When
the new Millennium dawned at the turn of the 21st century, it presented some
options that had not been available before. Consequently, I decided to
leave the structured Monday through Friday work week in corporate America and
join the service industry with its irregular schedules and iffy opportunities
for a "normal" life. That meant Sundays would be in question, as well
as regular time for a calling in the ward.
I
struggled with the pros and cons of those questions but figured the dilemma
would automatically be taken care of for me because United Airlines probably
would NOT accept my application for employment as a flight attendant.
After all I was a 54 year old woman living a sheltered life, with a home, a
family, and lots of tethers to those things. I could get myself a piece
of bread and to the bathroom in five languages but that hardly constituted
being able to "speak" a foreign language.
At
that time, United was looking for mature people from the business world who had
sat in their planes' business seats. That was ME during the years I had
traveled for the corporations with whom I had worked. After a long
interview process the deal was clinched when, during a final interview at United's
corporate headquarters in Chicago, I was asked if United hired me, what could I
bring to United.
After
I answered, "Thirty years ago when I graduated from college your
recruiters were looking for beauty. Now you are looking for experience,
and I have a lifetime of it." The interviewer looked at me and
said, "I think we want you!"
And
THAT'S when I had to decide whether or not I wanted to swing 180 degrees from
everything I had been used to for so many years.
I
accepted United's offer and figured the Lord would get me through this new
experience just as he had for every other endeavor and challenge in my life
prior to that time. But I was also aware that wouldn't happen without a
lot of effort on my part, as well, starting with my personal desire which was
to stay as close to the Church and the gospel of Jesus Christ as I could.
Truthfully,
if I had not had that determination it would have been soooo easy to set my
membership in the Kingdom aside and succumb to an easier way to deal with my
inability to control my schedule.
My
first five years with United was straight reserve: that means they told
me where, when and how long. I did have the ability to submit a bid every
month for what days I wanted to work, but my seniority was so low that during
most of that time, including one stretch of 13 months where I had NO SCHEDULED
Sunday off, my days off were middle of the week days--never a
weekend. I never got any of the choices I submitted that would allow me
to attend meetings at home. That was discouraging!
There
are a fair number of flight attendants who belong to the Church that I have run
into over the years who have told me they are no longer active because their
schedule didn't allow it. Or those who say they belong to the Church but
now drink coffee or tea because they had to stay awake or wanted a hot drink,
or everyone else is having Starbucks! Or many even who have served
missions but have turned to alternative life styles and a complete reversal
toward the doctrine about marriage and the family. Their political choices are
usually polar opposite of what mine are, as well.
I
can see where it would be easy to be nervous about the people in the large and
spacious building mocking and pointing fingers. The work force in the
airline industry is full of them. On occasion, I have had people tell me
my church is intolerant, practices polygamy, and is biased. And
yet, wonder of wonders, I have flown with a couple of people who have actually
defended my faith and the Church for me to others because they know members of
the Church who DO live the principles and commandments of the gospel.
There
was a choice from day one whether or not I was going to hold onto the iron
rod. I wanted to hold to the rod. So, this is how I have tried to
remain valiant in my testimony.
FIRST It seemed imperative that I keep my
life away from home as regular as if I were
home. Each night when I get to my
hotel room, one of the first things I do is take out a small picture of the
temple. That makes my hotel room a holy
place for as long as I am there. This last
week I retired my little picture of the Denver Temple and replaced it with a
picture of the Fort Collins Temple.
Every
day I have a morning devotional in my hotel room which I begin with my morning
prayer, then I sing a hymn and study my scriptures before I get ready for my
flights and leave for the airport.
No
matter where I am on Monday nights, I have Family Home Evening for one in my
hotel room. It isn’t long or elaborate,
but I study some gospel principle then give myself an assignment that relates
specifically to what I studied. And I
usually end with a treat, just like at home.
SECOND I determined that I could have a
Sabbath attitude even if I had to fly on Sunday.
If
my trip started later in the day, I tried to attend some part of my own ward
either in Chicago or here in Colorado. The same with coming in from a
trip later in the day on Sunday --I have
stopped at chapels along the way home in order to attend Church and sometimes
only got there in time for Relief Society. That's when I loved the chapels that had
wards meeting as late as two or two-thirty p.m. start time. It meant I
could have a Sabbath experience.
Many,
many times in those first years (and even some after that) I had layovers
on Sunday that were long enough where I could either walk or rent a car or take
a taxi or the train to the nearest chapel.
I started by looking in the phone book for the telephone number of the
bishop’s office or the hall phone to see if there were any ward members who
could swing by and pick me up for Church.
As time went on that became easier because I could just look on the
Church’s website for the nearest location of a ward.
I have
been to Church in Chicago, Kansas City, Washington DC, Manchester New
Hampshire, Philadelphia, St. Petersburg, Los Angeles, a Tongan ward in San
Francisco, St. Louis, Atlanta, Sioux Falls, Portland, Seattle, Detroit, and
Orlando among other cities. A couple of times Louis ended up in the same
city as I was in while he was traveling for HIS work and I showed him where we
could go to Church together.
On one
occasion, I called a bishop who told me there were no ward members near my
hotel, but that I could take the train from the airport to the Oakland station
where I would be able to see the chapel out the train window. That would be my stop. I did that and walked over to the church
building where I met Bishop Jermaine Sullivan and many other members of the Atlanta
Ward whom I recognized a couple of years later when I saw the movie MEET THE
MORMONS!
Ward
members in all of those places have been the kind of people you hear about in
General Conference talks...the ones who come up to the stranger in their midst
and welcome them. Many have given me their phone numbers in case I ever
had that same layover on a Sunday again. I always assured them that my
being with them that day was a once in a lifetime experience, yet on a few
occasions I did have a layover on a Sunday again in the same city. And I
did indeed call those people who then went out of their way to pick me up so I
could attend Church with them again.
The
Lord has provided so many tender mercies for me to be able to attend Church
over the years! There is no way I could
even begin to count them. I have been
blessed by a myriad of lessons with thought provoking spiritual discussions. I have been touched by uplifting talks,
including one very memorable one on High Council Sunday in St. Petersburg by a
high councilor originally from Colorado who invited the congregation to “EXECUTE
WITH EXCELLENCE!” That advice
still rings in my ears….
When
flight attendants used to be able to read while we were sitting on the
jump seat, I always made sure I read the Ensign magazine on Sundays. It
was a surefire way to strike up a conversation about the gospel and my beliefs.
Or share with the other person some wonderful nugget of gospel thought.
If
it is Fast Day, I fast. And I look for opportunities to share why I am
and what Fast Day is for. That in turn gives opportunities for my
co-workers to share with me what they have heard about the Church's HELPING HANDS program and what kinds of things THEY do to alleviate the suffering of the poor
and needy.
THIRD, I knew I could be valiant in my
testimony by bearing it to others--coworkers and passengers, too, for all of a
sudden I had a ready audience. It was like being a Stake Missionary all
over again. I remembered what President Uchtdorf said in General
Conference years ago--and repeated last Sunday at the temple dedication--share
with others what happens in our Church meetings over the weekend. A talk,
a principle from a lesson, and things like that instead of talking about the
weather or the big game over the weekend.
Mentioning that my sons served missions for our church—The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—is a great segue to gospel discussions and
opportunities to bear witness about some gospel principle.
So,
without couching my testimony in the phrases we use here over the pulpit, I
have shared my testimony with words like, "I know, I feel, I believe, I
am sure, I have had a personal experience with that." And statements about
God and Jesus Christ such as “I believe God goes to a lot of trouble to
orchestrate things behind the scenes for us...and it is up to us to be in tune so we know when we
can help other people.” Or something like “Christ's atonement gives us comfort during our times of sorrow and
sadness. It has been so for me.”
The
most amazing thing for me in working with all these people at my employment,
is that so many of them DO believe in a higher power. They have also
had spiritual experiences which they have shared with me. It is a
testimony to ME, that we are all children of God and he loves and watches over
all of us. I don't know why I thought Mormons had a corner on the market of
God's love and attention. But I found
out we don’t.
FOURTH I knew I needed a calling in order to
keep me involved with my ward and not be isolated. I didn't want to
transfer my records from my ward in Arvada to my Chicago ward, but I still
wanted to serve. I approached the Relief Society president in Arvada and asked if I
could write letters to the no-contact sisters, as I had done that years before
in Berlin, Germany. She spoke with the bishop about it, and he said he
thought it would be a good idea. That began a calling I have had now in all the
wards I have been in for the last 16 years. What a wonderful way to
serve!
I
was also a Visiting Teacher in my Chicago Ward, and was invited to substitute
for the Gospel Doctrine teacher now and then. Same in Arvada. I was
a team teacher there with the Gospel Doctrine teacher during those early years
when I was based in Chicago and commuted home every Sunday I had a
chance.
When
Louis and I moved to Johnstown, it was during that horrible period when I did
not have one single scheduled Sunday off. And it took a long time
to feel like I was a part of the Johnstown Ward because I hardly ever got to
attend our meetings.
Bishop
Hull called me to be a Family History specialist, but my assignment was to
spend a certain amount of time each week writing my OWN family history.
And thus began the Nichols Family Newsletter which I wrote for my children for
10 years. The idea of sitting down and writing “I Georgia Carol Huggins Nichols
Bateman was born blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…” didn't appeal to
me. Instead I told the story of my life in little chapters like my school
experiences and my relationship with my seven sisters, cars I had owned, moving
to Denver after I graduated from BYU, and our experiences living in Europe,
plus my testimony interspersed about any number of different gospel principles
directly related to what had happened to me and with my children in the Nichols
Family.
Then
came callings to play the organ for Sacrament meeting and serve and teach in
Relief Society and attend the temple with them. All these interactions
with ward members here at home helped me remain valiant in my testimony.
I
also continued playing the organ at the Denver Temple, but instead of a regular
slot like before, I was on the sub list and played for others when they needed
to be absent and I was available.
Finally
that brings me to a very important thing which has helped keep my testimony
bright and strong. And that is the temple.
During
those years in Chicago when I never had a Sunday off for real, I would go to
the Chicago Temple during the week so I could have a spiritual "church
experience". Now the Fort Collins Temple is close, but the Chicago
Temple was only 10 minutes up the road from my apartment. Plus, I would
do the same thing in my layover cities during the week, as I did on
Sunday. But instead of finding a chapel, I would walk, take the bus, or
rent a car so I could go to the temple.
You cannot imagine how the Lord
has blessed me when I have made the effort to do that. I have had
wonderful experiences in Boston, Orlando, Washington DC, Las Vegas, Reno,
Salt Lake City, Omaha, Atlanta, and other temples. Another plus has been the times Louis came
with me on layovers to San Diego, Honolulu, Calgary, and Edmonton Alberta where
we attended the temple together.
The
temple has been a major subject on the minds of all of us for the last several
months as we have geared up for the finale--the Cultural Celebration and the
Dedication of the Fort Collins temple last week.
We
have anticipated a shorter drive with less hassle of traffic, that's for sure,
but these months have also given us time to reflect on what the temple means to
each of us individually.
I
have always loved the account of Hannah in the Old Testament 1st Samuel chapter
one. You know the story: Hannah was one of Elkanah's two
wives. But not only was she not able to bear a child, the first wife gave
her a hard time about it. Year after year Hannah would faithfully go with
the rest of the family to the temple to worship. Her one prayer was that
the Lord would give her a son whom she would consecrate BACK to the Lord.
Eli the priest saw her and, in the course of the narrative, tells Hannah to go in
peace, that the God of Israel would grant her petition.
Shortly thereafter, Hannah does have a baby boy whom she later brings to the
temple to serve as consequence of her promise.
Here
in Hannah's story is one temple lesson for me: the temple is a place
where we can go when our hearts are troubled and we need solace. Our
prayers and our deep petitions which we offer there will be answered.
That has been the case many times in my lifetime. I have always found
comfort and even solutions for some of the thorny problems in my life.
Direction given to us in the temple is pure and goes straight to a humble heart
which is seeking divine guidance.
Two
other lessons from the temple were called to mind again last Thursday when I
went to the Fort Collins Temple for the first time since the dedication.
Adam
had a great determination to keep all of God's commandments.
But
Eve could see the eternal view and knew that without the Fall, the Lord's plan
of happiness would be frustrated. The priority law to support that
plan was that they multiply and replenish the earth.
Brothers
and Sisters, the temple is our focus. It is the only place where our
families can realize the potential we have been given to be a forever
family. We need to be steadfast and immovable in keeping the
commandments, but we must keep the commandments not just as requirements.
We need to see the commandments with the understanding that they are the
means we have of achieving eternal life.
Let
the temple be your beacon. Go often to worship there because it is the
receptacle of God's light and love for us here on earth. Go when your
heart is troubled. Go when you need answers. Go as you do your
family history work. Go, not only because it is a commandment, but because
it provides a greater eternal view for our—sometimes—limited earthly perspective.
That
we do so is my prayer.
