After weeks preparing and promoting throughout the two stakes on Maui, we held our first Healing through the Savior, 12-Step Addiction Recovery Program support meeting. As we’ve traveled and met with leaders and members of the Church, they always nod appreciatively and with tender confirmation, “That is really needed here,” followed by a humble or passionate, “Thank you for doing this.” On a recent flight we conversed at length with a stranger, a part time resident who expressed these same things. Some have indicated that Covid-19 shut down in-person 12-step meetings. Others say the recent Lahaina fires and devastation contributed to an increase in addictive behaviors. Since the program is safe and anonymous, we will never tell names or specifics in our writings about participants, however to share our spiritual enthusiasm and increase awareness, we may share our personal application of the 12 steps to our own weaknesses and shortcomings. And since no ‘sign-up’ is required and no roll is taken, we had no way of knowing how many would come to the meeting, except by the often-heard statements, “I’m going to encourage my [relative] or [friend] to come,” and “My people are good people. Some of them just have bad habits.” Bishops and missionaries often tell us they have people whom they will encourage to participate.
Turnout at our first meeting was good. In addition to Sister Hardman and myself and our excellent ‘facilitator,’ we had those who were struggling with some kind of addiction, and we had those who came for awareness and healing because someone they love is struggling with a destructive behavior. We also had those who have been sober for decades but came to strengthen their own ongoing recovery and provide support to others. After doing our best to give Christ-like love as each person entered the room, we had a prayer, talked about resources available to them on the Church website, and then we took turns reading from the 12-steps in the guidebook. The text is honest, loving, and inspiring, written by recovering addicts who have found Healing through the Savior. I’ll share my personal experience with the text shortly. During our first meeting, after reading and discussing Step 1, our facilitator, also a recovering addict, shared about her experience, then invited each participant to share encouraging them to focus on their recovery and not on the graphic details of their behavior or the behavior of others. There were tears of burden and tears of hope. When the sharing was completed, Sister Hardman and I bore our testimonies of the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ in ourlives. Then the meeting closed with prayer. Participants lingered briefly to give each other encouragement.
In preparation, I personally had given much thought to the first few steps in the guidebook. I thought about my own shortcomings I hoped the Savior would help me with and make me stronger (Ether 12: 27). After feeling low about a personal issue, I felt drawn to the phrase, “power of Christ” and wondered how I could access more of His power. I woke early one morning and felt prompted to go through the entire 12-step guidebook and circle every occurrence of the word, ‘power,’ which I did with the help of the online version and search function. As I circled each occurrence I noticed frequent use of the term ‘grace’ and so I marked that word as well. A pattern emerged and I began to see the word power associated with principles of the Gospel, specifically with the things Jesus taught and did. The power of faith, the power of repentance, the power of the Holy Ghost, the power of love, the power of forgiveness, the power of loving your enemy, the power of going the second mile, the power of honesty, the power of humility… I was beginning to see that enabling the power of Jesus Christ is in part doing what he does and says and teaches.
For example, I reflected that if I’m prideful, impatient or get angry too often, then if I humble myself and have actionable faith in Christ, not only will he “make weak things become strong unto [me]” but after my best efforts “[His] grace is sufficient” for an additional endowment or gift of power to overcome my weakness. By loving instead of hating, by being patient instead of hasty, by trusting him instead being fearful, then his power emerges, and his grace brings additional comfort and rest. By actively facilitating and participating in the 12-steps, I see that the Lord not only wants to redeem the addict, but also the shortcomings in me, in all of us. Based on what I have felt so far, I have every confidence that as I yoke with Christ, I will find rest to my soul. (Mathew 11:28-29)
With our first recovery support meeting now in our memories, we go forward inviting others to participate in weeks to come. Little (or big) miracles happen along the way. Last week we took announcement posters to each foyer in the six meetinghouses on Maui. In Lahaina we found a member needing a listening ear. On our trip to Hana we met the new senior couple serving there. They told us of a young adult they met at the Kahului Costco earlier in the week. That young man showed up at our meeting. Our calendar is filling up with appointments to meet with ward and branch councils, 2nd hour 5th Sunday combined adult classes, and sacrament meeting speaking assignments across both stakes. We are grateful for these opportunities to invite and testify of Christ and his ability to bear burdens and redeem us.
On Sunday, we attended church in the Makawao Ward up-country, where we shared about the program and met some wonderful people. We concluded our Sabbath having Father’s Day dinner with the other senior missionaries on the island. We love them and love serving with them. And they are helping us in our work.
Glenn Hardman and Dorothy Griffin; did they become good independent of outside factors? Certainly, not. Did any of this goodness come from their parents and ancestry? Certainly, yes. Dorothy spoke of her childhood. “I am truly grateful that my parents were always active and that they taught us by their example that church was the place we were to go, that activity in the church would bring joy and satisfaction to our lives. Though I have no memory of a burning testimony in those days, I know the seeds were planted then for my love of the church as I have grown older.” Similarly, Dorothy wrote of Glenn, “He went to Primary and learned about courage and being pure in heart, to be a cheerful helper to his father and mother every day, to say thank you, to obey, to be courteous at home, school and Primary, to pray and to appreciate the beautiful world.” As Glenn and Dorothy continued to grow in their youth, they made choices that brought them in contact with additional sources of help and divine instruction. While a young adult, Dorothy received an assignment she thought miraculous that gave her opportunity to serve in new ways, making her realize the source of her talents, and how she could use them for much good. “I began to see,” she wrote, “what the patriarch had meant when he told me I had talents that would manifest themselves in the positions of responsibility which I would have…” Glenn demonstrated his integrity when on his own in California, surrounded by a world of opportunities for good and bad. In a letter to his parents back home, some trusted friends wrote, “He never misses a day without coming in and reporting in. He is only going with church boys and girls and taking in the church activities. Dorothy Griffin, the girl he takes most, is a swell Mormon girl.” I can see how my life was and is influenced by their lives… I can see their influence in my life, in the lives of all their children, and their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren.
It was Christmas of 1909 just before my dad was to come home [from his two-year mission.] We were down to board floors and paper curtains [having sold the furniture piece by piece.] We had large five-gallon lard cans to sit on; a stove, table, and a bed that we all slept in. We sat in bed and sang Christmas carols until…it was time to go to sleep. We only had a bowl of rice that night for our dinner… We went to sleep hoping…for Santa to come. I woke up to the sound of crying. I went into the other room and found Mama crying. I asked what the matter was. She said…she was so grateful and happy to her Heavenly Father, and told me to go back to bed so Santa could come. I…was wakened again by her sobs. I went to sleep the third time and woke up at 7:30 am with mother still crying. As we all came out of the bedroom she made us kneel in prayer before we could see our toys. I will never forget the prayer my mother offered, thanking the Lord for his goodness to us. We then went out on the porch; there was a doll and dishes for the girls, a tool box for the boys and a small decorated Christmas Tree and a basket of food… We danced around the tree and sang and went to bed that night with our hearts full of happiness and our stomachs full of good food. Brother Alma Winn was our Santa and he had eight children of his own… My mother had cried and prayed all that night. Her prayers were answered… How grateful I am for the faith of my mother and grateful…that we five little ones weren’t forgotten by a “Santa” who had been inspired to come and help us in time of need.
Hannah Elizabeth Josephson, came into the world (St. John, Idaho, to be exact) on November 27, 1877, 2 days before Thanksgiving. She was the 3rd of 12 children born to Lars and Anna Josephson, immigrants from Sweden. There was great love and respect in this large but united family. They were known as “one of the best behaved in the valley.” Hannah was a “pretty brunette,” industrious, and “of a cheerful and religious disposition.” “I used to pray every day and trusted in the Lord,” she said. “I had my prayers answered many times.” The children were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and geography by their mother, so Hannah was well prepared to enter school at age 6, and continued through the 8th grade. In 1887, nearly all family members including her father had a brush with Typhoid Fever. Three months of dedicated nursing and service by the church and community pulled them through. There were no deaths in the family, but her brother Levi stuttered badly the rest of his life. Hannah was baptized in 1891. She was inspired by her parent’s faith and devotion. “Many times I saw [my father] ride on horseback a distance of 15 miles to attend priesthood meeting. My whole family was religious at heart.” Hannah served as 2nd Counselor in the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Association at age 18, admired church leaders, and remained active all her days. She too, had many admirers. While courting the man of her choice, “Hannah gave [him] to understand that her husband had to be worthy to take her to the temple.”
In 1848, five-year-old Francis Ann Coon and her siblings tried to cross the Garner pasture, but the bull saw them and charged. They ran for safety. Her sister “Permilia…climbed [a] tree and…[her brother] John handed all the younger children up before he climbed up himself” narrowly escaping the animals wrath.1 The Coon family, in route from Nauvoo to Council Bluffs was selected to go with the first pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley, but then Brigham Young assigned father Abraham Coon to remain a few years in Pottawattamie “to run a mill and help provide for the Saints…”2 The “corn was scarce,” but the “bluffs, glens, and running streams” were “picturesque.”3 Francis observed her father, Bishop Coon,4 a former member of the Nauvoo Legion and guard to Joseph Smith, faithfully help operate the Indian Mill on Big Mosquito Creek and care for families whose men had gone to serve in the Mormon Battalion2 including William Garner, the likely owner of the bull.3 At this young age, Francis experienced the faith of her parents, their determination to be endowed in the temple before leaving Nauvoo,2 and their sealing in Winter Quarters.5 After fulfilling their assignment in Iowa, Francis and her family walked1 most of the way to Salt Lake to carry out their hopes and dreams in Zion. It was in Salt Lake where Francis would meet her future husband.
During the boom-town 1950s in Los Angeles, Dona Hansen, the queen of the church Gold and Green Ball, and daughter of a self educated businessman and a most charitable mother, culminated her youth in what she thought would be the crowning event, marriage to a promising man. A short time later while anticipating their first born, her husband left her. She was devastated. “I didn’t think anyone would want to marry a divorced woman with a little son,” she thought. Dona prayed as she always did, was blessed by the prayers of others, and remained “close to [her] Father in Heaven and Savior.” Some time later Dona received a proposal of marriage from a man not of her faith, and she went away to Salt Lake City to consider her future seeking direction in the Temple. She felt inspired to return to Los Angeles. Upon her return, she felt and knew that he was not the one. To her surprise, her fiancé informed her, “I have just met a fellow at church. In fact, he is just what you are looking for.” Driven by the Spirit of the Lord, she stood in church and bore her testimony. Her fiancé and friend Ferril Losee were in attendance. Ferril thought, “She is wonderful but… to good for me.” A short time later, noting the absence of the ring, Ferril asked Dona out on a date. They drove to the beach where, as the sun set upon a beautiful day, the sun rose on a glorious union. Ferril said that he “would be the happiest man on earth if [Dona] would consent to marry him.” Dona knew the Lord was in it, and agreed. (by Kenneth Hardman, adapted from, Losee, Ferril A., 
Some major customers didn’t pay; and Glenn’s cabinet business began to fail. Dorothy was very concerned about family bills and groceries. In the 1960’s they built their second dream home, welcomed their sixth child, and served anxiously in church assignments while building a growing company. Not able to focus on her church leadership position, she thought to ask for a release, and find a job. Glenn said, “No.” But her thoughts persisted. She had served well; surely God would not expect more. She couldn’t sleep, she prayed, she cried, and prayed more. She decided to ask for the release the next day. Thinking this choice would relieve her pain, she tried to sleep. “Not so! I turned and tossed and wept some more,” she said. In desperation she asked God, “Isn’t it the right decision?” Immediately, a flickering light in her mind became bright and she distinctly knew her decision was not the Lord’s will. “I did not understand why,” she said, “but I told him I would continue to serve as long as He had need of me…” She then felt peace. She new they would be blessed. Years later she looked back and realized that God new what was coming; what the family needed, and who needed her at that time. Dorothy’s specific fourth year of service was the exact time period needed for God to work miracles through her in the lives of at least two other people. Dorothy’s oldest daughter became deathly ill. The failure of the family business had resulted in a new job for Glenn, and relocation a year later that put the family in proximity to doctors who could diagnose and treat her rare disease.
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