A Single Candle in the Night Provided the Light that I Might Teach

A single candle in the night
Provided the light that I might teach
Deep in Africa I gained insight
Of how far the gospel now does reach

In this humble home far away
To a people lacking so much
I brought God's riches...we did pray
Words brightened, hearts were touched

Accepting the message...are the meek
Soon to rise up as a tender seed
Having found heavenly treasure man's to seek
Truly, what more could a home need?

Passing on a single candle...
For sight to ponder in the night
How, the word of God... given to handle
Brightly warms us with love and light

Called to Serve in Africa
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http://calledtoserveinafrica.wordpress.com/

"Street contacting in Botswana usually proved to be a fairly effective way to find more people to teach, and a good part of our teaching took place in the evening. It got dark early in Botswana at this time of year, since they had no daylight savings time, and many homes were without electricity. When this was the case, we would teach either by candle-light or paraffin lamp.
There’s a unique feeling that comes of sharing the gospel by fire-light. Perhaps it is because throughout history this was how the gospel was taught. Electric lighting is a new invention. In Christ’s time, and even in Joseph Smith’s time, the gospel would have been taught by fire or lamp."


"I remember being filled with a sense of wonder while teaching in those circumstances. Here I was, in one of the most remote areas of the world, speaking to complete strangers, teaching the most important message in the whole world by the light of a single candle; without electricity, without the conveniences we have in America, and in some cases to people without formal education. Yet these beautiful people were receiving the most important lesson in the history of the world – the message of Jesus Christ.
Stricken by such poverty that they couldn’t even afford to send their children to school, yet those who accepted the gospel had more than the richest and most schooled people in the world who don’t accept it. These people were a testimony to the fact that if you have the gospel and live by it, you have all you need."