"Not of works, but of him that calleth" (Romans 9:11) - January 9, 2023

Spiritual Thought 

In the vernacular of the church it is common to speak of "the elect."  Missionaries use this term in reference to those they come into contact with who seem especially prepared to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  In an oft-quoted revelation, the Savior referred to Emma Smith, the wife of the prophet Joseph, as "an elect lady."  Prophets, Apostles and other leaders repeatedly tell the youth of the church they are "elect" and prepared for this day.  Our aspiration is to have the title of "elect" applied to ourselves due to our exceptional faithfulness and devotion to the Master.  But what does this term truly mean?  What are we or leaders of the church actually implying when that word is used?

In his epistle to the Romans Paul explains this idea and expounds on it in greater detail.  The entire ninth chapter of that book is dedicated to this principle.  Interestingly, however, Paul uses the word "elect" (or its conjugation "election") only once in this explanation.  The word more commonly employed by Paul is rather "foreordination."  That distinction provides important clarification into our modern use of "elect", a word which is similar but which may carry with it a vastly different connotation.  Election is associated to superiority, vain achievement and worldly praise.  Foreordinantion on the other hand still implies achievement and success, even favor, but in a much different sense.  This word entails spiritual achievement and even success through the mercy, aid and grace of God.  It implies favor with God, not favor with man.  It conotes potential but not guaranteed achievement or even adulation.  

With this distinction in mind, let's return to the question of what the term "elect" really means for us.  To begin with it perhaps more accurately means we were foreordained.  Furthermore, we were foreordained through the favor, mercy and loving guidance of our Heavenly Father and His Son.  We cannot foreordain ourselves to anything.  God alone can choose who will have this honor placed upon them.  Those who attempt to maneuver themselves into a type of "forced-foreordinantion" will subject themselves to the justice of God.  Lucifer's ploy to become the Savior for his own self-aggrandizement is a perfect example of this. 

Election places the attention and focus on us.  Foreordinantion turns the honor and glory to our Savior and his Father, to the Giver of All Good Gifts.  The reality is that we are truly pathetic and dull tools our Heavenly Father has to work with.  Before doing anything many of us require prodding, nudging, encouraging, enticement and sometimes even a voice from heaven before we let the still, small voice of the Savior penetrate through our thick skulls.  Even after we have finally decided to stand on our feet and do whatever it is the Master requires of us we are clumsy, careless, slothful, to say nothing of  woefully unqualified and patehtically ill-prepared.  Yet, notwithstanding all of those realities our Heavenly Father still, not only chooses to use us to accomplish his work, but foreordained us to become like him and inherent all the kingdoms, principalities and dominions he calls his own.  With these facts in mind it gives increased significance to Paul's brief statement "not of works, but of him that calleth."

It is true that we are the elect.  But that truth says very little about us and says everything about who God is and just how perfect his love for us is.  We were chosen "for such a time as this" and for such a work as this for a wise purpose which typically is known only to God.  For now it is enough to know we have been chosen.  Chosen to be the hands and mouth of the Savior.  Chosen to witness of his name in every moment of every day of every year.  Chosen to show integrity to the trust placed in us.  Chosen to, on occasion, suffer shame for His name's sake and carry our own cross through a jeering and taunting crowd.  Chosen to, at some point and through his grace only, rise to the heights in which our Heavenly Father dwells to live with him there for all eternity.

That each of us may be worthy of or foreordinantion, even our election, is my invitation and prayer.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Weekly Update

Hello everyone,

Another week, another transfer, another exciting email to keep you happy until next Monday.  The transfer has come to an end.  This one felt very short and fast.  It probably helps it feel that way when you're only given about three out of six weeks to work in your area by conditions outside of your control.  For this new transfer I will be staying in Fianarantsoa with a new companion, Elder Rasoloarivony.

We were able to have three baptisms on Sunday for Lisy, Sahondra and Rina.  It was neat to be able to see them make their first covenant.  We were supposed to have several more, including several priesthood holders, but Christmas and New Year's made it difficult to teach them and for them to come to church.  That should mean this new transfer has quite a few baptisms though.  

Sorry this email is shorter.  I'll do better next week.

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Payne

We saw this semi while we were driving to Ranomafana on Monday.  I didn't see it happen but I would guess it came around the corner too fast and rolled.  Believe it or not, even with how crazy the roads are this is the first accident I've seen in my six months being here.

The turn to Ranomafana.

A bamboo tree.

Lemur!  We saw three different types while at Ranomafana.  This is the one we had the best view of.  You can't really tell in the picture but this is a female who had two babies.

Me and the lemur from the last picture.  

Lemur again.

Not the best picture but you can see one of the babies.

A different Lemur.  This one is probably an adolescent male who was staying close enough to his mom to not really have any problems he has to figure out but far enough away he could talk big with his friends and tell himself how independent he is, the way adolescent males do.

A really pretty bird.  Zoom in on the middle of the picture and you'll see it.  I have better pictures on my camera but I don't have any way of sending those.  Come to my homecoming if you want to see lots of other extras you won't find in these emails.

Me at an overlook.

Rainforest.

Banana trees.

Me at a waterfall.

Waterfall.

River.

I live here.

Remember that picture of my foot covered in flea bites a while back?  Well, this tiny little black dot is how that happened.  

Joana, someone we're teaching.  I found out this week he's actually a pretty famous basketball star in Africa.

Goose eggs are so much better than chicken eggs.

Bertine, another person we're teaching.

Another picture of how crowded the buses are.

This woman (who we had never talked to before) randomly walked up to us one day and asked if we wanted to take a picture of her legumes.  My response was "Um, sure?"  Not only did she want us to take a picture of all her various vegetable plants, she wanted one of us standing in the middle of them with her.

At the baptism.  From L to R: Elder Razafisambatra, Lisy, Sahondra, Rina.