13 May 2018 - Sunday - Mother's Day

13 May 2018 - Sunday

Today was a good day to have a good day!  Mom and I did celebrate Mother's Day, but we sure missed our precious children and grandchildren!  We hope all of the mother's in our lives had a good day.  Mom and I took some banana bread that we bought yesterday at Sam's and took the last plates of goodies to all the rest of the missionaries here in Missionary Village.  Service always takes the edge off being away from loved ones for a season.  

I am sure that not everyone appreciates service we give, wherever we give it, but that is not the point of service.  The point is that anytime we are in the service of our fellow beings, we are only in the service of our Lord.  That is why each of you continues to serve others who may or may not care about your efforts.  That's okay, because what really matters is our intentions, and our sincere efforts.  Heavenly Father knows and takes note!

Mom and I got to work in the Visitors' Center today.  Since we opened the center and had to miss Sacrament, two of the senior missionaries brought us the bread and the water and blessed it just for us.  The Sacrament is so sacred and special in the normal setting, but having it brought to us, specifically, was a significant blessing this morning.

During the time we served there, this morning, and into the afternoon, we had 9 prospective members come in.  They were just passing through for the most part, but we did have one family from Casper who were curious about the facility, and drove in this morning to see for themselves.  At first they did not want us to talk with them, but after they hung around for a few minutes, we invited them to experience a handcart pull around the Prairie Park in front of the Visitors' Center.  The teenage boy really wanted to try it, and that opened the door to more conversations.  Isn't it interesting the times we think we can talk to people and the Spirit suggests other ways to initiate conversation?  We are loving the experiences of listening to the Spirit and then following the promptings!

Let me tell you about Jimmy and Sally Sumner.  They were on a road trip from Florida and were visiting the final five or six states on their bucket list of places to visit in the United States.  They were friendly enough, but I soon found out they were not members of the Church.  I spent a considerable amount of time telling them about the history of the Sun Ranch and the 500,000 or so emigrants who came through Rattlesnake Pass in the mid 1800's.  We talked about the reasons these emigrants came heading for Oregon, California and Utah.  And they were very interested in the history lesson and particularly about the religious reasons for emigration.

However, they were very guarded about the Mormon influence of emigration.    But I never felt like they wanted me to stop taking so I continued.  Jimmie is a retired police officer and a non-denominational pastor.  We shared a lot of insights and shared feelings we had in common about the effects of religion being taken out of society.  

He spent over 30 years working with the Salvation Army and assisted in disaster relief all over the United States.  His last time that he served in disaster relief was in 2001 at Ground Zero.  We talked about the affect that attack had on the American people that lasted only a few months.  Then I felt impressed to share my feelings about the American Flag being hoisted on nearly every private and commercial building and nearly every car during those two months.  He got very emotional and told me that he was told at a Ground Zero correlation meeting that every volunteer would take away something that would remind them of their efforts to help.  His reminder was the American Flag.

Needless to say, we bonded for that common thread and he told me about two of six near death experiences he had had.  The first one was during high school when he played football.  They had morning and afternoon practices.  After one morning practice he went home, showered and laid down on the couch for a nap.  His couch was underneath two picture windows and an electrical panel was between the two windows.

He was awakened by some thunder and was thirsty so he got up.  As he opened the refrigerator door, lightening hit that electric panel and literally blew up the couch.  Shards of metal were embedded through the couch and into the floor.  There was no way he could have survived the lightening strike had he remained asleep on that couch. 

The other story happened in 1969.  He was on patrol on his police bike when he was hit broadside.  He was thrown 40 feet and slid across the pavement and slammed into the curb head first.  He was bleeding from his nose, his mouth and his ears.  He said he knew he was dead.  As he looked up he saw two pillars of light and angels were coming toward him when one said to the other, "it is not his time.  He still has work to do".  

One thing we talked about was how the world would be different if people would just read the Bible and not repeat the mistakes of the past.  He had a Mormon friend working with him on the police force who gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon so I did not offer one. However, I told him that the Book of Mormon was another testament of Jesus Christ and a companion to the Bible.  The Book of Mormon was written for our day and speaks directly to the American people.

He did say that he was grateful for our almost 90 minutes of time together and he did say to me that he felt like he was my brother. I affirmed that we were brothers of a loving Father, and we shook hands in an emotional moment.  He also shared with me that he was diagnosed with cancer just a few years ago, and that was the reason he and his wife started their bucket list of places to visit.   I asked his permission to share our experience here;

Jimmy Sumner and Elder Lasher

Jimmy and Sally Sumner

Meeting the Sumner's was one of the highlights of my day!  This world is filled with wonderful, God-fearing people, and when we come together, we have so much to offer each other.  There is no conversion story here, just a new friendship where seeds were planted, and perhaps nourished a little along the way.  I love sharing the Gospel message with such good people!  Serving a mission has been one of the best decisions mom and I have made, and we are so thankful for the missions that many of you have served, both formally in the mission field, and privately, at home, in the mission field!

Oh, and by the way, green status for the 4th out of the last 5 days of measuring!!  Yea!!