PJ Update

March 11, 2013

Hello everyone,

This past week had a couple of pretty great experiences. We have really been having difficulty getting people to accept baptismal challenges but this past week we were able to get a lot of people to accept. I will relate a couple of experiences. We have been teaching this guy named N______ for about 3 months now. He has been hesitant to accept baptism because he says he hasn't received his answer yet. We have had some incredibly spiritual experiences with him but he says he needs an extra push. Well he finally got that extra push through the help of a member. In our area it is difficult to get members to come with us because of transportation issues and lack of members here. We had a recent convert who is about the same age as N_________ come with us. This recent convert is pretty famous here in PJ, he started the Anglican church here and is just very well known. Anyways, N______ actually knew our recent convert and was shocked that he is a member of our church. At the end of the lesson we challenged him to be baptized on April 14 and he accepted. He has read about the 1/3 of the Book of Mormon and he is really enjoying it, hopefully he will continue to progress. When we have members with us it makes missionary work so much easier!

We were also teaching a mother by the name of L____. She has been meeting with us for about a month now. She told us that she wants to be baptized because she has been praying for answers and the day we showed up at her door was a direct answer to her prayers. She said she isn't feeling peace at her church right now and that she wants to change. The difficulty for a lot of people here is that they are afraid to move churches because of what people will say. I loved what L____ told us though: "I cannot serve two masters, I can only serve God and if this is true it's the right thing to do." I wish more people understood this statement. The mission faces a lot of problems...cultural differences, transportation concerns, inactivity, etc but the biggest difficulty is that literally everyone already has a church here! It's rare that we find someone that doesn't have a church. There are a billion different christian churches here in South Africa (further evidence of the apostasy). We are doing our best though to really help people understand the role of the Book of Mormon and authority. It takes time but we are getting there!

I hope everyone has a great week!! I hope Anaheim is ready to receive a great new sister missionary!

Elder Summers

Birthday Week

Tues, March 5

Dear family and friends,

Well I'm now 20 years old, no longer a teenager but I still feel the exact same. Still crazy as ever and my companions can all testify to that! This past week was awesome and I had a great birthday. On Sunday I was able to confirm Leb____ and baptize L____, I can't think of a better way to celebrate my birthday! It was a great day and the spirit was so strong. Leb_____ bore his testimony in testimony meeting right after being confirmed, he has a love for the Book of Mormon and talked about how many blessings he has seen since attending church and meeting with the Elders. L_____ was then baptized after church and he was so excited. The water was pretty cold on Sunday but he told me he didn't care if it was snowing, he was going under! L______ is going to be a powerful member and it's exactly what this branch needs. He has the potential to change lives and unite this branch.

I wasn't able to write home on Monday because we were in Lesotho the entire day. It was my first time going into Lesotho (my current area of PJ is right on the border) and it was a lot of fun. We spent the whole day together as a zone, we went and spent time at an orphanage for a while and played with the kids. We then went and played soccer in a pretty rural area (I guess most of Lesotho is rural) with some kids. It was pretty cool to go and play soccer in the middle of Lesotho. It was by far one of my best pdays on mission. Even though the little kids couldn't speak any English, it was still fun to hang out with them and try to speak as much Sesoto as I know, it's a pretty tough language! It just reminded me to always remain grateful for what I have been given. These children have absolutely nothing. It's is always important to remember just how much the Lord has blessed us with no matter what our circumstances may be.

I've been contemplating a lot this past week why so many people do not have the chance to hear this message. Sometimes it can be frustrating when people stop meeting with us or the work isn't moving very smoothly but I received a direct answer to my question this week. I have been praying to understand how I can be a more effective advocate of the truth and why so many seem to not have the interest in meeting with us lately. While asking the Lord this question a chapter came right into my mind. Alma chapter 29. Alma talks about how he wishes he was an Angel and could declare unto the ends of the earth with a trump repentance and salvation, but I love what he says in verse 3: "I ought to be content with the  things which the Lord has allotted unto me." Then he continues in verse 6 and says: "Now, seeing that I know these things, why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called?" Sometimes missionary work can be frustrating but the Lord only requires our best! He does not require us to baptize every single person we meet, he only requires us to work hard and exercise some faith. I find solace in the words of Mosiah 4:9: "The Lord has all wisdom and all knowledge...man doth not comprehend all things which the Lord can comprehend." We do not know everything but the Lord does! He has a plan, all we have to do is go out and rely on Him! The Lord is with us and He will always be there to support us in our time of need, sometimes we just need to exercise a little more faith and patience.

Love you all,
Elder Summers

The Lord is Preparing HIs People

Mon, Feb 25

Dear family and friends,

Well it has been another interesting and eventful week in the mission field. I feel like everyday is filled with something interesting especially when serving in this part of the world. Yesterday we had the baptism of Leb_____and it went very smoothly. We were really trying to encourage him to bear his testimony after his baptism and he told us he would pray about it. Well right before he was baptized I asked him if he wanted to give his testimony and he told me yes. After he was baptized he gave a powerful testimony about the blessings that have come into his life since he met the Elders and how the Book of Mormon is true so he knows the church is true. He is going to be a powerful member and it was really exciting to see him baptized yesterday. It's incredible to see how the gospel can change lives and the role of the Book of Mormon. 

This past week we had to be really bold with a few investigators who are becoming "eternal" investigators. This includes a girl who was going to be baptized but has gone back to her old church. I asked her if she knows the Book of Mormon is true, she responded by telling us yes and that she always feels peace when she reads it. I then read from the quote in the Into to the B.O.M. where Joseph Smith tells us the Book of Mormon is the "keystone of our religion." We helped her understand more clearly that everything we teaches hinges on the divinity and authenticity of the Book of Mormon. It's not by coincidence that the Lord brought forth a book at the start of the restoration. If not for the Book of Mormon we would have no claim on authority or divine revelation. We were able to really help some of our investigators understand the role this book plays in their conversion and testimony of what we are teaching. The more I read the Book of Mormon the more I grow to love it. I can't help but pick up this book each and everyday to study its contents. I have learned something new each and every time I read this book and I feel the love of my Heavenly Father each time I pray to know of its truthfulness. 

We also had a couple of great lessons this past week in preparing L_____ for his baptism this Sunday. He told me yesterday that the Book of Mormon and the message we have shared with him has completely changed his life. L______ has gone through some difficult family struggles and the loss of many loved ones. He had really lost a lot of hope and he had a lot of questions about our purpose here in life and where we go in the next life. As he has read the Book of Mormon and we taught him the Plan of Salvation we have seen his demeanor change and the hope which has filled his life that he can see his loved ones again. He has always had an incredible faith but has simply been kept from the truth. His conversion story has repeatedly brought the words of D&C 123:12 to my mind: "there are many are earth...kept from the truth because they know not where to find it." He was searching for truth and he found it. I'm going to talk more about how we met Lerato and how the Lord performs miracles if we work hard and have faith. 

We were meeting with a recent convert when all of a sudden L_____ walked into the door. He sat down and began discussing with us. After talking with him for about 30 minutes, we realized he had all of the right questions but lacked answers. Within a few days we taught him the restoration and we could see his eyes being opened as we handed him the Book of Mormon. From there the rest is history and the moment he began reading the Book of Mormon he was converted. The incredible part is the reason I believe we met him is because my companion and I had been fasting that the Lord would help us find priesthood holders to help strengthen this branch. Within days L______ "coincidentally" walked right into one of our lessons. Now many would say it was by chance that we met L_____ but I can tell you without a shadow of doubt in my mind that the Lord was preparing this man. The branch needs someone like L____ because they are seriously lacking for leadership, knowledge of the gospel and priesthood. L______ has a lot of potential to strengthen this branch and be a powerful member in the church. The Lord is preparing people, in order for us to be led to these people we must be obedient, work hard and have the faith that the Lord will lead us to them. It will be a great week next week as Lerato will be baptized and take that next step forward towards living with our Father in Heaven once more and doing temple work for his loved ones who have passed on. 

I love all of you and wish you the best from Phuthaditjhaba, South Africa! 

Elder Summers

Phuthaaditjhaba

Mon, Feb 18

Dear family and friends,

It has been another week to remember here in Phuthaditjhaba. How many of you can pronounce that by the way? Some of these African names are ridiculous sometimes haha. This past week we had a couple of great lessons with people who are getting ready for baptism. I'm not sure how many of you remember this guy named L_____ that we met about a month ago. He has been reading the Book of Mormon like crazy and on Tuesday he told us he wants to be baptized. I have never seen someone so converted since I have been on mission. He is reading everything we give him, he is reading about temples, gospel principles, the lorenzo snow book, etc. He even wants a D&C! We told him to slow down a little bit and take it one step at a time. He will be getting baptized on March 3rd (My birthday!) so we are really excited. He has so much potential to be a powerful member in the branch. He is already doing a lot of missionary work, his sister is really interested in the church. She lives in Johannesburg, we directed her to the nearest chapel there and she visited church on Sunday. It is so great to see how the restored gospel can completely change a persons life. Lerato was really struggling with quite a few things in his personal life and the Book of Mormon has completely changed his demeanor. Every time he reads the Book of Mormon he relates it so well to his own life, it's just further testimony to me that the Book of Mormon was written for our day!

We also have a baptism coming up this Sunday. Leb______ was interviewed and is ready to be baptized, Leb_____ is a stud. He is so excited and every time we talk to him he just tells us all about the blessings he has seen since reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church. I gave him a DVD that had about 4 hours worth of church videos, he told me that very same night he watched all of the videos on the DVD. He is even talking about how after he becomes a member he wants to serve a mission. It's so great to see people become converted before they are even baptized. President Von Stetten (our mission president) always talks about how we are looking for converts to the gospel, not just baptisms. Unfortunately in the past so many people here in Africa have been baptized too quickly and were not ready to make and keep the sacred covenants associated with baptism. Inactivity is a huge problem the church is facing here in Africa.

Becoming converted is really a lifelong process but I feel like my mission has converted me for the rest of my life. I always had a testimony growing up in the church but I never felt that conversion or mighty change of heart that Alma speaks of. My mission has finally given that to me which I'm really grateful for. I loved that talk from Elder Bednar in this past conference about conversion, if you haven't had the chance to read it then go back and look over it. It's a fantastic talk about conversion and the process we must all go through. Anyways, I hope everything is going well back home and you all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Summers

New Companion

Hello friends and family,

Time just flies by as mission gets better and better. The older I get on mission the more I seem to enjoy everyday and just relax. My new companion arrived late Tuesday night. His name is Elder Ng'ambi and he's from Zambia. He joined the church in 2011, he has 8 in his family and most of them are members. His branch back home is super small, only about 20 people at church every week but apparently about 90% of the members in his branch are less active. There are just a ton of less active members throughout Zambia which is unfortunate to hear. One of the biggest struggles with inactivty is that the chapels are often too far for people or they have to work on Sundays to support their families. It's definietly a struggle we are facing in this mission.

Well I have just a couple of short stories from this past week. We got a referral from a YSA sister to visit her friend who stays in our area. The referrals name is F____ and she is really cool. We met her for the second time on Saturday and we had a powerful lesson with her. After teaching her half the restoration (up to the apostasy) the first time we met we left her with a pamphlet. Well we came back on Saturday to finish the restoration and found that she had read the whole pamphlet. She had about 2 full pages of notes from the pamphlet and questions. She understood the restoration incredibly well and she was so happy that we gave her a Book of Mormon. She kept offering us money for the Book of Mormon but we had to just keep explaining that it is free haha. She has great potential to progress and were excited to keep meeting with her. It is so much easier to do missionary work when we get referrals. We would have never met this girl if not for this referral because she lives pretty far from the central area we do proselyting.

It has been exciting to have the opportunity to train so far. My companion isn't even that green and I can tell he is going to be a great missionary. I've already learned a lot from him and he has reminded me of the importance of bearing a simple testimony. There is nothing more important in teaching lessons than bearing testimony. Often times we receive difficult questions about whether God is really there or other struggles people face but each time I bear testimony there is an undeniable spirit that enters the room. The most important thing in teaching is sharing testimony, when we say the words "I know" or "I testify" it invites the spirit instantly. It's incredible how many people constantly comment that they feel the spirit or peace when we visit them. I think that I sometimes forget the simple feelings of the spirit such as peace, hope and joy that I feel in my everyday life. The spirit doesn't have to be this overwhelming feeling, it's the calm reassurance that God lives and that He has a plan for us. I know this to be true and I'm so grateful for that hope in my everyday life.

Love you guys,

Elder Summers

The Work is Hastening....Transfers

Hello everyone!

What a crazy past week it has been and I don't know where to begin this email. I have so many different stories but I'll have to stick to the main points. First off we had zone conference on Wednesday. We drove to Bloemfontein which is about 4 hours from PJ, Bloemfontein is a beautiful city that reminded me of Las Vegas interestingly enough. At zone conference President Von Stetten said that the work is hastening and he talked about the huge announcement from President Monson at General Conference. He said our mission will be opening NINE new areas by July, that's incredible. There is going to be a huge influx of missionaries and he said he needs more trainers, more leaders and more obedient missionaries. He said this is the greatest time since the church was founded in 1830. He said that he spoke with the Area Seventy here after the missionary announcement, the Seventy said that the decision for the age to be dropped has been made just a couple days before conference and the ONLY people who knew about it were the 15 brethren. This was not some announcement that had been planned for a while, it was direct revelation to the Prophet only days before conference.

President Von Stetten also talked about the latest priesthood manual we are studying this year, the teachings of Lorenzo Snow. He spoke about how President Snow in his early days of the church was called in general conference to stand up and accept a call to start art the mission in Italy. He was given only TWO weeks to prepare to leave for Italy after he had settled down with his family. Then President Von Stetten proceeded to say: "Just as general conference of old, I want the following brethren to stand up. Elder Munson, Elder Summers and Elder Kyimba. You are herby called to serve as trainers of new missionaries coming this transfer. Unlike President Snow, I'm giving you one week to prepare." My heart was pounding quite a bit because this was infront of about 70 Elders all gathered together for zone conference. President said that these missionaries aren't just green, they are dark green like martians. The reason being that this is the first group of missionaries to come into this mission that have their time cut down from the MTC. They have been given only 10 days in the MTC instead of 3 weeks. I was reflecting on my time in the MTC and how vital that full 3 weeks where for me, there is no way I was ready at 10 days! So we got transfer calls last night, my new companion is from Zambia. His name is Elder N'gombi. He is one of the only Elders from Zambia in the mission, I'm super excited to meet him tomorrow. I'm kind of nervous to train a new missionary but I'm pretty excited.

A few other things from this past week. There is a girl named H_____ that we found while tracting at the end of December. We taught her for about 2 weeks and discovered she was a golden investigator. We referred her to the missionaries in Bloemfontein when she left at the beginning of January. I spoke with the Elders at zone conference who have been teaching her, she is going to be baptized in 2 weeks! She has gone to church there every single week since we reffered her to the missionaries. It's pretty cool to see her progress and that she is taking that great step towards joining Jesus Christ's church. We have also been teaching her mother here in PJ. Her name is V_____ she accepted our challenge of baptism on Thursday! Mother and daughter will both be getting baptized but in different places! There is kind of a funny story about how we found H___ and her mother V____. We were walking to an appointment and while we were walking I see this house that has a car parked out back. I am always attracted to houses that have cars because they are kind of rare here and if the family progresses it is easy for them to come to church. I know it's kind of biased but hey it's the truth! Well we go and knock on the door but the lady we find (V____) actually doesn't live there, she lives next door. So the car didn't even belong to them and the car was out of commision. The Lord works in mysterious ways! It's cool to see how this family has progresses in the gospel.

Another cool story from church on Sunday. In our investigators class we talked about baptism. After the lesson our investigator named L_____ who I spoke about last week came up to me. He told me that he received an answer to his prayers in a dream, he dreamt about being baptized and he wants to be baptized by the end of the month. He is ready and we are so excited! That seriously made my week! I have been praying and fasting that he would receive his answer and have the desire to be baptized. He is keeping all of the commandments and he has been coming to church every week. He is planning on being baptized on the 24th of this month. Real quick another story, I succesfully street contacted and gave a Book of Mormon to a white person here! You might be saying: "So what?" In my first area of Margate it was about 50% white, 50% black and I didn't hand out a single Book of Mormon to a white person the entire time I was there! White people just didn't want to meet with us or hear our message. I only taught one white family my entire time there and they were eternal investigators. Anyways, this lady we met was sitting on the grass outside of the college here. It was odd to see a white person around here (PJ is 99.9% black, the .1 being us 2 white missionaries) so we started talking to her. We found out that she works as a secretary at the college but lives about 15 miles from PJ. We started talking to her and found that she had actually met with missionaries before in Johannesburg. She really wants to meet with us again and she didn't know we are here. We went back the next day and gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to church. Hopefully she'll be able to come, she was seriously the nicest white person I have met here in South Africa.

Well it was a fantastic week overall and the Lord is really blessing us here. We have some baptisms coming up and the branch is starting to improve. We even found some land for a chapel and we are really hoping it will go through. Thank you for all of your support and prayers, I feel it here!

Love,

Elder Summers

Nothing Happens by Coincidence

Dear family and friends,

I have never felt so tired since serving a mission. My companion and I worked really hard this past week and it was HOT! The sun is really draining. I know you all are suffering with the cold there but we are suffering quite the opposite here. It was pretty painful to wake up to the alarm a few times this week haha. It feels really good at the end of the day when I know that I have given my all and I have used the Lords time wisely. One of my goals since serving a mission has been to make every day count and to have no regrets, so far it's going pretty well. I'm really doing great right now and the work is moving along smoothly. My companion and I are getting along very well and the work is continuing to progress. The baptism that was delayed went very smoothly yesterday, I don't think it was by coincidence that it got postponed to yesterday and I'll explain why. Last Sunday we were supposed to have the baptism but of course the water wasn't working so we were pretty frustrated and we had hardly any investigators at church. It ended up working out better that it was yesterday though because a lot of our investigators came to church and were able to stay afterwards to witness the baptism. They all said that it was nice to see how baptisms are performed and the spirit was so strong. The mother that was baptized has been investigating the church for a while, she bore powerful testimony afterwards and said that she is so happy that she has finally found the truth.

We currently have one investigator named L_____, we started teaching him the first week I got to PJ. He has been progressing very nicely and the only thing holding him back from being baptized right now is him! If he says he wants to be baptized we could do it next week. He has come to church quite a bit and he is keeping all of the commandments. We taught him the word of wisdom a few weeks ago and he didn't have any concerns. He likes tea but he said that he is willing to just drink herbal tea, his biggest concern was the eating meat sparingly part, I'm pretty sure a lot of people struggle with that one haha. Anyways, he stayed for the baptism and said that he really enjoyed it. I wouldn't be surprised if we baptize him soon. He says that he has seen a lot of blessings since we began visiting him and that his life is changing for the better. It's so amazing to see how the gospel transforms lives and brings them closer to salvation.

We also are teaching an awesome family named the M_____ family. We started teaching them a couple of weeks after I got here. We had an incredible lesson with just the mother last night, she really really wants to know if joining our church is the right path. She says that she has seen an incredible change in her life, her family and her spirituality since we began meeting with her. She said she feels an amazing peace and joy each time we visit her, she wishes she could have that all the time. We explained to her that she is feeling the spirit and she has the chance to always feel that if she is baptized and confirmed. She loves the Book of Mormon and says that she has even been fasting this past week to know what she should do. The only problem right now is that she has been a member of her church for a while and it's really looked down upon to keep switching churches. This family (father, mother and 2 young boys) have so much potential and I can't wait to see the day they are baptized and eventually sealed in the temple.

Hard work, obedience and faith really pay off. The Lord is pouring down his blessings upon this area and I feel His hand guiding this great work. It shows that you get what you go for in life, as my companion and I continue to work hard I believe the Lord will continue to work miracles in this area of His vineyard.

Love,

Elder Summers