Cover image by Scot Facer Proctor.
When the Proctors asked me to reach back to my memories of the Kearons while we served in England, my thoughts went immediately to our mission presidents’ training in the North before our three-year assignment in South London. We met, the four of us, in a narrow little hall of an Inn and quickly became fast friends. That happens in the gospel; it’s one of those blessed miracles that helps us get our feet down when we are on unfamiliar ground.
We bonded closely as we learned that they, like us, had lost their first child, a son in infancy. It was sharing that connection to the heavens, that reverence for the power to seal on earth and in heaven, that was a lode star[1] for them as it has been for us.
At the time, Elder Patrick Kearon as an Area Seventy was serving as second counselor in the Area Presidency. He was young, eloquent, and his British accent was so engaging. But it was Elder Patrick Kearon’s heart that caught my attention. It was his most endearing and inspiring characteristic. With both the Elder Kearon and Jen, it was all about the heart. For our three years we were blessed by their spiritual strength, kindness, sheer goodness, compassion, wisdom, and willingness to help all of God’s children. They were saints to the core with pure “integrity of heart.”[2]
The scriptures teach us that “the Lord requireth the heart”[3] and Elder Kearon’s heart was committed to the gospel and His Savior. He was a church leader who knew the Savior and had “received the light of the countenance of [the] Lord . . in his hour.”[4] He was then and now one of the Lord’s true disciples.
His message in General Conference in 2016 was not a new take on how to serve in the kingdom of God, it was Elder Kearon speaking from his heart about the plight of refugees:
“The Savior knows how it feels to be a refugee–He was one. As a child, Jesus and His family fled to Egypt to escape the murderous swords of Herod. And at various points in His ministry, He found Himself threatened and His life in danger, ultimately submitting to the designs of evil men who had plotted His death. Perhaps, then, it is all the more remarkable to us that He repeatedly taught us to love one another, to love as He loves, to love our neighbor as ourselves. Truly, ‘pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction” and to “look to the poor and the needy, and administer to their relief that they shall not suffer.’”[5]
As mission leaders we were the “poor and needy.” When we traveled west in our mission, there were times when we stayed at the Kearon’s home just outside of Bristol. Missing our grandchildren, we were so grateful to be in the company of their three girls and share in the spirit of love that abided in their home. Like their Dad, the girls spoke with British accents which made them even more charming. Jen, a native of California, had picked up a bit of it and added that touch to her poise and grace.
Elder Kearon spent time teaching our missionaries and we didn’t need to say, “Listen up, he’s been there.” His heart was always in missionary work, having been converted at age 26 in London. Fitting that he joined the Church on Christmas Eve in 1987. He was a true example of what could happen when we, as missionaries, sought out those prepared to hear the word of the Lord. His disarming manner, his humor, and his genuine love for the Lord won over even the most reluctant on the back row. Most of all, he had received “the holy spirit for [his] guide” and never deviated.
We watched him work through challenges that come to any church leader and assist us in doing the same. We felt blessed by his leadership. You can imagine our joy when in 2010 he was called to serve as a General Authority Seventy knowing that not just England and Europe would be blessed by his service but the whole Church.
And now, as a new member of the Quorum of the Twelve, with full purpose of heart, so committed to the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel, we enthusiastically sustain Elder Kearon in his divine assignment to stand as a special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world.[6]
Notes:
[1] Something that serves as a guide, on which we fix our attention.
[2] D&C 124:15. The Lord described Hyrum Smith with “Blessed is my servant Hyrum Smith; for I, the Lord, love him because of the integrity of His heart.” Hyrum loved what was right as does Elder Kearon.
[3] D&C 64:34
[4] D&C 88:58
[5] Elder Patrick Kearon, “Refuge from the Storm,” General Conference, April 2016; James 1:27, D&C 38:35
[6] D&C 107:23
