David & Goliath The Great

Hello Everyone, 
      On Tuesday I said goodbye to Elder Chathyoka.  He was a very good companion to me.  I have really met amazing people on my mission; people who have shaped and impacted my life in a huge way.  Elder Chathyoka taught me to be loving and happy.  He always had a warm heart that shone through his countenance.
      It was also then that I picked up my son (terminology used amongst the missionaries in reference to a new elder they train).  My new mission companion is Elder Brimhall and he is from Mississippi.  He is a very tall man and stands at 6’ 7”.  He is also very tall in his testimony and an extremely good missionary, so he really does not seem like a new missionary, but rather a very seasoned one.  Elder Brimhall has a gift for speaking and an incredible knowledge of the scriptures.  He is also a very kind-hearted and goofy guy.  (Editor’s insert:  I received an email from one of Landon’s ward leaders in response to the height difference of these two elders and he stated that, throughout the ward they are affectionately referred to as ‘David & Goliath.’ I chose to add ‘The Great’ to this title because he is just that…. Great in Spirit.)
      We set up our table at ‘Pick N’ Pay’ today.  This is a way for us to meet many people, and some are quite interesting.  Today a friendly Jehovah’s Witness spoke with us for a long time.  We didn’t get much of a chance to speak because he was doing a lot of the talking.  However, near the end of our conversation we were able to bear our testimony, which I could tell touched him.
      After more time past an Afrikaans lady, walking by with a young child stopped and showed interested.  As she approached I cheerfully greeted her, but she remained standing there not saying anything for about 30 seconds.  Eventually she asked what Latter-Day Saints was.  I explained.  She continued with a stream of Questions; “Do you believe in Christ?  Did he die on the cross?  Have you accepted Him as your Savior?  What’s the Book of Mormon?  Do you pray for people?  Can you heal?  Do you believe Christ will come again?”  Each question we answered honestly, and to her approval.  Yet, she remained somewhat puzzled, until she found what she was looking for.  She then asked, “Do you believe in tongues?”  To which I replied, “Yes.”  Surprisingly she then commanded, “Speak!”  I attempted to explain that there was no one to interpret.  She then went into a torrent, accusing us of being false because we cannot speak in tongues.  She made an example of herself and spoke in an unknown tongue.  I called her out that she herself did not know what she was saying, and this made her mad, she went ballistic.  There was almost a sense of humor to it because it was so strange.  Eventually she just left.  Interesting people for sure.

Editor’s Note:
      So what is the gift of tongues, and is it a real thing in this dispensation?  As I searched for answers to best describe it’s use and need during this day and time I came across this quote by Joseph Smith who beautifully stated, “Be not so curious about tongues, do not speak in tongues except there be an interpreter present; the ultimate design of tongues is to speak to foreigners, and if persons are very anxious to display their intelligence, let them speak to such in their own tongues.  The gifts of God are all useful in their place, but when they are applied to that which God does not intend, they prove an injury, a snare and a curse instead of a blessing.” 
      So yes, there is a great need for this gift of the spirit and I see it in use with thousands of missionaries sent to foreign lands each year expected to speak in a foreign tongue so far removed from there own.  This miracle of sorts can be seen with these countless numbers of young men and women, who rapidly gain the knowledge of a language not native to their own tongue and within a very short time speak it with fluency and brilliance.  Some may argue that anyone could learn a language quickly if they are immersed completely in a new language as these missionaries are.  But, if you were to ask any of those placed so abruptly into these foreign situations just how they did it, I can assure you that in almost all cases they would give credit for the ability to God, realizing that it truly is a miracle.

Plentiful Bounty

Hello Momma,

      That is very cool about the fresh produce food bank you worked at on Thursday.  I’m curious who grows the produce?  Here in the south coast, and I might say all over Africa, they are very big on agriculture.  For people it is just normal to use their land to grow and cultivate a plethora of fruits and vegetables, many of which we don’t have in the states.  In most of the stores you can find a good deal of fresh produce, which I like a lot.  I spend a good deal of my money on produce and try to eat well.

      So here is the thing, today I’m in Durban emailing at a cafe that is filthy with computer bugs.  I durst not put any of my memory devices in here.  I wrote in my journal what I want to share with you, but I’m going to send it via the Margate Branch computer later today, or the mission office computer tomorrow.  But I will inform you of the news.

      It’s transfers again (I almost can't believe it).  My beloved companion is leaving, and that I am sad about.  He has been so great, so happy and cheerful. He has such a warm heart, which has helped with bringing us together and has helped the work.  Now last night President Zackrison called.  He told me that the Lord wants me to train a new missionary again.  He said that he feels very good and very at peace about it.  I must remind you he has been in Africa one month, and I have seen president Von Stetten's mantle of authority pass over to him and he is definitely directed by the spirit in all his decisions.  This was good for me to hear because two weeks prior I had an impression that I should train in Margate, but I wasn’t going to tell my mission president that.  It was a confirmation that the Lord works in his own ways in his own time.  It’s beautiful.

      I got a letter from Mariah the other week.  We have been talking about the nature of our areas.  In her letter she said that on a couple occasions people have mistaken her and her companion for missionaries of another church.  I thought it funny because that is almost a daily occurrence for us.  I think this last week possibly 6 times have people taken us for missionaries of another church.  We are now trying to be very up front in letting people know who we are by telling them we are the "Mormons" (of course after we tell them we are from the ‘Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’).

      Anyways, I am really looking forward to training again.  My companion is Elder Brimhill from Mississippi.  These next two transfers are going to be powerful.  Things are changing in Margate and will continue to change.

I love you,

     Elder Gold

Editor’s Note:

      This week's continuation from last week's journal entry transcribed below in the previous post dated Monday, July 16^th, 2013:

      “….So, we are also four days into our forty-day-fast.  It is kind of hard for me to feel like I’m making a big change.  I’m not.  I am actually making small changes, sometimes imperceptible to me, though I feel like no progress is being made.  I know I need to remember that a very large ship is directed by a very small helm.  I pray my companion is also getting the spirit of our fast.”

      Landon included a photo of his journal entry that was written last night, and in it he proceeded to talk of different individuals who have been inactive for years and the progress they are making to come back to the gospel.  He mentions that he truly sees the difference their efforts are making in Margate.  He continues on by saying that,

      “Today at church we had six less active members in attendance.  It is nice to see all of them using their agency to make right choices.  For weeks prior we have been used as instruments in the Lord's hands in helping these individuals to realize their follies, and start on the process of repentance. 

      This evening we were visiting one of the less active members I’ve referenced.  I’ll call him Thaddeus, however it isn’t his real name.  I have a great hope in this man, who had knowingly turned from the gospel to live a hedonistic life-style.  I have seen in the last three weeks some very small progress as he is giving deeper thought to what we have been teaching.  Tonight, we had a very tender moment.  As we were bearing our testimonies he said to us, “You are going to think I’m crazy, but I can see God….  I can see God inside a person.  I can’t really describe what it is like, but it’s unlike anything else.  The last time I saw God in someone was when I was getting my patriarchal blessing.  I saw God in the patriarch, and now, I see God in the both of you.  Normally things don’t get inside my heart, but you, I mean God within you, has penetrated my heart.”

      Landon continues with his thoughts about this statement as he explains, “My feelings were tender as he spoke to us.  I know that what he saw was the light of the gospel influenced by the Holy Ghost, like the image of Christ in our countenance.  Oh my joy!  Oh my love and gratitude and thanks towards my God.  How grateful I am to be a part of this work.””

I Pray For Safety Often

Hey Mom & Everyone Else,

      You wanna know something funny?  Isn't it said that, ‘Once bitten by a dog, every dog in the neighborhood wants a taste?’  Well, since my encounter with that one dog, I have had four more near attacks. :p   I had to beat two dogs away with a sugar cane stick, me and my companion had to battle two more dogs in the middle of the street with stones, and a couple other close ones.  I hope you find the amusement in that, and not the worry.  I pray for safety often that the Lord does watch over us.  I trust in Him.

      Anyway, I wish I could have been there to hear those two young men give their mission farewell talks in sacrament.  I can really picture and imagine it, and I know that they are prepared because I know them and each of their characters.  It moves me to think about being apart of this work.

      Well, we know that there is a purpose in all things, right?  Since I have come to Margate, it has been very hard to find and teach investigators. However, we have given partial focus and have received tremendous success among the less active members of the church.  Anyway, we have located many less actives since I got here, and we have seen a few really deeply and sincerely start on a process of repentance.  It has been wonderful to see.

      My companion and myself also realize the need to be 110% in tune with the spirit in order to find those who are prepared.  We are starting a forty-day-fast to put away from our minds all things that will distract us and keep us from being the most successful servants of the Lord we can be.  By forty-day-fast I mean that we will not give into thoughts, feelings, or actions, which are not in line with our sacred calling.

      Thank you for your prayers, and all others who I know do likewise . . .  and not just for us, but for this cause of righteousness.  We need be fully engaged whether at home or abroad.  Please continue to pray for us, for yourselves, and all those whom we are striving to bring to the light of this Gospel.

With love,

        Elder Gold

Editor’s Note:

      After receiving Landon’s email I later opened an attachment that was his journal entry from a few days earlier.  I really liked the insight he gave to exactly what the Forty-day-fast was all about.  Here are his remarks.

      “Last week I received a letter from (a friend) who is serving a mission in the Kentucky, Louisville Mission.  She sent me a letter regarding a purification process they have been doing in their mission.  It was an answer to my prayers to receive this letter.  As I have been here in Margate, and looking at the nature of the area, I have realized that I cannot be an average missionary to be successful here.  My companion and I need to have greater faith, need to work harder, and need to be more obedient with exactness.

      The purification process she sent me was the experience of a Stake President (Church leader of many congregations) while he was on his mission.  He wanted greater strength and power, so he fasted for one day asking the Lord to show him all the things he did or thought about that took him away from the spirit and made him less focused and less effective.  Then for forty-days he did not do or think about those things.  Through the entire process his will became the Father’s will and he became a very successful missionary.

      I myself fasted today for that very purpose written about: That I might identify those things which keep me from being a most effective missionary, then for the next forty days, I will be giving those things up.”

      As I read this entry I was struck by how focused Landon really is on the purpose of his calling and just how much he is willing to do to get it right.  I am enormously impressed with his maturity and actions to be better.  There sure is a lesson to ponder in the reflection of his example.

P.S. . . . All Is Well With Me

Hello Family, 

     So, we have been having some great success in finding and teaching less active members these past few weeks.  There are many less active members who are not known by the branch (congregation), so there is no idea of who they are or where they are.   I’ve seen the hand of the Lord over us as we have miraculously found some individuals.  Our security guard is related to one family who no body knows.  Also, we were tracting on Saturday and met a girl in the street whose mother and uncles are also members and she directed us to them.  The Lord does love his children.
      The pelt is currently drying.  I’m sorry that this week my letter’s very short.  Time is just not with me.
      The treatment I am receiving for rabies isn't so bad.  That big ol' needle was straight in the leg.  The rest of my shots are in my arms.  I just go in on the days they tell me, get my shots, and leave.  Here's a photo of the countryside, which pretty much is Margate.  There isn't a far distance to get to the country, just a couple of kilometers.  The green plants are all sugar cane.  They plant sugar cane and bananas year round, and they are everywhere.

Elder Gold

P.S. All is well with me.