What a week man I can't believe its come and gone. This week I had the opportunity of going to Soshanguve and Mabopane both on exchanges and there was some awesome happenings.
Soshanguve we were on bikes and its my first time biking since my Nelspruit days. But BOOM! I completed the Soshanguve Mountain! yeah no stops, and in a high gear because the bikes can no longer shift. Morning schedule jogging and leaps and push ups pay off!!! Anyway the day started off super hot and I hadn't eaten breakfast. But after a fill up at the local Kota stand we went to work. And then the downpour came. high winds, thunder and lightning, and torrents of rain, and a Mulhungu in township all make for good times. We met a guy pushing a shopping cart overflowing with alcohol and he invited us to his place. So we road about 13k's through pouring rain and... wrong house, no such person lives there... But guess who does. A house of 4 brothers looking for a church... Miracle?!?! We had a really good day and though I was dripping like a sponge I loved every minute of it.
Mabopane was a very interesting day. We met a guy at a bar who used to be the ward clerk, Melchizedek Priesthood holder and everything, and we found him drowning his sorrows away in the Shabeen. As we talked to him about 10 people approached us and asked for help to stop drinking. Well we invited them to church in Mabopane and they all came. turns out 3 are super prepared and are working on being baptized. In the strangest places, and in some of the lowest times, you can have spiritual experiences and see miracles. Think of Christ, all alone, forsaken, and beaten, he became the Savior. Good lesson of hope there.
A funny thing happened this week. On Soweto TV, every Sunday there are all these crazy pastor TV shows where people dump cooking oil on "possessed" people and shout fire fire fire!. Well this week we saw like 5 kids playing "Church" one was shaking on the ground and they were throwing dirt on him saying fire fire fire. man haha the world is one crazy place. we laughed like crazy.
Occasionally you have experiences on mission that break your heart and this week Joyce and her mother Maria received their answers that the Book of Mormon was true and that Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet. But they said, "we can't leave our church we are rooted there and are comfortable. But we know it is true". So early on my mission I would try to persuade, or to nudge, or do something to dissuade them. But know I have realized the true power of testimony. After about a 3 second pause, I opened my mouth and I can't recall everything I said but it was something along the lines of "Christ is standing right at the door and saying come, and you heard him, and you turned around and went back. We love you, that's why we are here. Nothing will bring you greater happiness no matter how tough the transition. There will be away. You may think we are being bold, but this is eternal life, this is EVERYTHING, and if you turn away its your choice, but we want it absolutely clear. This is true, and you know it. Man after that and Elder Bangani's testimony I thought the house was gonna fall down it was powerful. I love it man. They still turned us away, but all that was was a testimony builder for us, and hopefully a seed for them in the future.
In other news, this Sunday we will have hopefully 7 baptisms. Yep Hammanskraal? yes please. I love this place, the church is true, and this is exactly where I need to be and exactly what I need to be doing.
Stay classy y'all
Elder Robinson
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