Editor’s note: This article is the final part of a two-part series focusing on Brian Schmidt, adviser of Service Activities and his experience with a disability.

Snow is falling on a cold Friday evening in December. The chilling wind whistles on the window panes outside the small cabin in Victor, Idaho, where 21 college students are inside eating, getting drinks and returning to their seats. All except one person — and he is not a student.

Brian Schmidt, adviser of Service Activities, is sitting in his wheelchair. He seems to have forgotten that the bowl of soup on his lap is cooling as he chats with each student.

Perhaps the soup is forgotten because Schmidt is savoring the time he has with these students. After six months of being away from the service program he has overseen for 15 years, he has returned.

Schmidt was paralyzed in a horse riding accident in June 2005. After the accident, Schmidt spent six weeks in the LDS Hospital and an additional four months attending a rehabilitation center in Utah.

The laughter within the group quiets as Student Director Matt Pitcher, stands and asks, “Before we begin our training tonight, Brother Schmidt, would you speak to us for a moment?”

With a smile, Schmidt wheels himself through the benches, making his way to the front.

He tells of growing experiences this group will have as they serve students at BYU-Idaho. Every eye is riveted on Schmidt, and a feeling of warmth and unity is felt within the group.

Schmidt, perhaps sensing that some of these students are curious as to why he is in a wheelchair, begins the tale he has told many times.

“Let me explain a few things,” Schmidt begins. “Last June I was in a horse riding accident…”

Schmidt goes on to explain his road to recovery, speaking of it as a “wonderful experience.” He tells of the caring doctors and nurses who attended him. He explains that giving service is a wonderful blessing, and “by receiving service, we can have tender, beautiful experiences.”

As he finishes his remarks and wheels himself to the side, students watch the man “who stands as a mantle of Christ-like service,” Talise Dubois, a junior from Osseo, Minn., said.

The road to recovery has been long for Schmidt and his family, but “through this experience so many blessings have come into our lives,” Schmidt said.

He mentions the patience he has gained and how he has drawn closer than ever before to the people around him.

“I’ve learned more about my children ... as I’ve been around them more,” Schmidt said.

He went on to explain that each weekday he has “school” with his 4-year-old daughter, Bryn.

“Bryn comes into my room wearing her backpack and hops up on the bed with me. We are learning the alphabet, one day at a time,” Schmidt said.

Seeing an entire family come together and support one another has been the most tender experience for the Schmidts.

A ward family also watched over the Schmidts while they were away from Rexburg.

The priests in their ward mowed the lawn and cared for the garden, while the young women cleaned the house.

“Youth leaders told us how honored the youth felt to serve, what a sacred experience it was,” Schmidt said. “I told them it was for us — But they insisted, ‘No, it was for the youth.”

Coming back to the ward, Schmidt noticed something.

“There was a love that had developed between [the youth and I] that wasn’t there before,” Schmidt said. “Those young men — [by caring for our yard], had brought us together.”

The Schmidts are only beginning to see the blessings this experience has brought into their lives.

“It will be interesting in 20 years to looks back at this experience,” Sarah Schmidt, Schmidt’s wife, said. “I think we will see it as a great blessing for us — all of us.”

Despite the additional challenges, those with disabilities add much to the world around them.

Beethoven composed many of his acclaimed symphonies — deaf. Franklin D. Roosevelt lead a nation through turmoil — paralyzed. And a college adviser will continue inspiring students to love and serve — paralyzed.