, I guess I will start out with the big news. My companion ended up going home and 
so now I am in a tri-panionship with the other Elders that are in my District, 
Elder Soverereign and Elder Allred. Its pretty funny because this is Elder Allred's last 
transfer and he is training two missionaries now ha-ha. 
Also, now that my companion is gone it means that I am leading my Area after being 
here only three weeks. 


This change will also hurt the area a little bit because we will have to cover two areas. 
Also, they want us to start walking again as soon as we have our schedule worked out. 
Which means we will drive into the area and then have to park the car at the 
chapel and then taxi and walk around. I feel like it is going to be pretty difficult to do this 
while covering 2 areas. But we will figure it out. :) 

It was so good to hear about the win for BYU!  Wish I could have watched it ha-ha. 

Spiritual note for the week:
This last Sunday was Stake Conference and it was a really cool experience. 
It was crazy how big of a deal it was for the members here. Me and my companions joined 
the choir which was cool, but the talks were so powerful. This Stake Conference was 
mainly about ministering. And where we can start and why this change actually happened.  
Quick side note, my companion told me that our stake president told him that 
(in like a training he had with Elder Holland), Elder Holland said that if you thought 
the changes that were made last conference were big just wait for this next one. 
Pretty crazy right? But they also said that it is important to minister to your family before 
you minister to others. It is important that your family is strong and unified. 


Sure love you guys,
Elder Boyer

THE NEW THREESOME!

TO MY PEOPLE BACK HOME

Where do I start? Probably one of the coolest things about this week was we put 3 people on date to be baptized and are hoping to put another one on date this week. The first one is Lutho, he is 16 and lives at home with his Mom. He is a really cool kid that is so genuine and has a real desire to do good. The other 2 is a lady named Nosipiwa and her daughter. They have been progressing nicely and have been coming to church the past few weeks. And then we will be putting Mike on date sometime this week. He is a really humble man. one of the things I have noticed while being on mission is that its the people that have been humbled by life that will actually talk to us.

Another thing I have been trying to wrap my head around is that my companion has had some really bad back problems and he might be going home early. This sucks but I know that everything will work itself out. 

Spiritual experience of the week: 

So earlier this week me and my companion gave Brother Mike a blessing because he has been having these epilepsy attacks and hasn't been able to come to church.  It has been amazing because he hasn't had an attack since and was able to come to church this last week. I know that priesthood blessings really do increase our quality of life. And my suggestion to all of you is that if you haven't had a blessing in a while please get one. 

Anyway I love you all, and I'll talk to you next week! :)

I don't have a lot of pictures this week but here they are.

1. Picture one is of my District that I just barely took on our way to the mall to email haha.

(The other tall Elder is Elder Sovereign. The one that Chad and Kristin know from Arizona.)

2. Picture 2 is my companion and I with one of our fellowshippers on our way to one of our investigators. 

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 DSC01955.JPG

So first, my P-days will be on Mondays. And also, like many of you noticed The MTC took all of my, hair ha-ha.  

I guess I will start with leaving the MTC. We had to wake up at 4:30 to leave to the airport. The flight was about 2 hours long to Cape Town. The AP's picked us all up and took us to the mission home where we met President and his wife and then ate lunch. Then they took us to this mountaintop called signal point and I guess its where they take all the missionaries when they first get there. That was pretty cool. We then split up with other missionaries and did some finding.

The next morning we received our first assignment and first areas. My new companion is Elder Shelembe. He is from Johannesburg and goes home in January, so he has been on the mission for a while. My first Are is called Mdantsane. Its a Township outside of East London. It is so different here than it is in America. There are people everywhere on the sides of the road. And there are just these tiny houses everywhere. It's funny because I am literally the only white guy here and so everyone stares at me and all of the kids just yell molungu! which means the white guy in Xosa. That is another thing I have noticed. Everyone speaks Xosa here which is one of the click languages. My Companion knows how to speak it a little so he has started teaching me.

The Members here are amazing! They are so kind and are always feeding us even though it is hard financially for them. They are always giving us referrals for new investigators we could teach. Mission life is not what I expected it to be like. At first, I was just so shocked that I was actually here. I still am haha but I am starting to feel more comfortable and used to my surroundings.

Spiritual Note of the week:

Me and my companion went and visited a less active lady and her family and she told us that she missed the church music. So we told her that we were going to go get one of the families in our ward that lived down the street to come help us sing to her. As we started to sing the Mama began crying and it was such a cool experience. This has been my first experience on my mission where I saw for myself the spirit doing its job and testifying to her.

Man, I love you guys and I'm sorry if I didn't answer all of your questions. If you have more questions email them to me. I am trying to upload all of my pictures to google drive so that you guys can just look at them that way. I will have mom try and share it with all of you.

STARTING OUT WITH SERVICE

MY COMPANION

HAVING FUN WITH THE KIDS

Meeting My New Mission President

We are excited to let you know that Elder Brett James Boyer, has arrived at the South Africa Cape Town. He is in good hands as you can see by the photo. We are thrilled to have him with us. The office is buzzing with excitement to give him his last instruction before sending him to his new zone where he will be serving with his senior companion; who will be training him.  Thank you for sharing him with us.

May you feel all the blessings that God has for us, as he serves God, in South Africa Mission.

With great honor,

Love

Sister Courtright

South Africa Cape Town Mission Office

ON MY WAY TO CAPETOWN ?

THINKING ABOUT LEAVING THE MTC !

MTC BUDDIES  - JOHANNESBURG

IN THE CLASSROOM

QUITE THE HAMBURGER  - THEY FEED US WELL!

TO THE FAM!

First, I just wanted to thank you all for the emails I have been receiving. They have helped me so much

So I guess first I should tell you that you guys won't get an email from me next week because I will be flying out next Tuesday. Also, the MTC has a Facebook page that you should all go follow, it will probably have some pictures of me on there. 

Life in the MTC has been awesome! It is amazing to me how much I have been able to grow spiritually. They have been teaching us so much and filling our heads with so much information. And every day they give us like 20 things to memorize haha. It's kinda like drinking from a fire hose, you get some water but it just mostly hurts your face! haha. 

Spiritual Moment : 

This week the most spiritual moment I had was when me and my companion were visiting with one of our investigators. Me and my companion started teaching and she asked us a question, I can't remember exactly what the question was but I know that my response did not come from me, it came from the Holy Ghost. I am so grateful for the companionship of the Holy Ghost and for all that it does for us.

The first few days in The MTC I was kinda struggling with some anxiety and some homesickness. And I was so sick of feeling the way I felt, so I went to the topical guide and looked under fear. I went through and read all the scriptures that were listed and then prayed and asked Heavenly Father to take away what I was feeling. And at that exact moment, my worries and fears went away, And they haven't come back. I am so grateful for the relationship that we can have with our Heavenly Father. I know that he hears and answers our prayers.

ISAIAH 12:2 This is the scripture that I liked the most when reading about prayer.

The MTC has been crazy, it is exactly like what Kevin said, The days are really long but the weeks fly by. There is supposed to a General Authority coming to talk to us this Thursday. I am not sure who it is but I am really looking forward to it. We are also going to be going out with the Johannesburg missionaries on Friday. So that will be really cool. 

Oh, I also had PAP, which is a South African dish here. It is pretty bland, it looks a lot like mashed potatoes but is hard like pudding. The texture is pretty weird, it will definitely take some getting used to, haha. 

Well, I love you all and I want you to know I am praying for you guys. 

ME AND MY FIRST COMPANION

THIS IS MY HANGOUT!

Hey Mom, 
I ran out of time and I couldn't email everyone, next time I just need to do a group email, haha. 
But will you please tell everyone if they didn't get an email, I'm sorry and I'll write them next week.   Love you!

Hi Mom, 
I was really surprised with the package. I didn't know how you got it to me. Please thank Everyone for writing those letters. You are so right mom the Spirit here is insane. I have been struggling a little with anxiety but I am pushing through. The food here has been good. We haven't eaten anything crazy yet, but it has been good. 

I have been so grateful for all of the examples of the other elders here. I am learning a lot and am constantly overwhelmed with information we need to learn or memorize. There has been lots of memorizing. I have learned so much through teaching actual lessons. 

My flight was about 16 hours and I sat next to Elder Rasband (who yes is related to The Elder Rasband) You'll see my room in the pictures. Mine is the bottom left bunk. My companion is Elder Lawer and He is a good guy. He is from England. It's chilly here in the morning but warms up as the sun comes up. we are in classes learning for about 16 hours a day, and have an hour to exercise at 3:30. I Love you so much.

Elder Boyer

A Small Army of Helaman  -  MTC

Hi Pops, 

I really appreciated the little surprise with all of those letters it was really nice. It really helped me, I have been struggling a little with anxiety and home sickness but I have found so many scriptures to help me through it. Life in the MTC is pretty stressful ha-ha. I am already starting to feel super cooped up because of how small it is here. There is lots of teaching and learning. There is so much I want to learn but I feel like I can't learn it all and it kinda bugs me. The spirit is amazing here dad, Heavenly Father has helped me grow so much in so many ways. Thanks you so much for the thought It is so true. Love ya lots!

Elder Boyer

Hi family!

I just got here to the MTC, its almost 8:30 here, this email is supposed to be brief, but I just wanted to let you all know that I am so grateful for the love that you guys have shown me this past week. I am so grateful to have you guys in my life. I still can't believe that I am here in South Africa. On the way here I traveled with about 13 other Elders so that was pretty cool. I guess about 10 other missionaries didn't get their visas in time so they went to the Provo MTC instead. Anyways you guys are the best I sure love ya, and I guess I'll write you again next Tuesday.

Meeting up at the Atlanta Airport before heading to Johannesburg!

Some wonderful person at the airport text us this priceless picture.  So grateful!

=PRE-MISSION=  

Catching an Uber at L.A. Airport to visit the 

South African Consulate for Visa

JULY 2, 2018