Details???

 

Dear Family,

        I am safe.  And yes, I was in Bethlehem (editor’s note: see explanation about “Bethlehem” at the bottom of this letter).  Last weekend we traveled very far for a zone conference, which was miraculously amazing.  Bloemfontein is maybe a 5-hour drive west.  Our zone is the Lesotho zone and probably takes 4 hours in itself to drive across.  The Mission Areas are very big out here.  Today is Monday (March 19, 2012), our P-Day (preparation day).  I bought food today so I can eat :), but who cares about that. I think the Lord says something like “thou shalt take neither post nor script, nor raiment nor extra clothes” . . . or something.

        Elder Ncube and I are both kinda new to our area so we have just been finding people.  It is amazing to realize at the end of the day that the spirit helped us to find 4 or 5 new investigators.  We are helping them to explore the truths of the gospel. The branch is small here, but it is strong. There are only about 60 members.  We have been focusing our efforts to find families who want to hear the gospel.  It is a hard task, but I would be more worried if it wasn’t hard.

        Often I find myself on my knees seeking strength. The Lord is supporting my companion and me in turning our hearts to the people. When we wake up every morning we commit ourselves to the work - remembering who we are and what our purpose is here as missionaries.  The mission rules are “straight and narrow” and sometimes it feels like we are on a fine line when we follow them.  But when you’re on that line and committed, it doesn’t feel fine (small). It feels like you have the world under your feet.

        In being walking missionaries we meet a lot of drunk people.  Also, just getting ready for the day we get mugged. Trying to be alert :p.  I miss you guys but doing my best to not dwell.  I wish you guys could be here.  Ohhh, the area I’m staying in is very mountainous and it snows here in the winter!!  It’s Fall now since we are in the Southern Hemisphere.  Good thing I brought almost all short sleeved shirts :p.  I’ll need to get a coat soon.

        You can tell Sandi that I’m burning through the journal she gave me.  I write in it almost every day.  I am so glad to be recording these experiences.  They will help many others in the future.

        Dad!! I found a Dutch Oven this morning!!!!  It’s a little smaller than ours but it will do. I am re-seasoning it today (see, I did remember how to do something).  Maybe you could send some recipes.  Mom, I was hoping maybe you could send me the recipe for the shortbread cookies, and maybe some other things that would be easy to cook.  Oh yah, I’ve been teaching myself to cook.  It’s way fun.  Also, our house has about 50 “members” living in it.  Mice everywhere!  I killed 6 the other night just by myself.

        I don’t know if I told you about the funeral we went to last week, but it was way cool.  The Africans sing like nobody’s business, all in harmony and unison. Because we’re missionaries, we were treated really well at the funeral.  It was quite the honor.  Well, maybe I’ll tell you more later.

I love you, I love you, I love you <3<3<3

Elder Gold

A Footnote From Mom:

        If the above letter is a bit confusing, you are not alone.  Editing can be a challenge, and this week was particularly a challenge.  Some confusion came when we read in one paragraph that there are 60 members in the ward (members refer to the church congregation in Mormon lingo), then in the next paragraph Landon states that, “. . . our house has about 50 members living in it.”  For a slow reader, such as myself, my brow furrowed on many an occasion as I read through this letter, only to be explained as I continued to read, except for . . . “just getting ready for the day we get mugged.  Trying to be alert :p.” That one will hopefully be explained in following emails, but for now we are all left hanging.            
        So, as parents trying to sift through the goings on of our son on the other side of the world we are living a lot on faith as well.  Faith followed with a bit of humor does help.  The journal entry below gives another glimpse into our daily life in trying to follow the “Errand of an Angel” one step at a time.

March 16, 2012       “Your Son Was in Bethlehem Yesterday.”

Being new to having an Elder on the other side of the world I am not sure how things work with splits and such.  This morning I woke up to Steve making this non-shillaunt statement, "Your son was in Bethlehem yesterday."  "What?"  It took me a few seconds, as I shook my mind out of its sleep mode, to realize that he didn't mean the Holy Land, but rather a town in South Africa.  As he continued to peck away on his laptop he briefly added, "Yeah, according to Google maps it's about 50 miles away from where he currently is living.  I wonder if he was on splits yesterday?"  Steve then told me that he came about this little glimpse into the footsteps of Landon through a miraculous tracking device; his ATM card.  Really?  The gears of my mind started to turn vigorously, creating many different scenarios just why our son, or possibly someone else pretending to be Elder Gold  would be so far away from his walking mission using his card as credit to pay $34 for groceries from Pick-n-Pay.  Do the elders go that far to pair up with other elders on splits?  Why would he buy groceries so far from home?  Maybe we have him living in the wrong town.  No, that can't be the case.  What if . . . he has been robbed and someone is using his card now.  Well, if that is the case and groceries were their first purchase then, they must be really hungry.  I can't help but to go back to the letter we received from him a few days ago that stated just how poor the people are.  He said, "There is no food."  Wow, since I read that my actions have become very scrutinized; a self-metering of sorts.  I cringe when I think that, almost daily, I put scraps down the sink disposal that could feed a person for an entire week, not to mention the enormous amount of food that sits in the pantry as I live a life on this side of the world that now appears to be obscenely overabundant.  So, back to the mystery of the ATM transaction, should we just watch its use for a while to try to determine if our son is the one using it?  And if we feel that others may be benefiting from its bounty just when do we stop feeding them?  I know there are better ways to feed the masses, but this mystery really has started my day in wonder.  I wonder if or when the mission home should get an email regarding this question, "Do our elders travel far from where they live? And if so,  how often and for what reasons?"  The last thing I want to be is an over concerned parent.  I realize that makes the Presidents jobs of both the MTC and the Mission Homes more difficult.  I am just stepping into this role for the first time and wish only to step back as far as is needed.  After all, the love and care for my boy will never stop no matter how far from home he roams.  Steve later informed me that it was OK to just wait and track things.  He comes from a world of greater understanding, having had served his mission in a third world country.  So, I’ll just patiently wait, and wait . . . And wait!

Steve’s Findings on Landon’s Where-Abouts:

        I did some research about townships, and the place where he lives. I think that a Township is like an Indian reservation – at least it was during Apartheid.  Poor,  “non-white” people were moved out of the cities, into Townships to keep them separate from the whites.  It’s changed slightly now – but according to the stats I read, Landon’s township is about 99% black and very poor. The region he is in is called QwaQwa which means “whiter than white” and refers to some local mountain ranges that are very white. One reference says the whiteness is due to frequent snow… (???) Elevation in his town is 5400 feet. He’s at about the same relative latitude as us (distance from the equator) so temperatures should be similar and nearby mountains could easily have snow.

        He lives in a city called Phuthaditjhaba, which had a population of 53,000 in 2001. …  (click here for census data… there were 39 white people living in this town at the time . . . ;-) http://census.adrianfrith.com/place/41512

        And, they do have a regional hospital there, so I suspect Landon will get to know the staff as he continues on his frequent visits to the emergency room . . . as a patient.