The Solution: The Gospel

Later that Sunday I went with the senior couple, Elder and Sister Rix, to visit an investigator named Jonathon. I also went with a member of our team, McKay, because he is helping to give this man piano lessons. I just needed to be there as another HELP team member, but I really enjoyed sitting in. The man lived in a very small one-room home, whose bed was partitioned off by a sheet. He and his wife and two children were very kind, and the fact that mzungus were in the neighborhood was somewhat of a novelty. We could tell because several of the neighborhood kids came in and just sat down as quietly as could be to watch what would happen with us. The lesson went well, and afterwards I even gave Jonathon a brief English lesson because he said he wanted to improve his English. We weren’t even teaching a gospel lesson, but something about being with the senior couple, and talking periodically about gospel-related things, brought with it a wealth of good feelings, as I acknowledged the blessings that the gospel has given me. I thought about all the good things and projects that our HELP team is accomplishing right now. 920 hours are given each week by the team to help empower the people of Mbale and eradicate poverty. But all of that just paled in comparison to the rich blessings and perspective that only the gospel can bring. I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes from Preach My Gospel: “Only the Gospel can save the world from the calamity of its own self-destruction.” No amount of NGOs in an area can erase poverty. No amount of funds could help to feed the world for a lifetime, and no amount of time would be enough to remove the pain and sickness and “calamity” of the world. However, the atonement of Jesus Christ, and the fullness of His gospel and Priesthood power, could do more to bring happiness and peace to our troubled world than all our earthly powers combined.

Don’t get me wrong- I don’t feel that my time here is wasted and I believe the Lord allows us to be His hands for a time. But, as much as I try to give to the people of Uganda, it will never be as healing as the gospel, or as joyous as the “good news” of Jesus Christ.