May 22nd
"We had a few events this week one of which was zone conference. It was good and we talked about how we can increase the spirit of the mission in rescuing the one, the doctrine of Christ and the fundamentals of missionary work. One of the missionaries giving a teaching segment passed out in the middle of his speech. it was quite the moment, after that the meeting just kind of lost focus.
We also had the amazing opportunity to learn from Elder Rasband of the quorum of the twelve apostles. He was in Durban for a priesthood leadership meeting and was able to spare two hours for the missionaries. Unfortunately I was not able to see him in person because of the distance but we were able to watch via satellite. It was awesome! He gave some great advice as he answered different questions posed by the missionaries in the audience. He taught about how we can be more unified with Christ and how we have given our word that we would do his work. We all have signed up voluntarily and signed an agreement that we will do what He would want. He also spoke about becoming excellent finders, how we need to find more people to teach and find them in every situation.
I got to go on Exchanges to Kimberley, the area where I started my mission. I had this great idea of going to the house of the very first person I taught on my mission, the man never really progressed and I thought how great would it be if we were to try, two years later and he was prepared. Well we went to the door, I am glad I remembered where it was after so long, knocked on the door and his wife answered. we began talking (it was a bit awkward) and they were not interested.... haha oh well, such is mission, it was worth a shot though"
"We had a great opportunity to teach one of our investigators named Thlompho, I am positive none of you pronounced that correctly.... its okay) We were planing on talking more about the Book of Mormon, but she didn't read the introduction that we left with her. We began talking when she brought up some questions that she has long had on her mind. Questions about, why bad things happen to good people. What if I do something that I know is wrong but for some reason I just keep doing it? and a few more great questions. We very quickly changed our lesson plan and began to talk and testify to her about Gods plan for us, the gift of agency, the gift of repentance and much more. it was a wonderful experience and we were able to find so much love for her as she sincerely sought for guidance.
Sister Humble is doing great! She has been nothing but power since her baptism and continues to ask amazing questions that come to her mind and also from the book of Mormon. We are currently teaching two of her friends that she has introduced us to and we love seeing them as well. She will be going home to Pretoria soon and I am hopeful that she will be able to go to the temple while she is there. She has become a dear friend of mine whom I will never forget!
Mission is great, you come across people from all sorts of walks of life. Different cultures, backgrounds, beliefs, likes and more. The gospel brings us all together. Who would have though two years ago that some of my favorite people in the entire world would be in South Africa!? It is amazing to feel such love for people as you try your best to serve them as the Savior would. it is amazing to see peoples spirit and life change as they come to live the teaching of Jesus Christ. It is amazing to be a missionary each day!"
May 29th
"Not going to lie, emailing is getting tough haha I am ready to not have to recap my week in an email anymore.
In all it was a good week though. We got two new investigators this week who we met on campus. We met them while we were walking through our area, we saw two sisters caring some groceries and milk so I asked if we could carry it for them. they allowed us and then we began talking. They eventually asked the question of dreams! Who are you guys? why are you here? It is nice when we get someone to ask us those questions because then they are more interested in listening to our response rather than us just approaching them with an agenda to say who we are. We explained we were missionaries and talked about Jesus Christ for a little bit. unfortunately we met the end our our road and split paths. we gave them a pamphlet to read about the restoration. When we met them this week they had some great questions about the book of Mormon and where it came from, how Joseph smith got the plates and who the Nephite were! It was grand, the only problem was that we were sitting on a park bench the cold south African air. I know, you probably think that sounds weird. cold air in Africa. but let me tell ya, it was probably 17 degrees while we were sitting there!!! okay 17 degrees Celsius but still. it was cold....
Some of the students are going home now, and by the end of the week most will be gone. They are ending school for a month for the winter holiday. It means that our whole teaching pool except for a few people will be gone.... Oh well, just means we will get a lot of time to knock on peoples gates!
We went to visit Mme Violet this week, when we got their her neighbor was also their. She is about 40 yrs old, has three children and one on the way. We spent some time getting to know them while drinking our Herbal tea and bran muffins... it was really nice. We then started answering Mme Violet's friend's questions. We explained who missionaries are, what we do and a brief summery of the restored gospel. The Mme then asked us how people take us, because we are so young and they are much older than us. I turned the question to Mme violet and asked her, how was your perspective of the missionaries changed from two young boys walking the streets to what you see today. She then bore a powerful testimony of missionaries being Heaven sent, selfless and full of service and love. She bore testimony of the book of Mormon, she bore testimony of the restored and true church of Jesus Christ. The awesome part is that she knows all this but has never come to church. because of financial circumstances she has not been able to attend and also she recently had a baby and couldn't go out. She reads the book of Mormon whenever she cant sleep and continues to increase in faith and love for our savior Jesus Christ.
The days keep seeming to fly by, I thought they would slow down on this last stretch but I have been anything but wrong with that assumption. time doesn't care and I am trying to use every bit of it I can while I still have it. being a missionary is the most incredible thing and I love it so much!"
June 5th
"We had another great lesson with mme violet! We reviewed the restoration and talked more about what "apostasy" means (if you have any questions, please contact your local missionaries for more help ;) ) She continues to read the book of Mormon and is excited to come to church.
This week we were able to have stake conference and it was awesome. The mission President and his wife came down and spoke in both sessions. Whenever President Thompson speaks he invites the spirit and I learn so much! After the conference we had a little zone conference and he taught us more as we discussed the recent visit from Elder Rasband and how we can be 100% missionaries and strictly obedient! It was a really nice meeting and I learned a lot from it.
One thing that I liked from stake conference and I have heard it before but this time it stood out to me was a quote from Alice in wonderland. When Alice comes to a point where the road forks she meets a cat. She asks the cat which path she should take, the cat replies, well that depends on where you want to go. If you do not know where you want to go, then it does not matter. I just started thinking about how important having a plan and destination really is. If we do not have any plans then our choices become unguided and meaningless. With clear direction and focus, our choice have great impact and can determine if we get to where we want to go. Our ultimate destination should be to return to be with our Father in Heaven. Having that as our goal, every choice we make is influenced. without purpose our choices are irrelevant.
We were able to have a ton of investigators come to the stake conference as well which was amazing! I think we had 7 there!!!!
Elder Benissan and I had the privilege to sit down with the Porters, the senior couple here in Bloem, and talk about our mission and what we have learned and experience over the past two years. It was weird to be talking about my mission in terms of two years. It doesn't feel real at all that I will be home next week. It was a nice meeting though to sit and talk about the blessings of missionary service and the testimonies that have grown from it."
Only one more email that we'll ever have to write each other, and then he is coming home!!! It hasn't quite sunk in yet, so when I get around to posting his last email I'll talk about it some more. But for now... T-5days!!!!
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