The Final Letter?

Well, we had an okay week this last week. We were able to see Paul and Haxley again, but despite our best efforts and their promises, they did not show to church. I at least have solace that I did all that I could on my part to help them to understand the importance of church attendance. This week I'll definitely be sending the very same message to them again, especially with more boldness, but I fear that at least for Paul this may be the end of the line for him. This has been going on for weeks now. We had an especially powerful lesson with him talking about the power of prayer and how God can hear them and help assist us in our lives. The idea was to get him to pray for a way to get him to come to church and he DID pray about it at the end of the lesson, but in the end he didn't act upon it. This week I think we will focus on the importance of covenants and all that.

Sunday I had the opportunity to speak at church. They assigned me to speak on Self-Reliance in general, so on Sunday I spoke about both spiritual and temporal self-reliance. I have noticed a very definite improvement in how I give talks. I used to rely on a prepared talk, but now I can speak without even using notes. I actually DID prepare something on paper to speak at for the talk, and I had it on hand when I was speaking, but not once did I need to refer to it. Instead, I was able to speak my own mind on the matter. I think the preparation just helped me to have what to say in mind and establish a direction to go for the talk. Even after preparing the talk, I realized that there were many other things I could speak on pertaining to the subject, like more scriptural examples. I wished I could have spoken more about these, but because of time and the fact that an interpreter needed to translate what I was saying to the congregation, I could only say so much. People came up to me afterwards thanking me for the talk. One of the members of the District Presidency came up and said that he wished I was staying for a couple more weeks so that they could have me speak at the district conference.

Such was last week. I also bore my final testimony in Zone Meeting and related my experiences as a missionary to the Zone. I wanted to really help encourage them to do right by the Lord. 

I'm not sure if I will have time to write to you next week. How my travel plans for Monday next week seem to make it so that I won't be able to afford time to write you about this week and so on. I think I will just take the time to share a few reflections about my Mission.

If I had been writing this about a year ago, I would have said that the theme of my mission - or rather the takeaway from my mission was obedience. Now I see a far bigger picture than that. It's not so much as obedience as it is about change. President Erickson once taught me about the importance of change as a missionary. He basically told about how all missionaries need to experience change to spiritually progress as children of God. It also reminded me of something that Elder Tad R. Callister said one time, that we aren't just trying to change our behaviour, but our nature as people. I would like to think that I have experienced in part a change of that nature, right down to the very simple things. Before I left on mission, I wouldn't have described one who either prayed or read scriptures with much intent. It had been many years that I had regularly prayed vocally, and I could never say that I "feasted upon the words of Christ". Imagine how all that can change when you go on a mission. My Heavenly Father has quite literally thrown a lot at my direction to encourage me to humble myself and change my habits as a person. Can I say that I'm absolutely perfect in these things? No, but I do now see the importance of scripture study and prayer. I especially have learned the importance of praying vocally. When you slow down and really take time to express your heart to the Lord, you really think things out more and there grows a much stronger connection between each other. And what can I say about scripture study? Well, it looks like a rainbow vomited all over my scriptures with markings and notes. I can say that I have a stronger love for the scriptures than ever before.

Of all the things I have learned on mission though, the most important thing I think I have learned is humility. I believe it is at the core of everything that we do, what makes or breaks our salvation. You have to be humble to have faith in Christ. You have to have humility to be able to obey the commandments. You need to have humility to repent. I've seen missionaries whose entire experiences weighed upon whether they humbled themselves or not. Those he changed for the better definitely humbled themselves and submitted themselves to the will of the Lord. Those who didn't went through the motions. They still had a great time, but they got nothing lasting out of it. I hope that I'm one of those missionaries that fall under the former category. Through my mission, my Heavenly Father has made it more than known that I have my own weaknesses and flaws, and I know now that I must be willing to submit to His will.

I am absolutely thankful for this experience. I think it has helped make me become a better man. I really hope the principles I have learned here will help me for the rest of my life.

I'll see you soon.

Elder Massey

The Work Goes On

This week went significantly better in terms of missionary work. We got to have several lessons this week.

We followed up on a new investigator during the week. His name is Haxley. He came to church the Sunday before partly because of two factors. Firstly, he's friends with Tonnex, a recent convert of Elder Slade's. Tonnex was sitting with him the Sunday he was there. Secondly, Haxley was at the wedding of Sister Khama and Moses, and was intrigued by our church and was interested to learn more. He came on his own accord that Sunday and Tonnex introduced us to him and we arranged for an appointment this last week.

The lesson with Haxley went rather well. Me and Elder Kapalanga are clicking together much better now. The teaching is certainly more unified. Better yet, Haxley understood English enough that we didn't need to interpret for him. We were already able to address some of his concerns during that first lesson. He was wondering why God only selects few people in history to be Prophets, and I used the illustration of a bus driver. There's one person that drives the bus and sets the direction of where to go. If there were many who were driving the same bus all at once, it certainly would be a total mess! With that analogy, he immediately saw why only one person could be a Prophet at any time. Elder Kapalanga did very well on his own part, testifying and expounding pretty well on his own. He even managed to speak for more than a couple minutes expounding on his own. That was really pleasing to me because he has not always been able to expound for a lengthy period time, if only for a few seconds.

We also laid down the law about commitments. Upon personal meditation, I realized that we hadn't necessarily established the importance of keeping commitments as we should have. As such, I made it a point this week to establish the importance of keeping those commitments, and making it clear that if those commitments aren't kept, there's really not much we can do for the people we teach. I really made this a focus of mine. I wanted to make sure they understood so that I wasn't under any condemnation of not doing enough on my own part.

I applied that same focus with visiting Moses this last week. I spoke really frank with him about how he needs to keep his word and strive to make it to church. He did relate that he had some serious issues he had to attend to, and he does stay a long distance from the church, but he has said of himself that he would come to church, and I made that a point that it was upon him to do all that he could to keep that commitment. Thinking back to it, I feel that we could've said that it wasn't for us that he was to keep all those commitments, but it was meant to be between him and God. That is something we will work on this week I think. Throughout the week, we worked on Moses and helped him with the Book of Mormon. In one lesson we followed up on, it was clear that he either hadn't read it or didn't understand it, so we read through what he claimed he read and then got him started by reading 1 Nephi 1 to set him on the right direction. I hope it does.

Sadly, neither were able to come to church this Sunday, though they committed and said they would. I try not to let it bog me down.

Other things that happened this week... let's see.

President Chiyumba was formally called to the Mission Presidency on Sunday. He had been the Blantyre District President, but now with this new calling he had to be released. In his stead President Mtale was called to take his place. It's amazing to see how a person in this part of the world can be trusted to such responsibilities in a church like ours. President Mtale has an average background for a Malawian - at least here in Blantyre that is. He lives in a modest home, has never really been in some high social position in life. He actually served in the mission a few years ago back when it was part of the Zimbabwe Mission, and he benefited greatly from that experience. Despite his humble background, President Mtale is a powerful member of the church and is truly converted to the gospel. He will do great things for the church. It just goes to show that you don't need to be rich and famous to have a place in the church.

Speaking of powerful members, Sister Banda was assigned to speak this last Sunday, and she gave a wonderful talk about the importance of General Conference. A fair number of the members here really take it for granted and don't come to watch the viewings of the conference sessions, or they only skim through the conference magazines published afterwards. Sister Banda spoke very boldly about why General Conference is important and why members needed to take it more seriously. It was an absolutely wonderful talk. President Erickson was attending our Sacrament Meeting and he actually got up and expressed thanks for that talk and his gratitude for what he learned from Sister Banda. She is really powerful and faithful. She says that it is her hope that someday she can go to General Conference someday and meet the Prophet there in person. I really hope that she gets that opportunity someday. She is one of the strongest members of the church here, and she rightly deserves it. The only thing is that for a Malawian she is quite old, though I will have you know that she is still very healthy and physically able! She may not have a long time left simply because of the quality of life society provides here.

One last tidbit: It was actually pretty cold for most of the week. We had a lot of cloud coverage for about three days of the week. It's unusual because it's supposed to be the opposite: clear, sunny, and VERY hot! Weather conditions did eventually turn around though.

I think that's all that I will say for this week. Can't wait to write you again next week!

Love, 

Elder Massey

Keeping Promises

This week we got to begin proselyting in a larger more combined area. Since Elder Chanza and Elder Chola have been transferred, we've had to take over their area until further arrangements can be made.

This week was more or less introducing my companion to the area. I got to show him the members and other people we see in the area I used to serve in before I began training him. We had some wonderful visits. One was with Albert. We got to see his new baby daughter named Joy. He's quite proud of her. We spent the time talking with him about the church and such. I shared a scripture that I personally liked from 2 Timothy 2:20-21 and we had a very nice conversation about it for some many minutes.

We were able to see Paul again this week. We followed up on some things and he said that he prayed about what we taught and he said that he got an answer that the church is true. We invited him to be baptized on the 22nd (my last Sunday on mission) and he committed to it. After stressing the importance of the preparation he will need to make heading up to the baptism, we proceeded to teach him the Restoration of the Church, and we invited him to pray about it in his own time. That was the only time that we saw him last week. I was a bit excited because I had the chance to baptize at least one more person before I went home. Sadly, he failed to come to church this last Sunday, even though he promised he would come. That means that his baptism will have to be postponed, therefore I will not be able to baptize anybody before going home. It's sad, but I haven't let it weigh down. I'm not sure if Paul didn't come out of apathy or if it was just because of his situation (after all, he has to walk a very long distance), and though I hope he didn't come because of the latter but it's all a moot point now. The fact is I won't be baptizing now.

I've actually gotten used to people falling through on their promises. I've realized that there are people who spring up and receive the gospel with gladness but quickly wither away afterwards because they haven't taken root to it. I've met way too many people like this to count. The first couple of times really tugged me to the heart, but I've gotten used to it. It happens. It's taught me a valuable lesson though. You can certainly walk the walk and talk the talk, but if you really don't mean it deep down inside all of it is just vain. I think - and this is my personal opinion, not fact - that this is a problem that is found throughout all sects of Christianity, though not everyone is guilty of it. We tend to take the light and truth that we have as Christians for granted. We know what we believe in is true and everything, but we sometimes fail to use it to bless us in our lives. We can become content with sitting in the backseat and going wherever the road takes us and we don't exercise to take the wheel and set the direction we really want to go in life. We become believers in name only and not in deed and heart, and if so we profit as much in life (spiritually speaking) as those who don't believe in the gospel or have no knowledge in it. I realize that salvation really is personal and that you have to be accountable for yourself and not expect everything to be handed on a silver platter. It is true, the atonement of Jesus Christ has the power to save us all unconditionally, but I liken it to it being a Christmas gift. It's given to you without hesitation at all, but it's never going to do you any good if you leave it sitting under a tree and never open it. Living the gospel - or at least, MAKING the effort to - is ultimately what will either make us or break us in life. It is what will make that power of the atonement possible, otherwise we have no promise.

I know I've rambled a little bit, but that's just something I felt like writing. It's good therapy for me actually. It helps ease my frustrations at times.

On the lighter side, we got to go and see Sister Khama's and Moses' wedding to each other on Saturday. It was really wonderful to see. Sister Khama looked very happy. Moses is one that seldom shows emotion though. I'm sure he was happy, but he isn't one that really puts himself out there. I took many pictures of the wedding. There was a photographer there, but he had a camera just like mine and I'm pretty sure I was taking far better pictures than he was. It's great to see though the fruits of your labours.

We'll I've written a lot today. Can't wait to hear from you next week!

Elder Massey

The Last Conference

This week was a good week, we continued to teach Paul this week. We continued to teach him about the Restoration. We taught about Christ's ministry and how the Apostasy came about and helped him to understand that. Me and Elder Kapalanga have worked out a good dynamic of how to teach Paul. I would do my best to explain the concept as simple as possible, and Elder Kapalanga would explain it over again to cover the points that he may have not understood so well. Generally speaking, this has worked out well for us as at the end of it he could clearly understand the concept. However, I would prefer that Elder Kapalanga begins teaching in English, as he will need the practice and get familiar with teaching it in that way. Paul also told us something that really took me back. That Sunday he came to church, he WALKED all the way to church, which is a really far distance. It had to be close to 10km at least. It was that far. Sadly, he did not join us this last Sunday.

General Conference was AWESOME. I loved so many of the talks, such as Elder Durrant talking about 'ponderizing' the scriptures. I think that just focusing on understanding and memorizing one scripture every week is a great method, especially for me. I do not like memorizing as I feel rushed and pressured to memorize it in such a short time, but with 'ponderizing' the scriptures I have plenty of time to memorize a single passage of scripture. It's not something I will start doing right now, but something later when I come back home I think. I do hope that it will help me a lot spiritually. I also appreciated his more practical advice.

Also, I really enjoyed the testimonies borne by our new Apostles. Hearing them all bear the own testimonies allowed me to feel the spirit and know for myself that they were truly called of God to be his Apostles. I think each and every single one of them are powerful witnesses in their own way. I was sad though that they only got to bear their testimonies. I can't wait for next general conference now! I want to hear what they will speak about!

Some of our current apostles gave great talks as well. President Nelson's talk was very moving. It really shows that the church really draws strength from the women in the church. It's no wonder that these leaders of the church are who they are because of their wives.

I also liked Elder Bednar's talk. I thought it was a very moving tribute to all the leaders of the church that he has known that have since died. As he shared their (unknowingly) final testimonies, I could tell that the words they spoke were truly inspired, especially Elder L. Tom Perry's and Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin's talks. It is such a shame that we could not have such great leaders forever, but again I continue to find solace in the new apostles that we DO have.

President Monson's talk was heartbreaking to watch. He has gotten very old very fast, and I was very sad to see him begin to struggle to speak towards the end of his talk. I do hope that he will be blessed with improved health, but knowing the old age that he is at, I realize that he doesn't have much time left. I hope though that we will be blessed to hear from him a few more times though.

Elder Chola finished his mission yesterday. As I am writing this letter he is probably having his final interviews. Elder Chanza got transferred to a different area because of that, so me and Elder Kapalanga have ALL of Chilomoni to proselyte in, which will be great because it gives us much for flexibility to have people to visit and to teach. I'll be able to visit my old friend Albert again who stayed in Elder Chola's side of the area. His wife gave birth recently to a daughter and she's starting to settle down. Albert wants us to begin teaching his wife and hopefully baptize her. It would be great to set that in motion (at this point of my mission I won't be able to see any more baptisms for myself) and I would be more than happy to see Albert's family united by the restored gospel.

Hard to believe that it will be a very short time before I see you all again. I look forward to seeing you again in just a few more weeks!

 

Love,

Elder Massey

Small Miracles

Zone Conference

This week was a week of small miracles (and apparently small letters...). This week by far was one of my better weeks as of late.

The big miracle was that we finally found an investigator to teach. The week before we contacted a man named Paul who seemed really interested in learning from us. We followed up this last week and to our great pleasure he was very serious about learning from us. Right off the bat he expressed his desire to join our church. He even invited a friend named Amos to join in the lesson, and he wanted to join too so we invited them to be baptized, provided if they come to know the church is true. We explained the conditions of baptism so that they could understand the sacredness of it and know that it's not just an instant win at salvation. We had a wonderful lesson with them and we had another visit with Paul to begin teaching the Restoration to him. To top it all off, he came to church yesterday! 

Better yet, we've been receiving referrals from the missionaries in our District and we have yet to meet them in person, but I'm really hoping that they are good leads. We may be teaching several people by the end of this week!

During this week we also worked with the branch and visited members in a part of Blantyre called Mbeyani for their Mother's Day. They have Mother's Day at this time of the year, so this was the day where we spent time visiting the families there, sharing scriptures and singing together.

Hoping that things continue to shape up for us. Looking forward to writing you all again!

 

Love, 

Elder Massey

Having fun in Blantyre!

The Last Zone Conference

Well, this was a big week for me! This week I had my last ever Zone
Conference for my Mission. It was a very big one too. President
Erikson made some reflections on his time as Mission President, as
he's coming down the final leg of his mission as well. He told us of
the vision that he had for the mission. I'm probably not supposed to
mention what's going to happen, but safe to say we may be seeing big
things in the next couple of years for the Church in Malawi.

The big focus of the Zone Conference was finding not through tracting,
but by other means. He knows just as well as any other missionary that
tracting is the least productive thing to do in missionary work, and
he wants it to be a mission goal to have no tracting in November and
heading forward into the future. As such, the whole Zone Conference
was dedicated to using alternative finding efforts and getting the
members to be more involved in the work. The latter was an especially
big focus as members really are the best way to get people taught and
be baptized.

We were fed a wonderful lunch. They made us Sloppy Joes (which were
the BEST) and gave us cookies and ice cream as a treat. I took
advantage and make an ice-cream cookie sandwich out of mine!

I apologize, but that's really all for this week. I promise I'll make
it up with a better letter next week.

Love

Elder Massey 

In Humility

It was another one of those slow weeks, but I'm getting by bit by bit.

Something big that happened this week was that a notable wife to one of the leaders of the church here in Blantyre had passed away. She was 30 years old, which is actually roughly the age where a lot of people can die here in Malawi. We were informed of it by Elder Beal while we were having District Meeting, and we were allowed to attend the funeral if we wished.

This was the first ever 'African' funeral that I've attended. I wouldn't say it was much of a funeral as much as it was a burial event. People from all over the community and many members gathered at the funeral. A rough estimation would put about 300 people at the funeral, women mostly. 

Everyone gathered at the home first. The casket was inside the house. There was obviously not enough space to fit 300 people in a tiny house that was roughly a little larger than an average classroom back home. There were many people sitting outside the house and had gathered by the road and houses that were alongside it.

Some of the women who were members sang a wide variety of Hymns. It was really whatever ones they wanted to sing, but they sang beautifully. All of us missionaries that were present were asked to join in the singing for a bit. I will be honest here and say that as I was singing with these wonderful members, I felt pretty sad that I'll be leaving all of them behind someday.

After some time just singing, the program for the burial began. All of it was spoken in Chichewa, so I didn't catch a single thing they said. It seemed to be mostly about logistics, but President Mtale of our District Presidency had the chance to speak, and he shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon which I felt was a wonderful missionary opportunity on his part.

There was a funeral procession to where the member was being buried. People piled on to trucks and in cars and drove together to the burial site. There wasn't enough space to fit everyone in vehicles, so many walked to the burial site including us. There they had close family members and friends lay flowers and wreaths on the grave. Even the Relief Society had a hand in it.

I continue to learn much from the challenges I'm experiencing on my mission. Something that I've learned looking back on it is humility. I've realized that I have many human weaknesses as a person, and they've been made strongly manifest in these current experiences that I've been having, and those weaknesses have been somewhat discouraging to me at times, even though I really want to do my best to serve the Lord.

I was doing a personal study of the Book of Mormon one day, and I came across Ether 12:27. It was one of those experiences you hear of where it seems like God is speaking right to you through the scriptures. It is Jesus Christ speaking in the verse and he says that he gives men weaknesses that they may be humble, and if they do realize their weaknesses and come unto him, he will make them be strong in those things that they are weak in. It was a really encouraging scripture to me. Things haven't magically improved right after that, but it's the little bits that eventually make a difference over time. That's kind of all that I have to say for today.

Hoping all is well with you all!

Elder Massey

 

(I''ve been asking for pictures of Mark and his companion....this was what he had to offer...of course they are eating!   Elder Kapalanga is the one on the right in the first picture!)