A Missionary’s Last Letter

A Missionary's Last Letter By Elder Albert L. Wilkes [The author was a missionary in the Hawaiian Islands where he was laboring at the time of his death, August 28, 1915. He is the son of Albert and Josephine Simmons Wilkes, and was born in Salt Lake City, May 14, 1894. His father is a well-known photographer of Salt Lake City. He left for the Sandwich Islands on May 8, 1913, quickly mastered the language, and showed great zeal and energy in his work, being appointed to various positions of trust and responsibility. He was the president of the Wakiki branch at the time of his death. These were the last words that he wrote to his family before he died. His letter is dated, Honolulu, August 16, 1915, and is almost prophetic of his passing to the better world. It was espe- cially written to his younger brother Joseph, and contains excellent counsels to him on religion and ethics which we are pleased to have the privilege of reproducing in the Improvement Era. The letter is of special interest to every young man who has an elder brother. — Editors.] My Dear Brother: I suppose it has been two weeks since I re- ceived my last letter from you, though re- ally I have forgotten. At any rate, I owe you a few lines, and I suppose I would best write now, as the boat leaves tomor- row, and no more leaving, after it, for a week. I was overjoyed to hear that you had given up going away, and had decided to stay at home and help father, for he needs your help, and you need his and your mother's. My address has not changed since I wrote you last, neither has my attitude toward the work of the Albert L. Wilkes

782 IMPROVEMENT ERA Lord. That work I have tried mighty hard to keep going, for I know to what extent I have been benefited. In speaking of addresses changing, reminds me of a Primary meeting which we had a short time ago, in which the question came up: "Have we any way of determining what our address in the next world will be?" And we came to the conclusion that we had, indeed. It is true that whatever we do in this life, whether good or otherwise, will determine, and we might even say write, our address in the next world. There doubtless will be some whose address will be in the best part of town, and their homes will be mansions; and they will not necessarily be those who live in mansions now, but will, more than likely, be those who live in humble dwellings here, for the proud and the haughty shall be humbled, and the humble, exalted, "the last shall be first and the first shall be last." There will be those whose address will be the celestial kingdom, yet others, the terrestrial, and also the telestial; for the Lord said, "In my Father's kingdom there are many mansions." Paul taught that we write our address every day of our lives; and often times it changes in a day, either for better or for worse. If for better, all right; if not poena nayoli, as the Hawaiians say, and it is not hard to guess what that means. The interpretation, Joseph, is plain, it simply means: live every day so that you can look the world in the face, without reproach; so that you can look every human being in the face and say, "I owe you nothing but love." Love is a debt which we never can pay, as Paul says, "Owe no man anything, except it be to love him; for love is the fulfiling of the law." It means, shun the very appearance of evil, and do only that which you know is right and meet in the sight of your Father in heaven; then you are writing an address in the celestial kingdom of your God. Live every day as if it were your last, for we never know when we will be taken. Remember, Howard, Louisa, Uncle Heber, and Alibo; who knows whose turn is next? Now, Joseph, you can have a good time without doing wrong; in fact you can't have a good time if you do wrong. And remember, "birds of a feather flock together," and a man is known by the company he keeps. Keep away from companions you know are bad; you will meet them wherever you go. You will know them by their fruits, and, "Do men gather figs of thistles?" We all know the answer, and we all know right from wrong; our Father meant that we should. Joseph, again I sav, give attention to your duties in the priesthood and in the ward: don't let anything interfere to keep you from doing what you know to be right. In other words, as a strong exhortation, "dare to be right, dare to be true."