You
could say that last week was much of the same of the week before, so
I'll keep it brief: These last couple of weeks our main focus has been
Alex & Lexa, and Moses.
For Moses, we had
given him a baptismal date for August 16th. So for these last couple of
weeks we had be trucking hard to make sure that he was prepared for
baptism, as we still had much to teach him. We had taught him most of
the lessons, but we still had little time on our hands to teach him. He
works construction and he is always on call, so even on days where we
agree to meet, sometimes something comes up last minute and keeps us
from teaching him. We are very grateful for the support of Sister Khama -
his fiance - though. She's a member of the Relief Society Presidency
and she is very educated in the gospel, and she was capable of teaching
and expounding the missionary discussions herself. With her help, we
were able to have the remaining ground covered and we had him
interviewed yesterday, and he passed the interview for baptism.
Speaking
of Sister Khama, we've started giving service stacking bricks at her
home again. It was Elder Chola's first time doing it, and it was quite
an experience for him as it was for me. My hands would be proof of that!
Sadly,
we've hit a wall with Alex. Alex absolutely believes that the church is
true, but at the same time he believes that salvation can come from any
and all of the churches in the world. Even so, he feels that at this
late point in his life, joining this church would jeopardize his
salvation as he has been committed to it all his life, and that by
joining us at the age of 78 it would be condemnation to him for
disregarding all the good things that have happened because of his
church. His parents and wife - of whom are all deceased for a long time
now - belonged to that church and it seems he fears disdain from them
for switching churches. He does however encourage us to baptize not only
Lexa but all of his children, because he feels that they are still
young and that by joining this church at a younger age they won't be
doing anything that might compromise their salvation.
After
he revealed this to us, I bore my whole soul out in testimony. It was
one of the most defining moments of my mission. I am certain that the
spirit was strongly manifest in that lesson. I felt like it was
radiating from me. I testified of the ADDED blessings that would come,
and how that it would bless him after life. It was really one of my
strongest moments as a missionary.
That was two
weeks ago, and we've been doing our best ever since to try to help him
to have the faith to be baptized. It's crucial that we get him baptized
with Lexa, as she is still very dependant on her father as well as the
fact that the church is far away. If she goes to church on her own, it
will be very lonely and challenging on her part. This last week we even
brought the Beals (the only Blantyre Senior Couple) to teach Alex with
us. Elder Beal really took control and spoke very bluntly to Alex in a
respectful way, and he could resolve some of the issues we struggled
going about with Alex. Even though he was a very great help to us, Elder
Beal feels like he's done little to help Alex. We're trying our best
though. Recently, I used the example of a member from my branch back
home named Brother Lowrey and his conversion at a late point in his life
as an illustration on how it is still possible for Alex to be baptized
and saved at a late point in his life.
Reflecting
on this experience though, I realize that it shows how the conversion
process into the true church is not a whimsical process. One does not
easily join it. In the times of the New Testament, the people who
preached the gospel such as the Apostles did not come from what the
world would consider 'dignified' positions in life. They were mere
fishermen, tax collectors and such. Though he came from a priestly and
noble heritage that would have brought much respect to him, John the
Baptist basically lived out in the bush living a frugal life with no
real luxuries at all. Even Jesus Christ was a carpenter, and many of the
scribes of his day doubted him because of what must of been the mere
circumstances that he came from.
A parallel
appears in missionary work today. The missionaries from our church are
not the kind of people that one would hold high esteem for - not that
we're bad or mischievous, but there's that notion that we are young and
lack experience and knowledge of the things of life. That in itself is
true to a degree, but the gospel truly makes us young men something much
more and better than the world can comprehend. People would readily
believe on what was being taught if the people who were preaching the
gospel were elderly people who had degrees in philosophy and theology,
that held high positions in far more widely recognized churches and
carried much distinction about themselves. Instead, God sends out young
men (and women) as young as 18 - having not yet completed their college
education, entered into their careers and begin raising their families -
to preach the gospel. Because of that, it really takes a lot of faith
on an investigator's part to listen seriously to our message and to
regard us as serious preachers of the gospel, not schoolboys as some
people actually mistake us to be! Many of the people that we meet or
teach fall at this point, simply because they can't take us seriously on
the account of being young and regarded as 'unlearned' compared to
themselves. I've never talked to somebody who has joined this church,
but it must certainly have been a humbling experience for them to listen
to men and women much younger than they are and receive instruction
(and correction) from them.
So, as to why I'm
emailing a little later today: Well, these past couple of days, I've
come down sick with the things that you least want to come down with
(you know what I mean!). It started on Saturday, and it has continued on
up to today. So this morning, I decided to check the medical guide to
see - just in case - if it might be something more serious. The Mission
gives us this medical guide for medical prevention and treatment, such
as bleaching your fruits and vegetables to prevent contamination - which
nobody does at all.
Well, I looked through
all the symptoms and diagnoses, I got a little scared. There was one
illness that matched many of my symptoms. Headache? Check. Fever? Check.
Diarrhea? Check.
What could all that point to?
M A L A R I A
One
of the other symptoms for Malaria was thinking irrationally. In the
days I've been sick, I hadn't experienced this, but after reading the
booklet I began experience these symptoms too - not because of what I
believed to be Malaria, but because of the pandemonium and fear that I HAD MALARIA!!!
Many
prayers were pled to The Lord this morning, a Priesthood blessing was
requested, calls were made to the Mission President's wife, the
Mission's Health Adviser and Zone Leaders, and there was a visit to the hospital! After a medical test and an intense wait of 15 minutes, the results came.
The results for Malaria came negative. For irrational fear though, full freaking positive!
I
think the lesson learned here is to not to jump to any conclusions. I
realize now that just because you start coughing, it doesn't necessarily
mean you have terminal cancer and that no matter what, you are going to
die. It was a big goof and overreaction on my part, and I'm betting my
companion was shaking his head and thinking to himself that Elder Massey
had gone nuts.
I'm still sick, but just to let
you know, don't worry! I hope I won't cause any of you to lose any
sleep. It was just a small incident that was blown over proportion by my
naivety.
Well, this has been a long one. My companion is probably bothered by how long I've been writing now, so I'll wrap it up here!
See you Malaria free next week!
Elder Massey
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