FIVE WISE VIRGINS---PICTURE BY LOUISE PARKER

We don't have church today. Because of another huge snowstorm, our ward meetings were cancelled. So I was thinking of spiritual things that mean a lot to me. Our stake Relief Society board went to the Church Museum in Salt Lake last June. We saw this picture and I fell in love with it. Probably not so much for the artwork, but for the story that inspired the artwork. This picture is on the inside back cover of the February 2008 Ensign

and I bought it for myself and had it framed. Sister Anne Pingree told this story in a talk she gave to the Relief Society sisters....it goes as follows: Sister Pingree and her husband were traveling in Nigeria to one of the most remote areas in the mission so that her husband could give temple recommend interviews. The people knew the day the Pingree's would come, but didn't know the time. There were few telephones. So they would line up early in the morning to wait all day if necessary. The Pingree's noticed two women walking along the hot and sandy jungle trail as they arrived. There were no temples in West Africa. The closest temple was 3,000 miles away. At the end of the day, the Pingree's again saw these sisters walking and holding their temple recommends in their hands. They had walked a total of 18 miles round trip to receive a temple recommend they would never have the privilege of using. These sisters were so faithful. My reasons for not getting to the temple sometimes, seem small and flimsy. These sisters inspire me to be better.