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The Gift of Tongues is Real
Through the desire of my heart, I decided to serve the Lord as a full-time missionary. In Doctrine and Covenants 4:3 it says “Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work.”
When I finished everything that I needed to do to become a missionary, and I received my call, I was assigned to serve in Ghana Accra Mission. It was an English-speaking country, and I was very sad because I didn’t know English at all. The day I left home to begin my mission, I cried so much because I didn’t know how to speak a single word of English. In my mind I kept asking, why, why, why? Why would God send me to Ghana when He knows I cannot speak English.
In my MTC classroom, I was the only person who could not speak English. I spent nine weeks in the MTC and still could not understand any English. My date to go into the mission field was coming up. Elder Prince Siaw was my teacher. He was from Accra Ghana and speaks English and a little French. I asked him “Why are you sending me to the field when I can’t speak English yet?” I then added, “Would it be possible for me to stay at the MTC one more month and then when I can speak English, I can go to the field?”
My teacher said, “No, you have to go to the field because you won’t learn all the English here.”
That answer broke my heart. But Brother Siaw told me that I should not worry, that everything would be fine. That made me feel better and happy.
I had my first interview with my mission president soon after I arrived. I did not understand anything that he was saying, but through God, I was able to make it through the interview. I was sad for the first two weeks in the field.
One day, the Spirit prompted me to go to the gospel library. As I was looking, I saw the Articles of Faith. I started reading them and the seventh article of faith spoke directly to me. It was addressing my challenge. “We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.”
After reading the seventh article of faith, the Spirit told me I should believe in the gift of tongues and so I prayed specifically to God and asked for His help with learning the new language.
Later in the day, I decided to put all my French scriptures aside. I took my Book of Mormon, my Bible, and some of the books that were in French, and I put all of it outside of our bedroom. I put my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I thought of a scripture, James 2:17. “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone”.
I put in the work, and I started studying and reading aloud in English. I set a goal to study the whole Book of Mormon in English. When I started studying the Book of Mormon, everything started improving very fast. My English, my testimony, and my teaching all improved in five months in the field. By the time I was a missionary for one year, my English became so good that when I tell anyone I’m from DRC, they always think I’m lying, and some call me a black American.
After listening to the talks of the prophets and hearing them testify of the power of the gift of tongues and of praying for help and fasting, my prayers were answered! My tongue was loosed! I started teaching in a language that was not mine. It’s a miracle that I will never forget.
One day, my mission president called me to be one of the assistants for the Ghana Accra Mission. This calling gives me a lot of opportunities to speak in large group settings. Because of being in the office, I was able to meet the new missionaries coming from the MTC. A lot of them do not speak English, only French. One day, after my portion of a training, my mission president asked me to give a small training in French and mentioned that I should tell them where I came from. They could not believe that I was from the DR Congo. I was able to encourage and strengthen them, telling them that they should trust in the Lord and believe in the gift of tongues, that it is REAL!