“Brothers and sisters, the gospel of Jesus Christ has never been needed more than it is today. Contention violates everything the Savior stood for and taught. I love the Lord Jesus Christ and testify that His gospel is the only enduring solution for peace. His gospel is a gospel of peace.
“His gospel is the only answer when many in the world are stunned with fear. This underscores the urgent need for us to follow the Lord’s instruction to His disciples to “go … into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” We have the sacred responsibility to share the power and peace of Jesus Christ with all who will listen and who will let God prevail in their lives.”
-President Russell M. Nelson
Here is an abridged letter received from a wonderful letter to our stake from a Redding senior missionary couple serving in Rwanda.
Dear Redding Stake,
Hello from the heart of Africa. We have now been in Rwanda for nearly 4 ½ months and are getting adjusted to the African lifestyle. As MLS missionaries our chief responsibility has been to train/strengthen the branches. We have 8 branches that we are working with in 5 different buildings so we bounce around a lot. I have been working on training new Elders Quorum presidencies and Branch presidencies. Sister Glazier is working with the District R.S. presidency to provide training for the branch R.S. Presidencies. The Church is relatively new in Rwanda so the leaders are slowly learning their responsibilities and in most cases they do not have full presidencies. The leaders are so appreciative of any training they can get.
Most of the people here speak their native Kinyerwandan which is a tough language to master. I wish we had more time to try to learn the language but have been pretty busy preparing teaching materials and mostly work with those who know enough English to assist us or translate as needed.
We only have 42 missionaries in our mission. Most of our young missionaries are from other African countries and they are great. Some have come from French speaking countries with very little knowledge of English so they are trying to learn English and some Kinyerwandan at the same time. A lot of them are 1stor 2nd generation members.
Two weeks ago, I was humbled as I sat in a general conference session at one of the small branches and watched 50 people sit there who basically knew no English. They like the music from the choir even though most did not know the words they were singing. The good news is that our Area had someone translate 3 of the sessions in Kinyerwandan and so they will be watching a session after Sacrament meeting for the next 3 weeks. But just imagine sitting for 2 hrs. in a meeting where you didn’t understand a word!
I have met a few members who walk 2 hrs. one way to church. Very few have cars and some do not have the money to pay for a bus or a moto. As a result, some with little children are not able to attend very often. The church has been working on renting more buildings so they don’t have to walk so far and they have expanded to 5 buildings. When we first arrived, they only had 2 buildings. The missionaries have been baptizing a lot of people and the goal last transfer (a period of 6 wks.) was 90. So we have our work cut out for us to try to help the branches be prepared to receive them.
We are proud to represent the Redding Stake. We feel very blessed to be serving here and will try to do our best. Soo happy about the new temple in Yuba City and miss the opportunity to attend. We are lucky to have a great Stake President and Bishop! Take care.
Love,
Elder and Sister Glazier
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