After All

When my younger sister was expecting her first baby, she stayed with my parents in St. George, Utah, just a short distance from the temple. Deciding to overcome the discomforts of pregnancy and avail herself of attendance at a few temple sessions, she would usually walk to the temple, which is also one block from the local hospital. Starting out bright and early one day and carrying a suitcase with her temple clothing, she hadn’t gone far when a passing driver stopped his truck, put it into reverse, and then worriedly exclaimed, “Lady! You’re not walking to the hospital!”

Carol W. Seegmiller
St. George, Utah

Five-year-old Kevin ran into the house and excitedly greeted his mother with, “Guess what! I learned the Lord’s Prayer in Primary today. Let me say it for you—Our Father who are in heaven, howdja know my name, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. …”

Pauline Greer McCleve
Tempe, Arizona

When little Billy was a toddler, never a day passed by that he didn’t make some kind of mess. He either spilled his milk over the floor, smeared eggs and cereal on the table, wiped his peanut butter sandwich on the patio door, stepped in the biggest mud puddle around, or put ink in his hair. Often his mother would say, “Oh, Billy, shame on you!” Or, as she washed his hands, “Billy, what a mess. Shame on you!” One day, while eating a jelly sandwich, he fell into some mud outside the house and managed to create a masterly combination of jelly and mud from head to toe. “Mama,” he wailed as he came running into the house, “now the shame is all over me!”

Pat Johnson
Camp Springs, Maryland

Some missionaries serving in Peru found it necessary to have a half-inch of rubber tire sewn to the bottoms of their shoes to preserve both the leather and their feet. One elder, about to be released, posted a notice on the mission home bulletin board advertising his shoes for sale “with genuine tire soles.” About that time, Elder Gordon B. Hinckley of the Council of the Twelve was visiting the mission and happened to see the sign. After reading it and chuckling to himself, he amended it to read “genuinely tired souls.”

Ginger L. Rich
Provo, Utah

Asked by the bishop to bear her testimony before moving from the ward, a young sister said that the scripture that had most impressed her when she joined the Church was the one that encouraged us to be “anxiously engaged.” “I’ve been very anxious these past few years, but I’m now happy to say that I’m finally engaged, and that’s why I am leaving.”

Kenneth D. Goering
San Antonio, Texas

Our four-year-old son returned from Sunday School feeling very sad. When I asked him what was wrong, he said that his teacher was not going to teach his class anymore. I explained that she was leaving because she was going to have a new baby. He jumped up and down with excitement and said, “Oh, goody! May I tell her or is it a surprise?”

Edith Coleman
Boise, Idaho

My three-year-old daughter had just returned home after attending Junior Sunday School for only the third time. I slipped my arm about her and asked expectantly, “And what did your teacher tell you today?” Her big blue eyes gazed steadily into mine for a few moments as she thought about it. Then her whole countenance brightened as she proudly announced, “She said, ‘Turn around.’”

Nadine H. Warner
Rigby, Idaho

After we had asked a blessing on the food at the dinner table, a visiting neighbor boy said, “We don’t have to pray at our house; my mother is a good cook.”

Nicholas Mayer
Norwalk, California

To my impulsive, “Oh, I love you,” my four-year-old son replied, matter-of-factly, “Yep, and you always will, ‘cause I’m always gonna let ‘cha!”

Mrs. Gloria Burt
Herman, Nebraska

When conducting sacrament meeting recently, I was embarrassed when I reconsidered an announcement I had just made. I had said: “At this time we want to recognize the services of our organist and chorister. They are always here doing their jobs with very little appreciation and recognition; in fact, you could say that they are among the ward’s unsung heroes.”

Douglas C. Felt
Pullman, Washington