"Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions. President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had 'never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life..'
"This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. . . . Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions.
"Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened....
"Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel.
"There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, till then, unconscious of itself.
"Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, 'summer is nigh.' Thus warned that summer is upon us, let us not then complain of the heat."
From "A More Determined Discipleship" by Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy. An address delivered at Brigham Young University, 10 October 1978.
We got to spend one last day at the beach, well a half day anyone. Again it was beautiful. Today there were hardly any clouds at all which meant it was hot! We drank our last pina coladas, took one more swim in the ocean, and soaked up some last rays. Then it was off to the airport. We decided to be cheap and make it an adventure to get to the airport. We hopped in a gua-gua (like a little van-bus) and headed to Bayahibe. We picked up people on the way, then transferred to a different gua-gua. They packed so many people in! It was hilarious. We finally made it to the airport to start another 20 hour journey. Luckily we still had the office to entertain us :). We made it to Puerto Rico and then to Tampa and geared up for another long night in the airport. This time we hid from the security so that we wouldn't have to go to the main terminal. It was a little quieter in our terminal and halfway through the night we even found some padded benches! Still not the best night of sleep, but better than the first time around. We made it back to cold Salt Lake and back to reality. I am so grateful for the chance I had to work in the DR. I met some amazing people and had an incredible time.
Dr. Tidwell and Bruce (the dentists) were on fire again. There were over 300 kids in Campo Nuevo so we told everyone that we only brought medicines for kids. There just wasn't enough time to see adults. But some of the adults were coming up to the window next to Bruce and telling him they needed teeth pulled. He'd take a quick look, give them a numbing shot, and a couple minutes later pull the tooth out. This was all through the window. It was hilarious! I'll try to get a picture of it from someone.
It's the only ward in the whole city with only 2 missionaries, so they have their hands full. There was a confirmation of a man who had been baptized the day before. What an incredible experience to see that ordinance take place. I went up to congratulate him after the meeting and asked how long he had been meeting with the missionaries. He said he was actually from a different city and had met the missionaries there. He believed and wanted to be baptised but his wife didn't want anything to do with it. So he decided to leave and move to Higuey. He got all choked up and began crying about how he had moved here three weeks ago and was all alone, but now he has a family in the church. It was so touching to see the sacrifices he had made to come unto Christ. What a great example.
These are the interpreters. We met Sunday night at the church to get organized and understand a little better what was going to be happening that week. Basically every day we would be going out to a different Batey. Bateys are housing communities that the sugar cane companies have their workers live it. They pay them about $3 a day depending on how much work they get done. There's not running water and only some houses have electricity. It's pretty much slavery and was heartbreaking to see.
