Elder Ryland Earl Rash: Week 52: HUMP DAY week....but no mention of it, as he would like to forget that he only has 1 year left!

Well Hello Family and Friends all over the World!

This last week has been full of spiritual experiences and a lot of revelation! Here we go.

So this week we had the Beira and Manga Zone Conference with President and Sister Koch and it was very enlightening! Zone Conferences come at just the right moments. Just when I'm feeling on a Spiritual Low, Zone Conference comes along and gives me just enough spiritual energy to make it another 3 months! We learned a lot about Diligence and Planting Seeds. That was the theme of the Conference. I wish I could just download all of my thoughts and feelings into this email so that you could all truly feel and understand the change that it made for me and in my Discipleship to the Lord. In the end, I made it a personal goal to knock on the doors of the most rich houses in our area. So one night during a division, I took the opportunity to hit a bunch of rich houses in our area. Just last night we sat down with this quite wealthy family and I was sweating bullets because I was so nervous. When I saw that the husband is white, I became ever more nervous. Here it is once in a blue moon that you can find a humble white guy that it willing to accept the Gospel. But as we started the lesson I just kept praying in my heart that I would be able to help him recognize the spirit and be touched. As the lesson progressed, I recognized a shift in his countenance and I everyone felt much more open to share what they were feeling and thinking. We invited them to pray about our message and they accepted. As we were just conversing after the lesson, we came to find out that they had a 3 year old son pass away no more than 2 months ago, and it was really taking a toll on them as a family and individually. I am really excited to sit down with this family again and teach them about the Plan of Salvation and how families can be together forever and that his Son is not lost. Francisco and Louisa are their names and they have 3 awesome sons, 2 of which are above the age of 8. The whole family is just full of geniuses and I can picture them progressing very well in the gospel as they continue making commitments with the Lord.

I know that God lives and that he sends his Spirit to testify of truth to help all of God's children recognize what is true and make and keep covenants so that one day they can return and live with God again. I know that Joseph Smith was a true Prophet that received the Priesthood Authority once again on the Earth to perform Sacred Saving Ordinances. I know that God hears and answers prayers.

Have an enjoyable week in America.

Elder Rash

P.S. I got Reese and Melissa's letter- thank you so much for that, BTW. it meant a lot to me and I really appreciated it.

Mom, I talked to President and Sister Koch, and I will most likely be able to go through the Temple with Devon in Jo'burg on my way home! so I am super pumped for that!