Today was one of the highlights of our mission. We taught the Valient boys about prayer. This class is rather challenging as there are some differences in ages, plus we have 10 of them at times. They are all very knowledgeable in the gospel but they do love to talk, as boys normally do, and so we have to sit on them (figuratively speaking) during opening exercises. But I have to say our prayers are being answered. They are all bringing their scriptures, they are participating in finding their scriptures and they have been so attentive, especially this Sunday. We always try to make it interesting, throwing in activities, lots of pictures and really interesting stories so when we lose them, we change up our methods. Bro Walters usually gives the meat of the lesson as he is the expert on the scriptures and I fill in with the fun stuff.
We talked about prayer and what is appropriate to pray about and when. They all agreed that you can pray over everything that is a concern to you. The answers we got were:
1, Pray when you are afraid
2. When you need help on a test (If you studied first)
3. When you are sick (asking for a blessing)
4. So we can do better in school or sports
5. When we want our plants to grow or our animals to get well
6. When we have lost something
7. When we lose our way
8. When we have done something wrong
9. For protection during the day and night
10. When we want to thank Heavenly Father for everything
11. When we are fasting or reading the scriptures
12. When you want to feel the spirit more
I do believe that these boys know their Heavenly Father personally with answers like these. I told them a story that you might be interested in hearing. They were all ears, as it was about something that happened in Germany in 1939 before WWII. Even at that early date, the church knew that the area of Germany and Czechoslovakia and the surrounding areas would not be safe for the Missionaries, so President Wood of the Frankfurt, Germany mission told all missionaries to buy a ticket to the Netherlands and go there until they were told what to do. The problem was, that the German government told all its citizens that if they were traveling they could only carry a small amount of money. The missionaries, trying to obey the laws spent all of their money before they were to travel to the Netherlands. The Mission President got word at the last minute that the borders of the Netherlands had been closed to anyone leaving Germany. He had no way of contacting the missionaries as they were in route. he asked if there was a missionary who could try to find the other 31 missionaries and would be willing to take enough cash to buy tickets for all of them to Denmark. Elder Seibold, a missionary, volunteered to do the job, but he did not know how we would accomplish such a hard task. He was given 500 marks and train tickets to Copenhagen, Denmark. His assignment was to travel the railway lines between Frankfurt and the Netherlands, searching for the stranded missionaries. The only person he could rely on was his Heavenly Father's spirit to guide him.
After 4 hours on the train and a lot of prayers being said, he reached Cologne, Germany. He felt the spirit say to get off of the train and go to the station which was filled with thousands of people trying to flee Germany. He was impressed to whistle the hymn "Do What is Right" which was the song to signal the gathering of missionaries. Eight missionaries heard that tune and Elder Seibold sent them safely to Denmark. When he stopped at other stations he was impressed to stay on the train, and other times he was impressed to walk into town, always singing the same tune. He found 9 more and sent them to safety. The last 14 missionaries had reached the Netherlands before the border was closed but Elder Seibold did not stop searching until he received a spiritual confirmation that his assignment was complete. The story was to show the boys that because Elder Seibold prayed and listened to the spirit, all 31 missionaries were safe.
We did a lot of scripture reading about prayer. Elder Walters told the story of Enos in the Book of Mormon, how he prayed for an entire day and night. The boys said, "Did he say the same thing over and over again?" We could not answer that question but they were thinking. We went over three big words that the boys did not know ,which were hypocrites(appearing to be good when you are bad or appearing to be bad when you are good) vain repetitions( using the same words over and over again in a contrite manner) and heathen (A person that worships Idols). Then he talked about Jesus Christ and his prayer to his Heavenly Father in Gethsemane. It was at this point that Elder Walters could not hold back the tears. He bore a very strong testimony of the sacrifice that Jesus made for each of them and how it was difficult for Jesus to go through what he had to. He prayed to his Father in Heaven to let that cup pass from him but he was willing to do what his Father needed him to do. That was how much he loved us. I can testify to you that those boys felt that testimony and it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. How thankful I am that I have a husband who can share that testimony with others.
I gave each of them a picture of the Savior in Gethsemane and on the back, the Lords prayer. They were told that in this manner they should pray: First address Heavenly Father by his name, thank him for our blessings, ask for things that we need and close in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. Prayer is so important in our lives. We need to let Heavenly Father know that we still love him and appreciate the things that he has given us. We should not be afraid to talk to him as we would our own earthly father. Our concerns are his concerns and he knows all of our needs before we even ask for them. I have included a few pictures of the boys. We love them all and want to remember who they were and how they looked when we were here on our mission. A great ending to a great day.
The boys names are Joseph Milnes, Adriano Demartin, Thibault Francois, Marshall Barlow, Claudio Demartin, James Ninow, Jared Simone and Ethanael Simonet. Pictures were of all boys except Marshal he was not here on this Sunday. I will include his picture later. Love these boys.
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