Area: Kimberly, South Africa
Companion: Elder Mashava
Week 18
Well well well.... I just turned 4 months the other day. Time is really a weird thing because yes it has gone fast and, no it has been a long time. So really I am quite confused about the whole thing.
Quote of the week:
When you live with Christ you have peace in your life"
So this week has been interesting, we worked a lot but don't have much to show for it which is okay, you just have to keep your head up :)
We taught a guy by the name of Christopher for the last time because he was moving back to his home in west cape. He told us of some of his addiction problems and desire to quit. as we were reading the scriptures he told us that he got his answer. He read in a quote the day before the same message that the scriptures were telling him so he explained to us that God has answered his prayer by telling him once then affirming his answer. It was cool to see the way that answers come to our prayers. We talked about how to overcome addictions and struggles. we told a story that goes a little like this... A boy and his son saw two wolves growling at each other preparing to fight. The boy turned to his father and asked, which wolf will win? the father replied the one you feed. this is the same to us. we are made up of two parts, our physical which in scriptures is referred to as the natural man and our spiritual. lust, addiction, and sin come from the physical nature of being human. true peace, comfort, and assurance comes from our spirit. We are at a constant war with ourselves as we try to have our spirit overcome our body and not let our body control us. Now which one will win this fight? the one you feed. If you feed your body, giving it lust, addiction, and the things that the body wants then it will eventually win this fight. If we feed our spirit with scriptures, prayer, and gospel then it will grow and overcome the body. whichever one you feed will grow stronger.
So moral of the story, feed your spirit not your body.
My companion Elder Mashava and I were planning for a young women who has been having a really tough time. We were both at a stupor of thought when it came to planning what would best help her, what she needed to know. We racked our brains and came up with nothing. Elder Mashava then said, I know what to do. I instantly felt relieved and asked him to further explain what we were to do. He looked at me and said pray.... We then bowed our heads and prayed for guidance in what we are to teach her, we definitely lacked knowledge and as the scriptures council we had to ask of God. (James 1:5) after we sat and tried think of what we were supposed to teach, The plan of salvation, which is the plan God has for each of us and the knowledge of where we are from and why we are here, kept coming to my mind but I wasn't sure if this was just me thinking. when I mentioned that that thought continued to pop in my mind Elder Mashava said that he had been thinking the same thing and even had in his hand a pamphlet about how the plan of salvation can help you be happy, he said he didn't know why he picked it up but he was just looking at it. We knew then that, that is what we were to talk about. God answers prayers!!! not always in an immediate effect, usually it takes time and more time then we would necessarily like but I do know he does always answer. If you have struggled with feeling like you don't receive answers to your prayers read Moroni 10:3-5 then pray again with the council given and I can promise you that you will receive an answer from God. I wouldn't be out here in South Africa missing my mom, college, friends, girlfriend and anything else the world has to offer if I didn't know God lives and answers prayers. He does! but from the old show reading rainbow, "don't just take my word for it, read for yourself"
I had my first rejection this week. We had a really powerful investigator named Fafa. we were heading to our appointment at his home excited for our discussion. when we arrived at the door and knocked we heard a voice from inside asking who was there. Cheerfully we replied "the missionaries!" the voice then came back unexpected, Leave, don't come back and don't call again. We were quite confused as we have had some amazing spiritual experiences with this family. we stood for a second not really understanding the situation until the reply came again with the same message. I learned a great lesson from this. as we walked away we looked at each other and just smiled, yes saddens us by the fact that someone has missed out on such a blessing and great knowledge but it was out of our hands and in the Lords. We did all we could and hopefully a seed was planted. That's missionary work for ya. Most reject and few accept, many are called but few are chosen.
Yes we do have hot showers, you switch the geeser on in the morning.
We have a ward of a couple hundred and an average attendance of 70-95 but it drops in the cold weather because people just stay at home, its Kimberley ward in Bloemfontein stake.
The kids like PlayStation and games on their phone. playing soccer in the street is what I see the most.
Thanks you all for your prayers and support, they are felt and appreciated!
P.S. I love getting letters, I have been bad in the past but If you write me I will write you back! :) my address is found on my blog.
Love you all!
Elder North
Elder Mikel North
South Africa Durban Mission
PO Box 1741
Wandsbeck 3631
South Africa
No comments:
Post a Comment