It was on the 12th of April 2014. Brother Kevin Farquharson and other stake leaders organised a day for Priests to pair off with missionaries for the day. My companion was Elder Deichman.
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| Meet Elder Deichman |
The day started off... okay, the night started out at the MTC (Mission Training Centre) - now this wasn't my first time at the MTC, but that's another story. We were supposed to start at 6:30pm, but this is Mormon time and African time combined, so we started at 7:30pm instead. New missionaries taught us as we pretended to be investigators (this is what the MTC is for - to train young men and women to preach the gospel to strangers in two short weeks).
We moved on to Kempton Park Ward where families kindly agreed to let us stay for the night - we were treated as missionaries from get go. With greetings and preparations set, i wrote in my journal, said my prayers amd we were off to bed.
It was an "early" morning as we followed the missionary schedule. I say that because 6am is still quite reasonable. We said our prayers, had our showers, cleaned up and left the family with a prayer.
At the chapel, many young men found enjoyment throwing balls at one another. The excitement continued as breakfast arrived and the seminar began. We learnt of mission and the secret of missionary work, which isn't - or really, shouldn't - be a secret. That secret is work. We went over PMG (Preach My Gospel) and then moved on to be paired off with a missionary.
Now we're all caught up. We sang hymns, had people talk and then had lunch.
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| Lunch! |
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| I didn't know if the food had been blessed, or not, so we did so just in case. |
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| Yes, I'm wearing tekkies. Don't judge me. |
We then moved out to our areas. Elder Deichman and I had Birchacres where he'd been serving for the past seven months. He had appointments set up (only one of which pulled through). It was a young lady (still in high school) who met missionaries elsewhere. We discussed the Bible and the Book of Mormon, just getting to know her and her sister. She had a powerful testimony of Jesus Christ already, which was phenomenal since nobody in her family taught her or even believed themselves. She told us about her own missionary efforts at school which was great.
The not so great part was how her dog peed on my bag and she gave us coke which I drank. The first and only time I drank coke as a member (and yes, I know, it's not technically against the Word of Wisdom).
We tracted a great deal and handed out pass along cards. There were many drunk people and quite a few rude people, but it was a great experience in the end. We met another Jonathan which was great.
Elder Deichman and I discussed many things and, as it turns out, we share a great deal of common interest in music. He wants to be a psychologist. He has a strong testimony, especially considering how his brothers did not. FYI, he was born in covenant.
Once the walking was over, we returned to report what we had done, sang and heard people bear their testimonies. It was great.
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| IDK |
Brother Kevin wanted a funny photo of us, but - as it turns out - Elder Deichman was just as indecisive as I was.
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| What do you think? |
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| We really don't know. |
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| So we settled on this. |
We then took group photos. This was funny; I was standing right behind Elder Deichman when he said, "I need to find my conpanion. Jonothan!"
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| Elder Pulley! On the right. |
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| The group of Priests and Missionaries |
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| Don't ask me what's happening here. |
So that was it. A day I'll never forget. With moments I'll all always cherish. Who knows? I may just run in to Elder Deichman again one of these days.
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