A special family home evening

A Special Family Home Evening - March 4, 2008

We had the sweetest experience last night with the zone leaders. They took us with them to the Family Home Evening of a family that was baptized 2 1/2 weeks ago. We left at 6 pm so we walked the whole way in the pitch black with 2 flashlights down a dirt path that took at least 20 minutes to walk. We had to really watch every step because the path was full of large dried muddy ruts from past rainy days. We dodged animal droppings as we made our way. When we got to their house, we had to walk a narrow plank that was stretched across the sloshy mud of the trench that separated our walking path and their front step. I teetered and nearly fell in the mud trying to make my passage across it. The elders explained to us on the way over that all the houses in this area were squatter’s houses. The people have built shacks on land that they don’t own. This family consisted of the mother, 17, dad, 21 and 18 month old baby. Also, included in the FHE group were various little brothers of each of them. When I got to the top of the steps, I expected them to open the little wooded gate so I could pass through but soon realized it was nailed shut and I would have to step over it in my skirt.
The little brown shack, about twice the size of our shed, was made of wooden slats…no paint...no electricity, no bathroom, or running water. What they used as a refrigerator, was just a small closet. We entered the tiny living room and my eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. I could see that besides the mom and dad there were 4 darling little dark faces of the little brothers and tiny son that were present. The only light in the room was an oil lamp that hung on the wall. There were two chairs which were offered to dad and me. Dad declined to sit and offered his chair to the mother. Everyone else sat on the floor, which included the elders. Dad stood in the corner.

We began the FHE by singing. It was difficult to see the words on the pages of our little hymnbooks, but we managed and there was the sweetest feeling in the room as the FHE began. The dad prayed a beautiful prayer and then gave a short lesson he had prepared. He later told us he had been teaching the 3 young boys (about ages 5-10) about the word of wisdom every day after school. He reviewed what he had obviously taught them about the Word of Wisdom by asking each of them to name the 5 things they were to never use. They each named: alcohol, cigarettes, tea, coffee and drugs. Then, he briefly explained repentance and had them recite the 4 parts of repentance he called the “ABCD’s of repentance”. A – accept, B – be sorry, C-correct, D-don’t do it again. I’m not sure where he got that, but it works. We sang another song and all knelt to pray on the bare floor.

During the lesson some other teenage young men had quietly slipped into the small room and sat down on the hard floor to listen. Eventually, there were 12 of us huddled in this dark little room. After the prayer, we played a fun game and they all laughed and squealed and they shared two bottles of pop and some cookies the elders had brought. The spirit was so sweet in that tiny living room and I just felt so strongly how much Heavenly Father must love this faithful little family who lived in these humble circumstances and were trying so hard to live the gospel and teach it to themselves and their little brothers. We felt so privileged to be there. I’ll never forget how I felt as I witnessed that father taught his family while his 17 year old wife reaffirmed all that he taught. Wow! It felt like a Family Home Evening in some little corner of heaven.

At the end of our evening, the father led us the 20 minutes back through the pitch dark and muddy ruts of the dirt road back to the street that leads to our house and walked the rest of the way home alone. Believe me, walking back at night, with no street lights anywhere except our 2 little flashlights, is pitch dark. We met a few walkers during our walk, and we couldn’t see them until right as we passed each other.

We are very happy here. It is another world we’ve never experienced, but we are going to be fine.

Love, mom and dad