"Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room" (Joy to the World - Hymn No. 201) - November 28, 2022

Spiritual Thought 

One of the aspects of the Savior's birth which too often is left unmentioned is the tremendous amount of preparation and anticipation which accompanied it.  From the moment Jehovah declared "here am I, send me" eternity and all the spirits in it had been preparing for a certain night.  This holiest of nights very easily could have gone unnoticed by one not seeking for the signs which accompanied it.  To those more prepared however it could only be responded to with shouts of joy and prayers of thanksgiving.  The sacred preparation associated with this night was begun by the child himself when he lovingly offered himself as the great and last sacrifice on behalf of a yet uncreated world which would quickly develop a desperate need for redemption.  As the first man and woman of this new world Adam and Eve prepared in their own way by opening the door to mortality for all who would be sent to this earth then bearing children and raising them to the Lord in righteousness.  Hosts of prophets prepared by teaching, testifying and prophesying of this child and this very night many thousands of years before it occurred. On the night of The Messiah's birth a virtuous mother prepared not only for the physical burden of bringing a child into the world but also for the spiritual and emotional burden of teaching the Redeemer and caring for her son who would become her Savior.  A mortal father, who is too often overlooked in this story, urgently sought to prepare a place worthy to receive the Prince of Peace into mortality but surely must have shed a tear of sorrow as his attempts proved vain.  In the Celestial home this infant had left his Heavenly Father whom he always sought to serve, prepared to place a new star in the sky as a testament to all that the Light of the World had come to conquer the world of darkness.  High in the heavens a multitude of angelic hosts prepared with baited breath to exclaim the most joyous of all announcements "Glory to God in the highest!  And on earth, peace, good will toward men."  After such a wonderful declaration had been received a group of shepherds needed very little preparation to rush to the cradle of their king as they had already spent a lifetime in anticipation of this moment.  Wise men, likewise, had already prepared for this moment and lost no time in beginning a long and dangerous journey to see the King of kings. Far removed from these scenes in Jerusalem a group of Nephite believers prepared for the death their enemies had decreed on them then rejoiced when the sign of the Redeemer's birth provided renewed hope not only for eventually spiritual deliverance but for a very immediate physical deliverance from a martyr's death.

But what about you and me?  Where were we among all these scenes of preparation and celebration?  I did not stare at the night sky in reverent awe as I saw the new star placed in the sky.  I did not watch a young couple's plight as one inn after another turned them away. Nor did you and I travel through the desert with kings from the east or kneel in worship among a group of lowly shepherds.   To be sure we were among the multitude of heavenly hosts.  Undoubtedly we watched all of this unfold from behind the veil in reverence and joy.  Nonetheless, we were not physically present on that quiet night in Bethlehem.  As such we must complete our contribution to these sacred preparations in retrospect. Our responsibility is to prepare to be a true and unceasing disciple of Jesus Christ because of all the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes did for us. 

During the Christmas season the world is more focused on Jesus Christ than at any other time.  Though it is never easy to be a disciple, it becomes more generally accepted for these few weeks.  However, Christmas will be over all too soon and the cloud of darkness which seemed in abeyance for a time will return.  Our opportunity and the 21st century preparation we may choose to complete this Christmas season is to become a disciple whose discipleship is not dependent on seasons or dates.  One who follows the Master in December because we will always follow the Savior.  One who exclaims "Glory to God in the highest" in August as readily as in December.  One who "comes and adores on bended knee" during the heat of summer as well as the chill of winter.  One who choose to be anchored to the Savior of the World "at all times and in all seasons and in all places [they] may be in even until death."  This is our modern preparation.  

My prayer is we are already the type of disciples I have just described.  If we are not, my invitation and plea at the onset of this Christmas season is that we will use this sacred time of year to become such a disciple.  I pray we will use the music and gatherings, the symbols and gifts, as tools to solidify our devotion in such a way it will remain and grow stronger when such fleeting things are removed.  

My prayer is that when January arrives and another Christmas season fades into our memories we will look back on these next four weeks and proclaim with the ancient apostles "Did not our hearts burn within us?"

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Weekly Update 

Hello everyone,

Well, another transfer has come and gone.  Before getting to the meat of this week I'd like to take a minute to say how much I appreciate all of you.  To everyone who has read these emails since the days when I was a wide-eyed greenie trying to figure out how my magnet tag worked: thank you.  To those who were a little later joining this bandwagon: please read the parable of the laborers in the vineyard.  And finally to those who have chosen to mark my email address as spam: I am very sorry you will not be able to find the promo code hidden somewhere in this email which will let you claim the ten million dollars a Nigerian prince wants to give you.

Sitraka and Joseph were baptized on Saturday and it was very easily my most memorable baptism yet.  We completed the baptismal interview for both of them on Friday and coordinated all the details for the next day.  Then, Saturday morning at about 11:30 we received a text saying they felt nervous for their baptism and thought it would be better to wait until next month.  We were not going to let that happen without putting up a fight.  There had already been too many miracles to give up after one text saying they were feeling hesitant.  The baptism was supposed to begin at 2 so we rushed to Sitraka and Joseph's house just as fast as our posy-posy driver could peddle a white guy twice his size.  When we made it to the house only Sitraka was home so we sat outside and talked to her about the situation.  We had to wait about an hour for Joseph to come home and in that time we were able to resolve almost all of Sitraka's concerns.  Then when Joseph came home and talked about many of the same things all our work came crashing down and the doubts returned.  By 1:30 all hope seemed lost.  We had tried everything we could think of and were now going in circles saying the same things again and again.  It looked as though we may have to accept defeat.  Thankfully though, the Savior has a way of stepping in just when we have used our last idea.  Elder Damy and I both felt prompted to talk to Sitraka and Joseph individually and away from the other one.  That made all the difference.  Both of them opened up about things they hadn't been willing to say in a group setting.  I honestly do not remember most of their concerns or our responses.  We were just the mouthpieces the Savior chose to work through.  It truly was an incredible and miraculous experience to watch the Savior solve problems which were out of our mortal capacity to fix.

At this point the good news was both Sitraka and Joseph were willing to be baptized.  The bad news was that it was 2:15 and we were at least thirty minutes away from a baptism that was supposed to have started fifteen minutes ago.  The two other branches in Antsirabe had people being baptized as well so we had four sets of missionaries and three branch presidents calling us and getting mad.  We decided a posy-posy would be far too slow so we decided to take a tok-tok to the church instead.  These are essentially the same idea as a posy-posy but with a motorcycle instead of a bicycle.  The four of us crammed ourselves into a tok-tok that was only meant to carry three people (including the driver)and raced off to the chapel.  Elder Damy and I frantically found baptismal clothes for Sitraka and Joseph then stole another set of missionary's bikes without them knowing so we could go home and get our own baptismal clothes.  We were able to change our clothes and take a rushed picture with Sitraka and Joseph then immediately perform the baptism.  I don't know what the Lord has in store for these two people but I know he has big plans for them.  From a logical standpoint this baptism never should have happened but miracle after miracle led to two people making their first covenant with our Heavenly Father.  It was a humbling experience to play some small part in.

We received the transfer news last night and I will be leaving Antsirabe and going to a town called Fianarantsoa and serving in the Tsianolondroa branch.  My companion is named Elder Razafisambatra.  Fianarantsoa is the most remote and primitive part of this mission.  The majority of the time there isn't running water, power or food.  They also speak a different dialect of Malagasy than I've been exposed to so far called Betsileo.  I'm sure there will be plenty of stories that come out of the next six weeks!

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Payne

We were waiting for someone to come to the church for a lesson and I helped this man learn how to play one of the hymns for branch conference.  It was the first time I've played the piano or organ since I left the States and was a lot of fun to do again.

Spider.

The rice paddies are turning green and they are beautiful.

A rainstorm.

Hiding under an eave until the worst of the rain passes.

Something I didn't think I would ever see while I'm here: peanut butter.  It's a far cry from Jif (and also is made in China which seems strange to me) but was the right idea.

Barbecue sauce, another thing I didn't think I would find.  This is basically just ketchup.

I made my own Thanksgiving dinner.  I had to improvise and use what I have available and this is what I came up with.  Mashed potatoes, some part of a cow that I'm pretty sure wasn't an organ and bread with the Chinese peanut butter.  We were eating like kings!

Flowers

The water in the baptismal font was by far the cleanest I've seen.

Rabbits.

In the tok-tok making a fast and furious trip to the baptism. You can't see Sitraka in this picture but she was there too.  If you have ever seen "The Bourne Identity" it felt a little bit like the car chase in the mini cooper.

With Sitraka and Joseph before their baptism.

A little girl hula hooping with a tire.

Our Elder's Quorum President is a photographer at the commune.  He gave us a picture of Sitraka and Joseph after their wedding but accidentally also gave us this picture of a random family I've never met.  I've named them the Madason's and they keep me company during personal study.  The good news is whoever they are, they're married now and can be baptized.

With somebody we're teaching named Faneva.

With Fabrice.

And with our Relief Society president's family.