Nyabondo Saints

It is a joy to see those who love the gospel and want to become members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through faith, repentance, baptism by one who has the authority, the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. It is a bitter-sweet joy when those who so desire baptism live so far away that it is not practical.

You see,when people make the covenant of baptism, they promise the Lord to keep all the commandments, including attending Sacrament meeting and partaking of the sacrament on a regular basis. We do not want to baptize people into sin by baptizing them when they cannot come to church on a regular basis.

In early February we got a call from the Mission President about a man in Sondu-- actually Nyabondo-- who had a congregation that wanted to be baptized. We have learned that many people like the doctrines of the Church, but they don't understand the commitment.

The Church is unlike any other organization, it is of God, and people are expected to participate-- accept callings to work as teachers, leaders, secretaries, etc. We don't just give lip service to the commandments, we covenant to keep them. And because there are such specific ways of doing things, it is essential people with experienced leadership are there to guide. Look at the letters of the New Testament for examples of the Apostles struggling to have the people in far flung branches of the church stay faithful and not dilute the teachings of Christ with traditional doctrines. So many people say, "Please bring a church here," Without understanding what that means.

So in February we went to visit Kenneth and his church.

This is the scenery on the way. Just gorgeous! And this is his road-- good in good weather, a bit dicey in rainy weather.

And here is the mud stone church covered with a layer of dung that looks and acts a lot like cement. Like most churches here--it's just one room. They wonder why we have so many rooms. Separate classrooms for youth, children, Relief Society, Priesthood, etc. is a foreign concept.

The older gentleman is Kenneth's father who co-founded a church and helped preach before they learned about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We taught them this first time in February 2010 and they took notes and listened to every word.

A group of 9 people-- 3 teens and 6 adults-- started coming to Kisumu to be taught the lessons. They were faithful coming every two weeks. In March, we returned to Nyabondo to teach and they gathered all the members of the church together to listen. Then, afterwards, they fed us well.

What I love is that the young children come in and sit and are quiet. Even though they don't sit with their parents, they sit as a group, they are quiet.

On May 22, the Nyabondo group plus two others were baptized. It was a great day. We had to stretch a bit to get baptismal clothing for all of them. Elder Hayes baptized them all, since he was so tall, no one else could fit into his baptismal clothes and we had no extras for someone else to wear to baptize.

It was a great sight to see them all in the baptismal service!

And then a few weeks later in June, we had our Branch's first anniversary. We are one year old! We celebrated with a historical review and some testimonies and some tasty food. The Nyabondo group brought wives and mothers and fathers to come and see where they were going.

July 6th we returned to Nyabondo and met with many of the good people there. The Branch President accompanied us. We had a sacrament-type service--even though it was a Tuesday, and then separated into meetings for men and women. Some of it was translated into Luo. There was a good spirit there. They feel like they are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint and this is their "branch" as shown by the sign:

Of course, here is where it gets difficult. Yes, we'd all love to see a branch there. But the church grows from centers of strength. Kisumu is not yet strong enough. It may be years before the church spreads that far south. And, indeed, we know people who have waited 10 or 15 years for the church to come to where they lived. Yet the people are impatient. They want the church now. I can't blame them. There is great joy and peace in making and keeping covenants with the Lord. But the Lord will not withhold blessings if the people are doing all they can to be righteous. And the new members need to learn how the church runs. They need to learn more of the doctrines of the church. In this church, you need to believe and act on specific things. "This is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent." So you need to KNOW the nature of God-- who he is, what he expects of you. Unlike many other churches, Doctrine is important.

So for now, we pray for them. They are planning on sending more people to Kisumu to be taught and baptized. If the ones already baptized keep coming, too, I know that the Lord will work miracles. This is His church. We just need to learn His will and do it.