Marjorie and I served our mission in the South Seas island nation of Vanuatu.  The island on which we served had formerly been the base of operations for the Allied effort in World War II.  A half mile from our flat was a large, open field which in the 1940s had been a tent city for 100,000 American troops.  Several miles away, on either side of the city in which we lived, were the asphalt remnants of two large military airfields.  From our island, sorties were sent out all over the Pacific area.  The planes ranged so far that the flights had to be very carefully planned or the pilots might not have had sufficient fuel to return to their base on Espiritu Santo.  Frequently they ran out of gas before they could quite reach home.  On our island were 100 crash sites.

Shortly before we arrived there, the U.S. government sent teams to Santo to locate the crash sites, and to bring back the remains of any of the men that they could find who had perished in the crashes.  By talking to the natives who lived in the bush, and who knew the jungle, they were able to eventually locate all 100 planes.

One of the crash sites was discovered by the son of our landlord.  We rented a flat from a New Zealand family who had a sawmill and a large tract of forest to supply logs for the mill.  While out in the jungle that was their plantation, he came upon the crash site.  Leaning against a tree was the skeleton of the pilot.  The man had obviously survived the crash, and had been able to extract himself from the wreckage.  He was probably injured and unable to do anything more than to get to the tree and hope for rescuers to find him.  They never came.  For half a century the site remained undisturbed.

His fate is a metaphor for the fate of every person who doesn’t come unto Christ.  Alma and Abinadi both informed us that all mankind are lost and fallen.  (Alma 9:30-32, 12:22, Mosiah 16:4-5).  We will be endlessly lost and hoping for rescue until we come to rely on the redemption made by our Savior and Redeemer.  He knows where each of us is.  He knows what we each need in order to be healed, comforted, guided, and led to safety.  He knows how to reach us and how to save us; and only requires that we ask for the help, repent of our sins, and be obedient to His commandments.