Thoughts

This past week has been sweet! Lots of fun and have had some great spiritual experiences! We have switched up our teaching style a little bit and are trying to teach as simply as possible (because this gospel really is so simple) and it has been powerful! It makes it so our investigators are really understanding everything and feeling the spirit so strongly. One of the lessons we taught this past week we had to have one of the members translate to us her answers to our questions and any comments she had. She was able to understand us well though. We were teaching her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ very simply and at the end of the lesson in English she said, "I feel the Holy Spirit. I want to be baptised and feel this way always. I have never felt this way before." It was so amazing to hear her say that and for her to understand what she needs to do.

We have a lot of progressing investigators as well right now. Salome should hopefully be getting baptized this week! (keep her in your prayers) It has been so cool to see how much she has changed. There is a new light about her! Thumi came to church again and LOVED it! She is so powerful. Ivonne is the one that can't speak English very well. We are teaching a rugby player (oli), a singer (Tshwanelo), and their brother Bongane as well. They are way cool. We also have another part member family that we are starting to see! Things are going great in Mabopane!!

This past week I was also able to be apart of interviewing people for baptism! It was such an incredible experience to be able to have the spirit be present so strongly and to be able to represent Heavenly Father as the interviewer! The first interview was with a lady named Sophie. It was a long and great interview. She started off by bearing her testimony and as we continued to talk she expressed her life story and her concerns about feeling guilty about things she had done in the past! I was then able to bear testimony of the Atonement and was prompted to promise that those feelings would go away the second she stepped into the water! I then interviewed some kids from a part member family. One of them was a 12 year old girl named Takano. We opened with a prayer and as we began I just saw Anna in her the entire time. They liked the same things and she had the same spirit about her that the twins have. It made me a little emotional. Some great experiences that I will cherish forever!

The next part of Consecration is submitting our thoughts to Heavenly Father. Everything we do in life begins with a thought so it is so important that we learn to control them. We never do something in life without first thinking about it. Mosiah 4:30 and D&C 64:33-34 talk about how important it is. "You are what you constantly think about."

"Consecration is the only surrender which is also a victory!" Elder Neal A. Maxwell

I love you all so much!

Elder Farnes