Saturday, June 21, 2014

Golden Lessons

June 9, 2014

Dear family and friends,

The time is going too quickly as I only have 1 p-day left after this! I'm not really ready to come back yet because we are teaching some great people at the moment. Life moves on though, and I know the Elder that replaces me will help the work continue to progress. We have been traveling this past week to work with some of the zone leaders in the mission which has been wonderful. It was my last time to visit with some of these Elders and saying good-bye is never easy.

On Tuesday we spent the day in my old area of Osizweni to work with the ZL's there. It was great to see that the Osizweni branch is continuing to develop, and it was wonderful to see some of the people we baptized continue to progress in the gospel. The Elders serving there are both quite new to the area so I was able to show them a few of the people we had been teaching and some less actives. The next day we worked with the ZL's in PMB, it was my first time visiting their area and it was great to see another part of the mission.

We arrived back in Durban on Thursday and we were able to get back to work in our area. We have found some great people the last few days! We taught a great lesson to a new family we've been teaching called the N______ family. It is a grandmother, mother and her young son. We taught the restoration and their understanding of the message was incredible. They had amazing questions and I remember walking out of the lesson wishing every time we taught people they could understand that well! It was one of those moments where I felt the spirit in an undeniable way. We'll meet with them again on Tuesday and I'm looking forward to see how they progress.

A few days ago we got a referral from the Elders that work in the ward with us in Pinetown. There was a YSA aged man that approached them on the street asking if the Elders could visit with him but he's in our area. We decided to check on him yesterday, his name is S______ and he's from Swaziland. His sister is a member of the church in Swaziland and he has visited the church there before. We also met with his roommate who is also from Swaziland, they're so interested in the message and they immediately wanted us to explain the Book of Mormon to them. We taught the entire message of the restoration, and once again their understanding was incredible. They said they have to come to church this Sunday; I wish all of our investigators had the enthusiasm they have to come to church! These 2 guys are the types of investigators that you just know when you meet them they are prepared by the Lord. I am quite hopeful they will progress in the gospel, it's always nice when you find golden investigators-- especially potential Melchizedek priesthood holders!

I didn't think it could get any better, but I was wrong because we ended Sunday evening with another great lesson. About a week ago we were walking on the street doing some contacting when we found a young father working on his yard. We spoke to him for a minute and he was very friendly towards us. He invited us to come back and visit when his whole family was home. Well as we had an appointment fall through last night we decided to go check his family; as we pulled up to the house he was walking in with his family. He stays with his wife and 2 young children. His wife thought we were missionaries from a certain church (everyone thinks we are from this church... take your guesses) so she wasn't too friendly at first, but then she found out we do this for 2 years and we wanted to open with a prayer so he discovered we are different. They were so open and willing to listen to what we had to share with them. They wanted to know how they know if they are going to the right church which led perfectly in the story of Joseph Smith. We left them with the Book of Mormon and they had a strong desire to learn more. The wife (named Nthombi) said to her husband: "How have we never heard about this book before! It sounds amazing." We'll be meeting with them again this week, it's so nice to find a young married couple because that's incredibly difficult to find here in South Africa.

I have felt the tender mercies of the Lord time and time again as I continue to serve Him with all my heart. It hasn't always been easy, but it has been worth it. I will continue to give it my all even as the final days count down in my service of the Lord. This work is led by Him, I have no doubt in my find. It's a tremendous blessing to share this wonderful gospel with God's children, it has and will continue to bless the lives of many.

Much love,
Elder Summers

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