Monday, January 25, 2016

Welcome to the First Session of African General Conference

Well this week was actually terrible...

PSYCH

This week was INCREDIBLE!! ( as usual ). I mean I am literally a representative of Jesus Christ sharing His word so that others may "receive peace in this life and happiness in the next"!! How can it not be amazing???

A few highlights and thoughts from the week are as follows:

First: We (unofficially) created a soccer team for the United Nations! On Saturday when we were playing soccer it was the usual crowd (all black guys with 3 white kids) and we were enjoying a nice game of soccer when some other white kids showed up and asked to play with us! A little while later a whole team of Indians showed up and we played a PROPER game of full field soccer! With coloured jerseys and all! "BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE" -- after we all played for about an hour a whole group of coloured kids came and they played with us too! (This is funny because when we were playing I literally thought to myself "We have almost all the races of South Africa now, all we need is the coloureds!"). 

I am super duper excited because we have another baptism on Sunday! Her name is Gcinile! She is the aunt/sister of some really powerful members in our branch! She was like the golden investigator to Elder Sixaba and I! We met, taught, and are baptising her in one transfer! We would leave her with a reading assignment or a pamphlet and come back and she would teach the principle to us!! So we really didn't have to do much work at all with Gcinile! It's amazing how the Lord prepares people to receive this message!! 

This experience with Gcinile reminded me of the importance of Member Missionary Work!! As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we have the knowledge and the message that will bring the mercy of Jesus Christ to us at the judgement bar! How selfish of us to keep it to ourselves!! There is not much time for a lot of people to have a chance to receive and accept this message -- every one must do his/her part!! 

This weekend we had District Conference (Pretty much African General Conference), I was so pleased and amazed at the faith of the members who had to travel over an hour and pay for transport to attend the conference in Madadeni! The conference was great! We even had African MoTab ( they are probably pretty close competitors too )! A few champion quotes that I wanted to forward to you are such:

"If you pray for rain, be sure you are ready for mud!" This goes a lot deeper than simply weather -- I would ponder each of you to ponder the important message that lies beneath this simple phrase! (If you can't figure it out you can email me and ask. Or just ask your mom -- moms know everything (sorry dads) )

A spiritual thought that I feel I need to share is that FAITH IS A VERB!

We read that "faith, without works, is dead." I can testify that that is true. Genuine faith in Christ will not compel us to sit around and waste away our time; rather it will motivate us to "wake up! and do something more!" Faith in Christ leads us to daily repentance, constant spiritual progression, and a greater desire to follow Jesus Christ and invite others to come unto Him. I cannot stress to each of you the damage that idle or lukewarm discipleship has on our spirits; even on our salvation!! "Many are called and few are chosen" because many do not understand the gravity of the gospels impact on this Earth! 

I would encourage each of you to do something, in gospel terms, that is absolutely out of your comfort zone! Do something that terrifies you! It doesn't have to be sheer or extreme; but something that will make an impact -- something that will deepen your faith in Jesus Christ and reaffirm your commitment to follow our Saviour and His prophet on the Earth! 

I love this gospel with all of my heart! I am filled with an excitement and enthusiasm for sharing the gospel! I know that I can make a difference in the lives of hundreds as time and generations move forward! 

Much love coming from South Africa,

--
Elder Weiler

PS I didn't take any photos this week :((


PPS I'm not the only white person in Newcastle Branch anymore :))

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