Samoa Apia Mission - March 2015 - 2017

Monday, August 31, 2015

Choices

Sometimes I wish people would just start to understand how amazing this gospel is and that it is the only way to gain eternal salvation. I understand Alma when he says "Oh that I were an angel and could have the wish of my heart..." he says he wishes that he could declare repentance with a voice of thunder. Sometimes it seems like only a voice of thunder will make some of these people realize that they need to come to the fold of God. It makes me sad that so many people use their agency to make wrong choices.

So many people here chose not to accept the gospel because of worrying about what people would think, or because the family Mati or chief would get mad at them. I have seen a lot of people gain a testimony of the gospel only to turn away from it because "the Taiti church is the church of my family" or "I am a Mati in this village and it wouldn't be good for people to see me changing churches."

I know that I can't do anything about their agency, but I can still do all I can to help them use their agency properly. On the other side of things I have seen so many people use their agency to make the right choice and accept the gospel even though they have every reason not to. There is one girl who chose to be baptized even though she knew her family would not like it. The Sunday after her baptism she came to church crying because her family had turned on her and beaten her badly for choosing to join the church. Despite her trials she has stayed strong in the church and been a good example to her family. We are now doing lessons with her older brother. We had another boy get baptized even though his father said he would disown him if he did. Another lady lost her job. These people understand the importance of the gospel. They might not understand all the details of the gospel yet, but they know that things of this world are not nearly as important as the blessings of the gospel. Nothing brings me more happiness then seeing these people come unto Christ.

Apparently these things live here

This was the size of my palm
Alofa Atu,
Elder Lamoreaux

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