We
taught Sr Adeline on mecredi, and my companion (it was Elder Nokes at the time.
We were doing splits. He's super cool, and the first person here that likes Jon
Bellion) meant to ask 'can we help you make food?' but instead, he said 'can we
help you eat food?' Something like that. Anyways, then Sr Adeline gave us her dinner. Like her whole dinner. We tried
to explain that wasn't what we meant, but she insisted nope, go ahead and eat.
So Elder Nokes and I ate Sr Adeline's dinner. Futu banane and sauce jumble
(joombileh). It was really good, but it was her dinner. We accidentally stole
this lady's dinner. She was happy to give her food to 'les hommes de Dieu' but
still we felt bad. On vendredi we taught the famille Djehi about the Holy
Ghost, the law of chastity, and persevering until the end. It was a good
lesson, with the only drawback being the nature channel on the TV in the background
displaying all the animals that exist in africa mating... But it was a good
lesson. It was kind of weird to have to explain what the Holy Ghost is, because
everyone else I've taught has a Christian background, but it was good. They had
their baptismal interviews on samedi, and they're ready for baptism! It's going
to be so cool, I can't wait for the day that they get sealed in the temple to
their 6 kids. So cool. That's about it for our ami's this week.
To
introduce my thought for this week, I'll start with a story. I think that the
new Book of Mormon videos portray it pretty well. For some reason, often when
Nephi says that his brothers "sought to take away his life," I've
always thought ah yeah typical Laman and Lemuel, showing their brotherly love
by hurting Nephi. But with that video I realized jeez, they really are trying
to kill their brother. It was a serious thing that they were doing, one of the
top 3 most grievous sins. Anyways, what they were doing was grave. They tied
Nephi up and left him in the desert to be eaten by wild beasts. Nephi prays,
breaks the ropes, and comes back, still trying to help them. With the help of
some of the family of Ishmael, they stopped them from killing their brother.
Here's what happens next:
"And
it came to pass that they were sorrowful, because of their wickedness, insomuch
that they did bow down before me, and did plead with me that I would forgive
them of the thing that they had done against me."
"And
it came to pass that I did frankly forgive them for all that they had
done." (1 Nephi 7:20-21)
In
this example, Laman and Lemuel realized their mistake and asked Nephi for
forgiveness. Nephi forgave them, and they continued on. We have been commanded
to forgive others if we want to be forgiven too. Soeur Bouanga asked a really
good question at district council a month ago ish. She asked something like
'how can we forget what someone did after we've forgiven them?' Very
interesting, I studied that question a lot. In this story, Laman and Lemuel
realized their mistake they made, and they came in humility to Nephi asking for
forgiveness. Most of the time, that's not what happens. Nevertheless, we need
to forgive everyone, no matter what they do. Nephi forgave his brothers, but do
you think he ever forgot what they did? I'm fairly certain that he didn't ever
forget. He forgave them, letting go of any negative feelings against them, and
saw them as Christ does. He forgave them, but because of the seriousness of
what they did, I'm sure he never forgot. Another, perfect example. Envision our
Lord and Savior, being mocked, beat, scourged, tortured, and eventually hung on
the cross. He was 'hurt in the house of his friends,' killed by the hands of
his own covenant people. As the scribes and pharisees said their last
jeering words at their Messiah, Jesus, once again showing his infinite and
perfect love for us, said:
"Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34)
I
can't understand the depth of His love, to be able to do that for them. Jesus
forgave them, but He will always have the memory of that experience and what
they did. So, yes it is possible to forget, but it is far more important to
work on forgiving. Whether someone took your pencil and didn't give it back, or
something more grave, it is possible to forgive that person. Pray for help to
forgive them, pray to feel love towards them, not negative feelings. Burdens
that you may not have known were there will be lifted from your chest and you
will see the light in life. I know that as we try our best to forgive others,
whether for minor or major circumstances, that our hearts will become light and
we will walk closer with the Lord.
I
love the mission, I love this people here, and most of all, I love my Savior.
There's nowhere else I'd rather be than here, gathering Israel. This work is
true, and it does bring joy. Have a good week everyone.
-Elder Lyman
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| This is Soeur Linda. She is a ward missionary and helps the elders out. |
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| a random boy who was outside when the PestControl was inside spraying, so elder Lyman hung out with him. |
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| Camouflage isn't enough to hide that roach. |
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| some of the dead roaches |
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| Sauce graene and fish, with a side of rice. And Baobab juice |
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| Tchep. looks delicious. Elder Lyman said it made his stomach happy. |
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