A Special Broadcast to Africa and Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy belated birthday to one of my best friends and buddies....my DAD! :)  Well then let me just say HAPPY THANKSGIVING too!!

Yes I got the “thankful fork” and the reason it was so deadly is it made elders tear up as they mentioned about home and the gospel and freedom we have....Yea...the fork was deadly ha. But as I sat at Thanksgiving....I wondered how special of an opportunity I had. We had people from England, America, and all over Africa......Lucky us neh? Mama Herrington is sort of a ma away from home. It's nice. As well as her husband...He....is a good man.

Hey I'm GLAD to hear that Brandi is feeling okay after her accident, but as well, I am sad to hear about the hardships the Plotz family is going through. I wish that they could know I'm thinking and praying for them and wish I could be there to tell them in person.

SOOOOOOOO, this week some fun things happened....haha so they do checks on the road here in RSA and they checked our car so they pulled us over and asked to see my license...Now they were confused because it was a foreign license. I started to explain that you can have this license in this country and legally drive. I started talking to the men in Zulu..... They finally called their office and after a long while they told us we could go. haha I just said thanks and sorry for the inconvenience and left. Haha

 But anyways...the week was nice. We also had Elder Gay, 1st councilor of Primary, Elder Bednar, and President Utchdorf talk to us in a special broadcast to Africa...they talked to us about Ebola and how God is very aware of it. Also they discussed how we need to leave our many traditions that lead us away from God while keeping the ones that follow the gospel. THEY also said no more Lebola (or brideprice) Halleluiah....the problem is the fathers weren't in big attendance...haha Well, I'm grateful they finally said it.

Well I love you all and hope you have a great week! Love,

Elder W. Clay Petrie 

Happy Thanksgiving from South Africa!

So this week we did have a thanksgiving after our meeting for our zone, I think they sent you a message on your email :) It was sweet! Haha Not completely home, but we had EGG NOG!!!!! :) :):)

Last week I was at a game drive where we chased some really big cool animals....;) haha

This week we had a baptism of a very dear brother of mine and he was one of the most prepared people I met with on mission.

Well...Just know that I'm still working and it’s now going on 16 months! I love you and hope you have a great week Love you! :)

Love,

Elder Petrie

The messages below were emailed to me from Sister Herrington of the Durban South Africa Mission. She and her husband are serving in the same mission area that Elder Petrie is right now, and after having their zone conference, got all the elders together and had a Thanksgiving party.

Hello dear families,   Elder Herrington and I want to thank you for preparing and sharing your wonderful sons with the South Africa Durban Mission. They are truly delightful servants, and we love them so much!    We celebrated Thanksgiving early, along with ZTM, Zone Training Meeting.  We had various African animals for place settings. We enjoyed hearing about religious freedom in Uganda, Zimbabwe and Kenya. Then we passed the Thankful Fork, which quickly turned into 'Fear the Fork' because many of them cried a little while speaking. Elder Clayton actually threw it down the minute he started talking :)
Please know that the work of salvation is in good hands here. It is such a privilege to serve, and see it from this perspective. Hope all is well with you and your families. Love, Sister Herrington

Hi Sister Petrie,

Your son is such a riot! Not to mention faithful and Spirit-filled. We really enjoy watching him serve with Elder Mathebula, there is just something special about their companionship. Elder Petrie may have had the best time at our Thanksgiving Zone Conference, as you'll see in the photos :) I promise there is awesome missionary work happening; some elders just know how to make the most of a fun moment. Love this boy! Sister Herrington

My Whole Zulu Name!

Nhlakanipo Ndlovu; Gatcheni boyabenyathi obsonga busombuluke mphongo kazinglwayo Ninabakwa Ndlovuzidlekhaya ngokweswela abelusi zazezeluswa intombi uDemozane ninabakwa khombula amagwala ninabakwa demozane intombazane ninabakwa s'hlangu sihle mthiyane ngokuthiya amaoda emazibukweni ninabakwa mdubisi.......(my whole Zulu name....Yes I have it memorized :P)

 I loved hearing about all those things! (Halloween, Lindsey's baptism, Charlotte's baby blessing, and the Phoenix Temple Open House). 

Sorry I’m writing today… we went on a long hike and ended up being a lot longer than planned. We were all TIRED! I felt like I was gonna die haha I had no food or water left and I was out of energy by the time we hiked back but it turns out that the spirit has more power than the body. Haha. 

So we had a small Halloween party in our boarding and we all dressed up. I dressed as a sangoma, which is a witch doctor, that’s how they really dress (except for the paint on the face. Haha.

So this week we haven’t found many people; just kinda going with the flow here. Anyways….times are good and bad. We have a new Elder in the boarding. Elder Sieverts is cool! I enjoy his company a lot….Well my companion is waiting on me so I’m going to get going. Love you!!! Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Petrie