Devin D. Thorpe:  Championing Social Good

Recently, I was walking across the Main Street Plaza on Temple Square in Salt Lake City and observed something that stuck with me.

A jogger was out with his dog—a tiny dog—for his afternoon jog. They had settled in to a brisk walk right in front of the temple where the dog simply stopped and sat down as if to say, “This is a good place to rest.”

The jogger gave a gentle tug on the leash and the dog responded by standing and then immediately sitting again. Without a word, he communicated his message, “You can run all you want, but I’m done.”

Without argument or discussion, the jogger plucked the tiny dog up into his arms and continued on his way. 

It struck me how effective their communication was. On the other hand, I often feel like our interpersonal communications are much less effective than this inter-dog-person communication was. How often do we ignore, excuse or explain away the important meanings in the communications we hear because we don’t like the message—a message that may imply we have an opportunity to serve.

Let’s be open to the real message. Let’s do some good.

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. (Malachi 3:10)

If you are wise enough to pay your tithing, there are some other things you should be choosing to do to make room for more of the blessings the Lord will pour out upon you. Here are five examples:

1. Buy a home and live in it for a long time.
2. Contribute to your 401k at work.
3. Invest wisely.
4. Save for a rainy day.
5. Budget prudently and spend cautiously.

Bonus advice: don’t drive the Lord’s biggest blessings (or in other words, don’t put too much money into a fancy car).

As Christ sent his disciples to work, he gave them the admonition to “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead [and] and cast out devils.” (Matthew 10:8)

As I was writing, Your Mark On The World, I had occasion to visit with David Ostler, the executive director of Rising Star Outreach. While I didn’t profile him personally at length in the book, I certainly should have.

David walked away from his corporate career while he was still young and healthy enough to really do some good in the world. He serves as the executive director of Rising Star on a volunteer basis. His full time effort living in India is devoted to healing the sick and cleansing the lepers. Literally.

Rising Star is charitable organization that serves rural villages impacted by leprosy in India. It was founded by Becky Douglas, who is now serving with her husband John Douglas who is assigned as an LDS mission president in the Dominican Republic.

David left his position as a division President with a global health company to live in rural India where he serves the poorest of the poor in a fashion that would please Mother Teresa. With his wife, David lives and works full time at:

• running the school for children impacted by leprosy (generally they are children or grand children of lepers),
• managing the mobile clinics that visit the leper colonies to care for those who suffer from the effects of leprosy and
• coordinating the outreach program providing micro loans to entrepreneurs approved by local community councils.

On a personal level, I was particularly struck by David’s selfless service in the same way that a college baseball player might react to finding someone his age playing in the major leagues. I was, I suppose, a little envious of the courage and character that allowed him to make this choice to serve.

My hat is off to you, David. 

Let’s do some good!

By Devin D. Thorpe

For the 2011-2012 school year, Gail and I worked as teachers at South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, China for Brigham Young University. It was one of the greatest experiences of our lives.

BYU is now trying to fill the roster of teachers for 2013-2014. We really can’t recommend the program more heartily. The students were wonderful and the cultural experience cannot be beaten. 

In addition, we got to travel all around China and Southeast Asia, seeing countries we thought we might never get a chance to visit. 

We received modest wages from the Chinese University. Because they provided housing as well, we were able to save the money largely for our travel so the experience was not particularly expensive. So, even if you can’t afford a mission, you can afford to be a China Teacher.

Teachers, whether single or as couples, need to meet a few basic criteria:

1. Age: You must be under 65 to participate (this rule is imposed by the Chinese government, not BYU)
2. Education: You must have a bachelors degree or higher.
3. Teaching experience. You must have two years of teaching experience (often times teaching in church can be used to meet this qualification)
4. Health: You must be in good health (but that doesn’t mean you need to be a marathon runner)
5. Church: You must be an active member of the LDS Church

For more information, check this posting in the Church News.

For every family the question of large versus small financial decisions is important. One big bad financial decision can overwhelm years of making good small decisions.

Far too much has been written about how to save money on toilet paper. While I am all for frugality, I frequently see people scrimping on food and other essentials simply so they can drive a car that costs $1,000 per month. 

Life is so much easier when you’re smart about a few big decisions rather than constantly agonizing over small ones.

Here are some examples of big decisions:

• If you choose to drive your car for ten years rather than four, over your lifetime you could easily save $100,000.
• If you buy one home and stay in it for 30 years rather than moving every five years, you’d likely save another $150,000—or more.
• If you always rent rather than purchase a home, you’ll likely miss out on $300,000 to $500,000 of value accumulation. 

If you track your spending carefully and look at a report of all your expenses, this will become clear quickly. Any one of your largest three expenses are likely bigger than your ten smallest. If any of your top three expenses are discretionary, you can see the potential for improving your life.

Certainly most if not all of the ten smallest expenses for the month were discretionary, but eliminating all of them probably wouldn’t add up to the value of eliminating your largest discretionary item. Focus on the big stuff first and you probably won’t have to ration the toilet paper.

When I moved into my current, inner-city ward over ten years ago, I had an interesting experience on one of the first Sundays in church. The Elders Quorum bolted from Church to go help a member (let’s call him Bill) move his stuff out of his room in a low-rent home where he was being evicted. He’d been living there with some other guys who were similarly close to homelessness.

The Bishop was convinced to put this fellow up in a cheap, weekly rate motel in the ward boundaries. He agonized over the decision every week. 

Meanwhile, a service missionary took Bill under his wing. He worked with him for two years to get him the veterans and social security benefits to which he was entitled.

There were times when the Bishop was ready to cut Bill off and force him into the homeless shelter, but he always decided to go ahead for one more week.

Other good members of the ward regularly invited him into their homes to eat with them, especially on holidays.

The service missionary, who served in the ward until he died of cancer last year, got him into a residential program at the Veterans Administration Hospital here in Salt Lake where Bill spent nearly a year being treated for a variety of physical and mental health issues. 

Later, with help from the service missionaries in the VA Hospital branch, he found a permanent subsidized apartment within our stake boundaries.

He soon became the ward executive secretary in his new ward.

It took a number of people who saw Bill through God’s eyes in order for him to be restored to his full capacity, where he could love and serve and help others and no longer be a burden.

Sometimes, people need a lot more than just a smile. Sometimes we have to “bear one another’s burdens” for a long time (Mosiah 18:8). I’m grateful to all the people who loved Bill enough to help him experience his full potential.