(27 October 2008)

Dear Family and Friends, (27 October 2008)

This past Monday we had an appointment with a guy named Peet. We first met him a couple of weeks back. He didn’t really accept the message but we figured we’d try and see him again if he was willing. He wasn’t able to see us though so he arranged so that an under deacon from his church (the Old Apostalic church) could see us. This guys name was Willem Schoeman. He came to Peet’s house to pick us up and take us to his home. He was very accepting of our message and really wants to see us again. He said that he learned things from us. He asked us questions with a desire to get answers from us. He asked us about the Mosaic Law and why the Jews had a different law from the New Testament. My mind was brought to Abinadi. We have an appointment with Willem tonight. I can’t wait to teach him about the Book of Mormon and give him chapters to read about Abinadi.
We taught Ralph again this week. As we share things with him he really ponders it. We taught him the first bit of the Plan of Salvation. He said how he could buy some of the things, like how God has a body of flesh and bone, but then he would question it. I felt that what Ralph needed was a testimony of the Book of Mormon so I shared with him again the commitment to find out if it’s true. He said he would read it a whole week; he wouldn’t even touch his Bible. I hope and pray that God will show him the truth. It’s all in His hands.
This week at church we had 3 investigators. This is pretty good for us here in Alberton. One of them was a young man named Gladwin, he is 13 years old and he came with his mother, Ruth, who is a member. We also had Heather come again, the volunteer from Broken Wings. I asked her about her Book of Mormon reading and she told me she was on 1 Nephi 11. Earlier in the week we taught her, along with a branch missionary who came with us, the Restoration. She is quite open to the message. Her husband David even listened in on the message. He was alright with it, but I think it will take him a while longer to accept it and change his ways. He tells us that he’s not really a church guy. We were also able to get an investigator named Wellington to church who we’ve taught a couple of times. I’m not sure if he’s gotten a definite yes to the message but he seems certain it is true. Lots of investigators at church makes it so much more exciting.
The rains here in South Africa come during the summer which is right now. Saturday night we had to ride home in the pouring rain. We were almost the furthest away from our flat that we can be. It was about a 10-13 Kilometer bike ride. It took us about 40 minutes. The whole ride it was pouring rain, we biked through huge puddles, as I peddled the water would almost totally engulf my shoes. Even some cars as they passed by would drive through puddles and we would get splashed. When we got home you couldn’t tell the difference between someone being shoved into a swimming pool and me. I was totally soaked. Luckily my scriptures were placed in a plastic grocery bag. At first I wasn’t very happy about the whole thing, but then I just embraced it. I sung a couple primary Hymns, “I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain” and even looked for cars to splash me. It was almost like jumping in a lake. At first it sucks and it is really cold but then you get use to it and it was pretty fun. At first I didn’t even want to go out in the rain from our appointment but my companion did and so we did. I’m glad Elder Burnett was willing to work even though it was raining. These experiences I'm having are priceless, I love it.

Elder Lane