The Voices of Three Single Members

During the videotaped portion of the fireside for single members held on February 26, Elder Marion D. Hanks of the Presidency of the Seventy spoke with Ginger Evans, a divorced mother of seven; Rebecca Olsen, a high school teacher and a returned missionary; and Richard Flamm, a young returned missionary. Following are some highlights from their comments.

Sister Evans expressed her gratitude for Relief Society, as well as for bishops who have been especially mindful of her spiritual welfare. Still, she has had difficult times as a single parent. She recalled saying in her prayers on one especially difficult evening that she would like to go home to Heavenly Father to spend just one night and return rejuvenated the next day. The response, she felt, was that she could not go to him, but he could come, through the influence of his Spirit, to be with her. “We don’t ever have to be alone,” she said. “So often we just don’t tap into the Source that is there for us.”

Sister Olsen explained that while the programs for single adults offer her good things, sometimes other individuals in the Church make her feel uncomfortably categorized. At times she has felt as if “the longer I was home from my mission, the less I fit into the structure of the Church.” But she said she has overcome those disappointments through the positive outlook she was taught as a child and through developing “a solid understanding that I [am] loved by my Heavenly Father.” Elder Hanks also pointed out the positive effect of her many service activities.

Brother Flamm talked of how Young Single Adult activities and associations in the ward help keep him close to the Church. He also benefits from counsel to review regularly his patriarchal blessing, to set and prayerfully review personal goals, and to read the scriptures and pray daily.