"May you have a burning feeling in your heart. May you feel as I do on this
day that this work is true and that it is meant for us to help bring about the
eternal plan of salvation and exaltation."
My dear brethren and sisters, I have prayed for the blessings of heaven to be
with me in these few moments that I occupy the pulpit here this afternoon. I want
to say a few words about gratitude and thanksgiving to people who have influenced
my life.
Imagine in your mind May the first, 1890. A young man and a young lady in a
little country town about 250 miles from the Logan temple decided to be married.
Highways—none. Fancy roads—none. Trails through the sagebrush and
wagon trails—yes.
It probably would have taken six or seven days at least to make the journey.
In May it rains in southern Idaho and in Utah. Imagine riding in a buggy with
all of your clothes—taking something along, I guess for the horses, taking
some food in little sacks of some kind. Fancy clothes, warm clothes—they
had none. Sleeping bags—none. Coleman lanterns or cooking stoves—none.
They would have had matches and had to find dry sagebrush to make a fire to
cook their food.
Just imagine, just run it through your mind for a moment and think of the gratitude
that I have and the blessings they brought into my life by traveling to a place
to be married a long ways away. Inconvenience? That wouldn't be a problem; they
would do it. And think of what's happened in the last few years with President
Hinckley—the inspiration and direction he has had in the building of temples
all over the world. And think of what people went through a few years ago.
Those blessings have come into my life from my parents and their parents and
others who have affected my life—teachers and good people that I have been
associated with.
When I was about 11 years old, a man came to our little town to teach at the
Church academy. He played the violin a little, and we hadn't had anyone there
for a long time that had played the violin. My mother was impressed and picked
up a little violin, I guess at some little rummage sale somewhere, and decided
that I should learn to play the violin.
Even though I had never seen anyone play the violin in public, he came to our
house and started giving me some little simple lessons on playing the violin.
I was coming along fairly well by the time we graduated from the eighth grade
in grammar school, and for the graduation exercises held in the high school
I was asked to play a violin solo.
I'd carefully practiced the little number "Traumerei," as I remember the name.
My sister who was four years older than I and was then one of the popular girls
in high school was my pianist. At the graduation exercises, Connie McMurray
was the valedictorian. Girls are always smarter in school than boys. As she
was giving the valedictory address, there was a little pedestal with a pitcher
of water and a glass on it for the school board. The school board was on the
stand, plus a little handful of us who were graduating from the eighth grade.
As Connie McMurray was giving her famous valedictory address, near the end
of it we noticed the little doily under the pitcher of water on the pedestal
was moving over a little bit towards the edge, and over it fell with the pitcher
and glass of water! Connie McMurray fell in a dead faint.
In the scurrying around of cleaning the water off the stage and rearranging
the chairs, they announced that we would now have the violin solo from David
Haight. I walked over to the little old piano, and my sister came up from the
audience. I took that little simple violin out of that wooden case as my sister
sat down at the piano and sounded an A. I said, "Go ahead and play."
She said, "David, you'd better tune it."
I said, "No, no, I tuned it at our piano at home." We had an old Kimball piano
at home. You know, homes in those days—if you had a piano and books, that's
all you needed for the family. I had carefully tuned the strings by twisting
those ebony pegs of that violin, but I didn't know that all pianos weren't the
same. So as my sister said, "You'd better tune it," I said, "No, no, it's all
tuned. I tuned it at home."
So she went ahead and played the introduction, and then I came down on the
first note. We were off about two notes.
As she slowed down, I said, "Keep playing," because I couldn't imagine anyone
would take the time of a famous audience like I was playing to—you know,
100 people in that little high school auditorium. You wouldn't hold up Carnegie
Hall while you tuned your violin! That would be shop work. You would do that
in the back room so that when you would start to play, why, you'd be all ready
to play.
She slowed down. I said, "Keep playing." We finished it, and she didn't speak
to me for days following that show.
I want to honor the little country town that I grew up in with my parents,
where I was raised and where they were kind and good to me. I am thankful for
the knowledge that I acquired from my loving parents.
I am grateful for my wife, Ruby, coming into my life, for our children, and
then their children, and then their children, and the people that are part of
my life today that influence my life. And I hope that I have some influence
for good in their lives.
You remember the account of John the Baptist speaking to John the Beloved and
to Andrew on the occasion when the Savior met them. And John the Baptist commented,
"Behold the Lamb of God!" (John
1:36). And as the Savior met those young men—John the Baptist, John
the Beloved, and Andrew—He said, "What seek ye?"
And in that conversation that's reported, one of them said, "Where dwellest
thou?" (John
1:38).
And the Savior said, "Come and see" (John
1:39).
They followed the Savior, and according to that brief account that we have,
they stayed with Him until the 10th hour. They may have spent the evening together,
but it is not known where He was staying or what accommodations He might have
had.
John and Andrew were with the Savior for several hours. Just imagine being
in His presence or being able to sit and look into His eyes or to hear Him explain
who He was and why He had come to earth and to hear that inflection in His voice
in describing what He would have told those young men. They would have shaken
His hand. They would have felt of that precious, wonderful personality as they
listened to Him.
And following that encounter, the account says that Andrew went to find his
brother Simon because he had to share it with someone. As we meet in a great
conference like this and talk about the gospel and talk about our responsibility
and the opportunity we have, just imagine if that had happened to any of us,
to have been in that divine precious personality's presence and to have listened
to Him and to have shaken His hand and to have looked into His eyes and to have
heard what He would say.
When Andrew found his brother Simon, he said to him, "We have found the [Messiah]"
(John
1:41). He probably said: "We've been in His presence. We've felt of His
personality. We know that what He is telling us is true." Yes, Andrew had to
share it with someone.
That is what we do in sharing what we know and what we understand. And I'm
grateful for that knowledge I have that God lives, that He is our Father, and
for the understanding that I have of our Heavenly Father and of His Son, Jesus
the Christ, our Savior and the Redeemer of all of mankind.
I had a letter only a few days ago from a man in Edinburgh, Scotland. His name
is George Stewart. He'll be surprised at my mentioning this, but he wanted to
thank me because when he was 15 years old (some 40 years ago), I was presiding
over the mission in Scotland. He wanted to thank me for the missionaries' coming
to their home in Thornliebank, one of the areas of Glasgow. He had joined the
Church along with his mother.
He said that as he developed a testimony of the Book of Mormon, as he started
reading it and as he kept reading it, he couldn't put it down because he knew
it was true. He kept reading and reading and developing a testimony of the gospel
as a young man. He told how he used to come over to the mission home and how
we were kind to him and we would spend time with the young people because they
were getting into Mutual, which we were starting in the branches.
Then he told of the blessings that had come into his life as a young man, that
he had met his sweetheart in that little branch—his wife—and that
they were married and that they had four children: a son who had finished a
mission in the Washington D.C. Mission; a son who served in the England Leeds
Mission; a daughter who was married in the temple; and one who is waiting for
the return of a missionary. He voiced gratitude for all of the blessings that
had come into his life and the lives of his sons who have been on missions and
his daughters.
During the past 40 years, he has served as a bishop four times in four different
units, and his wife has served as a Relief Society president on three occasions.
He is currently serving as a counselor in the Edinburgh stake presidency. He
said, "And I'm going to be retiring very shortly from the company I'm with.
I've done very well, and we plan to go out on a mission together."
Then he said these words to me: "This amazing Church has woven a pattern of
miracles in our lives." Let me say that again: "This amazing Church has woven
a pattern of miracles in our lives."
And he says the gospel came into his life, to his wife, to all of his children,
and to their children. The grandchildren are active in the Church, and he and
his wife now have a great desire to go out into the world when they retire from
their profession.
When you think of the majesty and the impact and the spiritual direction of
this work out in the world and that this work is meant to reach the people of
the world, it is thrilling just to contemplate what lies before us.
There was a Brother and Sister Andrus from Walnut Creek, California, who had
served four missions, and then they were called to go to Zimbabwe and assigned
to the district in Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. This was their fifth mission.
As they told of the marvelous things that they were able to do in reactivating
people, she told a story of how there was a little portable electronic organ
in the chapel and how she started showing some of the boys and girls in Bulawayo
how to play the organ. There was also a little piano keyboard in another room,
and she would have a class where the organ was and another one where this little
keyboard was. She would teach these children to play the organ after school.
They said they started a temple preparation class in the reactivation process,
and before they left they were able to put 28 people on the bus to go from Bulawayo
all the way to Johannesburg to the temple, 650 miles away—two days and
one night. They said, "We've talked about how we are in our late 70s now—these
two old people wandering around in Africa having the greatest period of our
lives, the greatest excitement we could have."
Think of Dr. Alan Barker, who had retired from the Salt Lake Clinic, a wonderful
cardiologist here in Salt Lake, who, together with his wife, accepted a mission
call to the Philippines. While there, they accomplished a marvelous work in
helping correct a serious disease problem. He was there long enough to help
find a solution to the problem and obtain the needed medical equipment and medication.
These are examples of the marvelous service being given by senior missionary
couples in various parts of the world.
I leave you my love, my witness, my testimony that God lives, that this work
is true. You can't find the word retirement in the Bible. I don't think
you can find the word in the Bible Dictionary. Isn't it interesting to think
what can happen in our lives today and what possibilities lie ahead for us if
we believe and understand and have a commitment and a dedication to live the
principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ and to bless the lives of people?
May you be so blessed. May you have a burning feeling in your heart. May you
feel as I do on this day that this work is true and that it is meant for us
to help bring about the eternal plan of salvation and exaltation. In the name
of Jesus Christ, amen.
Previous
