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| We love this little family - three of their 4 children. The little boy next to Elder Wheatley was recently baptized by his father and so we took them some pictures we printed of that special day. Pictures are treasures. |
Here he is, showing us the pebble game that is like jacks.
May 26, 2013
Dear family,
We have
enjoyed another week here in the Congo.
It has actually been a very peaceful week. Other than finding no water in the tap when
we went to wash dishes we have had life pretty good. We found out earlier in the week that the
water to this part of town has been shut off
(we think it has been four weeks since we have had water in the line,
but just kept hoping it would start again, since we had a technician come and
look at it and said nothing was wrong).
We go to the Church and fill containers to put in our reservoir. When the Elders come over like they did
tonight and we use extra water the reservoir
has a tendency to go dry. Since
its Sunday we will bucket bathe and flush toilets with buckets and deal with
refilling the reservoir tomorrow, by buying water from the well across the
street.
We made it
out to visit a few members during the week and didn’t get ourselves lost. The biggest challenge is figuring out which
alleyways won’t come to a dead end. It’s
never fun to have to reverse out of some of these places. One of the places we visited we found the
sister sick. Since she doesn’t speak
English she crossed herself to indicate she would like us to have a prayer with
her. I think she was just trying to
communicate with us and was not resorting to an old habit.
A little
about the culture: We have found it interesting
that most families have a niece or nephew live with them, especially the young couples. These don’t appear to be orphans, just family
members that are sent to help when a family has a new baby or needs someone to
tend their house when they go to work.
On Monday we visited a young doctor who was baptized about a year and a
half ago. He and his wife have a three
month old baby. When we entered his home
he introduced us to two young men, each about ten years old. He indicated they were nephews. We inquired if they were just visiting and he
said “no.” “They live with us.”
Recently we needed the birthdate of a sister, and we found out that she
is only thirty years old. As long as we
have known the family we assumed a girl that is about age nineteen that lives
with them was their daughter. When we do
the math we realize that she belongs to someone else. It is difficult to determine age here,
because most people just don’t look as old as they are. Maybe it is the nice, moist air that keeps
their skin so young looking?
During the
week we visited a young man who has been struggling to come to Church. We read with him from the book of Mosiah
where Abinidi is chastising wicked King Noah and his priests. He reviews the Ten Commandments, one of which
is keeping the Sabbath Day holy. As the
Elders teach investigators it is so important for them to commit the
investigator to attend Church on a regular basis. My observation has been than among those who espouse
a Penticostal religion, church attendance is very important and meaningful (I
think the Baptists also fit in with this group). Those that espouse the
Catholic, Anglican or Luthern Churchs have become very casual about the Sabbath
Day. I remember a cartoon I once saw.
Two ladies with their Easter bonnets on were standing in line waiting to
enter a Church. One said to the other, “I don’t understand why those who attend
every week don’t stay home so that those of us that attend only on Easter will have a place to
sit.” It has always bothered me that Notre Dame and Boston Collage compete in athletic events on a Sunday.
It is
interesting that most holidays here are tied to religion. They have holidays on Christmas, Ash Wednesday,
Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, (the day Christ ascended into heaven),
Assumption (the day the Catholic’s assume Mary was taken into Heaven) and Pentecost. There are probably others that we are not
aware of, and country holidays like New Year’s Day and Independence Day. Most
of the converts here were first baptized into the Catholic Church. It is important that they understand that our
Father in Heaven expects that they will attend Church every Sunday, not just on
holidays. I don’t want to preach to you
about keeping the Sabbath day holy, but I have learned that attending Church
and fellowshipping with the saints and partaking of the Sacrament is a
commandment. We can’t be casual about its observance. When you ask people what is the first saving
ordinance we participate in during our life they will say baptism and
confirmation. If you ask what is next
ordinance? For a man they will say
receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood, for a woman receiving her temple
endowment. They always overlook the
sacrament. After baptism and
confirmation (and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost), the next saving
ordinance we participate in is the sacrament. Partaking of the sacrament weekly
is a commandment (Preach My Gospel p. 64).
For most of us, the sacrament is only offered during sacrament
meeting. Under the Bishop’s direction it
might be brought into our home if there is a special reason. We partake of the sacrament to renew our
baptismal covenants. We partake of the sacrament to be reminded of our Savior’s
atoning sacrifice. The sacrament renews the process of forgiveness. “Every
Sunday you cleanse yourself so that in due time, when you die, your spirit will
be clean.”( Boyd K. Packer p.196 “My Errand From the Lord.”)
I have never
liked to travel on Sunday, but have been guilty on occasion. When we have traveled, we have always tried
to stop along the way and find a Sacrament Meeting to attend. I will always remember the Sunday morning
when we were in KayCee, Wyoming. We
justified not coming home on Saturday because we needed to be at a family
reunion. There were those that needed to
be home on Monday. So we would be traveling on Sunday. I remember suggesting
that maybe we could stop at Martin’s Cove and partake of the special spirit one
finds there and that could be our Sabbath worship. There seemed to be agreement, but then my son
in law, Austin, indicated that he didn’t feel right about it. Through the marvels of modern technology the
younger generation found an address, and a meeting time in Casper. They estimated the distance, the time we
would have to leave KayCee and the speed we would have to travel. We pulled
into the parking lot of the Casper 6th Ward with five minutes to
spare and enjoyed a wonderful sacrament meeting.
I will
always remember being in a little logging town called Morton, in the state of Washington. The stake president was visiting the ward
that day. The Bishop, an elderly man,
appeared to be very nervous. He welcomed
the congregation, then began to do some ward business presenting several ward members
who had been called to serve for a sustaining vote. One of his counselors came to the pulpit and
encouraged him to have an opening hymn and invocation before having a
sustaining vote. He never seemed to
regain his composure throughout the meeting.
The stake president sat with a smile on his face and we all enjoyed the
meeting. I’m not sure where this
information came from but we were led to understand that this man and his wife
had come to that area on a mission as a senior couple. After their mission they decided to move
there and retire. He hadn’t planned on retirement including
being called to be the bishop! As we
prepared to eat lunch that day, my mother in law was called on to bless the
food. In a tender and sincere moment she
asked our Father-in-Heaven to bless this good bishop in his calling, then she
asked for a blessing on the food.
It’s good to
periodically read from D&C 58:9-24 and evaluate how we are doing in our Sabbath
day worship.
Each morning
and evening, as we kneel in family prayer, we pray that our Heavenly Father’s
blessings rest upon each of you. Once
again we express our appreciation for your faith and prayers on our behalf.
Love from Pointe Noire,
Mom and Dad, Elder et Sœur Wheatley
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