One of them was with a new
investigator named Lindiwe. She studies in Russia during the school
year, but now she's on break until classes start. We had tracted to her
home the week before and we set a return appointment with her, so this
week we were able to get our first lesson with her. Usually in our first
lessons we just do a brief introduction and talk about how the our
message can help our investigators, state our purpose and generally help
our investigators feel comfortable with us. As we taught Lindiwe we
told her how the atonement can give her a peace of mind in her life
despite the mistakes that we make in life. Lindiwe then opened up a lot
and asked us A LOT of questions about how the atonement works, and we
got to explain that a little more with her. She has a lot of questions,
and she seems to have the desire to progress.
Unfortunately,
the same cannot be said of the Tembo family. We restated our purpose
and explained about how in the end we invite people to be baptized.
Brother Tembo frankly told us that they weren't interested in baptism
and that they weren't interested in joining the church, but we could
certainly come by to strengthen them spiritually. It is a source of
frustration for me when we have people like that. A lot of people here
think that we are here just to have Bible Study and help them have their
'Daily Bread' of the gospel. While it is good to teach and encourage
others about the gospel, it concerns me how some people are overly
dependent on others to help them with the spiritual needs. Personally
speaking, I see missionaries like us as providers of the information and
resources necessary for one's personal salvation, but the
responsibility of one's spirituality relies heavily on the individual
him/herself. We can teach everything that we've got in the book that can
help somebody to find salvation, but if they don't act for themselves,
it won't do them any good! Salvation comes from doing, not listening!
It's just like the old saying, "Give a man a fish and he'll be full for a day, but teach a man how to fish and he'll be full for life."
Truly teaching others about the gospel is an important duty, but the
teachings will have little impact if the people receiving the message
only nods their head and say amen.
Ranting
aside, we still had some good lessons. We are progressing with Prisca, a
friend to Peter the returned missionary in our branch. We have almost
finished teaching her about the Plan of Salvation, and then we need to
keep going until her baptismal date on May 31st. It looks like things
will shape up with her, but we might be going a little tight heading
closer to the end of the line.
This
week we also got to do some more service. Peter asked us and the Zone
Leaders to help him transport some harvested corn back to his home. We
took the Zone Leader's truck and put all the corn in the back. We made
two whole runs with the tailgate full to the brim. It was hard and heavy
loading them, but it was certainly fun UNloading them!
There
was a day where my companion wanted to ride bikes in our area. On our
porch of our flat there's two bikes that are chained up. They aren't
good bikes at all. They're one speed bikes, and they are in desperate
need for maintenance. I made the mistake of riding one of the bikes
which had problems gaining speed, so even when we were going downhill I
was pedaling hard! I thought at first that I was way out of shape, but I
soon realized it was the bike that was the problem, not me! Me and my
companion switched bikes and things went much better. That said, I hated
the fact that the bikes are one-speed, meaning I can't go into an
easier gear when climbing hills. Even small ones really work your legs. I
don't think I plan on riding those bikes again, but at least I can say I
rode a bike during my mission like other missionaries.
Thanks
for all the support, and I'm looking forward to hear what's new from
home! I miss you all very much and hope everything goes well for you!
Love,
Elder Massey
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