"Whom say ye that I am" (Luke 9:20) - July 26, 2022

Spiritual Thought 

The nature of our modern world is that our energy and time are consumed each day in a myriad of pursuits and past times.  Competing voices clamor for our attention.  Some of these are noble and worthwhile.  Others are trivial and mundane.  Still others will pull us away from our Savior and quickly destroy our faith in him.  The great challenge we face is to choose to see through the noise and commotion of this world and look to the things of a better.  We must cast away the haze of a telestial world in order to view the splendor of the Celestial world which can be ours.  We must exercise the agency we have been granted to set aside the distractions placed in our path to choose "the better part", the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is interesting to me that our Savior always invites us to come unto him and partake of His Gospel but never once even suggests he will force us to do so.  His arms are always lovingly extended to us but they will never grab us by the shoulders and drag us into his kingdom.  We must make that decision for ourselves.  The Savior is not merely looking for a head count of those in the Celestial Kingdom.  He is looking for disciples.  Men and women throughout time who have, of their own free will and choice, chosen to stand by him, learn of him, and love him regardless of what the cost may have been or how many lesser pursuits were sacrificed in the process.

On occasion we will be tempted to leave our Master's side or to allow the trivial to replace the eternal.  When such circumstances arise I would invite you to ponder on this question: What is the Gospel of Jesus Christ to you?  Is it a spiritual social group?  Is it an organization you casually join like a club then leave when you tire of it?  Is it family tradition you feel obligated to continue?  Or is it the lifeline you cling to when all hope seems lost?  Is it the only means whereby you can have an eternal and personal relationship with your Savior?  Is it the fiber woven throughout your soul which defines every thought, every action, every desire, and every choice you will make?  In this situation I would not ask yourself what the Gospel means to you.  There are many people who feel strongly about any number of lesser of insignificant causes and are willing to sacrifice their time, talents, and abilities to them.  Instead, I would ask what the Gospel is to you.  If it holds the ability to lift you above any struggle you will ever face, therein lies the power to live, to testify of, and to never forsake your Savior and His Gospel.

On one occasion the Savior asked his Apostles if they too would go away.  Peter's response was simple and profound: "To whom shall we go?  Thou hast the words of eternal life."  My prayer is that we will view the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ in this way.  There is simply no other alternative for what can be provided in this church.  Nowhere else will you find the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the priesthood authority to enable us to return to our Heavenly Father's presence.  That each of us will strengthen our personal witness of this truth is my prayer and invitation.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Weekly Update

Hello everyone,

The highlight of this week was when Tina was baptized.  She asked me to baptize her which surprised me but I was very excited.  This was my first time baptizing someone for themselves (not for the dead) so it was a neat opportunity.  The baptism was held after church was over.  There were so many people there to support Tina.  I think all but three people who had been in Sacrament Meeting stayed for the baptism.  The Church is young enough here that most of the members were baptized no more than twenty years ago so they relate very well to a new convert.

I am being transferred to a city about four hours south of Antananarivo called Antsirabe.  It's smaller and more rural than Tana so I'm excited about that.  Transfers are so different here than in Layton.  For one thing, I didn't get a transfer board.  Instead the mission president did a zoom call and recited every area and the missionaries who would be serving there.  Also, technically I have been transferred but I won't actually leave this area until Friday or Saturday.  If it works it works.

Last week I told you a little about what it is like to drive in Madagascar.  I said that to get the full experience you would have to eliminate any and all traffic laws.  Well, apparently I was wrong.  There is one traffic law they actually care about here.  Somehow though it just makes everything feel more chaotic.  From what I saw this week it is perfectly acceptable to do absolutely anything at all on the road except for ride the bus while standing up.  That's not to say people don't stand on the bus. No, that happens all the time.  It just means you might have to do some impromptu squats mid-drive.  Let me explain.

On Thursday we were riding a very, very full bus.  Every seat was taken (even things we Americans wouldn't normally consider to be a seat) and more people were standing wherever there was room.  I was forced to stand.  We had been driving for about five minutes when suddenly everyone on the bus started yelling "Mipetraka" which means "Sit down".  I was very confused and wondered if they honestly thought I would have been balancing like the star performer on the clown car if there had been an open seat.  Just as I was trying to sort through the rush of confused white person thoughts the entire bus started pointing frantically out the driver side windows.  We were driving past two police officers monitoring the traffic as it went past.  As a side comment, the police officers here carry AK-47s, but that's beside the point.  Realization dawned on me as I noticed the other people who had been standing were now squatting or kneeling so they were out of sight.  I copied them the best I could and felt warm inside knowing I had helped my African brothers and sisters successfully break the law.  Service comes in many varieties.  Sometimes it looks like helping the elderly widow shovel her driveway.  Other times it looks like hiding on a bus with thirty other people, like a group of drug mules on their way through the last checkpoint.

I'm so grateful for the buses because it seems like everything I talk about in these emails relates back to them.  So, here's another bus story.  On Friday we were riding the bus to a lesson and there was a man who seemed drunk or high or both.  He was slumped in his seat and groaning/mumbling about something.  We didn't pay too much attention to him until the bus stopped again a few minutes later.  This man stood up and walked to the back of the bus but then didn't get off.  He started acting really confrontational to this other man who then also stood up and started acting confrontational.  I couldn't understand all of what they were saying but it had something to do with lost money,  a woman (I think it was one of the men's girlfriend) and the giant bag of rice man number two was holding.  Next thing I knew man number two (the one with the rice) tackled man number one and slammed him against the back door of the bus.  They then started fighting with each other.  The bus driver started driving to a police station while the two men were beating each other up.  It was a serious fight.  Both of them punched the other one in the face more than once and at one point man number one had his hands around man number two's throat.  This went on for maybe a minute or a little more before a third man managed to get in between them and keep them from killing each other.  He stayed there until we reached the police station and tried to calm them down.  Everyone on the bus had to give a statement which meant I got to spend about two hours sitting around at a Malagasy police station.  Never a dull moment.  The thing that was pretty neat was that I never once felt unsafe.  Afterwards I realized that I never even had an adrenaline rush.  I felt protected through the whole thing and it just felt like another problem to be overcome.

With Elder Fergus, my companion in the MTC.

The giant spider that was in front of somebody's doorbell.

Apparently the vacant land next to our Chapel is most likely where the Antananarivo Temple will be built.  I think it would be so neat if the Temple were right next to the Chapel in my first area in Madagascar.

I've always wanted to help someone get married as a missionary.  This week it happened.  Two of the people we have been teaching, Tojo and Eliana, were married on Saturday.  Stay tuned for their baptism picture.

In Madagascar it is completely fine to fill the baptismal font the night before and leave the water overnight.  There's no chance at all little kids could fall in and drown.

And this is the only lock on the door to the font.  Anyone could easily open the door but tsy maninona (no worries).

The pine trees look like more like palm trees.  It's pretty neat to see.

These kids were sitting on a skateboard and riding it down this hill.  It scared me a little bit because it was a massive hill.  If they hadn't been stopped in time it would have been very bad.  You can't even see the bottom in thus picture.

The only problem with filling the font the night before is if there is a leak then you lose all of your water.  We opened to door as we were getting everything ready and there was maybe six inches of water left.  We found some buckets and started a bucket brigade from outside into the font.

With Tina before her baptism.

There was also a dad baptizing his two daughters the same day.  This is all of us together.  We're in front of the sign with the name of the church but it is covered so they can paint.

The baptismal prayer in Malagasy.  Tina goes by Tina because it's shorter and easier to say.  Her actual name is Noelimanantsoa Mbolatiana.  I practiced saying her name all week!