Fireside with the Area Presidency

Elder Koch
from Brazil

We had a fireside last night (February 4) with the Area Presidency.

Elder Hamilton
from the U.S.

Elder Palmer
from New Zealand

These men have been called to oversee the development of the Church in Africa.  Elder Hamilton has been here for five years.  Elder Palmer was called as a General Authority in 2016.  Before this calling he was serving in the Sixth Quorum of the Seventy in the North America Southwest Area.  Elder Koch is new to this assignment in Africa, but served as a mission president in Mozambique, and as a church leader in Brazil during the time of dramatic Church growth there.

They are concerned not only about the growth of the size of the church but also the development of the Wards and Branches here into strong church units that contribute to the strengthening of the members as well as the communities in which they are located.

They counseled with us about the impact, both positive and negative, we can have as American missionaries during the time we spend here, as well as the long term effect of our presence after we leave.

Their first piece of counsel was that we should not give money to people or entities here in Africa (we are instead encouraged to give to the Fast Offering Accounts and the Humanitarian Relief Funds of our Wards back in the US, and Church Units here can draw on those accounts as needed).  Over the last 60 years, countries, organizations, businesses, and individuals have donated to Africa over $2 trillion dollars worth of aid, supplies, clothing, medicine, educational programs, and cash for the poor.  But there has been no discernible improvement in the living situation of the people.

So many Africans have very little and are happy with their lives.  There is 27.7 percent unemployment in South Africa (the US at the height of the Great Depression had 25 percent unemployment).   (Nese: I am amazed at the number of men who creatively think of ways to earn money here.  Many will be on public streets or shopping mall parking lots with lime colored vests and help people safely park their cars, or pull out of places.  We give them tips.  That is their income.  Others stand in the middle of the street at busy intersections and sell "wares": cell phone cords, fruits and vegetables, sunglasses, if it's a hot day cold sodas, crafts, ironing board covers, computer parts...you get the idea!  One of our favorites is that if you are stopped at a red light they come up and wash your windshield...like it or not!  But you can also choose to pay them or not!  I am touched by the desire to work to earn money rather than to beg...but there are many beggars on street corners too.)  There are large shantytowns on many sides of the city, but the people who live there are clean and they take care of what they have.  These are a good, humble and happy people.

We Americans are part of the problem.  We equate having possessions with being happy and so when we see Africans with so little, we are sure they must be unhappy. And we try to help them.  They are always thrilled to receive our gifts but it also makes them a little dependent upon the charity of others to help them.  The old story of "giving a fish v. teaching them to fish is often quoted".  One wise missionary couple were constantly being asked to teach classes in Sunday School each week because teachers did not show.  So the brother decided to gather the members together one Sunday and teach them all how to teach a Sunday School lesson, so they could all step in to help if needed.  When that couple goes home, their Branch will carry on.

Next we were counseled to look for the unintended consequences of our stepping in to help--are they good or bad? For example, in Ethiopia the Church had 20 young single adult men who had successfully served two year missions.  These were the leadership of the Church in Ethiopia in the decades to come. Then a missionary couple with the help of friends back home helped sponsor many of these young men to go to the US to attend college at BYU Idaho.  Thirteen of the twenty got to go.  What an opportunity!  But in every case these young men were educated in the US, got jobs in the US and married girls from the US.  They never returned to Ethiopia and the Church's efforts to strengthen the units in Ethiopia suffered a great setback.  Unintended consequences!

One more story--about six years ago a missionary couple was assigned to Botswana to help with Humanitarian Relief.  While in Botswana they became very close to the members in their Branch.  One young sister approached them and asked if they would adopt her unborn baby, as she could not afford to have her.  The couple knew a member of their family back in the States who wanted to adopt a child very badly.  So the couple arranged and paid to have this 8 and 1/2 month pregnant woman come to the US.  She stayed with their family until she delivered.  She relinquished legal custody, the adoption proceeded, and the woman returned to her home in Botswana.  Everyone was happy.

But then about a year later the Church noticed that Botswana was refusing to issue visas to US missionaries to enter Botswana.  Upon investigation, the Church was shocked to learn that the Botswana government had placed the Mormon Church on a watch list as participants in Child Trafficking!  Apparently the grandparents of the adopted child, who were not Mormons, had formally complained to the government that the Church had stolen this child and placed the child in the US for adoption.  Hence all visas were denied to Mormon missionaries and representatives of the Church who wanted to visit or live in the country.  It took the Church four years of negotiations with Botswana before the matter was corrected and things returned to normal.  Unintended Consequences!

The last counsel they gave us was to understand the difference between sustaining life versus sustaining a lifestyle.  When a family seeks monetary help from the Church, they may receive food stuffs, clothes and supplies that sustain life but the priesthood leader will deny requests to pay for a person or family's lifestyle.  (No cable TV, etc.)

They told the story of a young Branch President who was approached by a family in his Branch who had lost a family member to death.  They wanted the Church to pay for funeral services, a casket, a burial plot and to buy food for all the family members who were coming to stay with the family during their bereavement.  The young Branch President did not know what to do.  He consulted his priesthood leader, who reviewed the situation, and said, "The Church can help with the coffin". But instead of buying a new coffin commercially,  he purchased lumber with Church funds and assigned the Elders Quorum in the Branch to build the coffin from scratch.

The story may sound harsh from American standards, but in Africa, the help was appreciated by the family, and they learned that with the support of their Branch members, they could make do on a simpler scale.

It was an eye opening discussion for us as Americans.  It helped us realize that the problems in African are complex, and we need to be careful about what we do to "help" our African friends.

(Nese: Elder Hamilton quoted this scripture:  Matthew 11:5

The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor....have the gospel preached to them.  

He said...we almost expect the poor to be given money in this scripture...everyone else was given what they needed.  Why do the poor need the gospel preached to them to help them?  It reminded me of this quote from President Ezra Taft Benson:

The Lord works from the inside out.  The world works from the outside in.  The world would take people out of the slums. Christ would take the slums out of people, and then they would take themselves out of the slums."

The interesting thing to me was the choice of the closing song, Hymn # 219:  

Because I have been given much, I too must give. Because of thy great bounty, Lord, each day I live.  I shall divide my gifts from thee With every brother that I see Who has the need of help from me.

Because I have been sheltered, fed by thy good care, I cannot see another's lack and I not share My glowing fire, my loaf of bread, My roof's safe shelter overhead, That he too may be comforted.

Because I have been blessed by thy great love, dear Lord, I'll share thy love again, according to thy word.  I shall give love to those in need; I'll show that love by word and deed; Thus shall my thanks be thanks indeed.

My "take away" on this is that we must be careful and thoughtful in our helping...always thinking ahead to "unintentional consequences".  Verses 1 and 3 of this hymn are about giving of ourselves, our gifts or talents; our kindness and love.  I'm grateful for fast offerings and the humanitarian funds of the Church where help is given in emergencies and then prayerfully and carefully considered in other aid in our local areas and around the world.  
In our little Ennerdale Branch I play the piano for Sacrament meeting.  I am also teaching a 17 year old young woman, Alicia, the keyboard course.  A few Sundays in, this thought came very clearly to me, (that illustrates the point)  which I shared with Alicia....It's nice that I can be here to play for Sacrament meeting....but someday I will be gone.  The important thing that I am doing here is teaching you how to play.  Then you will be able to be of service to the branch and even teach others.  

This is Mbali (age 9...my Primary buddy) playing with Alicia's hair.  They call them dreadlocks over here too.