I dunno why I'm wearing a hat, but it's good to be with you.
Well I ought to keep it brief this time around I reckon.
I spent some quality time with God's children this week. We've been meeting with one of our friends Antonio very often. He has loved the gospel of Jesus Christ so much that he's been teaching his friends those things that we share with him, because he wants them to enjoy the same light that he has seen come into his life. Now, he and one of his friends are both preparing to be baptized and make covenants with the Lord. He is one of the many who, "are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it" (D&C 123:12). Our Father knows us and all his children upon the face of the earth. He is surely preparing all of us to receive his truth and return to his presence. It is my heart's truest desire to be a vessel for heavenly truth. I pray that you can be too, for there is no greater work to be a part of than God's.
I also had a good long talk with my friend Wayne. Let me tell you, Wayne is going through the ringer. And he is a good, good man, undeserving of his circumstances. As we read the account of Christ healing God's children in 3 Nephi 17, he asked us, more concerned for his children's welfare than his own, "Why would God let this happen to them? If he could heal these people, why couldn't he heal my family?"
I have come to learn on my mission that throughout our mortal experience, each of God's children, including us, will have moments like Wayne. We will have burdens so heavy, we may not think we are able to bear them. Elder Renlund has said, "for many of us—suffering and brutal unfairness can seem incompatible with the reality of a kind, loving Heavenly Father. Yet He is real, He is kind, and He loves each of His children perfectly. This dichotomy is as old as mankind and cannot be explained in a simple sound bite or on a bumper sticker."
So then, how do we reconcile the "infuriating unfairness" of this life with a perfectly loving God? A full understanding will likely not come to us in this life, but I have observed one attribute of the human condition that often impairs us from seeing the true nature of God; it is our lack of patience. In our myopia, we often expect instantaneous, or even simply quick solutions to our problems, when such rapid solutions are not reasonable, or not a part of God's greater plan. We may think that because we weren't healed now, God must not care about us, or because things are unfair now, they always will be.
How might things be different if we sought out deeper patience? In the face of affliction we would feel hope instead of despair, trusting that brighter days will come—eventually. We would feel peace and calm, remembering that His strength, His wisdom, and His timetable are superior to our own.
Now, do not misunderstand me, I am not saying that this caliber of patience is easy. In fact, it takes great faith and courage. We are admonished, "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord" (Psalm 27:14). Perhaps this is why we sing,
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we’ll have this tale to tell—
All is well! All is well!
To me, the last verse of the same hymn embodies this stalwart, optimistic patience.
And should we die before our journey’s through, Happy day! All is well
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too;
With the just we shall dwell!
But if our lives are spared again
To see the Saints their rest obtain,
Oh, how we’ll make this chorus swell—
All is well! All is well!
(Hymn no. 30)
And so for Wayne, I was able to stand as a living witness that all will be right in the end. I shared that my family had endured similar fracturing many years ago. I then presented myself and said, "But look how I turned out! Your children will be okay in the end."
I then testified to Wayne—and I testify to you now—that because of the unmatched unfairness that the Savior, Jesus Christ, endured when he experienced the pains of all the world, everything wrong about life will one day be right in the end. Our bodies will be, "restored to their proper and perfect frame" (Alma 40:23)! And at the judgement bar of Christ, where justice and mercy are meted with divine precision, all inequity will be abolished, and those whose desires are pure will be crowned with glory evermore. We will then be able to sing with perfect confidence, "Happy Day! All is well!"
So much for trying to be brief...
Stay well my friends. You are loved.
Deuces,
Elder Winegar
Songs 
I Want You Back—Jackson 5
When The Right Time Comes—Hibbity Dibbity
But It's Still Cool If You Don't—Briston Maroney
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