Tyrel and I had an awesome experience on Tuesday. For those of you who are not BYU-Idaho-aware...There is a tradition on campus of having devotionals every Tuesday at 2:00. It is a unique opportunity for students to take time out of their week to go hear a chosen speaker address some sort of Gospel or life topic. Speakers are chosen from members of the 70, temple and mission presidents, faculty and staff on campus, other university presidents, and every now and then we get an Apostle to come speak to us. Next week's devotional is one of those rare opportunities...Elder Nelson is coming to speak to us, but that is another story. Devotionals have been an important part of my education on campus. I loved being able to go, drop homework and other cares, and be spiritually uplifted. In these devotionals I have received countless answers to prayer. I'll take a moment to share one of these experiences with you even though it is off topic.
It was on my birthday in 2007. Tyrel and I had been dating for a couple of months, but I wasn't sure about ditching the mission and seriously considering him as my eternal companion. There were some things about getting married that really worried me, and one particular thing about Tyrel that I still needed to come to grips with. My whole life I was told to marry a "return missionary". In young womens you make those lists of attributes you want in your future spouse, and I'm betting 99% of girls have "RETURN MISSIONARY" in caps, bolded, and underlined in the number one spot. I was one of those girls. Now, Tyrel was not your typical return missionary. I knew his story, and I understood his situation, but it didn't fit my "perfect man" ideal. As our relationship began to become more serious, I started praying that if I was to be with Tyrel, I would be able to be totally accepting of his mission and that I would be able to over come the other fears I had that previously stopped me from getting into serious relationships with boys. So, I'm sitting in devotional, next to Tyrel, on my birthday. I can't remember who the speaker was, but his whole talk seemed to be a birthday present to me. He mentioned four things you shouldn't let stop you from getting married. The first three points covered my fears, and the fourth covered the title of "RM". He flat out said do not let the lack of a title stop you from marrying a great guy. It's not always about if they served a mission. That is only two years of their life. It is about their worthiness and who they are going to be the rest of their lives. At that moment I knew I didn't need to fret over Tyrel's mission any longer. He was worthy, and continues to be worthy...and on top of that, I know a lot of return missionaries that aren't half the guy that I married. Tyrel is the most amazing, selfless, and kind person. He is always seeking to better himself and keep us on the right path.
Alright, back to the real story. The point of the post up to this point is to show you, the reader, how awesome devotionals on this campus are. They have truly been a blessing in my life. About two weeks ago, I received a phone call informing me that the speaker for devotional would like to have us come to the pre-devo luncheon and sit with him on stage during his talk. The speaker was Brother Eaton, our New Testament religion teacher and counselor in our stake presidency. Brother Eaton has always seemed to see something in Tyrel and me that we can't see in ourselves. He has so much confidence in us as a couple. During class he would refer to us as the "Power Couple". Don't get me wrong, we enjoy his compliments. They came at a time when our marriage was just starting out and the storms of life were fully upon us. We needed all the compliments and confidence we could get. But to this day, I still don't know exactly what he sees in us and why he chose us to come to his luncheon. But he did and it was awesome. There were only 15 people in attendance and we all sat around one big table together. Among the company were Brother Eaton, his wife and daughter, President and Sister Clark, Henry Eyring (Elder Eyring's son and vice president of BYU-I), our President Hobbs (our stake president), some other religion teachers, and two other students. Tyrel and I were kinda nervous when we saw the situation we were in. We are not the most formal people, and here we were with these amazing people at a formal lunch. We had to look around at everyone else to know which utensil to use to eat each item. It is tradition at this lunch to ask the speaker any question you can think of. As people went around asking their questions, we noticed that Brother Eyring was the go-to guy on anything that had to do with the Brethren. Apparently he's been around them a bit in his life. Pres. Clark spoke of experiences he has had with them and how he feels that they are amazing men who are probably very burdened. It makes sense considering they have dedicated their whole lives to serving the Lord. I imagine them feeling like Nephi, Lehi, Mormon, Alma, and all other prophets who have felt heavily burdened because those they serve choose to do that which is contrary to the will of God. I asked Brother Eaton about some patterns he set early on in his marriage that have blessed them. He mentioned a few things: Temple attendance as often as possible, even if it's not together, scripture study with the family, prayer and family home evening. It was a good lunch. On the way out of the lunch Brother Eyring came up to shake our hands and Tyrel mentioned how they have a funny connection..."My dad is your dad's plumber!" Tyrel says. Brother Eyring laughed a little then asked if Tim was the plumber that fixed their broken pipe about two months ago. I guess Brother Eyring was on the phone with his mom when it all happened. So that was a fun moment. The devotional itself was awesome. Tyrel and I had been praying that we would be prepared to receive any insight and council that the Lord would have due to us attending this particular devotional. Although we didn't have any big, jaw dropping experience, we have felt and learned that the Lord has put us in the situation we are in for a reason. Yes, where we are at is hard and a little stressful. With a baby on the way, Tyrel's 6 hr./week job and plasma aren't exactly the income you hope for. Tyrel has been to about 6 interviews that all seemed very promising, and has been turned down every time. He was hired on as a sub, but jobs only pop up once a week if we are lucky. We have a lot of down time, which is nice because we get to spend a lot of time together, but hard because idleness easily creeps up on you. However, we are doing the best that we can, and we KNOW things will work out for us. It wasn't an accident that we are on the path we are on. We knew the time was right for us to start our family from the beginning. This time is meant to prepare us for something, we just need to pray to understand what that is and keep doing our best. That is what we learned from this experience.
Well, sorry I'm kinda long winded...I'd go back and revise and shorten it up, but what would be the fun in that? Here are a few pictures from our experience. We were hoping to get a picture with Pres. Clark, Brother Eaton and Brother Eyring, but there wasn't ever an appropriate time. So we have one picture of us after the devotional showing the stage where we sat, and one of the name tags they had to show us where our spot was around the table.
Just so you know, that suit Tyrel is wearing was a purchase from DI for $18. I had to tailor the pants a bit, which was interesting as I've never done it before, but it worked out great. What a steal! And I feel like this is a big and pregnant picture of me.
