Serve

Elders let me tell you a story...

As a young professor, before he became an Apostle, in the height of the deadly diphtheria epidemic of 1892, Elder Talmage discovered a family of strangers, not members of the Church, who lived near him and who were stricken by the disease. No one wanted to put themselves at risk by going inside the infected home. Elder Talmage, however, immediately proceeded to the home. He found four children: a two-and-a-half-year-old dead on the bed, a five-year-old and a ten-year-old in great pain, and a weakened thirteen-year-old. The parents were suffering from grief and fatigue. Elder Talmage dressed the dead and the living, swept the rooms, carried out the soiled clothing, and burned filthy rags covered with the disease. He worked all day and then returned the next morning. The ten-year-old died during the night. He lifted and held the five-year-old. She coughed bloody mucus all over his face and clothes. He wrote, “I could not put her from me,” and he held her until she died in his arms. He helped bury all three children and arranged for food and clean clothing for the grieving family. Upon returning home, Brother Talmage disposed of his clothes, bathed in a zinc solution, quarantined himself from his family, and suffered through a mild attack of the disease.

We are asked to show compassion in the most trying times at our personal risk. As members of the Lord's church, we will be asked to visit the sick and infirm. Jesus took time to visit and heal lepers. For some, the acts changed their lives, for others, they changed those around them. Heaven watches how we are changing our world. Words and actions move and change us as it does others. Elder Talmage took a personal risk to save others. So that raises the question of what we are doing to change and help others. As a missionary, I experienced an earthquake while in Thousand Oaks. We spent days helping the Red Cross help the homeless and injured gain a little respite in their trial. I pray that you are seeing yourself as a representative of Christ in all things. Everyone who turns you away, call a blessing from heaven for them. Seek to say bless you and be a blessing to those in your field. Remember, the field is white, ready to harvest (D&C 4). Be the sunshine that will cause the blossom to bloom, and in times you can't direct the light of Christ, where and when you are weak. God knows your weaknesses, but remember, he knows your strength too. 

I pray for you and the saints in your field. The investigators will seek you out. I promise.