We did not expect to get any more accommodations than a place to
stretch ourselves at night in our blankets; but Na-lima-nui's daughter,
who was married to a Spaniard, lived adjoining; and she had arranged
for her mother to live in her rooms, and the old lady's room had been
prepared for us. They had fixed up the room as well as they could.
Such a profound feeling of thankfulness as I had on our obtaining a
shelter in this poor, native woman's hut I never experienced before.
It has been my fortune, since those early days of my life, to travel
considerably, and to mingle with our missionaries in many lands. I have
seen Elders who were willing to endure everything for the gospel's
sake; their hearts were filled with joy and a burning desire to magnify
their Priesthood and to fill their missions. What they ate or drank,
where they lodged or how they were clothed, were matters of little or
no thought to them, so long as they had the Spirit of the Lord and
were in the line of duty. Others, I have seen, who felt every little
privation to be a dreadful hardship; who thought, if everything did
not go smoothly with them, they had to suffer more than was necessary,
and who were ready to desert their fields of labor and run home at the
first opportunity.
I scarcely need say that men of this latter class are rarely, if ever,
successful missionaries. They think too much of their own ease and
comfort, and their thoughts are too much upon themselves, to labor
under any circumstances of difficulty for the salvation of others. When
an Elder has the spirit of his mission, self-comfort is forgotten.
He is perfectly happy in declaring the gospel and laboring for the
salvation of others, and he gives but little thought to the kind of
food he eats, or how he fares in other respects. His bodily wants are
swallowed up in his joy in Christ.
These were our feelings at the time of which I write. We were willing
to live on any food that would sustain our bodies, however common or
even disagreeable it might be; we were glad to get a shelter, however
humble, to lie under; our desire was to fill our mission: and because
we felt thus, the Lord made up for any lack of comfort by giving us His
Holy Spirit.
I had never been so happy in my life before as I was then. When I
prayed I could go unto God in faith; He listened to my prayers; He
gave me great comfort and joy; He revealed Himself to me as He never
had done before, and told me that if I would persevere, I should be
blessed, be the means of bringing many to the knowledge of the truth,
and be spared to return home after having done a good work.
Many things were revealed to me, during those days, when He was the
only Friend we had to lean upon, which were afterwards fulfilled. A
friendship was there established between our Father and myself, which,
I trust, will never be broken nor diminished, and which I hope has
continued to grow stronger from those days to these.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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