SEE THE END FROM THE BEGINNING

“I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.”

– Isaiah 46:10

His words hit some cords in me. He is DIETER F. UCHTDORF  (Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles). I was browsing for materials and writeups in order to bring you a message on the topic “See the end from the beginning.” when I stumbled on his testimony. He talked about his teenage years as a laundry delivery boy walking a “heavy ugly bike” for years.

He did not find this exciting because the walk was tiring and he often “had to pause to catch his breath” until years later when he discovered he had cured a lung infection as a teenager from peddling the heavy bike and pulling the laundry cart through the long distance.

In his own words during the LDS General Conference 2006:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vFAlFtPLhw?feature=player_detailpage&w=640&h=360]

“Allow me to share with you an experience from my own boyhood. When I was 11 years old, my family had to leave East Germany and begin a new life in West Germany overnight. Until my father could get back into his original profession as a government employee, my parents operated a small laundry business in our little town. I became the laundry delivery boy. To be able to do that effectively, I needed a bicycle to pull the heavy laundry cart. I had always dreamed of owning a nice, sleek, shiny, sporty red bicycle. But there had never been enough money to fulfill this dream. What I got instead was a heavy, ugly, black, sturdy workhorse of a bicycle. I delivered laundry on that bike before and after school for quite a few years. Most of the time, I was not overly excited about the bike, the cart, or my job. Sometimes the cart seemed so heavy and the work so tiring that I thought my lungs would burst, and I often had to stop to catch my breath. Nevertheless, I did my part because I knew we desperately needed the income as a family, and it was my way to contribute.

If I had only known back then what I learned many years later—if I had only been able to see the end from the beginning—I would have had a better appreciation of these experiences, and it would have made my job so much easier.

Many years later, when I was about to be drafted into the military, I decided to volunteer instead and join the Air Force to become a pilot. I loved flying and thought being a pilot would be my thing.

To be accepted for the program I had to pass a number of tests, including a strict physical exam. The doctors were slightly concerned by the results and did some additional medical tests. Then they announced, “You have scars on your lung which are an indication of a lung disease in your early teenage years, but obviously you are fine now.” The doctors wondered what kind of treatment I had gone through to heal the disease. Until the day of that examination I had never known that I had any kind of lung disease. Then it became clear to me that my regular exercise in fresh air as a laundry boy had been a key factor in my healing from this illness. Without the extra effort of pedaling that heavy bicycle day in and day out, pulling the laundry cart up and down the streets of our town, I might never have become a jet fighter pilot and later a 747 airline captain.”

He said, “we don’t always know the details of our future. We do not know what lies ahead. We live in a time of uncertainty. We are surrounded by challenges on all sides. Occasionally discouragement may sneak into our day; frustration may invite itself into our thinking; doubt might enter about the value of our work. In these dark moments Satan whispers in our ears that we will never be able to succeed, that the price isn’t worth the effort, and that our small part will never make a difference. He, the father of all lies, will try to prevent us from seeing the end from the beginning.

“Fortunately, you young priesthood holders of The Church of Jesus Christof Latter-day Saints are taught by prophets, seers, and revelators of our day. The First Presidency said: ‘We have great confidence in you. You are choice spirits. … You are at the beginning of your journey through this mortal life. Your Heavenly Father wants your life to be joyful and to lead you back into His presence. The decisions you make now will determine much of what will follow during your life and throughout eternity. You have a responsibility to learn what Heavenly Father wants you to do and then to do your best to follow His will'”

For more information please visit: www.lds.org

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