BYU–Idaho President Shares President Kimball’s Example of Persistence Despite Challenge

 
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By Joel Randall, Church News

Spencer W. Kimball — later to become President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — had a life of loss and health challenges. In his youth, he caught typhoid fever, suffered facial paralysis and lost his mother and four sisters. He later developed throat cancer, causing parts of his vocal cords to be surgically removed.

“However, this did not affect his commitment to the Lord,” shared Brigham Young University–Idaho President Henry J. Eyring.

In BYU–Idaho’s first devotional of the spring semester, President Eyring and his wife, Sister Kelly Eyring, spoke in the BYU–Idaho Center in Rexburg, Idaho, on Tuesday, April 18. They also invited a faculty member and a student to offer remarks. The four speakers testified that despite mortal challenges, a firm commitment to Christ offers hope. 

 
Pressing Forward With Faith

President Kimball and his wife, Sister Camilla Eyring Kimball, were married in 1917 in Pima, Arizona, and later drove to the Salt Lake Temple to be sealed. In 1943, Elder Kimball was sustained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

“Moving to Utah was difficult for Camilla,” President Eyring said. “Arizona had been their only home, and she was suffering with an illness. But they were devoted to serving the Lord.”

President Kimball later said, “We have seen the sublime and have suffered the grotesque. Our life has been full of fun in spite of all the sad and serious things.”

Church President Harold B. Lee passed away in 1973, and President Kimball was next to be President of the Church. Although President Lee’s death came as a surprise, President Kimball “was nonetheless ready to lead,” said President Eyring.

“As we press forward, trusting in our Savior’s redeeming love and heeding the counsel of prophets and apostles, we will be prepared to receive all that our Heavenly Father has in store for us.”

President and Sister Kimball’s persistence, said President Eyring, has blessed both the Church and its individuals.

 
‘God Can Work Through You’

 
Religion professor Greg Palmer, a longtime faculty member at BYU–Idaho, said President Kimball’s impact can be found in Alma 37:6: “By small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.”

Palmer said that although health challenges left President Kimball’s voice as a raspy whisper, “we learned that God can speak, and speak powerfully, through such a voice. God seems to love to be able to work with and help the seemingly ordinary, the seemingly weak and simple.”

God chooses to work “through fishermen, shepherds, obscure farm boys,” Palmer said. And “if you allow, God can work through you — in ways that may surprise you but certainly will thrill you.” He is preparing His Saints to be involved in remarkable ways if they will “Hear Him” (Joseph Smith — History 1:17).

“I know that it is no coincidence that you are here,” Palmer said, “but as part of a great, divine design — both for you and the Church and the kingdom of God in these latter days.”

 
A Student’s Two Paradoxes

Those who attend BYU–Idaho will experience two paradoxes this semester, according to Sister Eyring. The first is seen in Lewis Carroll’s book “Alice in Wonderland,” when the Mad Hatter says, “It’s very easy to take more than nothing.”

“The Mad Hatter was right,” Sister Eyring said. “Alice could have more since nothing is zero, and anything above zero is more. Like Alice, you have yet to experience anything this semester. You’re starting with nothing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take more.” Making more friendships, for example.

The second paradox, she said, is found in Matthew 16:25: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”

While students pursue education this semester, Sister Eyring said, they may be asked by a bishop to serve in their ward or asked by a professor to help a classmate. President Eyring, for instance, was asked to serve in a bishopric during his graduate program.

Sister Eyring said, “It turned out that he was able to study and fulfill his calling. I have had many opportunities to test this paradox out, and it always brings the greatest friendships, the most growth and the best experiences.”

She ended with her hope that “you and I will look for the opportunity to find more and really find ourselves by losing ourselves this semester. I know that the Savior is our best teacher and example of this.”

 
Persevering Through This New Semester

 
BYU–Idaho student Julia Vivas met her best friend in high school. While Vivas was a Latter-day Saint, her friend was agnostic. “Despite these differences,” Vivas recounted, “we respected each other’s beliefs and personal journeys.”

As a missionary during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vivas began teaching her friend the gospel from afar. Although the adversary put great effort into misdirecting him, Vivas prayed fervently to help him develop a relationship with God. Her friend kept talking with missionaries, reading the Book of Mormon and attending church. Then, 18 months after Vivas returned home from her mission, her friend was baptized.

Last week, Vivas and her best friend participated in proxy temple baptisms together. “The reward of seeing him enjoy the eternal blessings of the temple and the priesthood overcame any difficulty we faced in the previous years,” said Vivas.

She testified that Christ offers living hope and quoted His promise in John 16:33: “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

“I invite you to pray and ask God what you need to do to persevere through this new semester,” Vivas said. “I promise it is worth it. You will finish. You will be blessed for your efforts, and you will find rest.”

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