Miracle of the Transfer

Area- Pretoria, South Africa
Companion- Elder Center
Letter #85

Hey there! the writer that we met is Nico Van Der Merwe. He has a pretty sweet pharmacy business and hearing aid distribution...thing. We are gonna wait maybe another week or 2 before we go back.

I'm just gonna tell you about one happening this week cause it was definitely the best thing that happened.

We got a referral from the temple about 3 or 4 weeks back and we called the guy, his name is William. It turns out that he stays like 100 k's away but there is another member of our ward who stays kind of close by so we figured it's in our area. We tried to make appointments with him but it never worked out cause he got busy and one week he got sick. Finally yesterday we were able to drive out and meet him. We had to follow some pretty crazy directions and we didn't make a single wrong turn and made it there 5 mins before 3(the scheduled time). On the phone he had told that he was very sorry he had to cancel and that he really was very serious about us coming to teach him more about the gospel. So we finally go there and he told us how he found out about the church. This is his story. He was in Durban on business and somebody dropped their carrying bag so he picked it up and ran it over to the guy. When he turned around he saw that the guy had a name tag on and he turned out to be a missionary from our church. he started to ask him some questions and we don't know exactly what they talked about, it was brief only like 5 mins., but something that the elder said really touched his heart and made sense compared with everything that he had read in the Bible. A month later when he was back home he looked up 'Mormons South Africa" on goggle because that was the only ting he could remember. He called the first number and it turned out to be the temple! Finally a month later we got to visit him! We tried to teach him the message of the restoration but he already knew everything! We would share the beginning of one of the points and he would take his Bible and teach us the rest of the point! He knew everything except that the gospel has been restored through Joseph Smith and he basically knew everything about the plan of Salvation except for the spirit world after death and the three degrees of glory. he even knows that we all came here to become Gods like God is a god and that our families area a representation of God's eternal family. this guy knew all of these things and he had only been able to study from the Bible. We gave him a Book of Mormon and i'm sure that when he reads all the things that he has put together already will become so much clearer. He doesn't go to church cause he doesn't feel right about any of them but he says that he has already felt the spirit tell him that the things we are sharing with him are true!

That was our miracle of the transfer. We can get a million doors slammed in our faces and insults thrown at us all day long but for God to lead someone that prepared to find the missionaries throws all the bad things that have happened in the trash to be remembered no more...except the funny ones. I have never felt offended or discouraged about people not accepting our message; it just makes me feel so sorry for them and I always remember that only the elect will receive and even then, the very elect will be deceived. We are sent out to find the 5 percent who will accept. William is one of those 5 percent.

I just got an email from a recent convert in Voslo and at the end he signed "your future missionary". That's what it's all about! :D I've received many emails from recent converts and it always makes my day when they say things like that. So stoked that I've been able to help people become converted to the restored and true gospel of Jesus Christ and that He has given me another opportunity to teach one of his prepared children! Siyabonga! Baie Dankie! Ke a leboga! Merci beaucoup! Muchas Gracias!

I hope that you have a powerful week! Missionary work is the best! I love you!

-Elder Dirkmaat :D