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His ancestors were once rescued. Now, he seeks to rescue

Elder H. Bruce Stucki was not yet 7 years old when one day, shortly before Christmas, he took his bow and arrow to the sandy hills surrounding his home to hunt rabbits.

"Jack rabbits were everywhere," he said. "One suddenly jumped up and took off in front of me. I pulled back on the bow and shot at it. I missed, but I thought I knew exactly where the arrow landed."

Elder Stucki figured he would quickly retrieve the arrow and continue hunting. But when he arrived at the spot, the arrow was nowhere to be found.

"I walked around and around and looked everywhere. I promised my mother I'd be home before dark, and by now, the sun was beginning to set. I felt to pray, so I dropped to my knees and asked the Lord to help me find my arrow.

"I no sooner finished praying than I opened my eyes and I saw the arrow in front of me, right there in the brush. I could never see it until I got on my knees. I had to drop to my knees to pray before I could see.

"This was the first of many experiences where the Lord answered my prayers," explained Elder Stucki. "I've since learned that to understand many things about the Lord, I have had to drop to my knees."

Elder Stucki's call to serve in the Second Quorum of the Seventy during the April general conference follows years of service in the St. George, Utah, area, and in his current calling as president of the England Manchester Mission.

Elder Stucki was reared in the red hills of Santa Clara, Utah. Here, he hardened his muscles irrigating orchard trees, bailing hay and driving tractors in the heat of the summer sun. Here, he sustained a way of life begun by his ancestors who left the lush meadows of Switzerland to join their religion and worship with their fellow countrymen in the blazing heat of southern Utah.

"My family came to Utah with the Martin Handcart Company in 1856," said Elder Stucki, explaining how his great-great-grandfather, John S. Stucki, was just a boy when the handcart company was rescued during the winter storms.

Each family was given a piece of buffalo meat by the rescuers, continued Elder Stucki. His ancestors ate some of the meat, then chose to keep the remainder for Sunday dinner. But during the next several days while pushing the handcart, Elder Stucki's great-great-grandfather got so hungry that he reached into the handcart and tore off several chunks of meat. His father discovered that meat had been eaten and inquired what happened. Instead of chastising his son, the father walked away with tears in his eyes.

As a descendant of those who were rescued on the high plains of Wyoming, Elder Stucki remembers the sacrifice of the men who left the comforts of their Salt Lake homes to battle the winter weather and hunt fresh meat to save the stranded companies.

In his own right, he has often been in the right place to rescue others.

On one occasion a few years ago when the children were younger, the Stucki family was boating on Lake Powell in southern Utah — as they did every year for a family vacation — when they rounded a bend in a canyon near the Hole in the Rock and saw in the distance what appeared to be a buoy in the water. As they drew closer, however, they noticed it was the protruding tip of a capsized boat. They soon saw four adults in the water, including a man bobbing up and down while trying to hold a child above water. The child was the only one wearing a life jacket.

The Stucki family quickly gathered as many people from the water as their boat would carry and ferried them to a pile of rocks, then returned to rescue the others. The capsized group included a young family with a child and two sisters of the mother.

"What's interesting about that event," said Sister Stucki, "is what happened beforehand to make the rescue possible. With our family of six, there was no room to carry extra items. But on this occasion, after packing our prepared meals at home as we did, we had extra food, so we packed it. Then, just before leaving, I decided to take cloth diapers and pins. The children thought it was rather strange since they were older and out of diapers," said Sister Stucki.

On the day they found the capsized family, the Stuckis were searching for a camp site, but had a particularly difficult time agreeing on a location.

"Even though long shadows were beginning to form in the late afternoon, for one reason or another, we couldn't agree on a site and continued boating until we came upon the family."

The next boat didn't pass until nearly an hour later. That night, they shared the extra food and dry diapers.

On another occasion, Elder Stucki had completed business in Salt Lake City and was returning to St. George in his airplane with his son-in-law. It was starting to snow as they left, but they were soon flying over the clouds enjoying a comfortable flight when they heard a distressed pilot radioing for help.

The pilot was flying near Delta in central Utah and was low on fuel. But not being trained to land by instrument guidance, he was unable to descend through the clouds for fear of flying into a mountain or the ground.

Elder Stucki had just flown over the area and had reported with the air controller.

The controller soon asked Elder Stucki if he could do anything. With permission to change his flight plan, Elder Stucki descended through the clouds and found that the clouds ended about 2,000 feet above the valley floor.

The pilot was then given directions on speed and rate of descent and told to report when he could see the airport lights. The descent should have taken about four minutes.

"It seemed like an eternity," said Elder Stucki as they waited for a radio response. "Time ticked off slowly." But about five minutes later the pilot reported seeing the runway landing lights.

Elder and Sister Stucki speak with fondness of their opportunity to serve in a mission noted for its historical significance in the early days of the Restoration.

"We hold a three-day mission conference where we tour Church historical sites and give a spiritual explanation of the significance of the area," said Elder Stucki.

"It's been a choice experience," continued Elder Stucki. "Miracles have been a way of life."

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