Miracle 1 and Miracle 2

Alright people,

So this week was really exciting and a bit hectic which is always good. We had Zone Conference. Which was pretty much amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed and we also had some of the new missionaries bear their incoming testimonies. President stands to give the closing remarks to the meeting and starts talking to me. Telling me that I have accomplished a lot and he also told me that my first area, Kuwadzana has a Chapel now and it is really exciting. The attendance was 170!!!! I was thrilled and he said that I should be wearing a big smile for leaving that area better than I found it. I didn't really do much but it was great to hear about its growth.

Also a new couple missionary told us that the first time they were released and they took off his tag the pain was excruciating and they couldn't wait to have that tag back. And it was then in my less than stable state(as I also envisioned someone taking my tag....) that President then asked me to bear my outgoing testimony. I was shocked. This couldn't be the last Zone conference, I still have a lot to do and people to share with....... so I gave my testimony and it was strange. Very Strange, but no worries it is still far away. In fact it is still next year!

We have still been working with the Magudu family and they are learning and progressing but it is a bit slow. They are still in the world and we are doing our best to help them. BUt they are a great family. I have really enjoyed them. Then on Saturday we receive a referral from a member who recently returned to church and his brother is on mission and when we asked him which church he went to he said, "Latter-day Saints". So we told him he would be baptized the next day. He knew everything and he had been coming to church as well but he just hadn't been baptized. So that was really great and we were really excited for him. Then something else happened.........

A miracle happened this last week. One I will always remember and I will always be grateful. Mncedisi, one of the very first people I met when I arrived in this area. I contacted him and he told me that he became familiar with the church in the late 1990's when he and his friend, started investigating. His friend was baptized and went on mission and introduced many of the current members of the ward to the Gospel. The following day I met him again and he approached me and told me that his father had passed away that very day. I truly felt like he was being prepared to receive the Gospel and that I would witness it when it happened. We began to teach him. He was doing well in lessons but then wouldn't be around when we would set appointments and I had a feeling that he was avoiding us a bit. His family are all strong members in another church and he used to live in South Africa where he had a very good job but he was a drunkard and then moved back here. He was drinking a lot and smoking up to two packs a day when we met him. He also struggled with commitments and when he said he had read he would struggle to explain what he had read to the point where I would question if he had read at all. He also did not attend church for 4 weeks concurrently. Always with good reasons..... I admit I began to question if I truly felt prompted to teach him. For weeks we would discuss him in District Meetings with the other missionaries to see if there was something that we were not doing. The only reply that came was, "Drop him." In spite of my doubts I did not feel comfortable doing that.

But at times he would bring questions like, "Why do we worship on Sunday" and "why don't women receive the Priesthood?" And as best as we did to answer him sometimes he would still want more to help him understand. I decided that we would do our best to share what was important and focus on reading the Book of Mormon together. I even gave him my favorite highlighter so that we could see if he was marking and therefore reading. Then he began to read. But still would not come to church. It came to the point where I said, if he doesn't come to church this Sunday then we will have to drop him. I felt conflicted about this because of the prompting I had felt when we had first met him. But I knew that no one could be helped until they wanted to be helped. That Sunday, the service started and still no Mncedisi. I was sad. But then I see him through the window walking up the Chapel and he came the next Sunday as well. It was then that my current companion came and he asked us in a lesson, "When is the next baptism?" I rejoiced because he had given up his addictions and he was ready.

Then that Sunday he did not come to church and we were told he had gone to the rural home where his phone would not work. They kept telling us to call on this day and that he would be back. But every day we called they would postpone and tell us he had not yet returned. I began to grow concerned, small doubts began to form. Was he avoiding us? Is the family not telling us the whole truth? What if he has fallen into old habits again? What if.... What if.... What if.... began to plague my mind.

Then in Friday nightly planning session I felt determined to go to his house for our last appointment on Saturday at 8 pm. My companion wanted to call and set the appointment but I knew his phone wasn't working so I suggested otherwise. We wrote his name down and we planned for him. Earlier in the day we passed by close to his home and my companion suggested that we go see if he was around. Again I suggested that we continue to our appointment suggesting that we had already set the appointment for 8.

That night at exactly 8:02 pm we were walking up to his home when he saw us and walked back to us. We began talking and he said he had just arrived home and set his suit out for church the next day and was going to sort some things when he saw us and walked back. I began to vocalize my concerns about his falling into old habits and if he was reading. He smiled and said that he had taken his books with him and that he was free from his old habits. Again he asked when is the next baptism. we replied, "tomorrow." He said "Am I ready?" We called the Zone Leaders to do an interview for us and he was interviewed and he passed! I was unbelievably happy. He asked me to perform the baptism. I was a bit surprised but happy as I accepted. As we were sitting in Church that day I saw as he held his Book of Mormon and that highlighter that I had given him so many week before.

He came up slowly from the water and we walked from the font and he wiped his face that was wet with water and a few tears. Extended his hand and said, "Thank you. It has been a long road." I took his hand and we embraced. He couldn't stop saying he couldn't wait to get back in the water when he would be baptizing someone and that he felt great. He said he wished this feeling could last forever. He asked me how it felt to help someone to this day and said he wasn't sure if it could compare to how he felt right then. Miracles happen. There is truly no greater work than this. I cannot express how happy I am right now. How great is our joy.

The Church is true and people do change under the power of the Gospel.

ELDER GAY