Lola gave the lesson yesterday on the gift of the Holy Ghost. She asked for participation – though the first example that came to mind took more time to explain than I thought was appropriate. As I listened to her lesson, I came up with a few examples from my own life.
The first example I thought of was one
of Warning
I was 17 and hadn’t had my driver’s license
for long. I hadn’t learned to drive a
stick and thus drove the family station wagon (since it was automatic).
My brother, Patrick, and I both worked
at Snelgroves Ice Cream Store – approximately a 15 minute drive from where we
lived.
I had asked Patrick if he would move the Honda,
which was behind. Patrick was only 15,
but he had a lot more experience with the cars than I did. He told me that if I wanted to drive the
Honda to work, he would work the stick for me and tell me when to clutch. I thought it would be good experience and
decided to take him up on that.
We were less than 2 blocks from Snelgroves
when I tried to slow down using the brake, but was stepping on the clutch and
not slowing down. We rounded a corner
going about 35 mph and I veered from the right lane into the left lane, went
over a curb and came only a few feet short of hitting the store that sold
organs.
Patrick’s eyes bugged out of his head,
but he never said anything. I have always
admired him for that. We were both
somewhat shaken when we got to work. I
was determined NOT to drive home.
At that time the store closed its doors
at 10:00 or 11:00. Clean-up took a
couple of hours – depending on what job task we were given. That particular night we didn’t get out until
well after 1:00. The next day was
Sunday. Church started at 8:00 a.m.
I handed the keys to Patrick and said,
“If you want to get home, you’ll have to drive because I’m not driving. We’ll say a prayer first.”
Patrick was nervous, as he knew what
the consequences were involved if we were pulled over and he was found behind
the wheel. At the same time I think he
may have had a secret desire to “test his wings” so to say.
I swore him to secrecy that he was never to tell
anyone about this until he was interviewed by the bishop for his mission.
During Sacrament meeting, my mom turns
to me and says, “Did Patrick drive the car home last night?”
You think that would have surprised me,
but I was actually quite offended that she would even think such a thing.
“Why would you even ask me that?” I let
her know that I was offended.
“I don’t know”
She asked me two more times in the
process of arguing with herself – or rather questioning the promptings of the
Spirit. It finally came out that “Yes –
Patrick had driven the car.”
I think that she was in greater shock
than how I felt offended.
It turned out that I had broken the
rims of the wheels – probably all four of them.
And if my dad had taken the Honda to work the next day, it may have
landed him in an unnecessary accident.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, I had
inadvertently asked for that blessing before Patrick and I had left the
Snelgrove’s parking lot the night prior. God does answer prayers – often in
ways you don’t expect.
The next example that came to mind was
a time when Sunny was preparing for a primary sharing time on the subject of
the Holy Ghost and the gifts we can receive.
She had pondered all month about her
approach. On Saturday night (12 or so
hours before the sharing time message was to be shared) she had a dream about a
video she really had seen in real life.
She felt that was the message she was to share.
She had gone to the Church early enough
to reserve the video. However it
couldn’t be found in that library, but Sunny knew she had seen it before – at a
stake activity. So the stake center
library was called, but they didn’t have the video either. Sunny was frantic.
She went into the primary room and got
on her knees and poured her heart out as the tears fell.
Meanwhile, a sister (I’ll call her Pat)
who was in her same stake, was walking passed the Church when she felt a
prompting to go inside and find the primary room. She thought it strange as the ward she
attended did not even meet in that particular building. Fortunately she followed the prompting and
went inside.
She found Sunny in the primary room
crying and asked if she could help.
Sunny blubbered her thoughts and described the video in detail.
Pat knew what video Sunny was talking
about. It was one that Pat had in her
personal collection. She went home to
get the video for Sunny to share with her primary children. But it wasn’t so much the video that Sunny
had to share – it was more to relate the experience she had had in obtaining
it.
Translation One of the first primary baptisms I
had attended in this stake was one conducted by the Spanish ward – which then
was just a branch.
The first speaker gave a talk on
baptism. She spoke in English, but there
was a brother there who translated her words into Spanish (as there was a youth
from the Spanish ward being baptized that day) The second speaker spoke in
Spanish about the gifts of the Holy Ghost and the same brother translated in
English.
The English Speaker paused after every
sentence or two to allow the brother to translate, but the Spanish speaker
didn’t seem to allow much for translation.
I remember one part in particular as
she was rattling on, I thought, “Give that poor man the opportunity to
translate.”
And when he got up (I don’t remember
the exact quote) he said that one of the gifts of the Holy Ghost is the power
to translate. Let me demonstrate as I
finish my talk and let Bro. Hill translate what I say. But he will be translating by the Spirit . . . “
Wow!
That demonstration was so powerful.
I really did understand the message that was brought by the Spirit.
At the time Jenna was baptized, it was
also the Spanish ward that was conducting.
Each speaker had brought his/her own translator. The second translator seemed to miss much in translation. But oh, you could so feel the speaker’s
spirit, and that was more powerful than any words that were spoken.
As Lola concluded her lesson, she
focused on the Holy Ghost acting as a comforter. I know I have more
recent experiences, but this is the one that pressed most on my mind.
I was working for a privately owned business
in which communication was just not that great.
Only five people were involved.
The owner (Thomas) his wife (Penny) her mother (who was co-owner)
Charity (my co-worker) and me.
In frustration, Charity and I decided to put in
our notice. Penny seemed quite
understanding about it, but Tom did not seem so understanding. Charity and I were both in tears when her mom
came to pick her up.
It sounds unprofessional that Charity’s mom was
acting as the mediator on our behalf – but I know that if Tom didn’t understand
us when we were speaking clearly, there was no way he was going to understand
our blubbering noises.
My mom called me just as we were wrapping things
up. She was wondering why I hadn’t gone
to a tithing settlement I had signed up for. In all that had happened, I had forgotten, but
was told I could drive to the church to meet with the bishop as soon as I was
done.
At the conclusion of my tithing settlement, my
bishop asked if there was anything that I needed. Still in tears and upset with the prior
situation, I asked if I could have a blessing and explained a bit about the
events that had taken place.
At that point I didn’t care if I still had a job
or not, I just wanted to feel some peace.
And I did. Immediately. It was awesome.
For me it is easier to write about the past than
to post something I consider sacred right now.
Perhaps I will share more at a later time.
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