Monday, February 2, 2015

"It's not our words that convert people, it's the power of the Holy Ghost."

Hey family, howzit going! This week has gone by crazy fast, luckily I wrote some things down because I don't remember any of it haha.

So we've been tracting a lot this week and just inviting everyone to church. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but you just gotta keep trying! That's how we got Sipho Lukele, who's our most powerful investigator. Haha when we taught him the law of chastity and dressing modestly he thought he had to dress in a white shirt and tie like us all the time, so he was bummed but totally ready to do it! So we explained that no, you can still dress like a normal person haha. He gained his testimony of the Book of Mormon and ever since then has been keeping all the commandments we teach him, he's super sweet.

But we've been tracting to a lot of college kids, which can be really difficult. They remind me of the scripture (don't remember where it is) that says "When men are learned they think they are wise." These people have grown up in Daveyton their whole lives, and then they go to College in Pretoria (a city an hour away from Daveyton) and they just experience different cultures and learn a lot, which is good, but then they come back to Daveyton and are super prideful. They just think that everyone there is ignorant because they know more than them, so they can be pretty difficult to teach. Hahaha this one guy in his 4th year of university was just like "Well let's take a look at history. We have Zeus, who was a god, and his son Hercules, who was half man half god, so I don't really believe in just one God," and I was like "Dude what the freak are you even talking about" hahaha. They think they know a lot, but they don't, and every time I just want to bible bash them to death, but I usually just bear my testimony and bounce. Like Paul says in 1st Corinthians "I came to you...not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God...that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." As missionaries we speak in simple terms, because it's not our words that convert people, it's the power of the Holy Ghost. So, when a college girl tries to tell me that she's on a deeper spiritual level because she has a memorized script about how Jesus Christ is metaphysical, I'm just like "Okay well I know that he isn't, and if you read the Book of Mormon you can know too," and then they're usually silent because as some general authority once said (maybe a prophet?) "It's almost impossible to dispute a heartfelt testimony."

Besides that, we've been having really good lessons with our investigators! The one that stands out the most is Gugu, a 21 year old single mom who's in her first year of university. We taught her last Sunday, and we were talking about repenting and correcting your sins, and I just felt like I should make an example of forgiving people and letting go of grudges, so I talked for like a minute on it and then we moved on. Then on Saturday we taught her again, and she said that before we talked about repentance, she had a dream about going to her neighbor and apologizing, because four years ago they had an argument and haven't talked since. But she brushed off the dream, and then we had that lesson, and then that night she had the same dream again! So she went and apologized and dropped the grudge, and said that the whole process just confirmed to her that the Book of Mormon is true! Ah I was so happy, it was one of the coolest lessons I've had so far!

So yeah, it was a pretty great week! But now we're gonna go bowling as a zone activity, so I'll talk to you guys next week! Love you all, thanks for all you do!
Cheers

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