Become Self-Reliant to Better Serve the Lord

By Elder Alfred Kyungu

Area Seventy

“We have the privilege to solve our own problems and strive to become self-reliant, given that self-reliance is a principle of salvation.”

I was sixteen when my father invited me and my younger brother to work with him on his farm. For us, the main purpose was to save enough money to go study in a distant city. My brother and I knew nothing about farm work and had to learn everything. In the beginning, it was difficult and demanding for young people like us who had never carried out such manual work. Step by step, our father taught us how to do it.

Here is one of the many lessons he taught us: “Only work makes someone independent and ennobles them. When someone is self-sufficient, they have self-esteem, they are respected, and they can accomplish many things for themselves and others.”

Our Heavenly Father Himself worked, and the creation of heaven and earth is the result of His labor.

When Adam became guilty of transgression in the Garden of Eden, the ground was cursed, and God commanded him henceforth to work in order to earn a living. He said unto him: “In sorrow shalt thou eat . . . all the days of thy life . . .

“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread” (Genesis 3:17, 19).

In modern revelations, Joseph Smith has taught in D&C 42:42, “Thou shalt not be idle; for he that is idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the laborer.”

Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has taught:

“By work we sustain and enrich life. . . . Work builds and refines character, creates beauty, and is the instrument of our service to one another and to God. A consecrated life is filled with work, sometimes repetitive, sometimes menial, sometimes unappreciated but always work that improves, orders, sustains, lifts, ministers, aspires.”¹

With the means that we acquired, my brother and I were able to buy food, school supplies and clothes, and to focus on our studies without too much worry. Being independent, we started to grow.

The teachings I received from my father remained anchored in me throughout my studies. I did not take my studies for granted because I knew the sacrifices and hard work it took to get there. I continue to avoid laziness and to work hard to provide for my family.

I also find opportunities, not only to teach this principle to my children, but also to work with them so that they learn the worth of work and self-sufficiency.

Some months ago our daughter, Gaensya Kyungu, who is preparing to serve a full-time mission, attended pastry classes. Now she is selling cakes, donuts and cookies to earn some savings for her mission. The work and self-reliance lessons we taught her have motivated her.

There is a French proverb that says, “every trade has its value.” It does not matter whether one works in a company, on a farm, or does carpentry, baking, security, welding, or transportation of goods. The important thing is to do something honest.

We understand that work is a divine principle that elevates and leads to self-reliance.

The General Handbook tells us that “self-reliance is the ability, commitment, and effort to provide the spiritual and temporal necessities of life for self and family.”²

We need to be diligent and use all our abilities and all our might to make ourselves useful.

This responsibility to provide for self cannot rest upon someone else’s head. Every individual is responsible for their own temporal and spiritual well-being. Blessed with the gift of agency, we have the privilege to solve our own problems and to strive to become self-reliant, given that self-reliance is a principle of salvation.

The General Handbook further reads that “as members become self-reliant, they are also better able to serve others.“³

Through self-reliance, we increase the self-discipline needed to obey God’s commandments. We have the strength to serve the Lord in accomplishing what He expects of us. We will be able to walk, speak, and teach the doctrine of Christ, to testify of God and His Son, to minister and to fulfill the duties associated with our Church calling. We will have time for the work of the Lord.

We can accomplish a full-time mission. We can teach the doctrine of Christ with clearness under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. We can serve others by giving generous fast offerings so that the poor and the needy may be helped in the Lord’s way. We can pay an honest and full tithe to support the kingdom. We will be able to study the scriptures and master gospel principles.

I testify that work leads to self-reliance which creates favorable conditions to better serve our Heavenly Father and our neighbors.

Alfred Kyungu was sustained as an Area Seventy in October 2019. He is married to Lucie Kabulo; they are the parents of three children. Elder and Sister Kyungu reside in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.