Kept From Truth





LOOKING FOR ME

Elder Warren G. Tate of the Fifth Quorum of Seventy presided at our stake conference.  His wife, Suzanne also spoke and this is a paraphrase of what she said:

"A cell phone vibrated and a young boy, with a child's whisper voice, answered and said, 'Hello.'   The person calling said, 'Hello, is your father home?' 'Yes,' the boy answered.  'May I speak to him?' questioned the caller.  'No', the boy replied.  Oh, well then, is your Mother home?  'Yes,' the boy continued to whisper.  'May I speak to her?' 'No,' the boy answered again.  Okay, well is there anyone else there?  'Yes, the neighbors.'  'May I speak to them?' the caller questioned.  'No,' was the same reply. 'Is there anyone else there?' 'Yes, the police.'  'My goodness, the police, what are they doing there?'  'Looking for me.'

Looking for me, Looking for me.  D&C 123:12-15 tells us:

12. For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it—

13. Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven—

14. These should then be attended to with great earnestness.

15. Let no man count them as small things; for there is much which lieth in futurity, pertaining to the saints, which depends upon these things.

Sister Tate continues, "I sang with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for about 25 years and people were greatly affected by our music and performances because the Spirit was often there in rich abundance.  On one occasion our tour bus driver was bringing us to a performance in what was formerly the Soviet Union.  Several of us befriended her as she drove us to our next stop.  We asked her about her current feelings about religion and she mentioned that she had no use for any Church and was unimpressed about what little of religion she had seen.

We gave her tickets to our performance and she said she would attend.  When the performance was over, it was standard procedure to have the full time missionaries tag along as we visited the audience.  As we approached our tour driver, she was obviously changed in her countenance.  She was crying and said, 'What has happened to me?  I have never, felt this way before.  We hugged and visited with her and then introduced her to the LDS full time elders.

On another occasion, we handed out cards with the Articles of Faith on the back, printed in Russian that explained how to contact local missionaries from the Church.  We also distributed Books of Mormon in the Russian language.  People told us that they had never even heard of 'The Mormons' and were fascinated by our performance and the way it made them feel.  Lives were touched, many were baptized.

My husband was a mission president in Las Vegas and we frequently attended the Las Vegas Temple.  The security night watchman told us of an unkempt, long bearded man who reeked of alcohol and was wearing tattered, dirty clothes.  He began asking questions of the security man about the purpose of Temples and what they were all about.  The man from security answered his questions and told him if he would attend a 9AM Sunday meeting at a certain LDS Chapel, many of his other questions would be answered.  Sunday came and this man showed up at the chapel just as the ward mission leader was going into the building.  The leader sat by the bearded man and offered to bring him home, let him shower and clean up and wear some clean clothes that the ward mission leader had.  After personal hygiene and a meal, the man confessed that he had been discharged from the military and had been in Special Forces where he had seen many atrocities that discouraged him. 

On the night that he had wandered into the Temple Grounds, he had planned to commit suicide, but because of the security man and his invitation, he had decided to give life one more chance.  He felt he had been in darkness all his life and had finally found the light.  He took the missionary lessons, was baptized and eventually was able to go inside that beautiful Las Vegas Temple he had seen that night.  His entire life was changed and he was infused with hope and the love of our Savior. 

What if the security man had not taken time with the dirty, bearded man?  What if the Ward Mission Leader had not helped him?  Excuses for not assisting someone down and out are plentiful, but because of their sincere efforts, a soul was saved.  How many of us need to reach out to others in like circumstances 'who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it.'"