Hola!... Just kidding, Moloweni!!!
This has been a legit week! It was my last full week with my trainer Elder Capozzoli, and it's a bit sad that we won't be companions anymore, but I know all will go how it should. This is where you have to just trust in The Lord and know that he will give you who you can learn the lessons you need to from. Apparently I am getting Elder Oldroyd. I am told that he is a way fun Elder who is also down to work. So that makes me happy. Apparently I will have to do some of the motivating in the mornings, but I'm not too worried about that. So he comes in on Wednesday I believe! First impressions, ahh my favorite.
Well last week after emailing we went and... Yes you guessed it, played soccer. The best part was it started pouring rain! So obviously we started sliding and tackling. It really started to feel more like rugby than soccer. I started playing keeper because no one else knew how to on my team. Well I was throwing out the ball and Elder Cap threw up his leg in front of it to block it and dislocated my thumb. Ohh that hurt so dang bad. I immediately kicked him in the rear. Should have probably been a bit more nice about it, BUT IT HURT! My thumb looked like the letter Z. Elder Mchunu grabbed it and popped it back into place. I felt like I was pretty tough about it... But who knows, I could have looked like a little crying baby.
After the dislocation of the thumb we went back to our flat to find it had flooded. Yeahh, it was one of those days. After cleaning all of that up for a couple hours we took off to the area, but never found an FHE to go to. So it was kind of a downer day, but that's life.
On Tuesday we decided to have a good day and cooked all of our food. Correction: Elder Capozzoli cooked all our food. We basically had Thanksgiving dinner. And ohh goodness we were giving thanks. We had been starving for a few days so this was good for us. Cap made chicken, stuffing and mashed potatoes that he got from his mother in our Christmas package. It was Devine.
Afterwords we went and taught some lessons to a few different people. One of them was Ayanda who has some friends who are members and goes to seminary with them. We taught her the first half of the plan of salvation. Seminary really helps because she had learned about most of it before. So we mostly just clarified some aspects of it and taught. After Ayanda we visited the Nake family as well. They haven't been coming to church lately so we have been a bit concerned. Part of the issue is people haven't reached out and fellowshipped as much at church as we would hope. We are just going to keep visiting and encouraging.
On wednesday we ran out of food. It is an awful moment when you look on all the shelves and in the freezer and see nothing to eat except for some cinnamon and a can of veggies. So.. we just drank some water and went to the area. #fastingbasically
We picked up our ever faithful fellowshippers Yonella and Athule. Yonella is Luvuyo's (who went on a mission to Ghana a few weeks ago) little brother and SUCH a stud. He is only 14 but is as tall as me. Flippin hilarious kid, but I respect him a lot. He really helps us out and is actually real good at soccer too. Then Athule is one of Yonella's friends. Athule comes and plays soccer with us and fellowships every day as well. We are teaching him the lessons right now and he asks just about every other day when he can get baptized. We are so busy teaching other people with him that we haven't been able to teach him as many lessons as we should have. I imagine he will be baptized in the next couple weeks. He sure likes to talk himself up, it's pretty hilarious. He is 15 and unreal at soccer as well. So yeahh, that is just a bit about the guys we work with here in Mdantsane.
We picked up Yonella and Athule and went and taught Jacque. Jacque is a member refferal and a very powerful kid. We taught him about the book of mormon and he accepted and understood everything really well. He is well educated so that helps a lot with his understanding. A lot of people struggle with understanding, so it helps when they know english really well.
After we visited Jacque we dropped the boys up and picked up our Ward Mission Leader and visited a Less Active Tata. Tata means Dad basically. We talked to him and were asking why he hasn't been coming to church for the last few years. Apparently because of some issues with his wife he has fallen away and really doesn't see the purpose in his life. It's sad. We talked to him and shared a TON of different scriptures that give comfort and hope. We reminded him of his responsibility as well. We told him to come to church and he said he would, but sadly he didn't show up. Ohh well! Just got to keep encouraging.
On thursday our fast continued. We bummed some bread off of the other elders and had some cinnamon toast. That was nice. After studies and whatnot we headed out to the area and visited Abigale and KC. KC is a twelve year old kid that I will be baptizing this coming weekend! He is SO smart. Honestly he understands more than most adults here and really tries to do the right thing. He is leading out for his mother Abigale with everything so that is great. Later on we went and saw Asiphe and Sibulele. I am also getting the chance to baptize Asiphe this weekend as well! So that is really exciting. We were going to baptize them both this last weekend but because of Bishop wanting to interview them before they are baptized. So this weekend I will have my 2nd and 3rd baptisms. BLESSINGS BABY!
On Friday we had our District Meeting which is generally a bit of a joke because our district leader doesn't actually do anything. So it kind of stinks to not be learning at those, but it's alright! After that we went and had our lunch at KFC as is the usual. Then after we headed out to our Ward Mission Leader's house for correlation. We spoke for 2 hours about how we all want to pick up the ward and the missionary work here. We have 150 active members and 650 members on record. 500 less active individuals. So a lot of rescuing is going to be needed. We made a ward mission plan and are going to show it to our bishop and try to see what he thinks about that.
Soccer on Friday night didn't happen because there was a huge storm, so we all rescheduled for Saturday morning. We played on a full pitch and I got to play my old position. So center back on defense with Elder Prisbry. We shut them out. The missionaries beat the Locals 4-2. They were so mad. Because they always tell us how Africans are better than us Americans, we proved that wrong! So cool! Then after soccer we just visited a few investigators and did the work there. It is awesome because this next month me and my companion will probably have a good 6 or so baptisms. The Lord is lighting this place up!
On sunday we held a ward missionary fireside. I spoke first and talked about our purpose which is to, "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end." So I exponded on that and talked about how we could do that as missionaries and as members. I also spoke about how the ward and the missionaries need to work together as a team if saving souls is going to be accomplished in this part of the Lord's fold. It was a really spiritual and cool thing! Hopefully it helps make a good impact in the ward for missionary work.ELder Capozzoli spoke last and really pulled the whole thing together so that was nice.
And then this morning, Monday March 3rd 2014 I rode and Elephant for the first time. Pretty much the most unreal thing ever. Elder Capozzoli and I were in love. I will send pictures and all that good stuff for y'all to behold.
Africa.
What else could I say?
Inkosi. (thank you.)
- Elder Mitchell Ryan Thayne
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