ECH Talk for Homecoming Sept. 8, 2013
It has been said that coincidences are just minor miracles that God chooses not to take credit for. During our mission we have experienced many such coincidences. Sometimes these experiences were much needed blessings or tender mercies from God on my behalf.
Speaking in April 2005 conference, Elder David R. Bednar said, “Recall how the Savior instructed His Apostles that He would not leave them comfortless. Not only would He send “another Comforter” (John 14:16), even the Holy Ghost, but the Savior said that He would come to them (see John 14:18). Let me suggest that one of the ways whereby the Savior comes to each of us is through His abundant and tender mercies. “
Continuing he said, “the Lord’s tender mercies do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Faithfulness, obedience and humility invite tender mercies into our lives and it is the Lord’s timing that enables us to recognize and treasure these important blessings.”
We should not underestimate or overlook the power of the Lord’s tender mercies. The simpleness, the sweetness, and the constancy of the tender mercies of the Lord will do much to fortify and protect us in the troubled times in which we do now and will yet live.”
While I have been greatly blessed during the last year-and-a half, I would like to share some tender mercies that were extended to me by the hand of the Lord during the last eight days of our mission.
While serving as Welfare Missionaries in Indonesia, our major responsibility was to administer the distribution of humanitarian aid using the church funds within the country. There were three major goals of the Church Humanitarian Program.
First, was to help the poor and the needy. Finding the poor and needy was relatively easy as they surrounded us in Indonesia. But finding how to do it effectively was not always easy.
Second, provide meaningful opportunities for our church members to render service. This was more of a challenge as for years the humanitarian missionaries had done projects on a large-scale basis without member involvement.
The third objective was to “Bring the Church out of obscurity.” This means letting the world know who the Church is and of its good works. It does not mean preaching the restored gospel. In our role of promoting humanitarian projects we were specifically instructed by the Church to not proselyte in any way. With 240 million people, Indonesia is the fourth largest country in the world. With approximately 90% of those people being Muslim, it is the largest Muslim country in the world. Our Public Relations efforts have a long way to go in reaching this third goal.
Just eight days before we returned home, we attended a handover ceremony for a fish farm from our Church to a leprosy hospital. It was our last large project. The Sitanala Hospital is one of three major leprosy clinics in the country; it not only medically treats patients but also helps in their rehabilitation. The fish farm was part of the rehabilitation effort to both teach the people a skill and to provide income for them and their families.
Between five and six thousand people live in a village behind the hospital, approximately one thousand of which currently have or have had leprosy. The rest are family members. Many provide for their families by begging or doing menial jobs. With the approval and encouragement of the hospital administration, a church humanitarian service project was done which provided 15 fish ponds and thousands of catfish. A gentleman that has previously had leprosy will train leprosy patients to raise catfish. The project will be self-sustaining, help the patients to be self-reliant, and produce additional income for the community.
At the ceremony the hospital administrators repeatedly used the name of our church in their talks. Members of the local press attended the ceremony. One of our local bishops spoke. When one hospital official asked us for help in planning how to account and manage the business aspects of the fish farm, the bishop offered help in the form of business training from members of his ward. We left the hospital that day with our Church members having arranged to meet again with the hospital officials. I felt helping a group of leprosy-afflicted individuals; some of those most shunned from society was perfect for helping the poor and the needy. Our last project fit all the criteria that we were supposed to have met. For me this was truly a tender mercy.
I believe it was no coincidence that we became acquainted with and then were led to help this group of people. Shortly after moving to Jakarta I met a couple that had lived in Indonesia for 15 years. As I walked one morning with the wife Debbie, she told me of a leprosy colony that her church occasionally visited. I was very intrigued and wanted to learn more about it. Time went by and I was never able to get any additional information. Almost a year later Russell and I were sincerely seeking out a new project. We prayed earnestly wondering what we should do. The very next morning as I was out exercising, Debbie’s husband Alex stopped from his jogging and asked me if he had ever given me a contact for the leprosy village. It was not a random coincidence but rather an immediate answer to our prayers. We knew that the Lord wanted us to do something with the people there.
At the ceremony the hospital administrators repeatedly used the name of our church in their talks. Members of the local press attended the ceremony. One of our local bishops spoke. When one hospital official asked us for help in planning how to account and manage the business aspects of the fish farm, the bishop offered help in the form of business training from members of his ward. We left the hospital that day with our Church members having arranged to meet again with the hospital officials. I felt helping a group of leprosy-afflicted individuals; some of those most shunned from society was perfect for helping the poor and the needy. Our last project fit all the criteria that we were supposed to have met. For me this was truly a tender mercy.
I believe it was no coincidence that we became acquainted with and then were led to help this group of people. Shortly after moving to Jakarta I met a couple that had lived in Indonesia for 15 years. As I walked one morning with the wife Debbie, she told me of a leprosy colony that her church occasionally visited. I was very intrigued and wanted to learn more about it. Time went by and I was never able to get any additional information. Almost a year later Russell and I were sincerely seeking out a new project. We prayed earnestly wondering what we should do. The very next morning as I was out exercising, Debbie’s husband Alex stopped from his jogging and asked me if he had ever given me a contact for the leprosy village. It was not a random coincidence but rather an immediate answer to our prayers. We knew that the Lord wanted us to do something with the people there.
The second tender mercy that occurred happened just two days later, on the Wednesday prior to our departure. When I was feeling well enough, I liked to swim laps in the early morning at our apartment complex. Yes, senior missionaries are allowed to swim! This particular day I went down later than normal. As I was swimming, I noticed a couple that looked like they were in their 60s approach the pool. I immediately felt the impression that I should share the gospel with them. I watched as the woman put her things by mine in the shade and the husband sat in the sun. It was easy to start a conversation with the woman (who I will call Frau). Frau was from Germany and was on vacation visiting friends. She asked if I was a tourist in Jakarta. When I told her that I was a missionary she responded, “oh, my husband is a pastor in Germany.” We talked for a while about her church and then I asked her if she had ever heard about our church. She responded that she hadn’t. I told her that we had a temple in Frankfurt, very close to where she lived. She responded that she had not heard of it, but would like to see a picture of it. I went to my apartment, got my Ipad, and we began what would be a 3-hour conversation about the gospel. She seemed especially moved by the concept of eternal marriage. She told me that she always wondered what would happen if her dear husband Hans were to die and she would never see him again. I showed her Mormon.org in German. She studied the pages on Mormon.org eagerly asking questions and then going to links that she thought might answer her questions in German. At one point when I was stuck with a question she had, I called my son-in law Steve who had served a mission in Germany over a decade ago. Despite the late hour, he was willing to talk to her in German and answer her questions. I have no doubt that being able to teach this sweet lady about the gospel was a tender mercy for me. Remember, as humanitarian missionaries we were prohibited from sharing the gospel with those we were doing projects with. Here in our apartment complex, for the first time on my mission I was able to teach someone about the gospel who was truly interested. That blessing came at a time that I really needed it.
While we were on our mission Russell took care of the financial aspects of the projects and I was primarily responsible for organizing all the pictures we took of our projects. By the end of our mission I had thousands of pictures, some of which I had put into a video to share with other couples on our mission earlier at a couples conference. The last week before our departure I was able to choose some pictures that were special to me, put them with music and post them on utube. That way my family and others interested in our work could see it. As I watched the video I recalled the special times that we had working with those that were so temporally challenged. My heart was grateful that we were allowed to be in a position to represent the Church and extend it’s help to them. While I was not the true giver of the substance to the recipients, I still felt part of it. The scripture came to mind from Matthew 25:40, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” That review of the pictures from our projects was a tender mercy for me.
A final tender mercy was extended to me on Monday morning, the day of my departure. Early that morning I saw Alex as I was leaving the pool from exercising. Alex is the man who referred me to the leprosy colony. I hadn’t seen Alex or Debbie for a while as they went home for summer holidays. I told him about the project we had done and the progression that had occurred. He seemed very touched. At the end of our conversation he asked me if he could do something for me. I responded, “Sure, that would be fine!” He asked if he could say a prayer for me. Alex is an evangelist. I felt a little uncomfortable, out by the pool having someone saying a prayer for me. What started out as being an uncomfortable few moments ended up being a very sweet experience. Alex prayed for Russell and I, that we would remember the good that had happened on our mission, he prayed that we would be able to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others as we traveled back home, that our health would be good, and that as we returned to our families that the Holy Spirit would be with us to influence our family members to become better people. By the end of the prayer I felt quite humbled that this man whom I barely knew would offer this kind prayer for me.
While we were on our mission Russell took care of the financial aspects of the projects and I was primarily responsible for organizing all the pictures we took of our projects. By the end of our mission I had thousands of pictures, some of which I had put into a video to share with other couples on our mission earlier at a couples conference. The last week before our departure I was able to choose some pictures that were special to me, put them with music and post them on utube. That way my family and others interested in our work could see it. As I watched the video I recalled the special times that we had working with those that were so temporally challenged. My heart was grateful that we were allowed to be in a position to represent the Church and extend it’s help to them. While I was not the true giver of the substance to the recipients, I still felt part of it. The scripture came to mind from Matthew 25:40, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” That review of the pictures from our projects was a tender mercy for me.
A final tender mercy was extended to me on Monday morning, the day of my departure. Early that morning I saw Alex as I was leaving the pool from exercising. Alex is the man who referred me to the leprosy colony. I hadn’t seen Alex or Debbie for a while as they went home for summer holidays. I told him about the project we had done and the progression that had occurred. He seemed very touched. At the end of our conversation he asked me if he could do something for me. I responded, “Sure, that would be fine!” He asked if he could say a prayer for me. Alex is an evangelist. I felt a little uncomfortable, out by the pool having someone saying a prayer for me. What started out as being an uncomfortable few moments ended up being a very sweet experience. Alex prayed for Russell and I, that we would remember the good that had happened on our mission, he prayed that we would be able to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others as we traveled back home, that our health would be good, and that as we returned to our families that the Holy Spirit would be with us to influence our family members to become better people. By the end of the prayer I felt quite humbled that this man whom I barely knew would offer this kind prayer for me.
Later in the day as I thought about my experience with Alex I thought to myself I need to share the Book of Mormon with his family. I wrote my testimony in the front of the Book of Mormon and dropped it off for his family as we left for the airport.
Another significant event took place that morning on my last day in Jakarta. During our cab ride to work each day we passed a man who had no nose, just a sunken section of his face. He had large pieces of bandages taped across his face so that it wouldn’t be quite so visible. Each day he diligently sold newspapers at the corner of a gas station. We had been saving all of our change during the time of our mission in some glass bottles to give to this man. On our last day Russell reminded me to remember the coins for the man with the disfigured face. As our taxi pulled up to him I walked towards him with the bottles of coins and handed them to him. I said to him “Sir, these are for you.” I couldn’t see an expression, but he wiped a tear from his bandaged face, then put the palms of his hands together and bowed head in a gesture of respect. It was a gentle reminder to me that I needed to be more grateful for all that I have and that because I have been given much I too must give.
Brothers and Sisters, I testify to you that the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. For me they truly have been gifts from God.
Another significant event took place that morning on my last day in Jakarta. During our cab ride to work each day we passed a man who had no nose, just a sunken section of his face. He had large pieces of bandages taped across his face so that it wouldn’t be quite so visible. Each day he diligently sold newspapers at the corner of a gas station. We had been saving all of our change during the time of our mission in some glass bottles to give to this man. On our last day Russell reminded me to remember the coins for the man with the disfigured face. As our taxi pulled up to him I walked towards him with the bottles of coins and handed them to him. I said to him “Sir, these are for you.” I couldn’t see an expression, but he wiped a tear from his bandaged face, then put the palms of his hands together and bowed head in a gesture of respect. It was a gentle reminder to me that I needed to be more grateful for all that I have and that because I have been given much I too must give.
Brothers and Sisters, I testify to you that the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. For me they truly have been gifts from God.
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| OUR FRIEND THAT SELLS NEWSPAPERS |
Russell Healy, Lakeview Ward, September 8, 2013
At the Church Service Center in Jakarta where we had an office, facing me above my desk was a picture of President Hinckley. It was an old picture, which had not been hung up for years. When I saw it just lying around I took it for our office. A visitor from Hong Kong later told me joking, that I was behind the times and that there was a new prophet. I then told him the reason that the picture meant so much to me.
Thirty-eight and a half years ago I was in the MTC in Hawaii. We were having visa problems getting into Indonesia. One day while there, I met Pres. Hinckley (at that time Elder Hinckley). He shook my hand and asked where I was called to serve. I told him and expressed doubts as to whether we would make it. He looked me in the eye and told me he was sure that I would get there. I took Elder Hinckley’s statement to me as a message from God. It sustained me through my remaining months in the MTC and time serving in the Hawaii and Cebu, Philippeans missions. Only after 11 months as a missionary did I finally reach Indonesia. It was a trial of my faith but is now a cornerstone of my testimony. I know that the apostles of this Church are prophets, seers and revelators.
In General Conference last April, Elder Holland spoke on facing challenges to our faith by first focusing on what we do know. He said, “In moments of fear or doubt or troubling times . . . when those moments come and issues surface, the resolution of which is not immediately forthcoming, hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes . . . what we know will always trump what we do not know. And remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith.” (Jeffery R. Holland, “I Believe,” Ensign, May 2013)
We all face trials in this life. In Matthew we read that He “sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matt. 5:45) Even missionary couples have challenges. I would like to relate to you some of the things I know and how that knowledge has helped me over the last year-and-a-half.
You may have read or heard a year ago about the USNS Mercy, a hospital ship, visiting several countries in South-East Asia. Approximately 100 of the medical personnel aboard were Church members. Those saints performed medical operations on many of the poor and needy. Also on board were literally tons of supplies to be distributed on shore to previously selected NGO/humanitarian organizations. We were in the city of Manado, on an island east of Borneo. It was our task to distribute over 40 pallets of materials. Frankly, this on-shore work was a logistical mess. Everything seemed to go wrong and our feeble efforts only added to the problems we encountered. We were more than just discouraged with how things seemed to be turning out. We received supplies that had not been ordered and had no place for them to go. There were a large amount of women’s hygiene supplies, but all our prearranged charities were for children and the elderly. Yet in the midst of this mass of confusion, we met in the lobby of our hotel a woman who was running a home for young women rescued from human trafficking. They could use and did use those supplies.
During that time we also met Dr. Jarstad, an LDS ophthalmologist from off the hospital ship. Just last June, a full year later, we were back in Manado doing a large vision project with the ophthalmology department and hospital of a local university. Dr. Jarstad was an integral part of that later project, a project that would have been impossible to accomplish without a brief contact made the prior year.
Following our work with the Mercy ship, I wrote my mission president and said, “It is a testimony to God’s omniscience and omnipotence that he can take our feeble acts, the failings of men, and from them make something good result.” I know there is nothing so broken that God cannot fix it. God is in control. I also realized afterward that I had been allowed by God to help out with His work. Not because I was extraordinarily capable but because I was willing to go and try, and He wanted to teach me something.
One of my least favorite tasks that I was asked to perform was to prepare an anti-pornography presentation for the three Stake and District presidents (in the local language – Bahasa Indonesia), which they could then use to instruct their High Councils, Bishops and Branch presidents. That assignment quickly morphed into my also being asked to teach two hour-long courses on this subject at the upcoming youth conference just two months away. This all happened within the first three days of our arrival! My command of the local language was woefully lacking for this task. But while some of the local leaders recognized the need for this subject to be addressed, their local culture made them not want to deal it. Therefore, they concluded it was better if the new missionary addressed it with their youth!
Although Eileen and our supervisors in Hong Kong helped me tremendously with the presentation, I was still in a state of near panic over it. One Sunday a few weeks before youth conference, during sacrament meeting, I felt an over whelming sense that my mother was there with me. She had passed away a year after Eileen and I were married. It did not happen just once or for just a moment but continually through out the meeting. After the meeting a young man from the ward brought me my first copy of the youth conference agenda. I quickly noticed that Eileen, rather than being with me during the presentations was going to be teaching a class on first aid! I would teach the boys while she taught the girls and then we would swap classes. Eileen may not have been able to help me with the language but she was my emotional life preserver. Had this happened at any other time I would have probably blown a gasket, emotionally or physically. But the calming effect of the sacrament meeting preceding it got me past the critical moment. It was as if my mother knew what was coming and was allowed to give me comfort for what was to come shortly thereafter.
In D&C 84:88 we read some of the words God spoke regarding His servants, His missionaries, “for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.” I know what it means to have been born up by angels and I have witnessed my wife be born up during the most critical points of her health challenges.
[Earlier Eileen related how we first came in contact with the leprosy community near Jakarta. We had just prayed the night before, asking God to help us find a project that he would have us do. When the next morning before breakfast you have someone stop while on his jog to ask your wife, who was in the pool swimming laps, if he had ever given her his contact to the leprosy community, you know there are angels on the other side working to help you accomplish that which God wants to happen.]
Almost every year during the rainy season, along the north coast of Java, the rains come down and the water come up – just like it says in primary song. Large portions of Jakarta are actually beneath sea level. So when the torrential rains come down and the rivers overflow many neighborhoods are flooded. You would think that this calamity would only beset the poor who could not afford to live on “high ground”. Yet I remember clearly the picture on the front-page of a Jakarta newspaper of some flooded rich people making their way on a jet ski. During one of the floods, while delivering food supplies to makeshift refuge centers, we were asked by the stake president to see if we could give some aid to a neighborhood where an older member and his wife lived. This man was probably about my age and lived at the other end of the economic scale from those who have jet skis. This member lived in a crowded neighborhood, under the railroad tracks next to the river. The rains had stopped the day before I got there. But you could still clearly see the water level mark in the walls of his home, about waist deep. Outside his front door, down the alley maybe ten yards was the river, perhaps six inches below the level of the alleyway floor. A neighbor was in the river with a bamboo pole trying to clear garbage out of the way so water could drain out of their homes and into the river. During the worst of the flooding the man’s bishop had provided him a tent and food supplies, and counsel to move from that location. This was not the first time that the same counsel had been given to him.
To move ones residence, away from the well known to the less familiar is hard - change is hard. Not just for this poor member and his wife but even for the rich with their jet skis. No one seems to move even though the floods come each rainy season. Likewise, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the pathway to perfection, our one and only way back home to our Father-in-Heaven requires us to change, and change is hard.
At the end of the Sermon-on-the-Mount, our Lord tells us that he who listens to His words and follows them is like a wise man who builds his house upon a rock. And he who hears but does not follow is like a foolish man who builds his house upon the sand. (Matt 7:24-27) We have all been warned and know that the rains will surely come into each of our lives. In many cases we can predict, because of prophetic counsel, the results of not building our spiritual houses upon a firm foundation of obedience to God’s commandments. However, it is not enough just to know, we must do also.
While in the MTC we were told, “Blessed are the flexible for they will not get bent out of shape!” Just because you are on a mission you should not expect things to go smoothly. In fact just figuring out what you are doing there is a challenge some days. There is a Scottish proverb which reads, “What ere thou art, act well thy part.” (Pres. McKay and Elaine Dalton, Ensign, May 2013) This requires us to both accept our role and perform it well. Too often I have found myself wanting different roles from the ones God has placed me in. And performing a part well is difficult enough without the distraction of arguing with God over what your part should be.
Last May I become aware that my high school graduating class was having a 40th year reunion. I knew that I would not be home for it but I could not resist looking at the Facebook page that had been set up in preparation for it. There I found a list of those who had passed away, one of which was a good friend who’s funeral I had attended years ago. But there were others, many more than I had expected who had already left this life. I then started looking at the pictures of many others who had noted a little about what they were doing. After scanning through the many people who’s names I recognized but who faces I did not, I was struck by two things. First, these people really look old! And second, I didn’t feel the least bit jealous of any of them. In fact I had a feeling of gratitude come over me that I was where I was and not home where they were or doing the things they were. I felt then and feel now that it is an honor to serve as a missionary, to wear the badge, to be a representative of our Lord Jesus the Christ.
Two years ago when submitting our papers to go on a mission I said I would go anywhere and do anything. While I am glad I volunteered to do that, it did prove harder than I anticipated. Perhaps I have learned a little humility and patience. [As some of you know who have read our blog or have heard from other sources, Eileen has had some challenging health issues while in Indonesia and in fact still suffers with them. Was the mission difficult? Yes. Was the price high to serve as the Lord asked? Yes. Did at times I think we would fail? Yes.] But regarding this there are two quotes that have helped me that I would like to share with you. One is slightly irreverent and the other is a scripture that makes a similar point in a different way.
At our last mission couples conference, our mission president’s wife read to us a statement that her mother has had on her refrigerator door for years. It reads, "Life's journey is not to arrive at the pearly gates safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways totally worn out, shouting ‘Holy Cow!’ what a ride.” [After Sister Groberg read this, President Groberg spoke up and said that he remembered it reading a little differently. To which, Sister Groberg said, “George, I had to make it missionary appropriate!”]
In D&C 123:11-14 we read, “it is an imperative duty that we owe to all the rising generation, and to all the pure in heart. For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations . . . who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it. Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all . . . things . . . wherein we know them and . . . are truly manifest from heaven. These should then be attended to with great earnestness.”
Brothers and Sisters, I want you to know that I am grateful to have been able to serve as a missionary and representative of Christ. I testify to you that God lives, He is our Father, He loves us and hears our prayers. I testify to you that Jesus is the Christ, our Redeemer, and only through His atonement can we be cleansed from our sins and become worthy to return to our Father-in-Heaven following this life.
At the Church Service Center in Jakarta where we had an office, facing me above my desk was a picture of President Hinckley. It was an old picture, which had not been hung up for years. When I saw it just lying around I took it for our office. A visitor from Hong Kong later told me joking, that I was behind the times and that there was a new prophet. I then told him the reason that the picture meant so much to me.
Thirty-eight and a half years ago I was in the MTC in Hawaii. We were having visa problems getting into Indonesia. One day while there, I met Pres. Hinckley (at that time Elder Hinckley). He shook my hand and asked where I was called to serve. I told him and expressed doubts as to whether we would make it. He looked me in the eye and told me he was sure that I would get there. I took Elder Hinckley’s statement to me as a message from God. It sustained me through my remaining months in the MTC and time serving in the Hawaii and Cebu, Philippeans missions. Only after 11 months as a missionary did I finally reach Indonesia. It was a trial of my faith but is now a cornerstone of my testimony. I know that the apostles of this Church are prophets, seers and revelators.
In General Conference last April, Elder Holland spoke on facing challenges to our faith by first focusing on what we do know. He said, “In moments of fear or doubt or troubling times . . . when those moments come and issues surface, the resolution of which is not immediately forthcoming, hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes . . . what we know will always trump what we do not know. And remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith.” (Jeffery R. Holland, “I Believe,” Ensign, May 2013)
We all face trials in this life. In Matthew we read that He “sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matt. 5:45) Even missionary couples have challenges. I would like to relate to you some of the things I know and how that knowledge has helped me over the last year-and-a-half.
You may have read or heard a year ago about the USNS Mercy, a hospital ship, visiting several countries in South-East Asia. Approximately 100 of the medical personnel aboard were Church members. Those saints performed medical operations on many of the poor and needy. Also on board were literally tons of supplies to be distributed on shore to previously selected NGO/humanitarian organizations. We were in the city of Manado, on an island east of Borneo. It was our task to distribute over 40 pallets of materials. Frankly, this on-shore work was a logistical mess. Everything seemed to go wrong and our feeble efforts only added to the problems we encountered. We were more than just discouraged with how things seemed to be turning out. We received supplies that had not been ordered and had no place for them to go. There were a large amount of women’s hygiene supplies, but all our prearranged charities were for children and the elderly. Yet in the midst of this mass of confusion, we met in the lobby of our hotel a woman who was running a home for young women rescued from human trafficking. They could use and did use those supplies.
During that time we also met Dr. Jarstad, an LDS ophthalmologist from off the hospital ship. Just last June, a full year later, we were back in Manado doing a large vision project with the ophthalmology department and hospital of a local university. Dr. Jarstad was an integral part of that later project, a project that would have been impossible to accomplish without a brief contact made the prior year.
Following our work with the Mercy ship, I wrote my mission president and said, “It is a testimony to God’s omniscience and omnipotence that he can take our feeble acts, the failings of men, and from them make something good result.” I know there is nothing so broken that God cannot fix it. God is in control. I also realized afterward that I had been allowed by God to help out with His work. Not because I was extraordinarily capable but because I was willing to go and try, and He wanted to teach me something.
One of my least favorite tasks that I was asked to perform was to prepare an anti-pornography presentation for the three Stake and District presidents (in the local language – Bahasa Indonesia), which they could then use to instruct their High Councils, Bishops and Branch presidents. That assignment quickly morphed into my also being asked to teach two hour-long courses on this subject at the upcoming youth conference just two months away. This all happened within the first three days of our arrival! My command of the local language was woefully lacking for this task. But while some of the local leaders recognized the need for this subject to be addressed, their local culture made them not want to deal it. Therefore, they concluded it was better if the new missionary addressed it with their youth!
Although Eileen and our supervisors in Hong Kong helped me tremendously with the presentation, I was still in a state of near panic over it. One Sunday a few weeks before youth conference, during sacrament meeting, I felt an over whelming sense that my mother was there with me. She had passed away a year after Eileen and I were married. It did not happen just once or for just a moment but continually through out the meeting. After the meeting a young man from the ward brought me my first copy of the youth conference agenda. I quickly noticed that Eileen, rather than being with me during the presentations was going to be teaching a class on first aid! I would teach the boys while she taught the girls and then we would swap classes. Eileen may not have been able to help me with the language but she was my emotional life preserver. Had this happened at any other time I would have probably blown a gasket, emotionally or physically. But the calming effect of the sacrament meeting preceding it got me past the critical moment. It was as if my mother knew what was coming and was allowed to give me comfort for what was to come shortly thereafter.
In D&C 84:88 we read some of the words God spoke regarding His servants, His missionaries, “for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.” I know what it means to have been born up by angels and I have witnessed my wife be born up during the most critical points of her health challenges.
[Earlier Eileen related how we first came in contact with the leprosy community near Jakarta. We had just prayed the night before, asking God to help us find a project that he would have us do. When the next morning before breakfast you have someone stop while on his jog to ask your wife, who was in the pool swimming laps, if he had ever given her his contact to the leprosy community, you know there are angels on the other side working to help you accomplish that which God wants to happen.]
Almost every year during the rainy season, along the north coast of Java, the rains come down and the water come up – just like it says in primary song. Large portions of Jakarta are actually beneath sea level. So when the torrential rains come down and the rivers overflow many neighborhoods are flooded. You would think that this calamity would only beset the poor who could not afford to live on “high ground”. Yet I remember clearly the picture on the front-page of a Jakarta newspaper of some flooded rich people making their way on a jet ski. During one of the floods, while delivering food supplies to makeshift refuge centers, we were asked by the stake president to see if we could give some aid to a neighborhood where an older member and his wife lived. This man was probably about my age and lived at the other end of the economic scale from those who have jet skis. This member lived in a crowded neighborhood, under the railroad tracks next to the river. The rains had stopped the day before I got there. But you could still clearly see the water level mark in the walls of his home, about waist deep. Outside his front door, down the alley maybe ten yards was the river, perhaps six inches below the level of the alleyway floor. A neighbor was in the river with a bamboo pole trying to clear garbage out of the way so water could drain out of their homes and into the river. During the worst of the flooding the man’s bishop had provided him a tent and food supplies, and counsel to move from that location. This was not the first time that the same counsel had been given to him.
To move ones residence, away from the well known to the less familiar is hard - change is hard. Not just for this poor member and his wife but even for the rich with their jet skis. No one seems to move even though the floods come each rainy season. Likewise, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the pathway to perfection, our one and only way back home to our Father-in-Heaven requires us to change, and change is hard.
At the end of the Sermon-on-the-Mount, our Lord tells us that he who listens to His words and follows them is like a wise man who builds his house upon a rock. And he who hears but does not follow is like a foolish man who builds his house upon the sand. (Matt 7:24-27) We have all been warned and know that the rains will surely come into each of our lives. In many cases we can predict, because of prophetic counsel, the results of not building our spiritual houses upon a firm foundation of obedience to God’s commandments. However, it is not enough just to know, we must do also.
While in the MTC we were told, “Blessed are the flexible for they will not get bent out of shape!” Just because you are on a mission you should not expect things to go smoothly. In fact just figuring out what you are doing there is a challenge some days. There is a Scottish proverb which reads, “What ere thou art, act well thy part.” (Pres. McKay and Elaine Dalton, Ensign, May 2013) This requires us to both accept our role and perform it well. Too often I have found myself wanting different roles from the ones God has placed me in. And performing a part well is difficult enough without the distraction of arguing with God over what your part should be.
Last May I become aware that my high school graduating class was having a 40th year reunion. I knew that I would not be home for it but I could not resist looking at the Facebook page that had been set up in preparation for it. There I found a list of those who had passed away, one of which was a good friend who’s funeral I had attended years ago. But there were others, many more than I had expected who had already left this life. I then started looking at the pictures of many others who had noted a little about what they were doing. After scanning through the many people who’s names I recognized but who faces I did not, I was struck by two things. First, these people really look old! And second, I didn’t feel the least bit jealous of any of them. In fact I had a feeling of gratitude come over me that I was where I was and not home where they were or doing the things they were. I felt then and feel now that it is an honor to serve as a missionary, to wear the badge, to be a representative of our Lord Jesus the Christ.
Two years ago when submitting our papers to go on a mission I said I would go anywhere and do anything. While I am glad I volunteered to do that, it did prove harder than I anticipated. Perhaps I have learned a little humility and patience. [As some of you know who have read our blog or have heard from other sources, Eileen has had some challenging health issues while in Indonesia and in fact still suffers with them. Was the mission difficult? Yes. Was the price high to serve as the Lord asked? Yes. Did at times I think we would fail? Yes.] But regarding this there are two quotes that have helped me that I would like to share with you. One is slightly irreverent and the other is a scripture that makes a similar point in a different way.
At our last mission couples conference, our mission president’s wife read to us a statement that her mother has had on her refrigerator door for years. It reads, "Life's journey is not to arrive at the pearly gates safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways totally worn out, shouting ‘Holy Cow!’ what a ride.” [After Sister Groberg read this, President Groberg spoke up and said that he remembered it reading a little differently. To which, Sister Groberg said, “George, I had to make it missionary appropriate!”]
In D&C 123:11-14 we read, “it is an imperative duty that we owe to all the rising generation, and to all the pure in heart. For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations . . . who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it. Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all . . . things . . . wherein we know them and . . . are truly manifest from heaven. These should then be attended to with great earnestness.”
Brothers and Sisters, I want you to know that I am grateful to have been able to serve as a missionary and representative of Christ. I testify to you that God lives, He is our Father, He loves us and hears our prayers. I testify to you that Jesus is the Christ, our Redeemer, and only through His atonement can we be cleansed from our sins and become worthy to return to our Father-in-Heaven following this life.
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