THE prayer, The Manyande Secret, the Door That Opened, and DMVP!

Well we began the week by having our Zone Meeting. It went really well and I felt very edified. My companion gave a great presentation on always referring to the Restoration and I shared about how to teach a person and not just a lesson. It was a very good meeting and I feel like it was a success. Plus I blinded an elder with a flashlight to demonstrate the effects of giving an investigator too much light before he is ready. Haha.

We are baptizing this guy named Sabastian this Saturday. He is a great guy. English isn't is best subject but he understands the principles very well. Even though we only met him a week ago he is amazing and I can't wait for his baptism!

We also went to visit this investigator of ours named Lesley. He is about twenty years old and a cool guy. We went and we asked about his reading and if he was praying to know if it is true. He said he had. But that he feels like his prayers stop at the ceiling and he has lost that relationship with his Heavenly Father. We asked some questions and taught him the pattern of prayer. Then we asked him if he would pray for us. He said yes, so we knelt together and he offered his prayer. As he closed in the name of his Savior. There was no doubt that the Spirit was there. He said that he felt It and that it was an amazing feeling. Something he said he hadn't felt in a long time. The whole lesson lasted about ten minutes but it was one of the most memorable of my life. The Spirit was so strong and it was a great opportunity to share it with Lesley.

Someone gave us the Book of Mormon back. We went to their house and they came out and handed it right back. I asked, "So you don't want it?" She said, "No." Then I asked why. To which her reply was a mocking laughter. She just laughed, turned around and locked the gate behind her. It was kind of funny. It is so sad that people are so hard hearted.

Tendai Manyande, the young woman in the family we just baptized, had malaria and they couldn't find any medicine so we went and we gave her a Priesthood Blessing. The next time we saw her it was like nothing was ever wrong. You would never have guessed that just yesterday she had been bed ridden with malaria. We also brought the family with us to teach another family in the same area. Sister Manyande asked to bear her testimony about Sacrament after the family said that they had no money to travel to church. This is the story she related to them,


I would like to bear my testimony about Sacrament. When Elder Gay and elder Shabangu first invited us to church, we had no money in our pockets. Wedidn't know how we were going to be able to go. Then Shingi(their 11 year old son) told us we needed to pray.We prayed together as a family and then Sonny(Bro Manyande) got a call from someone and they said that they had the one hundred dollars that they owed him. We were blessed so we could go to church and partake Sacrament. You can too, if you have faith. The Lord will provide the way. Just look how many houses are around us but they are here. They could have been at your neighbors right there but they are here sharing with you. That is already a blessing from God. Maybe He has chosen you out of all these people to be blessed.


I am sure I paraphrased terribly but this family is amazing. I can't tell you how grateful I am to the Lord for sending me to this Family. They have such faith and they will never fall away.


I hit my 1 year mark on Friday this last week. It was very bizarre. I can't believe I have been out for half my mission! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! That is insane?!!? Where has the time gone but I burned a shirt on an altar to commemorate the occasion. We live next to a church and there is an altar there... I don't know why either..... but I burned my shirt on it anyway. It was ripped so I wasn't being wasteful. It is kind of a strange mission tradition. But it is very funny.

We met a very intelligent SDA this week. He was friendly enough and very talkative. He analyzed us and how we approached him and he was very complimentary and said that we were good and that is why they gave us the car. The whole time you could see that he was very intelligent but I think he was intimidated a bit by us. Because he was talking too much. You could just see it. I enjoy talking to very smart people. Because they are very good at covering their emotions or their motives. They are like a puzzle waiting to be unraveled. It was fun.

Another crazy experience tha happened this week was "the door that opened".
We were driving by the chapel when we saw some people. We stopped and talked to them and we invited them for a tour of the church. It was a great experience. I had the keys and was trying to find the right ones to the Chapel. But couldn't so we took them around the rest of it and then when we got to the Chapel very last I was about to apologize and tell them that unfortunately it is locked because it is a very sacred place. But as I was about to say that the door opened behind me. We went inside and the Spirit was very strong. A great experience. I was so surprised because I thought for sure it was locked. I was so shocked but it opened and we felt the Spirit very strongly as we stood together in His house.

Someone told me that I was "too alert". Whatever that means. But he said that I could just look at someone and know their thoughts. Hahahaha I WISH! That would be awesome. I thought it was hilarious.

And now to the DMVP!!!! You might be asking yourselves, "What is a DMVP?" Well let me enlighten you. It was quite an enjoyable part of our week. Well first off, our money disappeared. Not that it was stolen. We spent it. But somehow we don't know where it went. So I was looking at what we had and I saw flour. So I put some of that in a bowl. Then I added a bit of salt. My companion wanted to help so we both picked some things to add. In the end we added flour, salt, vanilla, sugar, lemon juice, butter, and water. Then we cooked it on a frying pan and ate it with peanut butter, jam and honey. It was delicious!!!!! IT was so awesome we made it again! DMVP stands for, the Desperate and Minimalist View of the Pancake. I think the title is awesome it sounds like some social movement. THE DMVP!!!! Don't worry I will make some for everyone one day. Then you too can partake of the goodness that is DMVP.

Enjoy your lives!

Love, Elder Steven Gay