Happy Fathers Day!!

Area- Pretoria, South Africa
Companion- Elder Center
Letter #83

Hello family!

Thanks for all the stuff that you have shared with me! Isn't the gospel so true! That was a cool video about fathers. On Sunday for priesthood the bishop had us go to the young men's classes to help them prepare to be missionaries. The bishop taught the lesson about being a father and it was interesting how he related the young men's quorum to preparing to be fathers. I always kind of knew it but now I realized it more fully. He said that that's what the young men's quorum is preparing them to be and that they need to pray and work to develop the qualities of the kind of father that God wants us to be. Just like the video said, What better way to do that than by following Heavenly Fathers very example! Happy Fathers Day Dad! :D I heard that it was a great day so I'm happy! haha. You are the best! I love you!

This week was a nice week. We are still having it tough tying to find people to teach. Most of the houses are in gated communities so we can't tract a whole lot. The ward is not too excited about missionary work right now either so we are still working with that. We are gonna have a little fireside on Sunday with some powerful speakers! We are gonna have a linger longer just before it so that lots of people will stay and not have an excuse to go home ;) Another thing that we are gonna do is kind of like what the missionaries did just before I left. Going to teach the families in the ward the first three lessons. I thought that was a cool idea so we are gonna send a sign up sheet around next week.

As we were passing out cards the other day one guy tried to offer me money thinking we were looking for donations or something and another guy offered us a bag of chips which was much needed. We were dying of hunger! More especially Elder Center ha. Passing out cards is pretty fun but sometimes I just get really confused. How can a guy who has a bumper sticker that says "real men follow Jesus" refuse to take a card with a picture of Jesus on it?!?!?!?!? It makes absolutely no sense. I just say to myself when we tract and hand out cards "We are searching for the elect and humble who will accept the gospel." Right now it seems like the bait has been pulled a few times but the hook just hasn't got caught yet. It's close, so close! Did the missionaries there pass out cards? I dunno if they know how to do it cause I've never seen it the way we do it until I came here to SA. I also don't know if it's legal there. ha.

We are teaching Lesego still and he is loving the gospel more and more every time we go visit him. In church he is starting to ask lots of questions. He's one of those people that you can just tell he is learning so much compared to those people who just listen to you and nod their head. There is lots of work to do in this area and hopefully I will have more stories for you!

That's all I really have for this week. I know that the gospel is true. Nobody can tell me otherwise. I am so thankful that i have an awesome family like you to support me and help me to be where I am now! Keep safe and always share your testimony! There are missionary opportunities everywhere you go!

I love you!
-Elder Dirkmaat. :D