This week I honestly have no time to send a detailed email. We just had time to submit stats and email a couple of people, so later this week I will send my mass email!
Just know that I love you all and the work continues to move forward. :]
We hiked Table Mountain here in Cape Town today. Fun fact: Table Mountain is one of the seven wonders of the new world apparently.. I found that out on the hike today.
We inherited a investigator from our ZL's last week. Anyways, we were able to baptize one of them yesterday! So we were really blessed to have that for my son to have his first baptism. The girls name is Forgiveness. She is a champion. I love her so much. She has such a strong testimony of this gospel and is doing her absolute best to do what is right. She is awesome.
A ton of our appointments dropped this week which was a bummer, but we know that next week will be better. That's that faith that I am talking about. ;]
Sorry I don't have more time! Just know that I love you all and I have never been happier. This is such a great work and we are so blessed to be able to be moving it forward.
Okay, well after some sports and teaching I am hopping on to finish emailing for the week.
I first off hope you guys know that I KNOW that repentance is real. I have felt the succor of the Lord in my life as I have been willing to make the changes to grow close to Him. He always stands beckoning, but we need to make the effort to step towards him. The Atonement isn't just about making us clean, but it's about changing who we are. So that we no longer have the disposition to do evil. He took the punishment that we deserve, and offers us to change and be happy. And THAT's why he died on the cross, and that's why God sent him to show us the way. He wants us all to come back to him. That is why I am on a mission. Because this life isn't all about us, that's what the world wants us to think, but God teaches us to focus on others. "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." People need to know of the good news of the gospel and the ability they have to repent and change. It's the greatest gift that has been given to man. So there is my little preaching moment.
Things this week have been going pretty well. We have had a lot of different opportunities to teach and do things to go outside our comfort zone, and that stuff has to be pretty uncomfortable because I have a very wide comfort zone! We were at a prayer meeting where everyone was speaking Afrikaans and preaching/swaying and saying "ohh Jesus." We then were asked to share a bit to comfort the family. I had done it before, but that was with Xhosa people, not coloureds, so it was really weird for me, but it went pretty well. People cheered and grunted a lot. My son even said a few words!
We have been attempting to teach loads this week. We got a bunch of new investigators from our Zone Leaders. They have been teaching like six girls in a dorm in our area. Well when they realized that it was in our area they gave them to us, so now we have a bunch more people to teach. One of them (Forgiveness) was baptized on Sunday. So that was pretty cool! We were able to get them to volleyball on Friday and then help them meet a few of the ward members and start feeling comfortable with all of us.
I got new running shoes after going barefoot for over nine months for hikes and playing soccer. I have soccer cleats, but you can't really hike in those... It is so nice. I forgot what it's like to have those things. They feel like springs on my feet. I swear I can jump so much higher! They were especially nice because we hiked Table Mountain today. Table Mountain is basically stairs the entire way up, and we all died. Not really, but it was a rough hike. So worth it though. You can't be in Cape Town and not have hiked Table Mountain. I mean, like I said, it's one of the 7 new wonders of the world. So you can't miss out on that. My feet are so tired and sore, but I did get quite the leg workout, so that was good.
Well that's all I have for you guys, I have to go now and do the work. Sister Silomi's mum died last week and I am speaking at a prayer meeting tonight then on Saturday I am speaking at the funeral.. I don't even know the lady, but it's alright. I am going to be teaching the Plan of Salvation to a couple hundred people. People show up in numbers to these things.
Ohh sidenote, I forgot to tell you guys about something crazy that had happened in Khayelitsha when I was there. We were walking past a huge church with all this singing and our appointment had just dropped so I grabbed Elder Ngobeni and our fellowshipper Luyanda and went inside. The people saw me, the Mlungu, and pulled us up front. The preacher said, "Looks like we have a student paster from the UNITED STATES OF USA here with us tonight!" So I got up and just started preaching from Romans 7:21 and took off. It was pretty funny. People were shouting, "Amen! Sweet baby Jesus!" And other stuff like that. At the end I bore my testimony and people were shouting and clapping. Then the guy said "Thank you elder USA." I am sorry I forgot to tell that story! It was awesome. Little did we know in coming days people would see us in the street and invite us in to preach to them in their homes.
There was probably three or four hundred people there. It was crazy. Now imagine that many people shouting sweet baby Jesus.. it was crazy!
That's really all I have to share this week! It's been a cool week, just a bit slower than usual.
Love you all!
Elder Mitchell Ryan Thayne
Letters are welcome.
Elder Mitchell Ryan Thayne
South Africa Cape Town Mission
PO Box 181, Observatory,
Cape Town, 7935
Republic of South Africa
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