Elder LaHue

This week flew by!! Missionary work is so awesome. For thanksgiving we ate lunch as a zone, with 18 missionaries total. We had chicken and other food, plus tons of pie! Also, I really enjoy African food. For some reason I like vegetables now. I used to hate them. Anyways, Thanksgiving was a blast. We have a list in our home of what we are thankful for and we write on it each time we walk past it. I think what I am most grateful for now is my family and all of you. Thank you for your love and support. I mean it when I say I wouldn't be here without you. We committed 3 people to baptism this week, all women. Their names are Thandeka, Nati, and Sibongile. The first 2 are planned for  Dec. 11th  and the next is  Dec. 18th . They came to church yesterday and luckily the other missionaries were having a baptism so they were able to watch. They loved it and are anxiously awaiting their turn to be baptized. As missionaries we are thrilled, but we know the work doe...

Hello again! I don't have very much time but I do have pictures and an uplifting message.  A scripture that I really like is in Ecclesiastes 3:1, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose in heaven". Patience is one big thing I would like to work on. There is a time and a place for everything, and we often want it to be now. But Heavenly Father has a specific plan for us, and he will keep us in good hands. It has been a very busy and long week. We teach several lessons a day, and talk to people we see when we don't have lessons. It is very tiring. Luckily, I seem to always have just enough strength to keep going. Right before I want to give up God gives me that extra ounce of energy. Right now, two years seems like an extremely long time. But if I look at it in the eternal scheme of things, it is just a small dot on the road of life. The people here are beyond wonderful. They let you into your homes without eve...

Elder Dos Santos and Elder LaHue in the Rocklands 2 Area I am safe!! This has been the craziest few days of my life. Let me tell you all about it. It took me 3 days to make it to my house. I flew from Salt Lake City to Atlanta. Then I took a 15 hour flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, South Africa. My flight to Durban got delayed so I arrived at the mission home at around  midnight  of my second day traveling. First of all the airports are super sketchy. People walk up to you and follow you around and ask for money. I was scared out of my mind when I first arrived. The city of Durban is huge. Several million people live there! I got there at night so I could see all the lights and it's nothing like what you would expect Africa to look like. Before I left in the morning, my mission president, President Thompson, took me driving. Since they drive on the left side of the road here it was both awesome and scary at the same time. I drove on the freeway as well. I don't...

From Sis Thompson's blog: Our new missionaries meet their companions! Elder LaHue is going to Rocklands. He will travel by bus with a former missionary and they will meet their companions later. Tomorrow we'll hear from Elder LaHue about all of the traveling he's done the past few days. Mama LaHue

Elder LaHue flew to Durban, South Africa on Thursday, November 10th and late Friday, November 11th. Total traveling hours = 26. Here is more info from Sis Thompson's mission blog. Elder LaHue finally arrived after flying approximately 26 hours. His flight from Johannesburg to Durban was delayed by about three hours, which meant our office's Elder Wood made two trips to the airport to pick him up. We are finally glad to have him with us in Durban. President Thompson got to take this Elder driving for the first time on the left side of the road! I admire these young men driving their first day. I got to do the orientation! Welcome Elder! When our grandsons would come to have a sleepover, they would help grandpa make a full breakfast in the morning. We decided to carry over that tradition with the missionaries! President and the Elder's make pancakes, bacon, potatoes, scrambled eggs, and I made buttermilk syrup!  Three of our Elders got a packed bag of food ...

Elder LaHue with Elder and Sister Danley Hello everyone! I'll keep this email brief because I leave for Africa in 2 days  and I'm running around trying to get everything packed and ready. President Russell M. Nelson spoke last Tuesday night at the devotional. It was the first time I've ever seen an apostle in real life so it was a pretty huge deal for me. I have about 3 pages of notes written just from his talk. The biggest point I took away from it was a message of hope and strength. He spoke about the power of missionary work and it made me feel so grateful to be in the MTC. Also, our whole district sung in the MTC choir in front of President Nelson. We sang "Praise to the Man". It was so awesome. This whole week has been a huge blur. All of the days blend together. If I didn't write in my journal, I wouldn't be able to remember anything. We are getting better at teaching, but mostly understanding people. This girl we taught share...

Sisters Stewart & Darrington, Elders LaHue & Phelps Hi everyone! I made it through my first week at the MTC!! It has definitely been an up and down experience. The flight up here was awful because I was super stressed and not used to wearing a white shirt and tie 24/7. As soon as I arrived here I walked into the front entrance and instantly felt peace and security. We immediately jumped into orientation and there was no time to pack our bags. We are constantly moving, either in classes or going to eat in the cafeteria. The meals are too close together in my opinion and they hurt my stomach. The classes are awesome. We are learning how to teach people and communicate well and let them know we love and care about them. It is really hard, however, and takes tons of practice. And we are ALWAYS tired. We wake up at 6 and go to bed at  10:30  and there is never time to stop and rest. The only time we get a real break besides bathroom breaks is an hour of exerc...