Elder James J. Hamula, First Counselor in the Area Presidency - June 2010

When the September 29, 2009 earthquake struck off the coast of Samoa, Brother Lesa was farming in the hills above Upolu's southern coast. Sensing that his family might be in danger, Brother Lesa came running down to the coastal village where his family resided. Meanwhile, his family knew they had to get to high ground to avoid a possible tsunami. Eleven members of Brother Lesa's extended family crammed into a family vehicle and began driving towards high ground. Unfortunately, the tsunami overtook the family's vehicle before they reached safety.

When Brother Lesa arrived where his village had once stood, he found the family vehicle in the destruction and began to pull his family members out of the truck. While eight family members survived, three did not, including Brother and Sister Lesa's 3-year-old son. Having also lost their home and possessions, Brother and Sister Lesa moved in with family members in a fale not lost in the tsunami. When asked how they were doing, Brother Lesa pointed to two faded, 15-year-old pictures of his wife and him hanging on the wall of the family fale. They were pictures of the two of them serving full-time missions for the Church. Brother Lesa simply tapped his finger on the wall over and over again with great emotion, indicating that the life of his little family was built on the sure foundation of testimony in the Lord Jesus Christ. Confirming this, Sister Lesa smiled and said: "Do not worry about us. We will be OK. The gospel lightens our burdens."

The gospel is the "glad tidings" that Jesus Christ has come and redeemed the world from death and sin (D&C 76:40-41). It is the assurance that nothing which Jesus Christ has undertaken to save will be lost (John 6:38-40; 3 Nephi 27:13-21). Consequently, it is the "rock" upon which, if men build, "the gates of hell shall not prevail" against them (D&C 11:24, 33:13). It is upon this rock that Brother and Sister Lesa have built their lives, and upon which they now stand and endure well their family tragedy with faith.

We build our lives on the gospel of Jesus Christ by the daily decisions we make to follow the counsel of the Lord and His anointed servants. By reading the scriptures morning and night, praying individually and as families, morning and night, and holding family home evening every week, we build our lives on the rock of the gospel. By attending Sacrament meeting every week, worshipping in the temple as often as our circumstances allow, and paying our tithes and offerings on a regular basis, we build our lives on the rock of the gospel. By accepting Church callings, serving full-time missions, and marrying in the temple, we build our lives on the rock of the gospel. The Lord has likened those who "hear" such sayings and "do" them to a wise man who built his house upon a "rock." "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew; and [the house] fell not: for it was founded upon a rock" (Matt 7:24-25). But those who "hear" and "do not," the Lord has likened to a foolish man who built his house upon the sand. "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it" (Matt 7:26-27).

It is my prayer that we may always "remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that [we] must build [our] foundation." If we do, then when the devil's "mighty winds" descend upon us, as they inevitably will, "yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall" (Helaman 5:12).