(The Last One Standing)

     Randy Newman’s mother had a terrible affliction.  Day after day her neck hurt so badly that she could barely function.  Turning her head was a painful ordeal that she avoided.  One morning she awoke and realized that she would be unable to go to her job at the bank.  She phoned her supervisor, and said that she wouldn’t be in.  That day the bank was robbed.  The robbers herded everyone into the vault and shot them.

Tim Taylor was part of a crew that was working to stabilize a mountain so that a dam could be built.  It was his job to run a jack hammer as part of a crew of eight.  The crew dug eight-foot-deep holes, and filled them with concrete.

Tim was reluctant to work there.  He didn’t feel good about it.  He didn’t like being there.  The more he thought about it, the worse he felt.  He started getting sick.  He worked through the week, but got sicker and sicker.  On Friday he was too sick to go to work.  On Friday the mountain came down, killing four of his co-workers.

Alma and Amulek endured humiliating treatment and excruciating physical abuse in the prison at Ammonihah.  “And it came to pass after they had thus suffered for many days…that the chief judge over the land of Ammonihah and many of their teachers and their lawyers went in unto the prison where Alma and Amulek were bound with cords.

“And the chief judge stood before them, and smote them again, and said unto them:  If ye have the power of God deliver yourselves from these bands, and then we will believe that the Lord will destroy this people according to your words.

“And it came to pass that they all went forth and smote them, saying the same words, even until the last; and when the last had spoken unto them the power of God was upon Alma and Amulek, and they rose and stood upon their feet.

“And Alma cried, saying:  How long shall we suffer these great afflictions, O Lord?  O Lord, give us strength according to our faith which is in Christ, even unto deliverance.  And they broke the cords with which they were bound; and when the people saw this, they began to flee, for the fear of destruction had come upon them.

“And it came to pass that so great was their fear that they fell to the earth, and did not obtain the outer door of the prison; and the earth shook mightily, and the walls of the prison were rent in twain, so that they fell to the earth; and the chief judge, and the lawyers, and priests, and teachers, who smote upon Alma and Amulek, were slain by the fall thereof.

“And Alma and Amulek came forth out of the prison, and they were not hurt; for the Lord had granted unto them power, according to their faith which was in Christ.  And they straightway came forth out of the prison; and they were loosed from their bands; and the prison had fallen to the earth, and every soul within the walls thereof, save it were Alma and Amulek, was slain…”  ((Alma 14: 23-28).

Ether and Moroni both had the dubious distinction of being the last ones standing as survivors of their respective civilizations.  Their survival was enabled by the Lord, that they could be eye witnesses, and so that they could write the sad tales of the destruction of their people, that we of the latter-days might learn and avoid similar fates.

Nearly 400 years earlier, Lehi’s descendants had sunk to such a low degree following the Savior’s birth that the government and even the church organization were destroyed.  “The more righteous part of the people had nearly all become wicked; yea, there were but few righteous men among them.”  (3 Ne. 7:7).

The prophet Nephi, his brother Lehi, and others labored abundantly.  “And it came to pass that the thirty and first year did pass away, and there were but few who were converted unto the Lord.”  (3 Ne. 7:21).

“Thus passed away the thirty and second year also.  And Nephi did cry unto the people in the commencement of the thirty and third year; and he did preach unto them repentance and remission of sins…And there were many…that were baptized unto repentance.”  (vs. 23 and 26).

Those were the lucky ones.  Those were the wise ones.  For “in the thirty and fourth year, in the first month, on the fourth day of the month, there arose a great storm, such an one as never had been known in all the land.”  (3 Ne. 8:5).  Following the storm, with its tempest, thunder, lightnings, and earthquake; thick, palpable darkness settled over the land.  The darkness was so thick that not a glimmer of light could be seen, and the people “who had not fallen could feel the vapor of darkness.”  (v. 20).

The Lord’s own voice penetrated the darkness and the survivors’ hearts.  He named 16 great cities that had been destroyed, and then said,

“O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?”  (3 Ne. 9:13).

Not all the righteous are spared in such situations, but the odds are vastly improved when an individual is found earnestly striving to do his duty and to keep the Lord’s commandments.  The promise of the Lord to such individuals is that, “I will go before your face.  I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you to bear you up.”  (D&C 84:88).

Irene Corbett, a Latter-day Saint woman on board the Titanic wasn’t spared.  Most of the women and children were placed in lifeboats, and survived the ship’s sinking.  It is believed that Irene, with her special training as a nurse, elected to stay on board and attend to the needs of those who had been injured in the collision with the iceberg.  (See story as related by Quentin L. Cook, The Ensign, November 2011, pg. 106).  Sister Corbett’s mortal life wasn’t spared, but it matters not whether the works of the righteous continue on this side of the veil or on the other.  Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “No righteous individual dies an untimely death.”

Elder Alma Sonne and five other missionaries were to have been aboard the Titanic, too; but because one elder was late, Elder Sonne reluctantly cancelled all six reservations.  The young men were returning home from their missions to England, and were very disappointed to miss the opportunity to be a part of the Titanic’s maiden voyage.  (See story as related by Quentin L. Cook in reference above).

How human it is to view our illnesses and hardships as curses rather than blessings.  If handled properly, I believe our afflictions will always turn into our greatest blessings.

Lehi said that the Lord “shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain” (2 Ne. 2:2), and I like to add, “…if we resist the urge to complain.”

The sinking of the Titanic was not the largest loss of life in a single sinking in maritime history.  That distinction belongs to the Wilhelm Gustloff, a German hospital ship and cruise liner that was evacuating people from Poland ahead of the invasion of the Russian army at the close of World War II.  Two Latter-day Saints boarded the ship on that cold night of January 30, 1945.

Margarete Hellwig and her daughter Gudrun secured passage aboard the ship along with over 10,000 others.  The ship was designed to carry 2,000.  Additional thousands were turned away.  Margarete and Gudrun were grateful to be able to board.  The outside temperature was minus 18 degrees.  They were fortunate to find a place to sit next to the warm engine room.

“Just as they settled in, a loudspeaker announced that the ship was overloaded and that the crew was looking for volunteers to disembark before they set sail.  At that moment, Margarete received a clear impression from the Holy Ghost.  She recalled:

     “‘It seemed as if somebody wanted to push me out.  I told my daughter, I’m not staying in here, I’ve got to get out!  She answered, Mommy, it’s so warm, let’s stay here!  No, I’m not staying here, I have to get out!  I was so very frightened.’

“Margarete followed her impression, and the two found themselves once again on shore.  They located a smaller ship that was departing at the same time and were soon at sea.”  (BYU Magazine, winter 2010, pgs. 53-54).

Just after midnight a Soviet submarine fired three torpedoes at the Wilhelm Gustloff.  All three torpedoes hit the port side of the ship.  In just 70 minutes the Wilhelm Gustloff slipped beneath the waves carrying nearly 9,400 people to their deaths.  From her own ship Margarete watched it sink.  She and her daughter safely reached Berlin, and were taken in by Church members.

I must insert just one more incident into this collection of stories about “the last one standing.”  This one comes from The Ensign, October 2005.

“Brother Thamas, a thin elderly man, sat by himself, often some distance from the other members who gathered to greet each other at the beginning of our Sunday meetings.  His was a small figure, humble in appearance.  He had been recently baptized and had no family.  His Spanish, although understandable, was a mixture of Portuguese, French, German, English, and his native Hungarian.  In brief conversations with those members who tried to fellowship him, he spoke of faraway Hungary.

“One day the bishop asked him to speak for a few minutes in sacrament meeting.  He was surprised but accepted.  We too were surprised to hear his name announced.  We prepared ourselves for a brief and simple testimony.

“But once he stood at the pulpit, this brother’s appearance was transformed in a most remarkable manner, and he immediately captured our attention.  His posture became erect, almost military, although he wore no uniform or medals.  His manner was that of a soldier—old, but proud.  Slowly but confidently he began his compelling story.

“During World War II he had served in an infantry battalion in an area where constant combat covered the earth with blood, pain, and death.  His squad was commanded by a sergeant who had earned the hatred of his men through extraordinary harshness.  One terrible night a mortar shell exploded not far from the sergeant, critically wounding him.  The commanding officer stopped a dilapidated truck that often passed by to pick up the wounded and dying and take them behind the lines to be cared for or buried.

“The squad watched the fate of their dying leader from a distance.  Not one went to help him.  The officer asked for a volunteer to carry the man to the truck and accompany him behind the lines.  No one volunteered.

“Then, after something of a pause, Brother Thamas stepped forward.  ‘Moved by compassion,’ he told us, ‘I decided to carry the unfortunate fellow and go with him on his trip.  I took care of him the best I could during his long and painful ride.

“‘I returned later in search of my squad.  When I reached the front, I learned that fierce bombardment had wiped out a large number of men on the awful night of my departure.  Not one man from my squad had survived apart from myself.  And then I understood.  I thanked God for having moved me to compassion.  He saved my life and gave me a chance to hear the restored gospel.’”—(Juan Aldo Leone, The Ensign, October 2005, pp. 66-67).

We complain when we get a pain in the neck, and when we miss the boat.  None of us willingly takes upon ourselves affliction and hardship.  But there is an overriding plan in place for each of us.  We’d do well to tone down our complaints, to be more still, and to watch the plan unfold.  If we keep the commandments and are righteous, the unfolding plan will always be in our favor.  It may be that the Lord is just trying to bless us.