Duty, Dinner, Devotionals

The other morning about 7:40 as I was walking back to our apartment from choir practice (underground), a security guard had me wait for a moment so I wouldn't get run over by the carts (like multi-seated golf carts) carrying Elder Robert D. Hales and Elder Richard G. Scott who were going to the Thursday morning meeting of General Authorities in the Temple. What a nice way to begin the day to see the servants of the Lord in their places quietly going about doing their duties.



Last Monday evening we had a terrific branch party (A branch is like a ward. Our congregation is huge and is designated a branch instead of a ward because we do not have Primary, Young Men, or Young Women. We are all just adult, both young and old, missionaries.) It was our every-other-month Hail and Farewell party to say hello to in-coming missionaries and farewell to those who are going home. It had an Irish theme. The food was delicious, decorations super, entertainment was great. A missionary from Ireland sang, we had some fun group singing, and an award-winning group of cloggers danced. They were fabulous. The only thing I wished for was that I could have been dancing with them.



Last Wednesday the Elijah Choir sang at noon for a Church Service Missionary devotional in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building chapel where we have most of our devotionals. Elder (oh, I forgot his first name) Klopfer gave the most amazing talk. He has served on the Church music committee since 1983. He was born in East Germany in 1936 to parents who were members of the Church. He was a child prote'ge' and was the branch organist when he was six years old. He is an accomplished pianist and organist (Every day he plays the piano in the Church Office building cafeteria all during the lunch period.), former bishop and stake president. He didn't talk about music, however. He told the story of his family who lived in Nazi Germany. His father was the mission president and then was forced to join the German Army. He told how dangerous it was when Hitler was in power and about the bombings. One day when his father had taken his mother, his little brother and him to the mission home to do some work, a soldier came by and told them that he expected there would be bombs dropped and warned them to leave for their safety. During the night the mission home was destroyed by bombs. He told of several times when his family was miraculously saved. He recalled the last time he saw his father. After tearful goodbyes, his father went off to fight with the German Army. They never saw or heard from him again. In 1948 a man came to visit his mother, Sis. Klopfer. He told her that her husband had been captured by the Russians and forced into hard labor. The man was next to Bro. Klopfer when he finally died of hunger. He resolved that he would find a way to tell Bro. Klopfer's widow what had happened to her husband. He survived and walked a thousand miles to his home, first stopping to find Sis. Klopfer and give her the sad news.
Sis. Klopfer felt strongly that she had to get her two sons to America. With the help of Walter Stover, the mission president who replaced her husband (You may recall Pres. Monson mentioning Pres. Stover), and at the risk of their lives, with courage and tenacity and through strategy, she was able to escape from East Germany. Sis. Klopfer and her youngest son separated from Elder Klopfer so that if they were caught, they would not all be punished or killed. Sis. Klopfer and her sons managed to get off a train in the middle of the night undetected. They met up with Pres. Stover who put them in the back of his car. He told them when they went through the checkpoint at the border, they would be stopped and searched. He promised them that if they sat perfectly still, did not make a sound, not even a cough, that even though the soldiers would shine spotlights directly on them, by the power of the Priesthood and in the name of Christ, they would not be seen. Just as Pres. Stover promised, they were stopped. He had his papers in order and was clear to go through to the West. Spotlights were shone into the car on every nook and cranny as Sis. Klopfer and her little boy remained still and silent, but they were never seen and were able to safely cross the border.
In the meantime, Sis. Klopfer had instructed her older son, Elder Klopfer, that he would need to ride the bicycle and cross the border. They had managed to take the bike with them on the train and get it off with them. She gave him instructions that he was to act as stupid as possible. He was to pretend that he didn't know anything. He had no papers or identification on him whatsoever. She hugged him and prayed for him, not knowing exactly how it was going to work out. At the appointed meeting place in the West, they fearfully awaited Elder Klopfer who was about three hours late. At last he appeared. He said his mother asked him, "What happened to you?" Apparently he looked quite disheveled and terrified. She asked him how he had gotten through the checkpoint and across the border. He told us that he had absolutely no recollection whatsoever at that time, nor has he ever had any remembrance of what happened or how he crossed the border. He was about 14 years old at the time. He is looking forward to getting on the other side of the veil where he can finally find out what happened and how he made it across. From there they were able to get to Holland and obtained passage from Holland to America and went on to Salt Lake City. It was a harrowing story. I found my heart beating rapidly and sitting on the edge of my choir seat as he told his amazing story.

Elder Smith and I home teach (The senior missionaries home teach as couples here.) a 19 year old missionary who lives alone (Rules are different here!). He has cerebral palsy caused by a stroke he had in-utero when amniotic fluid got into his brain. His mother delivered him four weeks early at 4 lbs. He is just amazing. He plans on being a bio-chemist or bio-physicist. He was able to complete two years of college during his last two years of high school. He came for dinner yesterday and was such a delight. I do not know how it is possible for one thin human being to eat as much as he did. It was so much fun to feed him. He has endeared himself to us. He does get lonely but is so upbeat and positive. He has physical limitations and a little quirkiness that seems to accompany such situations, but he is very likable. We need a dictionary to keep up with his vocabulary. He works in the Church History Department on the computer. He uses a walking stick, and even with his back and knee issues, can walk faster than I can. He has so far to walk each day. The sacrifices some of the missionaries make to serve the Lord because they WANT to and have CHOSEN to is humbling and inspiring.

This morning Elder William O. Nelson, former secretary to President Ezra Taft Benson and the Quorum of the Twelve spoke on the prophecies and the signs of the last days. It was incredible. It is so amazing to be living in the very days of which the Prophets warned and foretold. We are there! There are two great categories of the Signs of the Times: 1. Signs pertaining to the restoration of the Gospel 2. Signs pertaining to calamities, judgments, and increase of evil. "How do we prepare for the Second Coming? Well, you just do not worry about it. You just live the kind of life that if the Second Coming were to be tomorrow, you would be ready. Nobody knows when it is going to happen...Our responsibility is to prepare ourselves, to live worthy of the association of the Saviour, to deport ourselves in such a way that we would not be embarrassed if He were to come among us. That is a challenge in this day and age." Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley

There is an intense effort under way here in Salt Lake City to have everyone prepared for any kind of emergency. Emphasis seems to be on civil unrest or earthquake. The missionaries, all of us, are to have a three month supply, sufficient water, "grab and go" kits, etc. Elder Smith and I are on the emergency preparedness committee for the branch. All the bishops in the stake have been given two-way emergency radios. The wards and branches are being divided into sections with members responsible for contacting other members in their sections and responding and reporting. We are being given placards to put on the outside of our doors letting emergency personnel know if we are okay, need help but can wait, need help immediately, or have left. (green, yellow, red, and blue). Quite a system is being put in place. This is the Readers' Digest version. Actually, it is rather ominous but "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear."