Sunday Evenings

I love Sunday evenings here. It’s when we meet for church services. Some guys forget what day it is (I don’t blame them as every day’s a Monday here) and inadvertently miss church, but I count down the days. I’ve come to rely on the opportunity to partake of the Sacrament and think of my Savior and all He’s done for me.

Tonight Sacrament meeting was, well, special but it took me a minute to realize it. Often times we have to make do with whatever type of “bread” we can find. Once at drill, all we could find was a blueberry muffin to use for the bread. That was a first. Tonight was another first. As the tray was passed to me, I looked in and at first thought it was wheat bread but then remembered that we never have wheat bread here. Then when I picked up a piece, I realized it was a muffin, an apple/cinnamon muffin at that.

Aaron and I got the giggles. We’re so irreverent. The guys administering the Sacrament also had the giggles when they realized what it was in the tray.

But,

After a few minutes, I realized that it didn’t matter what was in the tray. It was what it represented. You know what I mean. At that moment, I felt a warm, wonderful feeling wash over me as I realized what I was doing and what this meant. I felt a deep sense of gratitude towards my Savior and for the sacrifice He made for me.

Aaron then shared a scripture with me, Alma 58:11. You’ll have to ask him why this scripture is special to him, but it resonated within me for a completely different reason. It reads:

Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him.

Every day I pray that I will be “delivered” from harm. Every day I pray that I will be “delivered” safely back to my family. Every day I pray that my family will be “delivered” from the challenges they face by having me gone. And every day the Lord speaks peace to my soul and grants me great faith.

I know why Aaron shared this scripture with me and I appreciated him doing that. I’ll even write a notation in my scriptures for the reason why, but for a completely different reason, I’m grateful that he shared it with me.

I meant to ask Steve for permission to share this experience, but since he shared it with us last week in Testimony Meeting, I figure I can share it with you.

He and several others of our command spent a week traveling in other parts of our command area. Before they left, there had been an increase in enemy activity so of course we were all concerned for their safety. Each day as I sat in staff meeting I would listen to see if there had been any enemy contact where they were and felt relieved to hear that nothing had happened.

Well as Steve stood to bear his testimony, he had tears in his eyes as he shared the experiences they had. He said that every morning before going out on a mission, he and the other guys on the team would gather for prayer. And it just wasn’t the Utah guys. He said that their security forces guys, Southern Baptists from Oklahoma, would also join them in prayer. He said that every day they would gather in prayer and every day they would return without any incident. He testified that the Lord watched out for them and protected them as they went about their assignment. The Spirit again, let me know, that our Heavenly Father is watching out for us and that He had answered not only my prayers but theirs.

See why I love Sunday evenings so much.