Stories: The Reverend Seal
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| Wow! I found this the other day and wished there were more stories to read. As my Mission journals show, I wrote about as much as Moses did in Genesis, or, 5 pages covering roughly 1000 years. Whatever might be the case, there are events on my Mission that continue to unfold in importance to me in my life. Here is just one:
My trainer and I were going to run for Mayor of Parowan, we were having success, and my trainer was of such that today I only wish I could have been as great a Missionary as he was (Elder Kollmeyer from Germany). I thought, "I'm going to be one of those Missionaries that gets along with all his companions."
Transfers came up and everyone told me my next companion was known infamously in the Mission as "the Rev", for what reason I could not figure out. I was reassigned to him on the other side of the state - Monticello, birthplace of Elder McConkie.
Upon meeting him, I thought the name "Rev" came from his, um, "Deep Eastern Tennessee" drawl, but discovered it was really due to his no-fear, almost Evangelical preaching style that left my mouth wide open on a number of occasions. Must admit, I was missing Parowan (and my Girlfriend - which brings me to my story)
My girlfriend at the time I left, let's call her "Boyfriend-less in Seattle" for anonymity's sake, stopped writing to me. Pretty soon, my favorite part of the day became picking up the mail and checking if she had written yet. This went on for a couple weeks, the anticipation killing me, until I finally got an odd-shaped envelope some of you might have seen before. Well, at this point I asked Elder Seal if we could open it up at the house where, just in case I had to bawl like one without vision for the blessings I have today (which ended up taking only 1/2 an hour in my defense).
A few weeks later, after trying to recuperate from my grievous loss, and waking up to realize that I needed to become a real Missionary, we had a Zone Conference, where President Smith and his Wife stayed overnight in our town, and Moab and Blanding Missionaries congregated there. The morning after, President Smith called our place and asked Elder Seal to come and see him at the Motel (the Rev too had been letter-anticipating as his Father was not well, and had a brother that was doing as little-brothers do).
We drove over to their Motel where President Smith took Elder Seal into another room and Sister Smith and I shared a little breakfast food layed out on a table (not much of a Continental one, more like an economy sized Ford Fiesta). Sister Smith told me over the Cinnamon rolls that Elder Seal's Father had passed away the night before and that perhaps we spend the day in the Temple, as we were in Monticello and there was just such a House of Peace about two blocks away.
President Smith and Elder Seal came out of the room, pretty somber and red in the face, and said our goodbyes at this very uneasy moment. This moment would forever impact me, as the example Elder Seal next set for me, of unselfish service that he rendered in the work of the Lord.
I said what Sister Smith recommended to which he said something like "nope, we've got work to do." There was no need for him to go back to the house and feel sorry for himself as I displayed over a Girlfriend just weeks prior to this. He didn't question why he was out there, particularly when his now Patriarchal status for his family was in need. We headed out to Dove Creek, a peculiar Town for the UPM in Colorado that had zero percent activity and for the duration of our Companionship, I witnessed his maturity and testimony of that Gospel which we were assigned to preach in a peculiar section of the Vineyard.
Sometime later, I remember driving through a storm on the way from the Redd's place in La Sal where we were teaching someone, headed back to Monticello. A bit dangerous as the thunder was so close we couldn't pick out which direction it was coming from. For a brief moment, the fog and the lightning met each other right in front of us and we were in an almost Celestial room of the greatest whiteness. This was one of the most indescribable, beautiful "things" I've ever encountered. Perhaps this was in answer to a prayer from Elder Seals Heavenly Fathers of His love for him and gratitude for his service in His Kingdom. If this was the case, I'm grateful I could share in the experience with this good brother. |
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