MEMBER VOICES
‘Heavenly Channels’: Touching Hearts during Pandemic
As Elder Leniel Gava struggled with the disruption that COVID-19 brought to his mission, he learned that the Lord will always provide a way to reach out to His children.
Leniel Gava was called to serve in the Mozambique Maputo Mission, but he began serving in his native Zimbabwe while awaiting the visa that would allow him to train and learn Portuguese at the Brazil Missionary Training Centre. After a four-month wait, Elder Gava finally made it to Brazil, and a few weeks later, he arrived in Maputo.
Elder Gava loved Mozambique and his opportunity to share the gospel. He had settled into the work and was starting to feel comfortable with Portuguese when the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020. Most missionaries in Africa were suddenly returned to their native countries. Back he went to Zimbabwe.
Elder Gava says that the missionaries felt constantly confused during the repatriation process. Where would they be sent? For how long? In what way would they serve while they were waiting for the pandemic to die down? It wasn’t until he finally met with his mission president, Tasara Makasi, that he was calmed. President Makasi told him, “The Lord’s work doesn’t stop, just adjust and continue to do His work.” So, Elder Gava did, even in lockdown conditions.
Missionaries, who were confined to their homes like everyone else, soon received smartphones and access to social media platforms that allowed them to connect with people responding to a Facebook ad published on the Africa South Area Facebook pages titled “Where Can I Turn for Peace?”
Very soon after the ad ran, Elder Gava and his companion were given a stack of names and phone numbers from people who had responded to the advert, indicating that they were interested in meeting with the missionaries and finding out more about the Church. They were asked to contact each person. As they looked through the names and numbers, both missionaries were impressed to call a particular woman. She answered in a very low voice, but after they had introduced themselves, she almost screamed with happiness. “Thank you so much for reaching out to me!” she said. “Thank you for calling at the right time.”
As the conversation progressed, the elders learned that this woman was then lying in a hospital bed having just suffered a stillbirth. “She was saying she was so hurt . . . like there was a deep hole in her heart,” he said. “At the time we called her, she needed someone to be there with her, but, unfortunately, she was alone. That sister became one of our good friends and we started teaching her online.”
President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counsellor in the First Presidency, taught that the gift of the Holy Ghost helps us to lift others when they need it the most. “You are a covenant member of the Church of Jesus Christ. . . .
“That is why you have a feeling to want to help a person struggling to move forward under a load of grief and difficulty. You promised that you would help the Lord make their burdens light and be comforted. You were given the power to help lighten those loads when you received the gift of the Holy Ghost.”1
Elder Gava says this experience taught him how the Spirit works in our lives and how it can move us to talk to people who need us, at the time they need us. He also learnt another lesson: the importance of the proper use of technology in missionary work. He realised that technology can be used to reach out to our Heavenly Father’s children.
On Elder Gava’s mission he saw these two channels working together: the Holy Ghost was the heavenly channel, bringing a message from heaven to the missionaries; and technology was the earthly channel, bringing that message from the missionaries to their brothers and sisters.