How could the Savior of the World endure the pain of all our trials? Surely His love and attention to us is so much greater than we can imagine!
"In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old." Isaiah 63:9
"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows..." Isaiah 53:4
"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth..."Isaiah 53:7
You probably recognize at least two of these people! The young women are Sister Wilkinson, from Salt Lake, and Sister Naupoto, who is Tongan, but also from Salt Lake City. The day this picture was taken in the Sea-Tac Airport was Sister Naupoto's 3 month anniversary of missionary service. We have taken her to the airport to catch her flight home for medical reasons. We are all very sad, trying to be courageous! Some of you know exactly what we are feeling.
Sister Naupoto came to the mission very, very shy and oppressed. She has made such great strides! We are so proud of her courage! But she has diabetes and has not had the money or means to care for herself properly. When she was served three meals a day, she did not know how to keep stable blood sugar levels, so Mission Medical insisted that she go home to get her glucose levels under control. We were so invested in her because besides encouraging her and trying to help build her confidence, Elder Walker had given her two Priesthood blessings and I had been on the phone with her every couple of hours for over a week, checking her glucose levels (we were to check 6 times a day) and counseling her on what to eat to get the numbers stable so that she wouldn't have to go home. We were making good progress and had an appointment with a specialist on May 8th to help us. It was very taxing and a little scary, but we had confidence that we would be successful.
We were in the Dr. office to get a prescription for insulin when the Mission President called and said that Mission Medical had "pulled the plug!" They felt that it was far too dangerous! When the Dr. came in we were all crying! He was very kind, gave us the prescription we needed, consoled us the best he could, and sent us on our way. The really sad thing was that we felt sure she would be able to get help here and we were not sure she would be allowed to receive help at home! We gave her all the faith-promoting stories we could think of on our 2 1/2 hour trip to the airport, expressed our love over and over, tried to make it a good experience for both girls, but there was really nothing more we could do.
As she started through Security, weeping, Sister Wilkinson and I followed along beside her, but she was a few lanes over and she couldn't hear us call so she didn't know. Then we ran upstairs and all three of us followed along right above and beside her. We watched her do everything she was supposed to do as she wiped her eyes on her scarf, and still she didn't see us there supporting her! We watched until she went down the escalator to the tram that would take her to her airplane, but to our frustration and sorrow, she never looked up and so she never saw us cheering her on. It broke our hearts!
I thought of the story from the life of Heber C. Kimball where he relates that the Twelve were standing in a group feeling very downcast with their heads down and the Savior was in the midst of them, wanting to strengthen and console them, but they did not look up and recognize that He was there.
I realize more and more how important it is for us to strengthen our faith that Jesus Christ is there to help carry our burdens, to lift our hearts and fill them with the song of hope, and also, how important it is for those of us who are rubbing shoulders with people everyday, to lift and cheer each person we meet. We will never know what hidden pain hearts are feeling because our brothers and sisters, if they are socially conscious at all, try to put on a happy face in public. But if we try to reach out with love we cannot help but light their path.
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Psalms 119:105
We are praying for Sister Naupoto. We love her and want her to be able to come back to continue serving her mission. We know she is a choice daughter of our Father in Heaven.
That emotion took all the starch out of us! We had meetings and discussions all day and evening Wednesday, but Thursday and Friday, we just worked at home! We were too drained to even see people!
I don't know how some of you carry the heavy burdens you bear! It can only be that you have great strength and have yoked yourselves to Jesus Christ who promises that His "yoke is easy" and His "burden is light" and that He will gather you under His wings like a hen gathereth her chicks! We admire you so very much and pray for you always!
One of the things we got done while we "rested" was putting up some blinds to help cut down on the heat blazing in from the windows. The whole east side of our living room is full-length windows and the sun already makes it blazing hot! These blinds make a great deal of difference! Thank goodness!
Friday evening Bruce decided it would be healthy to go to the Irrigation Festival Fireworks! He is always very excited about the big booms! "The louder the better!" That is the part I don't care for! I just like the pretty lights. ;) It was more fun than usual for me because it only lasted 10 minutes max and I took some pretty pictures! (You've gotta love an iPhone 6!)
Isn't that fun!
Yesterday we had Jerry with us most of the day to eat breakfast, watch the Parade and then visit while we had lunch together. We got through a couple of chapters of Moses and some of Alma 5. It was a good discussion!
Today was Sunday. We started by rehearsing with a men's quartette at 8:15 on our new arrangement of Love at Home and then I played for them to sing in Sacrament meeting right before Bruce was the speaker on Mothers. He gave a most beautiful talk, telling about the qualities of faith and perseverance his mother developed through her trials. And since he had been invited to talk about how her qualities had led him to serve a mission, he got to tell about how his parents serving a full-time Senior mission had set the example for all of his brothers and sisters to serve -- 8 having served so far, 4 of them twice already!
In the next ward I directed the music in Sacrament Mtg and then played for Primary in the 3rd ward.
It was another good day!
The following pictures are of the Elders eating their first ever scones on P-day.
Some of them had never before heard of scones!
They ate 27 scones, two little jars of jam, 1/2 a jar of peanut butter, a good amount of honey,
10 oz of cream cheese, and 1/2 gallon of milk!
Tomorrow is their last meal with us! Tuesday is Transfer Day. We will send out 5 missionaries and get back 3 new ones. One set of Sisters will replace a set of Elders and the former Sisters! Elder Wilson, the District Leader, will get a new companion since Elder Sommercorn's mission is completed.
We will miss the Elders -- but think of the food we will save! ;)
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