Rockin'

Ladies and Gentleman, the moment you've all been waiting for. In this corner, weighing one hundred and seventy pounds, with a record of 10,000 doors knocked, countless testimonies born and commitments extended, it's the undisputed, most humble missionary in the world, Elder Mitchell Ryan Thayne.

Just kidding.

On a serious note, South Africa has never seen a companionship like Elder Chapman and I. We are lighting it up here. Actually, correction, the Lord is lighting this place up. We have been working like two farm boys. Panorama is exploding. We have had some SWEET experiences this past week that I'll share with y'all.

First off I wan't to share some miracles with you. Remember Mashae? The little down syndrome girl that we all for sure thought was going to pass away? Well, we gathered as "a family" and said a prayer asking that if it is God's will if she can stay here with the family for a bit longer. Well the prayer was answered. All of the sudden the fluid in her lungs was gone. She was able to breathe on her own and was even waving and stopped crying. Faith brings miracles.

Another amazing miracle. We have been teaching a guy named Charles. He is in his late twenties I think. Anyway, he has schizophrenia. It has troubled him for quite a while. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that can cause the person to shake uncontrollably, see or hear things that aren't there and clutter their mind so they can't think straight or properly. Well Charles had been studying the scriptures and meeting with us missionaries for the past two months and he said he felt like he had the faith to be healed by the priesthood. He is a powerful guy. He showed us scriptures from both the Bible and the Book of Mormon that showed if we have sufficient faith, then the Lord will heal us. He asked me to give the blessing and Elder Chapman was in it as well. He received the blessing and immediately stopped shaking. It's been almost a week and he says he can control the shaking, he isn't confused and he is understanding people and the gospel better than ever. Basically his whole life is changing. He is someone that if Christ asked him to walk on water, he probably would.

We also took him out to meet some other investigators. One of which was Monica. She is a fifty something year old lady that we have been teaching for several visits now. She has gained such a solid testimony SO fast. And this came without even going to the church on Sunday yet. She said that what we say just feels right. She knows that this is the Lord's church because she can feel it. We explain and answer questions she didn't even know she had till we brought them up. She also has a son named Malvin who is a bit of a troublemaker. He is around thirty and could use our prayers. He has sat in on a few lessons, but really needs something to push him over the edge to come to church. Monica hasn't been able to attend yet because of work commitments, but she is working something out for Sundays in the future.

As for me personally I am doing well. Yes, sometimes it is weird for me working with and being around all these Mlungu's, but it's something that I am learning so much from. My testimony and understanding of the scriptures and the gospel as a whole is just deepening and being strengthened. I can honestly say I am going to be really sad when my mission is over. I have grown to love SA and the people so much. I am still a good 14 months away before that will happen, but it feels like time is going too fast.

I am constantly humbled by the sacrifices that saints over here are making to stay close to the Lord. Some will walk for like an hour or so every Sunday to get to church then take another hour walk back home afterwords. And they wont even tell people that. I found out a brother has been doing that for like the past three years, and we didn't even know till we saw him far away walking to the church. People's faith is humbling.

I love you guys so much!

Funny story.

Elder Chapman and I were driving around elsies river trying to decide a place that we would want to tract. We saw a bunch of little girls at these apartment complexes that were skipping rope. So I told chappy that we had to go skip with them. As we were attempting to skip we started having people gather around and laugh at us/with us... but mostly they laughed at us. Well we then started talking to all the people and we got a bunch of people's information and set appointments with them and their families to talk with them more about the gospel.

So we followed Jesus' example and hung out with little kids for ten minutes. As a result peoples hearts were softened and they wanted us to come teach them. Kind of sweet.

Helaman 8:15 & 2 Nephi 31:21

As we look to Christ we can live. There is no other way nor name given under heaven whereby we can be saved in the kingdom of God. How blessed are we to have such a Savior who would die for us so that we might live?

I love you all. Cheers.

Elder Mitchell Ryan Thayne