No Email but Big News!!!

 So, we got to talk to Caleb on Christmas Eve...his Christmas morning.

We had a feeling he might be transferred and drumroll....

he has crossed the border into South Africa and will be serving 

in a town called Ladysmith. It is 4 hours northwest of Durban and it is the one area in Caleb's

mission where they get snow, but alas...it's summertime right now so

he probably won't see any snow while he's there! It is a town so much larger

than the township he's been serving in. 

He's been in his area in Eswatini (can't remember the name other than it starts with an L)

for 20 weeks! (This past week was mostly spent in Durban).

He was sad to leave. They actually have 14 baptisms scheduled for this Sunday,

but he won't get to witness those. But, he is excited that they'll all be making 

covenants with their Heavenly Father. He also is excited that two more areas 

are opening up in Eswatini. The work is on fire there! 

He's going to miss it, but is excited for the opportunity to serve those in Ladysmith.  

His new companion is Elder Jaumo from Madagascar. 

For most of this week, Caleb and all of the missionaries throughout the mission

 have been in Durban celebrating Christmas.

Basically, people celebrate there by drinking, so I think the mission president

new not a lot of work would get done, 

and I think it also helped keep the missionaries safe.  

Here are some pictures from this week:

                    One of the last photos with some youth from his area in Eswatini. 

            Caleb earned this coin a few months ago, so was excited to receive it once in Durban. 

                   Gathering at a church near the mission home for Christmas activities.

         Not Caleb, but this is the boarding where they stayed while in Durban for the holidays. 

                Our friend, Linda Wilson, sent this to me earlier in the week.

                     Linda and her husband are serving in Johannesburg, 

but they met the Princes in the MTC

                      and they are serving in Durban. They found Caleb and got this picture with him.  

  

Baking, Baking, and More Baking!

Nothing more frustrating than having baptisms lined up and then 

you can't go through with them because of water issues!!!

Hopefully things will work out this week! 

Also, Caleb titled his email "Baking, baking, and more baking" and then

he didn't mention what he baked!!! I guess he figured the title covered it. 

I honestly can't remember what he told 

me he baked, but I do remember what he wants to bake but isn't able to!

Pumpkin roll!!! Chris bakes pumpkin roll each Christmas and Caleb really wants to,

but alas, it's summer in South Africa so no pumpkins. Apparently, they don't 

have canned pumpkin where he's at. He goes to Durban next week to celebrate with his mission,

so he's hoping he can maybe find some there! 

Transfers happen on Monday and he thinks he will probably be transferred, although

he'd like to stay where he's at. That kind of surprised me because he sometimes gets

bored on p-day (hence all the baking). He loves the people and the elders 

he's had the opportunity 

to serve with in his district. We'll see what next week brings!

Here is his email from this week along with a single picture he took: 

Hello! I hope everyone is doing well! And hopefully having a great festive season. I have to admit its hard to feel the Christmas spirit when its 88° and i can't listen to Christmas music or hang lights in our boarding. My one place of Christmas is a store that we get our groceries from, its got the lights, the trees, the music, feels just like home

This week we had planned for some of our friends to be baptized, but unfortunately the faucet used to fill the font just stopped working so they will have to wait for another day. 

We also went to a Christmas party today put on by our Missionary couples here in eswatini! They are super awesome and made Navajo tacos for us which was wonderful because taco seasoning doesn't exist here. Sister Burrell (pronounced burr- ell not burl) had brought taco seasoning from the US which makes me wish that I had done that 

Not much else to report on. I hope we all can remember the reason for the Christmas season and what truly makes it special.

Love,

 

Elder Roskelley

 

 

Summer Rains!

 

 Caleb did not email last week, but we were excited to hear that his friend, Mel, 

had been baptized. He's been working hard so he could make 

covenants with Heavenly Father, and Caleb said Mel is doing great!

No baptisms this week, but there are some on date for this Sunday. 

Transfers will take place on the 20th. All of the missionaries throughout the 

mission will meet in Durban that day and spend the holidays there.

A senior couple purchased the old mission home which allows space for

the missionaries to stay. Caleb is looking forward to seeing 

the Elders who were in his MTC district. He's in a very rural area,

so doesn't get to see to many missionaries. I have a feeling he may be 

transferred this time, but we'll see. 

He is doing great, although he does say that the summer rains impede the work a bit.

Most people just like to stay home and sleep during them, 

so no one wants to really have the missionaries come visit them,

but the work continues to move forward.

Here's his latest email along with a few pictures: 

Hello Everyone! I hope you are all doing well! This week not much happened, although its starting to feel slightly like Christmas, stores have lights and play Christmas music but other than that, its hot and sometimes rains, which isn't exactly Christmas weather to me but the work is going well!

Fun fact for this week since i don't have much to report on. In South Africa and Eswatini, gogo refers to a grandmother, however its also used to address elderly women. Its quite different than in the USA because here you often say "hello gogo, how are you" just to every random woman you meet on the street, but in the USA I could never imagine just speaking to a random woman and saying, "hello grandma, how are you". Its kinda weird but it feels natural after a little while.

Today, as in today today, when you get this email, I got visited by some Korean woman who are missionaries for their church which is based in Manzini (which is 2 hours away) and they shared a short gospel message about how through adam we all fall short of the glory of God but through Jesus Christ we can go to heaven.

And I'd love to add to their message, truly we all do fall short of the glory of God, this is what we're taught in Romans 3:23, and surely by life experience we learn this. But later in the same book of the New Testemant, we learn that even though we fall short of God's glory, God never stops loving us (Romans 8:38-39) and we see this love through Christ's infinite atonement where we are shown grace in our shortcomings, and given comfort in our struggles. I have a testimony of the love of God and His plan for us, that we can return to heaven and dwell with God

Love,

Elder Roskelley

 

                                                       Picture from Mel's baptism last week. 

 

                     

                           Not sure why they're all in red t-shirts, but this is a pic with the two

                                 Korean missionaries from another faith. They all look happy! 

 

 

 Caleb and his girlfriend, Kaelie, love to bake together.

He decided to make brownies using her recipe.

He seems to cook and bake a lot on p-day! 

Not a lot to do in the area he's serving in.