A Talent to Cheer

I could tell she was nervous as we talked on the phone. “What do you think they’d like? Fried chicken? Spaghetti? Oh! I hope they’re not thinking I’m cooking up a kitchenful of soul food to make them eat.”

I laughed. It was my mother’s first visit with the missionaries.

That was the beginning of my mother’s caring service to every missionary who served in the Milwaukee City Branch, Milwaukee Wisconsin Stake, in the Wisconsin Milwaukee Mission. Since that first pot of chili, Flo Stolberg and her husband, Swede, have joined the Church and have always lovingly welcomed the missionaries into their home.

Sister Stolberg often consoles discouraged missionaries with stories of her tough times and illustrates how the gospel has helped her. She shares the same lessons with them that she taught me and helps them see that the difficulties in our lives are intended to make us better, not bitter.

Few missionaries realize that Sister Stolberg has degenerative arthritis. Most of her days are filled with pain, but she insists that the photographs she poses for with happy missionaries and the time she spends serving those who preach the gospel are the best pain medication that she can find.—Darlene Boyd Watts Day, Milwaukee, Wisconsin