Here's excerpts my talk from the evening session of Stake Conference.
This is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We often talk about the Church, we talk about our Savior Jesus Christ, and we talk about the restoration of the gospel in the latter days. I’m not going to talk about those right now. Today I want to talk about being Saints. In some religions, saints refer to those who performed great deeds long ago, and who were later beatified. But that’s not us.
We call ourselves saints, and I want to talk about what it takes for you and me to be saints today. I would suggest that we can become saints in this the latter-day by finding the right answers to the right questions.
We each need to ask ourselves, why am I here? If some of you were to respond to this question you might say, “I’m here to go to school”. Others would say, “Because my husband or wife’s in school. Some of you might say, “Because I got a good job.”
But we need to look deeper. Why am I here? Some of you might respond, “I’m here because I was called to serve as a primary teacher, or relief society counselor, or as a home teacher.”
That’s not enough. Why am I here? Maybe I’m here because this is where the Lord wants me to be. Maybe I have a unique skill or insight that no one else has.
We’re getting closer, but we need to look deeper. Why am I here? Who does the Lord want me to help? OK, I’m the father, or I’m the mother, or the friend.
Yes, but why am I here? What does the Lord want me to do?
By asking and answering these three questions, Why am I here? Who does the Lord want me to help? And What does the Lord want me to do? each of us can become true saints.
Let me share with you a couple of examples of saints here in our Stake. The first is the story of many youth leaders in the stake and congregations. There are many who have played a role in helping the youth of this stake to gain a testimony of the gospel, develop friendships with other young members of the church, keep themselves morally and physically pure, and make it to a point where they can secure a long-term footing in the church. Whether it was seminary teachers, Sunday teachers, youth leaders, home teachers or just interested saints, many have demonstrated their saintly qualities by reaching out to these youth. I believe that for graduating high school students in New England a strong foundation for living the gospel is best built by either attending a university, college or technical school, where there is a strong institute and student congregation program, or by attending one of the church sponsored universities or colleges. Of the 22 graduating seniors this year, 12 are going to
BYU or
BYU Idaho, 5 are going to colleges in this area where they will participate in the Cambridge institute, 1 will participate in the Hartford institute and 2 are going on missions for the church. Nearly all of the graduating seniors have been anchored in a church college or institute or are going on missions. Several Saints have devoted hundreds of hours of time, numerous prayers, and some have even spent their own money for these youth to travel to
BYU and
BYU Idaho. Because of their faithful service as saints, the lives of these youth will forever be changed. These saints answered the questions: Why am I here, who does the Lord want me to help, and what should I do.
Let me share a current personal story from our Daughter, Sister Heather Low, who arrived in Hungary last Monday to begin her service in country as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In sharing this story, I want to be honest, not overcritical nor overly positive. I’m obviously biased in my love of Heather, but I also know that she is far from perfect. But for a short time on her mission, she has acted like a Saint. Heather is our youngest. She is the most determined of our children, and a talented singer. Being a former Belmont High School lead in a couple of the plays, she knows how to command center stage. Like most 21 year
olds, she has learned a single note for 21 years. Do,
ra, mi. Mi. Mi. Me. It’s all about me. It’s the same note that most young single adults know very well. And being the youngest in our family, she was very determined to show everyone that she could stand on her own two feet. Before missionaries serve on their missions, they are trained in the
MTC or Mission Training Center in Provo, Utah. Here, they learn how to teach the gospel and if necessary, a foreign language. In Heather’s first letters from the
MTC, we heard about how excited she was to be there, and how hard it was to learn Hungarian. When reality set in, she shared about how her companion frustrated her and
didn’t understand her or appreciate her sense of humor. But then something changed. She asked herself, why am I in this situation, and what am supposed to learn? Who does the Lord want me to help? What does the Lord want me to do? She came to the conclusion and shared with us in her emails that she was there to learn to love her companion unconditionally. As she did this, she wrote to us and told us that it was challenging, but she knew that it was what she was supposed to do. She
didn’t know why she was supposed to do this, but she knew she should and she did it. And then everything really changed and she knew why she was there, who she was supposed to help, and what God wanted her to do. Let me read from her email of April 29
th. The subject of the email is “You put the lime in the coconut…”
“I know I say that all my weeks are bizarre and the most amazing weeks ever, but it's actually true about this one.
“It all started with a cough. Which became an ear-ache. Which became overdosed on
tylenol, which became muscles spasms, which became the ER, which led us to Valium, which led to wheelchairs, and tears. And what we ended up with was a black widow spider. Confused yet? Welcome to my world. Luckily, none of this happened directly to me. I was merely the crutch. But my poor companion, Sister
Yarbro, went through all of these since I last wrote. It's been a really stressful and upsetting week. Sister
Yarbro's really sensitive to medicine so taking 2
tylenol did quite a number on her. She was completely incoherent, not lucid, even crazy. It would have been pretty funny if it hadn't been so scary.
Ok - so it was a little funny. But pretty soon after the ear ache and being loopy she started having uncontrollable muscle spasms in her torso. That's when it got really frightening, because I didn't know what was happening, and because she was my responsibility. I had to make the call about when to go to the doctor, when to forbear, when to insist she that she go to the ER. It was a lot of responsibility. And if I messed up, I would have an incapacitated missionary on my hands. Yikes.
“So after the shakes started (I called it dancing because the word seizing freaked her out), we waited it out for a bit. But then I could wait no more and I insisted we call the doctor again (we'd just called him) and he told us to go to the emergency. It was my first time off of
MTC campus in 10 weeks, but I
couldn’t appreciate the moment with a seizing companion in my arms. So we were in the ER, they put her on
valium (which was quite funny) and she stopped shaking. We were there for about 6 hours, and got home around 2 am. So the missionary schedule is pretty much out the window these days (with permission of course, we’re not rule breakers here). I've been spending every minute taking care of Sister
Yarbro, and I realize how my epiphany the week before was God really preparing me for what was coming. It was good timing.
“SO we kept her on Valium for a couple of days, helped her move around; she slept most of the days, and I just stayed in missionary attire in the room studying for a couple of days. It didn't seem to be getting any better, even last night. But we had an appointment with the doctor today and we were able to finally find a little bite on her arm. This is what we'd been praying for because a spider bite would explain everything. So yes, there is a black widow spider in my room. Did anyone ever think they I would be excited and relieved to hear that?! But I was. It means that the venom's almost done racking her body, we are moving out of our room, and pretty soon Sister
Yarbro will be back to being herself.
“So yeah - that's pretty much been the whole week. There are a lot of funny stories I could tell about Sister
Yarbro. We were able to find the humor throughout, and yeah, we cried a lot. We weren't sure how permanent it was, if she was going to be delayed or sent state side. But things are really looking good. We're very excited. I've got to run just now.
“I love you all.
“Heather”
Let me share a few words from Sister
Yarbro to her family, written on the same date, April 29
th.
“On Sunday evening I started shaking a lot about 7:30 which turned into muscle spasms. Sister Low insisted we go to the on-call doctor and he said to take 3
advil. I did that but, the spasms kept getting worse. Sister Low read the Book of Mormon the whole time waiting for the
advil to kick in, but they got worse and... Sister Low was inspired to call the doctor again. I was taken to the ER, as we waited they got progressively worse. There was a TV on in the waiting room that was blaring, so Sister Low read scriptures to me the entire time. (just two missionaries in the corner). Poor thing, I tried to tell Sister Low that I looked worse than I felt - my whole body would jerk, but it didn't hurt really until the end when my muscles were tired out. Sister Low asked President Johnson to come for a blessing. He and his wife came even though it was 11:20 at night. I can't begin to thank my Heavenly Father enough for Sister Low. She has been amazing throughout all this - constantly serving and putting her own needs aside. I know Heavenly Father put us together for so many reasons. She has been my angel these last few days. She prayed with me, read scriptures to me, tickled my arm, and let me fall asleep on her (while she hummed hymns the whole time). We got back on campus about 2am exhausted!”
Let me read from Heather’s letter May 6
th,a week later.
“It has been a more than crazy Preparation Day, and last week in the
MTC. I'm exhausted.
“Unfortunately Sister
Yarbro has not improved and the
MTC is sending her home. She was bit by a black widow spider, but complications from that bite are going to prohibit her from serving a mission right now, and from ever serving in Hungary. So it's been a pretty sad week as we've gone from doctor to doctor to try and figure out and solve these complications, and then as the final news came. But we're all so grateful that we had the opportunity to know each other at all. I know that we have grown especially close in the last three weeks, and I'm so grateful for the things that I learned from her. She's disappointed, as am I - but we know God's in it.
“Today's the last Preparation DAY before the field, so I went to the temple for the last time in 15 months. I was sad, but I was so focused on helping Sister
Yarbro (who’s in a wheelchair now) that I didn't really have a chance to think about what it was meaning for me. I think that's for the best. It's better to serve and love others when things could be potentially hard - that's what I've learned from the
MTC.
“So I head out on Monday. I'm excited. And really scared. With all this stuff that's been going on with Sister
Yarbro, I haven't been able to go to class hardly at all. That's been hard. I hope that I learned enough in the first 10 weeks so that I could afford this kind of time away from the language. Either way I'm headed for complete immersion.
“As I reflect on my experience at the
MTC, The most important think that I’
ve learned is how to sacrifice, and put others first. It turns out I'm pretty selfish, and I never even really knew it.
“I love you all so much. Thanks for the letters and support - you don't know how much it's meant to me. I feel like I'm growing up (FINALLY). I'm becoming who God needs me to be. I'm so excited to love the people in Hungary.
“Please pray for me
“
Ok. Times out.
“Love
“Sister Low”
Let me share one more letter from Sister
Yarbro’s mother to my wife Laurie that was sent earlier this week, after she picked up her daughter to take her home from the
MTC.
“Dear Laurie,
“Things have been a little crazy on this end, as I'm sure you can imagine, but I wanted to write and tell you that it was a sincere joy to meet your daughter Heather.
“She was bright and enthusiastic (as I'm sure you all remember her) but for me as a mother, it was very sobering to observe our 'girls' as a companionship--there was something quiet and deep shared between them. Our daughter who's always been the 'big sister', quick to serve and love all in need around her, had to resign her heart to 'being cared for' and that was a battle for her... but then to watch as Heather was so instinctively 'tuned into' her needs while we all wheeled around the
MTC ...bless her... bless them both...it was simply apparent that something extraordinary had taken place in each of them individually as they navigated this 'emergency situation' side by side.
“Thanks so much.
“Patty
Yarbro.”
If we examine the answers to the three questions, we can see it takes work to find the right answers. Why was Heather in the
MTC? She thought she was there to learn Hungarian and learn to teach the gospel as a missionary. She found out that she was really there to learn to forget herself in the Lord. Who did the Lord want her to help? She thought that she was there in preparation for helping the Hungarian people. She found out that she was there to help Sister
Yarbro. What did the Lord want her to do? She thought the Lord wanted her to work as hard as she could to learn Hungarian. She found out that she needed to attend the critical physical needs of Sister
Yarbro and help her prepare to go home.
Let me again reiterate that while I am very proud of my daughter, she is not perfect. But she did act as a saint in her service to Sister
Yarbro during her last three weeks at the
MTC.
It’s the same for each of us. None of us are perfect, be we can at certain times and some situations be a saint.
So wherever we are, whatever we are doing, let us each day and each hour, remember that we become true saints by asking ourselves, “Why am I here, who does the Lord want me to help, and what does the Lord want me to do.” And then think, pray and listen for an answer from God.
I have a testimony that we can become saints. This is the Church of Jesus Christ. But I also have a testimony that it is also our church, the Church of the Latter-day Saints, if we live our lives according to God’s will. God loves each of his children. He rejoices when we serve each other. We perfect ourselves and become saints through service to others. I have a testimony that this is the restored church of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ leads this church through his living Prophet Thomas S.
Monson, and the 12 apostles. I know that the Book of Mormon contains the word of God. I am humbled to serve as your stake president. I pray that God’s blessings will be upon you and your families and you become latter-day saints. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
