The Force of Kindness

On March 30, 2025, Derrick Porter told the following story on Music and the Spoken Word.

"I’m familiar with the story of a young man born nearly 100 years ago in a small farming community. His family was poor, and his father died young. To make ends meet, his mother spent long hours working as a seamstress at a factory in the city. Unnoticed by most, this young man spent his days playing pool in a billiard hall. One day, a kind man from the local church took notice of the drifting young man and approached him, asking if he might like to leave that little town and serve as a missionary. The young man responded that it would be impossible because he had no money. The older man persisted, and they agreed that if the funds could be raised, the young man would go. Within hours, the church congregation came together and raised the required money for the young man to serve.

The time spent in his missionary pursuits became life-changing, and the young man returned home a new man. He married, had children, and spent the remainder of his days living a happy and productive life. Generations have now benefited from the kind invitation of one person and the kind acts of many in the town’s church congregation so many years ago."

For my models, I thought of Josh for the young man, and Bill for the older man. What struck me was that Bill is exactly the type of man who would sacrifice and find a way to help anyone in need. He also helped find us a great area to take pictures, near his real estate business in Lehi, Utah. I am very grateful to both Josh and Bill for helping me with this project, and for their kindness.

Friend to Friend with President and Sister Oaks

 When Jody from the Church Office Building called me, she asked if I would be interested in illustrating a story for President Oaks that would be in the Friend to Friend broadcast. How could I say no to that? 

I was given pictures of President Oaks' great grandmother Chasty, with her siblings. The story is that they were playing in a river bed when the spirit told Chasty to get them all out. When she finally listened, a big flash flood came by that would have drowned them!

Jody and John asked me to sketch something by Tuesday to show President Oaks. It was Thanksgiving weekend, and my future son-in-law was visiting from out of town. We had wedding dress shopping and wedding plans to plan, but I was able to line up some models in my ward--thank you Ashlynn, Brooks, Bryce, Junie, and Susan!

After turning in sketches of Ashlynn, who posed as Chasty, John called me and asked if I were sitting down. He said Dallin H. Oaks wanted to meet with me IN PERSON in his office in Salt Lake City! That was a surreal experience, and such an honor. President Oaks shook my hand, and I was struck both by his spiritual power and his physical frailty. He is very businesslike, and we sat right down at his desk to discuss his vision for this project. He told me about his great grandmother Chasty, and how she brought the whole family together for generations at family reunions. He really wanted me to portray this riverbed as he sees it in his memory, even though he doesn't have any pictures of it. He sketched the general shape of it in my sketchbook, which I will keep forever. He also said that he wanted my style to be sketchy and black and white, and to see the children from behind, or far away, so you couldn't really make out their faces.

I was able to finish these sketches, and a painting of Chasty, just after Christmas. However, on January 1st, our deadline, I was told that after looking at the finished sketches, which he had asked for, President Oaks said that he changed his mind and wanted the sketches to be in color. So, at the last minute, I had to add color to these pencil sketches by using digital methods on my computer. Thus, these colorized drawings are vastly different from my usual style. But, if the future president of the Church and prophet asks you to do things a certain way, you obey.

(This is the actual photo of Chasty. I will add the painting I did to this blog once I get access to our other computer.)

It was an amazing experience. This was the second time I had made artwork for President Oaks, and I treasure each experience. 

The Friend to Friend broadcast can be watched here, with the segment with this story starting at time stamp 15:55: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWcuXXxcbAk