My chosen topic this week is FRIENDSHIP. This is very near and dear to my heart. I've had some friends that were just friends for a short while. Then I have had friends that lasted for years. The longest friendship I have had is almost thirty years old. I met Elaine in 2nd grade! I met many other people in my life that have made impacts. And that I have remained friends with through the years.

Once I was baptised in 1988, I felt a transformation happen with me. I truly wanted to share this wonderful thing that I had found. One friendship in particular is one with a friend named Cyndi. I met her while my husband was serving in the military. She was a wayward spirit, looking for something "stable" in her life. She had a job that she didn't seem too proud of, she was living in a hotel and she had health problems to deal with. She had met a friend of mine, and he introduced her to me.

Shortly after the introduction, they were married. The marriage didn't last. Her husband was a little on the strange side, believing he was a witch/wizard and Cyndi being a devout Christian didn't appreciate it. Then of course there were other reasons. Her husband didn't appreciate the quick friendship that Cyndi and I developed. He was jealous if you can believe it, because I spent more time talking with her then I did with him. He made it so we got mad at each other, and didn't talk for a long time.

Then he left her. He left her with a 9 month old baby and one on the way, for someone he met on the computer and had gotten pregnant. Even though I was angry at her for things her husband had said she said about me. I received a letter one day, and it was from her.

My heart was softened, immediately. She told me the story of how he became addicted to pornography, and was on the computer all the time. How he didn't provide for her and how she was going to be kicked out of her house because he wasn't going to pay the rent. She was in a state where she had no friends, in a strange town where she knew no one, and was afraid and alone. I called her and went to her home. Our friendship immediately rekindled.

Before she was evicted, we converted our garage for her and her daughter to live with us. We fed her, and we helped in any way we could with all her needs. At this point, where she seemed to be at her lowest, I shared the gospel with her.

My husband Blessed her daughter and baptised her. She then met a wonderful man, and we showed him the gospel and he too was baptised by my husband. They married. Moved from my ward and went on, she being a mother to his twin daughters who were special needs, and he being a father to her two children left by an inconsiderate father who wanted nothing to do with them.

We lost touch for a short while, and recently she and I, through the wonder of the internet, talk almost everyday. I've asked her how things are with her church attendance, and have been mortified to find out that she has not attended since shortly after her baptism. There were many reasons, but right now, her visiting teacher, actually told her she was too busy with family and work to actually come and visit and that it would be a while before she could get there. Cyndi has many questions about the gospel, and when the missionaries finally came by, she asked her questions. They would say they would find out and come back. And they never did. She didn't have a way to get to church. And no one offerred to come and get her. I got a letter from her just today, saying she didn't understand why people who say they want to serve God, don't find the time to, and are so inconsiderate about the needs of others.

"The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that "friendship is one of the grand fundamental principles of �Mormonism". That thought ought to inspire and motivate all of us because I feel that friendship is a fundamental need of our world. I think in all of us there is a profound longing for friendship, a deep yearning for the satisfaction and security that close and lasting relationships can give.

Perhaps one reason the scriptures make little specific mention of the principle of friendship is because it should be manifest quite naturally as we live the gospel. In fact, if the consummate Christian attribute of charity has a first cousin, it is friendship. To paraphrase the Apostle Paul slightly, friendship "suffereth long, and is kind; [friendship] envieth not; seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; [friendship] never faileth." (Friendship: A Gospel Principle Elder Marlin K. Jensen Of the Presidency of the Seventy, Ensign 1999).

Truer words were never spoken. First things first. Cyndi *needs* friendship. She *needs* someone from her ward, OUR CHURCH to offer her the hand of friendship. Then in a kind and nurturing way answer her questions. How can we expect a new convert to "know" everything. Some of us that have had the gospel since we were born, forget someone may not actually know everything there is to know about the three kingdoms of Heaven. Or where or why Joseph Smith was murdered. Or where the Doctrine and Covenants come from. Cyndi knows none of these things, and wishes someone would help her find the answers but no one will become her friend in her ward, get her to come to class so she can learn from "someone other then these kids they keep sending to my door".

Friendship is such a gift. You never realize what a gift friendship can be, until you've sufferred the loss of a friend, such as our Kathi has. Or you see your friend suffering and wish there was something you could do, but find your hands tied.

Christ was our Friend as well as our brother. He would befriend those that had no friends... the leper, the prostitute, the deaf, the mute. He would show them love and compassion, regardless of what they had done in the past or would do in the future. Christ showed them unconditional love in his brotherhood and friendship towards them.

My prayer this day, is that we has members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can follow Christ's steps. Befriend people, regardless of looks, social status, health status and anything else that would make it so that *you* wouldn't say "hello" to a stranger on the street. Not only just because we can, but just because we SHOULD.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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