Mirthright

After having four daughters, my husband was especially delighted when our fifth child was a boy. So eager was he to follow President Spencer W. Kimball’s advice to prepare every young man to be a missionary that the baby had his own missionary savings account before he was home from the hospital. But the clincher came a few days later when I found my husband, with six-day-old Brandon propped up in his lap, seated at the piano playing and singing “I hope they call me on a mission!”

Kay Lynn Lund
Madison, Indiana

Our sacrament meeting had run over time—it was hot and uncomfortable. All the children were squirming and crying more than usual. The feelings of the entire congregation were expressed when the first counselor announced the closing hymn: “Should You Feel Inclined to Seizure.”

Connie Shaffer
Berlin, Germany

Learning the names of the various organizations in a ward can often be challenging for converts. Prior to our baptism date, the Relief Society president brought us some home-baked bread. Later that day my six-year-old daughter asked me who the lady was who gave us the bread.

“What lady?” I asked.

“Oh, you know,” she replied. “The lady from the Humane Society.”

Pat McCrite
Gilbert, Arizona

Recognizing a teaching moment, I encouraged my four-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Macy, to have a personal prayer before giving her first talk in church. She followed my advice. She gave her talk very well, and we were proud of her, even though she had a little trouble with the ending. She was basically pleased with her first speaking experience.

On the way home I decided to reinforce our teaching moment, so I said, “See, Macy, Heavenly Father helped you with your talk and you did such a nice job.” Macy turned to me and said, “Yeah, mom, but he forgot the last part!”

Marsha Sanderson
Orem, Utah

The following typographical error was found in a handout from our stake Primary organization titled “Primary Nursery Schedule.” For those who work in the nursery, the error speaks for itself:

Smack-time: optional

Del B. Rowe
Bountiful, Utah

Our ward clerk always took attendance during the closing song in sacrament meeting. One Sunday, just as he finished and returned to the stand, our six-year-old son whispered in my ear, “Mommy, why does he check to make sure everyone is singing?”

Karma Lomenick
Queen Creek, Arizona

While waiting in line at a bank adjacent to the Brigham Young University campus, I overheard an interesting conversation between the car-service teller and one of her customers. A car had just left and the teller greeted the next in line with a note of recognition in her voice: “Well, hello! How are you today?”

Obviously puzzled, the customer stared blankly at the teller and answered with a queasy “Hi.” Seeing his confusion the teller somewhat amusedly put him at ease.

“You probably don’t recognize me,” she said, “but you’re my home teacher.”

Mitch Davis
Provo, Utah

Our first counselor was conducting sacrament meeting, and as he was giving the announcements we watched him search quickly through his notebooks. “I thought I had another important announcement written down on a piece of paper, but I can’t find it,” he said.

After the opening song and prayer he stood up again and said, “I found it. Like many important messages, it was in my scriptures.”

Diana Hanson
Provo, Utah

My sister discovered just how quickly her two-and-a-half-year-old learns when she asked him to call his daddy to the phone. Little Jared trotted out of the room and paged his father, “It’s for you, dear.”

Lila LeBaron
Logan, Utah

Illustrated by Michael O. Rogan