Purification in 42 Easy Days!

Elder Smith was released as Zone Leader after seven months and transferred to Pimville in Soweto for his last transfer.  Here he is with his new, and last, companion, Elder Manuma.

Purification in 42 easy days!
                Here in the SAJM, all the elders were issued the “purification challenge” for the Sept/Oct transfer. Put simply, we are purifying ourselves of 3-4 specific things that don’t allow the spirit to fully testify through us. Each companionship in the mission is assigned a day to fast, making a 42 day fast throughout the entire mission over the course of this transfer to help us purify ourselves.
                The story where the challenge originates comes from a missionary in Uruguay who describes his experience:
                “A member informed us that he had an investigator that was ready to be taught and he volunteered to attend the first discussion. The discussion went along as usual. At the conclusion, my companion and I bore witness of Joseph Smith and then turned to our friend. He paused for a moment, looked at the young lady and said, “I know that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God.” The room filled with an extraterrestrial force. The investigator started to cry.
                As we walked home, I was baffled. The man said the exact same words that we had said but the result was dramatically different. When he spoke he had an influence that we did not have. There was no question that the influence was the Holy Ghost, but this man seemed to have it in a different way...”
This elder goes on to describe how he searched for how he could gain the same power and eventually spoke to a well-known church leader who told him how he must purify himself to have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. He said:
                Go home and fast for a day in the attitude of fasting and prayer. Make a list of every behaviour that ‘pokes’ at your spirit. Once you have made your list, then go to the Lord. Covenant with the Lord that you will fast from the things on your list for 42 days. In other words, for 42 days you will do nothing that appears on that list. You cannot just stop old behaviours and start new ones. You need the help of the Lord. Each morning go to the Lord and specifically promise Him that you will avoid each item on your list. Ask for His help so you can have extra strength. At night go over the list with the Lord, if you have failed on some items, figure out why. Tell the Lord. Ask for more strength the next day.”

So this is what we are doing! And its only been two days now but on Wednesday, Elder Manuma and I saw 2 investigators and the spirit was very strong in both lessons. It came to the point where they started crying as they felt the love of the Savior for them and the personal relevance of the plan of salvation. Nosipho, one of the sisters told us how she has felt for a while that this is the path that is right for her but that it just hasn’t been the right time until now. We explained that she could not only see her mom again but that she could live with her in the celestial kingdom forever! She was very attentive and then began to cry as we testified that her mom was being taught these same truths in the spirit world and was waiting for her. She then agreed to be baptized on the 11th of October! How sweet is that!? How great is the power of the spirit!! And how wonderful it is when we decide to humble ourselves to obedience and sanctification so we can carry the spirit more in our teaching! I love it! Pimville AND its missionaries will be totally different after 42 days! 

Audio/Visual Blog Post: In which Elder Smith tells us about his birthday and we see photos of the festivities.

Happy 21st Birthday, Elder Smith!

 Many thanks to the Farquharson family who invited Elder Smith to celebrate with his favorite South African treat- Milk Tart, and gave him the opportunity to view videos from family and former companions, wishing him a happy birthday.

Milk Tart!

Our dear friends, Rachel & Michele Shaw, made sure Elder Smith had a birthday gift from his family by being our hands in South Africa.  And it looks like they all had a fun time with Llewellyn Von Broghan (the Elders live in Bro. Von Broghan's apartment next to his home.)

Celebrating! 

The video we made for Elder Smith

Morning workout routine?
Bro. Von Broghan trains the elders each morning and keeps them in shape!  

"I don’t fear what they can do to me at work, God needed me at church!"

Dearest Mother! (& everyone else!  You can use this for my blog cause I don’t have time to write one today :P)

HOWZIT?

Wow, this week has been crazy!  I’ve been super busy! And my mind is so scattered! But it’s a great scattered and a great crazy! Haha these new leadership calls really help me cause I think they help me "elevate my game" if you will. 

The newest Northwest Zone Companionship: Elder Smith & Elder Kairu.

Elder Kairu and I are already best friends! haha I love this guy! He is from Uganda but his dad is from Kenya. He is 23 years old and turned 20 months on mission today! We actually served in the same zone (Benoni) for 3 transfers when I was in Daveyton and he was in Kwa Thema. One cool thing is that he is from the tribe of Dan of the tribes of Israel! Isn’t that such a cool thing!? He joined the church like 5 years ago I think when he was studying to become a catholic priest! haha Needless to say, he is a powerful teacher and we WORK hard together! Zac was so right when he said I was more likely to get a comp who likes to work! THANK YOU! hahah I need it! But yeah I’m stoked to be his comp!  We’re learning the area together because he only had 1 transfer here and was only here some of the time because the other times he was on exchanges in the zone! 

These are the places within the Northwest Zone.  The elders live in Krugersdorp.

In our zone, the Northwest Zone, we start in Carletonville, and Khutsong, then up to Krugersdorp 1 & 2 with Roodepoort and Ruimsig (the APs area), then over to Randfontein and Munsieville and alllllll the way up in the northwest province to Rustenburg and Phokeng! We actually got to drive there on Friday after our temple trip to do a baptism interview! Haha we're busy!!! But we have good time in our own area to see miracles and do lots of great work! The biggest miracle is the father-led family which is the husband of our recent convert. He told us on Tuesday that he wanted to be baptized and then even ditched work yesterday to attend his wife's confirmation!!! When we saw them at their house afterwards, he said "I don’t fear what they can do to me at work, God needed me at church!" <---- that faith is inspiring!!! 
Ey this ward is AFRIKAANS with a capital A which is a cool thing but it’s weird cause I’ve never seen any white boys passing sacrament before and there were only like 13 black people in the congregation! How unique! But it’s great here! I love it! I hope that says a lot! I wanted to typie but literally I’ve had no time! haha I haven’t even had time for my journal!  (But don’t worry, I’ll update it)
Today we're looking to play soccer at Roodepoort with Pres. Dunn! Haha I’m stoked for that! and yes, a very good thing that I’m close to the office! :) 
One thing that sucks though is hearing the joking attitude about the “Month of Miracles” for 100% obedience. Some people just don’t get it! haha Oh well, it must be my place as ZL to learn how to love and inspire even the elders who don’t really like obedience! That’s what I’m most excited for is humbling myself and ministering to them. I hope I can do my best!
Eish I’m out of time! But I WILL have access to mail every week! So idk if people besides our family can send me a dearelder.com or letter instead of email cause I think I may not have time to email people other than my family.  :(
I love you mom :) I know it’s probably not nearly enough and you have even more questions but I hope I was detailed enough for you!!!

Elder & Sister Scott & Elder Smith (they were his mom & dad
for 4 1/2 months!)

I love you so much! 
Love, your boy Bursie
Elder Smith

This "posterity" is legendary in the South Africa Johannesburg Mission.
In the middle top row in the grey sweater is Elder Matos, Spencer's trainer and
the "Great-Grandfather."  From right to left on the bottom row is Spencer,
the "Grandfather" who trained Elder Clegg, the "Father" who trained Elder
Savage, the "Son."  We hope to get the rest of this "family history" so no one
is left out! 

Elder Kewuti shared a flat with Spencer
in Daveyton.  He is heading home to Cape Town, SA.

Elder Perez is heading home to St. George.
I wonder if Spencer ever "destroyed Elder Perez in Magic???"

"The Lord knows ALL of His children and so he knows how to match them up so that the greatest good can be accomplished!" (Leaving Nelspruit)

Bandile Mdluli decided if I was leaving, he would
spend the rest of my mission with me, on my shoulders.  

Well, it never gets easier when it comes time to leave an area; especially when that area is Nelspruit. I think the emotions of leaving are then compounded by the fact that it was a total surprise that I would leave this transfer. It’s been rough saying goodbye for the last time and people telling you, “just ignore what he (President Dunn) says and stay here!” haha if only it worked that way :P
                I’ve learned that instead of being sad or bummed about it, it really helps to be thankful for everything that this area has taught me! I can say that the phrase: “you don’t teach town as much as town teaches you” is very consistent with Nelspruit and boy am I grateful for everything I learned! Being able to be with elders Kankkunen and Ah Wong as well as being with my other parents the Scotts and even the Kanyamazane elders and the Swans. Haha from day one up here I asked myself, “what did I do to get sent up here!?” and even 4 months later I still ask what I did. I guess if I had to answer it I could only say that the Lord knows ALL of His children and so he knows where, when and how to match them up in this mortal life so that the greatest good can be accomplished! (Moses 1:39) Haha, I laugh but maybe it’s to avoid some tears that want to come as I think about just how loving He is to us! Do we understand that? Maybe not fully but maybe we won’t ever understand it fully but we can sure catch glimpses here and there; my glimpse has been 4 months long :)

The last District Meeting Breakfast with the Nelspruit District.  R-L:  Elders
Kankkunen, Willombe, & Pulley, Me, Sister Scott, Elders Scott & Swan.  

                There is a lot that lies ahead of me and I look forward to it! Who knows where I’ll go and who I’ll be with but it’s nice to know it’ll be the right place to be. What really gets me is that the group that goes home tomorrow has some of my favorite missionaries! And I was there when they celebrated their year mark and here they are going home! What the heck!? Haha Elder Perez and Dalton from the Joburg district, Elder Reed from Joburg zone, my mission-grandfather Elder Lucking, and Elder Kewuti from Daveyton!! Eish, time won’t stop and it’s starting to be... scary! I want my two years back!
                We had a great (what I found out to be my last) week this week and I’d say an even greater weekend! We saw Ben and Thuli after like a week of no contact and after a follow-up lesson on prayer and praying about the BOM, we weren’t terribly satisfied with Ben’s answers just because I guess we wanted him to jump up and yell, “Its true!!” haha But what happened after was his wife looked back and forth between us and was kind of laughing. She looked at Ben and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about” then looked at us and continued, “He already SMS'd the pastor and told him we’re leaving that church.” Now it was time for me and Elder Kankkunen to jump up and yell “IT’S TRUE!!” hahaha Can you believe that!? All of the prayers and fasting have been paying off (and we’re keeping them up) to the point that they are making the transition between churches! Hahaha yes!!! I have no doubt that they will all be baptized as a family just because 3 missionaries decided to listen to the promptings of the Spirit! They came to church and participated fully yesterday :) Could you ask for more?? Maybe only for no hugs  ;)
                Saying goodbye is very hard, not knowing if you’ll see people again is even harder, but the hardest is the hugs that come from girls when you can’t hug back…. Let’s just be real! Haha I can say my conscience is clear and I’m glad I always keep the rules but it sure is awkward when you don’t hug back! I’d rather just avoid it :P haha What am I talking about!? Oh well its part of my weekend so I guess it has some relevance ;)
                Can’t wait to see what lies in store for me next week! I’ll make sure to give an update next week! Until then, Salani Kahle
Ngiyakuthanda,
Eldah Smeeeth