It's So Good to Be Back!
Howdy y'all! Another week has passed, and this one wasn't so bad. Enjoy!
Monday: Last Monday was a whole lotta nothin. We hadn't gotten our allotment yet, so we had no food to eat and nothing to do. We sat around literally all day because without food, we had no energy or motivation to do anything.
Tuesday: Tuesday was a pretty good day I feel. We taught a few lessons, one with a friend we have on date. The others we taught are all hopefully going to be on date soon. They were all powerful, and I really hope that they lock in for church in the coming weeks. We got allotment late that night, so we went and bought what we needed to eat for the night, so for the first time in two days we had food in our bellies for bed!
Wednesday: With the newfoud money we had, we decided to spend the morning shopping for groceries. We got all that done in about an hour and a half, got some lunch, and went home to put it all away. After that we headed to the area! Today we had the opportunity to travel to our most progressing people, who live a whole hour and some away. They had moved while we were teaching them, and today they sent their new location to us so we started the journey there! At first we were unfazed, as long distances on the bike aren't too bad... usually. When we made it to her old location, we checked the map she had given us. We looked up from the phone and, lo and behold, an entire freaking MOUNTAIN was up in the way. We sighed and pressed forward, pushing the bikes as the slope was too steep to effectively ride them. When we finally made the hour long trek to their house, we were both extremely tired and breathing very heavy. We taught a fantastic lesson anyways and made the hard trek back to the normal area. After that we taught only two more lessons before we had to quit from heat exhaustion and lack of dehydration. Overall a pretty fun day!
Thursday: THE BEST DAY OF THE WEEK!!! Today we woke up extra early to be picked up by our wonderful ZL's to take us to THE TEMPLE!!! I was so extremely excited as this was my first time to the temple in 6 months and my very first time inside the Johannesburg Temple! First of all, the outside design is absolutely stunning! The inside is quite similar to the Dallas Temple, and it was so calming and reassuring to be back inside. It was an absolutely wonderful experience to worship inside the Lord's house on earth once again!!
After the temple trip we had our once a transfer interviews with Pres. Holmes. As this was my very first transfer as a DL, my interview was a little longer than normal, which I loved. I love my mission president and I will explain why later. The rest of the day was spent at the doctor's office, and for any of those who might care who actually read this, I'm all good.
Friday: Friday was a little bit of a rougher day, as most of the appointments we scheduled canceled. That's always sad, but we were still able to teach a few very nice lessons and ended the day on a positive note. After our final lesson, we also went and attended the funeral for a member's mother who had passed away. The service was very nice, and I loved feeling so grateful for the wonderful Plan of Salvation that our loving Father in Heaven gave to us!
Saturday: On Saturday we began with DCM, as we had to reschedule from the day before. After that we went and got lunch like normal and then headed to the area! We discovered that someone else had passed away... A member's son this time. We spent the first couple hours of our day at her house, sharing and serving all that we could. We taught her a wonderful lesson and helped her to feel the Spirit of God in this tough time for her. Pray for the Sepuru family!
After she thanked us and sent us away to share our message with others, we visited the family that was baptized on Sunday. We played Uno with them and had a quick lesson about enduring to the end. After about an hour of being there, we told them we had to go teach a lesson nearby and the 12 year old boy asked if he could join! We happily agreed and told him about how to help us teach. Once the lesson was finished, he asked us when we were gonna go back! What a powerful young man!! I can't wait to hear about him becoming a missionary himself!
Sunday: This Sunday was a little different down here, just like the rest of the world. The reason though, is quite different. We still attended church, and we still invited everyone to come. As you may remember, General Conference happens worldwide, and since there's a huge time difference between here and Utah, our conference sessions happened in the evening. 6-8pm and then again from 10pm-12am. Being a missionary, we are not allowed to stay up to watch, and most members here don't either. That being said, the Saturday afternoon session was replayed at the chapel during the time that church usually would be. This made it easy for us to invite our friends and help them listen to the words of the prophets. We were totally stoked when the mountain friends came, and they were totally stoked about conference when they left. What an amazing day!
After church, the entire ward went again to the Sepuru home to mourn with them. We joined once again, and in preparation of the burial, a cow was brought to the home to be slaughtered. Right in the driveway. Live, in the middle of the service. Needless to say, I thought that this was wicked cool. They tied it down and stabbed it in the back of the neck 3-5 times to let it bleed out inside a trailer. In the middle of the driveway. Once it was dead, all the mean took carving knives and pulled the cow out and started to clean it. RIGHT THERE IN THE DRIVEWAY. It was totally bonkers.
Spiritual Thought: This week was absolutely filled with spiritual experiences. The temple, the interviews, the funerals, the eagerness to share. It was amazing! One thing that I did notice, though, was the fact of how centered this week was on Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation, specifically the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Every major experience this week outside of the interviews was focused solely on the suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. How perfect it was for Easter to be celebrated this week! We were able to share about the resurrection and the spirit world many times, both at the funerals and regular lessons. We were able to focus on the suffering of Christ, explaining to those hurting the most that they are not alone, and can seek comfort from the perfect source! Even worshipping in the temple was focused on that plan, and how Christ is the center of it! How amazing to see! But, even with all this focus on the Plan, the most spiritual experience I had was with my mission president. He was able to completely blow me away with some things that he said, and what I learned is going to help me so much as a DL and as a missionary. He showed genuine love, and care, and understanding. I aspire to be like him, the kind of man who can so easily show that kind of Christlike love. It was amazing.
That's all! I love receiving and reading any emails I get, so don't hesitate!
Much Love, Elder King
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