Inspiring Members of Lesotho

I think I've mentioned this already that Lesotho is a landlocked country within South Africa. It's a great place, and the members here are some of the most faithful I've ever witnessed.

 The Chandlers are an amazing missionary couple.

 The woman in front with the red jacket got baptized last week and confirmed on Sunday. This is a great group of people.

 The story of this family is worth repeating! President Thompson was interviewing this man by asking a series of questions, like: do you pray? He answered "everyday". He was asked if he reads the scriptures and his answer was the same. He was asked if he holds Family Home Evening, and his answer was still the same. President was puzzled and thought maybe they had a communication problem. He asked again if he really held FHE everyday and the man said, "yes, everyday! In fact, I have 7 people coming over tonight."  We discovered that this couple did indeed have FHE everynight and were having a competition to see who could get the most converts. However, they told us that they have started working together and to date have had 13 baptisms in the past 3 years. They are a genuine inspiration to all of us. Their love for the gospel is evident in so many ways. We love them dearly, as we do all the people in Lesotho. 

I love the beautiful stories of the people in Lesotho and South Africa. The young woman wearing white read the Book of Mormon and started attending church as a youth. She really wanted to go to girls camp and a temple recommend was required. Because she has been working on the Strength of Youth and working toward earning her Young Womens medallion, it was assumed she was already a member. When she went to the branch president to get the recommend, the president discovered she had not been baptized. He told her that in order to get the recommend, she must be baptized.  She said "okay, I want to be baptized very much". To be baptized, she needed to take the missionary discussions, which she did, and in two months she was baptized in 2007. She also earned her Young Womens medallion. She decided to study medicine and went to Cuba. Because it was against the law to proselyte there, she wondered if there were any church members. She desperately wanted to attend church.  So, she put up several flyers in the hallways of the school asking "if you are Mormon call" this number. She got a phone call from a young lady that was a member, and she had one other friend that was a member. They got together every week for a few months to study the Young Womens theme, and read scriptures, and study the gospel together. One of her friends fell ill and had to go to the hospital. She was reading the Liahona (like the Ensign) and one of the male workers saw and said he was a Mormon. He told her that he attends church with about ten other members. Soon it was thirteen!!! The young woman pictured above always wore her Young Women medallion and was asked by several people what it meant. She had the opportunity of answering lots of questions! She was able to get her doctorate degree in medicine. She was considering a specialty when she had this nagging feeling that she needed to go home to South Africa, but didn't k now why. She decided to listen to the holy ghost and go home. She had some difficulty with her passport and needed to submit a birth certificate. Her father had died and she'd be raised by her step-father, but there were lots of issues because of this. As a consequence, she decided to start searching for some ancestors. She discovered a man in his fifties and contacted him. His family had been looking for her as well.  He introduced her to a young man that turned out to be her brother. Her brother had been looking for her for a long time! They met at his car. He told her that he wanted to show her something in his trunk. He opened it and gave her two journals of her great grandfather, and several papers of genealogy with hundreds of names.  She immediately knew the reason she had been prompted to return to South Africa! She is preparing the names of her ancestors to send to the temple, she worked things out for her passport, and she said she KNOWS she is extremely blessed to have the holy ghost and gospel in her life. She is currently working at a nearby hospital as a doctor and hopes to specialize soon.  We are blessed to hear these kinds of stories all the time - and we are privileged to hear the enormous appreciation for the gospel from the people who live here. Imagine the enthusiasm of someone winning a large lottery, and that is the type of enthusiasm and gratitude the humble people of Lesotho and South Africa feel toward the gospel in their lives. After all, the greatest treasure on earth is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and its wonderful that the people here grasp that!