A CALL TO RESCUE

MISSIONARY MOMENTS By Elder Oweka Bob Patrick Ghana Accra West Mission When I was a little boy, I spent a lot of my time with my grandparents. As a tradition in Uganda, if you want your grandparents to tell you their stories or help you with answers to your questions, you have to collect firewood and kindle fire for them in the evening to warm themselves due to coldness at evening times.
As we gathered together as a family warming ourselves one day, a question came into my mind that I should ask my grandfather, “Why do we have different churches with different names?” My father was a pastor, and my grandparents had their N6 Liahona own church too, so I wondered: “why couldn’t we just go to my father’s or theirs as one family?” This question made my grandfather ponder for a moment to have a small boy like me ask such a question, because I was only 11 years.
My grandfather then replied, “Everybody has their own beliefs, but indeed there is truth out there—the truth that can answer all questions in life, the truth that can open our understanding about the Savior and His teachings, and the truth that can set us free, but for me as your grandfather I can’t tell you which one is true or not. I will advise you as time goes by to search for this truth you shall find it because the Savior taught us if we seek, we shall find.
So my grandson, as time goes by, search for this truth. You shall find it.” This remarkable reply from my grandfather has helped me to search for that truth that can answer all my questions, the truth that can set me free, bring light into my family, and most of all the truth that can bind us together as a family forever for eternity. With time, I decided to act upon what my grandfather had told me: if I search for the truth, I shall indeed find it.
One day a friend from primary school asked me to join them in going about showing a movie about the life of the Savior to win souls for Christ. At first it was interesting, but later I started to think about those who were touched by the movie and how we could fellowship them to keep their faith strong in the Savior.
I came to know that I had a zeal to serve God, but not according to their way of doing things, so I discontinued going for the cinema. A few years later I lost my grandparents and my father as well, but still my grandfather’s words stuck with me and I knew that one day I would find the truth I was searching for. One day my grandfather came to me in a dream. We were rearing cattle, and he fell in cow dung and started sinking and calling for my help.
I wasn’t strong enough to lift him out as I was about also to sink with him. He asked me to leave him and call for my uncle so that both of us could lift him out, but I told him that my uncle was in the city. With a loud voice he said, “Go to the city and call for your uncle to come and help.” I was so terrified when I woke up that I was drenched in sweat.
The next morning I telephoned my uncle to ask if all was well. He replied in the affirmative and said he was about to call me because he had found a job for me, so I should come to the city. A few weeks later I journeyed to the city. I told my uncle about the dream I had about my grandfather. He dismissed it, saying it was just a dream, but still the dream was in my mind. The next morning I went to my uncle’s library to write an application for the job. As I sat down, I noticed two pamphlets: “The Gospel of Jesus Christ” and “The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” At first, reading about the gospel of Jesus Christ wasn’t clear to me, but when I started reading about the Restoration, I came to find out the cause of division among the believers. I was so interested in the message of the Restoration, I yearned for more. I didn’t have my uncle’s support, but I pursued my plans for the search of happiness, and the Lord was able to guide me.
I met with the missionaries who taught me all I needed to know. Most importantly, I prayed about their message and I came to know that was the reason I came to the city. I shared my dream with them, and they told me my grandfather had found and accepted the gospel. I had work to do for my grandparents by being baptized on their behalf. A few months later, I was baptized and confirmed on March 17, 2013, as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I served as branch clerk and seminary teacher in my branch. On April 18, 2014, I was called to labor in the Ghana Accra West Mission, serving with my awesome mission president, President Hill and Sister Hill, who have helped me to become an instrument in the hands of the Lord to bring His children back to His fold. Before I came to the mission field, I was able to perform temple ordinance for my grandparents and my father. What joy and happiness I felt as I came out of the holy temple of our God! One day my grandfather came again to me in a dream where we had gathered as a family happily sharing stories. Since then I can’t stop feeling their love, knowing that they are happy waiting for the day of Resurrection.
I know missionary work is not just two years or 18 months. Just as Elder M. Russell Ballard points out, “‘RM’” doesn’t mean ‘retired Mormon!’” (“The Greatest Generation of Young Adults,” Liahona, May 2015, 69). I know when I complete my mission, I will be a returned soldier, having faced a lot of trials and challenges, which experience will give me courage to take the light of the truth to my families and friends who are perishing in unbelief, as Lehi did with his family in the Book of Mormon (see 1 Nephi 8:12).
The Savior taught: “Of him unto whom much is given much is required” (D&C 82:3). I bear my witness that missionary work is divine, that this is what the Lord has prepared for us from the foundation of the world. What a blessing it is for us to labor under the supervision of the Holy Ghost! We are here for a reason—to rescue our brothers and sisters so they can enjoy the same blessings we have. Start preparing to serve a mission today. Remember, the field is white indeed ready for harvest, the Lord is waiting for you to labor in His vineyard. Tarry no more!