The Rescue

     For the past few weeks, we have noticed that one of our members family hadn't been to church.  We seemed surprised because he is the second counselor in the Branch Presidency, and she is the second counselor in the Primary Presidency.  The Primary President had asked me about 3 weeks ago if I could help out in the Primary because neither of her counselors were there and some of her teachers were gone.  I told her I would be glad to help out.  Being only the third week we had been to church, we still didn't know who was who and what positions they held.

     We had tried to call this family to see if we could come visit them, but hadn't been able to make connections with them.  As we visited with the Relief Society President on Tuesday, we mentioned that we were concerned about this family, and that we hadn't been able to make connections with them.  She told us she had her cell number and would I like it.  We were glad for that bit of information and took the number.

     Because it was late when we finished making our visits, we waited until the next morning to call her.  What a surprise I got when she told me that she had  had an angina attack three weeks ago, and had pretty much been down.  I apologized for not knowing anything about it.  I asked if I could come help her do some things.  She said her grandchildren had been there last weekend and had helped with some cleaning.  I asked about doing some laundry or ironing and she assured me that she had done a little at a time and was o k.

      Feeling very useless, I then asked if I could bring some dinner to them tonight.  She was elated.  "That would be wonderful!" she exclaimed.  I do a little and then rest for a bit and try to do some more, but by night I'm too tired to fix much for dinner, so my husband will try to fix a little something.

     She was thrilled to think that I would offer to bring her dinner.

     That evening as we visited for a minute, she was surprised that we hadn't known about her illness.  She had told the Primary President, and the first counselor, whose husband is the Branch President.  he had even given her a blessing.  But the Relief Society President had no idea until I contacted her today and alerted her of this sister's condition.  I was amazed that the Branch President hadn't said anything about it to her either.

     In our home ward, the whole neighborhood would have known within the hour and phone calls would have been made to bring in dinner for the next several nights, and additional visits made to check on her.  This branch struggles to be knitted together, and feel a sense of responsibility for one another.  We've been told that the Branch president hasn't held a Branch Council since May.  We're still trying to meet with him to see what he would like us to help do.  In the meantime, we have made our own plan of things we can be doing to build and strengthen this branch and help them become more unified in working toward the same goals in order to keep newly baptized members coming and active.

     We are thankful for the experiences we have had  on our home wards to help us know how to come to the rescue of others.   There is a lot of work to be done, not only here in Nelspruit, but in similar places throughout the world.  Those of  you who are retired and available might want to consider praying about the opportunity to help rescue others just like this dear sister, and these struggling branch members also.  We are grateful for this opportunity to serve.