Hello! So, this week we met a witch. well, actually two
witches. both named Elizabeth! haha it has been an amazing week here in
Kwa-Thema. so, let me explain a little bit about Elizabeths'. Here in Africa
there are about 144,000 religions here. I was talking with Elder Mathanjwa who
is form Durbin about why there is so many. Religion here is either for
entertainment, business, or for tradition. For example, there are new churches
popping up everyday. A big thing here as a status figure is owning your own church.
So, if someone loses their job, then they start a church. Its super crazy and
messed up but is a huge thing here.
The second type of churches here are
traditional churches. Some big ones here are called Zion Church, or 12
Disciples Church. they wear weird outfits, go out in random fields, dance and
sing. but, the biggest part of their worships is worshiping their ancestors.
even though the bible clearly teaches against this, they don't really care
haha. So the 1st Elizabeth is a gogo, or grandma, and she actually seeked us
out. She was interested in what we taught and wanted to listen to our message,
so we taught her. Well..I'm not gonna lie i was scared. she had statues and
urns and weird snake things all over her house that she prayed to. We started
to get to know her and her beliefs and she is part of Zions' Church and speaks
solely zulu. She could understand English a little but did not speak it well.
we had our friend from the ward Scott luckily, and he spoke zulu and was able
to communicate with her. she asked him what we believe about ancestors and
Jesus Christ. so we explained how we love our ancestors and how they are
important to our history, but they are not perfect. but Heavenly Father and
Jesus Christ are. out of nowhere we shared a scripture talking about having no
idol Gods, and she was very defensive. she pulled out some of her ancestors
things and said that it was wrong in the eye of God to worship these things???
ish, I should have been scared here but i wasn't. Because the spirit was there,
and it was strong. Scott started talking to Elizabeth in zulu and we didnt
know what he was saying. coming to find out after, he barely knew what he was
saying. he said the spirit was putting words into his mouth as he spoke. she
understood the commandment God gave us, and how loving He is and how we can
change. She started to get emotional.
Elizabeth all of a sudden was so caring to us.
we asked her to pray for herself about the things we taught her, and she said
in English, "I don't have to pray, i know it's true. I feel it in my
heart." I tell you this so you can understand how the spirit works. when
we have faith in the Lord, and show our faith, He will help us. We trusted in
the Lord. He knew she wanted to change, even though it is completely different
than we she has learned her whole life. The Spirit softens hearts and manifests
the truths to it. I know the church is true, and the comfort that it brings not
only me, but others. I hope everyone has a great week.
Elder High
1) Our District/Zone
2) Me and Elder Rocha
3) one of the random horses walkin around this place
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