Elder Alex Sorenson: Durban, South Africa Mission: Sept. 29, 2014

The Fam,

What a roller coaster of a week. things have been a little bit of a struggle lately but i try not to focus on that. the week was slow but very eventful. Wed. we had Heritage Day and Greene and i Skined the head of the cow that was going to be cooked. but this week was all about Sifiso, that guy is amazing. in 2 months the guy has completely changed from a hardcore smoker to a very devoted true church lover. Thursday as we continued to help him prepare for his baptism he said something that i will never forget he said.. " for once in my life im happy im alive". When Sunday finally came, with rain pooring down, Sifiso walked the 2 miles to church through the strom and arrived with a smile on his face. After church he was then baptized along with our Branch president's Nephews that we also taught. they each prayed to know who should baptize them and each asked me to which i was honored and humbled to do so. After all three were baptized, and after many questions and calls we made to the mission presidents counselors through out the week we had Sifiso Confirmed as well ONLY because our branch is making the 4 hour journey to Jo-berg on saturday to attend the temple and we want him to go! He didnt have money to pay the transportation costs which is only about 30 dollars but here its alot to these people so i told him not to worry that i would take care of the cost for him! What an incredible experience for him to be baptized, confirmed, and go to do bap for the dead in the temple all within a week, out here that rarely happens. But i am very proud of my recent converts here. 5 of them are going to attend the temple this weekend. Anyways Sunday afternoon i also had an experience i thought i'd share. After the baptisms we went and saw Sphephelo Mnguni a less active guy thats about 23 or 24 who is very confused because he reads/watches to many things of the world that are shaking his faith. But he didnt want me to answer any of his questions instead he wanted Odama to answer and Odama is too ignorant on most topics to answer so he didnt know what to say. Sphephelo went on to say he thought God was energy and that its in all of us, the energy to get out of bed in the morning, to eat, to excercise which was crap and i shot that down quick telling him God was a man and now is a perfect immortal being. then he went off on how Africa has always been struggling and he complained saying why didnt Christ appear and preform miracles and stop the suffering. I asked him what was Jesus Christ purpose for coming to earth? Was it to come and show everyone he's a god? or to perform many miracles? NO!! He came to preform the atonement. we then ended with a prayer and left him in a stupor of thought. In the car after, with rain pooring down, something now made so much sense to me. Jesus Christ came, performed the Atonement, resurrected, and appeared to Mary then to the apostles, but then he went to the Americas where the people in the Book of Mormon were, Why? Because he knew they had prophets and scripture that could be taken as an additional record and bear truth of his Messianic mission to prove that he is the Only Savior, and Christ knew that Joseph Smith would be able to have the freedom, many years later, to translate the record. Christ's purpose was not to show everyone his divine power, even though at time glimpses were shown, but he came to preform the will of Heavenly Father to make it possible for us to return to him which is possible in and only through Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus is alot like your brain, you cant see it but you have faith that its in there (even if people dont use it sometimes), but some people like Brain Surgeons have seen them and tell us that we each have one. Its the same with a prophet he is like the Brain Surgeon and testifies to us that Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father Live and that this Gospel is true but no matter what if i tell you that you have no brain and you believe me then there is no faith. With faith everything else follows, that is why its the first principle of the Gospel. Its crazy that even though with so many problems and issues going on around me and in my life, getting dropped, struggling with finding people, an incredible rain and thunder storm, The Lord gave me that peace and knowledge in one of the most difficult times of my mission. its sad that i took all this for granted at home and how many people in high school and college arent focused at all on the big picture or the Long term deal. but whatever i doubt most of you have read this far so i love you all. make good choices and be kind to one another, i hear all the struggles going on at home and they need to get fixed, so fix them. You all have everything and still think you are struggling. i've lost alot in the past year but i dont care. Just focus on the big picture and do not let selfishness or pride block the eternal prospective. I love you!

Elder Sorenson