The Fruits of his Labours

Sedrick Tshiambwe has been an active member of the LDS Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo for many years. He has a testimony and a desire to serve the Lord as a missionary.  Often when we want to serve the Lord we have to show our desire by working hard, and Sedrick is not afraid of hard work. His family did not have the money to send him on a mission so he had to earn it himself, but jobs are hard to come by in his country.

He feels blessed because he had a bicycle. It was old, but it was a treasure to him.  For many years he pushed or rode his bicycle to market every day (18 miles each way) to sell bananas to earn money. He transported 200 pounds of bananas with each trip, sold them for the best price he could get, and then rode back for more bananas. Each one way trip took about an hour and a half. He made $3 per trip, and with the money he earned, he bought food, made any necessary bicycle repairs, and saved the rest for his mission.

Passports in the DRC are expensive, so his savings went towards paying for one. The hard work that he did was good preparation for his mission which he is currently serving at the age of 27 in his home country. He will be able to work well as he serves the Lord, and he will learn further skills as he is given opportunities to teach and lead. He learned diligence, perseverance, and patience as he slowly saved, all of which will serve him well as a missionary for the Lord.

Sedrick’s determination is evident. After many years of working to save for his mission, he will labour for the Lord in an equally determined way. He has learned not to give up, and this is fuelled by his strong desire to share the gospel with others. When he returns from his mission he will have many qualities which will stand him in good stead as a leader in the church, with his future family, and within the community.

By his hard work he has shown what is important to him. The fruits of his labours as he serves his mission will be sweet to him, and those fruits will last a lifetime, and bless and benefit his nation.