They have simply forgotten it and not allowed it to continue as a force that pulsates in them and informs their lives. Even those who were our branch andĭistrict presidents and are no longer with us once manifested those same qualities and clearly felt the Spirit. The genuineness of their conversion was evidenced by their remarkable faith, humility, enthusiasm and eagerness to serve. It is a further witness that in the seemingly alien environment and culture of Russia there were still those who heard our missionaries’ message and at least for a time felt the Spirit so deeply. The trick is not to forget.Īs I have commented about a number of LDS Russians I have at one time known to be dynamic and fully engaged disciples and leaders:

You know when you know, when it has spoken to you.

The Spirit, as we are told, is just that fragile. I believe that each of us has encountered such testimony-galvanizing ‘hooks’–often in particular role models–but we can with time all too easily dismiss or forget them. If ‘hook’ is a rather crude expression, connoting as it does over-dependency, even addiction, we might further relate to it the metaphorical notion that the Savior himself is the great Fisherman and we the fish he rescues from a sea of aimlessness, self-absorption, and ultimate despair. We perhaps too cavalierly overlook what, for want of a better term, I call ‘hooks’–the experiential ‘hooks’–that, in each of our lifetimes, more commonly I suspect than we readily recognize, have often unexpectedly amazed and spiritually ‘grabbed’ us.

The Tree House by Douglas Thayer