Week 94: Prayer with Fasting brings forth miracles

Hello Friends and Family,

Well this week my testimony of fasting was strengthened. 

The work in Centurion has been struggling for some time now. While tracting this week, the response we received from one man after knocking on his gate was the straw that broke the camel's back. I am one who is able to respond to rejection with a smile on my face but this one was hard.  It caused much frustration to boil over and a lot of pondering. 

The next day during our weekly planning, my companion and I both felt that we should fast for the area. So we did. Moments after completing our fast we decided to phone two potential people who we have been trying to get a hold of for the past 3 weeks. They both answered this time and were both still excited to meet with us. On Sunday, we were expecting a young man to come to church who we had been playing basketball with lately.  Just as church began we received a phone call from him informing us that he was at the gate.  As my companion and I walked to the gate we were expecting to see a young man standing at the gate waiting to be let in. Instead, a young man and his whole family pulled up to the gate in a car!!!!! Aphiwe not only came to church but he brought his mom and siblings!  It was a great sight to see and surely an answer to a plea. 

I know that as our desires are aligned with the Lord's as we fast for those things we desperately need and desire He will grant them unto you. Never underestimate the power of prayer and fasting.

Sincerely, Elder Rash

Heading to an early morning workout

In his area there is a light rail that they can take and talk with lots of people 

To many in South Africa, he is an Angel sent from Heaven

I love my boy!

They really must've loved these brownies

Elder Rash and Elder Gabriel...best of friends

Bonding like boys do.....

Twice a week they have been going to their Bishop's house and
 he runs them through an intense work out.  Devon is loving it.

Week 93: Looking forward to being a Member Missionary

Hello Friends and Family,

This week has been great!  We were able to meet with a sister named Sibo who came to church last week.  She shared with us her story of the old life she use to live before she was involved in a tragic car accident that left her in the hospital for 7 months.  She had to learn how to talk, walk, and speak all over again.  We had an awesome lesson with her speaking about the atonement, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and how she can be made clean through repentance and baptism.  We invited her to baptism for the 14th of July.  We are super excited to help her progress and feel the healing and redeeming power of the atonement in her life. 

I am so grateful for my time to serve as a full-time missionary but I can't begin to describe the excitement and privilege it will be to be a member missionary.  I don't think we truly understand what a privilege it is for us as members of the restored Church of Jesus Christ to minister to those not of our faith and to share with them what has brought so much light and joy into our lives.  Missionary work as a member missionary is not only more effective but it is so much easier!  You don't have rules that restrict you from giving others rides which gives you a prime opportunity to speak about the gospel and serve your fellow brothers and sisters. Or rules that limit you to your access and ability to socialize with others not of our faith in a natural way.  A white shirt, tie, and name tag can be intimidating.  I would love to invite my neighbors over for dinner so that they can feel of the spirit that resides in our flat but unfortunately we can't.  But as a member you can.  It just takes small and simple acts of love, friendship, and kindness to bless someone's life.  Please take advantage of the tools and resources that you have as a member missionary. 

Love, Elder Rash

Found something to remind him of home

 

Wonderful family from the ward who fed them dinner

Week 92: This is where I am meant to be....

Hello Friends and Family,

This week has been amazing!!!  I wish I could put into words how great my first week here in Centurion has been.  I have had many experiences in the past week that have brought the confirmation that this is where I am meant to be. 

My first night in the area we went and had dinner with a sister in the ward. Long story short we discovered that we were both from Mesa, AZ and had a few connections.

We spent most of the week tracting. We have changed our approach and we have seen a lot of success. We are able to have more friendly conversations with people and in the end offer our service to them. 

You may remember in my last area, I talked about how amazing our Relief Society president was. Well I just went from a ward with the best Relief Society president to a ward with the greatest Elders Quorum president!!! Once again I wish I could put into words how great Bro. Kevin is.  We spent all day on Sunday visiting less active members. 

One of the confirmations that I received that this is where I am meant to be came as I met Kevin.  He is very in-tune with the spirit. 

The Centurion 1st and 2nd wards are amazing!  Definitely the biggest wards I have ever served in.  Our area is huge!  Probably my second biggest area on mission, behind Phokeng.  It makes it difficult and causes us to plan more efficiently but it means there is a ton of work to be done.

My companion, Elder Gabriel (from Brazil) is amazing! We get along super well, share tons of laughs together, and work hard.

A lesson I learned this week is when you receive a prompting to share something with someone, even someone you have just met, do it. As I did this, about an hour later I received a witness that the prompting was from the spirit and it reassured me that this is where I am meant to be serving my last 3 months.

Love, Elder Rash
Note from mom:  No pictures OF my boy this week, but he spent his P-Day at the Zoo!  So enjoy all the pictures of animals....seriously, this is what I got today...tons of pictures and videos of animals!!!  I spared you all by just sharing a few of the many pictures!

No idea

Sunset

Monkey

What's the name of the king from Madagascar?  This is him!

another monkey

Big kitty

Week 91: Saying Goodbye to Florida and HELLO to Centurion

Hello Friends and Family,

With us preparing for transfers tomorrow I don't have too much time to email. 

Well..... I will be transferred. My time here in the Florida 1st ward has gone by very fast.  Every area I have served in I have been able to learn something new. My time spent in this area reminds me of the words spoken in the Book of Ether chapter 12 versus 27 and 37:

"27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

37 And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father."

This area has definitely shown me my weaknesses and I am excited for the opportunity I know have to go out to my new area and work on them. 

My new companion will be Elder Gabriel, from Brazil. My new area is Centurion.  It is an Afrikaaner town out near Pretoria.  We well be covering two wards.  I have been told the members are amazing and feed missionaries like crazy.  So if I come home looking like a potato you now know why. 

This week we witnessed the power of prayer and the priesthood. About 2 weeks ago we visited our Relief Society President sister Mbele. She was preparing to head to Durban to have an operation on a hernia that had been discovered.  She had us come over so that we could give her a blessing.  She told us that she would be in Durban until July since she would be staying there to recover.  So we gave her a blessing and she went her way.  As we were sitting in church on Sunday, Sis. Mbele came walking in the door.  First thing that came to my mind was that she heard I was being transferred and couldn't help but hurry back to hear my testimony lol.  After church we began speaking with her and she shared with us the miracle that happened in her life. When she got to Durban the doctors took some x-rays and cat scans. After much analyzing, the doctors proceeded to tell her that there was no hernia and that she would no longer need to have surgery.  Sis. Mbele is a woman of much faith and this miracle is a product of that faith.

Ether 12:12-16

"12 For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith.
13 Behold, it was the faith of Alma and Amulek that caused the prison to tumble to the earth.
14 Behold, it was the faith of Nephi and Lehi that wrought the change upon the Lamanites, that they were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost.
15 Behold, it was the faith of Ammon and his brethren which wrought so great a miracle among the Lamanites.
16 Yea, and even all they who wrought miracles wrought them by faith, even those who were before Christ and also those who were after."

 Love, Elder Rash
Note from mom:  Devon was sad to say goodbye to all the amazing people he met in Florida.  But he is super excited for his new area and working hard all the way to the end!  Mom is sad because now that he is leaving the office, he will have to give up his smart phone and go back to using a flip phone....which means no more P-Day texting and sending him pictures throughout the week.  This is going to be a LOOOONG 12 weeks!

The Legend Bro. Bibb

The Ntombela Family

Doing the "DAB"

Being silly with Millicent, Elder Rash, Angela, and Gabby

Now being serious

The Mcunu Family

The Sibanda Family

The Yusuf Family

The Mtombeni Family

The Alexander Family

Week 90: Never a dull moment...

Hello Friends and Family,

Man was this an eventful and busy week!

It started off with an unexpected two day long exchange on Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday night we received a phone call that my "son", Elder Bindrup, had been hit by a taxi while he was biking in his area. We rushed to the office to assist in getting some things situated for him. Thankfully we found out it was not too serious. He had some serious gashes on his hands, road rash on his arm, and a swollen right leg. He was released from the hospital the next day. Because of this incident we were able to be reunited as companions for 2 days. We had a great time and it was amazing to see how much he has grown in a year.

On Friday we were able to attend the Temple. While there I was able to see Nqobile (a recent convert from Rynfield while I was there.) He has been volunteering at the Self Reliance office for the past couple months. While talking to him he informed me that he recently received the Melchizedek! That definitely made my day. Later that evening we had an amazing lesson with the Yusuf family (a colored family that we have been teaching for a month or so that Elder Spencer and I found tracting.) We had a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation but focused on our life on earth. At the end of the lesson the spirit directed us to invite them to be baptized.  As we did so Bro. and Sis. Yusuf unanimously accepted. We had invited them to church in the past but they had always mentioned how they had Cricket games on the weekend and would be too busy to come. However, at the end of this lesson Sis. Yusuf asked "Where is the church again?" anytime someone asks this question, as a missionary, you get very excited it typically means they are interested in coming. We proceeded to invite them to church and they said they would definitely visit and would probably be able to make it next week. We invited Bro. Yusuf to close the lesson with a prayer. Hesitant, yet willing, he offered the simplest, yet most sincere prayer I have ever heard on my mission. As he asked Heavenly Father to confirm the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, the spirit almost simultaneously came upon us. After the prayer and lesson Bro. Yusuf made a comment I will never forget, "I have always wondered why God didn't just program us to do good. Ever since you Elders have been coming and sharing with our family I have been receiving answers. The things you have been teaching our family have connected with me on a much deeper, spiritual level." This comment confirmed to me that the spirit was there, D&C 50: 17-22.

17 Verily I say unto you, he that is ordained of me and sent forth to preach the word of truth by the Comforter, in the Spirit of truth, doth he preach it by the Spirit of truth or some other way?
18 And if it be by some other way it is not of God.
19 And again, he that receiveth the word of truth, doth he receive it by the Spirit of truth or some other way?
20 If it be some other way it is not of God.
21 Therefore, why is it that ye cannot understand and know, that he that receiveth the word by the Spirit of truth receiveth it as it is preached by the Spirit of truth?
22 Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together.

On Sunday we had two of the young men we are teaching come to church. It was awesome to see them come to church and have a great time. One of them even made the sacrifice to come just for an hour since he had a soccer game around 10:30am. Also a less-active member, Bro. Sibanda who missionaries have been working with since last year, came to church. My companion and I can both attribute this to a member, their minister, who came with us earlier in the week to the lesson we had with them and he was the one who invited him to church and even offered to come fetch him. Bro. Sibanda made the sacrifice to come for the first hour of church because he then had to run to work. It is amazing to see people make sacrifices to grow closer to the Lord. 

This is the Lords work. It is amazing to be a part of it and to be a part of his church. 

Sincerely, Elder Rash

Temple Day with the Mission Office Zone

Elder Bonfim, E. Mpapa, E. Willison, E. Simmons, E. Avanitele, E. Rash 

Elder Simmons, Elder Rash and Elder Avanitele

Elder Simmons and Elder Mpapa

Oh how he loves the temple.  Elder Rash and Elder Willison

P-Day fun at the bowling alley.  Elder Rash won the game!

Zone P-Day.  Look at their feet....yup, you bowl barefoot in Africa

Fun day for these young men

Week 89: Happy Mother's Day

Hello Friends and Family,

First off, Happy Mother’s Day!  It was great being able to speak with my mom and family yesterday.  I’m grateful for my mom and all the love and support she shows me.  If only you all had a mom as great as mine!

Well, this week we had a ton of fun while working hard! It started out on Monday, with another road trip.  This time our travels took us 4 hours east to a village called Kanyamazane in a province called Mpumalanga. The crazy part was when all of a sudden we started seeing signs saying Maputo... 360 Kms, Maputo... 200 Kms, Maputo... 120 Kms.  That’s right, I was about a 2 hour drive away from my brothers former mission!  While we were out there we had a great time on splits with the Nelspruit and Kanyamazane Elders. Elder Willison went with Elder Daybell and Rocha to Nelspruit and I went with Elder Neeley and Ncwadi in Kanyamazane.  I had a great time with Elder Neeley and Ncwadi.  They are both very hard working elders.  It was amazing to see how much Elder Neeley has grown since we served around each other out in Phokeng about a year ago.  You may remember him from the infamous video with the giant slice of cake lol. 

Wednesday morning we headed back to good ole Joburg.  This day also happened to be the country’s Election Day, so all of us missionaries were practically confined to our living quarters just as extra precaution due to potential civil unrest between people and political parties.

We were able to find quite a few more people to teach this week. We are hoping to get them to come to church in coming weeks. 

On Sunday a member invited us to come to a foster home just down the road to play some games with the kids and share a small message.  The kids ranged from age 10-17. It was amazing to see how happy they were and the sweet spirits they have.  We’re excited to invite them to mutual so they can make more friends and feel of the spirit.

Love, Elder Rash

Note from Mom:  Because he was on the road a lot this week, he took A LOT of scenery photos.  I'd rather have him in the pictures, but I think he enjoyed the drive and seeing a different part of South Africa!

He loved seeing his nephew

 

Happy Mother's Day

Traveling to Kanyamazane for Splits and seeing how close he is to Mozambique

Detour?

Showing off his dunking skills

Week 88: Adventures all week long!

Hello Friends and Family,

This week was full of adventures.  On Tuesday we had to make a quick 2 hour trip out to Phokeng, my former area, to drop some things off to the elders out there.  We quickly hurried home because we had interviews with President Leavitt at 1 pm.  I love interviews!  I’m grateful for a mission President who is sensitive to the needs of others and is willing to take the time to get to know you and your life.  We had a great interview and I left feeling motivated to be better and do better.

On Wednesday we had MLC.  Once again it was a great time to learn from President Leavitt and receive a witness that he is called of God to be our mission President.

On Thursday we moved a flat. That’s always fun.  When we finished we then went to a lesson with the young men that we are teaching.  We had a group of about 6, two of which were new people.  These young men are powerful.  We had one of them come to mutual on Wednesday.  They are slowly beginning to follow each other and build that bond and unity.  We witnessed this on Saturday when we had 9 young men show up to play sports this time! Only 1 was a member.  It was a sight to see.

On Sunday the Young Men’s President got up and bore his testimony.  His testimony was simply about prayer and how he had 2 amazing “things” and then God answered his prayers and multiplied it to 8!  That’s right we would typically only have 2 young men at church.  Yesterday there were 8!  It was amazing to see. None of them were the ones we have been teaching but many of them were less active young men who struggled to come to church and activities because a lot of times they would be the only ones.  They have seen the amount of young men that are beginning to come and they are starting to feel that quorum bond.  The youth of the church are amazing.  Many of these youth come to church by themselves and walk far distances to make it to church and youth activities.  They have a special spirit about them and they will become great priesthood holders and leaders in the future.

Sincerely, Elder Rash

Note from mom:  No mid-transfer will be happening this week like he thought.  Which I'm alright with...  I didn't want the transfer to interfere with  my Mother's Day Skype!  Three more weeks in Florida/mission office and then we shall see where he is heading for his last 2 transfers!

Elder Manalastas from the Philippines on another MTC Experience

He must really like the robe...second picture I've received of it!