The Kind of Weird Stuff That Strengthens My Testimony

[unixknight]

So yesterday morning I took my kids to the church so they could practice for a Primary program that's going on today.  I didn't really have much to do so I was sitting in one of the pews working on my Kings of War army list in preparation for a game I had later in the day (which I won by an embarrassing margin, I might add.  Maybe building my list in the chapel should be my standard approach from now on...). 

At one point the kids were taking a break and I was asked to go along with the boys' group because there was only one male adult to take them and I could be of help.  So no problem, I tagged along to  take these kids to the mens' room.

But... we had to have them use the little bathroom off the nursery room.  Why?  Because this was also chapel cleaning day and the Bishop was in the mens' room cleaning it.

This kind of thing really strengthens my faith in a weird way.  Humility is one of the most important characteristics of Church leaders at all levels, and here was our Bishop in there scrubbing toilets just like anyone else would.  I gotta say I really liked our Bishop before this, and now I positively love the man.  I feel like he taught me something really valuable without even knowing he was doing it.

I don't mean to make it sound like I was surprised.  If you had asked me a week ago if the Bishop's family ever had a turn cleaning the chapel I'd have said of course they do... But I had never seen it for myself and had a chance to contemplate what that meant.  This is just another thing I'm super grateful for in this Church and I'm thinking about talking about this experience at the next Fast & Testimony meeting. 

[Ironhold]

On Friday, the right-hand turn indicator on my car failed. Adding insult to injury, the four-way emergency flashers also failed. Either failure would be enough to sideline the vehicle, as State of Texas law requires both to be functional. I had *just* passed the annual inspection check, and so these failures were especially galling. 

I had reason to believe that the cause of the failures was somewhere in the steering column. So my dad, a mechanic, took it apart. One of the springs governing the turn signal was busted, while the rest of the mechanism was worn and corroded; although the mechanism itself could continue to function, we decided to go ahead and replace it. And the flashers? The fuse blew. 

Well, as usual, I'm running close to the wire. Church starts at 1, it's 12:50, and I'm 10 minutes away. I go to back the car out, and... no right turn signal. Flashers? There goes the fuse again. 

This makes the second time I've missed church this year, both times due to a mechanical failure. 

Both parents are doing prison ministry (we've got a branch specifically to cover the local prisons), and so the best I can do is leave a message on my mom's voice mail. I come back in, sit down on the couch, and fall asleep watching BYU-TV. 

When I wake up a few hours later, it's a BYU-Idaho devotional about not mistaking blessings for curses. My mom has finished for the day, and so calls me back on my phone. She lets my dad know, and he's just as flummoxed as I am. We both get changed and go back out to check the car. 

In all the confusion that was going on yesterday (the issues with the car, the home wireless router failing, et cetra), we had failed to do the most basic thing you're supposed to do when indicators don't work: check the bulbs. Sure enough, one of my bulbs had failed, and the socket itself was badly caked with corrosion. Due to the way my car is wired, losing one of the turn indicator bulbs off-lines all of the indicators on that side. 

Oh, and apparently I bought the cheap fuses the last time I was at the parts store. They kept failing because they were just poorly made to begin with. My dad picked up some higher-grade fuses while he was at the store getting replacement bulbs, so hopefully that won't happen again. 

[Traveler]

 

My first job after college took me to Maryland where our stake center was located in Washington DC.  Our Welfare farm was on the eastern shore of Maryland and was a dairy farm.  This was back in the day when it was common for members to do much of the labor at welfare farms – especially on weekends – often for an entire Saturday.  My first assignment at the welfare farm was cleaning out the barn which was approximately 2 feet of cow manure.   The smell was horrible and the first thing I did when entering the barn was to throw up – then I was fine to start working.  There were 3 of us cleaning out the barn that day – myself, an army guy with a bright silver star on his shoulder and a US Senator. 

I tried to make some humor that if I was going to spend the day shoveling B.S. that I spend it with the “Washington Elite” that are expert at it.   The one thing we did agree on – is that none of us would do this for money or any social benefit – but we would for our G-d.  The LDS church has many ways to humble any (and all) members.

 

The Traveler

[Sunday21]

I landed in LAX for a conference. I had booked a shuttle to my hotel. I left the airport. No sign of shuttle stop. I walked around and around. I pawed into my knapsack to look for the information sheet for the shuttle with the phone number to call. I pulled out the information sheet and dialed the number. The number had been disconnected. What to do? I walked around. I realized that I did not have my knapsack. I was stranded in LA, far from home, no contacts in the US. I had my passport and some money, a suitcase on wheels but most of my stuff was in the knapsack. I said a prayer, retraced by steps. I had walked a long circuitous route, and found my knapsack untouched sitting on a chair. I am very very grateful to have had that prayer answered! 

[Iggy]

1 hour ago, Sunday21 said:

The number had been disconnected. What to do?

So how did you get to the hotel?

[Sunday21]

13 minutes ago, Iggy said:

So how did you get to the hotel?

I returned and finally found a sign for the shuttle...not where the instructions said the stop would be. People had been waiting for about an hour. A bus finally stopped. The bus drove us around all night dropping people off. The driver tried to shake everyone down for more money. I lost a nights sleep. Never take either the prime time shuttle or the super shuttle from lax! Both systems are terrible. I guess I will need to try either an uber or a cab if I go again.

[Iggy]

Sounds like what you hired was a privately owned bus. Didn't the hotel where you were staying have a shuttle to pick you up? Quite a few of the hotels near the Portland airport have their own shuttles, as do the ones near Sea-Tac airport.

[Sunday21]

23 hours ago, Iggy said:

Sounds like what you hired was a privately owned bus. Didn't the hotel where you were staying have a shuttle to pick you up? Quite a few of the hotels near the Portland airport have their own shuttles, as do the ones near Sea-Tac airport.

No the hotel did not have a shuttle. They recommended the two shuttles of doom, prime time and super. Yes I let them know about my experiences. I got to the hotel at 5 am and they did not charge me for that portion of the nite.