"For your sakes he became poor" (2 Corinthians 8:9) - February 21, 2023

Spiritual Thought 

Inherent to the path of discipleship is an expectation to sacrifice all we have in order to further the cause of Zion and more perfectly come to know our Savior.  In the early days of the restoration the Saints were asked to live by the law of consecration, to offer up their entire substance to the Church and kingdom of God.  This commandment was eventually replaced with the current law of tithing.  In a future day we will once again be asked to consecrate all our material substance to the work and purposes of the Master.  There is another divine expectation, however, that has never, in deed never can be, revoked or altered.  It is not so much a call to consecrate our money or possessions, though the joyful giving of such things is surely necessary for disciples of the Master.  No, in our day, like in all others, those who wish to be called by the title of disciples are asked to consecrate our hearts and desires to Him and to place our souls in His hands.  To echo language the apostle Paul once used, we are asked to "become poor" for his sake.

As in all things, our Savior whom we strive to emulate has already provided the perfect example to follow.  In love he allowed Himself to "become poor" as to temporal things during his sojourn in mortality.  Sometimes we forget just how desperately impoverished the Savior's mortal experience was.  He came into the world lying in a repurposed animal trough and left this life as his body was placed in a tomb he had no mortal claim to beyond the generosity of a disciple.  Between those events he experienced the shame of being required to offer the turtle dove sacrifice reserved only for the poorest of Jews, felt hunger as he subsisted on "locusts and honey in the desert", and made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey which the acquisition of hinged upon one man's response to the statement "The Master has need of it."  In one of his extremely few references to his own mortal circumstance the Savior said simply "foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."

This temporal poverty was necessary in order for the King of kings to "descend below all things" in every possible meaning of that statement.  But the Savior's mission was not a temporal endeavor.  Rather, he came to "preach deliverance to the captive…and to set at liberty them that are bruised."  Thus, the Savior's temporally impoverished life is also laced with spiritual poverty and toil of every kind.  He was tempted and tested.  Rejected and ridiculed.  Betrayed and belittled.  Forsaken and forgotten.  He felt the crushing despair of spiritual death itself as he cried "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"  None of us can read that plea of a perfect Son to His perfect Father without our hearts aching to know that plea was, in a very real sense, pulled at our own hands.  Were it not for our transgressions, the fact that we would bring spiritual death upon ourselves, it would not have been necessary for the Redeemer to understand what a Dark and utterly hopeless condition that is to be in.  Truly he was "A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" in every temporal and spiritual significance of that statement.

If the Son of God could become poor for our sakes is it too much to ask that we be willing and ready to also become poor for his sake?  Surely it is not because that is the very thing we have been asked, even commanded, to do time after time.  Yes we must be willing to become poor as to temporal things if called upon to do so.  But more importantly we must stand ready to become spiritually poor for his sake.  Even more than that, we must make ourselves poor as we offer up those greatest of all sacrifices we have to give: a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  That is the ultimate determining factor between those who will show their faith in the form of proclaiming "Lord, Lord" then fleeing at the first sign of difficulty and those who will walk beside the Savior through crowds of jeering onlookers under the weight of a cross.  That is the unchangeable requirement given by the Master to his disciples.  That is the invitation I extend to each of you, to become poor for his sake because for our sakes he became poor.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Weekly Update 

Hello everyone,

Well, another transfer is in the rear view mirror.  It's always bittersweet to have a transfer come to an end.  For this next transfer I will be heading up to Antananarivo.  My area is the 67ha ward.  There's an area of Tana that's just named 67 hectares and that's where I am now.  Good news, the huge river of sewage that runs through the heart of Tana is in my area!  I'm honestly very excited for this next transfer.  My area is close to the mission office so it will be good to be able to see Elder Kunkle (who replaced Elder Peterson in the office) quite a bit.  The best part though is my companion.  I'm with Elder Razafimanantsoa again!  We lived it up in Antsirabe.  Now I can't wait to do it again on the bank of the sewage river!  The other exciting thing is that we have a car which means I will be driving in the chaos of Madagascar!  That will be an experience.  Even better than having a car, we have a truck.  It's a Toyota Hilux.  Hiluxs aren't sold in the States because they have a minor defect which makes it so you have no control over when you brake or accelerate so the beauracrates slapped some red tape on them.  They're similar to a Tacoma.  It should be a fun six weeks!

On Friday we were able to have another baptism for a girl named Noeline.  We weren't able to hold the baptism on Saturday because we needed to go to Antananarivo for the devotional with Elder Cook.  If we had been able to, however, we would have had seven baptisms including another potential priesthood holder.  It was still great to be able to see another person receive the blessing of baptism though.

Hearing Elder Cook was an incredible opportunity.  We headed off to Antananarivo early Saturday morning and met up with all the other missionaries.  As a side comment, it always feels so good to be around the other Americans, but I've talked about that before so back to Elder Cook.  We were able to attend two meetings while He was visiting Madagascar.  The first was a general meeting for everyone in Madagascar which was also broadcast across the country.  It was held in a sports stadium and, according to what Elder Cook said, there were over 3,300 people who attended in person.  The second was specifically for missionaries.  It was a special opportunity to be so close to an Apostle and be able to shake his hand.  When Elder Cook visited the Layton mission he gave a very powerful testimony.  I was excited because he gave the same testimony word for word during the large meeting on Sunday.  Both times I have been able to feel the Spirit wash over me and have known he is telling the truth.  I'm grateful for the leaders the Lord has called in his church and for every chance we have to learn from them.

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Payne

With another person who didn't think I could understand what she was saying about me.  I love letting people talk about me for a little bit while I act dumb before joining the conversation.  Their reactions are priceless!  Usually they want to take a picture with me.

Traveling in style.  If you can't see what I'm talking about, zoom in on the car in front of us.

A dump truck cutting it just a little bit close.

What the water looks like straight out of the tap.  Would this make you think of cleanliness and purity before your baptism?

With Mamy, the church security guard.  You may remember that right after I came to this area I said I felt prompted to start teaching the security guard.  Well, this is him.

With Noeline and her sisters before the baptism.

Because it happened on a Friday the crowd at the baptism was very small.  This is everyone that was there.  The ward clerk (who's a stud) presided because none of the other Melchizedek Priesthood holders could come.  He had to come directly from school and didn’t have time to go home and change his clothes. He's wearing my tie and a shirt the branch president forgot in his office.  The Lord's work cannot be stopped!

With Noeline again as well as everyone who attended the baptism.

Me in front of the chapel.

Rahery, one of our investigators.  Rahery found the church after he had a dream that he was standing on the street in front of a church and kept hearing a voice say "Come see what I have for you."  He found the church (our church) the next day and asked the security guard to call someone who could tell him more.  We were in a lesson far away when the security guard called so Rahery waited for over an hour for us to get there.  

With Elders Damy and Razafimanantsoa in Antananarivo.

We were helping everyone be transferred around Antananarivo and didn't get home until almost midnight.