Fishers of Men

From an interview with Elder Teruo Melus of the Canada Vancouver Mission

Elder Melus finds life as a missionary in British Columbia, Canada easier than his life in his South Pacific homeland Palau Micronesia. “Here in the mission, we sleep on beds. I didn’t in Palau. At home, I woke around midnight to go spear fishing with my family. Fish are active during the day but sleep in the night. That’s the best time to fish,” he explains. Then at 4:30 a.m. he went into the fields with his mother to help with the garden before she and his father went to work for the day. “It was really hard, but that’s what we did to provide for the family of six children. We have no fridge, so we fish every day.” Elder Melus made dramatic life-changing decisions after realizing that his wayward life needed straightening out. Now he rises early for the Lord transitioning from fisherman to a fisher of men.

“ Before I became a member of the Church I didn’t know God and Jesus Christ or my purpose here on earth,” Elder Melus begins. He’d fallen into troubling ways. While lying in a hospital bed recovering from injuries received in one of many fights, his parents came and chastised him for the course his life had taken. They told him, “If you don’t want to listen to us, we don’t want any more to do with you.” When he walked out of the hospital five hours later he found all his possessions in a heap at the hospital door. He sat beside them for three hours thinking about why he was in that situation. “Something clicked in my mind—I needed to change. I thought of my Christian uncle, he is always happy. I needed to figure out if he could help me.”

“I just came from hospital and I want to change. Can you help me?” Elder Melus asked his Uncle. Assured by Elder Melus sincerity, the uncle retrieved a big book. “This is what you call the Bible. This can change your life, read it.” Uncle said.

Elder Melus recalls, “I read it for two weeks, but nothing changed in me. I returned it to Uncle and told him, ‘nothing’s changed’. Uncle taught me to pray and act on the things I read. As I did things slowly changed. I prayed and I felt myself changing, but I needed something to guide me. My uncle said, ‘Keep praying.’ I told my parents I wanted to change, but they didn’t believe me. I stayed at my Auntie’s house reading the Bible and praying for someone to come to me and help me be a better person. Two weeks later I heard a knock at the door. There stood two sisters missionaries. ‘We are missionaries,’ they said. ‘We teach people about Jesus Christ.’ I heard this and believed my prayers were answered,” Elder Melus said. “My heart was pricked. I managed to say, ‘You are here at the right time because I want to change.’ I told them I couldn’t step forward with all my sins. They taught me to repent. As I repented things changed and I felt forgiven.

I told my parents about my lessons with the missionaries and my changes, but my parents still didn’t believe me. The sisters kept teaching me and invited me to be baptized. At my baptism, I cried all night and into the morning and prayed 10-12 times because I felt so good. One week later I realized the gospel changes lives and I wanted to share it. I asked the missionaries for pamphlets and pictures of Christ and went around telling people how to change their lives. Some of my friends saw I’d changed. I gave them a picture of Christ and invited them to change. After a month, two of them came to me and asked how to join the Church. I taught them to pray and read scriptures and called the sisters to teach them. I soon baptized them. Two other friends wanting to change were also baptized.

Going from bad to good is a big difference. I went to see my parents and told them I’d really changed, that I didn’t drink or do drugs, they still didn’t trust me. Soon I felt like I wanted to go on a mission. I called a missionary couple and told them, ‘I want to change people’s lives—I want to serve a mission.’ I didn’t know how to use a computer so they gave me a paper application. The missionary couple told me to tell my parents, but I knew they wouldn’t believe me.

After three months I received my call. I took the missionary couple with me to surprise my family. I didn’t know that my parents were members of the Church already. They hadn’t been to church for a while. I knocked three times before my father opened the door. ‘Go away we don’t want you to come here anymore,’ my dad said. I showed them my mission call and told them, ‘I’m going to be a missionary.’ It took the missionary couple to convince them. My mom and dad started crying. ‘Mom and dad I tell you the truth I am changed and going to serve a mission.’ My parents asked if I really wanted to do this. They pointed out that I didn’t have white shirts, pants, ties, scriptures anything. I told them I just wanted to serve a mission. They said they couldn’t help because they didn’t have any money. I said, ‘Okay, I will trust Heavenly Father. He will support me’.

I didn’t ask for anything from anyone at church, but in December one of the missionaries gave me some luggage. One week later the missionaries gave me six pairs of pants and some ties. At church, the missionary couple gave me a white shirt. After that people started giving me stuff like extra socks and a suit. My uncle gave me a watch. I didn’t have any cash, but I still trusted the Lord.

Two hours before I left for my mission, standing in front of my house hugging everyone goodbye a member whose son is serving a mission came by and handed me an envelope with cash. I thought it was $20-30, but at the airport when I looked in the envelope I found five hundred dollars. I realized I had everything I needed to serve a mission. I went into the washroom, locked the door, kneeled down and gave thanks. I was so happy. I said goodbye to my family and flew to the mission office in Guam to be set apart. Canada is cold and I didn’t have a coat. Two senior missionary couples took me to a mall and bought me a warm coat and two sweaters.

When I arrived at the MTC in Manila I only spoke three English words. When I got to Canada my english was still poor and my first companion had a hard time with that. Learning was difficult for me. I read the scriptures and prayed for help. One morning I read ‘And if a man come unto me I will show unto them their weakness...’ (Ether 12:27). I prayed for humility. Two days later I could connect words into sentences. That first seven months I learned English really fast.”

Before Elder Melus left Micronesia his Branch President told him to learn English well so he could help complete the translation of the Book of Mormon into his native language when he came home. Before he left Elder Melus was promised that his family would be blessed.

He recently received word that his brother, who previously resisted any association with the Church was baptized and is now going out to help the missionaries teach lessons. Elder Melus plans to study medicine after his mission. Until then he is happy to go into the baptismal water as part of God’s army of “fishers of men”.

Link: http://canada.lds.org/two-white-shirts