Although I know I should write down some of the many miracles and blessings I have experienced through the priesthood over the years, it was the prompting of my dear missionary son, Paul, that started me to begin to write some of my experiences. I think if I start in my youth it may give someone who reads this an understanding of my becoming active later in life in the Church.
When I was eighteen and before I was to be ordained an Elder we moved from our Bountiful or Woodscross home and moved to Salt Lake. I had been going to church all my life and was in the leadership of the priests' quorum before we moved. I continued going to church, but I never seemed to have anything in common with the kids my age and began to stay away more of the time.
During this time I worked with my dad. I got a job at the arms plant on the west side and this made quite a change in my financial position. I was making $5.00 a week and board and room with my dad and at the arms plant, working 10 hours a day and seven days a week I made around $110 a week. The good lad that I was, most of it went into the bank. My dad couldn't believe how much I was making and said to me one day, "let me see that check," and when I showed it to him he said, "no young kid without a family has any business making that kind of money." You can see from his remarks that money was and had been pretty scarce in our family as we were pulling out of the depression.
After the arms plant, I worked on some buildings by the University with Harry, my wonderful brother. He was sort of my protector as I grew up.
Then I applied for and got a job in Hawaii working on piers and docks in Pearl Harbor. We lived under a curfew and blackouts (no lights showing to the outside) so we could never go anywhere at night. I did go to a church some of the time but never got active in any way. I really didn't know much about the church, although I had read the Book of Mormon three times. After about a year there I hurt my back and came home.
I worked for awhile and then was drafted into the service. I wanted to get in the air force, but I had to wait until I was drafted and then I transferred to the air force. Because this is my church experience, I won't go into too much detail until I write my biography.
I spend some time at the University of Nebraska and there I started going to church with a friend who was a Presbyterian and I quite enjoyed the meetings. Above all, the people there asked you to dinner and if I went to a Mormon church they hardly said hello. This started me going to another church mainly because people seemed more friendly.
We then went to Santa Ann for preflight training and testing. I passed everything except my depth perception test and the instructor let me try it again and I got through. We then went to Visation (?) Calif. to being flying and that was quite an experience. I soon began to find out how much you need depth perception when landing. I was great in the air and doing stunt flying, but landing was another thing. I did get through okay and instead of going to losis (?) to train in larger single engines they sent me to advanced training in twin-engine planes. After about 40 hours I had continual trouble landing and so they kicked me out. That was probably my life's greatest disappointment. I got leave to go home for awhile and then went to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to radio school, from there to Nashville for staging area before going overseas. I still went to the Presbyterian church whenever I wanted a home-cooked meal.
I met some nice girls in Nashville. Before I went to Nashville I went to an airfield near Reno, Nevada for advanced radio training in C-47's.
We went on to N.Y. (New York) and ended up in Mumbai Airbase in India. We flew loaded with barrels of oil into China. I often walked around the air base wondering if I would ever see home again. (lots of experiences I'll tell you about later.) When The Hump closed down I was transferred to Hickman field in Hawaii and flew on C-54's into Shanghai and L--(unreadable.)
When I was released from the service I did go to church again for I was trying so hard to catch up with the 3 years and one year in Hawaii that I had been away that I didn't take it too seriously.
I married as all know and lived at 1731 Hollywood Ave for 12 years.
We moved to 4644 Lanark Rd., where we live now and some great people come to see me and asked me to come to priesthood meetings. I started to and a began reading some church works. I began to read the D&C and I couldn't quite swallow the idea of God speaking to man, so I began reading Church History and that's when I received a testimony. I had a burning desire to attend my priesthood meeting. As I learned more about gospel I had my Patriarchal Blessing and what a wonderful blessing that was. One night when I was going to pray I thought, "why pray, I don't need anything." So I had a long way to go yet.
About this time is when I met Danny Swarn (?). He taught the Gospel Doctrine class and I learned a great deal from him.
One night as I lay thinking about the Gospel a strange feeling came over me and a voice said, "Do you want to talk to the Devil?" I said, "I have no read to talk to the Devil." Then I felt as if I was thrown down an endless tube and about to be destroyed. I tried to speak to command the devil in Jesus's name to leave and my tongue was bound, just as J.S. (Joseph Smith) said his was, and what better way would the devil have to control you. I was about to give up when babies in the room above me began to cry. In my mind, I thought, "that darn devil is bothering the babies," and gave me the strength to free my tongue and command the devil to depart in Jesus's name. The pressure left and a little while later it came back again. You can smell it as well as feel it! I again commanded Satan to leave in Jesus's name and that heavy feeling moved out and never returned. I believe the Lord allowed the devil to visit me so I would know the terrible power the devil has and that he is as real as we are. The devil is a proud spirit and I believe, still thinks he can win the fight for men's souls. How hard we need to work to stop him.
I believe by now Fay and I and the family had gone to the temple and were sealed to each other and I was made an Elder.
It wasn't long before the leadership in the Elders Quorum was change and Doug Swan was made the president and he called me for his 1st counselor. We formed a great relationship through the years.
Doug was having fainting spells and went back to the Mayo Clinioc to find out what was wrong with him. They found some scar tissue on his brain and when he got back Mark Swendrinson (?) and I administered to him and his fainting spells stopped.
The first time I administered to someone, it was a small baby in the hospital. Paul or Alber was in the hospital too have their tonsils out. As I was blessing the baby, that had an eye disease, the Spirit whispered to the effect, "the baby's eyes would be made well," and I didn't have the nerve to say it directly so it takes awhile to follow the promptings of the Spirit.
I remember one time when little Paul was sick and he asked me to give him a blessing. When I finished the little fellow sat there full of faith expecting instant healing. I almost went back to tell him sometimes it takes a little while, but I didn't and I don't remember whether the healing was instantaneous, but he soon was getting around in good spirits.
One time Grang Sandstrom, a good friend and member of the ward, had a heart attack and the ward fasted for him. His wife asked me if I would give the prayer and as we, as a ward, knelt down to petition the Lord in his behalf, I was impressed to promise the family that Grant would be alright and when I finished his wife threw her arms around me. Of course, the gratefulness and thanking belong to the Lord, but many things you say are quite startling. How grateful I am for the priesthood.
Again, a few years ago, Fay had a tumor in her breast and was very concerned about it. The ward fasted and prayed and afterward the bishopric and I gave Fay a blessing that she would be alright. She was operated on and everything turned out OK. How great the power of prayer.
One Night Doug Swan called me and said his boy, Kirk, was very sick and asked if I would come down to assist in administering to him. We gave him a blessing to the end that the terrible congestion would be relieved. After we finished, Carol said, "come on Doug, we have to get him to the hospital." I said, "Carol, he was promised he would get better, why don't you wait and give the Lord a chance." The next day I stopped by to see how Kirk was and he was walking around outside eating an ice cream cone.
My next step from being in the Elders Quorum leadership was being asked to serve a stake mission, one of the highlights was working with Van Dunn. The devil really worked with everyone he could to keep him from joining. One of his hang-ups was polygamy. I got ahold of the biography of Wilford Woodruff and in it explains how all the property of the Saints and the church would be confiscated if they kept practicing polygamy. When I explained it to Van he said, "that's all I wanted to know."
Before he was baptized he became quite ill. My companion and I went over to administer to him and when we finished he said, "I feel better already." I was even asked by the bishopric to quit tending him. My companion encouraged me to continue and I prayed about it and then asked Van if he wanted to see us any more. He said yes and so he soon became a member and is now in the high council.
We flew down to Lake Powel and baptized one of the new members in Lake Powel.
After my stake mission I was in the Seventy group leadership for many years and when they split the 22nd ward I was group leader in the 1st ward.
One time my brother, Art, hurt his back and had to go to the hospital and be put in traction. He asked if I would give him a blessing. I prayed about it all day and then called Hay Edwards to go with me. It was about as if he was waiting at the phone. We gave Art a wonderful blessing and the next day he came home, much to the surprise of the Dr. who was planning to operate.
During the time I was on my 1st stake mission, my companion told me about a lady at his work (he was one of the heads of a dept. at ZCMI) who had a daughter whose vertebrae were fussed at the neck and she was losing her mobility as she grew older (she was about 12.) We were asked to administer to her and we fasted and went there that evening. I anointed her with oil and companion sealed the anointing and blessed her. We left and a couple of weeks later the girl's mother called me and said she wanted to thank me. She said they went for a ride after we administered to the daughter and the girl said, "Mama, as soon as that oil touched my head, I knew I was going get better." A few days later her mother took her to the doctor for x-rays, and when the doctor looked at the x-rays, he couldn't believe it. He said, "it's no use showing these to the other doctors, they wouldn't believe it." Her vertebrae were just as normal as anyone else. What a privilege it is to be part of this healing process through the priesthood. What great faith that little girl had.
Soon after we moved from Hollywood Ave. My dear brother, Harry, passed away, and that may be another reason I began actively seek the Gospel. We were such good friends. It took me a long time to get over it. He built the house for me and I gave him a bonus on each house.
As time went on I was called to another stake mission. Joe Mills was my companion -?- the highlight of that your was a young girl that came to me and wanted to be taught the gospel. She was 17 and she didn't want her parents to know about it. We couldn't baptize her under the circumstances til she was 18 years old. I told her to come back when she was 18 and sure enough when she turned 18 she was right back. We taught her the Gospel and she was baptized. What a beautiful person she was.
I remember the first time I bore my testimony. I felt like someone was pulling my face in all directions. I remember saying how the Lord takes care of the animals and plants and yet how we resist letting him take care of us and how true that is.
A number of years ago someone set fire to one of my houses under construction. Mike said, "What are goign to do about it, Dad?" That's the first time Mike showed an interest in my work. He got some friends and the tore the wood down after school and I burned it during the day. I was very despondent about it and couldn't seem to pry myself out of it. About that time, Doug, who was in Washington fighting to get a bill passed for his sign company, wrote me a letter (by-the-way, this was the only one he wrote) saying he was going before committee and came back to his apartment to pray and began to think about me and our relationship with the Lord and how much he loved me and tears began to fall. It washed all my despondency away. Even apart, the Lord helps us to help each other.
Mike and his family have had many opportunities for the priesthood to help them through sickness and premature babies. I miss Fay's Dad who went with me many times to bless Mike's family.
A little over a year ago as business kept declining, I felt a need to have a blessing and asked Kay Edwards if he would give me one. Paul was getting ready to go on a mission and things just didn't look too good. He blessed me to the end that things would change and a few weeks later they did. I sold all but one of my houses and that one I rented out. I don't know when I had such a load taken off my shoulders. Some of the houses I had sold on contract, the people walked out and although it was rough at the time, I was able to resell them and get my money back out of them. The Lord never said it would be easy, but we can always turn.
I really feel the Lord (helped) my boys with their knee problems. Each have had both their knees operated on and it's a painful thing.
Many years ago when I needed an operation on my right knee, I was concerned who I should have do it. I felt like I needed one of the authorities with great faith to bless me. I talked to Doug about it and he said, "I know Paul Dunn. I'll give him a call." He did and made an appointment for me. I went to his office and as he laid his hands on my head and blessed me, tears poured down my face. He never said I would not need an operation, but he blessed me that everything thing would go well.
It was long after this that a fine surgeon, Dr. Cole, moved into the area and practiced at the University Hospital. He performed the operation and everything went fine.
I have spent many years in the leadership of the High Priests Quorum along with a few other assignments. To bring this current, when Albert was ordained an Elder by his father, he was given a wonderful blessing and when we were walking home I said, "Albert, you received a wonderful blessing from the Lord and I want you to remember what the Lord promised you." Albert said, "How do you do that?" I think he thought I memorized something to say, but it gave me an opportunity to explain how the Holy Ghost works to put the words in your mouth that apply to the person you are blessing.
These are some of the highlights of my experiences. There are many others that are not as dramatic.
I want my family to know that this is the true church and the priesthood is the same as Jesus has when he was on this earth and the same that formed the earth we live on today. What a privilege it is to be part of this great church and to help build it up at this important time in our lives!
Our testimony and wonderful experiences are not to prove a point, but to strengthen the believers and ourselves to bridge the gap over our rough times.
