What does it matter.

It is easy, in the toils of everyday life, to wonder whether the things you do make any difference. If you strive to do good, bless the lives of others, and your offerings seem to be rejected, do you really ever accomplish anything?

In my youth I served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Louisiana, Shreveport Mission. (During my time there it became the Louisiana, Baton Rouge Mission.) Baptisms in the mission typically were slow to come. Most missionaries went home with around 6 baptisms for their efforts. Much time was spent tracting. Much teaching time was spent simply correcting false beliefs about the Church. My mission success was pretty typical. I baptized two families, one in the first half of my mission that went inactive within months of us being transferred out of the area. The second, a family of 4, late in my second year. I tried to follow up on this family at intervals after my mission, but lost track of them. I contacted their old Bishop, who was unsure of their status, and thought that they may have gone inactive.

This was very saddening to me as this lovely family had so much promise, and I felt in my heart that the work I had done on my mission was of little use. I didn't learn differently until yesterday, more than 30 years later.

I was contacted a few weeks ago by a cousin from my Dad's side, who asked me if I knew or remembered this family. When I responded positively, he gave me their phone number and told me they lived in Houston, just a few hours south of where I live now. While this was great news, I put off contacting them, I had a family reunion in the works, and my occupational load was high, and to be honest I had some trepidation as to what I would learn when I contacted them. Finally, yesterday, I called.

The reception I received was amazing. The man I knew, and his delightful wife were overjoyed to hear from me. They had not gone inactive and had raised their 2 children, and two children they had subsequently received in the Gospel. They had gone to the temple and been sealed as a family for Eternity. Three of their children had served missions for the Church. They and their family had been richly blessed by the Lord. What they had to tell me made me very happy indeed.

The point of this post is very simple indeed. You cannot know all the good that you do, or the lives you will touch, by your selfless service. In this case it took 30 years. In some cases you may not learn in this life at all. But be assured that God does know, and for every act of service you provide, lives can and will be blessed.

- Edwin Slack