Traveling

So I'm off traveling again--this time to Aunt Virginia's birthday party, to visit Aunt Naty, Aunt Lorena-actually my dad's first cousin's wife, and Dave and Judy and their kids and families. This will be a Family History trip, too. Possibly some bettering of family relations.

My Mom and Dad liked to travel even though they had little money. Gas was cheaper then but income was smaller, too, so it wasn't always easy to go places. Their calling in the branch where we grew up was always in family history. Sometimes formally-other times not. One family in the branch had become active after their daughter was killed in a car wreck. They determined to go to the temple and be sealed as a family. Going to the temple was not easy then. There were the Salt Lake and Idaho Falls temples-both about the same distance--15 or 16 hours if you drove without stopping.
Stan and I were living in Provo at the time and Susan was a baby. Mom called and told us that this couple was coming and asked if they could stay with us if they had trouble finding a place to stay. Of course we said we'd be happy to have them.
They didn't come on the night we expected them but the following night Mom and Dad showed up. Mom said that after the family left for Salt Lake she got Daddy off to work and suddenly she received a strong impression that something was wrong and the family was not going to be able to do their temple work. The feeling was so strong that she packed their bags and a lunch and when Daddy got home from work he jumped in the shower and got dressed. His first words to her were "Something's wrong. We need to get to Utah." She replied, "I know. Everything's ready." They left for Utah within half an hour of Daddy getting home from work.
They drove straight through the night and showed up at the family file at the temple just in time to see their friends turning away with tears and despair in their eyes. Mom asked them what the problem was. Somehow the daughter's information had been printed wrong on the sheets. The worker at Family File suggested that they go to the office in the genealogy library that prepared the papers and see if it could be fixed in time for the session they were planning on.
Mom quickly took the papers to the Library but when she got there the line was very long. She was told that she needed to take her turn so she went to the end of the line. Time was passing and she could do nothing but pray. A minute or so later, a man came out of an office, looked up and down the line, walked right over to her and said, "You have a problem. Come with me."
He ushered her into the office where she explained the mix up. He quickly fixed it and she hurried back to the temple. The family was able to attend the sessions they had planned on and Mom and Dad were able to help with the sealings. That night they showed up at our house and slept on our couch and left the next day for home. Family History and Temple work IS important.

Did you ever wonder how our parents got along without cell phones, etc.?