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Personal Narrative: Chapter Twenty-Seven

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Chapter Twenty-Seven
At times, I can be very composed. Other times I can be the fool that I am. When I entered the airport from the plane ride from London, I started freaking out! I was in Africa, but still surrounded by White people and I could not understand their English! Luckily, Elders Reese and Spillane met us at the airport and calmed me down. They told me that the language that those people spoke was Afrikaans. Initially it sounded to me like English that I did not understand, but as I heard it more I became used to it. The thing that I wanted to do most was use the French I know to speak to someone about the gospel and I got the chance! I saw this Black guy who spoke French, who helped load our kombi or van with luggage. I testified …show more content…

The answer is no and you should accept that. I do not want to give it to you is all you need to know.”
Elder Danisa explained to us that we, us men, were not women for him to be considerate of our feelings or have to explain things to us. Men just had to accept his treatment. I, being the feminist that I was, could not understand why he would not treat both sexes equally—equally nice! My time with Elder Danisa helped me learn to be less of a feminist. I would learn from him that you DEFINITELY treat women differently than men. And, you ALWAYS treat them better! He always modeled that behavior. He also had the deepest impact on my life as a missionary because I respected so much of what he said.
We served together in Umtata with our companions Elder Thompson for me and as I mentioned, Elder Streadbeck for him. Umtata is a small city in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. It is not a tourist attraction other than it is near where President Mandela was born and reared, his birth city. The culture of the city is predominantly Xhosa as it stands with extremely heavy European influences as Europeans established it in 1869. We lived on the sloping Sakwe Street in an unpainted house. We stood out because we were four young men living in the house. Two of us where White. White people lived in Umtata, but not in our

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