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- [00:03]
A
Welcome to following favorites. This is where John and I are sharing a single story to go with each week's lesson. John, this week is Doctrine Covenants 67:70. I read a very small phrase in section 67, verse 13. I thought of a story to tell you. In 67:13. The Lord says, continue in patience. Continue in patience. He goes on, until you are perfected. It's going to be a slow process. Well, continuing patience is actually a talk given by President Uchtorf years ago. I loved that talk. It's one that I listened to over and over and over. Well, that spurred another thought. I went to then Elder Uchtdorf's talk continue in Patience. It reminded me of another talk called the End. From the beginning, Elder Uchtdorf has home run after home run after home run of talks. Lift where you stand in remembrance of those who save. The sermons that President Uchtdorf has given over the last 20 years have been phenomenal. All right, you'll remember this one, John. It's when President Uchtdorf said he was a young refugee, I think he was 10 years old. This is when he went from speaking Russian to speaking English. He said his tongue was not made.
- [01:19]
B
To speak English too hard.
- [01:22]
A
So he was failing in school. He said, first time in my life, I thought maybe I'm not smart enough to go to school. During that time of his life, because they were refugees and couldn't really speak the language, his family opened up a laundry delivery service. Do you remember this story, John? He was in charge of picking up dirty laundry and delivering clean laundry. He said he'd always dreamed of having a red shiny bicycle. That's not what he got. He said, I got a workhorse of a bicycle. Can you imagine? With a heavy cart of clothes behind it. Especially a mom. A mom can pack clothes like 3D Tetris.
- [02:02]
B
They're amazing.
- [02:03]
A
Yeah, I remember. Even with my wife Sarah, I'll say. I think that suitcase is full. She's like, not even close.
- [02:09]
B
No, it isn't.
- [02:09]
A
Yeah, I can fit more in there. His mom and dad would pack this cart full of clothes. He said the town that they lived in had a lot of hill. Now, John, I don't know if kids today get to ride bikes like we did, but my childhood was constant bike riding. Do you remember going up a hill, barely getting the pedals around?
- [02:30]
B
Yeah. You have to stand up to put your weight on them. Yeah.
- [02:34]
A
You're holding onto those handlebars and you imagine pulling a 50 pound cart of clothes behind you. You can't say the Word hate in general conference. I think they would bleep it out. But here's what Elder Uchtdorf said about his bike. He said, I was never overly enthused about my job or the bike. So I think that means he did not like this experience. He said, at times I thought my lungs would burst. You got to remember that part. At times I thought my lungs would burst. It's just a constant workout. I imagine President Uchtorf had really strong legs. This kid gets off the bike, he's got these big muscular legs. He said the one good thing about having the bike was if he got done quickly, he could go over to the airfield. John, I know you would do the same thing.
- [03:25]
B
That's right.
- [03:26]
A
He would go over to the airfield and he could watch the planes from post World War II. The airmen coming in and out as their lives continue there. They learn English, able to get better jobs. They close the laundry delivery service. Then he joins the new German air force. He passes all the exams and all the tests. They ask him this question. They said, what treatment did you receive for your lung disease? And he tells them, I never had a lung disease. And they said they show him his X rays. No, you had a lung disease when you were younger, you obviously received treatment. But what was the treatment again? I think he goes home to his parents and says, should I have a lung disease? Right. Did you guys not want to tell me? And I think the idea was, well, we were new to the country, we didn't speak English, we didn't have money for medicine. The idea was, oh, you did have asthma. But we did the best we could with it. Well, John, they find out that their son had a lung disease when he was younger. It would have caused significant damage, maybe even killed him had he not received treatment. But what was the treatment? It was the bike.
- [04:41]
B
Doing the bike deliveries.
- [04:43]
A
Yeah, Day in and day out. At times I thought my lungs would burst. It's treating him for a disease he did not know then that he had. And I've often wondered, what if we asked 11 year old elder Uchtdorf what do you think of that bike? He would say, I hate this thing. Would you like to get rid of it? Yes, get rid of it. But then if you ask today's Elder Uchtdorf about the bike, what would he say?
- [05:14]
B
Save my life.
- [05:15]
A
Yeah, save my life, John. I wonder how many of us have those things in our lives right now, those things that were not happening to us. We asked the Lord to take them away when. What if it's our bike.
- [05:29]
B
It's blessing us and we might not even know it.
- [05:32]
A
I can't remember if it's in the talk. Continue in patience or a different talk. Elder Uchtdorf says, often the hardest times of our lives are essential stepping stones. What a lesson. Doctrine Covenants 6713 continue in patience. We hope you'll join us on our full podcast for these sections. We're with Peter Vidmar. John Peter Vidmar, the gold medalist Peter Vidmar. He walks us through these sections and tells some stories you are not going to want to miss. And then come back here next week we'll do another. Follow him Favorites.