“A Haven of Peace,” Friend, Mar. 2000, 48–inside back cover
A Haven of Peace
Ye shall have my Spirit to be with you (3 Ne. 18:7).
The Primary children in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, energetically sing “Keep the Commandments,”* and you know that they mean to try their very best. Then the children’s faces light up with huge smiles as they sing another favorite song, “Love One Another.”† Even though most of these children have been coming to Primary for only a year or two—the Church is still new in their country—they know about Jesus Christ and are trying to be like Him by keeping the commandments.
Dar es Salaam is the capital of Tanzania, a beautiful country in East Africa. Tanzania is famous for Mount Kilimanjaro (the tallest mountain in Africa) and for its national wildlife parks that protect many animals.
The name Dar es Salaam means “haven of peace,” and the Primary children there are helping to make both the meetinghouse and their homes havens of peace as they live the gospel. At Primary, they’ve learned to pray. “When we pray, we thank God that we can know the truth in this Church,” said Romanus Gideme (8). “And we ask God for help in understanding what our teacher teaches,” added Elias Mwingira (7).
The children love to hear their teacher tell stories from the scriptures. They listen quietly so that they can retell the stories to their parents, who are also new members of the Church. “The children have been teaching us things,” said William Gideme, president of the Chang’ombe Branch, Kenya Nairobi Mission. “They’ve surprised us by teaching us Book of Mormon stories and the Old Testament stories of Moses, Daniel, and Isaiah.”
Primary children in Dar es Salaam also love family home evening. “If I forget about home evening, my children remind me to hold it. I love them for that,” President Gideme said.
The children also like to do things to make other people happy. For example, whenever a missionary is about to finish serving a mission, the children surround him and sing and clap and dance to show their love and appreciation.
One of the favorite scriptures of the Dar es Salaam Primary is 3 Nephi 18:7: “And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you.” The children here are trying hard to always remember Jesus Christ in everything they do and to be guided by His Spirit.
At Primary, Hanspope Mathui (3) begins to draw a picture of Jesus.
The Gideme children never let their parents forget to have family home evening.
The Chang’ombe Primary sing to a missionary who has served in their branch.
The children love to sing “Keep the Commandments.”
Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro, which means “hill of God,” is the tallest mountain in Africa.