Thankful Day Seventeen: Sacrifice

I have not had to sacrifice much in my life. A large part of the blessings I have come because OTHERS have sacrificed for me. I am spoiled. Here is a story from President Uchtdorf's recent talk in General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints:

The Example of John Rowe Moyle
This year marks the 200th
anniversary of the birth of John Rowe Moyle. John was a convert to the Church
who left his home in England and traveled to the Salt Lake Valley as part of a
handcart company. He built a home for his family in a small town a valley away
from Salt Lake City. John was an accomplished stonecutter and, because of this
skill, was asked to work on the Salt Lake Temple.

Every Monday John left home at two o’clock in the morning and walked
six hours in order to be at his post on time. On Friday he would leave his work
at five o’clock in the evening and walk almost until midnight before arriving
home. He did this year after year.

One day, while he was doing his chores at home, a cow kicked him in the
leg, causing a compound fracture. With limited medical resources, the only
option was to amputate the broken leg. So John’s family and friends strapped him
onto a door and, with a bucksaw, cut off his leg a few inches from the knee.

In spite of the crude surgery, the leg started to heal. Once John could sit
up in bed, he began carving a wooden leg with an ingenious joint that served as
an ankle to an artificial foot. Walking on this device was extremely painful,
but John did not give up, building up his endurance until he could make the
22-mile (35-km) journey to the Salt Lake Temple each week, where he continued
his work.

His hands carved the words “Holiness to the Lord” that stand today as a
golden marker to all who visit the Salt Lake Temple.5
John did not do this for the praise of man. Neither did he shirk his duty,
even though he had every reason to do so. He knew what the Lord expected him to
do.

Years later, John’s grandson Henry D. Moyle was called as a member of the
Quorum of the Twelve and, eventually, served in the First Presidency of the
Church. President Moyle’s service in these callings was honorable, but his
grandfather John’s service, though somewhat less public, is just as pleasing to
the Lord. John’s character, his legacy of sacrifice, serves as a banner of
faithfulness and an ensign of duty to his family and to the Church.

I am grateful for those of my faith who sacrificed for those who followed after them. I am also similarly grateful for those who sacrificied for the freedoms of this country.