Beyond the Shade of the Mango Tree: Reflections on What God Sees in Us by Edward Dube
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I enjoyed listening to this on audiobook. I find it very cute how Elder Dube mispronounces certain words, such as "Seh-eed" for "said". :)
This is basically an autobiography by Dube, but focusing on how he has come to grow in his faith in Christ, his understanding of Christ's character and gospel, and how that led him to being baptized in to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It is touching and inspiring to 'walk alongside him' in his spiritual journey and learn from the lessons he's learned. (if one so chooses)
I would not say this is a book to run out and get at all cost. But if you have the time and you wish to read/listen to an uplifting book, then this is good book to read/listen to.
Example (long one) of stories I liked reading in this book:
"The apostle Paul said: '...this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.' Paul is not the only gospel teacher who has shed this vision of our potential. I also learned it from my mother.
"In the introduction of this book I tell the story of my mother teaching me to work in our field. 'Never look back,' she said, 'look ahead and what we still have to do.' This lesson has remained with me ever since the day mother shared it. Whether she knew it or not, she was preparing me to do more than work diligently in our field. She was preparing me to embrace the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and serve in His Church. She was preparing me to make, and keep, sacred covenants. Like Paul, she was reaching forth unto those things which are before. Throughout her life she would continue teaching me to reach forth and press toward the mark.
"When I was 7 years old, my maternal grandmother died. I loved her so much, and I was heartbroken when she was no longer in our home. I was especially sad in the mornings when I sat in our kitchen. I remembered the times when grandmother cooked porridge with peanut butter for me before I went to school. One of those mornings my mother recognized my sense of loss. She felt devastated herself. The death of her dear mother, was more heartbreaking for her than it was for anyone else. But even in her sorrow she ceased the opportunity to teach me and important lesson. She stopped what she was doing, sat next to me, looked into my eyes and said: 'This is not our home. Our home is in heaven.' My mother's words comforted me and inspired my young and tender heart. They would comfort and inspire me about 28 years later when I watched helplessly as she suffered from cancer.
"For much of the time mother battled cancer she lived with my family and me. One night I hear her sobbing in her bedroom. The pain was intense, even after taking the last daily dose of morphine only 2 hours earlier. I entered the room, and sobbed with her. I prayed out loud for her to receive instant relief from her pain, and then she did the same thing she had done in the field, and in the kitchen. She stopped and taught me a lesson. I'll never forget her face at that moment, frail, stricken, and full of pain, gazing with pity on her sorrowing son. She smiled through her tears, looked up directly into my eyes and said: 'It is not up to you, or anyone else, but it is up to God whether this pain will go away or not.' I sat up quietly; she too sat up quietly. The scene remembers vivid in my mind. That night, through my mother, the Lord taught me a lesson that will stay with me forever. As my mother expressed the acceptance of God's will, I remembered the risen the Lord Jesus Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane and on Golgotha. He said, 'Behold, I have given unto you my gospel and this is the gospel which I have given unto you, that I came into the world to the will of my Father, because my Father sent me.' My mother, even in her severe pain reached out to me, showed me how to accept God's will and help me prepare to serve in the Lord's kingdom, under any circumstance. My testimony grew stronger as I came to understand more deeply my loving Savior's experience with the bitter cup that terrible night in Gethsemane, and later on the cross. His plaintiff plea and His submission to His Father established our way to salvation and set the example for us to follow: 'Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done.'
"I was not the only one blessed by my mother's influence in the final days of her life. On October 2, 1997, my mother was admitted to Parirenyatwa hospital in Arare, Zimbabwe. I watched her smile bravely in other uplifting ways to people who visited her. The nurses said she was a delight to serve because of her positive attitude. She always asked visitors to pray by her hospital bed. Even though she was frail and consumed with pain and grief, she continued to find opportunities to teach and testify of the Lord Jesus Christ. My brother, Clement, was visiting mother in the hospital one day when he told her that he had to leave for an important business meeting. He had a prestigious job with a large retail food chain in Zimbabwe. She stopped him with this question: 'Clement, are you still planning to be a pastor?' Seeing his hesitation, she reminded him that from the time he was very young he had always wanted to be a pastor. She urged him not to let the worldly things take that desire away from him. She then recited Matthew 6:33 from memory: 'But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.' Following mother's death-bed counsel, Clement gave up his job and commenced an intense course of training to become a pastor in the Methodist Church of Zimbabwe, the church she had joined late in her life. He later earned a PhD in New Testament studied, and served as Dean of the United Theological Institute of Zimbabwe.
"On the evening of October 10, 1997, I offered a prayer by my mother's bedside, along with Naume, Clement and Clement's wife, Lilian. For the first time since mother began her battle with cancer, I asked Heavenly Father to let her pass from this life if it was His will. I immediately felt peace. I knew that mother was going to die that night, but I did not tell anyone. This was a sacred experience for me. The Savior's words to His apostles just before His death sank deep in my soul: 'Let not your heart be troubled, if ye believe in God, believe also in me, in my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you; I go to prepare a place for you.' The next morning we went to the hospital. one of the nurses met us and confirmed what I had known since the night before: mother had passed away. At this time, my only sister, Teresa, was also in the hospital. She was suffering from a complication connected with the birth of her daughter Mimbai, six months earlier. Teresa died a week after mother passed away, leaving a husband and three children, Mimbai, John and Constance without a wife and mother in their home. If it were not for my mother's lessons, these two losses would have been devastating for me. Because I believed what she had taught me about looking ahead to our home in heaven and accepting God's will, I was at peace, even though I was deeply saddened. Her teachings combined with my understanding of the eternal nature of the family, comforted me. At the end of her life my mother followed the example of our Master, our Savior Jesus Christ, who looked up to His Father in every way, even when His suffering was unrelenting, even when His anguish increased, with more pressure, more torture and more agony. In His intercessory prayer He proclaimed, 'I have glorified Thee on the earth, I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do.' On the cross He cried out with a loud voice saying, 'Father, it is finished. Thy will is done.'" (Beyond the Shade of the Mango Tree by Edward Dube, Chapter 13)
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