We had a great baptism last Sunday. Olumba Somtochukwu was baptized! He is from Nigeria and has lived here for 5 years. Everyone in the branch stayed to celebrate his baptism. He has a great testimony of prayer. His eyes are closed here so I think he must be praying:-)
For Zone conference we went to the Kykkos Monastery in the Troodos Mountains. We visited before but this time the memorial to President Markarios III was open. We enjoyed the views AND a history lesson.
When the British colonialists granted Cypriots independence in 1960, Cypriots fought over who they would align with, the Turks or the Greeks. In 1974 on the verge of a civil war, Turkey stepped in and claimed north Cyprus, displacing more than 150,000 Greek Cypriots and 50,000 Turkish Cypriots. To this day, Cyprus is a divided island. Peace is maintained only through a UN buffer zone that effectively keeps the two parties from engaging in war. President Markarios III, and more recently Kofi Annan of the UN, were unable to create peace and a shared identity in Cyprus.
Many people here still remember the Turkish invasion in 1974. On July 20th we awoke to sirens blaring! We didn’t realize that Cypriots remember the Turkish invasion every July 20th by sounding their air raid sirens at 5:30 in the morning! Emotions run high, the loss is still felt.
At Kykkos Monastery I also saw many pictures of saints and I could even read the names in Greek! Let’s see if you can too. All their names are printed to the right of their heads – except for the freebie. Go slow. The answers are under the last pictures. Don’t look before you guess….
- Stephanos – Stephen, stoned in Jerusalem.
- Barnabas – the most famous saint because he is a friend of Paul and a Cypriot!
- Freebie! Mary and her holy child, Jesus.
- Markos – The writer of the Gospel of Mark.
- Lazarus – local legend has it that he fled to Cyprus from Jerusalem. Apparently people in Jerusalem thought they could kill Lazarus and then the miracle of Jesus raising the dead would be forgotten.
Back to the baptism — I had a great time explaining to Olumba about Hesed. As a newly baptized member Olumba is a partaker of the New and Everlasting Covenant that binds him to Jesus Christ. President Nelson explains this wonderful gift of love, strength and hope.
Because God has hesed for those who have covenanted with Him, He will love them. He will continue to work with them and offer them opportunities to change. He will forgive them when they repent. And should they stray, He will help them find their way back to Him. (“The Everlasting Covenant,” Liahona
, Oct. 2022, 6)
The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is Truly Awesome!!
krhofhiens.com 