Letters 10/22/2012

Times and Seasons

This passed Sunday, we had the opportunity to have Elder L Whitney Clayton attend our stake conference. It was quite a wonderful experience. What was even more interesting, was that he winged his whole 30 minute address, and it seemed to flow flawlessly. At one point, he changed the flow of the conference and randomly asked one of the missionaries present to stand and bear his testimony. I was relieved that it wasn't me. An Elder King from St Louis was the unfortunate one. He sauntered up to the podium, face beet red, and coughed and squeaked out his testimony and sat down. I felt quite bad. We are all highly anticipating Elder Holland on Thursday, yet at the same time we are a bit tentative to rejoice. He has a colored history here in Joburg, in the form of chastizing missionaries, which is very much his style. I'm interested to see how things work out.

We were visiting with one of our investigators who will be baptized this coming Sunday, and before we could ask her how she enjoyed conference, she blurted out "Wasn't that conerence just lovely? That was the best time that I have had at church. And, that President Monson, he is so normal! He is so meek and gentle and kind. Isn't he just a wonderful person? I felt like he was talking to me, and I KNEW that what he was saying is true." She went on for another  10 minutes... I won't relate further, but this was the part that struck me the most. The spirit had testified to her heart that what she heard was true. It had moved her because she was CONVERTED to the gospel. The power of the gospel is real, we just have to be meek, humble, and submissive in our approach to "search, ponder, and pray." I wish all of my investigators were as this sister. The relief society president came up to us after church a few weeks ago, and she explained how this sister was very active in the lesson, and that she seemed to possess  the knowledge of a member that had been in the gospel for a long time. She said that she didn't know that she wasn't a member until after church when she started a conversation with her. It is awesome to see how beautifully the spirit works when it is cultivated properly, and a person truly lets conversion happen. It makes a missionary feel good.

Love, 

Elder J WIlliam Davidson