A visit to five countries in southern Africa focused on strengthening youth for temple blessings and missionary service. They held devotionals with members and missionaries, leadership training sessions, meetings with local opinion leaders, and visited members in their homes.
Sunday School General President Mark L. Pace and Brother Ahmad S. Corbitt, First Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, visited Madagascar, Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa from October 27 to November 9. .
Some of his central messages were about faith, prayer, scripture study and the redeeming power of the Savior Jesus Christ, the Church’s Africa Newsroom reported.
One of President Pace’s central focuses was helping members improve their scripture reading at home with “Come, Follow Me” as a resource. He taught the youth to choose a time of day to read the scriptures when they are alert, to pray through what they are feeling, and to pray through the scriptures.
Karayame Lekoko of the Gaborone West YSA Ward in the Gaborone Botswana Stake said he was encouraged to make his personal study more meaningful.
“When you start studying the scriptures at first, it’s a drag and it’s something you’re not used to,” he said. “But like when you open a room, it slowly fills with light until the whole room lights up; so it is with the study of the scriptures that I have learned. The more you do it, the more you’ll start to like it; the more you will begin to understand it; the more you will start to enjoy it.”
Teachers and leaders in a training session with Sunday School General President Mark L. Pace in Antananarivo, Madagascar on October 30, 2022.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Brother Ahmad S. Corbitt, first counselor in the Young Men general presidency, and his wife, Sister Jayne Corbitt, meet with missionaries at the Missionary Training Center in Roodepoort, Johannesburg, South Africa, on October 31, 2022. .
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
At a devotional for youth, their leaders, and their parents in Gaborone, Botswana, Brother Corbitt shared a story about a time he regularly visited an elderly woman with dementia. She didn’t remember, and he wondered if she was wasting her time.
“But then I remembered the times when I forgot about the Savior,” Brother Corbitt said. “I remembered the times when I forget who I am. I remember the moments when I forget my true identity and do something I shouldn’t be doing, or say something I shouldn’t be saying, or think something I shouldn’t be thinking. But the Savior and the Holy Spirit still visit me, over and over again.”
President Pace’s wife, Sister Anne Marie Pace, taught the youth to nurture their faith through simple things like reading the scriptures, praying meaningful prayers, and keeping the commandments.
“If we don’t feed our faith every day, what are we doing to our faith? We are starving,” Sister Pace said. “Every time we stay on the path of the covenants and keep the commandments, we grow in faith.”
Sister Anne Marie Pace with a primary school girl in Antananarivo, Madagascar, on October 30, 2022.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Sister Jayne Corbitt poses with missionaries in Gaborone, Botswana, on November 2, 2022.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Atsile Molefe, 16, said she felt the Spirit witness to her during the devotional. “Today I learned that faith is something that we have to exercise daily, so that it has a solid foundation,” he said.
After a leadership training session with Brother Corbitt in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, President Chrispen U. Matsetlo, first counselor in the Bulawayo Zimbabwe Stake presidency, said: “What I learned was that we must get out of the way and let Let the youth lead. They are not the future leaders; they are the current leaders”.
One such young woman, Celeste Chesa, 17, of the Bulawayo Zimbabwe Stake, said she felt blessed by the special opportunity to hear from Church leaders.
“I am happy that I came. I would never have had this experience anywhere else,” she said.
Sunday School General President Mark L. Pace and Sister Anne Marie Pace sing during an instructional session in Antananarivo, Madagascar on October 30, 2022.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
