Throughout my life, the Lord has blessed me with many callings to serve in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It has been a great blessing to serve as a bishop, stake president, a Regional Representative (Area Seventy), and now as a patriarch. But perhaps the one I look back on most fondly is my calling as the deacons quorum advisor of the Scarborough Ward. I have always enjoyed working with youth, especially the young men.
When my bishop, who happened to be my son-in-law, proposed this assignment to me in 2001, my first response was to laugh. I was 71 years old! But he was serious. Laughter aside, I was delighted with the opportunity to serve the deacons. Four successive bishops apparently agreed that this was my calling, as I remained in this assignment for nearly 20 years. As time passed and my 90th birthday drew near, it seemed possible that I might still be deacons advisor at age 90. Does the Guinness Book of World Records have a category for deacons quorum advisors? But that achievement was not to be. I was released in my 89th year.
Teaching Boys Life Skills
I loved the enthusiasm and energy I found in these 12- and 13-year-old young men as I met with them each Sunday and on Wednesday evenings. What a choice opportunity I had to help cultivate faith and testimony in each of these boys during their formative years. I was also able to help them learn and develop the essentials of leadership as they took their turns serving in the quorum presidency.
Next to working with young men, my greatest passion is working with wood. I loved having the boys visit my home workshop for some of our Wednesday activities. As I guided the boys in this workshop adventure, each one felt the thrill of creating a useful object with his own hands. Other Wednesday evenings, we provided service, such as raking and bagging leaves at the home of a widow. That, too, brought a sense of satisfaction and purpose as the young men saw the results of their labors and felt the love and gratitude of the widow they served.
The Lord Loves All His Children, and So Do I
Toronto has been named the world’s most multicultural city. The composition of our ward reflects this international gathering, as the members come from at least 30 birth countries. In recent years, we have seen a predominance of immigrants from the Philippines, Brazil, and Nigeria. The deacons quorum has this same international mix. At one time, I had three boys in the quorum, each named Sebastian, one from Haiti, one from Colombia, and one from the Philippines. Many of our immigrant families have faced severe tests in their life experience. This can present unique challenges to church leaders, including a deacons quorum advisor.
Carlo (not his real name) was the eldest son of a single mother from Guatemala. He was not attending church. I visited his home and encouraged him to come to church and participate in the deacons quorum. I was delighted when he began to attend each Sunday, and he became one of the faithful deacons. Later, after Carlo had moved on from the deacons quorum, his mother came to me in distress. She told me that Carlo, who was now in grade nine, was being punished unfairly at school. I was no longer his quorum adviser, but he was still Carlo, and I had the time to intervene on behalf of this family. Mother, son, and I attended an appointment at the school to seek justice for Carlo. My presence gave Carlo and his mother courage to plead their case and brought greater respect for them from the school administration. Carlo was exonerated. They were happy, and I was grateful I could help.
I had another opportunity to help Bruno (not his real name,) a young man whose family had arrived recently as refugees from Angola. His father had been killed in the conflict that raged in that country. His mother fled with her three children, first to the Democratic Republic of Congo, and then to Canada. The trials they experienced are beyond description. Bruno is a big boy, unusually large for his age, so he appears to be a misfit among his peers at school. Probably because of the trauma he had experienced as a refugee, plus his language difficulty, he was acting in ways that created some disturbance in his grade eight class.
As I set out to attend an appointment at the school with Bruno and his mother, I realized that communication would be a problem. She spoke Portuguese and could not communicate in English. But because she had lived in the Congo, she had learned to communicate in French. The problem was solved when the school authorities kindly delegated the meeting to the French teacher. The meeting was cordial and successful, and we were able to exercise some diplomacy on Bruno’s behalf to pave the way for him to adjust to appropriate classroom behavior.
Ministering One-on-One
I viewed my role in the deacons quorum as an assignment to serve each individual young man. Each one was unique, as were his needs and challenges, having come from different cultural backgrounds. In most families, the parents were converts to the Church, many of them recently baptized. Some were part-member families; some were headed by single mothers. Parents' commitment to supporting their children in their Church activities varied, with some deacons enjoying full parental support and others relying entirely on their own initiative to remain faithful. I made many visits to the homes of deacons who appeared to need my encouragement to help them stay active and participate in quorum programs, such as the Duty to God program.
Sadly, some of these young men have left the Church to pursue uncertain paths. But seeing “my deacons” grow and mature, serve faithful missions, and achieve success in their lives, is a source of great satisfaction to me. Any success in the life of a young man is, for me, a cause for celebration. My hope is that I have made a positive impression on each of the boys I have served. I continue to hope that my brief opportunity to share my love and my faith with them will remain within each of them as a spark of truth—one that will endure or someday be reignited in their consciousness.
Perhaps my nearly 20-year assignment as Deacons Quorum Advisor has contributed to the longevity and general good health that I continue to enjoy in my 97th year. In any case, this service has given me great personal joy and satisfaction.