When
I served on my mission, five of us went together by train from SLC to
Chicago, IL; then we flew from Ohare Int'l Airport (ORD) to
Washington Dulles Int'l Airport (IAD). A foot of fresh snow had just
fallen, so the snow plows were busily preparing for us to land. We
stayed at the Mission Home in Bethesda, MD for a few days. President
Wilford Burton (brother to Theodore M. Burton, a General Authority)
was our Mission President. He and his wife were nearly finished with
their 3-year stint. President Norman R. Bowen, who I got to know
even better in Hawaii after my mission, was my Mission President for
most of the time I served.
I show pictures of 10 of the 11
missionaries I served with. It would be interesting to know where
they are today. The only one I had very much contact with following my mission, was Elder Charles Hoyt. I helped convince him to come to BYU, where he met his future wife. I was his "best man," at his wedding, and then we pretty much lost contact with each other, though I knew his wife was from Price, UT, and knew that they settled in Price. We have friended each other on Facebook, so we bump into each other there. Of the five that came out at the same time,
interestingly, one became an Assistant to the President (Elder
Tanner), one a Zone Leader (Elder Giles, who was also one of my companions), one a District Leader
(Elder Durrant), myself a non-leader (but a trainer extraordinaire,
according to Pres. Bowen), and then one who aborted his mission and
went home early. When I was nearing completion of my mission, the
Washington Temple grounds were dedicated. All of the missionaries in
the mission field were brought to Washington, D.C. for the occasion.
I still vividly recall walking through a wooded area to the site, and
hearing from Paul H. Dunn and Hugh B. Brown, both remarkable
speakers. Of the five areas I served in, namely Camp Springs/Clinton
MD, Butler PA, Norristown PA, Fredonia/Dunkirk NY, and Harrisburg PA,
I don't have a favorite. I would have to say that the most transient
area was Camp Springs/Clinton, so probably where the average
missionary would be likely to have the most success. Interestingly,
the people in the Harrisburg area seemed the most “set in their
ways,” so to speak...a lot of Amish/Mennonite where we served. I
remember once saying, “Hello, we're missionaries from the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...” The response, “Well,
where's your broad-brimmed hats, boys?” To me, that sort of summed
up that area.
My
single most favorite conversion story is that of the Cogley family,
who lived in Kittanning PA, a referral family who lived a long way
from Butler PA, and from our chapel. When we entered the Cogley home
and tried to teach them, they all seemed so crude and hillbilly to
me. It was a picture right out of Li'l Abner, with a stern woman of
the house (Mammy Yokum), her diminutive husband (Pappy Yokum) who was
spitting tobacco during the lesson, and a lovely daughter, Vernetta
(Daisy Mae). We ended up baptizing the mother and daughter. Fast
forward to 1993, 26 years later; Judy and I had just moved from
Hawaii and are now living in Provo UT. One day, I get a call from
Vernetta, now living in Orem UT with her own family, and with sons
reaching missionary age. I have no idea how she found me. Vernetta
wants her sons to meet the missionary that baptized her. Judy and I
are invited to their home, where, lo and behold, Vernetta's mother
(whose name escapes me) was there, having just returned from her
Senior Mission, the second one she had served in. This woman could
pass as an angel of God, so saintly, kind, and celestial like,
exuding pure love. I just melted. I couldn't believe that this
relatively crude woman I had known so many years earlier could
possibly have transformed into what I witnessed that night. That
encounter alone, made my mission well worth the two years I spent
serving in it. Of course, I was thrilled that Vernetta, in her own
right, was a success story. But, that night, it was her mother that
captured me, and helped me appreciate what the gospel can do for
those who become truly converted and live it to the fullest.
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