SHE COULDN'T SIT STILL.
The mention of a living prophet had aroused in her a great enthusiasm.
As I continued the lesson, the woman was up again and again, her hands
flying as she asked for clarification and elaboration. She wanted to
know everything she could about David O. McKay and his calling.
"He's a prophet," I repeated. "Like Jeremiah or Moses or Peter." The
concept was powerful, and she wanted desperately to understand.
"How does a man get to be a prophet?" she asked?
I spoke then of years of preparation, and talked to her of obedience
and faithfulness and study and prayer and service -- those qualities
that enabled a man to fulfill such a calling.
"But the most important requirement is that he be called by God," I
explained, "because he receives revelation from the Lord and delivers
it to the people. He speaks to us the words and the will of God."
"How?"
"Pardon
me?"
"How
does he speak to you?" she asked. "I mean, how does he let you know
what the Lord says and what he expects? When he has a message, how does
he deliver it?"
This
was a missionary's dream. In nineteen months of proselyting and
teaching I had never seen anyone so excited about the
restoration of the gospel and the idea of a living prophet. She seemed
aflame with a need to know the present word of God.
"Every
six months, the Church holds a General Conference," I said. "People
attend from all over the world, and President McKay speaks, usually
three or four times, during the three days of the conference."
I
could see in her eyes a great desire to sit and listen to the living
words of a living prophet.
"But,
does everyone attend?" she asked. Then, thinking of herself, she added,
"What about those who can't come to conference?"
I
smiled. This woman was a joy to teach. "The Church publishes a magazine
called the Improvement Era," I responded. "A month or two after
conference, the entire proceedings of the conference are published in
one of the issues. Everyone who wants to can get a copy and read the
talks."
But
there was more, and speaking of the magazine had reminded me. "That
isn't all." I was nearly as excited as she was now.
"Every
month President McKay writes the editorial in the Improvement Era.
Every month we get a written message from the Prophet of God."
"That's
wonderful!" she exclaimed, and I agreed. In my mind the faucets were
running, the baptismal font already filling. She said she had one more
question. I didn't mind. After nineteen months as a missionary, I could
answer any question about living prophets that an investigator could
ask. Any question, that is, except this one. As she spoke, I saw the
plug being pulled, the water draining from the font.
Her
eyes shining with delight and anticipation, she asked, "What did he say
last month?" (From The Talking Cat, pp. 3,4, by Ted L. Gibbons)
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