To Those I Love!
On December 15th, 2012 I attended the St. George Utah Temple, surrounded by many family members, and took our my endowments. For those of you that were involved with this day or have heard the story, you know that miracle happened this day. And just this past week I received an e-mail from one of the senior sister missionaries here in my mission (Sister. Owens) of the following story. My story. This is a perspective of that day that I did not know. One that only strengthens me that much more and helps me to know that God is so real and miracles do happen and that temples truly do bring blessings. The following is the story. It was my endowment session that was interrupted to pull out my aunt and uncle (The Paige's). I hope that this story can strengthen each of you the same way it has me.
And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good-yea to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my spirit.
D&C 11:12
POLICE IN THE TEMPLE
Blaine M. Yorgason
On the Saturday late shift, 15 December 2012, I was called to the front Recommend Desk where I saw two police officers. As the Assistant Recorder I asked how I could help them, and was told there had been an accident involving a young child. "We need you to find the mother," one of them said, "and bring her to us as quickly as possible."
With the help of the sisters at the Family File Desk we isolated the session she was on, and I went up, stopped the session, and asked the surprised officiator if a Sister Rita Paige was in the room. Looking worried, a woman rose to her feet and came toward me. I led her out into the foyer, told her there had been an accident involving one of her children, and informed her that the police were waiting downstairs to take her to the hospital’s emergency room.
Anxiously she followed me down to the sisters’ locker room and went in to change back into her street clothes. Feeling bad that I didn't know enough to tell her more, I asked a Sister Ordinance Worker to bring her to the front desk as soon as possible, and then I went there to wait with the police.
A little later I saw her coming, walked back to meet her, and returned with her to the two officers. As soon as they realized who she was, both of them turned toward me. “Why didn’t you bring the father?” The officer who spoke seemed quite put out.
“Because you asked for the mother,” I replied.
“No,” the other officer declared, “we asked for the parents! We need them both!”
“Whatever,” I thought to myself, for I was certain they had asked only for the mother. Nevertheless I retraced my steps, once again stopped the session (the only two times I have ever stopped a session) and this time asked for Brother Bob Paige. Looking bewildered he rose to his feet and followed me into the hall. While awaiting his wife the police had told me their nine year old son had drowned in a local motel pool, but passersby had been able to revive him sufficiently to restore minimal vital signs.
What they hadn’t told me was that he was exhibiting no brain activity whatsoever!
I conveyed what little information I had to Brother Paige, was amazed at his calmness, and he even stopped with me while I put the name Christian Paige (their son’s name) on the Prayer Roll. When we reached the front desk the officers were gone with Sister Paige, but another officer was just coming through the front door, and he immediately escorted Brother Paige out to his police cruiser.
Perhaps ten minutes later another officer came through the door and asked if I would gather the family together as soon as they came through the veil, and privately tell them what I could, and that if they wished to see the child they would be escorted by the police to the hospital.
I did as instructed, but by the time the people had gathered at the front door we were all informed that the child had been airlifted to Primary Childrens Medical Center in Salt Lake City, so they slowly dispersed and I returned to the Recorder’s Office to continue my more normal activities.
Several times over the next few days I asked about young Christian’s welfare , but no one I asked knew anything. As I began my Thursday afternoon shift I asked our head of Temple Security, Ray Anderson, if he had heard anything, and he replied that from what he’d been told, the boy had walked out of Primary Children’s Medical Center the past Monday, feeling fine. I was both amazed and thrilled to hear this, and a little later when I could get a few minutes alone, I thanked Heavenly Father that the boy and his family had been so blessed.
Perhaps an hour or so later, President Jeppson of the Temple Presidency entered the Recorder’s Office. “Brother Yorgason,” he stated as I looked up from the computer, “I want you to know how pleased I was to hear about the life you saved last week.”
“I didn’t save anyone’s life,” I replied, certain he had me confused with someone else.
“That isn’t how I heard it,” he replied. “Weren’t you the one who assisted that family whose son drowned in a swimming pool while they were here on a Temple session with other family members?”
“That isn’t how I heard it,” he replied. “Weren’t you the one who assisted that family whose son drowned in a swimming pool while they were here on a Temple session with other family members?”
“Yes, but…”
“Well,” he interrupted me, “I just spoke with one of the police officers who was here that day in his official capacity, and he assured me it was you who saved the boy’s life.”
“But… I don’t understand…”
“According to him, they had requested of you that you go and find the boy’s parents as quickly as possible, and bring them to the front desk. Rather than hearing them ask for the parents, however, you heard them ask only for the mother, so it was just her you brought back with you.”
“Yes, President, I remember that.”
“Well, Blaine, that’s how you saved his life! You were listening to the Spirit. You see, even after the boy was taken to the Emergency Room with vital signs, the doctors were unable to discern any brain activity. Based upon that, they decided the boy had died and needed to be removed from life support – which also meant they needed the permission of both parents to take such action. Had you heard the word ‘Parents’ they would have both arrived in time to give their permission, and their little son would have died.
“But because you heard the word ‘Mother’ and so had to make a second trip up into the Temple to retrieve the boy’s father, thereby taking twice as long as it should have to get the parents together in the ER, you gave the Lord time to restore the child’s brain activity – his life. That is why, instead of Brother and Sister Paige giving heart-broken permission to let their child die, he was able to give his son a blessing before the child was air-lifted to PCMC in Salt Lake City, where he continued on to a quick and full recovery.”
“So what you’re saying, President, is that because I’m half deaf and move so slowly these days, the boy lived.”
President Jeppson chuckled. “No, Blaine. What I’m saying is that because you listened to the voice of the Spirit rather than the voice of men, you saved his life. Thank you, Brother, for being in tune.”
Well, since then I’ve thought much of this experience, and while I am more than grateful to have been a small part of it, I now realize that rather than moaning and groaning about the aches and pains and other vicissitudes of aging, which I honestly don’t like, it would be far more appropriate if I accepted them graciously as Divinely disguised gifts of the Spirit. After all, the Lord can turn all things to our good, which means, I suppose, that there are times when it isn’t all that bad being somewhat hard of hearing as well as maybe the slowest-moving old guy in the St. George Temple! (END OF STORY)
I am in a new area! It is the last week of transfers and I am on a special assignment in Maplewood with Sister. Draper! I am so excited to be serving here with her. It was really hard to say goodbye to Sister. Thompson and Sister. Williams and Alief (my old area). Especially because it was so fast and so unexpected! But I am here. Doing the will of the Lord. After all, that is what I signed up for! To do God's work and I am happy to do it! :)
We had zone meeting this past week and I was doing a training on knowing God's will. Needless to say, I was a little bit on the nervous side. As I walked into the church building with my companions, a tender mercy happened! Sister Brock and Sister Linton were there! They are the two sister missionaries who were assigned to do family history. They lived in my apartment complex in Hermann Park (where I was for over a year of my mission) and we became the best of friends! It was the first time I had seen them in about 5 weeks! The point is, TENDER MERCY! It was so good to see them! :) It was so good to talk with them! Especially Sister. Linton! She will always hold a very special place in my heart! And she flew home to Utah this morning! So it was so good to see them one last time!
We helped our neighbor move the other day (in Alief) and as we were walking around the apartment complex (it was later at night) and we realized something. We are the only white people in our apartment complex! For real! Crazy that we hadn't noticed for 5 weeks! So crazy! Everybody else is from Mexico, Africa, Honduras and I am sure many other places. Love Texas! So much diversity! SO MUCH!
We had this awesome lesson with one of our investigators this past Saturday! Kristi. We taught about the Plan of Salvation and we had only taught the pre-earth life about where we came from and she was already shocked and said "that totally makes sense". She had never heard it explained that way! It amazes me every single day at how simple and profound and how FULL OF HOPE the Gospel truly is! Amazing! The next greatest miracle is that Kristi and her family have been taught for almost 3 months now and they came to church for the first time yesterday! Just Kristi and her daughter Haley came because her husband was at work! But they came! And that was huge! And they loved it! I mean, how can you not love church! Yesterday was especially good! It was MIRACLE DAY in Alief! Miracle after miracle kept happening! It was amazing! One of the less actives we have been working with got a calling yesterday and he is going to do so great and then a less active young single adult came to church and Hanna came also! Oh my! I have to tell you about Hanna! On Friday we had an appointment at noon. But it got cancelled. And so we decided to head over to the library (we had planned to go after the appointment) to work on my article for the mission newsletter. As we were sitting on the computers a girl approached us. She turned to Sister. Williams first and said "I just moved to the area, I haven't been to church in a year". Then Sister. Thompson turned around and made eye contact with this girl. The second they saw each other, Sister. Thompson jumped out of her chair and gave her a big hug and said "Hanna". They knew each other in Sister. Thompson's last area. Sister. Thompson has been working with her and trying to help her come back to church and they she just disappeared and they hadn't known where she went. Hanna bore her testimony on Sunday in sacrament meeting and told her story. It was amazing. The day before she saw us in the library she drove by the church building and pulled into the parking lot. She saw cars in the parking lot but couldn't find anybody inside the building and it was all locked up. She said she sat in the parking lot for an hour. But nobody came. The next day (Friday) she was at her apartment and the lights went out. So she decided to go to the library. She sat down to read a book. There we were! It's TRUE. God is real. The Savior lives. The church is true. How could you deny it?
Here is a copy of my article for the mission newspaper. I thought you all might enjoy! It is pretty similar to the training I did in the Missionary Leadership Council this past week! I loved getting to study for this training and article! I learned SO MUCH! It was incredible! :) I love studying the Gospel so much!
A covenant is a sacred agreement between God and man. God sets the terms and man accepts. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we are covenant making AND covenant keeping people. How do we make covenants and most importantly how do we keep our covenants? We make covenants one at a time. The Gospel is set up so that we make our covenants in a specific order and at a specific time in our lives, which allows us the necessary growth and preparation (D&C 42:61). Just as a parent wouldn’t give their 2 year old a brand new car for their birthday our Father in Heaven gives us what we need, when we are prepared and able to accept. When we are baptized we enter into a covenant with God that we are willing to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, always remember him, keep his commandments, and serve Him to the end (D&C 20:37, 77, 79; Mosiah 18:8-10). We renew this baptismal covenant on the Sabbath day as we partake of the sacrament. Worthy men enter into an oath and covenant of the priesthood when they receive the Melchizedek Priesthood (D&C 84:33-44). The temple endowment and the sealing ordinance also include sacred covenants. We keep our covenants by daily prayer, daily scripture study and being obedient to the commandments given to us. I know that when we make covenants with God we are exercising our agency and choosing liberty and eternal life (2 Nephi 2:27), we are putting off the natural man and becoming a “saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord” (Mosiah 3:19). Covenants are how we more fully access the atonement of Jesus Christ (D&C 132:50), yield our hearts to God (Helaman 3:35), align our will with His and become sanctified (D&C 88:68). Each of the covenants we make with God has a very special and personal purpose in our lives. We receive revelation and knowledge “line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little” (2 Nephi 28:30). It is by this process that we are spiritually reborn. Elder Bednar discusses the spiritual lessons we can learn from the process by which a cucumber becomes a pickle. In order for a cucumber to become a pickle there are a series of steps and a specific recipe that must be followed. One of these important steps is the immersing and saturating o
The last miracle of this past week was Cathy Checa's baptism! I taught her when I was in Hermann Park and got to go back for it this past weekend. It was great to see the light in her life. I started to see it while I was teaching her, but the light she had on Saturday was incredible! I loved being able to be there for her special day. And a special day it was. Her husband is a less active member who re-activated when she became interested in learning about the Gospel. His parents were present at the baptism and after she was confirmed and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost her mother in law went up and gave her a hug. You could see how happy she was. It was one of the most special baptisms I have been too.
With Love,
Sister Kunzler
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