Elder Harold G. Hillam based his Saturday afternoon address on the Apostle Paul's declaration, " . . . ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God." (Eph. 2:19.)
Elder Hillam, who was sustained to the Seventy last April, told of "the best shoeshine man in the world" who, although he shined shoes of missionaries in Portugal, had not listened to their message. The man's wife had died, he had no family, and about the only pleasure he had was seeing people walk away happy with the shoes he had shined.Elder Hillam, as a mission president and regional representative, often had his shoes shined by the man. But the last few times he went to Lisbon, he could not find him. No one he asked knew what happened to him. Some thought he had died.
Elder Hillam wondered, "Could it be that the best shoeshine man in the world had died, and no one really knew or even seemed to care? Had there been someone there with him, or did he slip away unnoticed?"
He then told a contrasting story about Brother and Sister Joaquim Aires who went to Portugal after the 1974 revolution of Portugal's colonies in Angola and Mozambique. Arriving unknown and with few possessions, they learned of the gospel and were baptized. He became president of a mission district.
When Pres. Aires suffered a serious cerebral hemorrhage, Elder Hillam went to his hospital room. Pres. Aires said, "I knew you would come. Please give me a blessing."
Elder Hillam said members of the Church from one end of Portugal to the other asked about Brother Aires and expressed their love for him. Because of membership in the Church, literally thousands loved him and remembered him in their prayers.
He recovered, and he and his wife filled a full-time mission.
Elder Hillam said he often thought of the contrast between the shoeshine man and Brother Aires. One, like so many of life's unknown wanderers, had slipped away without any understanding of life's purposes. The other was not only taught of life's real purpose, but also had become a part of a great body of people who showed their love and appreciation for him.
"What a blessing it is to belong, to be wanted and needed," declared Elder Hillam. "To all who find themselves outside the household of faith and away from the saints, please accept this invitation to come unto Christ that we might, as Alma said, ` . . . bear one another's burdens.' (Mosiah 18:8.) Join with the saints, that you might not be any longer strangers alone in this world, but truly cared for, loved and appreciated."