Of Construction Workers and Virtue

Virtue is the power that flowed from Jesus Christ when a woman with an issue of blood reached for the hem of his garment.

It is the repeated focus of General Authorities, recently added to the list of Young Women's values.

It is the vital prerequisite to Priesthood power.

It is the power by which Sister missionaries are made to do bold things.

At first when I saw the group of construction workers, I ignored them. My companion did the same. We shared an unspoken understanding that these men were an exception to the cardinal missionary rule to "open your mouth." But the Spirit gnawed at me, and I felt guilty for breaking my personal creed to talk to everyone. So we turned around.

Eight men. Eight blue jump suits. A water project slowly under way. Probably not the sort of men that single girls should approach. They laughed and stared as we approached. I felt like a little girl in my daisy skirt and flat slipper-shoes. The braid around my head and my backpack stuffed with scriptures often leads people to take me for a highschooler. But the badge on my chest with the name "Jesus Christ" put a little fire in my bones.

"Hello," I called out. I inquired on the project. A few replied, a few laughed. "We are missionaries, and we couldn't pass you by without offering to pray." One of them agreed, probably as a joke. But I don't joke about prayer. "What can we pray for?" I insisted. A generalized response was replied. But these men had families and wives, the Spirit said. "How about your families? May I pray for them? Goodness knows that you have an important job as fathers and husbands," I said. They consented. We held hands in a great big circle, and I acted as voice.

The entire interaction was probably only five minutes long, but it stands out to me as the most significant five minutes of my week. None of the men accepted our follow-up invitation to share a message about Jesus Christ with their families, and none of them took a pass-along card. They laughed in an ungentlemanly way when we left. But for 35 seconds, I felt the Spirit as we prayed with eight men. I knew that God loved them. I felt a vision that God had better plans for these men and for their families. And I knew that there are no exceptions to the rule to open my mouth.

God loves all of his children. There is power in virtue.
I am grateful to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.