Happy Baptism Day

Feb.9-Incredible Week

This past week was incredible. The highlight of the week was Thatos Baptism! He was so excited and it went perfectly! His Mom was so happy and was crying... We have reactivated her and his brother and sister just in the past couple of months!

Mj got a call friday morning from her new work place informing her that they were moving to a new place and that because of that she would have to work that sunday. Because of that we will be having their baptisms this week!

We reactivated a sweet guy named Lesego this past week! He is a professional soccer player and  lost his way with the busyness of life! We also got an amazing new investigator named Lucky! He is such a blessing...  He has been a "Church Hopper" and is wanting to find the truth!

In 1 Samuel 3:3-10 it tells the story of the Lord speaking to Samuel and him not recognizing the voice and thinking that it was Eli. How often does the Lord try and prompt or speak to us and we don't recognize His voice? With how busy the world is if we are not paying close enough attention we will miss those promptings. Let us put first things first and always act on the promptings we receive!

Elder Farnes

Exchanges and P-day fun

Scary night-someone was on the roof and shining lights into the apartment on this night! Eek!

Feb. 2-Temple Trip

This past week has been incredible! Mj, thelma, and thato all passed their baptismal interview this past week and will be baptised this sunday!

We were able to get a new investigator family of sisters from a member this week. They have been to church before and love it! One of the first things one of the daughters said is that she needs to be baptised and join the church! They are super prepared!

We had a temple trip on Friday which was so amazing! I absolutely love the temple and am so grateful for the opportunity we had to go there! I am so grateful for the revelation that we are able to receive while there.

We also had a soccer tournament with a few of the wards and we had a missionary team. Needless to say the missionaries lost... haha. It was a great opportunity to get a lot of non members to a fun activity though!

I went on exchanges this past week with Elder Worton. He is such a sick guy and we will be rooming together later on when he gets back but while we were sleeping we woke up to a few people running around on our roof and then flashing their lights in the windows trying to see what we had inside! It was pretty scary, but everything is good now!

In Mosiah 7:33 it talks about being delivered from Bondage. We can look at bondages as trials, challenges, addictions, or any small thing holding us back or restraining us. In there he gives us exactly what we need to do to be delivered and I love a few of the words that are used. The main ones I like was "He will" and "According to His own will and pleasure". The "He Will" helps us to recognize that we are nothing in these situations.. there is no way to overcome them except if we trust the Lord comletely and allow HIM to deliver us. The Second suggest that patience is key, we need to be willing to be on the Lord's timetable!

I love you all so much!

Elder Farnes

Jan.26-Best Place in the World

Another wonderful week in the best place in the world! Everything continues to move forward! One of the big highlights from the week was the fireside. It went perfectly. We discussed unity, played a game and had some refreshments. We had a great turn out from members, investigators, and less actives and the ward is wanting to do it every month!

Mj, thelma, and thato are all having their baptismal interviews on Tuesday. They are all part member families and it will be exciting to have them all baptised together!

Basadi and Sunday are back on track! We had a great lesson with them about our purpose as missionaries and the doctrine of Christ and they are more serious about making those steps forward than ever before!

We had an old man named Samuel that we have been working with for a couple weeks come back to church on Sunday. He can't even remember the last time he came. He is such a sweet guy and has been a member for about 20 years!

A less active named Jerry that we brought back to church a week ago introduced us to his friend and is fellowshipping him! The work is rolling forward!

In 2 Timothy 3:12 it talks about how ALL that will live Godly and in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. I am grateful for the opportunity sometimes to go through persecution for HIS sake, to be able to always represent HIM!

I love you!

Elder Farnes

Jan. 19-Members Helping

Everyone is officially back from vacation!!! I am so excited to have everyone back... it now will be even tougher to fit everyone into our schedule. But what a great blessing that is!

Our Investigators are all doing great! Everyone is progressing well and we are seeing the hand of the Lord truly change their lives. The only struggle we have right not is with Bemba.... he has had a few set backs and is really wondering if joining the church and be baptised is the right thing for him in his life right now. We are seeing him on Wednesday and he said he will come with his answer. Keep him in your prayers!

Members are continuing to do incredible missionary work. We had a couple members bring their friends to church and we also had another guy named Lucky that randomly decided to come this morning! After Church we went out again with the Leaders and visited Less Actives! We were able to get 2 more back this past sunday and have even more to see now!

This next sunday after church we are having a fireside to help build unity within the ward and to help people to bring friends and less actives back to church so we are telling everyone we see to come! It should be a great activity!

In Thessalonians 5:19 it says "Quench not the spirit." Is there anything in our lives that "quench" the spirit? Even just a little bit? Or maybe something small that will keep us from receiving even more of the spirit. In all our lives there is always something that can be done to better ourselves and enjoy more fully the companionship of the Holy Ghost. Make those changes today. Miracles will happen.

I love you all so much!

Elder Farnes

Jan. 12-Miracles

This past week has been a week of miracles!! Throughout the whole week we have been able to see the hand of the Lord in my life time and time again! People are progressing like never before, the LA work is moving along so quickly, and we have been getting a lot of referrals and member missionary work is being done!!

We got a call on wednesday night from a member of our ward who had a friend he wanted to introduce us to. To introduce us to him he decided to set up a pick up game of basketball! It was a ton of fun and we were also able to talk to a few of his other friends!

Friday night we were able to go and see the Chiloanes. We were able to paint their house earlier that week and came back to teach! They started right off with telling us how they want to be sealed together as a family this year! They were so excited and are going to meet with Bishop to get them started on the right path!

At church on Sunday we had over 130 people. They haven't gotten numbers like that for a year or more! We counted 9 non members that came as well as 13 less actives!! 5 new people decided to show up and we are meeting with all of them this week! 2 husbands and wifes and a guy that is married to a member!

Mj's sister also came to church on sunday for the first time. She has been joining in on the lessons, but has had no desire to progress! After church she ran up and told us that she wants to be baptised with her sister!!

The Lord is really blessing Hospital View and I am so grateful for it. We are so busy now that we have to squeeze people in to make sure that we see all that we need to. I am so grateful to be a missionary and to have the opportunity to serve others! This is HIS work!

Elder Farnes