Letter from Michael 6-15-2015  (Bears and Prayers)

On Friday night President Dunn came for family home evening and shared his "Bears and Prayers" story. It was a great turn out and many people came. He even showed an episode of a show called "Got Home Alive." It was about the bear attack he went through. It was cool to watch. Jazzman and Mercy came and Sharon, a new investigator, came. Sharon is a referral from the Dzeka family from Zimbabwe. She is Sister Dzeka's cousin. She has been to church a few times before and she has committed to baptism. The  traffic was horrendous because of all of the car accidents. We had a temple trip last week. we missed the session by 7 minutes though.

On Sunday we found two inactive members who we never knew of before. There is Godfrey from Zimbabwe. His family is in Zim but he has been here for a year for work. Thabo is the other guy. Hopefully we will be able to meet with them this week. 

JOKE: Did you know that Satan used to be a woman?.......

ANSWER: .....The Bible says that, "Satan was abroad in the land."

Part of his letter to his mom:

Tell Dave and Debora that I really appreciate all of the prayers!  (he wrote late today because: The myldsmail page was not working all day until now.)

Part of his letter to his dad:

We did not teach the man we met at the hospital. The address doesn't make sense and the number does not exist.

(Michael was interviewed by the Pablic Affairs Missionaries  in South Africa. You can read about it at the Mission President’s blog at : dunnsinjoburg.blogspot.com

You can see the video when it is posted at: https://www.facebook.com/SouthAfricaMormonNewsroom?ref=bookmarks

Below is a letter sent to us today by a member in South Africa: 

Hi. This is Jackie Pienaar from Johannesburg South Africa. We spent the weekend in Witbank where my parents live. On Saturday we had the 6 missionaries from the area over for lunch as it was one of their birthdays. Elder Johnson and Elder Oldroyd visit my parents every week and help them.  They rake leaves and help my dad move the things he builds. He can't do it by himself anymore. My mom loves their enthusiasm. She bakes cookies for them. They played some miniature table tennis and some ball outside. It was great for my 13 year old son to spend time with them too. We have 2 older sons serving missions so he misses them. One son is in the Scotland Ireland mission and the other in Salt Lake City West mission. 
You can be proud of your son. Here are some pictures.

Pretoria Zone at the temple June 2015

Michael and Elder Van Heerdan

Michael and his district

Michael and his district playing ping pong

Letter from Michael 6-8-2015

This week has been significantly colder. We are now using the heater and wearing layers. By the time winter is over here I will be home in Utah for REAL winter. I think I will die then. President Dunn is coming on Friday night to talk about his bear attack story. We will try to invite as many members and investigators as possible.  Speaking of we started teaching 7 new investigators. 

A couple transfers back Elder Novotny and I talked to a guy on the street while he was jogging. His name is Chipiwa. He seemed like there would be potential but we had lost his contact information. Just last night we found him again at Sister Phiri's house. It turns out he is Sister Phiri's nephew. Chipiwa was very happy to see us again. He remember my name and everything. We are going to teach his family on Tuesday and we invited him to FHE. 

On Tuesday we went to teach Pat with Roulof who is a friend and a member of the church. Just as we started the lesson she told us that she had done some talking with Roulof and most of her questions have been answered. So she told us that she wanted to be baptized into the church. We were so surprised by what she said that we didn't know what to do other than give her a high five. Based on experiences she has had in other church it seemed she would be so willing to try again with another church. She said she would go to FHE and church but unfortunately she had to go to the hospital on Friday and should be leaving today. We visited her last night which she really enjoyed. She is doing much better. As we left her room some guy who works at the hospital started talking to us. We are going to start teaching him this week. His name is Arthur. We put Wandile on date for baptism.

We received a great referral from Brother Parson. It is a family of three. Jazzman, Mercy, and their little girl. Brother Parson works with Jazzman and he gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon to read. He actually read all the way up to Chapter 8 and remembered what he read. We will see them again tonight with Brother Parson. 

By the way, the water spirals clockwise down the drain.

Part of his letter to his mom:

Zone conference was on Tuesday. It was good as always. My favorite part was about integrity. ...about being a missionary with integrity. We thought Ester was in Zimbabwe but it turns out she is still here. We saw her last night with Sister Phiri and Chipiwa. Not much other news for her. Yeah, we taught the family. I was gone on exchanges that day though. 

Our fast and testimony was pretty great too. Even though there was hardly anyone there almost everyone went up and no pauses in between. Quinton came to church yesterday and surprisingly he bore his testimony too. I told him he should but he said no. the a few minutes later he did it. 

Part of his letter to his dad:

No, investigators came to church. I guess it was too cold for people. The church was very empty. We did not even have a gospel principles class. We can't get a hold of Paul anymore.

A newspaper clipping Michael sent today.

Letter from Michael 6-1-2015 – 18 Months

Ester is in Zimbabwe right now settling family issues. She will hopefully be back in a week or two. We had four investigators at church on Sunday. There was Wandile, Rene, Sharon, and Pat. Rene we have not seen in a long long time. Her  husband Roulof is a less active member. They decided to come to church this week. I had seen Roulof at church but never Rene. They introduced us to their friends down the street which is a bit of an older couple. They are very nice. The wife's name is Pat. She is a hoot holler (funny). Pat was taught by the missionaries years ago and then stopped when the Elders were transferred. She and Rene want us to start teaching them again. They fed us twice last week. They seem to like us much. Pat has been through a lot in her life. She tried explaining but couldn't finish because she cried too much. She lost her old copy of the Book of Mormon and asked her to read Alma 7:10-13.

Sharon is a new investigator from the Dzeka family. The Dzekas are from Zimbabwe and they are actually the family of Plaxedous. Sharon as I said came to church and is also from Zimbabwe. She told us she enjoyed church and wants to become a member. We will see what happens. Elder Oldroyd taught the Gospel Principles class about Talents and I spoke in sacrament meeting about missionary work. What a great topic for me! It went well. Pat and Rene said they thoroughly enjoyed it.

We found a father lead family last week. We were looking for a former investigator named Sonny Boy. He moved but his sister Veronica was there. We taught her family twice last week. She read everything we gave her and seems genuinely interested in what we teach. Next week we would like to put her on date. In fact there are a few that we need to put on date. The college class did not happen this week. The student enjoy us but the teachers say we are taking away from their study time. I have been there when we didn't teach though but it did not sound like they were studying anyway. It sounded like recess. Anyway, we will try again next week. 

- Elder Johnson

Part of his letter to his mom:

Yes, fhe went well. There were some more people there. There is a less active named Prinsloo. I have never seen him at church or any of the activities since I have been here. He came though with his grandparents to fhe last week. He is 21 years old. He should serve a mission soon. 

It feels strange to have not much left. It might be a bit scary going back into the real world and schooling and everything. I want my last 6 months of mission to be the best part.

Jokes:

Why did the Lamanites complain about their legs hurting? ...because of all the Knee-phites.

Did you know that Joseph from the Bible was a tennis player?... Ya, it talks about how he SERVED in Pharaoh's COURT!

Did you know that Lehi had a pet? ....God said to Lehi, "Take up thine family and flea."

Letter from Michael 5-25-2015 – Two weeks with Oldroyd

We have some new investigators now. We had many canceled appointments. Esther and Wandile came to church again. Wandile came to FHE on Friday as well. Fortunately we could teach at the college again. Finally! We taught a different class of students than we did before. They were much more fun to teach and we could get some participation out of them. After the class we passed out a ton of Restoration pamphlets and a whole box of copies of the Book of Mormon. They were pretty excited about that. We also had them write down their numbers and addresses so that we can come teach them at home. Anyway, that was about it for this week. We now get free milk from the McDonald family. We are going bowling today for practice for when we compete with our branch president.

- Elder Michael Johnson

I don't have a quote for this week but I have a joke. (WHY DID THE LAMINATES COMPLAIN ABOUT THEIR LEGS HURTING? ...........BECAUSE OF ALL THE KNEE-PHITES! )

Part of his letter to his mom:

Esther is not getting baptized. Yet. Yes, she is not ready for baptism. That is what I meant.I think we met with Paul at the beginning of the week. We found Nicole who was working at a store called Game. Game is owned by Walmart. Yes, we saw the branch mission leader yesterday. He has not been called yet. He has not been at church because of work.

I think my most memorable lesson last week was teaching Paul's family about the Book of Mormon only using a blank sheet of paper. Elder Oldroyd taught me it it was very cool. You tell the story while folding and tearing the paper and reading scriptures. It was the most clever lesson I have seen. He got it online. Anyway, they really enjoyed it. Plus in the college class I felt that lesson was pretty cool. The students were understanding and felt genuinely interested.

Part of his letter to his dad:

Yes, the Payson Temple sounds beautiful. I want to go there soon after I come home. I hope and pray that your knee gets better. I hope you appreciate my "kne-phite" joke for you! If someone asks you if what happened to your knee you can say it was from all the knee-phites you were reading about the night before!

Letter from Michael 5-18-2015

On Tuesday was the transfer. I have the new district leader, Elder Oldroyd, as my new companion. He is one transfer older than me on mission and he is from some small town in Utah. We get along well so far. Elder Novotny is serving in Pretoria East as my zone leader. Speaking of him in Pretoria there are members who own a gym so the Elders can go for free. This is a good thing because Elder Novotny gave me all of his weights for only R300. Other people in the mission have a lot fewer weights than me but they all paid over R1,000 for theirs. You might say I got a bargain. 

At church this Sunday Esther, Dudu, and Wandile came to church. Wandile is a new investigator. He is a referral from Isabel in young women. He is 21 years old and this was his 2nd time attending church. He is the one from two weeks ago who bore his testimony in fast and testimony meeting. Wandile is enjoying the church and even comes to FHE at the church on Fridays.  We taught Tyron and Nicole last night. They were very happy to see us. It was a surprise visit. They are warming up to us more. We also visited Paul's family last night. He said he will try to come to FHE but will for certain come to church on Sunday. He said he often thinks back to when he came last time and watched the "Meet the Mormons" video. The best news of the week is probably that we now have a branch mission leader. His name is Revelation. This area has desperately been needing one for a long time. Revelation's sister is a less active. I had never seen her at church before but this Sunday she came.

- Elder Johnson

Part of his letter to his mom:

Esther is on date for May 31st. The guy we taught with President is Kevin. He is not progressing and he has stage 4 cancer. It was in the mouth but now has spread to the lungs. We did not teach the college class this week. Selena is doing well. We are teaching the lessons. Last week with her and William we read 1 Nephi chapter 8 about Lehi's vision. They loved it. 

Yes, I was sitting in one of the front rows at the chapel during the transfer. In fact I happened to be sitting right next to Elder Oldroyd, my new companion, while the new companions were being announced. He is the only new companion I have received who is someone I already knew at all. 

Part of his letter to his dad:

Church was good and fhe is was good. It was smaller in numbers but still good. We taught about language and gossip.

Letter from Michael 5-11-2015- Strange Transfer News

We received transfer news of Friday. I am actually staying but Elder Novotny is leaving to be a zone leader. I will be having a 3rd companion in Witbank now. Everyone is surprised. 

Esther came to church again. She is still on date for baptism. We want to put Paul on date for baptism as well. It was another good lesson with Paul this week. He enjoyed it but could not speak because he had a tooth ache. He communicated through his own made up sign language. We introduced the message of the Restoration and gave a copy of the Book of Mormon.

We met a woman at a Game which is a store like Walmart. Her name is Nicole. We started to visit her and her father, Tyron. Tyron already had a copy of the Book of Mormon and even watched the most recent General Conference. On Mothers Day we spent the evening and at President Nish's farm to skype our families.

- Elder Johnson

Part of his letter to his mom:

I am fine with staying here one more transfer. It means that I only have one area left after this one.  So in some of the zone leader areas they have free gyms such as centurion as I told you. So he would just sell the weights to me for cheap.

Part of his letter to his dad:

Daniel must be a pretty good little actor. I remember watching at the DeDen's house the video with Daniel playing as the Grinch. It was great to see you yesterday.

Eating Sugar Cane

Letter from Michael 5-4-2015- 17 Months

It was a good week for us in Witbank. On Tuesday we had interviews with President Dunn. It was actually fun because he took us out to eat at Domino's Pizza and we took some pictures. Early in the week at a gas station there was a man who walked up to us and asked what happened to our window. The night before someone broke into his house so he thought perhaps someone robbed us as well. We talked to him for some time and he seemed very enthusiastic about families and the gospel. He is looking for the right church to join. We visited him and his family on Friday. They were very thankful for the message we shared about families. We gave him, Paul, a copy of "The Family A Proclamation to the World." Later that night he also came to family home evening at the church. He enjoyed it and said he felt he was at home. We introduced him to many of the members. His family was going to go to the church on Sunday but they all had the Flu. It started with the wife. 

Anyway, the family home evening this week was a huge success. Elder Novotny and I were surprised. there were about 60 members, less actives, and investigators who came to church. That is even more than the number of people at church normally. We watched "Meet the Mormons" since last time hardly anyone came. The people loved it and afterwards there was refreshments and games. It was like picture perfect. Everyone was happy and everyone was getting fellowship. 

Fast Sunday this week was also a huge transformation from what it used to be. Usually we sit in silence but this time. many people came up to testify and no awkward silence. In there testimonies many of the talked about missionary work, the family home evening, or a lesson we had with them that week. This was one of the best weeks I have seen for the Witbank branch. 

- Elder Johnson

Part of his letter to his mom:

We have a place to skype on Sunday. I will text you the time because right now I know not what time. 

The window is being replaced as we speak. We had to rip out the whole window on Last week Monday because it kept crumbling. I had nothing stolen.  Did you get Selena's pictures. Selena shared her testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday. We did not do the college class but we did find some families while tracting.

God works in mysterious ways. Sometimes we receive problems like a broken window or the house being robbed and might complain when really it is a blessing in disguise. Perhaps if the window never broke or if Paul was never robbed we never would have met or taught his family.  

Part of his letter to his dad:

We have always been teaching William as well. Or new phone stopped working last week. We fixed it though.

Michael then rewrote his main letter slightly differently and sent it. It is found below:

It was a good week for us in Witbank. On Tuesday we had interviews with President Dunn. It was actually fun because he took us out to eat at Domino's Pizza and we took some pictures. Early in the week at a gas station there was a man who walked up to us and asked what happened to our window. The night before someone broke into his house so he thought perhaps someone robbed us as well. We talked to him for some time and he seemed very enthusiastic about families and the gospel. He is looking for the right church to join. We visited him and his family on Friday. They were very thankful for the message we shared about families. We gave him, Paul, a copy of "The Family A Proclamation to the World." Later that night he also came to family home evening at the church. He enjoyed it and said he felt he was at home. We introduced him to many of the members. God works in mysterious ways. Sometimes we receive problems like a broken window or the house being robbed and might complain when really it is a blessing in disguise. Perhaps if the window never broke or if Paul was never robbed we never would have met or taught his family. 

His family was going to go to the church on Sunday but they all had the Flu. It started with the wife. 

Anyway, the family home evening this week was a huge success. Elder Novotny and I were surprised. there were about 60 members, less actives, and investigators who came to church. That is even more than the number of people at church normally. We watched "Meet the Mormons" since last time hardly anyone came. The people loved it and afterwards there was refreshments and games. It was like picture perfect. Everyone was happy and everyone was getting fellowship. 

Fast Sunday this week was also a huge transformation from what it used to be. Usually we sit in silence but this time. many people came up to testify and no awkward silence. In there testimonies many of the talked about missionary work, the family home evening, or a lesson we had with them that week. This was one of the best weeks I have seen for the Witbank branch. 

- Elder Johnson

Michael with his Zone and President & Sister Dunn

The broken window

Service Ideas

Michael, President Dunn, and Elder Novotny

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