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
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
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