Another story at the front of the MTC journal

On December 23rd, a bishop stood and related the following story:

I used to be in a Nazi concentration camp. On December 23rd, the Nazi soldiers lined us all up and counted out every fifth person. They announced that because rations were scarce, they were going to shoot every fifth person on the morrow. I was a "fifth person."

That night a fellow prisoner came up to me and asked if I had ever heard of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I replied that I had not. He said, "If you ever get out of this place, will you look it up?"

I answered matter-of-factly that I was not going to ever get out, as I was to be shot the following day. He explained that he is a member of the Church and therefore more prepared to be killed and that he would take my place if I would promise to look up the Church should I ever get out alive.

I said, "You don't have to do that."

He said, "No, I don't, but I am going to and all I ask is that you look up the Church."

The next morning, I woke up thinking it had been a dream. But as the Nazi soldiers counted out every fifth person and go to me, this man stepped in and said he was going for me. They didn't ask any questions, just grabbed him and continued down the line.

Three and a half months later, I was released and just a few months after that, I found the gospel and was then better able to understand how this man could make such a sacrifice.

But he died quickly, a shot in the head.

I don't mean to belittle what he did for me, because it means more than you could know. However, when compared to the suffering of the Savior, well, it doesn't even compare.

When I was endowed, I saw this man in the temple, and have seen him only one other time -- when I was sealed to my wife. I don't even know his name. He saved my physical life, but he also introduced me to one who saves my spirit, even Jesus Christ, my redeemer.

Over these holidays, may we come to recognize and better understand the ultimate sacrifice, the atonement, and be willing to incorporate it into our lives, even to the point that my unnamed friend did.

(I don't know where I heard this story or if it can be corroborated. If it is just a parable, it's beautiful -- and if it's fully true, WOW!)