“The Important Guest,” Friend, August 2021
The Important Guest
The authors live in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, and Utah, USA.
How could Ammon help his family welcome their important guest?
”Establish a house … of order, a house of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:119).
It was Saturday afternoon. Ammon wanted to have some fun.
“Mamma,” he said, “may I go outside and play?”
“First you must tidy your room,” Mamma said.
“But, Mamma,” Ammon said, “can’t my room wait?”
“We want to invite someone important to be our guest. So we want our house to be clean and neat.”
“An important guest?” Ammon said. “In our home?”
“Yes, and you can help invite him,” Mamma said. “So go and tidy up your room.”
Ammon was excited. He liked having guests. He wondered who the guest would be. The mayor? The headmaster from school? Maybe it would be the bishop!
Ammon went to his room. First he found his dirty socks on the floor. He put them in the laundry basket. Then Ammon set his schoolbook on the desk. He wanted the guest to know he liked to learn new things.
Ammon’s big sister, Angel, came to his room. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“Mamma said we’re having an important guest,” Ammon said. “She asked me to help get ready for him.”
They both looked up to see Mamma at the door.
“What else can we do to get ready?” Ammon said. “We want our important guest to feel welcome.”
“What ideas do you have?” Mamma asked.
“We can say karibu,” Ammon said. In Swahili that means, “You are welcome in our house. You are welcome to speak.”
“We can listen,” Angel said. “It’s important to listen.”
“Those are good ideas,” Mamma said. “Let’s see what Baba (Dad) says when he gets home.”
In about an hour, Baba arrived.
Ammon was waiting. “Mamma says we are inviting a special guest to our house. We’ve been getting ready.”
Baba smiled. “I’m glad. Come. Sit. Let’s talk. Angel, please come too.”
When they were all together, Baba said, “Mamma and I have been talking about our special guest and what we can do to make him feel welcome. First, I will tell you who our guest is. It is the Holy Ghost. He’s one of the most important guests of all.”
Ammon and Angel looked at each other. That’s not who Ammon expected!
“And He’s a guest we can invite to be with us all the time,” Mamma said. “Angel, after you were baptized, you were confirmed. And you were given a gift. Do you remember what Baba said in the blessing?”
“He told me to receive the Holy Ghost.”
“That’s right,” Mamma said. “You were invited to receive the Holy Ghost. So, Ammon, when I said you could help invite Him, what did I mean?”
Ammon thought. He had planned to make a card to invite their guest. But how could he invite the Holy Ghost? “I guess that by doing things to make Him feel welcome, I am inviting Him,” Ammon said.
“That’s right!” Baba said. “One way we can invite Him into our home is by making it neat and clean.”
“Is that why Mamma wanted us to tidy our rooms?” Ammon asked.
“Yes!” Mamma said. “What else can we do to invite Him to be with us?”
“We can pray,” Ammon said. “And read scriptures.”
“We can listen to good music,” Angel said. “We can sing hymns together.”
“We can be nice and not fight,” Ammon said.
“That’s right,” Baba said. “When we try to do what Jesus Christ taught, we invite the Holy Ghost to be with us. And He will help our home be a place where we can feel love and peace.”
Ammon thought for a minute. “You’re right, Baba. The Holy Ghost is one of the most important guests of all!”
Illustrations by Mark Jarman