Very Interesting Week!

My heart goes out to the Perry Family as they have just lost Elder L. Tom Perry.  He was such a great man and I loved the opportunities I've had to learn from his general conference addresses and will remember his words forever.  I'll see you soon Elder Perry.

I don't even know where to start, I have so much to talk about in so little time.  First, we were at a member's home on Wednesday night and we got to talking about the last days and Sister Anita mentioned Yellowstone Park and the huge volcano there that could erupt.  I thought that was so amazing that people know about that all the way across the world. 

Friday was a pretty crazy one.  We had Zone Meetings in the morning; it is always nice to go back to Rynfield and to see the rest of the zone.  We had a sweet meeting and I was able to learn a lot.  From there we went to eat at Roman's Pizza and then went to our area.  We put the bikes on a bike rack on the back of the car and they take us to the area.  On the way, my bike tire wheel fell off and disappeared.  We tried to go back and find it, but someone must have picked it up and kept it.  Hopefully we will be able to get a replacement this week, so we are not walking everywhere.  Later that night, I almost got robbed at an ATM, but I was able to see what the robbers were doing and stopped them.  They rig the ATM machines to take your card just like they tried to do to me almost two years ago in Bedfordview. 

We had a ward movie night on Saturday where we watched Meet the Mormons.  It was so nice to see and really pumped me up for these last couple of months.  The ward is improving and we are doing lots of great work.  The lessons increase each week as do the people we are teaching.  I wish I could write more, but I need to go.  

This Church is true and all will be able to make more of their lives as they learn to let God in and feel His love.

Have a great week.

Elder Segil

Working with the Members!

Well it has been another improving week here in Selcourt.  Elder Loveless and I are working super hard with the members to get things going here in Selcourt before we go home.  We have been able to get into many new members homes and get them excited about the work.  Most of the time we get fed, so that is always a plus.  All of them have such a sweet spirit about them and I just love getting to know them.  We were able to do a service project last week where we planted a garden for some members who were out of town and always wanted to do it themselves, but never had the means to do so.  It was so cool to see their reaction to the garden and it felt so nice to be apart of it.  I will try to put up pictures soon,  the internet is bad here and will take way to long.

Last Wednesday, President and Sister Dunn came to our area and contacted people with us for an hour or two.  It was so nice to work with them and to have them in our area.  They were able to make some sweet contacts, which we will see later on in the week.  Elder Loveless and I have limited our tracting efforts and have moved more towards working with the members.  We want the ward to be solid before any new people join the ward.  We were about to teach Relief Society yesterday which went super well.  If you get the women excited, you will get the whole ward excited.  The women are the leaders and drive of the ward!

Have a great week!

Elder Segil

Selcourt, Benoni!

Well another Monday has come to pass. Once again, I am on computers that aren't very good so these posts will be less than normal from now on.  I will do my best for these last few months.  Well this was quite a crazy week and I have little time today, so I will do my best.  My new area is in Selcourt, Benoni, just 20 minutes away and in the same zone as my last area.  I was super sad when I found out especially since this new area is dead.  I found out they took me from Rynfield because they know I can help revive Selcourt and get it going again before I go home. My companion is Elder Loveless from Utah and we get along great.  We bike everyday and are getting into great shape.  The members are pretty sweet, but not very accustomed to missionary work.  This is going to be a tough, but rewarding last few months.  

So far we have one solid investigator that we have taught twice.  His name is Ande and he has come to church once.  The problem is, is that the chapel is outside our area by like 10 kilometers, so it is hard for people to get to church when they don't have a car.  We are trying our best to have the members give rides and to get them excited about missionary work.  It is an older ward with very few youth.  We helped out with Primary on Sunday and there were like five to ten kids.  We did make huge progress this week compared to what the previous weeks have been.  In fact this is my first week here and it has been the best week this area has had for a while.  Elder Loveless and I are going to continue to work hard and get this area going again before we go home, which for both of us is in August! 

Have a great week!

Elder Segil

Happy Mothers Day and Goodbye Rynfield!

Well it looks like my time to leave Rynfield has come and I am needed elsewhere.  It has been a fun and quick six weeks with these awesome people that I will remember forever.  We has a Stake activity on Saturday with a lot of fun things to do and it was so nice to be able to say goodbye to most of the members and investigators.  We are going to see a few families tonight to say my last goodbyes.

Paint balling with Pieter-ryan.  I got him right on the top of the mask!

 Elizabeth and Pinky!

Gilbert and Beatrice, soon to be baptized!

Sister Joyce and Daniel 

Meyer Family! 

Ncube Family 

 Hodgskin Family!

Vosloo and Hugo Family 

Leonard and his boy George! 

My Boy Alex! 

Georgina and Pretty! 

Ngomane Family!

I was able to skype my family last night for Mothers day and it will be my last time before my family comes to pick me up.  Happy Mothers day to all the wonderful mothers out there and know that you are loved and appreciated!  Have a great week!

Elder Segil

You are a Temple of God!

Well May is off to such a great start and I am so excited for the future.  We are teaching a lot of great people and are finding some great families that have been prepared to hear the Gospel.  They came to Church on Sunday and it was Fast and Testimony meeting.  I was one of the first to bare my Testimony and I testified boldly of why we are truly here.  We are here, especially as LDS members to help our friends and family return back to our Father In Heaven.  Nothing else matters, only returning with honor.

A few days ago we had an appointment with a family outside of Rynfield.  Earlier that morning we went to workout at a member's place and left our phone in another missionaries car, so we didn't have it for the whole day.  The family who we were supposed to see, sent us a text saying they were not around today, so don't come, but we did not have the phone.  We went to the appointment and found the family not there, so we started to walk away.  A black man stopped us and we talked with him for a bit about what we do.  As we were talking, an Afrikaner came up to us and asked that we come and pray for him and his family.  Come to find out,  he had just lost everything, his house, car, everything and doesn't know if he believes in God anymore.  I maintained eye contact for at least thirty minutes as he bore his heart out to me.  He talked about his past, how he grew up in a bad neighborhood.  His mom was a prostitute and his dad a drug dealer.  He just felt there was no hope for him and why should he even try.  He is 61 years old and is ready to go to his grave.  His past is unforgettable and in the mist of all this I simply and boldly testified," You are a Temple of God.  You have a Father in Heaven who loves you more then you can ever imagine and he does not care where you have been or what you have done.  He only cares about where you are going and how He can help you get there.  I am here to help get you back to him."  At this point he broke down into tears and said, "I know God sent you here to me today.  I was ready to give up."  It was such a great honor to have met this man!

I didn't think much of this until I got home and saw the message from the family saying they would not be home today.  If the phone was never left in the car, we would have never met that man.  We are seeing he and his family this week to help them through this tough time and to show them God will help and that He truly does care.

It's funny, there are only so many experiences, so many times, so many spiritual manifestations that a person can have before they realize that God does indeed live.  I have had these experiences and I know without a shred of a doubt that it is all true.  God does live and He has restored His true church to the earth.  The Book of Ether in the Book of Mormon says, "Ye receive not a witness until after the trial of your faith." If you want to know God, you need to let go of everything else and believe that He is and that He will.  Only after you do this will you come to know Him.  The choice is yours, one day you will know and see Him.  Why not get to know Him now?

Elder Segil

Spiritual Week!

Wow, what a week.  On Friday, we went to the Temple, which was so nice.  I felt the spirit so strong and was able to have a great time.  On Saturday and Sunday we finally got to watch General Conference and man that was amazing.  I especially enjoyed Elder Holland's talk and even teared up a bit.  It was cool to look around the chapel and see many others doing the same.  It's amazing how the Spirit works!

This is a picture of Elder Cazier and I just outside of the township Chief Lethuli!

We are teaching a lot of sweet people namely Georgina, Leonard and Tisetso.  They should be ready to be baptized next month.  All is well in Rynfield and time is flying!  I am safe from the riots, but not from load shedding.  What can you do?

I would encourage all of you to watch the General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Take the time to hear the words of God from our living day Prophets and Apostles.  I know their words are true and they will help us all in our everyday lives!

Have a great week.

Elder Segil

Load Shedding!

Are you sure another week went by because I'm not quite sure.  I believe this to be one of the fastest weeks on my mission and guess what, it was one of the most productive weeks as well.  We had over 20 quality appointments with investigators and members.  It was a great week!

Well I have two things to talk on this week and they are load shedding and the Joburg Riots.  First, load shedding is where the South African power plant will shut off all power to different parts of a province at different times to save power and money.  Why do they do this, because people don't pay for power and steal it from telephone poles, street lights and you name it.  So instead of shutting off power to those who don't pay for electricity, they shut it off for everyone, regardless of where they live or their payment history.  It is quite annoying and is really making the South African people frustrated, us missionaries included.

The Joburg Riots are happening because some South African people are tired of foreigners such as Ethiopians, Zimbabweans, and many other Africans from all over Africa coming across the border and starting businesses. They usually don't take jobs from the South African people, but find their own ways to make money, such as opening a store or recycling trash.  In the grand scheme of things, a lot of South African people are getting lazy and are finding someone to blame, which happens to be the people who are foreign and willing to work for money and don't expect handouts.  The jobs here are for everyone, they just have to want to work and do a good job.

Other than that, life is sweet and my mission is quickly coming to the end.  Four months from today, my family will be picking me up here in South Africa and we will tour around this beautiful country.  Until then it is time to work even harder and find those who are ready for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to bless their lives.  If you are not ready, get ready!

Cheers, Elder Segil