Post # 214 -- Continue in Patience by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf 

Dear Family and Friends

I went to the hospital for an echo and seeing every single

person with a mask on was very odd to me. I mean i am used

to seeing a doctor or a nurse with a mask on occasion but

every single person, wow! They are doing some construction

in the hospital and those workers were wearing masks as well. 

It was strange to see construction workers wearing hospital

masks.

A cleaning lady came out of the bathroom into the hallway

pushing her cleaning cart and she looked like a little alien

with her plexi-glass helmet type head covering with an odd

little mask attached to cover her mouth and chin. It was

just an odd sight to see.

Then as I went out to my car there were two men talking

together outside of the hospital. When I was driving to the

phone store I was seeing everyone walking or sitting outside

their homes, doing yard work, shopping and more.  You name

it...they were all wearing masks of one sort or another.

Seeing all of these people just struck me as so odd, but it's

real life!!!

What is disconcerting about this is the fact that the

number of cases of COVID 19 is still going up. It was so

strange to see so much traffic on the roads this morning

at 7:30am. Though there were not as many cars as usual.

After having only 2-4 on the roads with you and now 20-

30 or more is kind of a big jump. 

When I saw everyone wearing their masks I felt like I had

stepped backwards into the Twilight Zone because i am

sure they had a show of this sort at some time during the

shows airing. And I just had another thought cross my

mind. There are probably very few of you who have ever

seen the TV series the Twilight Zone!

I went to the phone store to get my phone replaced.

When I arrived I was a little bit early so I waited in my

car. Pretty soon I see a woman heading to the store with

a bunch of keys. She goes to the side door and enters the

store. I figured she would be opening the door soon so I

waited, and I waited. 

I was watching the two ladies in the store get things

cleaned off and wiped down so I figured one of them

would be opening the door soon. To my dismay that did

not happen, even after 20 minutes. Then i decided to

go on into the store because i thought maybe i had

missed them unlocking it. It could have happened, but it

did not. 

When I got up to the door and tried to go into the store,

the door was locked. The two ladies looked up at me and

one of them held up her phone suggesting I should call

them. I looked up to find a sign posted on the door. saying

walk- ups by appointment only and the store number was

posted. The only problem was my phone screen kept going

black. 

It had been black for two days in a row. How was I

supposed to call them if I could not see the keypad to

dial? That was the whole reason I was at the phone

store was to get a new phone. 

So I went back to my car and prayed a little prayer in my

mind wondering just how I was going to call the store if

I could not see the keypad on my phone.

I continued to wait outside of the phone store and I

waited and I waited. Soon my phone was sort of lighter

so I called the ladies inside the phone store. This

whole situation was just so strange to me. When one of

the ladies answered she told me that I needed my boss

to give them clearance to allow me to purchase a

new phone.

While I had a bit of light on my phone I called my

daughter who called our boss to get the clearance that

they needed for me to get a new phone. After about 20

minutes I called the store back to see if my boss had

called. The answer was no he had not. I checked my

phone again only to find it black again. So I wait again,

and I wait some more.

After about an hour I called again. I was put on hold

for 16 minutes while she asked the other ladies if my

boss had called. I called my daughter to ask her if our

boss had called, she told me that he had. After 16

minutes I hung up and called back to the store. When

the lady answered she said she had not talked to my

boss and put me on hold again.

She put me on hold  so she too could check with the

other ladies to see if he had talked with one of them.

There happened to be 3 ladies in the store now, all

were workers but no customers were in the store and

the door was still locked. It was clear to me that they

were not letting anyone into the store! 

After another 12 minutes on hold she came back to

say that neither of the ladies had talked to my boss.

I told her that he said that he called, she put me on hold again. Finally after several more minutes she

came back to  the phone to tell me  that my boss had

talked with  her boss. She said now we have the

clearance that we needed. 

She types something into her computer and then asks

me. Do you know what kind of phone that you want? I

had not seen any phones so how did she expect me to

make a choice when I had no idea of what choice I

could make. I had heard my boss say that he just got

a new phone that was only 200$ after the insurance

claim was submitted. 

This was exactly what I told her because I had no

idea what I could get even if I saw the phones. She

said let me check. She put me on hold for a short

while. When she came back on she told me a number

and said she would need to process the order and

she would bring the phone out when it was ready. So I sat in my car and waited.

When she came out with the new phone she needed

to transfer all the stuff from my old phone to the

new phone. The screen went black and she said ‘well,

I need the phone to work before I can transfer

anything. I took the phone from her and rubbed it

along my pant leg and to my surprise it came back

with the screen on.She said it would take about

10 minutes.

 So I held the two phones and I waited. .she told me

to come and knock on the door when the transfer

was all done and she would come get the old phone from me. When it was all done I went up to the door

and knocked. She came to the door and said that

she needed to make sure that she would be able to

erase all of the contents from the old phone.

She tried a few things but needed my password to my email. I put it in, it said it was wrong. I told her that

was the only password I had. She did some things to

the phone to reset the password but told me to put

my old password in as the new password so I did. She

did some more things to the phone and I needed to

put it in again, and again, and again, and again!

I must have put my password in 10 times or more. She

kept pushing buttons on the keypad and at one point

the screen went black so I guess she had to start over.

Then I had to go to the car to get the new phone

because there was a pass code that she needed that

was sent to my phone. After 15 minutes more she went

back inside the store and locked the door.

I drove away with my new phone and was late to work.

I did not realize that it would be such a process to

get a new phone. I hope this one lasts me for a long

while! I have not been having very good luck with my

electronics lately, first it was the computer and now

the phone goes out. I guess you might say I had a bit

of an adventurous morning:)

Of course the new phone is just a little bigger so I

will need a new case and face protector and like the

new computer the new phone also has a different plug

in so I will need to replace my longer cord because it

will not work on this one and this one is not long

enough to reach the outlet in my classroom. Grrrr! 

We were able to open our doors to the public this

afternoon. It was very strange to see people all

around and the lights back on in the hallways and

the other rooms around the building. Before we

only had the lights on in my classroom, the

childcare room and the kitchen and bathrooms,

everything else has been dark through all of the

building since the stay at home order began,

Well, tomorrow should be a less confusing day. I

will begin with therapy for my lymphatic arm. I am

learning some massage techniques to help flush the

lymphatic fluid from the affected side over to the

other side and hopefully out of my body:) After

therapy I'm off to work. I am so very grateful that

I have been able to continue to work through all of

this COVID 19 pandemic!

Then on Wednesday I will be going to the dentist to

check on the tooth I broke a few months ago. I'm

not sure just what the dentist is planning to do

during this visit though. Hopefully it won't take long

and I can get to work on time. I struggle so much

with the cost of the caps for your teeth:(

Thursday I will go in for my last therapy session and

wait for my new glove and sleeve to come in. i pray

they will come together this time! The ones that

were ordered last year  had the glove missing and it

never came. Both the night sleeve and the day sleeve

came in at the same time but the glove never came.

As you could probably tell my ramblings today have

been about patience. In the Gospel of Jesus Christ

we must have patience and be patient in all things I

believe. I have chosen a talk to share with you

about patience. 

This article was posted on Ldsliving.com titled ‘4

Things You Should Know About Patience -- Right

Now’, by Elizabeth Harrison of Aggieland Mormons

on JUne 2, 2015. You can read her article here: https://www.ldsliving.com/4-Things-You-Should-

Know-About-Patience-Right-Now/s/79008

After reading her article I went back and reread

the talk that she referenced from her article. It

was a talk that I remember from a general

conference a few years back.

This talk was titled ‘Continue in Patience’ by

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. His talk was given

in the April 2010 General Conference.  I loved this

talk the first time I heard it while watching the

April 2010 general conference. 

President Uchtdorf spoke of the ‘marshmallow test’

which was given to children. It was a study done in

the 60’s st Stanford’s Bing Nursery School. I

remember learning about this study back in my

college years. I found this experiment quite

interesting. I often wondered why they chose to use

the marshmallow instead of a cookie or candy?

In this study the little children were placed in a

room with 1 marshmallow in the table in front of them. The children were told that they could eat

the marshmallow now or they were told that if

they waited  for 15 minutes then they could have

a second marshmallow. While in college I watched

a movie about children, it was so interesting.

Continue in Patience

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Second Counselor in the First Presidency

The lessons we learn from patience will cultivate our

character, lift our lives, and heighten our happiness.

In the 1960s, a professor at Stanford University began a modest

experiment testing the willpower of four-year-old children. He

placed before them a large marshmallow and then told them they

could eat it right away or, if they waited for 15 minutes, they could

have two marshmallows.

He then left the children alone and watched what happened behind a

two-way mirror. Some of the children ate the marshmallow immediately;

some could wait only a few minutes before giving in to temptation. Only

30 percent were able to wait.

It was a mildly interesting experiment, and the professor moved on to other areas of research, for, in his own words, “there are only so many

things you can do with kids trying not to eat marshmallows.” But as

time went on, he kept track of the children and began to notice an

interesting correlation: the children who could not wait struggled later

in life and had more behavioral problems, while those who waited tended to be more positive and better motivated, have higher grades and

incomes, and have healthier relationships.

What started as a simple experiment with children and marshmallows became a landmark study suggesting that the ability to wait—to be

patient—was a key character trait that might predict later success in life.1

Waiting Can Be Hard

Waiting can be hard. Children know it, and so do adults. We live in a

world offering fast food, instant messaging, on-demand movies, and

immediate answers to the most trivial or profound questions. We don’t

like to wait. Some even feel their blood pressure rise when their line at

the grocery store moves slower than those around them.

Patience—the ability to put our desires on hold for a time—is a

precious and rare virtue. We want what we want, and we want it now.

Therefore, the very idea of patience may seem unpleasant and, at times,

bitter.

Nevertheless, without patience, we cannot please God; we cannot

become perfect. Indeed, patience is a purifying process that refines

understanding, deepens happiness, focuses action, and offers hope

for peace.

As parents, we know how unwise it would be to indulge our children’s

every desire. But children are not the only ones who spoil when

showered with immediate gratification. Our Heavenly Father knows

what good parents come to understand over time: if children are ever

going to mature and reach their potential, they must learn to wait.

Patience Isn’t Merely Waiting

When I was 10 years old, my family became refugees in a new land. I

had always been a good student in school—that is, until we arrived in

West Germany. There, my educational experience was a significantly

different one. The geography we studied in my school was new to me.

The history we studied was also very different. Before, I had been

learning Russian as a second language; now, it was English. This was

hard for me. Indeed, there were moments when I truly believed my tongue simply was not made to speak English.

Because so much of the curriculum was new and strange to me, I fell

behind. For the first time in my life, I began to wonder if I was simply

not smart enough for school.

Fortunately I had a teacher who taught me to be patient. He taught me

that steady and consistent work—patient persistence—would help me

to learn.

Over time, difficult subjects became clearer—even English. Slowly I

began to see that if I applied myself consistently, I could learn. It didn’t

come quickly, but with patience, it did come.

From that experience, I learned that patience was far more than simply

waiting for something to happen—patience required actively working

toward worthwhile goals and not getting discouraged when results

didn’t appear instantly or without effort.

There is an important concept here: patience is not passive resignation,

nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active

waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all

that we can—working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship

with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed.

Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!

Impatience, on the other hand, is a symptom of selfishness. It is a trait

of the self-absorbed. It arises from the all-too-prevalent condition called

“center of the universe” syndrome, which leads people to believe that the

world revolves around them and that all others are just supporting cast in

the grand theater of mortality in which only they have the starring role.

How different this is, my dear brethren, from the standard the Lord has set

for us as priesthood holders.

Patience, a Principle of the Priesthood

As priesthood bearers and representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ, we

must serve others in a manner consistent with His example. There is a reason that almost every lesson on priesthood leadership at some point

arrives at the 121st section of the Doctrine and Covenants. In a few

verses, the Lord provides a master course in priesthood leadership.

“No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the

priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and

meekness, and by love unfeigned.”2

The character traits and practices described in these verses are the

foundation of godly patience and are inseparably connected to

effective priesthood and patriarchal service. These attributes will

give you strength and wisdom in magnifying your callings, in

preaching the gospel, in fellowshipping quorum members, and in

giving the most important priesthood service—which is indeed the

loving service within the walls of your own homes.

Let us always remember that one of the reasons God has entrusted

the priesthood to us is to help prepare us for eternal blessings by

refining our natures through the patience which priesthood service

requires.

As the Lord is patient with us, let us be patient with those we serve.

Understand that they, like us, are imperfect. They, like us, make

mistakes. They, like us, want others to give them the benefit of the

doubt.

Never give up on anyone. And that includes not giving up on yourself.

I believe that every one of us, at one time or another, can identify with

the servant in Christ’s parable who owed money to the king and who

pled with the king, saying, “Lord, have patience with me.”3

The Lord’s Way and Time

The children of Israel waited 40 years in the wilderness before they

could enter the promised land. Jacob waited 7 long years for Rachel.

The Jews waited 70 years in Babylon before they could return to

rebuild the temple. The Nephites waited for a sign of Christ’s birth,

even knowing that if the sign did not come, they would perish.

Joseph Smith’s trials in Liberty Jail caused even the prophet of God

to wonder, “How long?”4

In each case, Heavenly Father had a purpose in requiring that His

children wait.

Every one of us is called to wait in our own way. We wait for answers

to prayers. We wait for things which at the time may appear so right and so good to us that we can’t possibly imagine why Heavenly Father would delay the answer.

I remember when I was preparing to be trained as a fighter pilot. We

spent a great deal of our preliminary military training in physical exercise. I’m still not exactly sure why endless running was considered

such an essential preparatory part of becoming a pilot. Nevertheless, we

ran and we ran and we ran some more.

As I was running I began to notice something that, frankly, troubled me.

Time and again I was being passed by men who smoked, drank, and did

all manner of things that were contrary to the gospel and, in particular, to

the Word of Wisdom.

I remember thinking, “Wait a minute! Aren’t I supposed to be able to run

and not be weary?” But I was weary, and I was overtaken by people who

were definitely not following the Word of Wisdom. I confess, it troubled

me at the time. I asked myself, was the promise true or was it not?

The answer didn’t come immediately. But eventually I learned that God’s promises are not always fulfilled as quickly as or in the way we might

hope; they come according to His timing and in His ways. Years later

I could see clear evidence of the temporal blessings that come to those

who obey the Word of Wisdom—in addition to the spiritual blessings

that come immediately from obedience to any of God’s laws. Looking

back, I know for sure that the promises of the Lord, if perhaps not

always swift, are always certain.

Patience Requires Faith

Brigham Young taught that when something came up which he could not

comprehend fully, he would pray to the Lord, “Give me patience to wait

until I can understand it for myself.”5 And then Brigham would continue

to pray until he could comprehend it.

We must learn that in the Lord’s plan, our understanding comes “line

upon line, precept upon precept.”6 In short, knowledge and understanding

come at the price of patience.

Often the deep valleys of our present will be understood only by looking

back on them from the mountains of our future experience. Often we

can’t see the Lord’s hand in our lives until long after trials have passed.

Often the most difficult times of our lives are essential building blocks

that form the foundation of our character and pave the way to future

opportunity, understanding, and happiness.

Patience, a Fruit of the Spirit

Patience is a godly attribute that can heal souls, unlock treasures of

knowledge and understanding, and transform ordinary men and women

into saints and angels. Patience is truly a fruit of the Spirit.7

Patience means staying with something until the end. It means delaying

immediate gratification for future blessings. It means reining in anger

and holding back the unkind word. It means resisting evil, even when

it appears to be making others rich.

Patience means accepting that which cannot be changed and facing it

with courage, grace, and faith. It means being “willing to submit to all

things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [us], even as a child doth

submit to his father.”8 Ultimately, patience means being “firm and

steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord”9

every hour of every day, even when it is hard to do so. In the words of

John the Revelator, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that

keep the commandments of God, and … faith [in] Jesus.”10

Patience is a process of perfection. The Savior Himself said that in your

patience you possess your souls.11 Or, to use another translation of the

Greek text, in your patience you win mastery of your souls.12 Patience

means to abide in faith, knowing that sometimes it is in the waiting

rather than in the receiving that we grow the most. This was true in the

time of the Savior. It is true in our time as well, for we are commanded

in these latter days to “continue in patience until ye are perfected.”13

The Lord Blesses Us for Our Patience

To paraphrase the Psalmist of old, if we wait patiently for the Lord,

He will incline unto us. He will hear our cries. He will bring us out of

a horrible pit and set our feet upon a solid rock. He will put a new song

in our mouths, and we will praise our God. Many around us will see it,

and they will trust in the Lord.14

My dear brethren, the work of patience boils down to this: keep the

commandments; trust in God, our Heavenly Father; serve Him with

meekness and Christlike love; exercise faith and hope in the Savior;

and never give up. The lessons we learn from patience will cultivate

our character, lift our lives, and heighten our happiness. They will

help us to become worthy priesthood bearers and faithful disciples

of our Master, Jesus Christ.

It is my prayer that patience will be a defining characteristic of we who

hold the priesthood of Almighty God; that we will courageously trust

the Lord’s promises and His timing; that we will act toward others

with the patience and compassion we seek for ourselves; and that we

will continue in patience until we are perfected. In the holy name of

Jesus Christ, amen.

Here we are at the end of our talk. I pray that this

post gas found you and your family members and

friends healthy and well. I hope that you have

enjoyed this talk and that you have learned a lot

from it. I certainly enjoyed reviewing it with each

one of you. I bet that you had not even thought of

patience in so many ways before.

I know that this conference talk was not from the

most recent general conference but i believe that

we can always learn from reading and studying all

general conference talks, especially if we are

prompted to do so:) with my experience at the

phone store i very easily could have been greatly

annoyed and become angry with the clerk.

I believe that we can learn from other people’s

experiences as well:) Most often experiences are

shared during each general conference in one talk

or another, maybe even the majority of them,

always for our profit and learning you know? Until 

my next post please remember who you are and

stay safe and healthy!!