The first one is most definitely the baptism of Surprise!!
So her real name is Simtembile Dzanibe, but everyone just calls her Surprise
So the deal with Surprise is that she is good friends with a member family, and for the most part, she goes to their house after school, because her mother is working and stays there until her mother comes home, this is every day. So she started coming to church with them, wants to be a member, and that's what happened. Haha, nothing major, but this week was finally her baptism. Being 9 years old, short attention span, and us having to adapt our teaching style a bit to best help her, she's finally made it and understands whats going on, eventually.
So the baptism actually came off pretty well, not everything went to plan but it was all good. She wanted my companion, Elder Harris to baptize her, so that happened, and everything worked out well!
So we are very happy about that.
The funniest part was again Elder Harris. Training is still going well, we are enjoying the companionship and he is a good companion! We are doing well and the training is going well.
It's funny because when we do the 12 week training program, he gets bored, which is what I used to do, but now I am the one teaching, I see that it is actually really useful, and I have lots of experience I want to help him understand, but i think I will have to change how we do it, to involve him more and get him interested, but it isn't of great concern.
What was funny was that while we were preparing for the baptism, Elder Harris was trying to do things a particular way, I didn't get in his way, but just gently corrected the course when he was trying to do things that I knew just wasn't worth it. For example, he wanted to baptize her wearing trousers and a shirt, even though he doesn't have any white's of his own...... so we resorted to the jumpsuit, but he was quite set on getting trousers. I was like okay, we can look, but we'll use the jumpsuit as a backup. And that's what happened, we didn't find any.
The other major thing this week is that we had interviews with the mission president!
It was a great meeting to sit down with President Leavitt and talk. I feel like I have a closer connection, but I know that that is simple by virtue of the time that I have been on a mission. Older and more experienced, so a closer connection.
I liked it because we were able to talk about anything but what I really enjoyed was the fact that he asked my opinions and thoughts about things. Like he asked, "are the rules too strict?"
I felt good that he values my opinion, I think it is because I am older and have been in the Mission Leadership Council but I still appreciate it
Got my second temple recommend :)
The other major thing that happened was we were at this members house, the Moketsi's. Their daughter Khetani is 9 and hasn't been baptized, so we are working on that. While we were there, the oldest daughter came in with one of her friends. So while we were sitting we got talking about things and eventually the Book of Mormon. Then proceeded to spend the better part of an HOUR discussing and trying to convince her to take a copy of the Book of Mormon! She wasn't having it, so we discussed, and towards the end, I realized that when I was talking she wasn't actually listening to me, because she would answer my questions, then say something else a little later that completely contradicted what she had said earlier! But I eventually got her to listen, by calling her out and showing that she wasn't listening. She eventually took a Book of Mormon, and she just opened it randomly, saying "let me see what God has to say to me" Opens it to Alma 41:1 and reads: 'And I perceive that thy mind has been worried concerning this thing. But behold, I will explain it unto thee"
We were all shocked and I took that as a basically a miracle! Plain and true
That's about it for this week
Things are still going well but I am looking forward to home, the work is almost done!!
Hopefully going to have a few more baptisms before I go!
