Story 1: Miracle at Miner's Gulch
Because of divine inspiration, or an email from God, I was able to save myself from turning into dog meat.
I lived on a homestead ranch adjacent to Indian grazing land in northeast Utah. My mother died when I was three months old and I was raised by my grandparents. They raised me like their 11th child. We were next to a range that was home to wild horses and other wild animals. The elevation was high enough that Kings Peak, the highest point in Utah, wasn't much higher. We had just bought a two year old wild colt, which my grandfather had selected because he believed it was a descendant of a favorite racing horse that had been turned loose on our range. The colt was given to me when I was a teenager to break and have as my horse. I had gone through the preliminaries of teaching him to come when I called. I had ridden him several times but he was anything but broken.
My uncle Elt had gotten a job herding sheep for an Indian tribe which lived about four miles west of us in Rock Creek. An 8,500 ft knoll, called Baldy Hill, was on his way to the Indian's ranch and his job. The Indians had a reasonably nice house. My grandfather had saved them from freezing to death on many occasions as they came by our house, after having consumed too much alcohol which the store five miles away had sold them illegally. The Indians chose to hire someone to look after their sheep for $1.50 a day rather than take care of the sheep themselves.
One morning my grandmother, who seemed to have a strong personal communication with our Heavenly Father, said, “Al, I wonder if Tex is broken enough that you can ride him and go see how your uncle Elton is getting along. I feel that he needs help on something. Since you are going to Rock Creek anyway, will you stop and check on the 30 head of cattle we have there on the Indian range and make sure they are all there. Then you could go check on your uncle and eat dinner with him.”
I went and caught Tex and put the new saddle on him, which my grandparents had helped me to buy so I wouldn't be using their saddle on my horse. I started out reasonably early but finding all the cattle took much longer than I had anticipated. They were scattered all over the range and mixed with the head of other brands. I was unable to find two but was sure they were in that tangle of brush and willows.
Finally after searching a few horse for the cattle I went on up to where uncle Elt was. I was hoping to assuage my hunger with mutton and homemade bread. When I found his camp he told me, “I'm so happy you came. My horses all went back to the Indian ranch and I need a ride down there to bring them back because I don't fancy walking all that way. “
I told him that Tex was still very new and pretty small and I didn't think that Tex would allow us to ride double. He told me that we could tie and trot, which is tyeing a horse to a bush and then you start trotting ahead. The second person gets on the horse and rides him until they pass the person trotting. They then get off and tie the horse and start trotting themselves and when the other person reaches the horse they get on and repeat the process.
It sounded like a good idea but I told him I was starving and wanted to get something to eat first. He then told me that was another reason he was glad to see me, because he was out of most of his food. All he had was a handful of raisins to eat in his whole cabin. We split the raisins together, but the raisins hardly put a dent in my hunger.
We then worked on getting Uncle Elt down to the Indian camp to retrieve his run away horses and get supplies. We made good time going down to the Indian camp but it was dark by the time we got there. I left Elt and headed for the back side of Baldy Hill. I had gotten halfway up the hill when the saddle cinch kept slipping back until it took a positions just in front of Tex's hips. Tex, who had been traveling and working all day with no opportunity to eat, was probably as hungry as I was. The cinch was tickling him in a way that he would not permit and he started to buck. When he put his head down, as horses do when they buck, he couldn't see where he was going. He ran into astump, causing me to slip over the horn of the saddle. Then Tex bumped into another buck brush. He turned and started bucking down the hill. He refused any attempt at control and then began bucking off the trail.
He was plunging out of control down the hill. I was sure he was going to go off a cliff so I decided it was time to get off. When I slid off sideways the saddle fell off with me. Tex kicked the saddle to pieces. After rolling through two buck brushes, I stopped at the base of a third. I found myself in absolute darkness with no moon or stars in the sky. I managed to find the trail and followed it down the hill. I struck one of the three matches I had in my pocket to see if Tex had found the trail as well. I found his tracks and started to follow them, hoping to find him.
There was a bitter wind blowing down the canyon. I was freezing even though I had picked up the saddle blank and was using it for warmth. I wondered if the Indians would be hospitable toward me since my uncle worked for them. I made my way in the darkness down to the fence that surrounded their yard. I opened the gate, which gave a loud creek, waking up all four dogs outside the Indian house. I called to the Indians. An Indian came to the door and opened the it. I thought he was going to ask me to speak but all he said was, “Sic 'em!” to the dogs, then immediately turned and went back into the house, shutting the door so he wouldn't hear my cries. All four dogs were trained man killers.
It would take less than three seconds for the dogs to travel from the house to where I was. Since I was the intended target of the “sic 'em” command, I was very nervous It was then that the prayer of my grandmother and the prayer in my heart were my only protection since there is no way that a teenager can fight off four large, angry dogs.
I had heard of a relative who had been confronted with a similar situation. He had used a ruse which I was impressed to use then. I stooped over and clapped my hands. As the dogs approached, I threw my hands to the side and said, “sic 'em” in the exact same manner that their master had used. The dogs went right on by me, out of the gate, and through the trees beyond. I didn't wait for their return, but immediately went back up into the sage brush. I tried to build a fire with my matches but the first one was blown out by the wind. I was able to start the fire with my last match. I was terrified of the fire being blown out so I didn't get much sleep that night.
The next morning, I found Tex grazing nearby. Tex remembered the lessons I taught and I was able to catch him but unable to put the pieces of the saddle I had collected back on him. Since he wouldn't let me ride with the makeshift saddle, I got on him bareback. I put the saddle pieces and the saddle blanket in a brush to collect later, but that made Tex think I was trying to put something on him that he didn't permit. He started to buck. I have ridden in many rodeos, but never have I ridden a horse that has bucked that high. The breeding of his steeple chase father came into play. He bucked so high that he emptied my pockets. I was only able to stay on him because he was small enough that I was able to lock my toes under his front shoulders. It saved me from being thrown off into a twenty foot deep gorge that was nearby.
I declared he won and got off when he had calmed down. I carried the saddle remains and the blanket as I walked him home. I returned to my home around 11 that morning. I had gone through this ordeal long with only a handful of raisins for sustenance. My grandmother wasn't worried about me because she knew I was ok. Her email from god always worked and she had received the impression that I was fine.
This personal experience proves to me that God is there when we need Him. He will send inspiration or emails not only when we find ourselves in trouble but also for comfort and peace of mind. Not only does this story depict how God uses “emails” to help His children, but it also emphasizes the need we have to write down our personal history and recount the special moments in our lives. These stories can help our posterity to learn of God, grow closer to him, and much more.
The covenants made in this story are to always be open to the promptings of the spirit, and to always act on those promptings. Please play the associated music clip while reading this story.
The Mystery of the Men Margret Saw in a Dream
I was doing missionary work in California. I was in a place where two towns were divided by a canyon with a river of water at the bottom. My companion, Carl and I were talking with the family in the last home before the dirt road dropped off into the canyon on its way to the next town. We had been talking for an extended period of time. On our way out we paused at the gate to considered where we were going and what we should do next. Carl said that we'd have to hurry to get back to our quarters and get a bite to eat. He then wanted to take the film strip to the appointment we had which was two miles away.I nodded in agreement but asked the question, “Do you feel like I do?” Carl responded in affirmation and asked what the feeling was for. We looked down the road toward the canyon and couldn't see a house for over a mile. The impression was very strong that we should go down that way so I said lets go.
We started jogging down the dirt road that led into the canyon. As we crossed the bridge at the bottom we looked up the stream course and saw a little cottage almost completely hidden by willow trees. It was protected from the occasional flood because it was built on the top of a walkway that led from the stream bed. There was a long porch in front of the cottage. There was a lady standing on it looking in our direction as if expecting us to come.
We walked up the path toward her cottage. As we got closer to her I greeted her with a, “Good afternoon.”
She responded with a smile and a, “Good afternoon to you too. Why don't you come in.”
I was surprised by her welcome invitation. As we were walking into her home I said, “You must have recognized who we were.”
To my continuing surprise she replied, “No. Who are you?”
I said, “We are the missionaries.”
She said, “For what Church?”
I was very surprised by this question because we had been working in the area for a long time and most people knew us. We also had the name tags which indicated who we represented. I replied, “You took somewhat of a risk, inviting two strange men into your home if you didn't know who we were.”
She told us to sit down and she would tell us how she knew it was ok to let us in. She told us of missionary from another church who had been by the day before. He wanted her to be baptized into his congregation. She told him she would pray about it and have a decision later the next night. She said that while she was praying that evening, asking God what she should do, she saw us coming up the walk as she had just now. She continued saying, “It is true that I didn't know who you were but I have seen you before and was expecting you. I also feel that you have something for me. What is it?”
We quickly explained who we were and how our church was different from any other on the face of the earth. We explained that it had been directly revealed form God. If Margret hadn't had the Spirit she would not have been to receive the information she was seeking. She was very interested in learning more but we had another appointment, so we made an appointment with her and dashed off to try to get to our other one on time. Two weeks later that same lady was baptized. She seemed very happy with all that had transpired. It was an experience that I would always remember and I wanted to share with others.
In later years I moved to the San Jose area of California. One of the members of my ward suddenly stopped coming. After a few weeks I happened to see him. I inquired if he had been ill or if something was wrong.
Looking ashamed, he glanced down at his feet and that back at me. He said, “ I have been studying with a different church. I have decided that they have truths that our church doesn't.”
I asked him if he didn't want to be with his family forever, including throughout the eternities. He said that he did want to be with them. I then suggested he study the teachings of the other church again because they didn't believe in forever families. I also told him the story of Margaret and how she knew by the spirit that we were coming with the true gospel of the Lord.
Once he began to realize the mistake he had almost made, he promised to be back in church the next Sunday.
