Three Dollars till Payday

I had just started my career as a nurse’s aide in the fall of 1969, and my wages were small. During one particular week, I had three and a half dollars to last from Monday to Friday.

That Monday, my friend and visiting teaching companion asked me to accompany her to the temple. Because this would be my first trip back to the temple since receiving my endowment, I had no temple clothing and would need to rent some, the cost of which would come to three dollars. “What should I do?” I thought. I prayed and finally made up my mind to go.

The following day I was tending my little granddaughter when she asked me for a drink of milk. I had no milk in the house, so I took her to the store with my fifty cents. After buying the milk, we walked back to my house; but when we got to the driveway, I had a strong impression to go back to the street corner.

We arrived to discover a pile of trash. When I looked down, my eyes fell on a piece of green-and-white paper. I picked it up and carefully unfolded it: two one-dollar bills. My eyes again returned to the ground, and about six inches from where the first bills were lay another piece of green-and-white paper of the same size and shape. I picked it up to find that it was thinner than the first, and carefully unfolded it: a one-dollar bill.

The next day when I went through the temple, I felt a very strong presence with me after receiving the name of the woman for whom I was doing temple work, as if she were there with me until I walked out of the temple doors. I have always felt that she and the Lord made it possible for me to go to the temple and still have money to live on until payday. I will always be grateful for the privilege of doing her work for her and for the blessing that made it possible.