Austin smiled to himself; he had no ill feelings, but he couldn’t help thinking: Hastings is going to go through life thinking the sun rises in the morning just because he’s planned it that way.
When it came time to bear his testimony, Austin had nothing to brag about, so he chose to talk about his hero. “I was reading this morning in the Book of Mormon, about when the Savior, after he’d been resurrected, visited the people. They’d endured a horrible storm and earthquakes and had survived aftershocks. They’d also experienced a day with no light of any kind. It says they were talking to one another about what had happened, when they heard a voice . . .”
Austin opened his scriptures and began reading: “‘And they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn. And it came to pass that again they heard the voice, and they understood it not. And again the third time they did hear the voice, and did open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound came. And behold, the third time they did understand the voice which they heard; and it said unto them: Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him.’”
Austin finished reading and looked over the pulpit at his fellow missionaries. “Have you ever wondered why the voice came three times? Why at first was it so soft they could not make out what was being said? Have you ever wondered about that? I have.”
He wasn’t sure anyone was paying any attention. Other elders had talked about their success as if that were a testimony.
Austin continued. “I can’t say for sure, but I don’t think this was some sound technician going, ‘Testing, testing, testing.’ I think we can assume that Father in Heaven is perfectly capable of adjusting the sound level so everyone can hear him.
“There were little children there who’d been terrified when the earthquakes came and when there was no light. Could it be that Heavenly Father didn’t want to scare the little children, so he deliberately spoke very softly at first, so the children wouldn’t be afraid?”
From his place on the stand behind Austin, Elder Hastings leaned forward and whispered, “We don’t have much time left.”
“Take as long as you want,” President Merrill corrected.
Austin continued. “If Father in Heaven is so sensitive that he is willing to repeat himself three times just so he won’t scare little children, then he is also gracious enough to bless us when we try our best to serve him. It really doesn’t matter where we serve. All that matters is that we do our best and try to pattern our lives after the Savior. Nothing else matters. Not even how many baptisms we get on our mission or whether we’re a district leader or a zone leader or a mission assistant. Those are not our goals. Baptisms are even secondary to our main goal. Our main goal is to serve the Savior with all our heart, might, and strength.”
After he said it, he heard Hastings whispering to President Merrill. Hastings probably wants to refute that, he thought.
But President Merrill let it stand.
* * * * *
Julia Brunswick, Austin’s mother, liked to anticipate and plan. That was evident in her love of redecorating. She’d redecorated every home they’d ever lived in. With her, it was never just move in some new furniture or knock out a wall. Everything was planned out well in advance, down to the tiniest detail.
She liked to do that with her family, too. And so her husband, Lloyd, was not surprised when one morning at breakfast she said, “We need to think about the kind of girl Austin is going to marry.”
“Can’t that wait until he gets home from his mission?” he asked.
“If we’re going to have a