Sharp sharp madoda!
Ok first off, the spacebar on this key board is terrible... I promise I know how to spell words and stuff but at this point I'm sick of trying to press it really hard for every word. So just try and decipher what I'm trying to say. I know it might be hard, but I promise that as you do so, and you move forward in faith, you will find within my email depth, purpose, and meaning. Even so. Amen.
Ah man, great week in Umlazi! Elder Okeng loves deep doctrine and he studies it like a mad man. The gospel should lead you to have the desire to share it with everyone, so we'll be driving around and he'll look at the streets and say something like, "These guys don't even know..." Or try and guess what's in people's minds. Looking at a young, flirtatious couple: "Law of chastity for who? For those other guys maybe, but not for us!" Ah man, if only everyone knew all the doctrine... Shouldn't they send something like 88,000 people amongst the whole world to tell them? Seems like a good idea...
Well let's see. We played soccer last Monday for the first time in ages, and uh...not to brag or anything but scored a goal on a bunch of Africans who have been playing soccer their whole lives, and I have two left feet! Now maybe they were going easy, but hey... Everyone needs a little ego booster every once in a while, right? P-days on the coast are nice because every once in a while you get to bump into someone you haven't seen in ages. I saw Elder Brimhall last week, and man... It's been too long! He's one of my favorite guys. He's like 6' 7", and I always forget how tall that is untilI see him. He's in my MTC group, and he's one of those guys that every missionary should try and be like. Testimony big as all outdoors, loves everyone, always happy, hardworker... He's the man.
Finally tried the celebrity finding approach this week! We've had the sheet with pictures of Brandon Flowers and Dan Reynolds and stuff forever, but only first tried it this week. The crazy thing was... Ok, so last Sunday, Elder Rowley and Elder Paige did some tracting in our area while we were waiting for our Sunday lunch appointment, and that's what they were using... And coincidentally, the first time we tried it, the guy was like, "Yeah some other guys were showing me this last week! They gave me a pamphlet and told me some other missionaries were gonna come visit..." Those other missionaries were us! Fate? Destiny? Being led by the Spirit? Take your pick! His name is Sphamandla and we had a lesson with him the next day! We taught him the Restoration and man... It's hard to find someone who understands it as well as he did! He has a friend that's a returned missionary,and at the end he decided he needed to pray and find out if this is true! He was asking about his Zulu traditions and how they fit in with the gospel... Zulu traditions include sacrifices in the same likeness as the Law of Moses. It's a tough issue that comes up pretty frequently in the township. The answer is that the Lord asks us to give things up that aren't in line with gospel standards, but to preserve the positive cultural traditions. It's a challenge for many people, but hey... This gospel sure wasn't meant to be easy. All that's promised us is that it will be worth it.
Njabulo and Pamela were at church again! Ah man, they're just fantastic. You look at them and you just think MORMON! Big Z's coming teaching with us after our interviews on Tuesday, and we're planning on committing them to baptism with him!
We're teaching a sister named Nokubonga...but sometimes introduces herself as Penny...but no matter what her name is she worked in America for a while! And her daughter was born there! So at least wehave that in common! I think Elder Okeng and Elder Lewis found her last transfer, and apparently sister missionaries had given her a Book of Mormon back in the states, but never followed up with her... (Slackers!) So we taught her the Restoration this week, and at the end of the lesson, we asked her how she felt about it, and all she said was, "I think I need to pray. I need to find out if this is true." Sound familiar? Man, the Lord is preparing people, baba!
Let's see.... Oh! MLC happened this week! Man, I just love President Zackrison. I've never met anyone as spiritual as him. He always gives us such profound insights from his personal scripture study. Like this week… He was talking about a verse from 1 Nephi 11 where Nephi is being shown a vision of things to come, and there's one verse (I don't remember which number...) that speaks of angels ministering to the earth, and he posed the question, "What if we're some of those angels?" Pretty deep stuff. Him and the assistants are power. We learned alot about goal setting, leadership, humility, and what we're asked to do to elevate the work. Feeling pumped. Man... Missionary work is fun sometimes. Well, really all the time if you make it fun!
So a couple funny stories... Saturday we were supposed to do some service in the morning, so we took our shirts and ties to the area to change there. And well... I forgot a tie. We couldn't really drive 30ks back to the boarding just for a tie sooo... I fashioned a garbage bag into a tie! #YOLO swaggin! Only a few people noticed... But you gotta do what you gotta do, right?
We were walking to an appointment one day, and a man named Hendrick came up to us and told us to bless him or read him a verse or something. So, we read him Ether 12:4 and scored a new investigator out of it! Unplanned teaching opportunities bru… They're the best!
Lots of good stuff to look forward to this week! Interviews... Brother Mthembu gave the go ahead to ask BigZ if we can do a fireside with him... Zone activity at the mission home today... And lots of people to be found that need the gospel in their lives! Hoo ah!
Sala kahle, stay positive, and love your lives my friends.
Much love,
Umdala Johnson
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