God Loves Shaun White

Missionary Work . . . the work to which every Latter-Day Saint has been called. But more and more, I'm convinced it is not our work.

I work at the Missionary Training Center, the Mormon Mecca of missionary work where tens of thousands on missionaries pilgrimage before beginning their assigned labor. As a teacher there, we receive large amounts of training on the big picture of missionary work, "this is my work at my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39) as well as the finite picture, helping missionaries learn to adapt to stress, improve their teaching skills, etc.

This morning however, I was struck by something affecting both. As an avid Olympic spectator, I also love learning about the athletes and their stories. A story about Shaun White, posted 3 days ago in the Washington Post, was of particular interest to me and should be to all Latter-Day Saints.

The author's primary message was that Shaun White is more than his medals and victories: he is a person with greater purpose. In the article, Shaun's mom Cathy recalls the two open-chest cardiac surgeries Shaun underwent as a child. She stated,

"“I don’t know if I’ve ever told anyone this, but when he was on that hospital bed during the second surgery and I didn’t know what would happen to my child, a family friend came up and said something to me,” Cathy said. “We’re not religious and he was a Mormon, an LDS elder in the church. He said, ‘Don’t worry. Your son is going to make it. He is going to be all right. He is going to grow up and become somebody special.’ ”

To the average reader, this may not be significant but from the LDS reading between the lines this picture might be painted:

While Shaun was in the hospital, an LDS friend of the White family received a spiritual prompting (recognized or not is not important) to offer a blessing to the White's son. He went to the hospital and explained that he is an Elder in our church and is authorized to bless the sick. The offer was accepted and the blessing received. Whether stated in the blessing or as an impression afterwards, this priesthood holder shared his spiritual prompting that the boy would be alright and become somebody special. Kathy might have shrugged it off, but she didn't. She must have felt comfort in this spiritual  moment because some 20 years later it stuck with her and she shared it with this reported. By the spirit, Kathy felt that her son IS someone special.

As I read this article I too felt the spirit, quite overwhelmingly, testify that God loves Shaun White. What an unexpected part of my Olympic experience!

I then headed to a training at the Missionary Training Center where the message was further impressed upon me.  Through a discussion about the "Hastening of the Work" it was determined that God is the hastener and we get to help. As we look at the people around us we cannot ask, "is this person prepared or is this person prepared?" but rather we should ask, "how has God loved and guided this child and how can I help."

I pray that I will better  help the Lord in His hastening. God truly loves ALL His children.