One of the major themes of the Ephesians is Unity, and in this epistle, Paul teaches us how to create the oneness spoken of by the Savior in the Doctrine and Covenants when he said, "If ye are not one, ye are not mine." (D&C 38:27) Paul talks about unity in several ways:

1. Paul teaches that the purpose of the dispensation of the fullness of times is to gather all things together in one
2. Paul teaches the need for unity within the church community because we are all children of the same Father in Heaven
3. Apostles and prophets help us maintain unity in the church
4. Paul teaches unity between husband and wife and between parents and children.
5. Paul teaches us not to have unity with the wickedness of the world

Since it is Conference time again, perhaps you will pardon a personal note and a heartfelt observation about the unity that comes from our interaction with the apostles and prophets of the Kingdom of God on the earth.

The story begins in Santos, a costal city in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, where I was serving as a missionary. I had been struggling for a couple of weeks with a terrifying inability to control my thoughts. I don’t know why it happened or even how much of it was a result of my own weakness. I remember feeling that I was not pursuing a course of my own choosing, but that did not diminish the pain I suffered with the problem. I said then and have said since in discussing this matter that I was in Hell. I hated to leave the apartment, so great was my fear of what my mind would do to me on the streets. I fasted and prayed and sought a blessing from my companion and district, but all with out discernable results.

During this experience I got a call from the Mission President. Elder Spencer W. Kimball was coming to dedicate a new chapel in São Vicente, which was in my Zone. The President indicated that Elder Kimball would have time in the morning for a Zone Conference with the missionaries of the Santos Zone and he asked me to make the necessary arrangements. I was to organize the meeting so that Elder Kimball would have time to interview every missionary and to speak to them in a combined session. I was jubilant over the prospect. I would explain my problem with thoughts to this member of the Quorum of the Twelve. Certainly he would be able to help me. I felt such a need for help that I prepared for the meeting by fasting again, pleading with the Lord to empower his servant to know how to help me.

I planned the conference carefully. After the opening ceremonies, Elder Kimball could interview the elders while we conducted some business and the Mission President spoke. Then, when the President was finished and the interviews were completed, Elder Kimball could speak to the Zone. I think we had about 18 Elders in the Santos Zone, so things ought to have worked out about right. I got the meeting started and then went to sit with the last row of Elders in the chapel. The President began his speech and Elder Kimball began his interviews with elders on the front row.

President Hicken spoke for about an hour, and his assistants also spoke briefly. The elders being interviewed left the chapel and returned, one at a time. Because of where I was sitting, I would be the last one interviewed. The elder next to me had been out for about five minutes. It was nearly my turn. I was praying silently, my head down, for the Lord to give me a solution to my problems during the interview when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up. It was Elder Kimball.

“Elder,” he whispered, “I’m out of time. I need to deliver my message and travel to São Vicente for the dedication of the chapel. Would it be all right if I interviewed you the next time I come to Brazil?”

My heart felt like a dishrag–wet, twisted, wrung out within me. I needed this interview! I had fasted and prayed in preparation. How could this be happening? And, of course, I smiled and said, “That will be fine, Elder Kimball,” As he walked to the front of the chapel, I leaned back with tears in my eyes, and cried out “Why?” in my heart.

Elder Kimball waited for a moment while an assistant finished speaking, and then he gave a powerful sermon on controlling thoughts. The message may have been a blessing to others, but I knew, sitting there and listening in wonder and joy, that it was intended for me. I learned two things that day. I learned how to control my thoughts (the approach was not the same one suggested by Elder Packer in conference in October of1973), but it worked for me!) and I learned that the Lord could respond to my very personal needs through the inspired public utterances of his servants.

That experience, my friends, has united me more with the leaders of the Church than any other thing that has happened to me. It has had an influence on every conference I have listened to for years. I know that the Lord can give me very personal answers in the midst of very public discourses from his prophets and seers and other General Authorities.

> Read the Entire New Testament Lesson

Church History

DESERT BLOSSOMS #106
by Ted L. Gibbons

A few weeks ago I shared an account from Wilford Woodruff’s journalsabout his experience with fly-fishing in Preston, England. Reflecting on that event reminded me of another incident when missionaries went fishing. The account comes from the March 1948 Improvement Era.

Two missionaries, working among farm folk where they were not well-liked, had been without food for twenty-four hours.

At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, they decided to do the only "Well," said one, "let's go tell the Lord about it."It was a thing they did frequently, not out of habit but out of necessity.One of the missionaries wrote, "Who but the Lord could help us in these hostile country areas?We were without purse or scrip.We were on our own.But, He in whose work we were engaged was ever within reach, the unfailing resource."

They found a secluded spot, knelt, and prayed.There were no trite cliches in this appeal, no threadbare phrases.They were praying for urgent needs.It did not take long to express them.

As they stood and replaced their hats, one of them noticed a small ripple in the stream that gurgled through their prayer chamber."Oh, for a fishing pole," he remarked.

His companion replied, "What's wrong with what you have in your hand?"What he had was a broken-down, ragged umbrella.And his companion was not smiling.

They had thread, a safety pin . . . they doubled and redoubled the thread, fashioned a hook with the pin and fingernail clippers, sharpened it with a fingernail file, and located a worm under a stump.They tied the line to the umbrella and crept to the stream.

As the worm floated down the creek, they wondered if this might be the way the Lord would answer their prayers, or if they simply had an inclination for the dramatic.And then, wham!

The elder with the pole pulled fast and a fish sailed over his head and off the hook onto the grassy bank.He stared, unbelieving, until the other elder cried, "Find another worm!"They caught six fish, fish "that hit that line as though they hadn't seen a fly or a worm in weeks."

In a few moments, the trout were broiling over a small fire.The missionaries thanked the Teacher for the food, and when they said it, they meant it.No meal ever tasted better!

As they picked up their suitcases and began trudging down that country road, one remarked, "You know, the Lord is a mighty generous employer." (Truman Madsen, Improvement Era, March 1948, p. 151.)