3 piece?
First off
Those of you who don't know or forgot, I'm trio training!
And I also hit 300 days yesterday which means 10 months is like on Thursday... what in the world.
Also, shoutout to Madre y Padre for being married 24 years today!!! So, beyond greatful for them and all they sacrifice for our fam 🙏🏼.
For this week's email I'm not really going to go day by day, there was plenty of stuff going on, but I thought I'd focus on just one guy that we were teaching named Lohinzo...
Way back in February I was going to get a calm luh snack from the truck shop across the street from the church, and as I was walking I saw this guy who was doing a delivery on an Uber eats motorcycle thing, so I stopped and talked to him and asked if he would like to join us at church and learn some more about Jesus!
And of course, Lohinzo said yes bc he's an absolute dawg, and over the course of the next few months we were able to meet with him and teach him. I learned he had a family back in the Democratic Republic! A wife and a young daughter. He was here in South Africa just temporarily so he could support his fam. What a stud. Anyways, we gave him a Book of Mormon and unfortunately weren't able to see him for a couple weeks due to his job making him busy.
Buttt, about 2 weeks ago we met with him, and he is absolutely loving the Book of Mormon! It sits right on his desk in his living room all bookmarked up. We had a great lesson with him and planned to invite him to be baptized the following appointment!
Now I was very excited about this because it would be the first person that I found, taught and baptized all in one go!
On Wednesday afternoon we received a message to our ward chat that said,
"Good morning all, it is with great sadness that we announce the death of Lohinzo Kalonji, he was studying with the missionaries and attended church with us. He was killed by a speeding car whilst doing deliveries for work. We hope the missionaries responsible are now made aware."
I don't know why but this news just made me so sad, and I was just so dumbfounded that something like this happened at this exact time in his life, and I pondered about it up until Sunday.
There were 2 new faces at church this Sunday, and when I asked them who they were they said, "we are Lohinzo's brothers. We saw the book on his nightstand, and that he'd been reading it, and that's how we knew to come here."
I don't know about all of you, but somehow when I heard them say that it all sort of just clicked in my head. I wasn't worrying about it anymore because I was reminded of how God's plan is perfect, and everyone will have a chance to receive this gospel in its fulness, whether they are living or beyond the veil.
Sort of a different vibe of an email this week but I would just ask that you keep the family of Lohinzo in your prayers this week 🙏🏼
I'd love to hear from all of you!