“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity flaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,“… Seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; “Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; “Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. “Charity never faileth.”

I recently had to opportunity to go to India to serve the people in the leprosy colonies. In India they still have the idea that the people who have leprosy are labeled as unclean or untouchable so they are cast out to live in their own colonies.

Many people in India believe leprosy is God’s greatest curse and one who has the disease it is because he/she committed an unpardonable sin in his life.  Once an individual contracts the disease, they are consigned to live in remote colonies losing jobs, homes, societal approval, and often times even family. Our main goal was to try and break the stigma associated with leprosy by spreading awareness, all while trying to eradicate the disease itself.

Our theme among the volunteers for the summer was,” It’s all about love.” This little quote was plastered on every door in our house and I thought, yeah that’s cute little quote that’s easy to remember and I didn’t give too much though about it. And it wasn’t until I got home that I understand how much this little quote mattered.

When we got out to the leprosy colonies we assisted the doctors and nurses. Our purpose for being there was to be able to go out to these colonies and be able to love all these people and help them in any way that we could. Before I got out to India I had seen pictures of some of these leprosy patients and heard about the things we were going to be doing and I was very nervous. I saw the wounds and physical appearances of these people and I wasn’t sure if I could be able to love these people like I was supposed to.

Prophet Joseph said: “Don’t be limited in your views with regard to your neighbors’ virtues. … You must enlarge your souls toward others if you [would] do like Jesus. … As you increase in innocence and virtue, as you increase in goodness, let your hearts expand—let them be enlarged towards others—you must be longsuffering and bear with the faults and errors of mankind. How precious are the souls of men!”                                                

Being in a different country the language barrier is always a difficult one, but the longer I worked and interacted with these wonderful people, the more I came to realize how important that cute little quote was. “It’s all about love.” We couldn’t understand each other but we could feel each others love. I did begin to love these people. And I soon came to realize that this was the most important thing about doing this work. There was this one lady in particular that came through that made me realize how much just loving mattered. This cute, older lady comes in with a big toothless grin and greeted all of us with kisses and hugs, with nothing but nubs for hands. She was so loving and welcoming and she had us all smiling. She went through all the stations and was just as happy as a clam talking with us even though none of us knew anything that the other person was saying. She finally made it to the doctor and the doctor just started right in. After being in India for almost three weeks I hadn't heard or seen any of the patients in as much pain as I felt this lady was. She threw her head back and cried in pain as soon as those scissors touched her and I couldn't even begin to think about how much pain she was in. We all watched in agony as she was being worked on and it broke my heart to be standing helplessly on the side and not be able to try and help take this pain away. I realized then that all I had left to do was love her. Love her for her strength, love her for doing what I could never do, love her for the love she had shown us all. After she got done though and got all of her new bandages in place she came up to the volunteers and started hugging and kissing like crazy. Even after all of this pain that we could have put her through, she was still thankful to be able to have us there to help. She, to me, is one of the greatest examples of having charity.

President Monson teaches: “Charity is having patience with someone who has let us down. It is resisting the impulse to become offended easily. It is accepting weaknesses and shortcomings. It is accepting people as they truly are. It is looking beyond physical appearances to attributes that will not dim through time. It is resisting the impulse to categorize others.”

President Monson tells this story: A woman by the name of Mary Bartels had a home directly across the street from the entrance to a hospital clinic. Her family lived on the main floor and rented the upstairs rooms to outpatients at the clinic.

One evening a truly awful-looking old man came to the door asking if there was room for him to stay the night. He was stooped and shriveled, and his face was lopsided from swelling—red and raw. He said he’d been hunting for a room since noon but with no success. “I guess it’s my face,” he said. “I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says it could possibly improve after more treatments.” He indicated he’d be happy to sleep in the rocking chair on the porch. As she talked with him, Mary realized this little old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. Although her rooms were filled, she told him to wait in the chair and she’d find him a place to sleep.

At bedtime Mary’s husband set up a camp cot for the man. When she checked in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and he was out on the porch. He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, he asked if he could return the next time he had a treatment. “I won’t put you out a bit,” he promised. “I can sleep fine in a chair.” Mary assured him he was welcome to come again.

In the several years he went for treatments and stayed in Mary’s home, the old man, who was a fisherman by trade, always had gifts of seafood or vegetables from his garden. Other times he sent packages in the mail.

When Mary received these thoughtful gifts, she often thought of a comment her next-door neighbor made after the disfigured, stooped old man had left Mary’s home that first morning. “Did you keep that awful-looking man last night? I turned him away. You can lose customers by putting up such people.”

Mary knew that maybe they had lost customers once or twice, but she thought, “Oh, if only they could have known him, perhaps their illnesses would have been easier to bear.” After the man passed away, Mary was visiting with a friend who had a greenhouse. As she looked at her friend’s flowers, she noticed a beautiful golden chrysanthemum but was puzzled that it was growing in a dented, old, rusty bucket. Her friend explained, “I ran short of pots, and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn’t mind starting in this old pail. It’s just for a little while, until I can put it out in the garden.”

Mary smiled as she imagined just such a scene in heaven. “Here’s an especially beautiful one,” God might have said when He came to the soul of the little old man. “He won’t mind starting in this small, misshapen body.” But that was long ago, and in God’s garden how tall this lovely soul must stand!     3    

 Appearances can be so deceiving, such a poor measure of a person. Admonished the Savior, “Judge not according to the appearance.”    

Silvia H. Allred said: As we choose to be kind, caring, generous, patient, accepting, forgiving, inclusive, and selfless, we discover we are abounding in charity.The Savior is the perfect example of how to extend charity. During His mortal ministry He showed compassion for the hungry, for the sinner, for the afflicted, and for the sick. He ministered to the poor and to the rich; to women, children, and men; to family, friends, and strangers. He forgave His accusers, and He suffered and died for all mankind.