The Power Goes Out After a Cold Blustery Day!

Last night (Tuesday) when Rich and I were heading home from AF, we noticed it was dark all along the freeway from about 1600 N. in Orem to the Center Street exit. It looked like the power was out all along there. As we turned onto Center Street we could see lots of activity at the intersection of 1200 West and Center Street--lots of vehicles with flashing lights and people scurrying around near the power poles. It must have been the site of the outage. Anyway, it was dark all along 4th West to 4th South. Across 4th South we could see lights, so we knew our house was just on the south edge of the outage. When we got home, we parked in the driveway because there was no getting into the garage. We could see that Dad had some lanterns going on in the house. He had just gotten home from the MTC and parked his car in the garage. The outage happened right after he got home. So Richard had a tuna fish sandwich for dinner and other things that didn't need to be heated up. The power didn't come back on until 2:00 a.m. Fortunately, we were able to keep ourselves warm enough in bed. Dad had the emergency heater standing by, just in case.

I don't think we've had a colder more blustery day all winter. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr. It was cold outside, and the wind was whipping snow all over the place. I went to the post office and was inside for about 15 minutes. When I came out, the car was covered with snowy ice which had blown down from the roof of the post office. It was like I'd been in an ice storm or something.

Richard made it to the dentist to see what was going on with his tooth. Dr. Wiest took a look at it and said a piece of his tooth had broken off. That was weird. I can't figure out why it would have been stuck up there in his gum. Anyway, Dr. Wiest did the repair on his tooth right then. That was good, then Richard didn't have to wait and have it done later. Dr. Wiest only charged for the exam and X-ray and didn't charge for the repair, so that helped. Richard said he's been in five times since August to see Dr. Wiest about that same place in his mouth for one thing or another. I was about ready to find another dentist. Hopefully, this will be the fix that Richard needed.

At 5:30 I met at the MTC for dinner in the cafeteria, followed by the devotional at 7:00. For dinner we had some tasty lemon chicken, with new potatoes and veggies. It was pretty good--but it was better after we zapped it in the microwave. When we're in the cafeteria, we always like to check out the "mystery island" to see what's there. We call it the "mystery island" because whatever is there is not listed on the menu. I think it's what's left over from lunch. Anyway, at the mystery island was some spaghetti and something that looked like spaghetti sauce, but we couldn't quite tell for sure. Under the heat lamp it looked weird and was a funny color. But I decided I wanted to try a little, so I dished some spaghetti into a bowl and put some of the mysterious-looking sauce on it. Out from under the lamp it actually looked very good and tasted even better--it was delicious!!!!!! It had olives, mushrooms, celery, onions and chunks of tomato in it, and it was SO good. I wished I hadn't picked up a chicken plate or I would have had more spaghetti. I think I'll try to make some sometime, but it probably won't be as good.

Elder and Sis. Perry spoke at the devotional. I bet you can't guess the topic--It was the Book of Mormon! That's three weeks in a row, now; so it must be very important to learn more and be reminded about the Book of Mormon. Sis. Perry read from the introduction to remind everyone of the purpose of the Book of Mormon. Then Elder Perry talked about Joseph Smith, Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery and how their experiences with the Book of Mormon affected their lives. He said Joseph did what the Lord commanded; Oliver lost his place because of pride; and Martin Harris, though he had fallen away, testified on his death bed of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. He also related the story of William Pilkington, whom Elder Perry heard speak when he was 12 years old. William Pilkington was an old man at the time (actually, he was 72 years old, which Elder Perry said seems young now). William Pilkington told Elder Perry and the other boys he was with about how as a young boy he had lived and worked as a hired boy in a home in Clarkston, Utah, where Martin Harris resided as an old man. Martin Harris called William Pilkington "Willie" and taught him the beauties of the Gospel and the Book of Mormon while he and Willie resided in the same house. Before Willie had spent a year there, Martin Harris passed away; and Willie heard Martin Harris' death bed testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Elder Perry said that hearing about William Pilkington's personal contact with Martin Harris and hearing his and Martin Harris' testimony of the Book of Mormon encouraged him, as a young man, to want to seriously read and study the Book of Mormon. At the conclusion of his talk he said, "I promise that if you apply its (the Book of Mormon's)teachings in your life, you'll be blessed eternally."

(As a funny side note: Steven and I heard Elder Perry tell about William Pilkington at a CES fireside probably four years ago. At that time, he had brought with him Dr. Lael Woodbury to play the part of William Pilkington and tell, in William's own words, his experience with Martin Harris. The funny part was that afterward, we realized that many of the BYU students there thought Dr. Woodbury was William Pilkington. Quite a crowd of students went up to shake his hand after the devotional, and we heard one of them say in the elevator, "I wonder how old he is.")

After the devotional we met with the new district that came in last Wednesday, District D, which has our two new sisters in it. All the missionaries were thrilled to have heard from Elder Perry; but a couple of them were especially excited because they had never seen or heard an apostle in person. So it was a special evening for them and for us.