Do the Apostles and other church leaders know what I'm going through?

In my third area on the mission, I had a conversation with a very poor and faithful member. She commented to me one day that the Apostles had no idea what life was like for her. Clearly they didn't have it as rough as she did.

While it's true that she was very poor and had trouble with some kids being unfaithful in the gospel, it is not correct that the 12 lead a charmed life. I tried to tell her that wasn't true and give examples of hardships in their lives, but I don't know if she was buying it.

Today I listened to part of Elder Christofferson's CES devotional. He mentions that he had years of financial difficulty in which he had to rely on the Lord for help every day in order to get through it. It was wonderful to get more details about one of the 12's previous difficulties (though it wasn't too specific he clearly had a significant problem that was very understandable for most of us. Sometimes we think their only problems are things like "me and my wife had a fight once" which happens to the rest of us much more often than once.) I think we'd actually be surprised about how normal many of their struggles are and how much they understand about a normal life. For instance, in the devotional Elder Scott gave, he mentions the death of his young son and also the death of his wife 14 years ago. I should also mention Elder Holland's conference talk in which he mentions when his car broke down 2 times an hour or so from St. George on his journey with his wife and two kids to Connecticut. He also mentions in an interview with Sherri Dew that he talked about going home to St. George and dropping out of school b/c they had no money and were struggling, but his wife wouldn't let him.

The 12 are very understanding of difficulties. They are normal people with extraordinary callings and a great desire to do the Lord's will. I enjoy learning more about them because I respect them more and more when I do.

Here's some links:

Elder Scott CES fireside - http://lds.org/broadcast/ces/0,7341,538-1-61-2001,00.html

Elder Christofferson CES fireside - http://lds.org/broadcast/ces/0,7341,538-1-61-2041,00.html

Elder Holland and Sis. Holland Sheri Dew IV - http://radio.lds.org/eng/programs/conversations-episode-22

Elder Holland Conference talk (actually this is a new Mormon Video in which he tells that story, but he previously told it in a conference talk (called something like "an high priest of good things to come") - http://lds.org/church/good-things-to-come?lang=eng