The 6.0 Earthquack

San Jose, California, about 1985:

It was a quiet summer afternoon. Amy was sitting in the living room on the couch in front of a big picture window. Sarah was heading out the glass patio door for the backyard. I'm not sure where I was, but I was probably in the kitchen.

The ground and windows began to shake. Figurines were rattling on the hutch. Sarah froze in the doorway.

I called to the girls to get under the dining table (for protection from falling debris and glass). Just when we settled in under the table, the shaking stopped. We were lucky. No one was hurt, and there was no damage to our home. In fact, the little ceramics on the hutch were not even damaged. They had "walked" to the edge of the shelf, but did not fall off.

People a few blocks away were not so lucky. Their brick fireplace came tumbling down.

When all was said and done, Sarah asked someone how to spell "earthquake." Based on the response, she recorded in her diary that we'd had a 6.0 earthquack! It had felt like the earth was quacking up, so maybe she wasn't so far off, after all.

Reaching Out in Deseret Book

Salt Lake City, Utah, about 1988:

About 1988, the family traveled from Oregon to Utah . . . We toured Temple Square and then went into the Deseret Book store across the street. While looking at all the books, pictures, and music for sale there, Corey overheard a conversation between a man and the clerk. The man said he had toured Temple Square and requested a copy of the Book of Mormon, but the Church missionaries would not give him one because they wanted to bring it to his home.

The man continued that he wanted the book that day and didn't want to wait for his return home in another state to get it. He asked if Deseret Book would let him have a copy without charge.

The clerk responded that he could not give the Book of Mormon to the man without charging him for it.

The man was discouraged.

Corey listened to this exchange. Then, he went and picked up a copy of the Book of Mormon, took it to the clerk, paid for it out of his own pocket, and presented it to the man!

I was so pleased to hear of this selfless act of service from Corey. He continues to look out for others needs and does what he can to help them.

Save the Finger

Marina, California, 1979:

I had been working on my spirituality by daily praying and studying the scriptures, and by listening to Holy Ghost and acting on His promptings without questioning them. For instance, if I was walking out the door and the thought came in my head, "Your keys are not in your purse," in days past I would respond, "They are too in my purse. I just saw them there." Without checking my purse I would lock the door, close it, and then discover I was locked out of the house. So, I was working on just going along with the prompting rather than question it.

On this particular morning I had done everything to invite the Spirit. (It was a rare morning, but this time I got it right). I spent time in morning prayer and scripture study. Then, Amy age 5, Billy age 3, new baby Sarah, and I headed out to take a city bus to Salinas. I was in the Stake Relief Society Presidency and we were to visit one of the weekday Relief Society meetings at a Salinas Ward.

We arrived at the church building and I took the children to the bathroom before they were to go to the RS Nursery. I sent Billy into the Boys' Bathroom and took Amy and Sarah into the Girls'.

As Amy and I were exiting the Girls' bathroom, I could hear Billy yelling that he could not open the door. It was too heavy. I rushed off to help Billy. Amy was exiting the doorway behind me and accidentally put her finger in the door jam. The door closed on her finger, trapping her, and slicing her finger almost completely off!

I rushed back to rescue Amy and the thought came into my head, "Save the finger." I took a diaper out of my purse and shoved Amy's finger as much together as I could.

At that point I knew I needed to get Amy to a hospital, but I didn't even own a car. One of the women at the building volunteered to drive me. As we were driving she told me that she hadn't planned on coming to Relief Society that day, but decided she would come after all. She thought at first she would ride her bike, but then changed her mind and decided to drive her car. Then, she thought about needing gasoline, and decided to get gas before the meeting.

At the hospital, the doctor re-attached Amy's finger and said he had no way of predicting if it would heal. Tom gave her a blessing and after several weeks Amy's finger healed completely.

At first I blamed myself for Amy's injury. I should have held the door for her before rushing off to help Billy. As this woman spoke, however, I realized that she was totally prepared to help me out in my time of crisis.

Sometimes bad things happen, whether from our own negligence or bad choices by ourselves or others. Heavenly Father knows us. He knows our needs. He stands ready to help us and even prepares others to help us in our moments of distress.

Hid Under the House

Tustin, California, about 1957:

When I was about seven years old, my mother planned to take my brothers and me to the doctor to get our mandatory shots. We lived in Tustin, California, and had a big house up in the Santa Ana foothills. Later that evening we planned to go roller skating at a skating rink.

I didn’t want to get a shot, so I talked Daniel (about age five) into hiding with me in the crawl space under the house, the logic being, if we could not be found, then we’d miss our appointment at the doctor.

Dan and I snuck outside and ran to the side of the house to the crawl space entrance. We were mentally prepared to face the dirt floor, spiders, and other unknown creatures. We were scared but we were brave. It would be worth it to escape a shot. We hunkered down and quietly waited.
As the time to go approached, we could hear my mother calling for us as she searched inside and outside the house. The property was quite large and even included a gully with tall trees. In her imagination, we could have been anywhere.

Her voice was joined by my older brothers, Richard and Riley. Daniel and I giggled with the thought of outsmarting our mother.

We waited a long, long time, until we were sure the appointment time had passed. Then, we emerged victorious in completing our mission.

Mother was really angry. We needed those shots for our own protection from infectious diseases, things that could really hurt us. We should have known she wouldn’t make us do something that would hurt us.

Our punishment? No trip to the roller skating rink. THAT would teach us a lesson!

What lesson did I learn? Just because I don’t want to do something, and I fulfill my goal to escape doing it, I may not know what is best for me. Those in authority usually have a better picture of what is best for me. They may be my parents when I was growing up, or even Heavenly Father. I need to trust their judgment and accept their vision of things I cannot see or I may not be healthy enough (spiritually or physically) to do the things I want to do.