This has been an interesting week. We got a call from the Elders Quorum president saying that he had been given an assignment by the branch president to check on a certain less active member sometime during the week. Immediately after, he called us to divert it to us. I happened to be driving, so my companion answered the phone and after a few moments, he calmly told this man that "for the church to run smoothly, every man must do his part and pull his weight. We are busy every day and we go home at night with enough stress due to our already overloaded duties and schedule. We are doing our part now you need to do yours. Man up!" He then hung up the phone without further ado. I looked at him with a very stunned expression. He surprises me sometimes. On Sunday this man looked very subdued, and he apologized for trying to dish his assignment upon us because he thought he had "something better to do."
We had another experience in which a member asked us to go to the hospital to give a blessing to his sick nephew. Upon our arrival, we found the man laying barely concious and pitifully on a vomit stained pillow. My heart groaned with sympathy and compassion, and we were about to bless him, but this member told us to wait for the rest of the family. the man's brother and sister arrived, along with one of their cousins. The cousin welcomed us with warmth and love, knowing full well what we intended to do. The sister asked who we were and what we were doing there, and the cousin responded that we were going to bless and heal her ailing brother. The woman got a disgusted look on her face and with arrogance and smugness said "No, I don't feel comfortable with that. He has his own church!" Unable to speak for himself, the man was unavoidably subject to the will of his sister. I don't know what overcame me, but I reproved the woman quite sharply for her arrogance, and told her that we were here to bless him as we had been ASKED to do, and at that point I felt prompted to tell her that if she would not let us bless him he would surely die. She twisted her face in anger and repeated her previous statement. We walked out and I feeling again a righteous indignation and pain within my heart. The man died two days later. I'll leave the rest for your own speculation.
Stay well.
Love,
Elder J W Davidson
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