Bro Canny The Man

-Went on an exchange to Kwano which is a big township near Gqeberha. Apparently, it's super dangerous because Elders who serve there aren't allowed to street contact or knock doors lol. But hey they find new ways to find. It's a fun place though, cool members. Elder Mumba and I found some Swaziland Tambor fruit at a fruit stand and yo they're nice. It's a cross between a grapefruit and a nartjie. Super good. 

-In Port Alfred every night at 5ish we meet our guy Brother Canny in Nkwenkwezi. Which is the township in Port Alfred. Because he comes with us, we're allowed to walk around after it starts getting dark. Which is super nice, otherwise we'd have to go home because we can't be out by ourselves when it's dark, just mission rules for townships. Anyways, Bro Canny is the man. He takes us around to all his friends and people he thinks may be interested or who he's invited to learn more. He's helped us find multiple new people to teach. Member missionary work is crucial. We'd never have found those new friends without bro Canny. He's an animal though, works 2 jobs, walks everywhere, helps everyone, plus everyone knows him somehow in the township and he still makes time everyday that we are in Port Alfred to go out with us. 

-Our friend Lilitha will be baptized this next Sunday in Port Alfred. She's super excited and so am I! It'll be a river baptism so pray it's not too cold, lol.

-Mama Stella taught me how to make Amagwinya. I'll put a pic below. But they're so nice. Especially with this mince and pea thing mama Stella makes. 

-Still having good success tracking in Makhanda. Found this super humble lady named Mama Jennifer. We knock on her door and introduce ourselves. She then cuts me off and goes "You wanna talk about Jesus?" I go "of course", she then goes "Are you sure?" We said "yes, of course." She opens the door laughing letting us in. For a sec I thought she was going to just going to bash us and I was getting excited it's been too long since I've had that opportunity, ha-ha-ha. But luckily, she's just the sweetest lady. Listened to our message and was super excited about The Book of Mormon and really wanted to know more, so we'll go back this week. You can just see when someone really feels the spirit for the first time, no other feeling like that. She is super prepared. Something in townships that's funny to me is that almost no house uses their front door, so we're always knocking on people's back doors, kind of funny. Our university friend Snethemba is progressing well, and she loves meeting with us.  We just need her to be more consistent with Church. 

-We went to see our friend Thandiswe who recently lost his wife. When we got there the funeral, which was 1 week ago, was still happening.  Well, the after party you could say. There were like 50 people all in and around this little home. We got talking with Thandiswe and he wanted to show us what they were doing. They were making this traditional beer, lol. He made Elder Killpack stir it up, hahaha. Yeah, it was wack, they were all drunk. But pray for Thandiswe he is a sweet old guy. 

- I've loved studying about the Sons of Mosiah in Alma. 

In Alma 22, this is where the King of the Lamanites is converted. The King wanted to know what he has to do to receive eternal life. Aaron tells his to bow down and repent. I love what the king says next in verse 18.        

"18 O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day. And now when the king had said these words, he was struck as if he were dead"

Where the king says, "I will give away all my sins to know thee" This really stuck out to me and reminded me of how important the principle of sacrifice is. The king was willing to give away all he had, even his entire kingdom to know God and be forgiven of his past sins. Being on mission I've come to see an important truth that I hadn't seen before and that is sacrifice brings us closer to Heavenly Father. When we show we're willing to give up something that's important to us to gain a stronger testimony, or to help another with conversion or temporal matters. The Lord sees that and blesses us with an increase of testimony and love for Him and His children. It could be as big as giving up a better job offer, schooling opportunity or as small as choosing not to be offended by someone else's words. Whatever the sacrifice is we know as we consistently try to care and serve others, putting their needs before our own and keep the covenant we made at baptism. This is how we honor the Savior; this is how we draw closer to Him and become more like Him. 

"When a man has offered in sacrifice all that he has for truths sake, not even withholding his life, and believing before God that he has been called to make this sacrifice because he seeks to do his will, he does know, most assuredly, that God does and will accept his sacrifice and offering, and that he has not, nor will not seek his face in vain. Under these circumstances, then, he can obtain the faith necessary for him to lay hold on eternal life." - Lectures on Faith. 

Elder Quick