For the past few weeks, I have not made posts to this blog at the usual, regular intervals. The reason is simple. We have been on vacation. In seventy years, this vacation stands out as being the most exceptional. And even though we are home again, it is not really over. Its ramifications still preoccupy our minds, and its effects will be felt by some for possibly years to come. Some of my impressions of our experiences these past few weeks are the contents of this writing.
Since the middle of September, we have been entertaining friends from Germany. While they have been to the Americas on several previous occasions, they took the opportunity on this trip to visit Church sites in Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa before coming to spend several weeks touring as yet for them unknown areas in the West. We planned to spend three weeks with them visiting sights in Western and Central Washington State, Yellowstone National Park, and then end our adventure in Salt Lake City where we would attend sessions of the Church’s General Conference in the Conference Center for the first time.
The wife of our guest couple had been experiencing some health concerns since before arriving in the United States, but a medical examination in Seattle showed no major health problem that would impede our travel plans. In West Yellowstone, her health took a turn for the worst. With not so much as a health clinic in the town, we were forced to make a night run for the nearest hospital emergency room located in Rexburg, Idaho. So dire was her condition, that she was soon placed on a med-evac helicopter and transported to a regional medical center in Idaho Falls. Subsequent tests showed her true condition required treatments to be found in Salt Lake City where she was transfered by a properly equipped jet. At the moment of this writing, she is still in a hospital bed in Salt Lake City awaiting medical arrangements to be completed in order that she and her husband may be flown to their home city of Berlin where she will be placed in an appropriate hospital in order that the required treatments might continue. Her future health condition is quite unknown at this time.
She is alive today for a number of reasons. Most importantly, it is God’s will. She has been blessed also because of the faith and the prayers of her family and friends. There have been many doctors and nurses as well as pilots and medical technicians who have all performed their specialties with skill and caring. Many others will yet have her in their keeping, and we pray that her health will be restored to the best quality possible in order that she may live to bless her husband, family, and friends with love and caring as she has done in the past.
From the experiences of these harrowing days, many events and impressions crowd my memory. In times to come, useful applications of things experienced and learned now will make themselves manifest at appropriate moments. But two lessons can already be appreciated. First, there were moments of frustration when arrangements we believed were necessary could not be completed according to our plans and wishes. Then in due course as events continued to unfold, it became clear to us that the desired but failed arrangements were truly not in our best interests. Thinking back on these circumstances, I am reminded of the scripture “be still and know that I am God” (Doctrine and Covenants 101:16). All too often, we pray for God’s direction and blessings and then attempt to tell God the means by which He should bless and direct us. We need to be more patient and discerning when awaiting that for which we have prayed. From this experience, I am also reminded of the importance of living day by day as best we can that we might always be worthy of God’s promised blessings at any time and under any appropriate circumstance.
Earlier, I mentioned that this was our first General Conference attended in the Conference Center. Given the number of years that the Center has been the site of these sessions, it may be properly assumed that attending Conference in person has not been a major draw for me. Only rarely do my wife and I willingly seek out crowded venues. More than 21,000 participants in an auditorium qualifies as a crowded venue. I felt excitement in anticipation of the beginning of the first session we attended there. However, the speakers were so far away from where we were sitting as to be mostly unrecognizable except for the enlarged images hanging on the wall before us. Their voices seemed to be more directional than surrounding. It was an interesting experience but not a really personal and spiritual one. This same finding was borne out by our friend’s comment upon returning to the hotel after he had attended a subsequent session. He noted “that one can feel very much alone in such a large congregation.” I think there is value in his comment to this extent. Spiritual experiences may occur in a vast variety of different settings. Some may feel the spirit while sitting in a vast congregation, while others would rather seek the same experience in a more personal setting. I must confess that listening to Elder Holland’s address during the first session while sitting on the foot of my bed in a hotel room almost brought me to tears. Feeling the Spirit is a personal matter, and I believe a more personal setting makes having a spiritual experience easier.
My point here is simple. For those who find it difficult if not impossible to attend a session of General Conference personally, know this, that you may still have the Spirit bear witness to you of the truthfulness of what is being said and done by our leaders if your personal preparation and physical setting are appropriate to receive such a blessing.
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