Elder LaHue

Baptism of Mfundo Nene - my final one as a missionary! Well... my mission is complete. It has been a good ride. I could go on and on about how much I love South Africa and its people. But I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited to come back home and see my family! This week I told Elder Cox I just want to be working as much as possible in our area. We had a goal to work more than 50 hours this week and we were successful! The sun was burning bright but we still managed to spend our time wisely. Tuesday:  We held an FHE @ the Masango's house and showed them how to roast marshmallows and make smores. They had never done so before. The smores were delicious! Sunday:  Day of Mfundo Nene's baptism. We arrived at church with everything ready and our branch president told us that we might have to postpone the baptism because Chatsworth was having their ward conference. We asked if we could do it at Pinetown instead and he called their bishop and he s...

Elders Morales, Brown, LaHue, Cox Photo finish. This has been one of the most unexpected events of my mission. Unfortunately, Mhtokozisi will not make his baptismal date. He wasn't at home both times we tried to see him. He doesn't have a phone. It is not a huge setback, but most likely he needs some more time to be ready. He might be baptized next transfer. When I came to Umbhedula in June we started teaching Nkanyiso Nene, who was baptized in August. He is still going strong. Around that time we also started teaching his older brother Mfundo, who is 19 years old. Mfundo started coming to church but he didn't feel ready to be baptized yet. He started working as a receptionist in a neighboring city and we weren't able to meet with him very often. Time went on and about two weeks ago he finished his job and started to be at home more frequently. He met with him once and read from the Book of Mormon with him. During our next visit we invite...

Sister Rose from KwaDabeka! Two weeks to go.. what else can I say? On Thursday I went on an exchange with Elder Chiromo in KwaDabeka. He is a great guy! I served there in February 2017 for only 6 weeks. I was very excited to go back because my time there was short compared to the rest of my areas. I haven't been in 19 months! Some members I saw remembered me and it was a joyful reunion! What a sweet experience to have right before I finish my mission. Work is going great! We moved Mthokozisi's baptism to the 28th to give him an extra week to prepare. He says that he has stopped smoking, and he even came to general conference! I hope that he can make this date because it is my last Sunday. We are exercising faith in the Atonement that it will give him the power to be clean! We should have 4 baptisms the Sunday after I leave. Sis. Cele, the wife of the 1st councilor in the branch presidency, and 3 younger girls. Sometimes we find that children aren't baptiz...

Zanele & Ndumiso Shezi We have had another great week! I am really feeling the spirit of missionary work these days. And I am excited for general conference. Our man Mthokozisi is making great progress towards baptism. He is improving in trying to quit smoking. We taught him the law of chastity recently and he showed incredible faith in committing to live this law. He has a girlfriend whom he has a 3 year old child with. He told us that he will explain about the law of chastity with her and invite her to live by it. If she is not willing to live by it he said that he would break up with her so that he can keep the commandments of God. This is a powerful display of faith by him. Hoping that he can stop smoking so that he can be baptized on October 21st! The 1st counselor in the branch presidency asked us to come teach his wife, who speaks little English. He told us that she has been taught on and off by missionaries since 2007 but now he feels that the time is right fo...

Mfundo Nene It's October! One month to go!!! Not many updates. I was sick most of the week, took Thursday off. My body was a little weak but nothing serious, back to normal now. We are still helping the Nene family with their home! On Saturday we mixed cement and lifted it up in a bucket to the roof using a chain. The house extension should be finished in a few weeks. This week we should be working on the floor inside. The family is going to sell ice inside this part of the home. We got baked in the sun again! Sometimes I get surprised when I see myself in the mirror because I am getting darker. One of our investigators, Mthokozisi, is getting closer to baptism. We had a great lesson on the Word of Wisdom this week. His family gave him some medication to stop smoking but he hadn't been taking it. We had him take it right in front of us as the first step to quitting. More updates next week! I love you all! Elder LaHue Nkanyiso Nene Mfundo taught us a...

(Top): Elders Guymon, Simayile, Abel, Warner, Ntaka, Cox, Bodnar, Sala, B. Christensen, Kumar, Larsen; Sister Jensen (Bottom): Elders Merritt, Moyo, Bennett, Olson, Bir, LaHue, Bernard, Carter, Maughan, Nichols; Sister Damon My final MLC! Another series of interesting events this week! 1. MLC (Mission Leadership Council) was held in Pinetown on Friday. It was my last one! It has been a cool experience to work so closely with the leaders of the mission for the last year. I said goodbye to many good friends of mine! I'll attach some pictures from the mission blog. 2. On Saturday we helped the Nene family, whom we have been teaching, to build part of their house. It started raining so we stayed inside and helped Baba install a window. 3. Walking in the rain is fun. Better than the sun at least! 4. Yesterday we helped a man who is about to have a baby to make amends with his sister. He has been scared to come to church because his sister is an active member and he...