Never Go Back to the Hotel

One of my favorite conference talks was given by Elder Maxwell in April 2004; it was his last general conference before he passed away.  In it he told many brief experiences throughout his life that taught him important lessons.  One of those stories that I’ve always remembered was this: “Once when traveling with Elder and Sister Russell M. Nelson, we left our hotel in Bombay, India, to catch a plane for Karachi, Pakistan, and then on to Islamabad. When we got to the chaotic airport, our flight had been canceled. Impatiently, I said to the man at the airline counter, ‘What do you expect us to do, just give up and go back to the hotel?’ He said with great dignity, ‘Sir, you never go back to the hotel.’  We rummaged about the airport, found a flight, kept the appointment in Islamabad, and even had a night’s sleep. Sometimes life is like that: we are left to press forward and endure frustrated expectations—refusing to ‘go back to the hotel’! Otherwise, such ‘give-up-it is’ will affect all seasons of life” (see here).  I’ve thought often about the phrase to “never go back to the hotel” throughout the years—in causes worth pursuing, the gospel teaches us to never go back. 

                Paul told the Hebrews, “Cast not away therefore your confidence….  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise…. We are not of them who draw back” (Hebrews 10:35-39).  We must never draw back from the cause of the gospel; in other words, we never go back to the hotel.  Paul exhibited this kind of determination as a missionary, and one such instance was in his travels to Rome.  In his determination to preach the gospel, he said, “I must also see Rome” (Acts 19:21).  But it was no easy trip for Paul going to Rome as he made the voyage by sea as a prisoner.  “There arose against it a tempestuous wind” and they were “exceedingly tossed with a tempest.”  It became so bad that “neither sun nor stars in many days appeared” and “all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.”  They were in this perilous situation many days on the water, but Paul did not lose hope or determination.  He told the others who were on the boat and likely in despair, “Sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God” (Acts 27:14, 18, 20, 25).  Paul was not going to go back to the hotel or let the others give up trying to save those on the ship.  With the help of his faith they eventually made it to an island after suffering much on the boat.  They threatened to kill Paul because he was a prisoner and he was even bit by a viper, but eventually he made it to Rome.  Undaunted, he preached “the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence” until he ultimately died there (Acts 28:31).  Paul was not of them “who draw back.”

                 Others in the scriptures had the same determination as Paul to never give up on the most important things.  Nephi of course could not be deterred from obtaining the plates, even after failure.  Said he: “As the Lord liveth, and as we live, we will not go down unto our father in the wilderness until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us” (1 Nephi 3:15).  King Limhi also showed he would not draw back from trying to free his people from the Lamanites: “Notwithstanding our many strugglings, which have been in vain; yet I trust there remaineth an effectual struggle to be made” (Mosiah 7:18).  Mormon showed that he would never give up trying to do all that the Lord expected of him despite the complete wickedness and imminent destruction of his people.  He said, “Notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay” (Moroni 9:6).  Despite the Saints loss of the Kirtland Temple, the failure of their attempts to build temples in Missouri, and all of the persecutions in Nauvoo, the Prophet Joseph gave us these words of the Lord showing that they would never give up in trying to build temples: “Let the work of my temple, and all the works which I have appointed unto you, be continued on and not cease; and let your diligence, and your perseverance, and patience, and your works be redoubled, and you shall in nowise lose your reward” (D&C 127:4).  Once engaged Joseph would never “go back to the hotel” despite the tremendous opposition and persecution, and we need that same determination in our own lives in the things that really matter.