It wouldn't be mission if there weren't ups and downs, would it? This week was full of them! I remember while I was with Elder Marumo he would always point out that your faith in finding can fluctuate day by day, hour by hour, and sometimes even minute by minute... Oh how true that is! What day was it... Wednesday I think? No, Thursday! Elder Mphaka and I were walking back from doing service at the clinic, and I saw a group of guys standing around so I thought I'd try and talk to them. I go and say, "Hey, do you guys know if there's a McDonalds around here?" And one of the guys pointed out that I didn't greet them first, so I apologized, asked how they were, and he says, "There's no McDonalds in Stanger. You can move now." I don't think I'd ever been rejected that hard before, and I hadn't even gotten to the good stuff! So my faith was a little down, but then later we were in the grocery store, and I was looking at the different chocolate bars and another man was standing next to me, so I asked him which one is his favorite. He was super friendly, told me all about how he likes...eish I can't remember which flavour, but he likes having it with his lunch. He saw my nametag and told me Jesus is his king, so I showed him a Book of Mormon and he was STOKED about it! Faith, through the roof again! There are people being prepared for this message! Granted, most people aren't... But hey, I guess it wouldn't be called "finding" if you didn't have to do some serious searching, hey?
Let's see... Where to get started... Ah man, it's been an exciting week! We cruised around the Durban promenade on some Segways last Monday, and what an experience that was! Something about a cool ocean breeze that just puts my mind right... We exchanged with Phoenix after that, and I was with Elder Sieverts there. Ah Phoenix... What a fun area. Stanger's pretty diverse, but Phoenix is almost exclusively Indians and Pakistanis, and those are some of my favorite people. We had dinner with a long-time member that night who I'm pretty sure thinks she's an American... She's always saying "Powerrr!" really emphasizing her "r's." Which apparently we do. But she isn't shy to show everyone the February 1993 Ensign that she's in! If you have that go check it out... There's an article about the Church in South Africa, and it talks about how she gave up a R10,000 modeling job because it would have required her to wear an immodest swimsuit. Let's hear it for the faith of the saints!
Tuesday while we were on exchanges, Elder Sieverts and I had a few appointments bunk, so we had some time to do some contacting. We met a few guys that seemed solid, and then one guy who seemed REALLY solid. Super friendly and everything. But then after we talked to him, another brother came up and told us that guy was crazy and that he had killed someone years back. So that's the kind of people we're talking to. Elder Sieverts and I figured it would probably be a really good idea to seek guidance from the Spirit before following up on that guy. But all in all, a really good day. We had dinner with President Pillay that night, who's the branch president of Phoenix, whose wife's sister is Sister Singh, President Singh's wife... It was cool meeting them and hearing his conversion story. I guess they were Hindus before they joined the church something like 8 years ago.
Our Quit Smoking class was kind of a learning experience for us. On the downside, no one showed up... But on the plus side, we've got the material sorted out for when we try it again. The Rowberrys had come for the class, and they offered to take us out for dinner. Elder Mphaka had seen a place called the Copper Chimney that we wanted to try, and over dinner we were able to discuss what we could do to make it better next time. We discussed location (we had used the chapel, which we figured would be a good idea because it would get people to the church, but the downside is it's in a quieter part of town...) and advertising (a lot of people we talked to that seemed interested we had invited two, three, four weeks earlier... Most likely had forgotten. So we came up with some good ideas for the future. First on our list is going to be finding a community hall to rent to host it in a more central location. The Rowberrys are great by the way... The Copper Chimney served Indian and Pakistani food, and they were telling us about their travels that had taken them to India and Turkey amongst other places. One of the things that I thought was super cool was Sister Rowberry telling us how they had gone to a Mosque and participated in one of their prayers. She said she went in with the scarf Muslims wear and everything, and she found it to be a very spiritual experience. Elder and Sister Rowberry are completely devoted to their beliefs (so much that they even politely rejected the Coca Cola they brought us at the restaurant!), but are still able to see the beauty and spirituality of other belief systems. That's something I feel like the world could use a little more of.
This was super random... I think it was Saturday? Anyway, we were walking through the township and out of nowhere comes another mlungu. That caught us really off guard, because usually I'm the only mlungu in the township... But this guy was an Afrikaaner. Super drunk, but super friendly. I think he could best be described as "rebel without a cause." I guess he lives there... Because who says a mlungu can't live in the township?! He showed us his tattoo of his Zulu girlfriend, and uh... Well, I tried teaching him a little bit about the Book of Mormon, but eish... Nearly impossible when someone's drunk! Hopefully our paths cross again once he's sober.
Another guy that we met this week was named Mdu. We didn't talk gospel at all, but we were walking and talking and he told us he'd just moved here from Eastern Cape and loves the keyboard and guitar and stuff. So we have an appointment to jam with him next weekend. Really hoping this one doesn't bunk. We're gonna bring him some MoTab and a green hymn book. Hoo ah!
The week finished off great. Brother Don asked me to give a talk about five minutes before sacrament meeting started, which seems to happen quite a bit on mission. Back when it happened in Kimberley it kinda freaked me out a bit... But when you've been out this long you've always got something you can ramble on about for ten minutes or so. I went with joy yesterday, and I think the congregation felt the spirit. We'll hope so. The two families staying in Ethembeni used to have a family home evening group before the missionaries were pulled from Stanger, and we finally had time to get that started again on Sunday. Man, it was a fun lesson... We did an activity with the Golden Rule as Christ taught it. We had everyone write on a piece of paper something for someone else in the room to do, whether it was push-ups, dancing, singing, or telling secrets... And the plot twist was that you had to do what you asked someone else to do. The room was full of laughter, good times, and lots of the spirit. I guess Bheki, Philane, and Elton were baptized because of it, so hopefully it'll be able to bear some more fruit in the future!
Had kind of a humbling experience Sunday too. We were street contacting, and I started a conversation with this guy that ended up being from Limpopo, where Elder Mphaka's from. We were telling him about the Book of Mormon, and as Elder Mphaka asked for his details, we both started writing them down when he says, "Hey, he's stealing your customer!" We chuckled, but at the same time, I was just thinking... "Ah, the last thing I want is to be seen as a salesman." So I think I'm gonna change the goal of my contacting approach from trying to get their details to teaching them something meaningful. I'd much rather be seen as a teacher, or, as Brandon Flowers puts it, an "advocate of joy."
Great week lies ahead. Last one of the transfer... These just seem to fly by don't they?!
Sala kahle. Stay positive. Love your lives.
Much love,
Umdala Johnson
No comments:
Post a Comment