Superman being able to serve on the High Council is such a blessing for our family. Today we both spoke in our Home Ward. I spoke on Service and he spoke on,
I wasn't listening I don't remember. ;)
Here is most of my talk, including the two pages my printer didn't print and I didn't realize, until I was at the pulpit (awesome).....
You can just read the
red type if you want the Coles/Cliff notes version. :)
I had left my five energetic
preschoolers in the charge of a young babysitter...
As I rounded the corner home I saw
the truck that belonged to the babysitters dad in our driveway, I will tell you
that this is NEVER a good sign...
I walked in the front door of our
tiny farm house, first I saw Dallyn, covered in paint, naked in the kitchen
sink, as the baby sitters dad is desperately trying to scrub the paint off him,
I then see the four girls, equally doused in paint, all crammed in the bathtub
of our only bathroom, the babysitter trying to scrub the paint off of them...
There is a quick a explanation,
apology and exit of the dad and the baby sitter. And I am suddenly standing
alone in the middle of the paint catastrophe of 2000...My ingenious and
semi-supervised toddlers had spilled a gallon of paint, meant for the living
room walls all over the brand new floor in the dining room and then proceeded
to play in and track the paint through
every room on the main floor of our home...
I started to cry, sob really.
the phone rang, it was Sister K
my visiting teacher..."there is paint everywhere I said through
tears...."
"I'll be right over" Sister K said as I hung up
She was there in minutes and helped
scrub the paint off my kids and helped me put them in bed...
We then spent hours scrubbing the
paint off the floors, cutting the dried paint out of the shag carpet and
eventually my tears of frustration had turned to laughter at the absurdity of
it all...Sister Kunkel told me of all the crazy things her young kids had done
and that I too, just like she had done would survive parenting toddlers.
In President Henry B Eyring conference talk in October 2013,
"Bind Up Their Wonds"
In
the Lord’s words the Samaritan, when he saw the wounded man, stopped because
“he had compassion.”
More
than only feeling compassion, he acted. Always remember the specifics of the
account:
“And
[he] went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him
on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
“And
on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the
host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more,
when I come again, I will repay thee.”1
Pres. Erying then shares these three promises, we are all
entitled to, when we act as the Good Samaritan did.
First,
the Lord will give you, if you ask, the feelings of compassion He feels for
those in need. Second, He will provide others, like the innkeeper, to join with
you in your service. And third, the Lord, like the good Samaritan, will more
than recompense all who join in giving help to those in need
....Pres Erying then
continues...
I was the first assistant in a
priests quorum. The bishop called me one day at my home. He said that he wanted
me to go with him to visit [members in] great need. He said he needed me.
As I waited for him to pick me up
at my home, I was troubled. I knew the bishop had strong and wise counselors.
One was a famous judge. The other ran a large company and would later become a
General Authority. The bishop himself would someday serve as a General
Authority. Why was the bishop saying to an inexperienced priest, “I need your
help”?
Well, I know better now what he
might have said to me: “The Lord needs to bless you.”
my bishop took me with him to the
home of alcoholic parents who sent two frightened little girls to meet us at
the door. After he visited with the two little girls, we turned away and he
said to me, “We can’t change the tragedy in their lives yet, but they can feel
that the Lord loves them.”
“We can’t change the tragedy in
their lives yet, but they can feel that the Lord loves them.”
At one time in my life my twin Sister
and I were those two frighten girls on the door step...
Circumstances beyond my control
had led to a home full of chaos, nothing was predictable and Kelli and I were
often left without supervision or necessities of life....
After school one day we arrived
home to a front door left wide open...scared to go inside, we went to Sister
Hyde's house, she live on the cul de sac behind us and was my Mom's visiting
teacher, but my mom had never let her in.
Sister Hyde came back to our
house, and made sure it was safe to go inside...."Girls, does it always
look like this?? "Sister Hyde said kindly..."Yes" we answered
unaware that there was anything wrong with the
piles of garbage and stuff everywhere and the mountain of dirty dishes
in the kitchen....
"Are you sure you are
ok??" She asked again
"Yes, yes!!!" we
reassured her as she reluctantly left us.
A few hours later, after my mom
had come home, there was a soft knock on the door...
Kelli and I opened it. It was
Sister Hyde, mop bucket and mop in hand....
Over the next few hours Sister
Hyde, cheerfully and kindly helped my mom clean....
My mom was embarrassed and even
annoyed that Sister Hyde had come over and it didn't take long for the house to
return to chaos, but for those few hours Kelli and I felt safe and cared for.
Sister Hyde couldn't change the
tragedy in our lives yet, but through her we felt the love our Heavenly Father
has for us.
Pres. Eyring continues.....
There
is another preparation we must make. It is a human characteristic to become
hardened to the pains of others. That is one of the reasons why the Savior went
to such lengths to tell of His Atonement and of His taking upon Himself the
pains and sorrows of all of our Heavenly Father’s children that He might know
how to succor them.
Even
the best of Heavenly Father’s [children]
do not rise to that standard of compassion easily. Our human tendency is
to be impatient with the person who cannot see the truth that is so plain to
us. We must be careful that our impatience is not interpreted as condemnation
or rejection.
As
we prepare to give succor for the Lord.... there is a scripture to guide us. It
contains a gift we will need for our journey, wherever the Lord will send us.
The good Samaritan had that gift. We will need it, and the Lord has told us how
we can find it:
“Wherefore,
my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never
faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all
things must fail—
“But
charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found
possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
“Wherefore,
my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye
may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true
followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear
we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this
hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure.”3
One of my most sacred experiences
with service happened on a very dark day....my sweetheart had become very ill,
requiring hospitalization, our small town hospital was not equipped to handle
his needs and I watched as the ambulance pulled away, transferring him to a hospital
45 minutes away. The fear and uncertainty was overwhelming as I walked the two
blocks home. "Daddy's too sick to come home tonight" I had to tell my five confused toddlers....
Minutes after arriving home,
there was a soft knock on my door ....My visiting teacher Sister H
stood there, knees still dirty from working in her garden....
They took Grant to Lethbridge, I
barely got the words out...Sister H took me in her arms and just held
me as I sobbed, there were no words, she just held me. Once I had gained some
control she sat and held my hand as I pour out my heart, all the fear and
worries flooded out as she listen....she couldn't fix any of it, but in her
arms I knew I wasn't alone....
Sister K, Sister Hyde and
Sister H all knew what it meant to "succor for the Lord" and
my family has been forever blessed by theirs and many others kind acts of
service.
TESTIMONY
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
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