Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, thirty years ago today, this family got started. Can you imagine that?

 How did it all begin? Well, at least from my perspective there is a bit of a story. At the beginning of my sophomore year at BYU I had a new roommate. She was so spiritual and I really admired her. I thought I would like to grow up and be just like her. After a long thought process,I decided that one of the reasons she was so spiritual was a result of her having served a mission. I called my dad and asked him about going on a mission when I turned twenty-one, a year away. My biggest concern was the knowing that my brother is two years younger than me and would then be going at the same time. I didn't know if that would present a hardship fir my family. My dad assured me that they had been saving money for missions and there would be plenty of money for both of us to go at the same time.

 I signed up to take the missionary prep class at BYU and was very excited about the whole thing. At the beginning of the winter semester, I attended a fireside or perhaps it was a devotional, I cant remember which. The speaker talked about how important it is to pray about all of our important decisions so I decided that a mission is really important, so I prayed about this decision. I prayed and the answer I received was "Just wait." So I thought okay, I can do that.  A few weeks later I prayed again. The answer was the same. I was a little frustrated but continued going to class, doing my homework, and doing my church calling of teaching relief society once a month, which I absolutely loved. After a few more weeks I figured it was time to try again. One more time my answer was "Just wait." I just kind of shook my head and thought this was pretty weird. The end of the semester was getting closer and it would soon be time to go home to California.

 One last time, just a few weeks before finals when I prayed I got a different answer. It was totally crazy. The answer I received this time was "You are going to go home and get married. "  I thought that was the.most ridiculous thing I had ever heard. There was absolutely no one in my home ward to marry, nor did I know anyone since I had been away in Provo the past two years and had only been in California for the one year before that, my senior year in high school. And there wasn't anyone that I was interested in at BYU.

So I decided that I wasn't going to tell anyone about my personal revelation. What if I was wrong, what if I really wasn't in tune with the spirit, what if I made a fool of myself. So kept quiet and continued on the with my mission plans. I began to fill out my mission papers. I had a physical. I had my wisdom teeth extracted (not fun) and took the language test. I did really well on the language test, so I was hopeful about going to a foreign country since I have always enjoyed traveling. I kept my eyes and ears open and continued to pray and to keep quiet about any wedding ideas.

After about a month of being home it was missionary transfer day in our area and one of the elders in my parent's ward was heading for home as his mission was over. As is tradition, he and his companion visited some of the families that they were close to to say good-bye. I guess the Hein family had befriended the elders so our home was one of the stops. There was a knock on the door and I answered it. I invited the missionaries in and my family all gathered around. Elder Anderson announced that he was leaving but would be back in a month to go to school. My immediate thought, "That us who I am going to marry." A month later when he returned our ward was having a Fourth of July breakfast and he invited a girl.  Boy was I annoyed.  She had to leave after a while so I invited him to come to our house for homemade ice cream that evening. I didn't tell my family in case he didn't show up and I didn't want to be embarrassed, but then I was still embarrassed when he did show up. I am sure he felt very uncomfortable when everyone probably wondered what he was doing at our house.  And the rest is history.