Cough Syrup

Bela Vista

Sameer from Young the Giant once sang, ' Life's too short to even care at all ', which happens to be a mind set of some of the people in this world. While we know this life is short, we as missionaries are here to help people receive that 'cough syrup' that they need to overcome the problems of this life.

We had Zone Conference this past week and had a really sweet training given by Sister Mathews a little bit about this. She spoke on how the 3rd lesson in Preach My Gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is a lot like a bar of soap that we use here in Cape Verde, called Lifebuoy. She taught that, if we were to try selling a bar of Lifebuoy, we might suggest to the buyers why they might want to use the soap, what it does, how to use it, the benefits they would find, etc., and compared that to how we teach about Christ's Gospel. She taught how really, the Gospel of Christ is that bar of soap that cleans 100% of our sins so that we can be clean in front of our Heavenly Father one day; it's almost like the cough syrup that we need to get over the common sicknesses we come across, as Christ is the one who helps come back to health. 

Elder Massey with some ward members as well as Sister Miller and Sister Lopes

The day after Zone Conference though, was the day the Zone got hit by a certain plague. Turns out the place the ZLs got to cater for us wasn't the most sanitary place, as both my companion and I were awoken in the night by rumbly tummies. As the day went on and some asking around was done, it became apparent that more than half the zone got what we got, and just about everyone had been sitting on the toilet about as frequently as we had been; I asked around in my district, and 9 out of the 12 missionaries got hit, albeit not that bad. A poor Sister in my district who already has stomach issues got hit hard and was in pain pretty well all day. That same day we went to the mission office for a few things, and it turns out both President and Sister Mathews got it too, as well as the office Elders. It was a classic moment of Cape Verdean sanitation. After all was said and done, it was a pretty hilarious situation to think about. 

 

At the mission office - the older couple is also from Alberta!

 

As for the actual work this week, Elder Amado and I went to work trying to help our investigators really feel the need of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives, like Sister Mathews taught us. We've recently begun teaching two different girls named Cinthia, who are really really cool. One of them came to church with us last week, and the other told us this past week that she received an answer to her prayers about whether our message was true or not. Both of them are taking the right steps that they need towards using this cleaner that Christ has given for all of us. It's so incredible for me to see that change in peoples lives when they actually accept and use that which Christ offers to them freely, as opposed to those who don't accept or use it. Every time I see someone we're teaching come to church, my testimony just gets more and more strong of it. 

We had a really cool lesson a couple nights ago, where we were teaching a less active member, and her son and son in law, both over the age of 20, and we taught them a really simple 1st lesson about the Restoration, and at the end, we asked if they had any questions. The Son in Law, Rivaldu, asked how it was that we came to find our own conviction of the  truthfulness of the gospel, which gave me and my companion an opportunity to bear our testimonies on how we found our answers. As we responded to them, talking about how we've recognized the Holy Ghost, looked at blessings in our lives, and the happiness we have, the Spirit was there super strong to testify of it. In the end, the less active member's son asked, 'would you ever change to another church?' and I responded, 'If God told me to, I would, but I honestly have no doubt in my mind these things are true' and the room went quiet, and the Spirit testified really really strongly. He's such a bro like that. 

As for myself, I've got this weird thing where at night, I start to cough and my voice gets all raspy. All my sisters ask me on the phone if I'm like okay, and I just respond that I'm slowly dying, which is okay. Maybe some cough syrup might serve to help me a bit. 

Love y'all!! 

Elder Massey