My two earlier blogs about the
Banda family were intended to set the stage for this last blog. However, since Carole and I have each posted
intervening blogs, I doubt the earlier messages will have the intended effect. In any event, I would like to share some of
what transpired during our first visit with the Bandas and a few of my
impressions. Theirs was the first home
I visited; Carole had already been in several homes during earlier
compassionate sister visits. Our visit
was in the mid-afternoon, but the room was dark, the only light coming through
the front door, left slightly ajar for ventilation, and a small wood framed
window. Like most homes in the
townships flanking Mount Soche, the Bandas’ home was humble, small rooms, a
cement floor, minimal furniture, no indoor water or plumbing. It was not cozy or quaint, no fireplace,
handcrafted wood furniture, pewter platters, pitchers, and everyday plates, nothing like the vintage New England cottages
of the 1700s and 1800s. Instead, it was
barren and dusty. Yet for the Bandas, it
was home--their place of refuge from the world, however modest it might be.
Early in the conversation, we asked
the Bandas about their experiences with the Church. They have been members for just three
years. I asked if they felt the Church
had been good for them. Given that they
are stalwarts in the Zingwangwa Branch, I expected them to be positive. But I wasn’t really prepared for Brother Banda’s
response. He said that his testimony of the Church had
given him great hope Before joining the
Church, he felt despondent. But after
becoming a member, he had hope of a better world, not just for the world after this, but also for the here and now.
Perhaps, given the setting, I found
his remarks to be extremely moving. Even
now it is hard to me to capture the power of the moment. Here I was, sitting in a home more humble
than any I had ever visited, talking to a wonderful, but poor family, who face,
almost daily, challenges unlike any that either I or Carole or any of our
immediate family had ever faced, wondering how they manage to keep up their
spirits. And yet that is not how they
respond. They do not harbor in their
hearts resentment, or bitterness, or complaints. But instead, they go forth with a spirit of
hope. They find the gospel empowering.
Not surprisingly, this event
brought immediately to mind some of the well-known scriptural passages dealing
with “faith, hope and charity.” Faith, being the first principle of the
gospel, is the bedrock for both hope and charity, for without faith there is
neither hope nor charity (at least not charity as it is defined in the
scriptures). “Wherefore, if a man have
faith: he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any
hope. And again behold, I say unto you
that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart.” Moroni 7:42-43. And those who are meek and lowly of heart are
those who have charity, the pure love of Christ. And what precisely is the hope that grows out
of faith. It is the hope of every good
thing that flows from the promises of the Lord—the hope of a better world here;
of receiving the blessings that come from obedience; --the hope of being
cleansed of our sins through the atonement of Jesus Christ and of enjoying the
blessings of eternal life; --the hope of a better world in the world to come—where
there is no more death neither sorrow neither crying neither pain, for all
these former things will have passed away.
And the hope of being reunited with loved ones when we die.
There was nothing abstract or
academic or dry about Brother Banda’s belief and hope or that of his family. Here is a family whose life has been
radically changed as a result of joining the Church. Now they go forth with a new vision
of their potential. They believe they are sons and daughters of God and He cares for them. Their lives are full of meaning. They have spiritual gifts and talents that they can and should develop. The Lord promises to bless them as they are faithful and endure to the end. These are the beliefs that change individuals, and families from the inside—certainly not aid programs or narrow
humanitarian efforts. The Bandas are a
wonderful family today, but I know they will continue to be transformed, little by little, as they nurture the faith they now have.
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