November 24, 14 - Week 61

Dear Mom,

Well again it is good to reach another Monday. Mondays are so nice, and they are just a refresher to the week. I love hearing from family and friends and just recharging my batteries. Some weeks are pretty tough and the break is nice.

Thank you for the good quote on change. Really as a missionary change is hard. Things seem a lot easier when you get comfortable. But really I think the work moves better, and we are better missionaries with change. It keeps us on our toes, and always relying on the Lord. That is fun that Amanda is back from here mission, I am sure it is fun to hear from those missionaries coming.
.“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.” C. S. Lewis 

 I will be staying here in Vosloorus, and Elder Maraetefau will still be my companion. I am happy with this. It is nice to be somewhere comfortable for the holidays. I am also doing good with Elder Maraetefau. He really is just a bit in-mature, and I have to make him serious all the time. He doesn't know when to stop messing around and be serious. We do have a lot of fun together because that is what makes mission fun, but then we still have to be serious. I hope I can handle him this next transfer. I am sure I will do fine.

I saw something about the meeting at the Vatican when I looked on KSL news. That is really cool that President Erying spoke about making people understand the family can be together forever.

I guess something cool is we had stake conference yesterday. It was a broadcast where President Uchdorf spoke, and Elder Bednar. It was a special stake conference for all of Africa. They addressed some of the problems that members have been having, and it was awesome. They also talked a lot about how members need to help the missionaries to move the work forward. One big problem people here have is paying what is called Lobola. It is like a bribe price to get married, like the 7 cows for your wife thing. People here still do that, but they have to pay like ridiculous amounts of money. The members also still do this. It is something many among the black culture. It basically hinders people from being married, and then while they are paying they can live together, so basically they are breaking the Law of Chastity. Both Uchdorf and Bednar said they need to discontinue paying Lobola. It was just really cool to see them come with change. They also talked about how change in the church is good. That we shouldn't get upset if things aren't done the same way as they have always been. That is why we are a living church receiving revelation.

I am glad you saw Remi. I still email him every once and a while. He is going to school right now. I don't think he is going back out on a mission. I think he is still trying to recover fully. He still has to go into the doctor for checkups periodically.

That is cool that Marcus is getting married. Is it the girl he has been dating for a while? That is crazy to think the twins have already completed there missions and be home by the first of the year.

 My health is great. I am still feeling very healthy and well. I am still exercising and that helps. I have been lacking on my diet this last week. I try not to eat unhealthy foods. I think I will do better this week though.

Well my investigators are doing great for the most part. We got a wonderful referral this last week from a member. It is a girl that is a friend of his that has been coming to church for like 5 weeks. We didn't know she was an investigator. We went and met her on Wednesday. She already loves the church, and she is super excited to learn more. She already asked a bunch of questions about the Plan of Salvation. It is so fun and fulfilling to find people like this to teach. Those that have truly been prepared for the gospel. It is so nice when members give a referrals to teach because they are really the investigators that progress the quickest.

We had a few investigators that we normally see a couple times a week that were super busy this week, so we didn't see them at all. Like Pumz and Mpo, both females. We finally got to see Kgalo and Manthole this week. They are doing good, but they need a lot of change before they are ready to be baptized. They love the gospel, but they really aren't super serious about it. I guess we are still doing well with teaching. Again the problem is finding new people to teach. This is always a battle in missionary work, we are constantly finding and dropping people that aren't serious.

I guess some good news is I finally got a few letters. I guess a few letters are getting through. They are from August though. I got your letters from August 14th &22nd. I got a letter from Grandma dated August 18th. Not sure if anything else will get through or not.

That is fun to hear about the swim team. I wish I could be there to see them. I guess next year. That would be awesome if they had a chance at winning state. You will have to keep me updated on peoples times and stuff.  

That is fun to hear Evan and Carol are now making home base in Cedar. That is fun to have so much family around, and I hope you are enjoying it.

I guess there isn't really anything else interesting to tell you. I am glad that they don't celebrate thanksgiving here or it would make me miss home more. It is nice that they don't celebrate the same things here cause then it doesn't seem like I am missing anything. I hope that you have a fun thanksgiving! I will also enjoy my week!! I miss and love you.

Love

Your Son

Elder Mitchell Brown