January 21, 2013

All,

So it's official. I'm finally leaving Soweto. It's a weird feeling though. I thought that I would be a lot more excited than I am. But I'm really sad actually. I've spent a quarter of mission here and it's crazy but I love it. I am excited to see where I'm going though. I emailed President Omer saying that if the Lord felt like I should go to Botswana this transfer, I would not be opposed to it. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. Wherever I go, I just hope that I have a good companion. The hardest part about mission is dealing with someone you're forced to be with every minute of every day. Wish me luck.

This last week has been incredibly rainy almost every day, which is fine except that it was raining really bad Sunday morning which caused our church attendance to go down significantly. But we still have some really awesome families that I'm going to be really sad to leave. I don't think they have any idea how much I care about them. Someday maybe.

This week I've been studying Helaman, it's calling me to repentance pretty hardcore. It's also reminding me that my prayers kind of suck. I've been paying attention to a lot of the prayers that people say, even members of the church and we all have our own vain repetitions whether we realize it or not. Sometimes I do it without even realizing it. When I realize it I have to stop and start over again. I've begun to realize that when my prayers cease to be refreshing and insightful, it's because I'm not putting enough effort into it. Also something that I realized, which I should have a long time ago, is that to pray in the name of Jesus Christ is more than just to say "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." We pray in the name of Christ when our mind and desires are the mind and desires of Christ. Sometimes when we pray and don't see answers or feel like we're being heard, it's because we're just saying "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." I've had a big problem with this lately. I feel like I'm on a spiritual plateau. But there's an awesome quote I found this morning that is helping me. It says: "If we learn to ask 'in the spirit' and according to God's will, then 'it is done even as' we ask. This has helped me even since this morning when I read it. I hope it helps you too.

The rest of this week was pretty uneventful, but it was good. Sorry it's so cold at home. It'll be weird to see snow again. Anyway, I love and miss you. 

Peace out.

Elder Balmforth