"In these times when so much of our daily experience seems to point to a world moving in the wrong direction, may we take courage, faith and comfort from the small, quiet and gentle acts of caring, loving, humble and dedicated followers of Christ," said Elder Stephen A. West Saturday afternoon.
Giving his first general conference address since being called to the Seventy last April, Elder West asked, "May we similarly replicate in our own lives the very lessons the Savior taught almost 2,000 years ago."Recalling a time a few years ago when he and his wife served in a small inner-city branch of the Church, which met in a row house in a troubled neighborhood of a large eastern city, Elder West shared memorable experiences that took place there.
He recounted that one Sunday in the middle of the branch sacrament meeting, a woman walked in the door off the street. She was a homeless woman who was wearing dirty clothes, coughing and blowing her nose into a filthy handkerchief.
"[She] . . . walked right to the front row and sat down next to a member who was wearing a white blouse, leaned against her and laid her head on her shoulder," he related. "The member immediately put her arms around the guest and held her in her arms throughout the remainder of the meeting."
Elder West recalled that the speaker was talking about the parable of the Good Samaritan. "We wondered what better illustration you could have of the parable of the Good Samaritan than what we had just seen, and we were reminded of the Savior's words . . . 'Thou shalt love . . . thy neighbor as thyself.' " (Luke 10:27.)
A second experience in the branch dealt with a kind and conscientious woman who faithfully paid a few coins for tithing. "One day as she came to Church, she was also holding in her hand a plastic sandwich bag with a piece of dried-up bread in it," he recalled. "She . . . said: 'If you are going to belong to the Church, you ought to contribute. I can't contribute much, but I can contribute the sacrament bread.'
"As we used her bread for the sacrament, the whole experience carried an additional meaning that day," he said, recalling the story of the widow's mite found in Mark 12:41-44.
A third experience in the branch came during a discussion concerning when one should give to those who ask for aid. One member told of meeting a man who put a pistol to his chest and demanded all his money. "Our member took the money from his pockets and handed it over to the man and then said, 'If you need the money that badly, I have more.' He then opened his briefcase and took out additional money, which he gave to the robber saying, 'Understand, you are not taking this from me, I am giving it to you in the name of the Lord because you need it."
The robber put the pistol away and said, "Where do you live? I am going to walk you home because you're too good a man to be on these streets, and you are not safe here."
"These are just a few small modern-day experiences that were not witnessed by many; but as they show, these were some exemplary people who lived in difficult conditions."
Quoting I Ne. 16:29, Elder West commented, "And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things."