Dad's Piccolo Case

As one might expect, a boy that plays the flute is not a very popular person in Junior High.  In fact, it wasn’t until High School that there was another guy that played the flute.  But the two people that always supported me in my music studies were my mom and dad.  Especially mom, who spent countless hours going to lessons with me. But dad was always with her at every concert.  I now can appreciate by dad would have been more excited to attend a High School basketball game than another orchestra concert.  One vivid memory I have of dad's particular support was when I decided I needed a new case for a piccolo.  Dad enrolled us both in a night woodshop class, and we made it together.  I remember cutting out our mold, sanding and polishing, followed by staining and shellacking.  Mom then did her part by making the inside felt-lining, and then she sewed a cover for the case.  The finished product was great.  But the memory of their time, sacrifice, and our doing it together is priceless to me.

LESSON LEARNED:  When someone goes out of their way to help another with a project or service, particularly when it is one he might not have an innate desire to do, it shows genuine love and concern for that individual.

FEEDBACK:  WHAT EXAMPLES OF THIS TYPE OF SERVICE HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED IN YOUR LIFE?

The Darkened Truck

A number of years ago, I was serving as Ward Clerk.  Late one evening, I decided to go to the church by myself to catch up on some records.  It was pitch dark as I pulled into the left turn lane to enter the church.  As I turned though, a solitary street light reflected something that caught my eye in my rearview mirror: a pickup truck was behind me, and was turning into the church close behind me.  All of the trucks lights were off, and I noticed as we turned together that the driver’s window had a shattered break in it.  I feeling of concern came over me, and the Spirit suddenly told me to get out of there.  Rather than parking in a parking stall, I pulled straight through it, circled back around the cement island, and exited the parking lot the same way I had come in.  The truck did the same, following close behind.  In this case though, as I turned right to head home, the truck turned left and continued on the way it had been going.

LESSON LEARNED:  I will never know the outcome if I had not heeded this warning and had gotten out of my car that night.  But I am fairly certain it would have been a bad outcome.  I am grateful for the Holy Ghost and the protection it can give.

FEEDBACK:  WHAT EXPERIENCE WITH THE PROTECTIVE INFLUENCE OF THE HOLY GHOST HAVE YOU HAD?

The Lord's Vineyard

When I graduated from medical school, I took a residency position at the University of Utah.  Kathleen and I decided to purchase a small home to live in for the five-year duration.  We had a nice egg-nest saved for a down payment since I had done moonlighting in medical school.  The problem was that the housing boom of 1991 was going at a frenzied pace, and the price of homes seemed to escalate by the day.  When a home went up for sale, it would be sold on the spot for cash.  We had hoped to get into a house for about $80K, but it looked like it would need to be more like 100K.  We both were very stressed out about it, to the point of us both getting heart palpitations.  At that moment, I put my foot down and stated we were going to move to Kaysville and I would compute the 30 minutes.  I envisioned exactly where we should move: downtown in the historical district.  We drove out to the spot, and sure enough, there was a home for sale.  It was a beauty, and on a third-acre of land.  We wondered if we could get it for under $100K, but since it was a Sunday, we decided to wait to call our realtor.  That night, Kathleen felt impressed to let our realtor know so he could make an offer in the morning.  But he called us back in an hour to say that the house was $59K, and another family might put an offer down the next day.  So he put in an offer, and we got the home.  It was readily evident later that the Lord had led us there, and that it was the right place for us to be.

LESSON LEARNED:  In the Lord’s vineyard, He knows exactly where He wants you planted.  We have learned more than once that He will lead you there if you are willing to let Him do so.

FEEDBACK:  HAVE YOU EVER HAD THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING LED TO WHERE THE LORD WHATED YOU TO LIVE?

The Half Penny

John Borrowman, my great-great-grandfather, is one of my ancestral heroes.  His is a tale of immense sacrifice and blessings.  John was born the oldest of seven children, and lived on a farm in Canada.  One day, the Mormon missionaries came to town and began preaching.  John was intrigued, and shortly desired to be baptized into this new American religion.  But his father William would not hear of it.  He told John that if he joined the Mormon church, he would lose his inheritance of the family farm that, as the oldest of seven children, was rightfully his.  Regardless, John joined the church and immigrated to Nauvoo, Illinois.  The Mormons was busy building the Nauvoo temple, and John joined in the construction. He later immigrated with the first company of Saints to the Salt Lake Valley, only to be detoured for a stint with the Mormon Battalion.  John eventually made it to Utah, and lived an enriched life.  When his father William died, John received a letter containing a half-penny and a note from his father, indicating this was his entire inheritance.  That half penny is enshrined in an exhibit today in the LDS pioneer museum as a testament of the sacrifices John endured for his new religion.  It is a symbol of faith for the over 5,000 members of his posterity who are grateful that he made this difficult decision.

LESSON LEARNED:  Sometimes we make painful choices in order to reach higher ground.  We may not understand the subsequent rewards of these choices, even within our lifetimes.

FEEDBACK:  Do you have an ancestor whose story of sacrifice is a source of strength to you?