"Of all the titles of respect and honor" (A. Theodore Tuttle) - June 19, 2021

 Spiritual Thought

As the events of the Savior's final week began to unfold, He looked forward towards the events that were yet ahead of Him.  Amidst the triumphant shouts of "Hosanna" and the sublime experience of instituting a new ordinance among his apostles His mind surely must have become increasingly fixed on the event that would mark the culmination of this holy week, indeed, of all human history.  While He knew what this event would entail and understood perfectly that He was the only one who could accomplish the necessary feat, fear and anxiety must have slowly become more undeniable as the hour approached.  As weeks turned into days, then to hours, then as the moment finally arrived, one question must have lingered in His mind,  Is there no other way?  The anxiety for what lay  before Him is manifested in a heartbreaking cry given in the very hour of atonement "Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt." (Mark 14:36).  A moment in which the Redeemer of the World becomes this vulnerable demands our utmost respect.  We must never allow ourselves to forget this profound moment.  I express my undying gratitude to our Savior even as my heart breaks in knowing that the burden of my sins contributed to the agony which brought about this cry. 

However, for our purposes today, I wish to focus on whom it was that the Savior desperately sought to receive comfort from.  The being He and we have the privilege of calling "Father".  After all that our Heavenly Father has done for us and the titles He could claim as His own, He chooses to distinguish Himself as a Father.  In the words of Elder A. Theodore Tuttle:  "It should have great meaning that of all the titles of respect and honor and admiration that could be given him, that God himself, he who is the highest of all, chose to be addressed simply as “Father.”  As we celebrate the fathers in our lives may we have as our omnipresent thought our Heavenly Father.  He whom we as mortals attempt to replicate in some small way.  I express gratitude to all of the fathers in my life who have shown me a glimpse of what true masculinity entails.  I am deeply humbled and profoundly overwhelmed by the responsibility of one day showing my own children some small view of what the nature of our Heavenly Father must be.  As we celebrate fathers, I testify of the powerful force for good righteous men have the ability to be.  I testify of the ever present influence of the God in Heaven who chooses to distinguish Himself as the Father of our Spirits.  I testify of His Son who, at unfathomable cost, provided the means to enable us to return to such a paternal embrace.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Weekly Report

Hello everyone,

If any of you would like to envision what my brain looks like after this past week, picture scrambled eggs cooking on low heat and you have the right picture.  This week consisted of intensive Malagasy language training.  All joking aside, however, I have enjoyed finally learning my mission language in earnest.  I can honestly say that I have seen the gift of tongues manifested in these few short days.  I am looking forward to becoming increasingly fluent.

One of the things that makes Malagasy difficult is the way sentences are formed.  English follows the subject, verb, object (SVO) sentence structure.  For example, in English we would say "I kicked the ball".  Malagasy, however, uses the verb, object, subject (VOS) form.  Using the same example, in Malagasy we would say "Kicked the ball I".  Additionally, Malagasy does not use any "to be" verbs (am, is, are, was, etc.) so certain words that we as English speakers use instinctively simply do not exist in Malagasy.  My MTCs teachers told us that Yoda speaks in this form.  If we are ever unsure of how to say something we are supposed to think of how Yoda would say it then translate that to Malagasy.  Easier said than done.  I feel privileged to be able to learn a language that requires me to change the way I think about the world.

Brother Stepan told us yesterday about what it is like to experience a presidential election in Madagascar.  The next election will take place in November of 2022 so there is a good chance I will experience this firsthand.  Presidential campaigns in Madagascar typically consist of a competition to see which candidate can hand out the most free things.  Madagascar flags as well as flags with the candidate's face on them are a favorite.  The other favorite is t-shirts with a giant picture of the candidate's face on the front.  Brother Stepan has one of these so be sure to take a look at the pictures and let me know if you can envision me wearing one.  The best part of Malagasy campaigns, however, is that each candidate has their own song.  Typically this only consists of the candidate's name sung over and over again to a beat.  Trucks with loudspeakers then drive around the city all day blasting the campaign song to the world.  Since missionaries spend their time on the street, they quickly learn each candidate's song.  It is a much cherished P-day tradition for missionaries to perform campaign songs for each other.  

The other piece of Malagasy culture that we were told about is a food they are fond of making.  Malagasies eat very few desserts.  Their diet consists of an extremely small amount of sugar and they consider fruit to be a dessert.  The only exception to this is Godrogodro (gooj-gooj-oo).  In Bro. Stepan's words, Godrogodro is "jello bread that crumbles and looks like a log of firewood."  Bro. Stepan thinks it tastes good but Bros. Maguet and Mannewitz say it is absolutely revolting.  Bro. Stepan shared a recipe for it that I am going to try making this week.  Stay tuned to hear my opinion in the next email..

I hope you all have a great week,

Elder Payne   

Unloading containers of old baby clothes into a storage unit for a P-day activity.  Not the most exciting thing in the world but it didn't involve Zoom or being locked in my bedroom so it was fine by me. 

With my companion, Sister Payne, after getting some Godrogodro ingredients.  Last week I had to pick my companion up so he could see the tigers at the zoo.  There's being short, then there's that.  Now this week I have a sister as my companion?  I'm not sure what's going on but I think I should probably talk to someone about it.

Bro. Stepan wearing his Andry Rajoelina (ahn-jee   rah-dzoo-eh-lee-nah) shirt.  Andry Rajoelina is the current president of Madagascar.  He was elected as president a few years ago.  Then it was decided the election results were fraudulent so he was removed from office.  Then he led a coup and put himself back in power.  Then he was removed again.  Then he ran again and is now the legitimate president, we think.

                    Bro. Stepan performing the campaign song for the current president.

Since we can't take a traditional district picture, Elder Fergus is making his own representation of us.  From left to right there is Elder Rubber (Elder Fergus) and Elder Duck (Me).  Bros. Maguet, Stepan, and Mannewitz are still forthcoming.

Translating my testimony into Malagasy with Bro. Mannewitz.