Mirthright

As children will do, one day some decided to play a prank on their mother. They went to the door and rang the bell, and she came to the door thinking it was a visitor. After they had done this a couple of times, she got the idea that she would play a prank on them. She fixed herself up so that when they rang the doorbell, she would open the door and pretend she was a scary monster—jump out at them and growl.

She had just finished with her costume when the doorbell rang. Smiling to herself, she opened the door and let out a loud growl. But it wasn’t the children at the door; it was the Fuller Brush man. He was so frightened that he fell off the porch!

Gene Smuin
Kaysville, Utah

Trying to be obedient to our missionary duty, I have asked hundreds of people the “golden questions.” I thought I had received every kind of reply possible until I asked one lady, “You seem like an awfully nice person; I was just wondering, how much do you know about the Mormons?”

She replied innocently, “Oh, not very much, but I’ll help you if I can. What was it you wanted to know?”

Gerald H. Curtis
Phoenix, Arizona

A few years ago my husband taught the teachers-age priesthood group. Part of his teachers’ responsibilities was putting white sacrament tablecloths in a closet in the bishop’s office following sacrament meeting. The teacher development class was held in the bishop’s office during this time, so the boys would put up the cloths as quietly as possible.

One day my husband received a slightly confusing note from one of the bishop’s counselors: “The teachers are interrupting the teacher development class when Sunday School is dismissed. Please put them neatly in the Sunday School closet for the time being.”

Katherine F. Holyoak
Moab, Utah

Three-year-old Jennifer came to me one day and said, “Mama, tell me about Nephi.”

Excited to think that my daughter was interested in this gospel figure, I knelt down and explained that Nephi was a prophet just like President Kimball. I then began to describe Nephi’s place in the Book of Mormon.

After a few minutes of sincere listening, she began to look very puzzled, finally asking, “But Mom, when did he plant the beans?”

It was difficult, but somehow my face managed to maintain a somewhat composed look and I replied, “Well, sweetheart, what do you mean? Nephi didn’t plant any beans.”

“You know,” she continued, “he planted the beans and they grew and he climbed the beanstalk and the giant saw him and said, ‘Ne-phi-fo-fum!’”

Evelyn R. Johnson
Orem, Utah

One day my four-year-old son came home with a bag of marbles. I sat down with him and told him we would have to throw the marbles away, because a long time ago when his daddy was small, he got a marble stuck in his throat and nearly died. As a result, marbles were not allowed in the house.

D. J. thought for a moment, then his face lit up. “I have an idea, Mommy,” he said; “how about if we keep them out of Daddy’s way?”

Sally Hiller
Salt Lake City, Utah

We didn’t really know if our efforts to get our three preschoolers up at 6:00 A.M. for scripture study was paying off. But our minds were set at ease the other night. Our five-year-old was telling her two little brothers the story of the Three Little Pigs. Her story sounded pretty familiar until she came to the part where the wolf says, “Little pig, little pig, let me come in!”

And the little pigs reply: “Not now, I’m reading my scriptures?”

Bonnie Jean Wischmeier
Hamilton, Montana

An active brother in our ward underwent open-heart surgery recently and had to miss church meetings for a month or so while he recovered. Upon returning, he bore his testimony in fast and testimony meeting. “Brothers and sisters,” he began, “I’ve had a change of heart and decided to come back to church.”

Mary Gene Fuller
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

One Sunday evening our ten-year-old son, Eric, asked if he could make some scrambled eggs for dinner. Without looking up from the wiggly six-month-old I was diapering, I said, “Sure, that sounds good,” and, after a moment’s thought, added, “but I’d like to supervise.”

“Okay,” he called happily over his shoulder, “you preside and I’ll conduct!”

Carol Cole
Burlington, North Carolina