He Has Left Me Peace

Between 1990 and 1994 Rwanda was torn apart by an ethnic conflict that led to hundreds of thousands of killings between April and July 1994. These tragic events impacted the lives of nearly every person in the country. During this time, 11-year-old Agnes Twagiramariya witnessed a neighbor killing her parents, four of her siblings, and many of her extended family members. For the next 12 years, Agnes wrestled with the pain of her family members’ deaths. “To lose my family, especially my parents,” Agnes explained, “is a very bad thing in my life and it had caused some behaviors like being alone, to hate people, to be unhappy for some time with a broken heart.”

In 2006, while she was studying at the University of Kigali, Agnes moved into a home with her cousin Yvonne, who was a member of the Church. While they lived together, Yvonne began to share Church videos about Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His gospel through Joseph Smith. Eventually, Yvonne invited Agnes to read the Book of Mormon and attend Church meetings with her. “The first thing that attracted me was the teachings,” Agnes said later. “The other thing is the behavior of some Church members; they behave like children of the Lord.”

Agnes was baptized June 13, 2010. Soon she was called to teach children in the quickly growing Primary of the Kigali Branch. As her joy in the gospel grew, however, Agnes still wondered if she would see her family again, if they were still in pain, and what life after death was like for them. In 2012 Agnes traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa, to attend the temple for the first time—and be sealed to her deceased parents and siblings for eternity.

Agnes Twagiramariya with her first temple recommend, 2012.

While loss will always be a part of her life, Agnes found healing through the restored gospel. “I have started to smile and talk again,” Agnes said. “I made changes in my life, and I can be happy for a long time. I’m peaceful with a forgiving heart.”

“I am able to forgive those killers of my family,” she noted. “For me, forgiveness is a gift I’ve received after understanding the gospel.” Christ, who had suffered in the house of his friends (see Zechariah 13:6), knew how to reach her in her struggles. “The true Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints became my bridge to leaving the life of confusion to the life of truth, from the sadness to the real happiness, from sorrow to joy, from anger to forgiveness,” she said. “I testify that our Savior Jesus Christ loves us, and He wants us to be happy and to have real joy.”