The Impressions We Leave

Do you ever consider how much of an impact we have in other people's lives? I usually don't, but this Conference story made me wonder.....
Some years ago, while I was serving as the mission president in Portugal, several of our missionaries introduced me to their shoeshine man.
Their shoes looked so good that I was anxious to meet the man that could put such a shine on missionaries' shoes.
Even though he had not chosen to listen to the missionaries' message, I considered the shoeshine man my friend, and we visited while he was busy shining my shoes.
He indicated that his wife had died, that he had no family, and that about the only pleasure he had in life was seeing people walk away happy with the shoes he had just shined.

His place of business was on the curbside of a small square on a busy street in downtown Lisbon.
His stand seemed to have all that was necessary.
It consisted of a short, rusty, three-legged stool, upon which my frail friend would sit as he shined the shoes that were placed on a stained and well-used shoeshine box that was full of his polishes and brushes, and there was an ornate lamppost (which was kindly furnished by the city of Lisbon), upon which the customer would lean while he was having his shoes shined.

He would carefully apply two coats of polish, using a brush to polish between each coat.
Last, he applied a special product that would give the shoes that extra special shine.
with a final snap of the cloth, he would stand up, take off his little Portuguese cap, make a deep bow, and say, "Pronto. Seus sapatos foram engrashados pelo o melhor engraxate do mundo."
"There. Your shoes were shined by the very best shoeshine man in the world."
I was convinced that I had had my shoes shined by the very best.

A few months after our mission, I was called to serve as the Regional Representative to Portugal and had the opportunity to return to Lisbon a number of times.
As occasion permitted, I would have my shoes shined by the "best shoeshine man in the world."

The last few times that I went, I was unable to find him at his usual place of business.
I finally inquired at the prestigious stores that surrounded the square.
The response was the same, "We don't know what happened to him. It seems that we had heard that he had died."
I remember thinking, Could it be that the best shoeshine man in the world had died, and on one really knew or even seemed to care?
I wondered: Had there been someone there with him, or did he slip away unnoticed?

May we contrast that for a moment with Brother and Sister Joaquim Aires, a marvelous man and his wife who came to Portugal following the 1974 revolution of Portugal's colonies in Angola and Mozambique.
They had returned to Portugal unknown and with very few possessions.
A great blessing occurred in their lives.
They opened their door to two young missionaries, who taught them of the restoration of Christ's church.
They received the missionaries, accepted their message, and were baptized.

As is the opportunity for all worthy men in the Church, he received the priesthood--authority to act in the name of our Father in Heaven--and to become a leader in the Church.
Brother Aires became President Aires, president of one of the mission districts.

One day I received a telephone call.
President Aires was in the hospital in Coimbra, several hours' travel away.
He had suffered a very serious cerebral hemorrhage and was in very critical condition.
Another priesthood holder and I made the trip as quickly as possible.
As we walked quietly into the hospital room, we found him asleep.
My first inclination was not to awaken him.
And then I thought he would want to know that we had come.
So I reached over and carefully touched his hand.
He slowly opened his eyes and then looked at me for a moment, and then the tears came to both of our eyes.
He then said in a very weak and soft voice, "I knew you would come. I knew you would come. Would you please give me a blessing."
In his dear, sweet faith, he was asking for a priesthood blessing, the same that is taught of and recorded in the Bible.
We read in James 5: 14-15: "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

"And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up."

As men of the priesthood, it was our privilege to pronounce a blessing on him with power and authority of our Father in Heaven.

As I would meet with the members of the Church from one end of Portugal to the other, the brothers and sisters would ask, "How is Brother Aires? Will you please tell him we love him and we're praying for him?"

This good man and his wife, who had returned to Portugal almost unknown, now, because of their membership in the Church, had literally thousands who loved them and were concerned about them and remembered him in their prayers.

The prayers of faith were answered.
He recovered completely, and he and Sister Aires went on to fulfill a full-time mission together.

I have thought often of the contrast between the two--my little shoeshine man on one hand, who, like so many of life's unknown wanderers, had slipped away without any understanding of life's purpose; and Brother Aires on the other, who was not only taught of life's real purpose, but had now become a part of a great body of people who showed their love and appreciation for him.

-Harold G. Hillam -No More Strangers and Foreigners -October 1990 General Conference

Impressions can be great or small.
Like the performances done in the Olympics whether its a man from Ireland competing as the second Olympic Gymnast, or first great Britain man to win the Tour de France also winning a gold medal in the cycling race, or Michael Phelps getting the most medals in USA history....impressions are made.

Congrats Olympic Medalists!

Gold: United States, China, Japan, Germany, Russia, France, Great Britain, South Korea, Italy, Australia, Netherlands, Ukraine, Romania, North Korea, Hungary, Brazil, Kazakhstan, South Africa, New Zealand, Slovenia, Georgia, Lithuania, Venezuela

Silver: United States, China, Japan, Germany, Russia, France, great Britain, South Korea, Italy, Australia, Canada, Netherlands, Romania, Hungary, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, Sweden, Belarus, Denmark, Indonesia, Mongolia, Norway, Spain, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Czech Republic, Egypt, Poland, Thailand

Bronze: United States, China, Japan, Germany, Russia, France, Great Britain, South Korea, Italy, Australia, Canada, Netherlands, Ukraine, Romania, North Korea, Hungary, Brazil, Mexico, New Zealand, Colombia, Cuba, Slovakia, Slovenia, Belarus, Denmark, Indonesia, Mongolia, Norway, Spain, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Greece, India, Moldova, Qatar, Serbia, Singapore, Uzbekistan 
May the competition be just as fierce tomorrow. :)

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Editor's Note. For those of you who looked for this post and didn't see it....I somehow saved it to July 28th when I posted it. So strange, but it's in its rightful place now. :)

The Dream

I was in cahoots with a man in dark clothing in the Olympic games. There was an event where there was a competition where a person would sit in a boat...it was like a kids boat. more square. The goal was to swim back and forth in the lane as quickly as possible in the time allowed by paddling. Only....my 'team' wasn't playing fair. The competition was on mini size. Where the boat and person were the size of my hand. I would push one player back and forth in the water quickly, so quickly they often times didn't have the paddle in hand. I noticed that fact the second person I did. One was USA there was another one. I asked the guy why we were doing this and he was telling me how they were going to make sure certain teams lose. They would have really fast qualifying times, but then the actual competition would come and they would lose and the judges would see that the first race had somehow been rigged and the teams would loose honor and be disqualified. I didn't approve of that method, so I ran. I went into a small downtown district with lots of little shops and roadways trying to hide from the man. A woman pulled me into her restaurant shop and had me 'act' like one of her daughters and be the new waitress in town. I hid out there for two years and the woman became like a mother to the girl who looked like Anne Hathaway. The two sisters were like family and things were going well for her. She was having fun, and was watering the plants all about the kitchen and restaurant....when the mother figure...betrayed her. It turns out the woman was evil as well and had plans for the girl. Feeling betrayed I was going to leave, but first I was going to finish watering all the different plants in the nooks and crannies. I was getting more and more furious with the woman yelling at her, and splashing water on her food and spraying her as well with the sink sprayer when throwing water on her from my waterbottle didn't work. I had learned to love these people and they were betraying me! The woman wanted me for her own purpose. Because I had magic, but I didn't know it yet. I was going to be a powerful magician, basically the 'big shot' The most powerful magician in a mother nature sort of way as I did very well with plants, but my power hadn't manifested fully yet. It came out in dribbles.

Then the unholy tones of daylight pulled me away....
and I became myself again. :)

Part of the dream, with the woman and restaurant is a dream I've had before.

-S.N.D