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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment