So things are going alright over here. I am still super shell shocked with the whole change of scene. Going from meeting coloureds and working with members to filling out excel sheets and calling elders to repentance, is quite the change. But it is eye opening and instructive. President is so wise and so powerful. I think something I have already learned from him is to not panic when things don't go according to plan. He is calm in the face of adversity and never skips a beat when it comes to faithfully going to the Lord in prayer with a question in mind.
Transfer week was crazy. We were super dead tired after picking up the new elder on tuesday, running him around and helping him feel like a champ, then driving elders to and from the airport all day Wednesday... Everyone in East London missed their flight which caused problems, but we are always learning. I'll attach a few, of the MANY, pictures of groups we had to send off. These are some really great elders who have sacrificed so much to come and serve the Lord.
Then on Thursday I had to say bye to some of my favorite missionaries. Elder Radebe (a previous companion), Elder Labrum (a homie from the lehi north stake), elder prisbrey (an elder I have been around my whole mission and future roommate), elder palmer (my MTC companion), and elder bradley (a super funny elder I met for the first time as we sent him off). It was weird to see these elders at the end of their mission. They served well and I loved hearing their testimonies of what they have learned and felt while on their missions.
Also, this week I have for sure spent more time with President and Sister Merrill than I have for the entirety of my mission. It's pretty great.
I don't have much to say. The highlight of the week was going on a mini exchange with Elder Dean yesterday. We were only together for two hours. We offered a prayer to Heavenly Father asking him to bless us to teach four different people and set some return appointments. We were able to teach those four lessons. We contacted a ton of people. The best part of it was the street we decided to tackle was called "Goliath" Road. So we pulled a David and slayed it. God strengthened us for sure though.
Well, Elder Johnson the beloved sent me this quote about missionaries, and I enjoyed it. Thought I'd send it your way.
Somewhere between the whirl of the teenage activity and confinement to the rocking chair we find a strange creature called a missionary. Missionaries come in assorted varieties: Elders and Lady Missionaries. They come in different weights and sizes and colors, green being the most common.
Converts love them, young girls worship them (the Elders type), dogs hate them, the law tolerates them, most people ignore them and heaven protects them. A missionary is truth with a pocket full of tracts, wisdom with a scant knowledge of the Bible, faith with 69 cents in its pocket and 2 weeks until Dad's next check. A missionary is a composite; it has the appetite of a horse, the enthusiasm of a fire cracker, the patience of Job, the persistence of the fuller brush man and the courage of a lion tamer.
It likes letters from home, invitations to Sunday dinner, conferences, checks, testimony meetings, companions, baptisms and visits from the Mission President. It isn't much on tracting in the rain, ladies who slam doors, hats, apartment houses, transfers, shaking hands at arms length, alarm clocks and, last but nor least letters that start "dear John". Nobody rises so early or is so tired by 10:30 p m. Nobody else can knock so boldly with such a shaky hand. Nobody else can get such a thrill at the end of a disappointing day, when someone says," Won't you come in, we have been waiting for you."
Yes a missionary is a queer character. It can get homesick, and temporarily loose faith in the human race, but a strange lump rises in its throat the day it receives a letter of release and on arrival home its return talk will probably contain the phrase once considered trite: "The time I spent as a missionary was the happiest time of my life."
Amen.
- Elder Mitchell Ryan Thayne
Cooking with President and Sister Merrill
Sending Elders home at the end of their missions. Elders Prisbrey (future roommate), Labrum (home from Lehi North Stake and future roommate), Elder Palmer (companion from MTC), Elder Bradley, and my companion Elder Martey.
Cooking with Elder Martey my companion from Ghana
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