Real Quick...

So my mass email was way late... I know. Sorry about that. We usually are doing the emailing thing on Mondays, but because of issues with the network at our internet shop we weren't able to finish our emails and send stuff out. So we came back today to send them all off for you guys.

Things for me are going really well. I am just trying to work hard and stay focused. The past couple weeks I have felt a lack of focus and drive. I am not really sure what it is, but it's something I haven't felt for most of my mission, so it's a weird feeling. I am wanting to stay on top of it and continue to stay productive all hours of the day. So any suggestions? Anything with videos or talks that you think would help give me a bit of a boost? No worries, I really am doing well. I just could use a bit of inspiration if you know what I mean. :]

I met a guy named Elder Mitchell Best. Him and I used to sms back and forth when we were both home. We found out through facebook, that we were going to the same mission. Some friends connected us. Anyways he was all cool and supportive of me as I was wanting to go but kept getting delayed. He actually is a way cool guy. I saw him once at the mission home when I first arrived, but on P-day we were able to play soccer and really have fun and get to know each other. Just a random side note.

I loved getting all the pictures and hearing about how Tal is getting a new apartment and stuff.. it looks DANG nice. I am jealous! Brendon actually just told me he is getting sent home 3 weeks early. So that's weird. He come's home Oct. 7th. Can you believe he is already almost done?! Ahh so weird. Anyways, time just flies. I am on my fifth companion. It's weird how used you get to constantly living with and being with someone... I really love people, but I don't think two humans are supposed to be within sight and sound of each other 24/7. My comp and I get along real well, but this is just a general observation.

Life is good. Mom I know sister pat loves talking to you so much! She is such a sweet lady.

Love you guys! talk to you next week! If you could print out some talks and send them to me in the mail that would be glorious.

Ohh and Dad, HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY!

Too Early.

Okay, I know I am not TOO early with writing you guys, but I am trying! Sorry for the lack of new details in my mass letter, but not too much happened after Elder Bohn and I had our exchange. Things are good here though. I am just really tired. Haha Elder Mashigo is too tired to be in this area. I hope that next transfer I get a new companion who can come and work extremely hard with me. Mashigo has just been here for too long, you know? He is just tired and too comfortable. 

People lately have been frustrated with us as missionaries. Apparently we aren't visiting them and hanging out with them as much as they used to, so they feel like we aren't focusing on them enough. I almost started laughing when someone came up to us and said that. I mean, our purpose is not to come here and help members feel loved and important. We are here to invite others to come unto Christ. We are here to strengthen and support the ward by bringing lost sheep back and helping others come into the fold. So it makes me laugh almost when people complain they aren't getting enough attention. I am not here to make friends, I am here to save souls. Making friends is just a bonus, it's not my purpose.

Well I am excited for you guys to be able to go out on Trek! I know Grayson will have SO much fun! Tell Dallin hi for me! I hope he is doing well. I love that guy so much. He has always been such a good guy and such a great friend to Talmage. I will forever respect and love him for that. True friends are hard to come by these days.

This week is the fourth of July! I am going to miss the fireworks and happy times. Independence day is second only to Christmas. I love it so much. Maybe we will have a braai or something. I know on thursday we are going to Panorotties which is an all you can eat pizza place! That'll be fun!

Alrighty, well we are going to go to the nike factory and look at stuff then probably go play some volleyball. Hurrahh for SACTM!  (South Africa Cape Town Mission)

:Love you guys!

Elder Thayne

#eleven‏

Things here in Khayelitsha/Mandalay are going extremely well. I really can't complain. I know I say that every time, but it's the truth... every time. 
We had a really weird week this week because of all the different errands and things we had to run. I had to go to the docters office and get x-rays and different things to get me cleared to re-apply for my Visa to stay in the country. Because my visa expires 7 months early! Kind of crazy, but I think since we caught it early it'll work out and be fine. 
This week is President Wood's last week! We are getting President Merrill here on Wednesday I believe! I am so excited to see how he changes things. Our mission has gotten a bit lax on things, and I am eager to see if Merrill will come in here and whip us into shape.
I went on exchanges with Elder Bohn, and it was awesome. We taught our first lesson to a guy that I have been working with for a bit to a guy named Mveleli. He is a great guy. A total church goer and really is always willing to listen to our message. The real issue is the fact that he doesn't seem to understand that our church is the ONLY church with the Authority from God. Meaning, the Priesthood. We taught him the plan of salvation. We answered all his questions and did a good job teaching, the issue was the spirit for some reason was NOT in the lesson. Elder Bohn and I are both good teachers, but we realize that without the spirit we pretty much fail. There wasn't power and authority with us as we taught. Yeahh, we answer questions and taught principals, but the true teacher, for some reason, wasn't there. It really just reminded me how ESSENTIAL it is to have the spirit with you teaching in the lesson.
We then went and taught Happiness the Plan of Salvation as well only to have his cousin walk in and join in the lesson. They both felt the spirit SO much and his cousin Cuma, asked for us to come see him later today! So that will be awesome.
We then went and found that two of our appointments had dropped, so we biked to brother Gcina's to go with him and follow up on some people he wanted us to teach. Basically all of them didn't work out except for a lady named Sibongile. After we told her our purpose and set a time to come see her this weekend we walked out, only to have Gcina then tell us that she was a lesbian, and she has a girlfriend... So yeahh, that kinda puts a kink in our plans, but he said she really has a desire to grow close to God, so hopefully this can help her change.
Continuing on with all the awesome things that were going on for me and Elder Bohn..... We then went and taught a non member father led family. The Mgise family. They are ULTRA united and really big leaders in their church. We taught the restoration. The spirit was so apparent and we taught extremely well. It was just a stellar lesson. Elder Bohn was whipping out scriptures while I was testifying, expounding and teaching. Bohn just knows his scriptures.. we would have been in the same transfer if I had gone out in March when I originally was supposed to... but who cares!? I am here now, I wouldn't have it any other way. Too many wonderful things happened when I was at home and now that I am here. It's been perfect. So yeahh, teaching was awesome. The issue was at the end of teaching the lesson to this guy I invited him to pray and come to know for himself if what we taught was true... he said that he will study and wait for God to reveal it to him... DAHHHH FAIL!!! We kept telling him he needs to pray to receive his answer... he wouldn't budge though. So frustrating. Over time he will hopefully progress.
Then we went and went over the baptismal interview questions with Florence Ncube. She needs to be refreshed on a few things, but I have no worries. She has the spirit of conversion, she loves church, she will continue to learn and do great! We decided that she needs to wait a bit though.. So in a while she will be baptized along with all the other people we are teaching. So I will not have had a baptism this transfer, but next transfer will be when we are really harvesting the fruits of our labors.
Elder Bohn and I then rode our bikes to the chapel, which is just a business complex building that is being rented out, and did hands up stands up competitions with the youth that were there for mutual. Then I was doing my karate kicks while elder bohn was doing the windmill, it was pretty sweet! Haha then we shared a scriptures with all of them and got picked up by Elder Mashigo and Elder Olsen. We had a quick mcdonalds run (second time this transfer, be proud of me) and then we went home and crashed. It was a good missionary day. We usually teach five or more lessons a day. And we did that, so it was a good day. Elder Bohn is a great guy and I learned a lot from him. I cannot wait to be that knowledgeable towards the end of my mission. Elder Bohn and I are FOR SURE hanging out when we are both home and going to BYU.
Other than the exchange with Elder Bohn, it has been a slow week for missionary work. We taught a few other lessons and some good things happened. One lesson was with ANOTHER father-led family named the Daniels. The father, Anthony, is a really great guy. He asked us to come back every day if possible. We decided on just twice a week, because that is all the time we can afford with all the people we need to see! He told us he is emptying his cup of everything he knows and he wants us to fill it with new knowledge and he wants it to completely change him and his family. he wants to come to church EVERY week! it's amazing. Brother Gcina just had a feeling we should try to teach him, and it really resulted in something great.
Also, real quick, we had eleven investigators at church. I think that may be an all-time record for me so far on mission. But if all goes well, next week we should have more like 15-20 at church. PRAY FOR US! 
We also met an awesome girl named Esam. She is so bright and happy. She is twenty five years old, blind in one eye, but a real go-getter. We taught her half the restoration on saturday, and she came to church on Sunday. So I think that is just another great person.
Also we had two guys last week (Zolani and Vuyusile) ask us when they can be baptized. They want to give up anything and everything they need to in order to be baptized... things are all coming together. It's awesome.
Anyways, I have to go. I love you all. Matt 11:28-30 is a scripture I just put to memory. I made a goal to memorize a scripture a week until the end of my mission. So wish me luck with that!
Cheers,
Elder Mitchell Ryan Thayne
Just some pictures of Elder Prisbry and I. He is a guy in the same transfer as me. We are way tight. He is an awesome guy. Then there is a picture of us with Charlotte who is a member while we were all eating at a braai.

Hey peeps‏

Hello to all my favorite people!

So things on this side are going well. Basically not too much has happened since I wrote you guys like two days ago, but I still have some things to say.

I went on exchanges with Elder Bohn, and it was awesome. We taught our first lesson to a guy that I have been working with for a bit to a guy named Mveleli. He is a great guy. A total church goer and really is always willing to listen to our message. The real issue is the fact that he doesn't seem to understand that our church is the ONLY church with the Authority from God. Meaning, the Priesthood. We taught him the plan of salvation. We answered all his questions and did a good job teaching, the issue was the spirit for some reason was NOT in the lesson. Elder Bohn and I are both good teachers, but we realize that without the spirit we pretty much fail. There wasn't power and authority with us as we taught. Yeahh, we answer questions and taught principals, but the true teacher, for some reason, wasn't there. It really just reminded me how ESSENTIAL it is to have the spirit with you teaching in the lesson.

We then went and taught Happiness the Plan of Salvation as well only to have his cousin walk in and join in the lesson. They both felt the spirit SO much and his cousin Cuma, asked for us to come see him later today! So that will be awesome.

We then went and found that two of our appointments had dropped, so we biked to brother Gcina's to go with him and follow up on some people he wanted us to teach. Basically all of them didn't work out except for a lady named Sibongile. After we told her our purpose and set a time to come see her this weekend we walked out, only to have Gcina then tell us that she was a lesbian, and she has a girlfriend... So yeahh, that kinda puts a kink in our plans, but he said she really has a desire to grow close to God, so hopefully this can help her change.

Continuing on with all the awesome things that have been going on for me and Elder Bohn yesterday..... We then went and taught a non member father led family. The Mgise family. They are ULTRA united and really big leaders in their church. We taught the restoration. The spirit was so apparent and we taught extremely well. It was just a stellar lesson. Elder Bohn was whipping out scriptures while I was testifying, expounding and teaching. Bohn just knows his scriptures.. we would have been in the same transfer if I had gone out in March when I originally was supposed to... but who cares!? I am here now, I wouldn't have it any other way. Too many wonderful things happened when I was at home and now that I am here. It's been perfect. So yeahh, teaching was awesome. The issue was at the end of teaching the lesson to this guy I invited him to pray and come to know for himself if what we taught was true... he said that he will study and wait for God to reveal it to him... DAHHHH FAIL!!! We kept telling him he needs to pray to receive his answer... he wouldn't budge though. So frustrating. Over time he will hopefully progress.

Then we went and went over the baptismal interview questions with Florence Ncube. She needs to be refreshed on a few things, but I have no worries. She has the spirit of conversion, she loves church, she will continue to learn and do great!

So yeahh, then Elder Bohn and I rode our bikes to the chapel, which is just a business complex building that is being rented out, and did hands up stands up competitions with the youth that were there for mutual. Then I was doing my karate kicks while elder bohn was doing the windmill, it was pretty sweet! Haha then we shared a scriptures with all of them and got picked up by Elder Mashigo and Elder Olsen. We had a quick mcdonalds run (second time this transfer, be proud of me) and then we went home and crashed. It was a good missionary day. We usually teach five or more lessons a day. And we did that, so it was a good day. Elder Bohn is a great guy and I learned a lot from him. I cannot wait to be that knowledgeable towards the end of my mission. Elder Bohn and I are FOR SURE hanging out when we are both home and going to BYU.

Tal, just a shoutout, your email was the best thing ever. Thanks so much. I'll talk to you all soon!

Love,

Elder Thayne II

VII Months Old‏

Well something insane happened this week. I hit seven months on mission. Seven months since I have seen my family and friends. Seven months since I put Christs name on my chest for the first time as a set apart servant of the Lord. What a blessing it has been.

Getting rained on is still not a favorite activity of mine, but it's something I signed up for, so I guess I just can take comfort in the fact that I'll be blessed with a beautiful wife because of all the rain I have walked through. #missionarybenifits
We had a crazy week this week. Essentially we were only able to go to the area and do work four days last week. Monday we had our preparation day and then we had to end it with our Zone Leaders for a practice for Zone Conference which was the next day. So all Tuesday we were busy at Zone Conference. Then Friday we had our final interviews with President Wood before he goes home which is next week! Crazy thought! I am grateful for what I have learned from him, but I am excited to see how President Merrill runs things.
Zone Conference was awesome. It was all about how to and why we should study our scriptures. We were reminded of the blessings and promises of spiritual protection that comes with studying the words of God. 1 Nephi 15:23-25 gives a great explanation of that. Why would we ever miss an opportunity to read the scriptures when so much is promised to us?
"Prayerful study of the Book of Mormon will build faith in God the Father, in His Beloved Son, and in His gospel. It will build your faith in God’s prophets, ancient and modern." - President Eyring 
I have found that the FIRST thing people stop doing when they have fallen away from God or away from the church is they stopped reading the scriptures. As they stopped their study they damned their spiritual growth. The flow of spirit and revelation in their life eventually came to a standstill. As people stop reading God's word, they stop giving heed to it. Once they no longer give heed to His word they start living in a way contrary to what he has taught and no longer qualify for the spirit in their lives to guide and bless them. It truly breaks my heart.
Reading the scriptures changes peoples lives. As a lot of you may know when I was in Mdantsane I was working with a guy named Thabo. He was an alcoholic with no hope of going anywhere in life. As we started teaching him in our second lesson we gave him the Book of Mormon and taught him the importance of applying the principals he learns in there to his own life. As he did this his entire life made a dramatic turn for the better. Without any encouragement or prodding by us missionaries he threw away all his marijuana, completely stopped drinking, he broke up with his long-time girlfriend, got a new job at Hungry Lion and applied to go back to school for law. And I just heard he shaved off all his dreads and is now fully active and back in church. 
As Thabo read the scriptures and applied them in his life he was able to obtain those blessings and catch the Lord's vision for him. He didn't need to be pushed to change, he himself knew what he needed to do, and he acted on the knowledge he obtained and made that change.
Remembering Thabo's story as well as having received training on it from President Wood encouraged me to teach as well as remind people of the importance of personal scripture study in their life. I hope that they, and all of you, will catch sight of the blessings and protection that can come into your life as you study and give heed to God's words.
We had again another 20 people that were supposed to come to church, again we only had 1/4 show up, but some of the people that came were new investigators! We have found several people this past week that REALLY show so much potential and they show such a great desire to change. That desire is something I hope doesn't run out anytime soon.
I got asked by a sweet little girl why the colour of my eyes is like the ocean. It was probably the sweetest and most sincere question I have heard in a long time. I don't know, just thought I'd share that. It was so sweet.
Also, this week we got bikes! Sounds silly, but here in SA missionaries rarely have bikes, so we are super blessed. The issue is, my bike is WAY too nice for a white kid to be riding around in Khayelitsha. Luckily, most people know me so we are safe, but when we were riding past Cite C a bunch of thugs started throwing rocks and hit my comp. He was fine though. And then we saw some guys trying to mess with the locks on our bikes and we chased them off. So yeahh, we get too much attention with these bikes, but we get around a lot faster which is a blessing.
Well that is basically my week. We worked hard for the few days we were in the area. Only a few people came to church, but we still feel great about how things are going. My spirits are as high as ever and I am ever thankful for the love and prayers I feel coming my way. It means so much.
Love,
Elder Mitchell Ryan Thayne

Khangela. (Check me out.)‏

Just some shots of me in the area with people I love!

The one with the older couple and their granddaughter is the Nooi family who we found two weeks back. They have committed to baptism, so now we just need to help them progress. They are the sweetest people.

Then the other two pictures are me with monkeys we saw today. It was pretty unreal to have monkeys climbing and running all over you. TIA!

Just thought I would send you a picture with some people that I get to see all the time and work with. It's pretty great. Zodwa and Limo (The girls) are investigators. Milton (the boy) is a fellowshipper. Such a great kid.

Thought the cereal one obonye made would make you laugh. And then that is me and Elder Obonye. Love the guy so much.

I am my brother's brother.‏

Uze Uze Uze Ukuze Uzuze. (You have to come with a naked mind to understand.) - Crazy right? I swear I will never totally understand this Xhosa language.

Well everyone. It's been a good week. Honestly the weeks all blend together for me nowadays, so when I say it's been a good week I could very likely be talking about a week back in January. It's just that mission LYFE. I wouldn't trade it for the world though.

Elder Stegelmeier and I have made a covenant with God that we won't go a single week without teaching at least 30 lessons. I know we can continue to keep it up. It's been going really well and we have been loving it. The Book of Mormon is the most powerful book ever, you should try reading it sometime... like right after you read this email. Pull a Nike and just do it.

This week I think we gave like four blessings of healing to different people. One of them was to Dimpho Nkomfe. Now, Dimpho had some issue with her lungs, which we later found out was pneumonia, and we were called to rush over there and give her a blessing. So we did. We came in and she was wheezing trying to get enough air. It was really sad, then we hurried and gave her a blessing. I love giving blessings, you just see and feel what God feels and see's in that person. Now, of course it's not exactly the same, but you can feel a great love and understanding. Anyways, after the blessing these three Mama's were trying to pick her up and carry her to the car outside. She couldn't stand because she was just trying to breathe.. after a few seconds of them struggling elder stegelmeier and I just decided to do the fireman carry. We made a seat with our arms, sat her down in it and carried her out to the car where they took her off to the hospital. We went and visited later and had some good laughs with everyone at the hospital and gave some encouragement and advice to several people that were sick there. It was a really sweet little experience. Serving others, that's where the money is. I love it.

Then also we had to give a blessing to brother Libazi and his wife today as well because he had such low blood pressure he had to go to the hospital yesterday and spend the night. His wife as well was feeling sick. We were able to bless them and help them feel of God's love as well. It was great. Earlier this week we also helped them clean the chapel. I love those people. While I was sweeping I broke the broom in half, and while I was vacuuming the entire hoover (vacuum) stopped working. They kept teasing how I work so hard that the tools can't keep up. #mlunguprobs

Something that has been interesting to me is that as I have seen the mission become more obedient, I have also seen how the Elders have become more judgmental towards each other. This is a mission-wide thing I have seen. I was reading in Romans 14:12-13 and it really hit me. We shouldn't be putting stumblingblocks into our brothers paths. Rather, we need to help our brothers turn those stumblingblocks into their steppingstones. I have seen how us, as elders, having low expectations in each other results in us making others fall. I think about Elders who had all fallen for a time, and a lot of times instead of others letting us really repent and change, sometimes we had them bringing up the past, or defining us by our mistakes. I know that mistakes of the past don't define you, they refine you. We are accountable to help our brothers out here become better. PMG pg 150-151

So along with that, I have thought about how I personally have had to endure some correction and some chastening. And when I went through that, it helped me begin the repentance process and improve as an individual. I had a thought about how different my mission could have been, if the Elders who were my leaders, companions or even just those who served around me, had loved me enough to correct me and teach me how I could improve. Especially during the first year of my mission, but even now. We are here to serve the Lord. To give it all we got. I believe we are also called here to help each other serve the Lord and give it everything we got. If I am obedient, work hard and have success, I still will have failed in a way if I have not at least attempted to help the elders around me become the best they could be. Doing so would have brought so many more people to the truth and affected the rest of their lives.

So those are just some thoughts that have been weighing on my mind. And it's something I want you to look inward and ask yourself, "Am I letting others repent and change?" Even more than that, we need to ask ourselves, "Am I HELPING others repent and change." All the talents, opportunities and experiences we are given are to have us not only ensure our salvation, but help others become the people they need to be to secure theirs.

Love you all.

Mdala Thayne the First.

All this working out has done me some good.‏

Us white boys are trying to get on our black guys level.

Tell me how you are...

Tal...I miss you! Tell me whats up! I love you brother.

You STINK at keeping in touch. I expect an ULTRA long letter updating me on how you are and where you have been and what you have been doing.
How is your roommate and stuff? Is he cool? I am sure you have been such a blessing to him. Are you making lots of friends? Is school hard? Are you studying and keeping up well? Is it all colourful and stuff there or what?
love you tal!
Ohh here is a picture of me wearing a girls hat that she wore for her wedding. pretty sweet I must say.
Thats why they call us the TOOL SHED.

No Flash Photography, please...

Hey guys! So things here are going good! We had interviews with President Wood and they went really well! He told me that he was really proud of me for the work I have been doing here in Khayelitsha/Mandalay. So that was cool! P-Wood is gone in just a week and a half though and then we get our new Prez, President Merrill. We are super excited for that! 

Elder Mchunu and I have been talking and we have started cooking up a plan. We asked president for us to be companions. We both have such a vision for this work, and I feel like if I have a hardworking companion here with me in this area things will REALLY start to blow up and get done. People here really seem to like me, but I can tell that a few are annoyed because we haven't been visiting them multiple times a week like Elder Pebe and Mashigo used to do before I came. They would just sit at members houses all day most days. Some members miss that and want us to hang out with them, but I ain't about that life. I am here to work, making friends is only a bonus.

So yeahh, in a couple weeks we will find out if that plan works out or not. Hopefully it does, if not then we will just keep working as hard as we can wherever we are.

I have been a bit discouraged lately with the fact that I am having to DRAG my companion around. We only seem to really "get along" if we aren't working super hard. he prefers to just chill at brother gcina's house or something. I don't know, I love him lots, but I can tell he is tired of me dragging him, and I have been feeling a bit frustrated with that.

WE GOT BIKES THIS WEEK! So yeahh, that is pretty awesome! Elder Mashigo has a red older bike and I got a brand new fancy greenish coloured one. We had only had them for like 30 minutes and some guys started throwing rocks at us from the other side of the street for no reason. A few hit us, but it wasn't that bad. And the bikes are NICE. So we will probably be getting robbed in the next couple of weeks. I told the office when we got them that they were too nice, but they said just take them and don't get robbed.. Haha if only they knew.

It's all good though. Things are great, but there are little struggles and frustrations. Pray for me and pray for all the people we invited to church. Love you guys SO much.

Cheers.

Elder Thayne

Just a little end of the week update/email for all of you guys.  Things here in Khayelitsha are going great.  I am not gonna lie though, I am sick of getting rained on.  Here are a few pictures of me and the people I am working with here in SA.  

love you guys!

Just a CRAZY Story for y'all!

I felt like going Jack Bauer or Michael Weston on some guys the other day.  I wont tell everyone this I don't think, but the other day my companion and I were walking and we heard screaming from around the corner and everyone was running to see what was going on.  We ran up and saw six guys all fighting each other.  3v3 style.  two were beating some guys with these club things.  A guy was about to grab this woman and she pulled out a knife and tried to stab him.  (we later found out it was his wife) anyways the guy took the knife from her, punched her in the face and threw her in the car.  The other two guys that were with him jumped into the car as well and they all took off.  Some guys jumped out and pulled out a gun and started chasing after the car only to loose them.  Anyways, we asked some of the guys that were watching what all happened and I guess a guy had found out that his wife was cheating on him with some other guy.  So he grabbed two friends and went to take her back.  The other guy who was sleeping with the guys wife also had friends so it turned into an all-out war.  Anyways, we were shocked and it was crazy, but we decided to still head to our appointment.  So we continued on down the street only to see two cars pulled over and see these three guys BEATING THE HECK out of the woman.  I yelled at them to stop and a guy pulled out his gun and told us to "hamba" (go).  Anyways there was no one else on the street so I KNEW if we went over there it would get worse and they wouldn't have a problem shooting us.  So we watched them and walked past on the other side of the street as they were hitting and kicking her.  I had the most distinct impression to grab my companion and say a prayer for her.  We stepped into someones yard away from the street and I said a prayer asking that it would stop, and that their hearts would be softened.  Well as we walked out back on the street they had stopped hitting her and they were both sitting on the ground next to each other talking.  We walked away and were basically flipping out.  I was really amazed and inspired by the fact that our prayer had stopped the violence.  It was honestly a horrible and crazy thing to see, but it was also a testimony building experience.  So yeahh, TIA.  This is Africa. Besides that things are truly going so great! I am loving it here.  I'll tell more about what is going on in my mass email.  I hope you enjoyed the crazy story though.

Earthly Father, Heavenly Father.‏

What a week, ehh? This week every single night after getting home I collapsed on my bed and was proud of the effort I put into my day. Despite the rain, the rejection and frustrations that come, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Elder Olsen and I were talking after we had gone on exchanges for the day about our missions. About why we were here to serve and what we wanted to feel when we were going home. Something he said which I added onto really struck us both. He said, "I want to go home and look my Dad in the eye and be able to say, 'I did everything I could in South Africa. I have no regrets. I loved the people, fought for the gospel and forgot myself.'" I added on to that and said, "When I go home to Heavenly Father I want to be able to say the exact same thing." 
We were both hit with the fact that we both have our earthly fathers, but we also have our father in heaven. If you ask me, both are essential in our growth from boys to men. Without my earthly father I wouldn't know how to work, love, forgive, serve and teach. Without my Heavenly Father, I wouldn't be know how to do the same things. My greatest hero's in life are my father figures. I have four pictures that are up on my wall. One is Dad's mission picture, one is Grandpa Platt's mission picture, one is Grandpa Thayne's mission picture and one is Christ. My greatest hero's. President Eyering gave a talk titled "The Priesthood Man." Basically everything in that described my Dad and why he is my hero. The best gift I can give you Dad is the assurance that I have been putting everything I have into this work. Happy Fathers Day, I love you.
Well this week was great! Still had our rainy days and still had our not as rainy days, but either way, the work continues moving forward. As I said earlier I went on exchanges with Elder Olsen which was an awesome experience. He is a "retired" AP and SUCH a powerful missionary. While on our exchange we decided to go tracting. On the first house we got rejected pretty harshly, so we moved to the next house. We knocked and a 19 year old guy opened up the door and before we could hardly say anything besides, "We are missionaries..." he invited us to come in and sit down. He proceeded to tell us about his life. Essentially everything in his life the past few months has fallen apart. His family is living off of about the equivalent $400 dollars a month. And that goes to rent, food, schooling and whatever else they need. He said he had prayed that God would send him someone to help him. He then said, "I know God answered my prayers by sending you guys to my home." Boom. We were very moved and taught him about the beginning of the Restoration, telling him of God's love for him and how he has given us families, prophets and prayer to help us through this mortal life. We then set an appointment to come see him the next day. Elder Olsen was back with Elder Bohn the next day and they committed him to baptism. So that is definitely an amazing mission story. Just a week before I told Elder Mashigo I always wanted to walk up to someone and have them tell me I was the answer to their prayer. It was great.
Our area is doing so much better than when we first arrived. We are teaching multiple families and individuals. We have been teaching so much that we were expecting 20 people at sacrament meeting on Sunday. We were sure most of them if not all would come, but of course, it rained extremely hard Sunday morning and only 5 people showed up. Obviously we were bummed, but still 1/4 of them came and it was pouring... So hopefully next week there will be sunshine and we can have more awesome people at church! Limo (a fifteen year old girl we have taught twice), Zolani (a different guy from the Less Active one we work with), Florence (A 22 year old girl from the Ncube family), Shirley (a 13 year old boy from the Ncube family) and then a guy named Happiness (who we found who was once taught by the missionaries. 17 years old.) So yeahh, it was still a good turnout.
Speaking of Happiness, we found him and set a time to come back and see him. He lives like two blocks from the chapel so it's awesome. We went to his house for our appointment (Elder Mashigo and I) and saw him chilling with two of his friends. Both guys were in their early twenties. Anyways we talk to them for a bit and invite them to join us for our lesson on the Restoration. They sat down and we started the lesson only to have another guy walk in an join us. So now we were teaching 4 guys ages 17, 19, 20, and 21. PRIESTHOOD! They all loved talking with us and really loved our message. So we are going to continue meeting with them this week. I am VERY excited about all of them. So pray your hearts out for them.
We also met a guy who kept trying to tell us how God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost were all one person. We pulled out examples: When Christ was baptized the voice of the Father was heard and the Holy Ghost descended upon Christ right then, When Steven (I think it was.) was stoned and saw Jesus on the right hand of God. When Christ talks about coming to earth to do the Fathers will and not his own, and several other examples. He basically said that God does that so people wont be confused by the deep doctrine of them all existing as one being. It was pretty ridiculous. The man "knew" his scriptures well, but he didn't really KNOW them if you know what I mean. He had no understanding and was basically yelling and saying that we don't understand the doctrine. I finally said, "Brother, you are lying. You do not understand the scriptures and you are leading others away." He was confounded. We grabbed our scriptures, shook his hand and walked away.
Brother Gcnia (who is a total stud. He once was a gangster and a street fighter, but had his life changed and is now the elders quorum president. We walk around with him and all the thugs come talk to us and show us respect, it's pretty sweet.) Anyways, he said that the guy we were speaking to beats his wife and leads a corrupt church. So he was pretty amazed at what we said and did. It was a fist pump moment.
Mmm not much more to say. Life is good as a missionary. The work is moving forward. I love you all and I am grateful for the love and support that consistently comes my way.
Shoutout to Talmage for killing it at his first week of college! And another shoutout to Dad. I love you loads.
Love,
Elder Mitchell Ryan Thayne
PS: Check out this awesome video.

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2119328537001

P.S. (He left out the part he sent us about all the stabbings, stealing, tire burning, trash throwing, etc.  I guess he didn't want to worry all of you!) Well yeahh, things here are all good and crazy. I can't complain. Things here are nuts in a way though. Stabbings and stuff always happen. The other day a truck wrecked and boxes of "cool drink" (soda) fell on the ground. Literally over twenty cars stopped and crowds of people ran and started stealing all the cool drink off the street, running to their car with it and driving off. We all couldn't believe the dishonesty and lack of integrity.  An old fat tata ran with a case trying to escape before anyone stopped him and slipped and fell on his back. It was funny. Then people started burning tires and trowing trash and stuff at cars. It was crazy.

family, I gotta go. 

Ndiakhuthanda Wena, (I love you)

Elder Thayne

Just call me a trend setter.‏

This week has been extremely cold. It has rained every day, for most of the day. Then all of the sudden, it'll get warm for 37 minutes then freeze you all over again. Not really sure how it works, but I guess that is Cape Town weather for you.
Time is flying here, despite all the frustrations and everyday struggles that happen as a missionary. We are really taking the whole, "Pray as if everything depended on the Lord, then work as if everything depended on you" to heart. We have been tracting for at least three hours every day. It's been really fun actually. Believe it or not, we do get doors slammed in our faces. We even had a guy start yelling and saying he would throw us off his property and that ALL evil and wickedness comes from America, so he didn't want to listen to some people who are teaching the gospel and from America... Yeahh. It's alright though, we made it out alive. ;] it was a bit dodgy though.
We found another father led family this week. The guy's name is Luyiso, but we haven't been able to see him again since we found him. He seemed like a real searcher though, and that is who we are looking for. Those who are out searching for the truth.
Things here have been crazy hectic as always. (Missionary life) I had a cool experience yesterday though! We were RUSHING to an appointment because we were really late and while walking I had a thought to just go knock on this door to the right of us. The house looked pretty nice (for SA) and had two cars in front of it (so they could potentially give rides to other members... ;]) So I said to Mashigo, "Hey, lets just go knock on this door, I don't know if it was just me thinking it or the spirit, but lets try." He was a champ and said, "Yeah, we are late, but who am I to say no to knocking on a door?" So we knocked and a middle aged man opened the door and invited us in. (Basically that is what all the polite people do here. Which doesn't happen as much as we would hope.) Anyways, we sat down and I introduced us and told him what our purpose was essentially. We then spoke about how we share a message about how families can be together forever (because we saw his daughter in the room when we came in.) It seemed to impact him and he told us how back in 1994 or something like that he had scheduled an appointment with the missionaries but had to cancel because of a work conflict, but he said he wants to hear our message. So we are planning to meet with him on Saturday. PRAY FOR THINGS TO GO WELL! It was really cool to just be living worthy and to have a thought directing us to someone who wants to know more. 
Sunday came along and we were expecting a total of three families to come to church. Guess how many came? Basically 1/2 of one of the families (Florence and Shelton from the ncubas family...try saying that one correctly.) and a girl we have taught once who we didn't expect to come (Limo).. So we had 3 investigators at church, which is only like 1/4 of what we expected, but that is another missionary moment for you. We are continuing to have faith though and hope that we will have them all at church next week.
Thandi (The offended investigator) and Zolani (Our once in the branch presidency, now extremely less-active) didn't come to church as well. So after our Dinner Appointment, which was wonderful because we NEVER are fed here, we went and checked up on them in their shack. We talked to them and they said the whole, "the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak." excuse and said that they weren't able to iron their clothes and didn't have proper shoes.... *face palm* We then went on to talk to them about showing actual faith. James 2:18 - show me thy faith without thy works and I will show you my faith BY my works. That hit them pretty hard. Then I had the impression to ask them if they are living the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity.... Nope. They said they are heavy into drugs, smoking and alcohol. And they aren't living the law of chastity, but are preparing to get married. So basically our job as missionaries just got a lot harder, but at the same time, now we know what they need help with so we can seek for specific inspiration according to their needs. They are truly wanting to change though, and that desire will be essential. So Thandi and Zolani need your prayers.
I am gaining SUCH a powerful testimony of prayer. As a missionary I don't think I was really taking advantage of the power of prayer like I should have been before. We now pray before going into lessons, before we leave the apartment, every night, every time we start and end tracting and then other random times throughout the day. The windows of heaven have been opened to us and we are really able to SEE people for who they could become. All this finding is making things as far as teaching start pretty slow, but with time things will really pick up and we are going to make a big difference here in Khayelitsha. 
Elder Mashigo is a great companion, just needs to be encouraged and he always works hard. I am really learning a LOT from the other companionship in our district. Elder Bohn and Elder Olsen. (Our current District Leader and our Former AP) They are really teaching me a lot and helping me out in my growth as a missionary with my knowledge and testimony. It's pretty awesome.
Anyways, that's all I have for this week! I love you all. Keep the faith and remember that God is just waiting to bless us, but that is all determined by how we live.
Love,
Elder Mitchell Ryan Thayne

Now Residing In One of The Top Ten Most Dangerous Cities In The World. #legit

Alrighty, well it's been another wonderful week! I really can't complain. As you guys know, I have been moved to Mandalay which is in Khayelitsha, and my new companion is Elder Mashigo. (Ma-she-ho) He is from Johannesburg and is one funny black kid.

In the other area we have an emeritus AP ;] (Elder Olsen) and Elder Bohn, who will probably be an AP or something someday. They are two really hard-working and good Elders, but in our area.. it is going to take a lot of work.

So basically I decided, on our first day, and as junior companion, that we should go tracting. We hit the pavement at 1 PM and tracted until 5. The issue with that was neither of us had ever been taught how to do it... but we started figuring it out by the end of that time. :] Straight up I said a prayer with my companion that we would find those who are ready. On probably our fifth house (which I had the distinct impression to go towards) we found a Father in his home sweeping the floor with his little son and playing with him. BAM. Eternal family maybe? No, eternal family DEFINITELY. So we told him that we shared a unique message about how through faith in Jesus Christ families can be together forever and that relationships with our loved ones don't have to end at death. The guy was really classy about the whole thing and had us sit down and talk to him for a bit. We left him with a pamphlet about the plan of Salvation and we are going to visit him and his WIFE (he is actually married with two kids. We couldn't believe it.) hopefully this coming week. I don't know why, but I absolutely love that guy. And his little 3 year old son was one of the happiest kids in all of Africa. SO CUTE. The guy's name is Xolani. SO PLEASE PRAY FOR HIM. If you guys saw him and felt the love God has for him like I did, you would know why I want them to have the gospel so badly. So pray for them to accept our message.

We kept tracting and found another father-led family. Him and his wife are also a young couple that has one kid though. They are MARRIED! I cannot tell you how crazy that is. Anyways, they had been taught by missionaries before and are wanting to learn more about the gospel and have a forever family. So that's another amazing story.

We then followed up on a family where only one 16 year old kid was a member. The mother, two sisters (mid twenties) and younger brother (13) had all been taught and dropped by the missionaries being lazy I think... So we talked to them and recommitted them to following in Christs footsteps and being baptized. It. Was. Amazing. Their name is the Ncuba family.

Then last of all in the tale of a hardworking weekend we went to see a lady named Thandi. Now, Thandi started dating a powerful member of the church and moved in with him. When that happened the members sort of rejected them both and he went less active. She had been investigating the church for a couple years, but the lack of love from the members turned her off. So basically we went over their to talk about their concerns. (This is something that should have been done a LONG time ago... Like a year or more ago. But the Elders were lazy and dropped her.) Anyways, we talked to them and heard their story. After hearing the story I asked her a few questions. "So Thandi, do you believe that this church God's church once again restored on the earth?" She said, "I KNOW that it is his church, and I want to follow him, but the people treated us bad and it made me loose interest." So I responded, "It's sad that you are going to give up eternal salvation, everlasting happiness, an eternity with your loved ones and a life in the presence of God all because someone treated you bad at the Lords church." She just sat there quiet for a moment and then said, "You're right. I just need to let go of this anger, but I don't know how." I testified that only in and through Christ will she be able to let go of that anger and find that forgiveness. I reminded her of God's love for her and her responsibility to act on the knowledge she has obtained. My companion whipped out Mosiah 18:10 and told her she needs to push forward and prepare to join His fold. It was POWERFUL. The less active "husband" (they still aren't married.) Zolani bore his testimony about his desire to go back and to have an eternal family. We all teared up and felt the spirit so strong. Thandi said she missed having the Elders in her home (which is nothing more than tin slates held together with some wood and a sand floor.) We are going back on Wednesday to start helping them progress and hopefully come back to church.

So yes, the area was dead... and still is pretty dead. We only taught five lessons in like four days, but it'll get better. It is just going to take lots of effort and time, but the Lord has prepared people who are SO ready to receive his word. We just need to sacrifice and work to bring it to them. I have seen and felt the Lord have an active hand in the work we are doing here. My companion on Sunday told me he has never been happier on mission and those lessons we taught together are the best lessons he has had his entire mission. I understand why that is the case though, it's because he really now is working and striving, through prayer and study, to have the spirit in the companionship so that we can help those who so desperately want to change.

Attatched below are a couple pictures from the baptism we had on the 25th. (Last Sunday)

The picture shows everyone who was baptizing and being baptized. We baptized Phelisa, Lamla and Abigale. The other Elders baptized Nkosinati and Wocumisa. So yeahh, I cannot wait for that day when we baptized FAMILIES here in Khayelitsha. 

Cape Town itself is SUPER cold compared to Mdantsane. I am now in the Western Cape Province. It's really sweet here, the people are a bit more worldly and proud, but the Lord works with all kinds of people. So it'll be a good transfer. 

I love you all! Thank you for the love and support that you guys give me! I miss you all loads!

Love,

Elder Mitchell Ryan Thayne