"To which we owe all our happiness" (Alma 44:5) - October 31, 2022

Spiritual Thought 

When reading The Book of Mormon one of the first exposures we have to the Nephite general Moroni is an epistle he wrote to the Lamanite leader Zerahemnah.  Towards the beginning of this address Moroni commands Zerahemnah to "deliver up the weapons of war." As part of this demand Moroni declares "and also by the maintenance of the sacred word of God, to which we owe all our happiness."  Moroni's choice of words in this statement is interesting to me.  There are many ways in which Moroni could have chosen to describe the word of God.  Powerful, instructive, comforting, guiding, healing, enabling, protective and redemptive are just a few that come to mind.  Any one of these descriptors and a host of others could rightly be used in this statement.  However, when faced with an enemy who desired to destroy Moroni's entire way of life, his liberty and freedom, this great man chose to mention the happiness the word of God provides.

This episode in The Book of Mormon is not about military negotiations thousands of years ago any more than the parables of Christ are about goats and weddings.  This scene, along with all others recorded in scripture, is a lesson on our own path of discipleship and journey closer to our Savior.  Given the wartime setting of this particular event it can rightly be seen as even more specifically about the struggle between good and evil and the opposition from which none will be spared.  

Some struggle to see the relevance in our lives of the large number of chapters in the book of Alma which deal with the wars of the Nephite people.  I have come to love these chapters, however, because I have realized that in reality they aren't about battles, soldiers and weapons. War is dark and grim.  It is ugly and brutal.  In an instant it snuffs out the light and plunges individuals, families and nations into darkness.  Many lives are left with a crater in their souls much deeper and far less visible than that which any missile or mortar can create.  Yet, even with all these unpleasant scenes in our mind, when the principles of truth are threatened, war is necessary.  

War is not so different from our own lives.  It is a fitting symbol of the struggles we face.  Every description of war can equally be applied to those who face any number of struggles.  Those whose spirits are slowly being suffocated through sin.  Those who feel abandoned or rejected.  Those who each day struggle to win largely invisible battles in their mind.  Those who, for reasons we may never know, have been asked to stagger through each day of this life with debilitating health conditions.  Those who are afraid, though incorrectly, they have walked out of the reach of our Savior.  Those "who feel life has passed them by and others who wish it would pass them by."  All of these people and countless more know perfectly well what it means for the world to turn dark and grim.  They understand how it feels to have forgotten what it means to have hope.  In short, they understand what war is because they, and we all, are at war in our own personal, private, no less literal way.  This is why I love the chapters of war in The Book of Mormon.

When we face such hopeless moments I ask each of us to look to the word of God in the way Moroni did during his own time of sorrow.  There is only one truly effective remedy for darkness of every kind.  It is the Prince of Peace who stands in stark contrast to literal and figurative war.  His mission and eternal work is to provide hope during such conflicts and struggles.  He has won the greatest of all victories and, in his own time, will bring an end to contention, heartache and sorrow of every kind.  He provides healing, hope, light and, yes, even happiness when nothing else can.

That each of us will turn to him in every moment of our life is my prayer.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Weekly Update 

Hello everyone,

What a week.  It feels like the transfer, rainy season, all the sicknesses that come with rainy season and, of course, the missionary work, decided to go into overdrive this week.  

We've had an absolute downpour of rain every single day this week.  I say it was a downpour but I'm also from New Mexico so some of you would probably laugh at me for saying that.  Either way the streets have turned into rivers deep enough and strong enough that you're not really sure what it is brushing past your foot and you'd prefer to live in blissful ignorance rather than looking down.  It has been really neat to see so much rain.  Almost all of the roofs are sheet metal so it also sounds like music everywhere you go.

Elder Damy and I don't technically cover but are responsible for two branches which don't have missionaries.  One, Manandona, is about an hour south of Antsirabe.  The other, Andranomanelatra, is about an hour north.  We don't really spend a lot of time in either one but if there are any problems or missionary work needs we are supposed to go take care of those.  On Thursday the branch president of Manandona called and told us there is a family of four in his branch who has been taught all the missionary lessons by the Elder's Quorum president (under the mission president's supervision) and they are ready to be baptized.  We had originally planned on going down to Manandona on Saturday but after talking with the branch president some more we decided we will do the interviews before district conference on Sunday and the baptisms immediately following church.  I feel very blessed to be able to be part of such a unique situation and watch the church grow in such a small branch.  I've heard stories my whole life of missionaries (including my dad and grandpa) being asked to open a new city or baptize people in some far-flung town.  It really is a boyhood dream come true to be able to be a part of something like that for myself.  Hopefully within my lifetime I get to see a Manandona stake, or at least ward, created like they have seen with similar places from their mission.

We met a man last week who seemed fairly interested in our message so we arranged a time to come back and teach him more.  Well, he was interested alright but not in the way we hoped he would be.  Everything started out just fine.  He agreed that God is our loving Heavenly Father.  Everybody knows our families are important so that took maybe thirty seconds to teach.  Even prophets went smoothly.  Then we talked about the foundation of Christ's church.  We read Ephesians 2:19-20 which says Christ's church needs to have a foundation of apostles and prophets.  That's when things went downhill.  He told us we were wrong and teaching a doctrine of the devil.  We talked about that for a few minutes and thought we had explained everything and could move on.  That's what he wanted us to think.  We started teaching about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  He went very quiet which should have been the first sign of danger but I was hoping maybe he was just feeling the spirit.  We came to the part in the lesson where we invited him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon he told us in no uncertain terms that he would rather burn in hell if we were right than read the Book of Mormon.  He wouldn't take the copy we tried to give him.  He wouldn't even let us read a single verse to him.  Turns out this man is a pastor in a church he started himself and had invited us over just so he could tell us we were wrong and try to convert us to his church.  Don't worry though, I don't plan on converting to "Jimmy's church of God's grace gifts" (that's the name of his church) anytime soon.  It was a fun little train wreck we didn't know we were walking into.

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Payne

The heavens decided to unload enough water to make Kansas an island just as we were walking out the door.  It was impressive to see but not the greatest timing.

I said last week I was going to be wearing the most random shirt you can imagine when I'm working on the bus.  Well, I had a specific shirt in mind but I said that because it was easier than trying to describe this shirt to all of you.  If you zoom in on this man's shirt this is what I will proudly be wearing around Provo and Orem.  The man on the shirt is Andry Rajoelina, the president of Madagascar.

On a bike trip across town to figure out how to get to Manandona.

In the rain.

This dog is our doorbell.  We get it to start barking then the owner comes out and we teach him.  Works every time.

With the preacher who tried to convert me.

I was able to hold a Chameleon this week and they are some of the most amazing animals I've ever seen!  They really do change color (though not as fast as in movies) and their eyes can look in opposite directions.  This is also probably the biggest type of Chameleon I will see as a missionary.  Some grow up to four feet long but they live a little outside of p-day range.  You can also see me sweating in these pictures while standing still and not doing any physical activity.  Rainy season is a party!

My arm after the Chameleon walked on it.  Next time I'm going to use my brain and let it walk on the other side.

Taking out the trash is more fun in Madagascar.

The door to the Celestial Kingdom.  When people say the heavens open for missionaries they aren't joking kids.