THE LONELIEST TIME

Perhaps the loneliest time in my whole life occurred when I was single and sent abruptly to Vietnam. The military, then, usually gave us about six months to agonize and prepare for a new assignment, especially a bad assignment.

Unfortunately, because the individual that was scheduled to leave had to depart for the funeral of his father, at the last minute instead, I was chosen in his place. I was given two weeks’ notice. I had been stationed in California for ten months in a dream assignment. My family was close by and many friends were near but I was suddenly thrust into an environment where people hated the uniform I wore and wanted to kill me. Death, drugs and drunkenness were everywhere. The heat and humidity were oppressive, the food was terrible, living conditions were primitive and even to this day, I detest living in tents and fighting mosquitoes’.

Even the people we were supposedly helping would cut our throats in our sleep for five dollars if they had the chance. Not a whole lot different from what our troops are suffering today in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Vietnam, the only thing there was plenty of were insects, spiders and flying rice bugs, which were as big as your hand.

What made it all even worse is that I was not a member of the Church back then, so nothing seemed to make sense. What was the purpose of it all? I learned later that God gave me that horrible experience to make me appreciate my life in the USA.

I attended Catholic services, but I would frequently leave the meeting feeling worse than when I went in. Later, when stateside, I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; I learned that Joseph Fielding McConkie had been in Vietnam as well. He was an LDS Chaplin having Church meetings in a Quonset hut surrounded by sandbags, a 12 foot high, barbed wire fence and two large guard towers armed with machine gunners.

Catholics and Protestants were “major” religions so they got to meet early but the Mormons were a “minor” religion and they had to wait till 3PM for their meeting.

On one particular Sunday, a guard on the tower called down to Capt McConkie and said that he wanted to join the Church. “Why?” asked the Captain. The guard answered, “Because the major religions come to Church sad and go out sad but you Mormons go in happy and come out happy.”
“Well,” said the Captain, “We might have room for one more person.” The guard was taught and then baptized.

THE WINDOW WELL

Several years ago, we were living in Logan, Utah. I was working two jobs and trying to do sweat equity on our new home. Our construction loan kept getting bigger and bigger and bank inspections on our progress were common. Often the only full day I had to work on the house was Saturday. I would rise up early and retire to bed very late, sometimes only receiving one or two hours of sleep.

Most days were spent in an attitude of panic. Weekdays found me painting or fixing till one or two AM. I had to be at work at six AM. For weeks this ordeal went on and I thought it would never end. I told myself I had no time to attend the Temple, I was just too busy.

As I look back on those days I realize who was telling me I had no time for the Temple. Still, my only day of rest was Sunday and I was most grateful to keep the Sabbath Day Holy.
During this time I remember one Saturday in particular. My sixteen year old son, Scott and I had been working since early morn, putting in sub flooring, painting and so forth. Every task had gone amazingly well. Stake Priesthood meeting was at 6PM and he and I were planning to attend, riding along with my father-in-law. It was 4PM. I told Scott that as soon as we finished putting in a window well, we’d start getting ready for our Church meeting. The task went fine at first but by then it was 5PM.

I told him he’d better start getting ready, but I would have to stay behind and get the window well installed. He pleaded with me to work on it later and get ready for the meeting but I resisted, setting a bad example. He and my father-in-law went to that meeting and I did not. I had nothing but frustration while they were away and had made zero progress on that project by the time of their return.

When we sold that house and moved, that window well had still not been completely installed. Even then, I was too old to believe in coincidence. That absence of a completed window well was an outward reminder to me of what we give up when we don’t keep the commandments. He will help us thru our trials, but we must do our part. Had I attended the Temple and other Church meetings during those rough weeks, he would have blessed me more readily with success. So it is with all of us. As we work at following God’s instructions we are blessed and attending the Temple is one of the most important things we can do to help us with our struggles.

THE TRUTH FOUND ME

From the article, “The Truth Found Me” on page 22 of the Dec 2007 Ensign magazine we read:

“When I was 18, my mother wanted me to attend a confirmation class at our church. I was eager to go because I loved to learn about God. But it quickly became the most confusing time in my life.

I was taught that God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost were the same person---that Jesus was God in physical form. That brought up a lot of questions in my mind: Who was in heaven while God was on earth as Christ? Was Christ praying to Himself when He prayed? How could God forsake Himself while He was hanging on the cross? How could God stand at His own right hand as (the martyr) Stephen saw in a vision?

Things just didn’t seem to add up, and when I said that I couldn’t understand such things, I was told, in a very decisive way, by my teacher, “We can never comprehend God. The moment you understand God, He will cease to be God to you.”

I was too timid to say anything more, but my teacher could tell that I didn’t believe him. Consequently, I flunked the class. (Later she met the full time missionaries and they explained the Godhead to her. It made sense and she was baptized.)