LDSW #15
My son, Mike, took his family to a snow resort in Northern Arizona a couple of years ago, where they were racing innertubes on an icy slope. It was crowded. A girl had smashed into a tree and broken her leg and was in a lot of pain. Some people were trying to get her down the slope on a makeshift sled when a man’s voice called out, “Is there anyone here who can give an LDS priesthood blessing?” Mike raised his hand and said, “I can.” The man asked, "Are you worthy?" Mike was. He had a vial with consecrated oil with him, and the two men administered a blessing to the man’s daughter. Since then, he always brings his oil with him wherever he travels.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
#14 Power of a Mother's Prayer
LDSW #14
When my son Steve was serving a Church mission in Santiago, Chile some years ago, there was a day when I felt the need to pray for his welfare off and on during the day, which I did. He later related this experience to me. He and his companion stopped at a vendor’s stand and bought sausage rolls, similar to American hot dogs. They spread on some condiments but when Steve added the mayonnaise he said, while scooping his hand, “the mayo just slipped on off my roll and fell to the ground.” He shrugged, and thought “oh well,” and went on without it. His companion had put the mayo on his roll, and became violently ill. It was the only food they hadn’t eaten together. I believe Steve said his companion came down with typhoid fever and had to stay in the mission home until he was well. As near as Steve and I could pinpoint the time, it was the very day I felt he needed the extra prayers.
When my son Steve was serving a Church mission in Santiago, Chile some years ago, there was a day when I felt the need to pray for his welfare off and on during the day, which I did. He later related this experience to me. He and his companion stopped at a vendor’s stand and bought sausage rolls, similar to American hot dogs. They spread on some condiments but when Steve added the mayonnaise he said, while scooping his hand, “the mayo just slipped on off my roll and fell to the ground.” He shrugged, and thought “oh well,” and went on without it. His companion had put the mayo on his roll, and became violently ill. It was the only food they hadn’t eaten together. I believe Steve said his companion came down with typhoid fever and had to stay in the mission home until he was well. As near as Steve and I could pinpoint the time, it was the very day I felt he needed the extra prayers.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
LDSW #13 - A Decision that Shaped My Life
Several years ago I worked in the Women’s Center at a community college. My female boss went on a year’s sabbatical to teach English in China. While she was gone the interim director gave me freedom to decide what pamphlets to put on a display rack and which clippings concerning women would go up on our bulletin board ,etc.
I had also been in a select group who wrote editorials for our hometown newspaper for the past four years, so my name was known to many of the local readers. I am a conservative and that reflected in the columns I wrote. This request pitted my religious and political beliefs against my job, because the department head had a liberal slant on life. A twenty-something young woman kind of slunk into the chair next to my desk and in a hushed voice she whispered to me, “Quick, tell me where I can get an abortion, and I don’t want any backtalk!” It was the dreaded question I hoped I would never hear. I sent her to the county health department, where I thought she would get some counseling.
Thinking about the incident, I wrote an editorial citing childless couples who would dearly love to have a child, and adoption organizations that could help them. The column was placed at the top of the editorial page with a bold headline that would be hard to miss.
A couple of days later my boss lady stopped in the Women’s Center prior to her resuming her job on the following Monday morning. While she was sitting there chatting a couple of her teacher friends came by to say “hello” to her. Then one turned to me and said she had enjoyed reading the editorial that was in the paper. My boss asked what it was about and the other teacher went to get her copy of the newspaper. As my boss sat reading the editorial she grew visibly white. Then she got up and said we’d talk about it on Monday, and left.
Monday morning she asked me to come into her office and said regarding the editorial, “We are to be a referral agency and not state our own views, and did I think I could live with that?” I muttered, “I guess so,” but I couldn’t live with having to give advice to help women get abortions. After a restless night with my conscience, I came back to my boss and told her she had my two-weeks notice because I quit. At that time I kept thinking of the line to a poem, “I have to live with myself and so, I want to be fit for myself to know.”
I thought the Lord would reward me with a new job for taking this noble stand, but it didn’t happen that way. I had a hard time getting another job and ended up working for a temporary agency for a few years. As it turned out, I got to learn a variety of new computer applications without paying for any training. If I had stayed with my job at the Women’s Center I would not have had that opportunity.
I had also been in a select group who wrote editorials for our hometown newspaper for the past four years, so my name was known to many of the local readers. I am a conservative and that reflected in the columns I wrote. This request pitted my religious and political beliefs against my job, because the department head had a liberal slant on life. A twenty-something young woman kind of slunk into the chair next to my desk and in a hushed voice she whispered to me, “Quick, tell me where I can get an abortion, and I don’t want any backtalk!” It was the dreaded question I hoped I would never hear. I sent her to the county health department, where I thought she would get some counseling.
Thinking about the incident, I wrote an editorial citing childless couples who would dearly love to have a child, and adoption organizations that could help them. The column was placed at the top of the editorial page with a bold headline that would be hard to miss.
A couple of days later my boss lady stopped in the Women’s Center prior to her resuming her job on the following Monday morning. While she was sitting there chatting a couple of her teacher friends came by to say “hello” to her. Then one turned to me and said she had enjoyed reading the editorial that was in the paper. My boss asked what it was about and the other teacher went to get her copy of the newspaper. As my boss sat reading the editorial she grew visibly white. Then she got up and said we’d talk about it on Monday, and left.
Monday morning she asked me to come into her office and said regarding the editorial, “We are to be a referral agency and not state our own views, and did I think I could live with that?” I muttered, “I guess so,” but I couldn’t live with having to give advice to help women get abortions. After a restless night with my conscience, I came back to my boss and told her she had my two-weeks notice because I quit. At that time I kept thinking of the line to a poem, “I have to live with myself and so, I want to be fit for myself to know.”
I thought the Lord would reward me with a new job for taking this noble stand, but it didn’t happen that way. I had a hard time getting another job and ended up working for a temporary agency for a few years. As it turned out, I got to learn a variety of new computer applications without paying for any training. If I had stayed with my job at the Women’s Center I would not have had that opportunity.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
LDSW #12 - A Minor Miracle
While on our mission in Toronto, we were asked to plan a Dominion Day ward picnic that was like our old Lewisville Park celebrations, which was still being talked about months later. On the day of the picnic one of the leaders had an assignment to bring sandbag weights for the volleyball stands but he forgot. My husband had a minor miracle occur. It was a holiday and stores were closed, so he just started driving around trying to think of something. He turned into a cul-de-sac where there was a pile of 2' by 4' cement slabs with a sign saying, "free take some." They were perfect for the job and the bishop said he would keep them to use next year.
LDSW #11 - Why We Decided to Serve a Church Mission
In late1999 my husband and I had been on a visit to the Portland Temple. On our way home that evening he asked me how I felt about going on a mission for the Church from September to September. He was a white water rafting guide and only wanted to miss one rafting season. I had several reasons why I didn’t think it would be a good idea, the major one being that my mother was living in an assisted living facility and I was her main moral support. I don’t know what cosmic beings heard that conversation, but my mother died exactly one week later. That was in February of 2000.
One of my sons who came to the funeral had a discussion with me. He pointed out that we had reasonably good health and we were out of debt. We had a regular pension income. He called it a window of opportunity. I had received a modest inheritance and felt that going on a mission is something my mother would approve of.
We started the process of applying to go on a mission. We had a lot of household goods we needed to sell or give away so over the summer we held three garage sales. During the last hour of our third sale I literally saw people come to the sale to buy the very things that were left. We still had some big items that weren’t in the sale, and we only had three days to get rid of them while cleaning house before our renters were to move into our home. In those two days we sold a car, had someone offer to store our washer and dryer in their shed, and eight other “miracles.” By the day before we entered the Missionary Training Center all ten items were taken care of. There is no doubt in my mind that we were supposed to go. We entered the MTC in late August of 2000 prior to our serving in the Toronto Ontario East Mission. It was a great mission!
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