Magnificent tapestry
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When people remain active in the Church, they find a rewarding continuity over time, said William B. Morse. Brother Morse, a retired U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander now in the Lake City 3rd Ward, Lake City Florida Stake, and his wife, Polly, are workers in the Orlando Florida Temple.
While in the Navy in 1962, Brother Morse was group leader aboard a Navy ship in the Mediterranean when it docked at Napoli, Italy. "We made it a practice to contact members and, more particularly, the missionaries at each location," he said. In Napoli, Brother Morse and his group members found missionaries in the newly opened Italian Mission. Because of local circumstances, the missionaries were struggling finding enough food to buy. They were often without groceries and lacked necessities, such as soap, shoe polish and socks.
"At every opportunity, each of us would take two hungry elders to the ship and feed them in the wardroom mess," he said. "These were truly hungry young men."
At the end of the cruise, one young elder from Brazil removed his tie clip, with a golden lion in its family crest, and insisted on giving it to Brother Morse.
Two decades later, Brother Morse sent the tie clip back to Brazil with his missionary son, Bill, who located the family of the former missionary, and returned the heirloom.
Another two decades passed and as Brother Morse recently officiated in a a temple session, he chanced a conversation with a young couple in attendance. When he learned they were from Sao Paulo, Brazil, he asked if they knew of the Lombardi family.
"That is my family name!" said the young woman. She added that her father was the missionary to Italy who had given him the tie clip.
"I see Zion as a magnificent tapestry, woven with a single thread, linking each of us, as we remain worthy, into a wondrous pattern that we will see someday," said Brother Morse.
Another in a series of "Temple Moments."
Illustration by John Clark
