Obedience and Charity

By Choi Chung Lap

One Thursday during my mission in Hong Kong, I was called to be a district leader and sent to a new area. I soon found there were no investigators there. But I was ready to begin the tracting necessary to find people to teach.

The next day as my companion and I and two other elders were about to eat dinner, the phone rang. An assistant to the mission president was calling to relay a challenge from the president: He wanted us to bring some investigators to church that Sunday. Sunday was only two days away!

I hung up the phone, told the other elders of our president’s desire, and suggested we begin fasting. All three of them supported me. We put our dinner into the refrigerator and said a prayer, telling Heavenly Father the purpose of our fast and seeking His divine help.

Then we left the apartment and started tracting. We did not have much success that evening, but on Saturday, we worked even harder and relied more on Heavenly Father. We had some success, but we weren’t sure any investigators would be at church the next day. But I knew we had done our part.

On Sunday when everyone arrived, we had seven investigators there. And of those seven, six were baptized within one month.

This miracle took obedience and hard work. I learned that, as the scripture says, “when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” (D&C 130:21).

I also learned on my mission, during the hot summer of 1981, the importance of charity. Jesus Christ taught: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:34–35).

The area I served in that summer included a part of the city that had many apartment buildings with security guards. It was very difficult to get permission from the guards to tract in those buildings. We often tried but usually failed.

One afternoon both my companion and I felt we should go to that part of the city. During the bus trip there, we saw an older woman pushing a wooden cart. She seemed heavy laden, so we determined to get off the bus to help her. But the driver refused to stop since the road was so steep. When the bus did stop, my companion and I immediately ran back to the hillside. Her load was very heavy; it took us 15 minutes to get it to the top.

Some of the security guards saw what we were doing. That day when we walked into their buildings, they simply let us pass. That afternoon we had much success—we found three new investigators, one of whom was later baptized.

The life of our Lord Jesus Christ exemplified obedience and charity. I am grateful that I have the gospel of Jesus Christ and His perfect example to follow.