A caring bishop
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On a cold winter's night in 1951 there was a knock at the door of Bishop Thomas S. Monson. A German man from Ogden, Utah, said, "Are you Bishop Monson?"
"He began to weep and said, 'My brother and his wife and family are coming here from Germany. They are going to live in your ward. Will you come with us to see the apartment we have rented for them?"' recalled President Monson in a 1980 general conference address. "On the way to the apartment, he told me ... through the holocaust of World War II, his brother had been faithful to the Church, serving as a branch president before the war took him to the Russian front."
Bishop Monson looked at the apartment. It was cold and dreary. The paint was peeling, the wallpaper soiled, the lighting and floor covering inadequate, the cupboards empty.
The man replied, "It isn't much, but it's better than they have in Germany." With that, he gave the key to Bishop Monson and told him the family would arrive in three weeks, just two days before Christmas.
The next morning at a ward welfare committee meeting, Bishop Monson spoke of the details of the uninviting apartment. After a moment of silence members of the ward welfare committee spoke up. A man in the electrical business pledged to fix the lighting. Another offered to paint. A third determined to have donated carpet installed in the apartment, and yet another to get donated appliances. The women in the ward would see that the cupboards were filled with food.
"The next three weeks are ever to be remembered. It seemed that the entire ward joined in the project."
When the family arrived, they were welcomed by a beautiful apartment with fresh paint, new carpet, adequate lighting, donated furniture and appliances and kitchen cupboards filled with food. A Christmas tree stood in the dining room with gifts beneath it.
"The father, realizing that all of this was his, took me by the hand to express his thanks. His emotion was too great. He buried his head in my shoulder and repeated the words, 'Mein Bruder, mein Bruder, mein Bruder."' — From November 1980 Ensign, page 89, "The Bishop — Center Stage in Welfare"
