New Transfer

Start of a new transfer. 
Well like I said, elder smith was transferred. So that was pretty crazy saying goodbye to that stud. I was honestly bummed about it, but I know he will be killing it in Cape Town. And with him gone I am able to become even better friends with my companion. Sounds funny, but it's true. We were both way tight with him, so now we are jut turning to each other when we have funny things to say or do. So that is really good. My companionship with Elder Capozzoli is really starting to hit a good stride. I feel like we are both starting to gain an understanding and respect for each other. I have tried in the companionship to be submissive and humble as he has taught me things. I still have a ways to go, but I feel as though that has made a difference. 
I have found that with people, when you take a sincere interest in them, it really makes all the difference. Like my Dad said, "curiosity, is viewed as the most basic form of love." When you are curious about people's lives and who they are and when you show that sincere interest in them, it comes across as a simple form of love or appreciation. It has really helped me over the years develop friendships and as well has made a real difference in working with the people here in South Africa. I don't know or understand their culture yet, but I show them that I view them as an equal and have interest in them and they open up. It's really amazing. 
I'll skip right to the highlight of my week because I just can't wait to tell you all about it. I had my first baptism on mission! Siphinathi got baptized! (I finally learned how to spell his name.) the baptism was amazing. A few days before it happened we asked who he would like to preform the baptism and he asked me. Being the junior companion I assumed that he would ask elder Capozzoli to baptize him, but he asked me! They were a bit late getting there but, we got to the chapel and all got dressed in our whites. All the brethren that were above 18 except for like two people were there. So we had some great support. The ward mission leader spoke on baptism in Xhosa, so I didn't understand any of that, but I felt the spirit so I am sure it was good. Then brother Mbatani spoke on the Holy Ghost. In his talk he told Siphinathi that WHEN he would become a missionary that he would rely on the spirit all day every day. Not IF he became a missionary, but WHEN he would. It just felt so right. The spirit was so strong and Siphinathi is definitely someone I think that will go on a mission. He is a real kingdom builder. 
After the talks we went and got ready to go into the font. I was running through the words like thirty thousand times in my head because I didn't want to mess up when I was saying the words. I showed him how he would hold my arm and how I would baptize him. We went into the brown/yellow water in the font and it was FREEZING cold. We both were feeling quite frosty. When I put him under the water I almost had to shove him down, he was stiff as a board, but he went under and came up super happy. The spirit was just too strong and so noticeable. It was almost a tangible feeling inside of me. It is hard to describe. Siphinathi afterwords thanked me over and over. His older brother Mlondolozi came up and thanked me. He kept saying how my companion and I had made them so happy with the gospel. He said how it was changing their whole life. He kept saying we had saved them. I just reminded him how we just pointed the way that they needed to go and the things they needed to do to be happy, and then they did the hard part, they acted on their faith. It really is amazing. The crazy thing about the baptism was both Siphinathi and Mlondolozi were late to the baptism because they were out trying to find their father. He has been missing for a few days and they couldn't find him. They need the money that he brings home from his job to eat and survive, but they said they know everything will be alright. They still came to the baptism and then church the next day with him missing. After going home they said he finally came home and that it's alright. They are probably a 45-60 minute walk away from the church. Their faith is apparent. Faith, like talmage always said, is an action word. They show their faith by their actions. 
Other than the baptism things have been pretty normal. We visit and teach less active members and recent converts as well as teach and talk to our investigators. We have 8 investigators that are progressing at the moment so that is great. 
The work is moving forward. I feel like I have found my place as the Lords servant here in Africa. It's the greatest feeling. We have a new guy in our district, his name is elder Mchunu. The C makes this weird clicking noise at the front of your mouth, but he is real great. He is from Durban and so ready to be a missionary. Elder Okech is training him, so that is pretty interesting. Mchunu is so prepared. Missionaries in Africa by the time they go out on a mission have already probably gone fellowshipping with the missionaries a good 50-100 times and helped in lessons and all types of missionary stuff. They are so much more prepared than us boys from the states are. 
On Wednesday we planned with a few of the YSA girls in the ward a surprise goodbye party to Luvuyo. Luvuyo has been essential for the work in mdantsane. He has been helping missionaries for a long long time and now is finally on his mission in Ghana. But on Wednesday we took him out fellowshipping (the day before he left) and were helping him say goodbye to a couple of mamas that we teach. Then I made up a story about how his brother texted and asked that I blindfold him and take him to his house so he could have a surprise goodbye present thing. I was like, "yeahh it's just a little present. I don't know why on earth he wants you blindfolded, but lets just do it to make him happy." He said yes then we led him into the house. And took off the blindfold. Almost EVERYONE from the ward was there. Tons of our investigators, less actives and recent converts. A lot of old mamas that he visited. His family and friends. It was great. He was SO happy and SO surprised. It was great to see his face. People got up and talked about Luvuyo and what a difference he has made. My companion talked about how he helped us so much and how he would be a great missionary. It was awesome. Luvuyo was the first member in his family. His dad has had children with like five or six different women and has like 15 kids so he never sees him. His mum and brother aren't members but his little brother Yonella is a member, because of Luvuyo. The guy is powerful and made a huge difference. So the party was a total hit and that was great. We scheduled a lot of appointments too which was good. 
Now, probably because of Luvuyos example, his brother came to church and wants us to teach him. So on Tuesday we are going to meet with him and get him on the road to baptism. His name is Lamla. Then we are going to start teaching his mother next week! Pray for us! This will be such a blessing to Luvuyo and his family. Exciting!!!
I went to the zoo! I saw some of THE coolest animals and things. A lady was holding a monkey behind a glass door. I asked if I could hold it too and she looked around and then said, "okay come behind the building." I asked and we received!! Me and all the missionaries got to hold this baby "blue monkey" I think is what it was called. It was AWESOME. Only eight weeks old but so cute and so fun. I'll send pictures for sure. Then after that we walked around and I saw some lions, but those were all boring and snoozing. An the pictures I got of them had a big old factory in the back so that kind of took away from the whole jungle/African safari feel. BUT I did find some African pigs! Reminded me of the pigs at the ranch. I got some videos of some and everything so that was cool. I also got a couple pictures ill send as well. I thought you'd get a kick out of that dad. Then we went and saw a giraffe that I named Kevin. Ha he was too smooth. We petted him and took a lot of sweet pictures. Yay. 
Mission life is wonderful. Obviously, it is very hard, but I am really starting to enjoy it more and more. We are all just so blessed living in the United States. We can't take for granted all that we have. We have good food, clean streets, less violence, stronger families, more money and just a better life with more opportunities. A lot of peoples goal here is to move to or at least visit the states. We are just too blessed. Keep that in mind. Count your blessings and remember that the Lord is ever mindful of ALL His children.
CTR.
Elder Thayne

This Week...

End. Of. Transfer. 

Well it's crazy! I am done with my first transfer! It all happened so fast! It's weird, it's felt like years since I've been home, but at the same time it feels like I JUST got out here. Time sure flies when you are doing the Lord's work. 

This past week was really pretty fun. On P-day last week we had a soccer tournament! It was just supposed to be our zone but one of the zone leaders had a bunch of buddies he invited to come play. Which was cool, but at the same time it kinda took away from the "zone activity" part. Haha it was supposed to be district vs district but all the other districts supplemented their weak players with some of the natives instead. So competition was fierce. Africans are CONSTANTLY fouling in soccer. I mean, more than terry bailey fouls me when we all play soccer together. And they flop on the ground and call fouls on you all the time. It's really annoying... So things got a bit heated, but it's alright it worked out in the end. 

On Tuesday we went and taught the law of chastity to Mlondolozi and it went perfectly! He understood and saw that if he kept the law of chastity and kept himself clean from sexual relationships outside of marriage then he would be blessed and The Lord would provide a way for him and his girlfriend to be together. Despite labola. His brother and him bore testimony that they want to follow Christ no matter what it takes. 

On Wednesday I went on exchanges with the zone leaders! I was with elder kundu in his area. He is my favorite zone leader for sure. We did two hours of service in an older sisters garden out front. This lady drove by and said she had NEVER seen a white person working in a black persons garden. I told her my family had a farm back home and she was way surprised. After we showered off... Using a bucket. We put on our proselyting clothes and went to work. We visited three investigators and a couple less active members. Not ONE of them spoke a lick of English. They only spoke Xhosa. So my companion and I really relied on our two fellowshippers to teach the lesson and talk to them. One of the fellowshippers names is "Shakes." That's his nickname. I have no idea how to say his real name. He has a bit of a handicap on his chest and back, kind of a hunchback sort of deal, but he just got back from his mission in Kenya and LOVES the gospel and just loves to go out with the missionaries. Such a great guy. He lives in a shack that is about as big as a decent sized room in someone's house. He has dirt floors and its blazing hot. He takes care of his mother and grandmother who just broke her hip. Never complains though. Amazing guy with an amazing testimony. So Wednesday was just a good day full if service and not understanding a word being said. Some people were playin music and we were "supposed" to dance I guess. I was dancing and all the Africans got super excited about a white kid who could dance. After that we went to McDonalds to snarf some food because it had been an extremely hot and long day, once we got there we saw a couple drunk guys fighting and one stabbed the other right in front of us. Some guy who was eating at McDonalds was a MMA fighter or something and way buff. He threw one off to the side and pulled them away from each other. Yeahh that was crazy. Then we all ate food and this lady who worked at mcdonalds walked up to us and asked if we would pray for her and bless her. She had been having awful dreams and felt like the devil was trying to hurt her. Right there we sat her down in a corner and gave her a blessing. So that was super awesome. I really thought that was cool. 

On Thursday, we had our weekly planning which takes like two hours. Then we had a braai (barbecue) and wet out to teach some lessons. It was a good and active day full of teaching which was nice. :] we taught the naka boys the law of tithing and went over the baptismal interview questions with Sipenati so that was great. He is SO ready for baptism. Such a stellar kid. And we taught a new investigator named Quamani. The Q makes a clicking sound, it's pretty cool, but hard to say, I am getting it down though. 

On Friday we had district meeting after our normal studies and then went out to eat at KFC. KFC is basically like McDonald's is back home. Everyone WORSHIPS it here and always goes there. It's weird, I actually like it now. I totally hated it back home. But all we eat out in South Africa is weird food, rice, beans and chicken, so I may as well embrace it. We also played soccer later on after teaching some less active lessons and we had three investigators come to soccer. My team stayed on for quite a while. I've gotten dang good at playing barefoot. You really get a TON better at soccer when you serve a mission in South Africa. You either adapt and become better, or get crushed every time you touch a ball. I love it though, can't wait to come home and play in some leagues. Soccer was sweet, after we were driving home and there was a blockade thing with the cops and they had us all get out and checked the car and everything so that was cool. People were like rioting that night and burning tires on the street and throwing bottles and burning trash at cars and everything, so that kind of tells me why I am supposed to be out of township areas by 7:30. It gets NUTS.

On saturday we had another Braai and gorged on chicken, as usual. Then we went to the area and did some service and went and had Elder Smith, our DL, interviewed Sepinati and he passed for baptism!! So this coming saturday I will have my first baptism of the mission! So exciting! I am so proud of him and his faith is so impressive. After the interview we had time to teach a couple of lessons to some less active members, one of which is bongiwe. I have to say I am amazed that she was ever baptized in the first place. We asked why it is important to have faith in jesus christ and she said, "because jesus helps us pray to God." Yeahh so we have a bit of work and teaching that needs to go on with her. 

On sunday we had every single less active and recent convert we teach at church! And four of our seven investigators came to church as well! The chapel was full! The spirit was so strong. Our ever loyal fellowshipper, Luvuyo, gave his farewell talk! Ahh we are going to miss him so much. He knows the area like the back of his hand and knows every member, less active and investigator that the missionaries have worked with for the past year and a half. He came with us every single day except for maybe two. He is going to be a stellar missionary. I am so excited for him. He is headed to Cape Cost, Ghana. I know he will kill it out there. I am going to miss him a lot. He spoke about putting on the whole armor of God and what that means and how we do that, really was a strong spirit and we had the chapel FULL! So that made it fun and helped him feel support, even though both his parents aren't members and didn't come to watch him speak. We drove around and gave sacrament to about ten people which took over 2 hours to do then we spent around an hour driving around trying to find our dinner appointment, so that was frustrating. But they fed us well and we watched part of 17 miracles as we ate. I still am utterly amazed by the pioneers. Man, I gotta step up my game in my service to the Lord. The work is hard here, but I am loving every moment.

We got a call sunday night and Elder Smith was informed that he will be finishing up a training for another elder who things were really going bad with his "son" meaning the kid he was training. So that was really sad. I love Elder Smith and we really got along well and he helped make the adjustment to missionary life a lot easier for me, but the Lord needs him elsewhere and I feel that the Lord is testing me now to see how I do without having Smith there to be such a support. I am going to have to be enforcing rules and stuff like that more I think, but I am up for the challenge. We still will have Elder Okech in the district (he is our new district leader, and probably the most apostate elder I have met on mission thus far) and then we get the elder who WAS training that kid. His name is Elder Rickets and I heard he really is a tough one to be around. Luckily elder Cap and I still get along, but I know we wont be hanging out with the other guys as much as we did when smith was there.

Life is good, the mission is great and I am one happy son of a gun. Keep the faith and do the little things to keep your testimony ignited. I love you all! Keep in touch!

Love,

Elder Mitchell Ryan Thayne

One for the Books...

Dear Family,

Ahh, this week has been one for the books. We have taught a lot of lessons. Probably three or more lessons a day all week! So that has been nice to really hit the ground running this week and feel like we are really implementing our purpose into our everyday work. Missionary life is definitely something I am becoming more and more accustomed to. I think as well I have found my place with all the Africans here.  Elder Capozzoli has really been great, especially this past week. We are getting to really become good friends which is cool! 

On Monday we emailed and then played soccer all day which basically is our thing out here in Africa. We played some volleyball too, but I jammed my thumb and middle finger the third game in or something, so after that I was pretty sloppy, but I'm all healed up now. Then we just went to a family home evening at the Mhini's home. We had Luvuyo, Sphux and then another girl who's name I cannot remember for the life of me... So hard to figure out how to pronounce and remember these African names. Murderous. We played a game with three cups and three knives. Everyone had to figure out how to get all the knives and cups to hold up a set of scriptures. It's super hard, you gotta really think. Anyways, the three cups were representing the three basics for sustaining and holding up our testimonies. The three basics were scripture reading, praying to Heavenly Father and then going to church every week. It was a good visual lesson which the African people really seem to appreciate. 

On Tuesday we went and taught a lot of less active members and recent converts and then went and visited the Naka family. It is the father with two sons who are all looking into the church. The youngest son, Sepinati, has a baptismal date set for January 25th so we are praying that goes through. He is such a good kid. I say kid, but he is Tal's age (18). We had taught him the word or wisdom. So just how we refrain from substances that are bad for our bodies. We told him the blessings that come from that as well as eating healthy and things such as that. He agreed to live the word of wisdom. The next time we visited, his brother (Mlondolozi) told us how Sepinati told his dad to stop buying "cool drink." Things like soda pop and coke and such. He was trying SO hard to live what we had taught him. We told him its alright to drink cool drink in moderation. He is such a champ, and his faithfulness absolutely blows me away. We taught Mlondolozi about the gospel of Jesus Christ so we used 2nephi 31. Elder Capozzoli invited Mlondolozi to be baptized and he said yes! So now both brothers are progressing towards baptism. 

On Wednesday we had exchanges. I was able to hangout with Elder Smith all day. He is a total stud out here. He reminds me of Brendon Nielson big time. One of my favorite elders out here. He is way cool, but also a hard worker and wants to be a good district leader and missionary. He has been out for fifteen months. Anyways, we taught a couple less active lessons to people, but it was a slower day overall. It is pretty fun though, there is a street where a group of probably ten teenagers hang out all day everyday and every time we drive past and say hi. They love it! Every time they see us driving up they go nuts and come talk to us. They are so funny. They all call me Zach, because I apparently look like Zach Efron. Like three weeks ago I was Justin Bieber to some other people. They obviously just love white people here. 

On Thursday we taught a few lessons to recent converts and then went over to the Naka family's house. We love them. They are such powerful people. Sepinati (the younger brother) is definitely all ready for baptism, so we just taught Mlondolozi the word of wisdom. He came right out and said he smokes and drinks sometimes on weekends, but last week he decided he didn't want to as a New Years resolution. So he gave it to all his friends and he hasn't had any since. So we taught him that and he really wants to try and be completely free from that. I promised him that as he relies on The Lord, he will be sustained and overcome this weakness. We read ether 12:27 and promised him that weak things will be made strong into him. It was pretty special. 

We also visited the three boys that are all getting ready for baptism and one of them, Lihle nyathela, was really sick so we gave him a blessing. I anointed and my companion gave him the blessing. He says he felt better the next day which was great!

But I have to say, being out here and teaching people like Sepinati and Mlondolozi really remind me of what it's all about. They are willing and faithful and working to do what is right. They love God and really want to have the spirit as a constant in their life. Ahh, I swear I almost cried for the first time on my mission in their home. The spirit is always so strong. 

One guy has a girlfriend which complicates things. They have been together for five years. The biggest reason so many people are living together and not being married yet is because it costs so much. Labola is the devil to this country basically. It's a tradition where the man has to pay the family TONS of money to marry their daughter. We are assuming that is the issue with this fellow and his girlfriend. We are going to talk to him and encourage him to marry her because it is a commandment from God and he needs to live the law of chastity. He wants to be baptized really bad, but this will be a tough one. So pray for Him and for inspiration on what we can do to help! Mum and Dad, your advice is appreciated greatly. We are going to talk to the bishop and maybe invite him to bring his wife and come to talk to him with us. We will see though. 

The gospel is great. Family!!!!! You would LOVE the Naka family. All boys. All humble. All wanting to follow God. It's great. We are going to try and help the father progress as well. 

Anyways, it was great because on Friday we had a training with our Zone Leaders and president wood came as well to conduct interviews. The interview was good, he was just checking up on how I am doing. He is so amazing with his knowledge of the scriptures. Ohh my word, I swear he mentions one every five minutes. He is such a cool guy though. After the training, which was about companionship study, we went and got post for the week! I got a few letters and Elder Capozzoli got sent two packages! One from his family and then one from his family and the Oaks family to him AND I. So I got a Christmas package! They were so sweet. They sent so much food and a couple of little toys for presents. It was awesome! 

Then later we taught a few lessons to less active members. One of them was to a sister. She has very little knowledge of the gospel though, so it is hard to teach her, and then on top of that she has a two year old daughter that ruins every lesson. She is constantly having to pause us or have us repeat things or whatever which really kills the flow of the lesson. So it is hard to teach her.  It's alright though, we will figure it out with her eventually, and as long as she learns something it's worth it. 

After teaching on Friday we went to the chapel and played soccer, we had a few investigators there. It was really essential for them to meet more members and to just chill with all of us and have fun. Soccer on friday was literally the cheekiest playing I've ever done though. I decided to just go barefoot on their pitch (field). Which is basically a field of grass with weeds and hills everywhere. Terry and Tal know how bad that discovery park's field was, that had nothing on this, but it's pretty good for a pitch in Africa. Barefoot, African play, is for sure  the way to go for me. With my tennis shoes I just slip everywhere and have a real bad touch on the ball. They were all surprised that a white kid could play and run as fast as them. So fun. Everyone here can play, old guys, young kids, and everyone in between. 

On Saturday it was a slower day than normal, we taught two short lessons and most people we tried to see were out and about because it was the last weekend before school started. So it was a okay day. 

Sunday we had the two Naka boys and like 6 of the less actives that we taught at church! It was so great! None of the other three boys came though which is frustrating, but we will try to get them next week. We took the sacrament to a few older folk after church. I practiced some piano with Luvuyo (because he plays a bit) and then we had a dinner appointment at the Mhini home. It was so good. Minus the potato salad and the beet salad thing. Haha I just ate those first and enjoyed the rest. There were three return missionaries at there house and we all just talked and laughed all night. It was so funny. They talked about how in Africa no one emails so all their white companions would be emailing for like two hours and they were just trying to figure out how to set up their email, but they didn't "want to ask for help or other people would think we were too black. I guess I had to get humbled, because I barely was able to write president by the time the white elders had written half of Utah." Ohh man, we were laughing so hard. Hilarious guys that gave us some cool advice for the mission. 

I told the senior couple elder and sister Boyce that you guys are doing the living Christ challenge and they said they are going to email mum the cards they have for us. It splits it all up and really makes it a ton easier. 

Grayson, whenever I have a day that I don't want to wake up and start my day I remember you when you would wake up super early in the morning just to milk the cow or just to do your homework, that helps out a lot. You're such an awesome example of that. 

Family I love you all and I pray for EACH one of you every single night. I hope all is well and I hope you all are happy. 

Toodles, poodles and I love you all oodles,

Elder Mitchell Ryan Thayne

Crazy Week!

Well it's a new week! Only two more weeks and this transfer is over!! Can't even believe that. Doesn't feel like I have been out that long, apparently I have though. I'll still be with elder capozzoli for another transfer I'm guessing, so we will probably be pretty tight by the end of it all...
Well Happy New Year!! So crazy that it's 2014 now! We were laughing and joking about how we are done with our mission next year now. Still have a long time till that happens though. Which I am alright with. I have a lot more that I want to do before I go home anyways. We were allowed to stay up for the new year so the entire zone came to our flat and we shot off fireworks all night. Some people shot some off in our flat which made quite the mess though. And of course, the next day we had boarding inspection, so we had to clean up everything. We passed with flying colors!! Elder and Sister Boyce (the senior couple) said in the year they have been here they have never seen it so clean. So we were happy about that.
Oh and I forgot to mention, on our drive back to east London from port Elizabeth we stopped in port Alfred and took some sweet pictures! I'll have to for sure send them out to all of you. They were on the beach but NOT in the water so don't stress. It was so nice to take some pictures. I realized how much I miss that!
On New Year's Day we weren't allowed to go to the area because it was too dangerous. Too many drunks and too much violence. So instead of doing that we were able to go to the chapel and do sports! We played soccer indoors for about three hours then the last two hours we just played volleyball. My goodness I sweat so much here in Africa it's embarrassing. Good thing us missionaries really aren't trying to impress anyone, because we didn't look too hot. 
We had a brai New Years night which is basically a barbecue. Cooked up some chicken and I taught the guys in my district how to freestyle rap. We all are going to make a district rap before we leave. It's super fun and requires you to really be quick and witty. 
I had a come to Jesus moment, as they would say in the south, while reading letters from missionary friends and the family. I really am trying to work on aligning my will with Gods. At times it is frustrating to not be baptizing people left and right. Everyone tells you when you come to Africa that it'll happen all the time! But missionary work is hard! Salvation is hard, so why would missionary work which is bringing others the means to attain salvation be easy? I always am wanting to make this huge difference. In doctrine and covenants section 117 verse 13 it says that our sacrifice shall be more sacred than our increase. So obviously it doesn't matter how far we come necessarily, but rather how much we sacrifice and fight to do what is right. I know that we will find a lot of success and we are able even now to touch people's lives, but this is advice for life in general. We will be blessed for what we sacrifice. In Omni 1:26 it says to offer our whole souls as an offering to him. I really take that as we need to give everything we have to The Lord. I know that in my own life sometimes I tend to hold back. I try to offer parts of myself to him, but I never am willing to make that complete offering of all I have to him. I know that when I have let go of my own selfish desires and tried to do what I know God wanted of me I have felt His hand in my life. 
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday the work was slow. Elder Capozzoli was sick and I haven't been feeling too stellar myself. Since my companion was out of commission we haven't be able to do a ton of missionary work. So obviously that us been slightly frustrating, but hey, we are planning on hitting it hard next week. On Friday we played a ton of soccer. I decided to go African style and go barefoot. So yeahh my feet got a bit more banged up than usual but my grip on the ball was much better. Wasn't my best game of soccer, but it was still fun. 
My companion and I bore our testimonies in church on Sunday. We both spoke about working to be better tools in Gods hands and sacrificing for him. So it just worked hand in hand. Kind of cool how the spirit works. Church was really great! Except our investigators went to the early church! We used to have church at 9 but because of the new year it was moved to 11:30. So they went to a different ward, but they showed up AND stayed! So that was real exciting. We set dates for all the boys and for a kid from the Nake family to be baptized on the 18th of January. So we are praying that it all works out. Your prayers are definitely needed. 
After sacrament meeting us missionaries are asked every week to go take the sacrament to people who need it. Generally old bedridden people. They have such amazing faith and such sweet spirits. It usually takes us a good two or more hours to get to everyone because it is about 8 or 9 different individuals and they are spread out all over mdantsane. I love them lots though. After that we just went to a members home and ate some NORMAL food! Hallelujah. It was nice to recognize something besides chicken on my plate. 
Today for p-day we are planning on playing some soccer (of course) then heading to somila mhini's house for FHE with the young single adults. So I'm sure it's going to be a good day. 
I honestly can say I love you all! I miss you all, but I am so happy with what I am doing here in South Africa. I know that Gods hand is constantly in our lives. We just need to be aware of it and keep a lookout for our blessings. 
Keep the faith!
Elder Mitchell Ryan Thayne