BOM DIA!!!!!
I want to share with yáll a story from Henry B. Erying
about his father.
Let me encourage you by telling you a
story. It was told to me by my father. He told it with the intent to chuckle at
himself. It was a story about his trying to do his duty, just the way you try
to do your duty.
Now
you have to know a little bit about my father. His name was Henry Eyring, like
mine. He had done some of the things students of this university are preparing
to be able to do. His work in chemistry was substantial enough to bring the
honors some of you will someday have, but he was still a member of a ward of
the Church with his duty to do. To appreciate this story, you have to realize
that it occurred when he was nearly eighty and had bone cancer. He had bone
cancer so badly in his hips that he could hardly move. The pain was great.
Dad
was the senior high councilor in his stake with the responsibility for the
welfare farm. An assignment was given to weed a field of onions, so Dad
assigned himself to go work on the farm.
Dad
never told me how hard it was, but I have met several people who were with him
that day. I talked to one of them on the phone the other night to check the
story. The one I talked to said that he was weeding in the row next to Dad
through much of the day. He told me the same thing that others who were there
that day have told me. He said that the pain was so great that Dad was pulling
himself along on his stomach with his elbows. He couldn’t kneel. The pain was
too great for him to kneel. Everyone who has talked to me has remarked how Dad
smiled, and laughed, and talked happily with them as they worked in that field
of onions.
Now,
this is the joke Dad told me on himself, afterward. He said he was there at the
end of the day. After all the work was finished and the onions were all weeded,
someone asked him, “Henry, good heavens! You didn’t pull those weeds, did you? Those
weeds were sprayed two days ago, and they were going to die anyway.”
Dad
just roared. He thought that was the funniest thing. He thought it was a great
joke on himself. He had worked through the day in the wrong weeds. They had been sprayed and would have
died anyway.
When
Dad told me this story, I knew how tough it was. So I said to him, “Dad, how
could you make a joke out of that? How could you take it so pleasantly?”
He
said something to me that I will never forget, and I hope you won’t. He said,
“Hal, I wasn’t there for the weeds.”
Now,
you’ll be in an onion patch much of your life. So will I. It will be hard to
see the powers of heaven magnifying us or our efforts. It may even be hard to
see our work being of any value at all. And sometimes our work won’t go well.
But
you didn’t come for the weeds. You came for the Savior. And if you pray, and if
you choose to be clean, and if you choose to follow God’s servants, you will be
able to work and wait long enough to bring down the powers of heaven.
What optimism he had! And faith! And love for his
Savior!
This week was a giant onion patch! Haha. Our little
street was invaded with gossipers and every other kind of temptation. It was
devastating. We love our friends there, and we wanted to see them happier, but
everything has a purpose. I´m grateful for opportunities to learn and grow from
our difficulties because we learned to not give up!
We received sooo many blessings on blessings this week
AFTER all of the bad things happened. A guy that we´ve been teaching for a long
time FINALLY went to church this Sunday and he loved it! We are finding so many
good people to teach, but actually they are finding us, like calling us in the street
to come and talk to them. #ble$$ed
Also, we went to Caldas (a park with hot
springs/waterfalls/sports/neature) last Monday and it was so pretty! It looks
like Sundance in springtime from the pictures.
Ta ta por now (is that like three languages or what??)
SISTA MOON
Ciele!!! #bff
