Searching for opportunity

Have you stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado and enjoyed the mesmerizing view? Or at Old Faithful? Or any other of the hundreds of beautiful sights that we can enjoy because of our freedom to travel? People ask us questions such as, where do you live? What is it like there? We will finish our missions and return to our homes with the opportunity to return to Ecuador in the future if we desire. The majority of people here will never have the opportunity to visit the U.S. To visit temple square and attend general conference in the conference center is a dream of many people here. A dream that will probably never be fulfilled. Our good friends, the Huntsmans, had befriended a sister in Quito while serving a humanitarian mission in Ecuador. She was invited by them to visit their home in Utah. They would pay her way. Her request for a visa was denied. The Huntsman family agreed to accept responsibility for her but the request was still denied. Because of so many illegal aliens in the U.S. it has become more difficult for people to visit using legal means. A local stake president wanted to have his whole family present at his daughters wedding in Provo. Their twenty year old son was denied a visa. Intervention by a senator from Utah didn't do any good. The whole family attended the wedding minus one son. The son who couldn't get a visa from the U.S. government. Sometimes it just doesn't seem fair. We meet people who would like to visit temple square and attend general conference. Some would like to visit the church historical sites from Sharon, Vermont to Winters Quarters. Others would like to attend all of the temples in the Salt Lake Valley,..or in Utah. Some would like to have a reunion with the missionary who brought the gospel to their family. Others would like to visit friends or relatives who live in the U.S. Or go to school, attend B.Y.U. etc. Whatever the reason, the U.S. is the land of opportunity. These people know it. They long to come, to partake of the blessings of plenty, of opportunity, of having a chance to reach their potential. To have a better life. If there is someone who is tired or bored of his life in the U.S. There are many people here who would glady trade places with him. The problem isn't just the visa. It is mostly a lack of "plata" (money). One sister is saving a meager amount each month hoping to be able to buy air fare to visit a brother in the U.S. in, perhaps, three years. What does all of this mean for us? One thing it should mean is to not take for granted the blessings that are ours in America.