"It is the same" (D&C 1:38) - September 26, 2022

 Spiritual Thought 

The nature of the fallen world in which we live is that our existence will be fraught with upheavel and insecurity.  Such circumstances have been prevalent since the fall of Adam and Eve and will persist until the millienial reign of Jesus Christ is ushered in.  Indeed, these experiences and trials are one of the purposes for our being in this mortal sphere.  How would it be possible for each of us to become the precious masterpiece which we are intended to become without first passing through the refiner's fire?  

Among the great consolations given to us by our Father in Heaven is men who may act as his mouthpiece upon the earth.  What a privilege it is to be led by a prophet of God in this day, President Russell M. Nelson.  I testify that this man is no less a prophet than were Moses, Isaiah, Peter, Lehi or any of the other scriptural prophets.  He is the prophet chosen for our day and he speaks the will of the Lord.  It is our great opportunity and privilege to hear from the living prophet, along with the members of the quorum of the twelve apostles, in general conference this weekend.  As we participate in this sacred opportunity, may we each remember what our Heavenly Father has said in reference to his prophets: "whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." (D&C 1:38).  As our prophet, President Nelson, speaks to us, may we view his words as direction for the Savior himself.  It is my prayer that during this coming general conference weekend we will be able to see the true meaning behind these semiannual gatherings.  May we come to this gathering eager to hear the word of the Lord declared unto us.  As we do so it is my testimony that our prayers for knowledge will be answered.  We will be told "in our minds and in our hearts" (D&C 8:2) how to follow our Savior more exactly.  

I wonder if those of us who have been members of the church for many years, perhaps for our entire life, forget just what takes place on a semiannual basis.  Every April and October it is our privilege to participate in something which the overwhelming majority of the world still believes ended with the Bible.  The very practice of holding such an event boldly testifies to the world that "God speaks, not spake."  Nearly all of our Heavenly Father's children are left to "wander in strange paths" while unaware that a prophet of God stands on the watch tower and cries out in warning.  Many of those same people would do anything asked of them to simply hear a prophet speak in our day.  To have the mouthpiece of the Savior give them comfort and reassurance; to warn of danger and offer encouragement for the future.  Thus, the responsibility of inviting all to hear the voice of the prophet rests squarely on you and me.  The Gospel was never intended to be kept or hoarded for ourselves.  It is inherent to true discipleship that we share the fruit we enjoy so much with those around us.  As we approach this conference weekend there are two invitations I would like to extend to each of you.  The first is to prayerfully consider who within your sphere of influence is searching for the blessing of hearing direction from the Lord.  Then, after you have identified that person, invite them to participate in at least one of the sessions we will enjoy this weekend.  Invite them to come to the pool of Bethesda and allow the Savior to banish the cares of this world.

My second invitation is for each of us to more fully give this sacred event the respect and attention it deserves.  We will shortly hear the word of God declared to us through the voice of his servants.  We will metaphorically be brought to Sinai and hear the voice of Jehovah thundering down through time.  Just as Moses did anciently we will be asked, in our own individual ways, to "remove our shoes for the ground upon which we stand is holy ground".  Too often, however, we act as though these two weekends per year are a vacation from attending church rather than sacred opportunities to sit at the feet of the Master.  Some casually make jokes about conference sleep being the best type of sleep.  What a tragedy!  Would we honestly wish to one day stand before our Savior and, when he asks about how we received his word, be forced to ashamedly respond that we just couldn't keep our eyes open long enough to hear it?  Now, I understand we are only mortal and sometimes our couches can overpower us.  However, my point in saying this is to invite all of us to give greater respect and attention to this event than we previously have, whatever that may entail for you.  I promise that as we make a greater effort to "receive the word of the Lord with gladness" our lives and our eternities will be forever changed.

"Come, listen to a prophet's voice, And hear the word of God." (Hymn No. 21)

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Weekly Update

Hello everyone,

Welcome back to another week with a missionary very far away who somehow has your email address.  Feel free to 1) continue reading with feverish excitement 2) skip to the pictures and move on with life 3) delete this email, block my address and pretend you don't know me.

Last week I mentioned there are four families who live close to Antonette and Henri and we started teaching three of them.  Well, this week we started teaching the fourth.  Over the course of two transfers (this one and next) it is very likely all five families will be baptized and there will be a little compound of members of the church happily singing hymns and reciting scriptures as they make bricks together.  Everything is falling into place for Clarque (I learned that's is how you spell her name) and Nary to be baptized.  It's happening quicker than expected which never is the case but is very nice nonetheless.  They will also need to be married but already have all the documents and something about them makes it so they don't expire after a certain date.  It's strange to not have a planes, trains and automobiles adventure and have to make shady back room deals to get the certificates.  As of right now Clarque and Nary will be married on October 14th and baptized on the 15th.  That will mean we have three weddings this transfer.  I've wanted to get people married then baptized my whole mission and now weddings are coming out of the woodwork.

We're at the point where we pretty much know who will be baptized this transfer and are getting ready for next one.  Next transfer is looking like it could be another busy one.  Three of Justine's nephews came from Betafo this week and are staying with Richard and Justine while they look for work.  They want to stay here in Antsirabe for a while so we are very optimistic they can be baptized next transfer.  There is also the husband of one of the sisters in the branch and several more families we are working with.  

This week we had something happen that is probably the strangest thing I've seen my entire mission.  It easily beats the time Elder Burgoyne locked himself in the living room with me and a folding chair was bent in the process (not everything makes it into these emails folks).  One day we were going down a hill towards the rice paddies on a dirt trail.  As we stepped off the main road onto the trail there was a man coming up the hill.  Just after we noticed him he got to a small hummock in he needed to step onto.  He stopped, waited just a second then jumped with both feet onto the hummock.  This is the part that will really haunt your nightmares.  His feet were shackled!  He then kept walking up the hill and onto the main road as fast as he could with his ankles cuffed together.  Elder Razafimanantsoa and I stopped and watched him go past then looked at each other like "did you just see what I saw?"  I have no idea why this guy was walking down the street with his feet chained together.  I don't know if he was an escaped prisoner, the Malagasy version of Jacob Marley or just some weirdo who likes to wander around town with anklecuffs on.  I sure wasn't going to stick around to ask him about it.  Weird!

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Payne

The Duck lives on.

All the different types of juice you can buy.  Juice is so much better here than in the States.

Elder Razafimanantsoa had to get his shoes repaired last p-day but they weren't finished by the time we needed to go into our area.  The options were either wear these or stay home.

I found a bus where I almost fit!  This was luxurious!

Malagasy scaffolding.  OSHA would not approve.

An abandoned house that looks like it's haunted.  Maybe this is where the guy with anklecuffs lives?

I fought my dragon this week.  It was actually a dog.  Usually dogs are afraid of people but this one kept following us so I was afraid it might have rabies.  Getting rabies over here would pretty much be a death sentence so I had to fight it off, caveman style.

Clarque and Nary's son touched my leg and left a handprint.

It's time to play another round of "What's wrong in this picture?"  The hint is the exact same as last time: these are train tracks.

The Catholic church in our area.

My bricks in the process of being made.  

Africa is famous for its sunsets.  People talk about how once you come to Africa you want to come back again and again.  There are a lot of reasons for that but,  in my opinion, the sunsets are definitely one of the biggest.  You really do have to see them because they can't be described and they're unlike anything I've seen anywhere else, and I've even seen the northern lights.  Sorry for the rant, Africa tends to make me do that.  

We watched this dog catch a rat right in front of us.  It's eating it in this picture.

I'm pretty sure there are fleas living in this curtain so this is to try to keep them away from my bed.

A snake we saw in the rice paddies one day.

My bricks a few days later when they were further along in the process.  After they are hardened in the sun for a few days (like in the last picture) they build something like this which is essentially a giant chimney that cooks the bricks.  There are at least two slots at the bottom where you build a fire then you keep it burning around the clock for 5-10 days.  Each of the four families takes a turn getting up every two hours during the night to feed the fires.  It's a pretty neat process.