New area-Hospital View, New Companion-Elder Smilth-Holly

This past week has been great! Hospital View is a sweet township with tons of potential! My new comp is Elder Smith-Holly from New Zealand. He is about 3 months on mission and still has his greenie fire so we are going to do some great work here. This past week we have been doing a lot of finding to get some more legit people in the teaching pool.

Some of the best inv we have our Basadi ans Sunday who are husband and wife. They are ready to be baptised once Sunday quits smoking. We set a date for him to quit and made him a cigarette milkshake last night to help him quit! We also have MJ who is incredible. She is searching for the truth and just soaks up all that we teach her... the thing that is holding her back is that she works on sundays so we will be trying to get around that. We also have Ndivhu who is an amazing lady. She has two one year old sons and has been praying for a church! 

We will also be focusing on less actives and strengthening the ward. Apparently there is almost 200 less actives and we only get about 60 to church which is terrible for a ward! We will be picking that up as well! 

In my studies i really loved a scripture from John 16:33 which talks about how in Christ we can find peace and in the World we will find tribulation. It is so true and I am so grateful for the peace that the gospel brings into our lives. It is a peace that we can't find any other way! 

I love you all!

Elder Farnes

Good-bye friends from Fourways

Good-bye Fourways

Sorry I have to be short this week! This past week has been a great! It has been exciting and sad at the same time. I am leaving Fourways tomorrow and being transferred to a place called Hospital View! It was so sad to say goodbyes to the people that I have gotten so close to... but excited for what the Lord has before me! 

Conference was amazing!! We were able to watch it all over the weekend! I think my favorite talk was by Pres. Uchtdorf on "Lord, is it I?" Too many times in life we point the finger instead of trying to correct myself.. that is going to be something I will try my hardest to apply as I strive to become more like my Savior! I also loved Elder Scotts talk. He went back to the basics of prayer, scripture study, fhe, and temple attendance and taught it powerfully! The Gospel really is so simple and we complicate it too much! I am so grateful to have living Prophets and Apostles that can guide us in these last days!! I love you all so much! 

Elder Farnes

Incredible Week

A great great week! This past week has been incredible. We are teaching one of the most prepared person I have ever met. We were able to see Landela on Friday night. She went through her whole story of how she has been searching for years and years for the place for her. She has been to a lot of different churches and none of them give her the spiritual upliftment she wants. Her friends are members and because of their example and the happiness they have in their life she decided she needed to try out their church. The lesson we had with her was incredible... we talked all about the organization of the church and answered a lot of her questions. She wants to learn about temples this week. I am so grateful I have had the opportunity to meet her. She is golden. 

Transfers are this next tuesday so we will see if I will be going or not.I hope I don't go because of Landela, but we will see.

We will be watching all of conference this weekend with the ward, but we were able to watch the first session with the Mckee family in our ward. We have gotten really close to them and they are just the best! My favorite talk from the first session was D. Todd Christoffersons. I just loved it. One thing I really enjoyed was when he said "Freedom comes not from resisting, but by applying." It is so true. We gain our freedom as we exercise our agency righteously! Not just by avoiding sin. 

In John 7:17 it talks about how we need to act to REALLY know if something is true! It is a well known scripture, but I think it really applies as we have just had conference. Conference is good for us to learn and to be uplifted spiritually, but it will have its true impact on us if we take what we learned and act upon it! If we really apply it in our lives! I hope that we can apply and become what we are intended to be! 

I love you!

Elder Farnes

Temple Trip!

Another great week here in Fourways! On Wednesday we had heritage day so we were able to go to the stakes sport day and get closer to the members! That was super fun and we took home first place! 

On Friday we had a temple trip. I love the temple SO much! It is the biggest blessing to be able to go there. The spirit is indescribable and it is the best place to receive personal revelation.

We also had zone meeting that afternoon which went great. We talked about our mission goals and then made some zone goals. We then talked about what we need to do to achieve them and what would hold us back. We talked a lot on consecration and have "LiVE" as our zone motto! Teaching the area and temple offices went well also. They wanted a tune up on finding skills and how to approach people so we did a zone conference on that.

Our Investigators are great. Sadly, Nokthula and her daughter are in cape town for 3 months now. Her job asked her to go there to work at Parliament so she will be gone for a while. I was so bummed when she told us about that. But, the Lord blessed us with a few new investigators. One is an awesome lady named Landela who came to church because a friend told her to and loved it. Another is a referral we got for and father led family which we will be seeing tonight.

In my studies the main thing that stood out to me was from D&C 9:7-9. It is where Oliver Cowdery wanted to translate the plates and was given the opportunity to. The way he tried to was just praying and asking for help; which is good, but not the best thing he could have done. The Lord tells him how he needs to first study it out in his mind or in other words he needs to exercise his agency and Work for it and then he can ask and he will be given his answer. I think sometimes we don't hold up our end of the deal by not working! Lets strive to get to work after we get off our knees! 

I love you! 

Elder Farnes

Pics

Good things happening in Fourways

This past week was sweet! On Thursday we had Mission Leadership Council and it was a really good one. We discussed our goals as a mission ans how we can achieve them for the end of the year. Something that was stressed a lot was diligence. Going into Christmas and being the end of the year normally the stats drop so we are going to try and lift them even higher this last 3 months. A quote that I love from Benjamin Franklin says "Diligence is the mother of Good luck." It's so simple, but so true. In D&C 123:12-14 it talks about bringing those who are "Blinded" to the truth because they know not where to find it! Let attend to them with earnestness! 

We found a powerful Father Led Family this past week! His name is Jackson and his wife is Kathalyn. They are so cool and have been praying to find the right church for them! They are so prepared!! Nokthula and her daughter are also doing well. We had a really great lesson with her on the Plan of Salvation and discussed a lot with her about why bad things happen to us. Sometimes more than others. She opened up to us about things in her life and the spirit was so strong!

We have a great week coming up... We have Zone meeting, a temple trip, and my comp and I got asked to teach all the people at the area office this Sunday night! Should be sweet!

In my Study this past week Luke 24:45 really stood out to me. It was Jesus speaking to his disciples and He "Opened their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures." I have been praying hard to have my understanding opened as I read and it has been incredible. The scriptures take on a whole new light as we do this! 

I love you all!

Elder Farnes

Pday Fun!

Sweet Week, Time is going by too fast

This past week has been sweet. It has been super busy and really just flown by! 

On Thursday we had Zone Conference. The main focuses from it were using the Book of Mormon in Conversion, Working with the Members, and a little bit about Use of our time/Consecrating ourselves! It was a sweet conference and I learned a lot. I'm going to put some more focus into working through the members! 

Our investigators are doing great! Nokthula and her family just got back from vacation and we had a really incredible lesson on the Book of Mormon with them. They say that they know these things are true and are so excited to begin reading. We have some sweet Maliwians that we are teaching as well. They are Monester, Francis, and stevens! They don't speak the best English, but the spirit is always so strong when we see them! One of our Less Actives named Collen has been coming the past two weeks... he is so grateful to be coming back and is feeling the difference.

This past week I went through a lot of the Christlike Attribrutes and decided that I wanted to go through one each transfer again. I am on Charity and Love this transfer. When we have Charity We see people as God does, with their divine potential. We labor with all our might in their behalf. We strive to see things from their point of view. Moroni 7:45-48 describes it perfectly as well as in the Bible Dictionary! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to become better and strive to make myself the person who my Savior wants me to be! 

I love you

Elder Farnes

New Companion, Elder Kolditz

Another awesome week! This one has really flown by! This past week I got my new companion. His name is Elder Kolditz and he is from Indiana! He is such a sick guy... we are already getting along great and tearing it up! 

We had some ups and downs with our Investigators this past week. Leratoe sent us a message late saturday night to tell us that things have take a turn in her life and she can't see us for a while. She said she still wants to be baptised and loves reading from the Bom, but that things have come up. I was devastated when we got that message... we tried to see her that next day and talk to her but it didn't work out. Good news though is that Nick is progressing more and more each week! Since he has been trying to come back and rejoin the church he has been struggling and one of the main reasons I have felt like is because he hasn't been reading from the Bom. We had a powerful lesson with him though and we are doing a Bom reading challenge with him. He hasn't missed a day yet and is loving it!! We also got a man named Collen back to church that hasn't been in years! 

We tried a new way of finding this past week and it turned out to be incredible! We are doing our finding by using Family History and the new "my family" booklet. It was the most success I have had finding in town so far and we were able to set up some return appts. We will be meeting with the Family History specialist this week and try and become pros at it! haha.

In my study I loved Luke 15. I really enjoy reading the parable of the lost sheep and the prodigal son! It is so important that we go after the one. The Good Shepherd went into the wilderness to search for the one lost sheep... we as well need to be willing to do all that we can to help those that are in need of us! We need to show forth and increase of love! I really have been trying to do that lately with our less actives and it has been going great! I am so grateful for the perfect example that we have in our Savior! 

I love you 

Elder Farnes

Happy Birthday Elder Farnes! Sept. 1st

Another Great week here in SA! Time is flying by way to fast! This past week we were able to do some service which was so great! I loved it! We were able to help move a young couple that are awesome! They are renovating the house so we will be helping them out a lot and helping them become more active! 

Our investigators are still doing great! The area is doing so good. We had a powerful lesson on the Restoration with Nokthula and the clan. They realized the need for Christ's Church to be brought back with His authority! 

Transfers are tomorrow and I will be staying in fourways. Elder George is leaving which is sad. We built this area up together and its a shame that he has to leave at this point. 

I loved a scripture from Luke 9:57-62. It talks about people who say they are willing to follow Christ, but then come up with something that they need to do before they follow Him. All of the things that they said they needed to do were good things, but not the best!! It made me ponder about my life and what "GOOD" things I need to drop that are delaying me or keeping me from doing the "BEST" things! Let us strive to put the first things first! 

I love you! 

Elder Farnes

Fourways Starting to Progress

Fourways is finally starting to progress!!!! This last week was super sweet! The new investigators we have our willing to try what they need to find the truth! I am so grateful for that blessing from the Lord!

Leratoe is continuing to progress like crazy.. The plan of salvation is really what has taken her to a new level of commitment! She does not want to go to the terrestrial kingdom! haha. Nokthula, Auzukiwe and Noah are all doing great as well. They came to church and each time we meet with them they ask powerful questions. They are used to going to a happy clappy church so we are going to emphasize how the spirit works with us next time we see them. Khumbo and marvelous are doing awesome as well. They are on date for October and are pumped to be working towards that! 

This morning as I was taking a shower I looked over at the wall and realized their was a massive spider just chilling right next to me. It was pretty scary. I ran and grabbed a broom and defeated it. haha turns out it was a tarantula! Made for an eventful morning! 

I studied a little bit more on Covenants this past week and came across a great scripture in D&C 97:8. It states that keeping our Covenants requires sacrifice! Also how we need live by every word which the Lord Commands... Especially with our Living Prophets! I am so grateful for the Covenants that I have made and the opportunity I have to renew all of them each week! 

I love you! 

Elder Farnes

Pics!

Blessings from the Lord

This past week was great! The Lord has blessed us so greatly! It really has been a finding week for us trying to fill our teaching pool with people that will progress! We worked super hard and have been blessed tremendously for it! 

Some of the new people we started teaching this past week was Paul who was a man that was taught in Cape Town a little bit, Nokthula and her daughter who apparently has been trying to get ahold of missionaries since January, and Ben and his wife! We had powerful BRT lessons with them! We talked about how families can be together forever with Nokthula and her daughter and they couldn't believe that that could be possible for them! They were so pumped!! Marvelous and Khumbo are finally back as well which is awesome!! Marvelous has her scriptures covered in Gold so that she can have the gold plates! 

On Saturday we were able to do Helping Hands!! We went and planted lawn and cleaned up a school in Diepsloot! Some of the parents and kids came to see and couldn't believe how good it looked! It was so cool to see how happy they were over something so small! 

I loved a scripture I came across in Helamen 14:13. It is really straight forward! It says how if we believe, we will repent! It is that easy! How do we know if we really believe in Christ? We repent and change! We are continually becoming better and becoming more like Him! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have every day to become a little bit better! 

I love you! 

Elder Farnes

Completely Exhausted

Another Great week! It is just the best feeling getting to sunday night and being completely exhausted from the weeks work! 

This past week we had interviews with President Dunn. It was awesome to get to know him better. He gave me a few new ideas for finding some new people. We are going to make a big poster about Family History and at red lights we are going to walk to all the cars and hand out the new Genealogy pamphlets. I am pumped to be able to try that out.

We also had zone meeting this past week. We talked about Using our Time wisely and Working with Members. From Using our time wisely we discussed from the 3rd bullet point under comp study on PMG page 152. We talked about how our line needs to be in the water the moment we leave the flat. From working with members we discussed how we can gain their trust. It is just as important, if not more, than even gaining trust from Investigators. We talked about ammon and how we really need to focus on doing that through service! 

The area is going pretty well. We are having to drop some more people and it has been a struggle to find new investigators. At church yesterday though the Lord blessed us!! We had a husband and wife and another lady show up that had seen the church and felt like they needed to stop by!! I am so grateful for that tender mercy! 

For the last stage of faith it is the Fullness of all things! It is the point where our faith and our confidence in the Lord is so strong that we cannot be kept within the veil! (Ether 12:19) In the 2 Peter 1:3-10 it talks about all the characteristics we need to acquire to get to the point where we can receive that blessing! In D&C 93:1 it says what we need to do as well and that we can "See his face and know that He is." It is something that requires our whole self and it is my goal in this life! 

I love you! 

Elder Farnes

Another Great Week!

Another Great Week! This past week was jam packed with meetings, appointments and finding! On Thursday we has Mission Leadership Council. It was a really great meeting where we discussed How and What we can do to really get members involved and get the work to Boom! 

On Thursday we went on exchanges with a companionship which went great. Their area has been struggling a little bit so it was good to get in there with them and try to help them in any way that we could! 

Our Investigators are doing good as well! Khumbo went to Zimbabwe to hopefully pick up Marvelous. Monique is continuing to be powerful and loves reading the Book of Mormon. Leratoe is also doing amazing! She pretty much teaches us when we go and see her! Her work schedules just changes as well so that she will be able to make it to church from now on! 

For my study the third stage of Faith is Exceeding Faith in Christ's redeeming power. As a person continues in good works his faith and knowledge will come to a perfect brightness of Hope in Christ's Atonement! (2 Nephi 31:20) Each person will go through the process described in Mosiah 4:1-4 and is filled with Joy as they feel the Atonement working in their lives! They are willing to do whatever the Lord asks, to sacrifice all things! Miracles are wrought and angels appear (Moroni 7:37) My favorite  example of this is in Helamen 10:4-5 with Nephi! The trust between him and the Lord grew to a whole new level! I pray that we may be able to increase ours as well! 

I love you all so much! 

Elder Farnes

Tender Mercies

This past week has been incredible! We are definitely seeing the tender mercies from the Lord in Fourways! The past couple of weeks we have been hitting a rough patch on finding new people... we have been tracting like crazy and finding in any way that we can think of without much results. This past week we were able to meet with a family that we tracted into which was so sweet! They are the Kotela family and have three kids that are 13, 12, and a newborn baby! They are powerful.. they had lots of questions and want to know more about the gospel! The Lord has also blessed with referrals lately... we really don't get a ton in this area but this past week we have been getting some from everyone! The Lord saw our hard work and blessed us through those referalls! I am so grateful for that blessing in my life lately! 

We had a powerful lesson with Khumbo again this week! This past week we focused on the priesthood with him and how that will bless his life and the life of his family! As we discussed how it can bless his family he paused for a little and you could tell he was really pondering about it. He then said "I need that for my family. I will do whatever it takes!" It was a powerful experience! 

In my study this past week I did some more on Faith! The second stage of Faith is when faith comes as a combination of Belief and Knowledge. This happens when one gains a testimony and begins their conversion process! This conversion leads them to desire more truth... it leads them to have an anchor in the gospel and to abound in even more good works. (Ether 12:4) The seed continues to grow as they continue to act and those are followed by more spiritual confirmations! At this point people are ready to take the next steps through the priesthood and temple ordinances! I am so grateful for the Priesthood in my life and for the opportunity I have to use it to bless the lives of others! 

I love you!

Elder Farnes

Fourways Fun and Baptism

Chimweme's Baptism

This past week was another great one! We had Chimwemwe's baptism yesterday which was awesome! He couldn't stop smiling and just loved the spirit that he was feeling! Afterwards he bore a powerful testimony and told his conversion story! 

Good news is that Elder George and I are staying together for another transfer :) I am pumped! Both of us are seeing eye to eye on everything and are working hard! 

On saturday and Sunday we felt like we needed to set aside some time to tract out an area that is kind of the only area we can tract in our area. It has been tracted numerous times, but we still felt the need! It was definitely worth it... we were able to talk to a few families and set return appts with them! We even taught a lesson to a semi pro rugby player! In our area tracting consists of talking to call boxes at peoples gates.... it was so incredible to see how the Lord blessed us with so many tender mercies of catching people just as they are leaving our some how being able to get into the gates!

We were in a hurry this morning so I forgot to get down the 2nd part of faith so I will just share one of the scriptures I came across in Moroni. It's in Moroni 7:6-9. I have read this verse a ton of times, but it really stuck out to me this time! In Serving the Lord it is not enough to just look at how we serve, but also why we are doing it! The Lord not only requires all of our Might and Strength (which is good), He also requires our Hearts and mind. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be totally available to the Lord! 

I love you all so much! 

Elder Farnes

Book of Mormon

This past week was a really solid week! We're really focusing on Book of Mormon reading with a few people and we really think that is just going to automatically help them to be more committed and progress. Gillian told us as she has been reading the chapters that we have left with her that all of them just speak to her and it tells her exactly what she needs to do! She is being taught by the spirit even when we aren't there!! 

Most of Our investigators are doing good. We got a couple of new referrals this past week that we will see this week and had to drop a few of the "jokers" that we were seeing. Chimwemwe passed his interview yesterday and just needs to get a second one from Pres. Dunn so that he can get baptised this sunday! Way pumped for him! He is powerful! 

In my studies this past week I came across a sweet talk on Faith in Jesus Christ and decided to go into a deeper study into it. Faith is really like exchanging collateral... we trade our works of Faith for witnesses of the spirit (Ether 12:6) In the Faith Process there are four stages that each of us need to go through. The First stage is Faith as Hope. The process is described perfectly in Alma 32:26-30. We first need to desire to believe (shown by our works and obedience). We then need to be willing to experiment; Investigators especially need to be willing to read, pray, and attend church. As they do those things they WILL feel the spirit witness of the truth unto them. Any Honest seeker of truth will receive that witness. And lastly, they need to be willing to act! They need to take the steps necessary after that witness has been received! I really think that if Investigators understand this process it will make them more able to recognize their answers! I am so grateful for the opportunity that my Faith has to grow every day!

I love you all so much!

Elder Farnes

Elder Farnes

President and Sister Dunn Arrive

This week has been really good, but interesting at the same time! We have been kind of taking care of a missionary from Uganda that is down here for some medical reasons. He is a sweet guy, but he has been taking most of our mornings and some early afternoons by going to the hospital.

This week we were able to meet the Dunns!! They are awesome! I love them already! I can't wait to carry on the work of Salvation with them! In the meeting with our Zone we were able to discuss a lot of Maxims that are mission will have! I feel like our mission is going to be elevated with these... Can't wait for the work to progress even further! 

We were also able to go to the temple this past week! I just love the spirit that is felt in the temple! There is nothing like it... you are able to feel true peace! I am so grateful for the temple.

Our investigators are doing great... Khumbo and Marvelous are still progressing like crazy, Chimwemwe is still powerful, and we were able to fast with Edward and Sally that he would be able to get more sundays off of work so that he can make it to church! 

We also hopefully have a few new families this week! We had a baby blessing in the ward on Sunday and we had the family use it as an opportunity to bring some non members! They brought two families and they both seemed really interested! 

In my study this past week I really enjoyed reading about Justice and Mercy in Alma 42! It has become one of my favorite chapters. In the beginning it talks more about the fall and then in verses 13-15 it jumps into how that made it necessary for an Atonement to be made! It also talks about how God is perfect in every way.... He is perfectly Just as well as perfectly Merciful! In 23-24 it talks about the Truly Penitent... We need to humble ourselves in order to receive mercy! And then in 27 it talks about our agency, We are ALL free to come and enjoy Mercy in our lives!! Let us help others enjoy the same blessings that come from the Atonement and Mercy! 

I love you! 

Elder Farnes

Hump Day!

This past week has been solid! Hit my year mark this past week which is crazy! It doesn't seem like I have been out that long... time is going by too fast! 

This past week we have had some powerful lessons! Miracles are happening here in Fourways! Gillian and Nick are doing powerful, Nick is just a stud who reads the book of Mormon all the time and loves it! Gillian is his wife and knows that everything is true as well, but has been lacking a little bit in commitment! She thinks that her faith is weak. We had a great lesson with her that seemed to spark a fire in her.. She is reading as well everyday now and is loving it! With Nick we got a little time to just talk personally to him alone, we were able to discuss the blessings of the holding the Priesthood and how much all of this will bless his family! He is willing to act! 

Khumbo is continuing to be sweet! He bore his testimony of the restored gospel to us in his last lesson and the spirit was so strong! He grew up a Muslim, but knows that this is true! We are still waiting for his wife to get back from Zimbabwe! 

Chimwemwe is doing great! He is coming to church and progressing like crazy! He should be getting baptised in July!

One of the most committed investigators we have is Monique! She has known the church for a while because her boyfriend is a member, but has  just now decided to meet with us! We left her 3 Nephi 11 to read and she read all the way up to chapter 26!! She is accepting everything and really searching for that answer! I am so grateful for all the help the Lord is giving us in this area! 

In my study I as well read from 3 Nephi again! I love it and am learning so much! Something that I got out of it was from chapter 17 verse 6, After Christ had taught them he told them to go Home (with their families), Ponder, Ask for themselves if it was true, and prepare themselves for the next time he would come! What really stood out to me was first of all the importance of learning as a Family! "If you want to go fast, go alone; If you want to go far, go together!" Also, after they had heard from Jesus Christ himself, he still asked them to seek their own personal revelation and answer through pondering and prayer! I am so grateful for this gospel! It is SO true! 

Love you all! 

Elder Farnes

Zone Leaders

Fourways

Another Great week here in Fourways! I am loving this area!! The members and investigators here are incredible! 

This past week we focused a lot on Khumbo since his wife went back to Zim to get a passport and visa. He has enjoyed everything we have taught, but hasn't been too committed. We really took advantage of this week with just him and he has made some huge strides! He is fully committed to the gospel now and is just progressing like crazy! 

This past week we also had Missionary Leadership Council! We discussed a lot on the Principles of Leadership from the life of Christ. A few of the things that I really enjoyed with regards to the zone was the need to see where people are at and help them reach their full capacity! Along with that everyone needs to be moving together with the same goals! Missionaries, members, and Investigators. It is so important that we all see what the final goal is! (D&C 38:27) 

In my study this past week I really enjoyed reading John 15. It has become one of my favorite chapters! In this chapter he talks about how we are expected to be Producers! He commands us to bring forth much fruit! In verses 4 and 5 he lets us know how with him we can accomplish miracles and without Him we can do nothing! We need to be Working with Christ for this work to move alonng... It is His work! In verse 8 we are told that this is the main way that we become his Disciple! and In verse 16 it says how we are Called and Ordained to bring in Fruit,... but not only that, to bring forth fruit that will remain! We need to bring in people that are truly converted and prepared to serve him throughout the rest of their lives! I also loves verses 7,9, and 10... It lets us know that this is the way to find Joy!! Happiness is always found in the work of the Lord! 

I love you all so much! 

Elder Farnes

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day!!!!! I am so grateful for you Dad! You are one of the main reasons I am the man that I am today! In John 5:19 it talks about how the Son can do nothing of Himself. That He can only do as he has seen and been instructed of the Father to do. In that it was talking about Jesus Christ and God, but I think the same can apply to us! You have been the example that I have needed in my life! Your example speaks for itself! I love you so much! Thanks for everything!

My new comp is Elder George! He is from Washington and is a sweet guy! We are getting along great and seem to have a lot of the same goals with the work of Salvation! 

My new area is pretty awesome! It is called Fourways and is the middle of Sandton! It is probably one of the richest areas in the mission as well as the largest! We are lucky to have an area called Diepsloot as part of our area also! Diepsloot is a township and is the most poverty stricken area I have been to on my mission. Almost everyone we see there we meet them in Shacks about half the size of a bedroom back home! It is also the most dangerous township in our mission.. so we are not allowed to tract there or be there after the sun goes down! It saves us during the early hours of the day though when most people from town are at work! 

We have some really cool investigators though! From Diepsloot we have an awesome father led that we got to come to church for the first time yesterday! Their names are Nick and Gillian and they are sweet! We are also teaching a few more couples that still need to get married though! In Fourways we are also teaching a sweet couple from Zimbabwe named Marvelous and Khumbo, A girl named Petya, and apparently a few people that are out of town!

One of the struggles of the area is finding new people to teach! In fourways it is all complexes which we can't get into to tract so it is kind of hard to do that! Some of the ideas we are going to do will be working through member, trying to set up a booth outside of big stores, handing out pass along cards at stoplights, street contacting at gas stations, and doing some service in a big park! Any ideas from you guys would be appreciated! Thanks.

In my study I read a lot of introspection (alma 5:14,26) and on becoming more like our Savior. In 3 Nephi 27:27 he commands us to be Perfect! He was telling us a powerful truth of our immense potential that each of us have! Of course we are imperfect, but we need to be consistently striving for perfection! People out there are waiting to be touched by each of us! Don't miss out on an opportunity! I love you all so much! 

Elder Farnes

Mabopane

Good-bye Mabopane

This past week was really great and really sad! I am officially leaving Mabopane. It has been a hard week of goodbyes. On Monday night we did a last family home evening with Gogo and her family. We made dinner for all of them and they loved the brownies we made! While I was sharing the lesson Momma Ponga stopped us and told everyone how she was committing to come to church every week from now on! She hasn't been in 4 years!! On sunday she made it and it was so cool to see her there. She is starting to gain her faith back and is going to continue on! As I said goodbye to that family last night she couldn't stop crying. It was way sad, I will definitely be in touch with them for the rest of my life though.

Some good news is that I have been called to be a Zone Leader. I feel kinda inadequate because I am young on mission, but I know the Lord will help me! So I will be going to a town next transfer. It will be a hard transition but we are going to work hard and get the area where I go booming! 

We had Zone conference this past week and talked about being standing ministers for when the new mission President comes in. It is our job to follow in suit and help him in any way he made need. We also talked about the Gathering of Israel! It was a really good discussion. 

The baptisms on Sunday went great!! Koketso, Thato, and Joslina all asked me to baptize them and it was such a great experience! I love the true Joy that comes as you see the light on the peoples faces! No greater feeling! Nono sadly didn't pass her interview for some reasons with the Law of Chastity, but we had a good talk with her and she is going to get everything figured out! 

I Finished the Book of Mormon again this past week! I am so grateful for the power that it brings into my life! I love learning all I can from it! A few scriptures that I really liked in Moroni were 1:3 which talks about how He WILL NOT deny the Christ!! and 9:6 which talks about how we need to labor diligently! Missionary work is WORK!! We are all called! Let us not cease to labor! 

I love you all so much! 

Elder Farnes

"tight"

This past week has flown by! Lots of work going on here in Mabopane! Koketso, Thato, Nono, and Jocaline are all progressing great towards their baptism this week. They will be having their baptisms this sunday :)

We have been doing a lot of finding lately as well to create a bigger teaching pool for the upcoming months. We have found a couple cool people, but it seems like there is a lot of jokers. A lot of appointments set and then they bounce on us. haha. We will find the legit ones this week though. Seperating the wheat from the tares!

We started seeing an awesome less active guy named Donald. He is a powerful man who used to go out with the missionaries and was even the gospel principles teacher but hasn't been to church for a long time. He opened right up to us and explained some pretty crazy stuff that is going on in his life. He has faced a lot of challenges and is even battling with demons inside of him. We talked to him about the need for the use of the Atonement in both aspects of redeeming and enabling and the importance of him taking the first step. He made it to church which was incredible and loved it! He said it was one of the hardest things he has had to do in his life.

In my study this past week I was reading through Ether. There is so much to learn from there. I really enjoyed how in Ether 12:17 it talks about how "tight" everything on the vessels were. Are our bodies(vessels) tight enough? Or do we have weak spots that allow water or temptation to get through. As we make them tight from the start when they were in the midst of the waters (temptation) Ether 6:7. Nothing could get through. I am grateful for the opportunity I have to tighten up my vessel through the atonement. I love you so much.

Elder Farnes

Great Week!

Great great week here in Mabopane! Jocaline, Nono, Koketso, and Thato are all progressing so well towards their baptism. We are even teaching some of Jocaline's family which is great! At first they didn't want much to do with us, but now they are keeping most of their commitments and desiring to know the truth.

This past week it seemed like we focused a lot on the Sabbath day with people. haha. We are teaching a guy named Molefe who is super powerful. He has been reading from the Book of Mormon everyday and is starting to gain a testimony of it. The only problem with him is that he was only coming to church every other week it seemed like. We have stressed the Sabbath with him before but this time took more of an approach to try and get him to see WHY he needs to come and WHY it would hurt him to miss out. The lesson turned out great and he is very committed to keep it up and do what the Lord asks.

Alexander is still powerful as ever. He is currently going through his family history, has visited the grounds of the temple, and has a calling in Elders Quorum. Very cool to see.

This past week I studied some more of becoming the Good Shepherd. I love a scripture from Alma 5:57 and 2 Corinthians 6:17. It tells us How to become one ourselves; the first step is to give up worldliness. We need to put first things first. I was got into studying more about sacrifice and how it really is a sign of pure love. I learned that sacrifice and becoming the Good Shepherd often times requires loneliness or to separate ourselves from others. Our Savior is our greatest example (Matthew 8:20) In Gethsemane and on the cross he had to suffer alone for each of us. How lucky are we that because of his sacrifice we don't have to walk alone. He will always be there for us. D&C 84:88. I am so grateful for this gospel and the opportunity I have to work with my Savior and Redeemer. I love you all so much!

Elder Farnes