Area Leadership Message
But If the Lord Calls You, Will You Go?
During an exploratory interview with Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in September 2015, my wife and I were asked several questions regarding our family, professions, and church and community service. We felt that we should also disclose our home mortgage and we even laid out our plan of how we will pay it off within the next five to ten years. As we were still discussing this issue, Elder Cook paused, looked us in the eyes, and with all solemnity asked, “But if the Lord calls you, will you go?” Completely and perfectly in sync, we responded immediately, “Yes, we will go.” With sincerity he responded, “Oh, ye faithful people.” A few weeks later, the call came through a member of the First Presidency to preside over the Zambia Lusaka Mission for three years.
Serving a mission is full of challenges, but it is one way the Lord blesses missionary families more abundantly. As Nephi replied to his father’s request, “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them1.”
Although I have memorized and applied this scripture ever since I was converted when I was eleven years old, it was more meaningful to me when I saw the Lord’s hands in our family’s life while on a mission.
A few days before entering the MTC in Provo, Utah, our oldest daughter, Luseane, expressed her concern about our home mortgage. We explained our situation and assured her that the Lord would provide. Surprisingly, the following day she explained how she and her husband, Kelepi, agreed to pay the monthly installments while we were away. Although we felt their love for us, we strongly discouraged them because we were worried about their financial situation as well. Our son-in-law is in the concrete business and our daughter is a full-time housewife and mother to three young children and they were living in a two-bedroom apartment. But despite our concerns, Luseane insisted they would manage.
We left to labour in Zambia having faith in the Lord that He will provide a way. After several months, I knew it was winter when concrete work is usually slow. I decided to ask Luseane about our mortgage. She responded, “Dad, you take care of your missionaries and let me worry about your finances. You don’t know what is happening. The Lord has doubled our resources with more work available for us in the industry so that we even have to bring others from different states to help us. We have moved to a four-bedroom home. We now have resources to go on a vacation and still have enough saved for rainy days.”
She told us how they had faithfully paid their tithing and our mortgage. Luseane and her family paid our mortgage for the three years while we were on our mission and four more months after we were released so we could get back on our feet financially.
The Lord has also blessed our family with two more grandsons after years of waiting. One of them is named Misiona, meaning “mission”. He was born after five years of waiting for another child. The other grandson is named Zambezi. He came after nine years of waiting for another child. While visiting with our children on our way home from our mission, Luseane asked, “Would you go on another mission?”
The Lord prepares the way for His faithful people even during these uncertain times as COVID-19 continues to cover the world. People have died in the thousands, so many have lost their jobs. Industries and businesses have shut down. Airlines had to reduce flights due to different travel restrictions. The economic impact of COVID-19 in the world has been significant.
Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles recently taught how he hears the Lord, “It is hearing the scriptures in a feeling—a feeling in my mind, a feeling in my heart2”
We must increase our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by hearing Him through the power of the scriptures and teachings of the living prophets, seers and revelators. The Lord made a promise, “I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise3.”
I testify that if we go forward with faith, and do what the Lord says as found in His words and the voice of His servants, we will be delivered.