Wherefore, ye need not suppose that I and my father are the only ones that have testified, and also taught them. Wherefore, if ye shall be obedient to the commandments, and endure to the end, ye shall be saved at the last day. And thus it is. Amen. (1 Ne. 22:31.)
I was so excited to turn 12 years old so I could go to MIA. That seemed to be the time when a young girl became a "teenager" and was no longer treated as a child. The year I turned 12 the MIA theme for the year was, "If ye shall be obedient to the scriptures and endure to the end, ye shall have eternal life."
At that time, the most important part of the scripture to me was the part about keeping God's commandments. This didn't change in my way of thinking until the last five years when my mother became so ill she required 24-hour-a-day care.
There were seven of us (her children), and we decided that each of us would take a 24-hour shift each week and give our mother the care she needed. It was during those five years that I finally realized how important "endure to the end" was in that scripture.
Our mother was always pleasant, never complaining, and always tried to think of the happy times in her life. She thanked us for the time we spent with her.
When the pain became almost unbearable, she would thank us for the care we gave her and also would thank our Heavenly Father for watching over her. Never once did she complain of her lot in life or of the pain she was in. She was pleasant and kind to us. She truly endured to the end.
Our mother passed away Dec. 28, 1987. What a wonderful lesson she taught all of her children - endure to the end.