Harper's Adventures in Africa: Inspired Lessons and Prepared People

Hello! Hope August is treating everyone well over there! Its going amazing here in Woodlands.

So this week we had such a great experience with our recent convert Innocent. So last week we taught him about temples and he understood until we came to the part about baptisms for the dead. For those of you who don’t know about baptisms for the dead in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe that inside temples we can perform ordinances such as baptism for our ancestors who have passed on. We do proxy baptisms. We do the work for them but then they will have the opportunity to learn the gospel and accept it in the next life IF THEY CHOOSE. Even in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 Peter explains why baptisms for the dead are so important.

Well, Innocent, when we explained it to him it didn’t get it. He said that it didn’t makes sense because according to what he knows, "the dead rise no more" as he thinks the Bible says (We found out later that if you read the whole chapter it says the opposite because CHRIST ROSE AGAIN!). He said that it didn’t work in his mind. He was okay and said he would come to church but we told him we would go and study more to help him understand. So, that’s what me and my comps did. I read that chapter so many times, I prayed to know what it was talking about because it is confusing to be honest, and we discussed it together. I have such a strong testimony of the temple and I wish that I could help these people understand it. It is more difficult as well because the temple is far away. One day they will be able to go to the temple, so it’s up to us to prepare them!

Anyways, the day of the lesson came and Sister Kivalu and I sat down to plan our lesson. In our mission we make lesson plans for every lesson we teach. We came up with questions to ask and scriptures to share. I felt strongly that we needed to reteach part of the Plan of Salvation to help him understand. So we planned to reteach the part about what happens after death. We had planned the whole lesson and finally understood, even for ourselves, why baptisms for the dead are so important. We get into the lesson and we share with him what we had studied and read the scriptures. We asked him if he wanted his family to be together forever and we talked about how ALL of God’s children need to be baptized in order to have the opportunity to have eternal life. He stops us and says, " I get it. This is important." He told us it made sense and we even challenged him to fill out his own family tree and learn more about them so that one day he could do their work. He came back the next day and told us he felt the spirit while he was learning and it made him closer to his family. I know that the questions we asked and the scriptures we shared were the ones that we were directed to ask from the spirit. I’m grateful that this work is guided by our Heavenly Father.

Also this week we had another baptism! For our dear brother Lungu! I don’t now if I have ever talked about him before. We met him while knocking gates. He is this super smiley guy. He is actually a garden boy for this big house but he stays in the servants quarter behind the house. The first time we taught him we realized he doesn’t speak English very well but we felt that we needed to keep teaching him little by little and we did. He kept commitments and came to church the first time we invited him. He loved it, and has only missed one week since. We teach him with our ward mission leader and they have become great friends. Brother Lungu bore his testimony to us about the Book of Mormon. He said something like, "When I go to sleep I have this by me. And then I read and I feel peace. Thank you for bringing me this book." And what’s cool too is that because he has been at church he has witnessed SO MANY BAPTISMS since he came and he kept asking when was his and the day finally came! He was so happy and we were too. I’m grateful to see humble people like him become closer to their Heavenly Father. And Lungu, his life is not easy. His boss won’t let us learn in the house so we meet outside on the lawn outside the gate. Sometimes he doesn’t have food when the boss is mad at him and he can only meet when the boss is not around. And he doesn’t have a family and has been married before but his wife divorced him. He has been through a lot but the gospel has really brought happiness into his life and purpose too! I am grateful for the direction the gospel gives to us.

Also this week we were working with the sisters in Lusaka so I got to go with my daughter from way before…Sister Sila on exchanges! We had a good time and even though our appointments fell through we made it work. There was one lady we saw her walking, eating some fruit, so we asked her about it as a way to contact her and she offered us one. We put it in our mouths and IT WAS SOO NASTY but we couldn’t spit it out so both of us just held them in until we got her phone number and then we walked really fast away to spit them out LOL!

Also this week Lloyd’s sisters and cousin said they wanted us to each them but they were busy washing so they let us help them so we could teach them after! So we washed these huge blankets! Cho they were so heavy! I get it now why Zambian women are so strong. Ringing the blankets out took some serious arm strength haha. also Kelvin’s mom let us share our message with her this week and she said she was really touched and wants us to come back again to teach her.... we will see what happens but she is so fun! She is always joking with us and we are always helping her clean, and giving her kids stickers. That family is awesome!