Man... President Uchtdorf's the man, isn't he? Durban Stake had stake conference this weekend and he was here speaking to us!... Well, in a broadcast anyway, but that's ok. Him, Elder Bednar, Elder Gay, and Sister Stevens. There's something in the air about creativity... Hastening the Lord's work in ways other than the ways that have been done for years and years and years. Thinking outside the box. Putting the Mormons on the map. Can you feel it? So that was a thing, and lobola... Haha lobola got shambocked hard by the brethren, and inevitably there was some major tension in the room. Lobola, for you Americanos, is something similar to the bride price Johnny Lingo had to pay for Mahana (you ugly!), and while the idea behind lobola is noble (in order for a man to marry a woman, he must show that he can work and will be able to provide for her by paying a certain number of cows to the family of the bride), the practice has been corrupted by the vanity of the world. It ends up being about money, drinking, and what and what... And it makes it especially difficult for young Latter-day Saints seeking temple marriage, who end up having to work for years and years to save up for their bride before they can even get married. So the brethren have encouraged many African nations to give it up. But eh... It's hard giving up traditions. Especially as a Zulu. The Zulu people LOVE their culture and traditions. The gospel... As Brother Jubber always told Elder Mphaka and I in Stanger, "It ain't for sissies!" The Lord asks a lot, but in return, promises blessings and eternal life and stuff, which is pretty neat.
Ah man... Great week! Busy week... I guess I'll just share a few highlights!
Elder Okeng and I got to teach ZTM this week, which I think ended up going really well. I don't know that it was necessarily the plan from the beginning, but the direction the meeting kind of took was one of Christ-like love as a part of missionary work, creativity, and working towards goals. I was talking with Elder Okeng a little while ago... We decided that no matter how well you may be living the other commandments, if you're living the Word of Wisdom, the Law of Chastity, the Ten Commandments...everything else, but you're not living Christ's second great commandment to love your neighbour as yourself, you won't find yourself in the Celestial Kingdom. President Bricknell gave a great talk at stake conference, speaking about the Sermon on the Mount. He said that the most difficult commandment Christ has ever given us is to love our enemies. Christ-like love... Much easier said than done. But hey... One step at a time! Sometimes all it takes is a simple, "I appreciate you!" to someone who needs it. "By small and simple things, great things are brought to pass."
After ZTM I went on exchanges with Elder Ncube in Margate. Man, Elder Ncube's the bomb. He's from JoBurg, and he has kind of a crazy conversion story (or sometimes he calls it a reactivation story...lemme explain). So he was baptized when he was 8 years old, and I think somewhere around high school went inactive for a time... But ultimately ended up returning about a year ago! So he was working with the missionaries a bit, and they came to realize that his records at the church had been lost... So! He had to be retaught and rebaptized! Never heard anything like that before... But man, he's a great guy. Our plan was to set up a media stand outside the Pick N Pay there, but we had left the table and banner in the car that was in uMlazi, so... That didn't happen. But! We ended up getting to go street contacting which is always a jolly good time. And Margate... Is a flipping resort town. Elder Gold had served there last year, and he always told me it's the Newport Beach of South Africa. And that's true. It's kind of a tough area to talk to people... But it's beautiful. And there was a Hibiscus Mall and a sign with a big Aloha on it, so it was kind of like Hawaii too.
There was one night we were trying to find a referral Elder Rowley and Elder Paige had given us. They had met some guy on the street named Jon Anthony Bhengu...so he said. He gave them his address and told them he'd be home after six on weekdays. His address fell under our area, so we went searching for his house for what seemed like forever... The way addresses work in a township is basically you'll get a section letter and a number. Not a street. So you basically have to just search the whole section until you find the right number. But! We finally found the right house, and uh... It turned out to be a tavern! And no one there had heard of this Jon Anthony fellow... So that was a downer. But the bigger downer kinda came when the guys there asked what we needed him for. I told them we wanted to share a message about Jesus Christ with him. And the response? "Jesus Christ? I hate that guy! He was a liar!" And uh... That's not really one they prepare you for at the MTC! We just kinda stood there for a second and carried on our merry way. Yoh... I'd never heard anyone so blatantly deny Christ like that! We were a little shaken, but ended up having a good lesson with Sister Lungile afterwards, who's getting baptized this Sunday! Woop woop!
What else... The Rowberrys had a meeting with us and the Durban Zone Leaders yesterday, and the theme was, again, thinking outside the box to achieve our goals. One thing we've noticed is that the babas and father-led families that we want to be teaching are usually working during the day, and a lot of the time they're in downtown Durban. So that gives us incentive to go contacting that side. And for the Durban ZLs, whose area is downtown Durban, they can do lots of contacting there, but most of the people they'll talk to aren't in their areas, so they end up having to send referral after referral to us in the townships... So! We're exploring having the missionaries from Umlazi, kwaMashu, and a couple of the other townships take turns doing some contacting in their area so that we can find people from our own areas that way. So more on that in the future! The other thing we were focusing on is having unity between the members and missionaries in the sense of goals... What we're each working towards. President Bricknell gave the challenge to every unit in the stake to prepare to split in the future, and to start working together with the missionaries to see what we all need to do to make that happen. Priesthood holders is going to be the big player... Driving all our efforts towards that end. Exciting stuff.
Lots of good things happening this last week. Good missionaries. Good people. Got to see the Stanger crew at Stake conference. And you're not gonna believe who was able to make it... Bright! Him and Octavia have one thing to take care of before their baptism, but man... They're doing great! So it was good to see them, Elder Mphaka, the Singhs, Benny and Nalin, Vincent, Sister Moodley... I guess they all got to go to the temple this weekend! The Topodzis were sealed, lots of work for the dead happened... Ah, so cool! One of the most rewarding parts of mission is the friendship you gain with the people you meet, and getting to see them progress in the gospel. Great, great stuff.
So what's coming up this week... Two exchanges in Umlazi, Thanksgiving on Thursday, and other than that... Some time in our own area! Woo, that'll be good. As of yet, we don't have plans for Thanksgiving, but uh... I'm feeling Nando's. They don't have turkey (kinda hard to come by here...) but you can buy a full chicken for R99...which is about $10. So... It's still a bird, right? Something like that. Hopefully it happens. Either way, it'll mean that we're setting up the Christmas tree next Monday and we'll queue the Christmas music! Hurrah for Israel!
Sala kahle, stay positive, and love your lives madoda.
Much love,
Umdala Johnson
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