Have you ever stopped to consider how many small miracles have quietly shaped your life?
In this week’s episode of Latter-day Lights, we sit down with David Anderson—a husband, father of eleven, and grandfather of twenty-eight—whose life is a beautiful tapestry of tender mercies, quiet revelations, and sacred moments.
From losing his mother as a baby to discovering faith as a teenager, from extraordinary mission experiences to miraculous moments later in life, David shares how even the smallest spiritual impressions can leave the deepest marks.
Through heartfelt stories of pioneer ancestors, personal encounters with the Spirit, and everyday acts of courage and obedience, David reminds us that God is in the details. His stories aren’t just inspirational—they're a powerful invitation to reflect on our own lives and recognize the hand of the Lord, even in the seemingly ordinary moments.
*** Please SHARE David's story and help us spread hope and light to others. ***
To WATCH this episode on YouTube, visit: https://youtu.be/KuvWl5A7ycQ
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Also, if you have a faith-promoting or inspiring story, or know someone who does, please let us know by going to https://www.latterdaylights.com and reaching out to us.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Scott Brandley (00:00):
Hey everyone, I'm Scott Brandley.
Alisha Coakley (00:02):
And I'm Alisha Coakley.
Every member of the church hasa story to share, one that can
instill faith, invite growth andinspire others.
Scott Brandley (00:10):
On today's episode we're going to hear how
a life of ups and downs hashelped one man to recognize the
many miracles that have beensprinkled throughout his life.
Welcome to Latter-day Lights.
Hey everyone, welcome back toanother episode of Latter-day
(00:33):
Lights.
We're so glad you're here withus today.
We're really excited tointroduce our special guest,
david Anderson, to the show.
Welcome, david.
David Anderson (00:43):
Thank you.
Alisha Coakley (00:44):
And thanks so much for reaching out to us.
I always, I always telleveryone I'm like I love when we
don't have to go track peopledown.
I love when they just come tous and you have a lot of just
really cool stories.
I know when we were talkingover the phone I was like, oh my
gosh, this is so amazing.
So this is going to be a littledifferent, I think today,
instead of just one focusedthing we're talking about, we've
(01:07):
got a lot of really cool thingsthat you're going to be sharing
with us and, um, we're justgoing to kind of we're just
going to learn from you and letthe spirit in and see where our
conversation goes.
But, um, before we start withall all those stories and
everything you're sharing today,do you want to tell us a little
bit about yourself?
You know where you're frommarried kids, all of that stuff.
David Anderson (01:30):
Yes, my name is Dave Anderson and I live in
Bluffdale, utah.
I've lived here the majority ofmy life.
My wife and I are the parentsof 11 children and we have 28
grandchildren.
Alisha Coakley (01:46):
Oh my gosh.
David Anderson (01:46):
And I grew up in this area it was a small
farming community and building ahouse here and raising our
family here.
My wife taught homeschool toour children until they were
about in ninth or tenth grade ohmy gosh and she did a lot to
help our family over the years.
(02:07):
And anyway, I love poetry, Ilove the gospel.
I've written a book on Zion.
I served a mission in Missouriand so I was interested in all
the things I learned there andthe book's entitled Zion in Our
Day, and that's basically all Ican think of.
Alisha Coakley (02:29):
Nice, okay, what are the range of ages for your
kids?
Because 11 kids, I'm thinkinglike your wife was pregnant for
like two decades.
David Anderson (02:41):
Yes.
Alisha Coakley (02:41):
Probably right, Like either pregnant or nursing
or baby on her hip type of thing, right?
David Anderson (02:47):
Yes, yes, it's 20 years.
Our youngest is 20 yearsyounger than our oldest.
He was on a mission when ouryoungest was born.
Alisha Coakley (02:56):
Oh my gosh.
Well, I don't know about you,but she gets an automatic pass
to heaven.
Scott Brandley (03:01):
So yes, and she homeschooled on top of that.
Alisha Coakley (03:07):
And then 28 grand babies to love after that.
Wow, that's you.
Guys are overachievers alreadyI can tell.
David Anderson (03:14):
Well, we didn't plan on that, it just kind of
worked out one at a time, right,wow?
Scott Brandley (03:20):
Awesome, Well cool, David, let's jump right
into it.
Let's turn the time over to you, my friend.
David Anderson (03:29):
Okay, well, I was born in 1957, and I've got
four sisters and three brothers,and I'm the youngest of eight.
My father's name is MoyleAnderson and he worked at Geneva
for 32 years Geneva still andmy mother was a homemaker,
(03:51):
karine Lewis Anderson.
And anyway, she passed awaywhen I was a year old, leaving
my father with eight children,and so then I went to live with
my dad's brother, my Aunt Loreeand Uncle Reed in Sandy for
three and a half years.
I moved back home because myfather remarried.
(04:13):
He married a woman namedShirley Gilstrap, who was my
stepmother.
That raised me, and she was aconvert to the church.
She was raised Baptist and shehad a really strong testimony of
the gospel.
She was the first person in herfamily to join the church and
(04:37):
as a result of that she had alot of spiritual things happen
in her life, and when she firstjoined the church and moved to
Salt Lake, she would have thespirits of her ancestors in the
kitchen of her apartment and shecould actually hear them
(04:57):
talking, and it got to be such adistraction that she prayed
that she wouldn't be able tohear it.
So then that went away and thenwhen she did her favorite
uncle's temple work.
He did appear to her and smiledat her like saying thank you.
(05:17):
She was a great woman and Ifeel like I had three mothers
that raised me.
My birth mother contractedbreast cancer when she was
pregnant with me and the doctortold her that she should have an
(05:39):
abortion and have a mastectomy.
She didn't take that route, soin a way I feel like she saved
my life, you know, in a sense,because she died of cancer a
year after I was born.
So my aunt raised me and she isa wonderful woman.
(06:03):
She and her husband both went ona mission.
My uncle he had served as abishop and patriarch and he's
really close to the Spirit.
One day when he and his sonMark were out turfing their
backyard, they bought thissquares of turf.
It's Saturday night and theyhad just enough to finish the
yard, except they were short onesquare.
And he turned to my cousin Markand said Mark, it'd be nice if
(06:25):
some truck or trailer came downthe road with a load of turf and
one fell off right by our house.
And right when he said that,this guy with a truck pulling a
trailer with a load of turf cameby their house and it hit a
bump and a square of turf felloff and they went and grabbed it
(06:47):
and finished the job.
Alisha Coakley (06:49):
He should have asked for something else.
David Anderson (06:51):
Right, but anyway, that's kind of my
background.
Most of my ancestry is pioneerheritage and I had three of my
ancestors that were bodyguardsto the Prophet Joseph Smith and
I just thought I'd sharesomething about two of them.
(07:11):
The prophet had about 40bodyguards during his life.
Wiley Payne Allred was mygrandfather's grandfather.
He was about 13 years youngerthan the Prophet Joseph Smith
but he and his father, jamesAllred, were both bodyguards.
(07:31):
And Wiley Payne just livedacross the street from the
mansion in Nauvoo and he livedwith the Prophet Joseph Smith
for a year helping him to builda barn.
He lived with the ProphetJoseph Smith for a year helping
him to build a barn.
He was pretty knowledgeable inherbs even as a teenager.
The Prophet at one time gotinjured where his leg got
(07:58):
infected and gangrene set in.
He was able to help heal theProphet's leg.
After the Prophet's leg washealed, he gave him a blessing.
He was told that he was anatural-born doctor and the
prophet blessed him to be anherb doctor.
(08:22):
He spent his life doing that andat one time he risked his life
for the prophet Right beforeCarthage jail he went and kind
of acted as a spy, you know,with the mob that was in
Carthage, and anyway he wasthere when the prophet fell from
(08:43):
the window.
But he saw that and his father,james Allred, was in the jail
with the prophet, joseph Smith,one of the men that was in there
and the prophet was trying toget rid of them because he knew
that their lives would be atrisk, and so he gave James
(09:04):
Allred his sword and he said youmight need this to protect
yourself.
And so James Allred left andafter the prophet was killed he
was the one that brought JohnTaylor back in his wagon and
(09:24):
anyway, it was so painful theyhad to make a little sleigh for
John Taylor back in his wagon.
Anyway, it was so painful, theyhad to make a little sleigh for
John Taylor because theycouldn't go on the main road,
they had to go where the peoplewouldn't find them so easily.
So then anyway, james Allred'swife she was a seamstress and
the prophet came in and askedher one day if she would help
(09:47):
cut out some temple garments.
And so she was the one that wasthe first person that helped
make the first temple garmentsfor the prophet Joseph Smith and
his brother Hiram, that wasabout in 1842.
And his brother Hiram, that'sabout in 1842.
And they made it out ofunbleached muslin with the red
(10:11):
turkey thread to put it together.
But anyway, that's justsomething special from one of my
ancestors.
But anyway, my grandfatherLouis, that just lived up the
road from me, he was a farmerand I idolized him and I worked
(10:33):
a lot with him on his farm andone of the jobs he had me do was
with all of his chickens.
He had to do something with thelice problem where they get
lice in their feathers had to dosomething with the lice problem
where they get lice in theirfeathers.
He had this liquid nicotine andhe had me go paint all the
(10:54):
chicken roosts with the nicotineand he explained to me that the
nicotine is so powerful thatwhen the chickens went to roost
that the fumes from the nicotinewould kill all the lice in
their feathers.
Really, yes, you never knew.
Anyway, it's kind of a lessonon the word of wisdom.
You know not to smoke, anyway.
(11:24):
That's one thing I always neverhad a problem with, I think
because of him, but he had astrong testimony too and he'd
written in a Book of Mormonchallenging me to get a
testimony of the gospel.
I made some tries, you know,but nothing really serious until
I was about 16.
(11:44):
And then, finally, I decided Ialways wanted to serve a mission
but I wanted to really knowthat the gospel was true for
myself and I started reading thescriptures every night in my
bedroom and one night, while Iwas reading, the presence of the
Spirit came into the room,really powerful, and I felt the
warmth of the spirit and powerof the spirit radiate through my
(12:07):
body and it just filled me withjoy and that experience it
stuck with me all my life.
It's kind of a defining momentand another moment in my life.
About that time I was kind ofan average student in school and
all of my friends played sportsa big percentage of them.
(12:29):
I rarely did homework and Ijust was a little bit of a
slacker maybe.
But there's a little poem I like.
It's called Improvement by RuthRoth and it says Do not look
back on yesterdays unless it iswith pleasure.
The moments spent in blindregret are plain pain, double
(12:54):
measure.
We make mistakes and see ourfaults and try to mend our way
by being sure we do not make thesame mistakes today.
So anyway, I just thought, well, I haven't applied myself, what
could I do?
And so it's my senior yearcoming up and I could have taken
(13:14):
work study.
But they had a quest programwhere you could study in the
seminary library and just anyquestion.
You had any book you wanted toread, seminary library, and just
any question.
You had.
Any book you wanted to read,you could read and consult with
(13:34):
the seminary principal.
So I did that.
I had three hours of seminarymy last year of high school and
I think that really helped me inmy life.
They said that our lives arethe stories of our choices and
the things we experience as aresult of our choices.
So I felt like that prepared mefor a mission and I learned the
(13:57):
value of hard work.
Growing up I had all thesedifferent jobs and so when I
graduated I went to work forAssociated Foods warehouse
graveyard shift and I spent timein the day up at the church
family history library in SaltLake quite often and I think I
(14:19):
got the spirit of Elijah thereand I got interested in that and
then I saved enough money to goto Snow College and I went to
Snow College and really enjoyedthat One experience.
I had this girl in my seminaryclass that I thought was really
(14:43):
cute.
She bore a testimony and saidthat she loved the Savior so
much she is willing to die forHim.
And when I heard that it justkind of took me back because I
didn't know if I had that muchfaith.
(15:05):
I never did date her, but aftermy mission I'd written a letter
to her asking her.
On a date my grandfather diedand her mother came up to the
funeral and it was my mother'sfirst cousin, so we were second
cousins and I didn't even knowit.
But I just wanted to sharemaybe a few stories from my
(15:31):
mission.
But I started out in St Joseph,missouri, and that's where the
Pony Express started and I'dnever experienced humidity
before.
And anyway, my first companionand I his name was Elder Ashton.
He was a really hard worker andwe got a referral to go see a
woman in the hospital and hername was Frances Shirley, so we
(15:56):
gave her a blessing there at thehospital she was not a member,
so we asked her if we couldshare the discussions with her
and she said yes, after I gothome and we went to her house
and in the second discussion sheshared something with us.
But she'd had quite a hard life.
Her husband had been analcoholic and she'd gotten a
(16:18):
divorce.
She was 60 years old.
She said well, I wanted to askyou a question.
We were doing the discussion onthe plan of salvation and every
time we shared a concept youknow like well, we started in
the preexistence.
Then she'd say why did we cometo earth?
We'd talk about that.
And she says well, what happenswhen we die?
(16:40):
And she's always one step aheadof us.
And so at the end of thediscussion, and she's always one
step ahead of us.
And so at the end of thediscussion, the Spirit was
really strong.
So we challenged her forbaptism and she accepted.
But then she said I want to askyou a question.
And we said okay.
And she said when I was 11years old, I had a vision, but
I've never shared it withanybody, I just kept it to
(17:02):
myself and I never reallyunderstood what it means.
But I wanted to share that andsee if you could help me
understand it.
And so, anyway, she said, inher vision, all she saw was gold
all around.
And other than this beautifulgold, she saw candles that were
burning.
Every so often she would seethe face of a man that would
(17:25):
blow out the candle and thenhe'd smile down at her and she
asked us what this meant.
But while she was sharing that,the Spirit came down through
the top of my head so strong,filled my whole body.
I just felt like Nephi, youknow, when he was going to shock
his brothers.
I was so full of the spirit.
(17:47):
But just in a flash in my mind,what her vision meant came to
my mind, that anyway, I was ableto tell her that that the
candles represented the burningquestions that she'd had all her
life and and that when thosequestions were answered, that
(18:07):
God would confirm it to her andsmile down on her that it was
true.
But anyways, a simple answer.
But to me that was a specialthing.
You know, that's something I'dnever experienced before and it
gave me a connection with Godthat he was helping us as
missionaries.
After that one night, mycompanion Elder Kelsey—this is a
(18:32):
different companion—we only hadone bedroom in our apartment,
and so I was out in the frontliving area with the bed and
it's the middle of summer, youknow like 95 degrees at night,
with the humidity really high,and I woke up at 12 o'clock in
the night and the room was icecold.
(18:54):
I had the window open by my bed, but it was ice cold and this
feeling of fear came over me.
I felt this evil presence inthe room and it was so
overpowering, it was likepressing down on me.
I tried to yell for mycompanion to help me and nothing
(19:16):
would come out of my mouth.
So I just had to say a prayerin my mind.
So I just had to say a prayerin my mind asking for the
Savior's help, for HeavenlyFather to help me in the name of
Jesus Christ.
And after that it left butgained a testimony that Satan's
real and he didn't really likewhat we were doing, I guess.
(19:40):
And an interesting experienceand an interesting experience my
stepmother, shirley Anderson.
After she had joined the church, she had this experience where
she had actually been possessedby evil spirits and her stake
president.
She went to him and asked forhelp and he cast out the evil
(20:02):
spirits.
But what they were doing atnight?
They were stretching her body,preventing her from sleeping and
she was just getting worn downand it was terrible.
And anyway, he cast them outand when they left she saw a
tall man and a short man and theshort man turned around and
(20:23):
sneered at her short man and theshort man turned around and
sneered at her.
But anyway, I knew from herexperience that people do
experience that.
So anyway, back to my mission.
When I was walking down thestreet this one day with my
companion, elder Kelsey, we werein the older part of St Joseph,
(20:44):
missouri, where they built allthese houses like in the 1930s
and they all were wood framehomes with a single car garage,
wooden garage.
And I looked at this one garageand I saw, you know, maybe a
dozen pigeons up on the roof ofthat garage.
(21:04):
While I was looking at them, Iheard this voice in my head say
hold out your hand and snap yourfinger and a pigeon's going to
fly down and land on your head.
And I thought, why would Ithink that?
And then I thought, well, whatif it's the Holy Ghost?
And then I thought, well, whatif it's the Holy Ghost?
(21:27):
And I thought, well, the HolyGhost wouldn't want me to do
something like that.
And then I thought, well, if Idid do this, what would my
companion think if the pigeondidn't fly down?
So I'm having all thesethoughts going in my brain, and
so then I heard it again and asI looked at this pigeon, this
(21:50):
feeling of confidence came overme and I knew it was going to
happen.
And I heard the voice a thirdtime hold out your arm and snap
your finger, the pigeon will flydown and land on your head.
So I did, and I, you know, Ithought, well, if, if it doesn't
happen, I won't have to tell mycompanion what I'm doing?
But but I had this feeling ofconfidence and it happened and
(22:16):
it flew down on my head andanyway, this little boy was
following us around.
You know the a lot of timesthey thought we were like fbi or
something with our suits andall that, but anyway, we didn't
really have anything happen as aresult of that.
But for me it was a way for meto recognize how the Spirit
(22:42):
speaks to me in my life.
And so down the road, when Iheard that voice different times
you know, with my work or mymission or whatever my family
the times I've listened to it,it's been a blessing in my life.
And so that happened and we'dbeen teaching quite a few people
(23:04):
.
And so that happened and we'dbeen teaching quite a few people
.
One person we were teaching wasa girl named Sherry Gregg, and
their family was Catholic andher mother had joined the church
.
My first companion had baptizedher mother and so she wanted us
to teach her daughter, sherry.
That was going to college atthat time.
(23:28):
She is really a special personthat had a lot going for them.
We challenged her to read theBook of Mormon.
She says well, I'll read 50pages a day, but if I don't get
an answer, then I want you toleave me alone".
And we thought no one's, shedoesn't know what she's
(23:49):
committing to you know.
But we thought if she's willingto read, that's awesome.
We left her.
After that discussion, about aweek and a half or two weeks
later, I get this phone call inthe middle of the morning, at
one o'clock in the morning, andshe said Elder Anderson, this is
(24:10):
Sherry.
She says yes, how are you doing?
Is everything okay?
And she said I want to getbaptized.
And I said well, what happened?
And she said well, you know ittakes a long time to read 50
pages a day.
She'd been reading up till oneo'clock in the morning.
(24:31):
While she was reading, she wassaying this prayer where she
said Heavenly Father, I don'texpect you to tell me this is
true because I already know it'strue just from reading it.
Expect you to tell me this istrue because I already know it's
true just from reading it" shewas actually trying to read it
on one hand to point out whatwas wrong with it to her mother
(24:54):
after joining the church.
But she gained a testimony andwhen she said that prayer, she
heard an angelic choir singingand she ran into her mother's
bedroom and said Mother, can youhear the beautiful music?
(25:14):
She was the only one that couldhear it.
Her mother didn't hear it, butshe joined the church.
Then her best friend in school,pat Castleton, joined the
church.
Her niece, her grandmotherjoined the church.
A couple other people, herniece, her grandmother joined
the church and a couple otherpeople just as a result of her
testimony had a big impact andinfluence on those people.
Other members of her familyjoined the church later on.
(25:36):
Just to show one thing howpowerful stories can be when we
were teaching her grandmothershe didn't care about Joseph
Smith.
She said she knew that BrighamYoung was a prophet because he
took all the saints across theplains, and that was her
(26:00):
testimony, because she hadlearned that growing up in
school or somewhere.
It just shows how powerfulstories can be on people.
I mentioned I had a lot ofcompanions.
Well, I'll share one otherstory.
I trained five new missionariesafter I left St Joseph and went
(26:24):
to Farmington, missouri, andone of my companions, elder
Aldous and I his name was AlanAldous and I, his name was Alan
Aldiss We'd been teaching thisdivorced woman with a teenage
son and her name was Pat Hartand anyway, it was sacrament
meeting at Farmington Ward andthe sacrament song was playing
(26:49):
and that voice, you know, likewhen the pigeon experience I had
it, came to me and said go overto Pat Hart's house, so we get
up.
My companions thinking well,why don't we wait till the
sacrament's over, you know.
But I thought, well, just do it.
(27:10):
And so we left and she lived inanother town.
We went over there andchallenged her to get baptized.
That's what the Spirit said todo.
And she committed.
And the next week I went overto do a baptismal interview and
she had moved away and no oneknew where she went.
(27:33):
Just to end that story after Iwas married and we had a couple
children, saturday night onenight I got this phone call and
it was Pat Hart on the phone.
She said is this Elder Anderson?
And I said yes and well, wetalked for a little bit.
But then she says well, do youremember when you came over and
(27:56):
challenged me to get baptized?
And I said yes.
And she says well, after youleft, she said I just got really
scared and I just felt Icouldn't do it.
And she said I left town.
She said she had met a newperson and they got married and
(28:18):
a new set of missionaries came.
They'd been taking thediscussions and she just wanted
me to know that she was gettingbaptized the next day.
Wow, that was a special thing.
Wow, that was a special thing.
And anyway, one of mycompanions came from an inactive
family but he had a scoutleader, you know, when he was 16
(28:43):
or 17,.
That had a big influence in hislife and got him going to
church.
When he came to Missouri it waspretty challenging for him
because he hadn't had the samebackground as a lot of
missionaries, you know fromactive homes.
But he'd get kind of depressedsometimes.
And this one morning we got upand I had gotten ready in my
(29:05):
suit and tie and he was still inhis Levi's and he says well,
Elder, are you ready to go outand do the work?
And he didn't look up.
He was pretty despondent.
He's tying the shoe.
He says well, when I get thisshoe tied, I'm going to be out
that door and you're never goingto see me again.
He said I was on the track teamin high school, so don't try
(29:27):
and keep up with me.
He took off and I'm runningafter him in my suit, you know,
and he's saying a few choicewords, you know.
And finally he gets winded andI said let's just call the
mission president and then youcan do whatever you want, you
(29:47):
know.
And he agreed and turned out.
The mission president talkedhim into staying and his advisor
, as a young man, had become amission president in California.
So he got to finish his missionin California under that person
and finished an honorablemission.
Elder Lee's had a poem thathelped him and that's one reason
(30:09):
I mentioned him.
It was called the Road is Rough.
So I wanted to share that it's.
The road is rough, I said, dearLord, with stones that hurt me.
So Ah yes, dear child, Iunderstand, I walked it long ago
.
But there is a cool green path.
I said, let me walk there for atime.
(30:29):
No, child, he gently answeredme.
The green path doesn't climb,but I wish that there were
friends with me who could makemy way their own.
Ah yes, said he.
Gethsemane was hard to facealone, and so I took the stony
path, contend at last to knowthat where my Savior'd gone
(30:53):
before I did not need to know.
And strangely then I found newfriends.
My burden grew less sore.
As I remembered long ago hewalked that way before.
That's a poem he shared with methat helped him get through his
mission.
That's something that helped meunderstand the power of poems.
(31:15):
Sometimes that got meinterested in writing poems.
So, my mission president I hada new mission president because
they were going to split ourmission.
The last nine months of mymission I had the opportunity to
serve in the office as hisassistant.
(31:36):
His name was Norman Olson.
He had such a huge influence onmy life that I think back on
that decision I made at theseminary that helped prepare me
for my mission and I think if Ihadn't did that I probably
wouldn't have had thatopportunity.
But anyway, outside of myfather and my grandfather, he
(32:02):
probably had the greatest impacton my life.
He was a multimillionaire andhe had me be a chauffeur driving
his Mercedes around the mission.
But his wife always said shefelt safe when I was driving.
Maybe that's why I became atruck driver.
I've been in the transportationindustry for 40 years.
(32:25):
But anyway, he chose a couplecounselors.
He chose a counselor namedMenlo Smith that was president
of Sunmark Corporation.
It's a multimillion-dollarcorporation and he had ancestors
(32:48):
that were descendants of HiramSmith, but some of them had gone
inactive.
He actually grew up outside ofthe church.
He ended up becoming aJehovah's Witness.
He joined the church later inlife but after he served as a
counselor he got called as amission president to the
Philippines.
(33:08):
The poverty there was so badthat he thought what can I do?
And after he got back hestarted a nonprofit organization
to help create loans, like$5,000 or $10,000 loans to help
people with their education orstart a business, and he asked
(33:28):
my mission president, normanOlson, to be on the board of
directors with them and they didabout 10,000 loans and 95% of
them were all paid off and theyhelped people all around the
world.
And one day one of the apostlesasked if he could come to their
board meeting.
I can't remember if it wasElder Holland or who it was, but
(33:53):
they asked if they could takeover their nonprofit
organization.
And that's where the PerpetualEducation Fund came from and it
just shows how a small thing canturn into a big thing.
You know my other mission,president Graham Doxey from the
Missouri Independence Mission.
(34:16):
After he got home, presidentKimball called him one day and
said Can you come see me?
And he went to see him andPresident Kimball said Well,
I've got a little job for you.
I want you to be a watchmanover Missouri and tell me
whatever needs to be done inMissouri to prepare for the
second coming.
That's basically it.
(34:38):
So he went home, startedreading everything he could
about the end times with theSavior in Missouri and anything
that had to do with it.
You know, he read in Daniel 7where 10,000 times 10,000 saints
would stand before Father Adam.
He thought, well, adam-on-diamin the church only owns a couple
(35:01):
hundred acres.
So anyway, he ended up buying1,100 acres for the church in
different places in Missouri, indifferent places in Missouri.
And then when I was there, I'mjust going to show you and when
I was there, adam-on-the-almondwas just overgrowth of trees and
woods.
You know mostly some farms.
(35:23):
These were the thorn trees thatwere around there.
Scott Brandley (35:28):
Really, yeah that's what they look like.
That looks gnarly.
Alisha Coakley (35:32):
That does look gnarly.
I mean I haven't been there butI've seen pictures and it looks
beautiful and just lush andgreen and rolling hills and all
that stuff.
David Anderson (35:40):
So yeah, he got loggers from the northwest.
They started these workmissions, they started
beautifying it, you know, tocreate an outdoor temple for
when that all takes place andanyway it just shows from small
things.
You know the prophet doesn'thave the Savior come maybe all
(36:03):
the time and just tell him whatto do, but it's just through the
Spirit and the Holy Ghost andpeople that are called to serve
in the church.
And you know just like yourprogram is affecting thousands
of people, I'm sure from youguys creating this and thank you
for doing that because it'sbeen a blessing in my life as a
(36:24):
truck driver listening to it.
Maybe I'll just share a littleabout after I got home.
I got married after I got homefrom my mission.
I dated maybe 10 different girlsbefore I met my wife at a
Cottonwood Mall dancer in theholiday area back then and it
(36:56):
was really fun and she was thecutest girl on the dance floor
and I danced with her and Iwanted to just dance with her
all night and she'd come fromthe Hunter area but she'd come
with a carload of girls and saidtheir car was full so she said
I could take her home and I tookher home, came home about
midnight my dad was eating anonion sandwich and I said, well,
(37:17):
I think I've met the girl Iwant to marry.
Maybe six months later we gotmarried.
She had a full-ride scholarshipup at the?
U.
She was really smart and wemoved into this apartment in
Salt Lake, right across thestreet from State Street, from
the church office building.
There's a little park there now, but there used to be a house
(37:42):
and we were in that house and sowe had a lot of general
authorities in our ward andstake.
So you know, at stakeconference, president Kimball
would come and elder mcconkeywas in our stake.
They asked him to come speak,do a little fireside in the
relief society room.
(38:02):
So I was really excited becausehe is one of my, my heroes yeah
I sat on the front row with mywife and he shared an experience
at that fireside.
I was like 10 feet away fromhim.
His father-in-law was JosephFielding Smith and they were
eating dinner.
One time at Joseph FieldingSmith's home, before he was the
(38:24):
prophet.
Joseph Fielding Smith wassaying well, if I ever live to
become the prophet, I think I'dwant to call this man and this
man to the Quorum of the Twelve.
And so Elder McConkie did endup becoming the prophet and
after they had two vacancies inthe Quorum of the Twelve and
they didn't call those two men,he said he's just making the
(38:48):
point that the Lord calls thepeople that are supposed to be
in those positions.
And he said that he could go toany stake in the church and
find 12 men or women that werejust as worthy to be a member of
the Quorum of the Twelve as theones that are in there now.
But then he went on to say thatwhen he was called to be an
(39:12):
apostle and they were settinghim apart, that he heard this
voice from the spirit world sayOscar's son just got called to
the Quorum of the Twelve andtears were coming down his face
because it meant so much to himbecause his father had passed
away and he knew his father knewthat he had been called to the
Quorum of the Twelve.
That was kind of special tohear that story, so I thought
(39:36):
I'd share it because it wasmeaningful to me.
My father-in-law, melvin Fish hehad been a seminary teacher in
Kanab back when my wife wasmaybe seven or eight years old
he told me a story about howthey were having student teacher
(39:57):
conference and one of theparents of the girls that was in
a seminary class came in andthey were talking and the mother
shared an experience about herdaughter that he was teaching.
The mother said that when thedaughter was like two or three
years old she was one of thesechildren that could talk early
at a young age.
They had a picture of the MantiTemple in their house and the
(40:22):
daughter was looking at thepicture and she pointed at the
picture and said to her motherwhat is that building?
And the mother said well,that's the building your father
and I got married in.
And the daughter looked at it.
She says well, it looks likethe building that you got
married in, but it didn't havethe steps going down the back
(40:46):
like it does in this picture.
And then the mother thought,and she said well, when she got
and her husband got married,they hadn't put the steps in yet
, and so the daughter couldn'thave known that, you know.
And so, anyway, I thought thatwas interesting to support, that
(41:10):
we lived with our father inheaven before we came to earth
and that that maybe there'speople in this, in the temples,
when we're performing ordinances, you know that are even
children that haven't even beenborn yet right so then I got a
job after we were married at acompany called Quality Linen.
(41:34):
I was a textile salesman and itwas kind of a dead-end job.
I had a carpet cleaningbusiness that I started and I
was only making $18,000 a yearwith both jobs.
And so I went to church andPresident Kimball had put out
this video, where in the videothey played it in a priesthood
(41:56):
meeting if you doubled your fastoffering, the Lord would double
your income.
And so I thought, well, we onlypay $10 a month.
That's not too hard if the Lordwould do that.
So we doubled our fast offeringand not too long after that my
(42:19):
sister had a baby blessing.
We went to and mybrother-in-law's brother worked
at UPS and I was asking himabout the possibility of getting
on there and he says well,actually I think they're
interviewing at job servicetomorrow.
And he told me the name of thisguy he thought was going to be
interviewing.
(42:39):
So I went to work.
The next day While I wasworking I heard that voice again
go over to job service.
So I went over there eventhough I wasn't supposed to, at
the company truck, and I talkedto the lady and she said well,
there's a card file, is yourname on a card file?
(43:00):
And I said no, and she said,well, there's 3,000 people on a
card file and they only chose300 out of the 3,000 to
interview.
And I says, well, I was toldthat so-and-so would be
interviewing and if I came overthat I could get an interview.
And since I knew that name, shelet me get an interview.
(43:21):
And they hired me for Christmashelp and out of the 300, only
30 people were hired and afterChristmas was over they laid
everyone off except me and onlytwo other people got recalled
(43:43):
back to work after Christmas outof the 29.
And exactly a year after wedoubled our fast offering.
My W-2 slip anyway was $36,000.
And I was able to quit mycarpet cleaning job.
It's a testimony that theHeavenly Father helps.
(44:05):
And my wife gave up herfull-ride scholarship to the?
U because we started having afamily and that was hard to her
and that was a sacrifice.
I don't really think Iappreciated how, how big of a
sacrifice that was, but I loveher so much for what she's done
(44:30):
for our family and um anyway,one other story I just wanted to
share about my wife'sgrandfather was he lived really
close to us in Salt Lake wherewe lived, and so we'd go visit
him and he had been anencyclopedia salesman and he
(44:53):
told me on one occasion he wasup in Idaho selling to the
different farmers, and this onefarmer that bought a set of
encyclopedias invited him tostay overnight and eat dinner
with him, and during the dinnerhe told an experience that his
son had had in Vietnam, wherehis son had been.
(45:16):
This Idaho farmer who never hada sick day in his life and was
really strong.
And his son was in Vietnam andhe got ambushed.
He'd got separated from hisgroup and wounded and he was
about six hours away from anyhelp.
And he just had this thought inhis head if I had my father's
(45:36):
strength, I know I could make itback.
And he said that prayer.
And so right at that moment hisfather in Idaho was driving
down the road on a hot summerday in his pickup truck and he
became so weak that he had tostop, pull the truck over to the
(45:56):
side of the road, just slideoff the seat onto the road and
roll underneath the truck in theshade.
And he laid there for six hours.
After six hours his strengthcame back, he got in the truck
went home and he was fine.
Truck went home and he was fine.
(46:19):
And then a few weeks later theyget this letter from their son
who's been in the hospital inVietnam recovering, telling how
he had said this prayer and theLord gave him the strength to
get back to get help.
That was kind of a special story.
That was kind of a specialstory I thought so when I was a
package car driver at UPS.
This one time it was winter andit was icy and it was a nut and
(46:50):
bolt place with boxes.
I had stacked up on a dollyreally high, and I slipped on
the ice and the dolly came downon my knee and it was my last
stop of the day.
Barely able to drive back is aclutch thing, and I just drove
back with one leg, you know,using the clutch and the gas and
the brake, but I got back andif I didn't put any weight on
(47:12):
that knee I was okay.
But I was in the bishopric atthat time and they had a
bishopric training and I thought, well, I could go to the
training and sit there andlisten, you know.
So I went to that.
They went until 1130.
I got home about midnight Iwent and milked the goats and
(47:34):
came in and I said this prayerbefore I jumped in bed and I
said, heavenly Father, I'velived the word of wisdom all my
life and it's promised in mypatriarchal blessing that if I
lived the word of wisdom, that Icould run and not be weary and
walk and not faint.
And this is my only source ofproviding for my family and I
(47:57):
need your help.
I needed my physical strengthand Sherry's grandfather used to
always say that your onlysecurity relies on your own
ability to produce.
And my body was the way Iproduced for my family.
But I laid down in bed in thespirit, came down through the
(48:20):
top of my head, went through mybody to my knee that was injured
and healed my knee and I wentto work the next day and I was
fine.
Wow, that was a special thing,yeah.
And then I became a semi-driverand anyway I became a vacation
(48:43):
driver, because that's kind ofhow you start out back in those
days.
And I had this problem whereI'd get in the semi and these
people I was covering theirroute for had a playboy calendar
up in the front windshield, youknow, and it was pretty common
(49:06):
and kept putting little stickynotes over it, but that wasn't
very effective, and so I went tomy bishop and said yeah, I need
help, I've got this problem.
His name was Chris Vadine.
He says just put the garbage inthe garbage can, where it
(49:27):
belongs.
That that was his advice.
So these truckers some of themare pretty rough guys, you know,
and I just believed that youshould follow your bishop's
advice, and so I just startedripping off the calendars,
throwing them in the garbagebefore I'd start the day.
Scott Brandley (49:50):
And.
David Anderson (49:50):
I started hearing grumblings and someone
would talk to me about it andI'd say, well, I can't handle
having that in the tractor allday, so if you want to go on a
vacation, just take it out, so Idon't have to deal with it.
This one day I got in thetractor on Monday morning and
there were three magazines inthere.
(50:12):
I went to throw them in thegarbage and the spirit said
don't throw them in the garbage,or something bad's going to
happen.
So I thought, well, what shouldI do?
And so I stuck them inside myshirt and I thought I'll just go
put them in this guy's locker.
So I stuck it in my shirt, wentto the locker room and this
(50:35):
locker it was locked, had a keylock and then I thought, oh,
this is great.
Here I'm, you know, kind ofmaking this stand, and if people
see me in the locker room withall these magazines, that's
going to go over really good.
And so, anyway, I said thislittle prayer and the Spirit
(50:55):
said get a coat hanger.
And I got a coat hanger andstuck it in the lock of the
locker and it turned and Iopened it and threw the
magazines in there and shut itand locked it and I would have
never thought to do that, butthat's what happened.
And I go to work the next dayand I go up in the dispatch
(51:15):
office where all the people arehanging out and this one person
we'll call him Frank says hey,dave, what did you do with
Frank's magazines?
And really loud so everyonecould hear.
And I says well, that's forFrank to worry about.
And if you've got a problemwith that, maybe you should talk
to Frank, since they're his andhe's trying to make a big scene
(51:38):
saying well, I don't think it'sright that you should take
people's personal property.
And you know, after I wasreally embarrassed, I went and
talked to him, told him what Idid one-on-one, and I didn't
know that this person that wastrying to make the scene had
been taking the missiondiscussions.
(51:59):
He got really sick one day andhe asked me to give him a
blessing.
He ended up getting baptized.
After that incident I never hadany more trouble with people
doing that really.
So that was a blessing, becauseI really believe I know, scott,
(52:20):
you've been a bishop and maybeyou've given advice to people,
but I had a stake president thatwas.
A friend told me an experiencethat one time this woman came in
and asked him for advice aboutthis person she was dating, who
had had a vasectomy, whether sheshould marry him or not.
(52:41):
He was going to tell her, youknow, that she should be
prayerful and go to the Lord.
But while they were in theinterview, three spirits came
into the room and stood in thecorner of the office.
Were in the interview, threespirits came into the room and
stood in the corner of theoffice and it was made known to
him that that was her childrenthat hadn't yet been born and he
(53:04):
counseled her not to marry thatguy because of that experience.
But that's pretty rare.
But I think counsel from ourchurch leaders, you know we
should take it seriously and ifwe follow it it can bless our
lives.
Well, this other time I wasgoing down the road with one of
(53:26):
my friends.
We were talking on the CB.
I was driving a set of triplesback from Du Bois, idaho, and
when I got to Tremont and area Igot hit by a 82 mile an hour
microburst wind gust and theback the trailers just bowed
(53:46):
like an umbrella and then theback trailer went over and I
could see the.
The middle trailer was ready togo and I just had this thought
come to my mind I wonder if I'mgoing to die.
And um, when I had that thought,the spirit came into the cab of
the tractor, so powerful thatall, all fear left.
(54:10):
It wasn't even scary and when Iwoke up some guy was pounding
on the windshield saying are youokay, are you okay?
And he pulled off thewindshield and I'd had a metal
radio box about that wide, wentby me in a bag of chains.
There's just a small area wherethey could get by without
(54:33):
hitting you.
But it gave me a.
You know, I went to work thenext day.
The truck was totaled.
I didn't have a scratch areawhere they could get by without
hitting you.
I went to work the next day.
The truck was totaled.
I didn't have a scratch on me.
The promise we're given in thetemple with our garments, that
it will be a shield and aprotection to us against the
power of the destroyer until wefinished our work upon the earth
(54:54):
, that I felt that that promiseis real because the Lord
protected me through that.
And so the last experience Iwas thinking I'd share a few
years ago my mother had thisstake president that had cast
the evil spirits out of her thatI told you about.
(55:16):
That had written anautobiography of his life, and
when my mother died I'd gottenthat book, and so it was really
a special book.
I've got it right here.
It's called the Story of ElmerBear.
Just unbelievable hisexperiences in life.
(55:39):
He was a sheep guy in Colorado.
I loaned him this book becauseit had so many incredible
stories in it, and then he wentto Hawaii and he died in the
ocean and at the funeral Ithought, oh, that book's really
important to me.
I don't know if I dare ask hiswife if I could get this book
(56:04):
back.
You know it took her a coupleweeks to get his body back from
Hawaii, so in the meantime shehad taken all his stuff to the
DI, you know, all the books andeverything, and so it was gone
and that really meant a lot tome.
The book did, and so I startedlooking online.
(56:26):
I didn't have extra money rightat that time, but I was looking
online and you could find themfor $300, sometimes $80.
And four or five months afterhis death I just had this
feeling I should order itbecause I wanted to have it, you
know, even if it wasn't theoriginal book.
(56:47):
And so I ordered one that wasused, from New Jersey that was
$80.
And it came back and it was theexact same book.
It had the picture with mymother in it and the autograph
to my mother what so that justlittle things like that wow you
(57:13):
know our miracles that happen inour lives, that are special,
and that's kind of what I wantedto share for for now.
Alisha Coakley (57:23):
But oh, my goodness, wow that it.
It's amazing because it remindsme of that, uh, the conference
talk that came out recently, um,I can't remember his last
session or the one before thatwhere they talked about, um,
pillars of light versus rays oflight.
David Anderson (57:42):
Oh yeah.
Alisha Coakley (57:43):
Where you just I know I love that one so much
Cause I feel like that's alwaysbeen my life too is like I
usually don't get these big,grand, huge things.
But it's like all these littletiny things and that just your
whole, all of your stories justlike reminded me of that, like
how some of us just get likethese little tiny rays and, um,
(58:03):
it's just, it's just, it madeyou, just made me smile the
whole time.
David Anderson (58:08):
I was just smiling, I loved it well, and
anyway, I like stories too, soyeah.
So I think they'refaith-promoting.
And sometimes the Savior youknow he has stories in his
teachings a lot and I thinkthat's because it's something
people can relate to.
Alisha Coakley (58:26):
Yeah.
Scott Brandley (58:29):
Yeah Well, a lot of times in life we just don't
take the time to really thinkabout all of the little miracles
that happen throughout our life.
David Anderson (58:40):
You know, yes.
Scott Brandley (58:42):
And when you do take time out to really think
about that or ponder all thetimes that there's been a
miracle, or that somebody hascome into your life right when
you needed it somebody has comeinto your life right when you
needed it, or you know, whensomething crazy happens, like
you know, you get that book backin the mail or any one of the
(59:02):
dozens of of experiences youshared, you really start to
appreciate God.
You know God in your life.
One of our guests called themGod winks.
David Anderson (59:14):
Yes.
Scott Brandley (59:14):
You know and you know's, but it's, but you got
it.
You've got to take time out toreally look at your life and and
see them, or else you just missthem.
You'll just miss it.
Alisha Coakley (59:28):
You know, because a lot of times, yes,
there's time between them orthey're just small things, but
when you really look back andyou see that god's there yes,
yeah, I totally agree yeah, Ithink it's amazing too because,
like you have all of these,these stories of, like, your
(59:49):
ancestors, your family members,you know, friend, like you have
so many of them, and it justsort of reified, or like that's
not a word, at least she just Ijust made a random word just
reiterated to me that it's soimportant for us to share these
things.
Right, like generations to comearen't going to know about our
(01:00:11):
tiny miracles unless we get outthere and we share our stories
in some way, whether it's, youknow, just through telling you
know our children and ourgrandchildren and our friends
about it, or writing it down,putting it on social media,
doing a blog post, writing abook you know I coming on a
podcast and I think you probablyknow better than I do because
(01:00:33):
I'm not.
I'm not very good at my likegoing online and doing family
history and all that kind ofstuff but isn't there even
places for you to be able toshare stories about your
ancestors and yourself in the….
David Anderson (01:00:47):
Memories page.
Alisha Coakley (01:00:49):
Yeah, the memories page.
David Anderson (01:00:50):
Yes, yes.
Alisha Coakley (01:00:52):
So I always like that.
I wish more people would putstories in cause.
I'm a story reader and astoryteller, um, but I, I like,
I just I don't have that with myfamily.
You know, like I, we, we don'thave a lot of stories coming
from my family, so it was reallyneat to be able to hear yours,
especially with all of yourconnections that your ancestors
have to, like the early leadersof the church and all of those
(01:01:16):
integral things that came aboutbecause of them.
David Anderson (01:01:19):
It's you got a cool family line yes, yeah, I'm
very blessed, but thank you oh,wow, man.
Alisha Coakley (01:01:29):
Yeah, well, david, we're, we're probably
gonna have to come.
Have you come back on and sharesome more stories with us in
the future.
Maybe do a part two, somethinglike that.
David Anderson (01:01:41):
I'd love to have someone in the temple that I
didn't have time to share, butI'd really love to if I get a
chance.
Alisha Coakley (01:01:49):
That would be really cool.
Scott Brandley (01:01:51):
Yeah Well, do you have any last thoughts you'd
like to share before we wrapthings up today?
David Anderson (01:02:14):
happened to come upon Ben-Hur in different times
in his life and there's a scenewhere he'd lost everything and
been a slave and regained hisfreedom and was going back to
Jerusalem.
And he says to Ben-Hur yourlife is a miracle, it's a
miracle that you're here.
And Ben-Hur responded by sayingwell, I don't believe in
miracles.
And then he said, well, yourwhole life is a miracle.
(01:02:38):
But at that point in timeBen-Hur didn't realize it was
the Savior that gave him waterwhen he was close to all these
things to happen, so that hecould get his family back and
get the revenge out of his heart.
(01:03:01):
Anyway, I think in our livesthat's true, that we just have
to recognize the miracles in ourlives that are taking place and
we may not even be aware ofthem.
And I have a testimony that weall have the ability to share
light with others and help them.
(01:03:23):
And we do this by aligning ourlives with the Savior's
teachings.
And you know, if we keep ourfocus on the Savior and try to
always remember Him, then Hislight and Spirit will flow into
us and will sustain us and we'llexperience miracles in our life
(01:03:44):
.
And the Savior, he's the sourceof light and he's in and
through all things.
His light powers the sun.
It's His light that gives lifeto every living thing.
When we renew our covenants eachweek, or read the scriptures,
(01:04:04):
or fast or pray or attend thetemple, we receive light and we
become light.
And the Savior is the source oflight and he's the answer to
removing the darkness from ourlives.
And if we exercise faith in Hisatonement, we can overcome the
(01:04:26):
evils and darkness in the worldand bring light to others.
And I bear that witness in thename of Jesus Christ.
Amen, amen.
I bear that witness in the nameof.
Alisha Coakley (01:04:34):
Jesus Christ Amen Amen.
Scott Brandley (01:04:37):
Wow.
Alisha Coakley (01:04:37):
Well, thank you so much, David, for coming on
here.
We appreciate you.
David Anderson (01:04:42):
Well, thank you so much.
I'm thankful I could have thisopportunity.
Scott Brandley (01:04:46):
Yeah, thanks, man.
It's been inspirational and Ithink you're going to inspire a
lot of people through your story, so thanks for being on.
Alisha Coakley (01:04:57):
Yeah, absolutely Well thanks, scott and Alisha.
All right, well, guys, that'sall we have for you today.
So thank you to all of ourlisteners for tuning in.
Remember, if you guys have astory that you'd like to share,
we want to hear from you.
Just go ahead and you can headover to LatterdayLights.
com and fill out the contactform at the bottom of the page,
(01:05:20):
or you can just email usdirectly at latterdaylights at
gmail.
com.
We respond either way, um, butdefinitely do not forget,
listeners, to do your fivesecond missionary work, to share
today's light brought to you byDavid, and just comment below
Let us know which one of yourstories you know, which one of
David's stories was yourfavorite.
(01:05:41):
What did you love?
Do you have questions on any ofthem?
You know, just let him know howappreciative you are for his
willingness to come on heretoday.
Scott Brandley (01:05:51):
Yeah Well, thanks again everyone.
Thanks again, david, and wewill talk to you guys next week
with another episode fromLatter-day Lights.
Until then, take care, bye-bye,bye guys.
Hey everyone, I'm Scott Brandley.
Alisha Coakley (00:02):
And I'm Alisha Coakley.
Every member of the church hasa story to share, one that can
instill faith, invite growth andinspire others.
Scott Brandley (00:10):
On today's episode we're going to hear how
a life of ups and downs hashelped one man to recognize the
many miracles that have beensprinkled throughout his life.
Welcome to Latter-day Lights.
Hey everyone, welcome back toanother episode of Latter-day
(00:33):
Lights.
We're so glad you're here withus today.
We're really excited tointroduce our special guest,
david Anderson, to the show.
Welcome, david.
David Anderson (00:43):
Thank you.
Alisha Coakley (00:44):
And thanks so much for reaching out to us.
I always, I always telleveryone I'm like I love when we
don't have to go track peopledown.
I love when they just come tous and you have a lot of just
really cool stories.
I know when we were talkingover the phone I was like, oh my
gosh, this is so amazing.
So this is going to be a littledifferent, I think today,
instead of just one focusedthing we're talking about, we've
(01:07):
got a lot of really cool thingsthat you're going to be sharing
with us and, um, we're justgoing to kind of we're just
going to learn from you and letthe spirit in and see where our
conversation goes.
But, um, before we start withall all those stories and
everything you're sharing today,do you want to tell us a little
bit about yourself?
You know where you're frommarried kids, all of that stuff.
David Anderson (01:30):
Yes, my name is Dave Anderson and I live in
Bluffdale, utah.
I've lived here the majority ofmy life.
My wife and I are the parentsof 11 children and we have 28
grandchildren.
Alisha Coakley (01:46):
Oh my gosh.
David Anderson (01:46):
And I grew up in this area it was a small
farming community and building ahouse here and raising our
family here.
My wife taught homeschool toour children until they were
about in ninth or tenth grade ohmy gosh and she did a lot to
help our family over the years.
(02:07):
And anyway, I love poetry, Ilove the gospel.
I've written a book on Zion.
I served a mission in Missouriand so I was interested in all
the things I learned there andthe book's entitled Zion in Our
Day, and that's basically all Ican think of.
Alisha Coakley (02:29):
Nice, okay, what are the range of ages for your
kids?
Because 11 kids, I'm thinkinglike your wife was pregnant for
like two decades.
David Anderson (02:41):
Yes.
Alisha Coakley (02:41):
Probably right, Like either pregnant or nursing
or baby on her hip type of thing, right?
David Anderson (02:47):
Yes, yes, it's 20 years.
Our youngest is 20 yearsyounger than our oldest.
He was on a mission when ouryoungest was born.
Alisha Coakley (02:56):
Oh my gosh.
Well, I don't know about you,but she gets an automatic pass
to heaven.
Scott Brandley (03:01):
So yes, and she homeschooled on top of that.
Alisha Coakley (03:07):
And then 28 grand babies to love after that.
Wow, that's you.
Guys are overachievers alreadyI can tell.
David Anderson (03:14):
Well, we didn't plan on that, it just kind of
worked out one at a time, right,wow?
Scott Brandley (03:20):
Awesome, Well cool, David, let's jump right
into it.
Let's turn the time over to you, my friend.
David Anderson (03:29):
Okay, well, I was born in 1957, and I've got
four sisters and three brothers,and I'm the youngest of eight.
My father's name is MoyleAnderson and he worked at Geneva
for 32 years Geneva still andmy mother was a homemaker,
(03:51):
karine Lewis Anderson.
And anyway, she passed awaywhen I was a year old, leaving
my father with eight children,and so then I went to live with
my dad's brother, my Aunt Loreeand Uncle Reed in Sandy for
three and a half years.
I moved back home because myfather remarried.
(04:13):
He married a woman namedShirley Gilstrap, who was my
stepmother.
That raised me, and she was aconvert to the church.
She was raised Baptist and shehad a really strong testimony of
the gospel.
She was the first person in herfamily to join the church and
(04:37):
as a result of that she had alot of spiritual things happen
in her life, and when she firstjoined the church and moved to
Salt Lake, she would have thespirits of her ancestors in the
kitchen of her apartment and shecould actually hear them
(04:57):
talking, and it got to be such adistraction that she prayed
that she wouldn't be able tohear it.
So then that went away and thenwhen she did her favorite
uncle's temple work.
He did appear to her and smiledat her like saying thank you.
(05:17):
She was a great woman and Ifeel like I had three mothers
that raised me.
My birth mother contractedbreast cancer when she was
pregnant with me and the doctortold her that she should have an
(05:39):
abortion and have a mastectomy.
She didn't take that route, soin a way I feel like she saved
my life, you know, in a sense,because she died of cancer a
year after I was born.
So my aunt raised me and she isa wonderful woman.
(06:03):
She and her husband both went ona mission.
My uncle he had served as abishop and patriarch and he's
really close to the Spirit.
One day when he and his sonMark were out turfing their
backyard, they bought thissquares of turf.
It's Saturday night and theyhad just enough to finish the
yard, except they were short onesquare.
And he turned to my cousin Markand said Mark, it'd be nice if
(06:25):
some truck or trailer came downthe road with a load of turf and
one fell off right by our house.
And right when he said that,this guy with a truck pulling a
trailer with a load of turf cameby their house and it hit a
bump and a square of turf felloff and they went and grabbed it
(06:47):
and finished the job.
Alisha Coakley (06:49):
He should have asked for something else.
David Anderson (06:51):
Right, but anyway, that's kind of my
background.
Most of my ancestry is pioneerheritage and I had three of my
ancestors that were bodyguardsto the Prophet Joseph Smith and
I just thought I'd sharesomething about two of them.
(07:11):
The prophet had about 40bodyguards during his life.
Wiley Payne Allred was mygrandfather's grandfather.
He was about 13 years youngerthan the Prophet Joseph Smith
but he and his father, jamesAllred, were both bodyguards.
(07:31):
And Wiley Payne just livedacross the street from the
mansion in Nauvoo and he livedwith the Prophet Joseph Smith
for a year helping him to builda barn.
He lived with the ProphetJoseph Smith for a year helping
him to build a barn.
He was pretty knowledgeable inherbs even as a teenager.
The Prophet at one time gotinjured where his leg got
(07:58):
infected and gangrene set in.
He was able to help heal theProphet's leg.
After the Prophet's leg washealed, he gave him a blessing.
He was told that he was anatural-born doctor and the
prophet blessed him to be anherb doctor.
(08:22):
He spent his life doing that andat one time he risked his life
for the prophet Right beforeCarthage jail he went and kind
of acted as a spy, you know,with the mob that was in
Carthage, and anyway he wasthere when the prophet fell from
(08:43):
the window.
But he saw that and his father,james Allred, was in the jail
with the prophet, joseph Smith,one of the men that was in there
and the prophet was trying toget rid of them because he knew
that their lives would be atrisk, and so he gave James
(09:04):
Allred his sword and he said youmight need this to protect
yourself.
And so James Allred left andafter the prophet was killed he
was the one that brought JohnTaylor back in his wagon and
(09:24):
anyway, it was so painful theyhad to make a little sleigh for
John Taylor back in his wagon.
Anyway, it was so painful, theyhad to make a little sleigh for
John Taylor because theycouldn't go on the main road,
they had to go where the peoplewouldn't find them so easily.
So then anyway, james Allred'swife she was a seamstress and
the prophet came in and askedher one day if she would help
(09:47):
cut out some temple garments.
And so she was the one that wasthe first person that helped
make the first temple garmentsfor the prophet Joseph Smith and
his brother Hiram, that wasabout in 1842.
And his brother Hiram, that'sabout in 1842.
And they made it out ofunbleached muslin with the red
(10:11):
turkey thread to put it together.
But anyway, that's justsomething special from one of my
ancestors.
But anyway, my grandfatherLouis, that just lived up the
road from me, he was a farmerand I idolized him and I worked
(10:33):
a lot with him on his farm andone of the jobs he had me do was
with all of his chickens.
He had to do something with thelice problem where they get
lice in their feathers had to dosomething with the lice problem
where they get lice in theirfeathers.
He had this liquid nicotine andhe had me go paint all the
(10:54):
chicken roosts with the nicotineand he explained to me that the
nicotine is so powerful thatwhen the chickens went to roost
that the fumes from the nicotinewould kill all the lice in
their feathers.
Really, yes, you never knew.
Anyway, it's kind of a lessonon the word of wisdom.
You know not to smoke, anyway.
(11:24):
That's one thing I always neverhad a problem with, I think
because of him, but he had astrong testimony too and he'd
written in a Book of Mormonchallenging me to get a
testimony of the gospel.
I made some tries, you know,but nothing really serious until
I was about 16.
(11:44):
And then, finally, I decided Ialways wanted to serve a mission
but I wanted to really knowthat the gospel was true for
myself and I started reading thescriptures every night in my
bedroom and one night, while Iwas reading, the presence of the
Spirit came into the room,really powerful, and I felt the
warmth of the spirit and powerof the spirit radiate through my
(12:07):
body and it just filled me withjoy and that experience it
stuck with me all my life.
It's kind of a defining momentand another moment in my life.
About that time I was kind ofan average student in school and
all of my friends played sportsa big percentage of them.
(12:29):
I rarely did homework and Ijust was a little bit of a
slacker maybe.
But there's a little poem I like.
It's called Improvement by RuthRoth and it says Do not look
back on yesterdays unless it iswith pleasure.
The moments spent in blindregret are plain pain, double
(12:54):
measure.
We make mistakes and see ourfaults and try to mend our way
by being sure we do not make thesame mistakes today.
So anyway, I just thought, well, I haven't applied myself, what
could I do?
And so it's my senior yearcoming up and I could have taken
(13:14):
work study.
But they had a quest programwhere you could study in the
seminary library and just anyquestion.
You had any book you wanted toread, seminary library, and just
any question.
You had.
Any book you wanted to read,you could read and consult with
(13:34):
the seminary principal.
So I did that.
I had three hours of seminarymy last year of high school and
I think that really helped me inmy life.
They said that our lives arethe stories of our choices and
the things we experience as aresult of our choices.
So I felt like that prepared mefor a mission and I learned the
(13:57):
value of hard work.
Growing up I had all thesedifferent jobs and so when I
graduated I went to work forAssociated Foods warehouse
graveyard shift and I spent timein the day up at the church
family history library in SaltLake quite often and I think I
(14:19):
got the spirit of Elijah thereand I got interested in that and
then I saved enough money to goto Snow College and I went to
Snow College and really enjoyedthat One experience.
I had this girl in my seminaryclass that I thought was really
(14:43):
cute.
She bore a testimony and saidthat she loved the Savior so
much she is willing to die forHim.
And when I heard that it justkind of took me back because I
didn't know if I had that muchfaith.
(15:05):
I never did date her, but aftermy mission I'd written a letter
to her asking her.
On a date my grandfather diedand her mother came up to the
funeral and it was my mother'sfirst cousin, so we were second
cousins and I didn't even knowit.
But I just wanted to sharemaybe a few stories from my
(15:31):
mission.
But I started out in St Joseph,missouri, and that's where the
Pony Express started and I'dnever experienced humidity
before.
And anyway, my first companionand I his name was Elder Ashton.
He was a really hard worker andwe got a referral to go see a
woman in the hospital and hername was Frances Shirley, so we
(15:56):
gave her a blessing there at thehospital she was not a member,
so we asked her if we couldshare the discussions with her
and she said yes, after I gothome and we went to her house
and in the second discussion sheshared something with us.
But she'd had quite a hard life.
Her husband had been analcoholic and she'd gotten a
(16:18):
divorce.
She was 60 years old.
She said well, I wanted to askyou a question.
We were doing the discussion onthe plan of salvation and every
time we shared a concept youknow like well, we started in
the preexistence.
Then she'd say why did we cometo earth?
We'd talk about that.
And she says well, what happenswhen we die?
(16:40):
And she's always one step aheadof us.
And so at the end of thediscussion, and she's always one
step ahead of us.
And so at the end of thediscussion, the Spirit was
really strong.
So we challenged her forbaptism and she accepted.
But then she said I want to askyou a question.
And we said okay.
And she said when I was 11years old, I had a vision, but
I've never shared it withanybody, I just kept it to
(17:02):
myself and I never reallyunderstood what it means.
But I wanted to share that andsee if you could help me
understand it.
And so, anyway, she said, inher vision, all she saw was gold
all around.
And other than this beautifulgold, she saw candles that were
burning.
Every so often she would seethe face of a man that would
(17:25):
blow out the candle and thenhe'd smile down at her and she
asked us what this meant.
But while she was sharing that,the Spirit came down through
the top of my head so strong,filled my whole body.
I just felt like Nephi, youknow, when he was going to shock
his brothers.
I was so full of the spirit.
(17:47):
But just in a flash in my mind,what her vision meant came to
my mind, that anyway, I was ableto tell her that that the
candles represented the burningquestions that she'd had all her
life and and that when thosequestions were answered, that
(18:07):
God would confirm it to her andsmile down on her that it was
true.
But anyways, a simple answer.
But to me that was a specialthing.
You know, that's something I'dnever experienced before and it
gave me a connection with Godthat he was helping us as
missionaries.
After that one night, mycompanion Elder Kelsey—this is a
(18:32):
different companion—we only hadone bedroom in our apartment,
and so I was out in the frontliving area with the bed and
it's the middle of summer, youknow like 95 degrees at night,
with the humidity really high,and I woke up at 12 o'clock in
the night and the room was icecold.
(18:54):
I had the window open by my bed, but it was ice cold and this
feeling of fear came over me.
I felt this evil presence inthe room and it was so
overpowering, it was likepressing down on me.
I tried to yell for mycompanion to help me and nothing
(19:16):
would come out of my mouth.
So I just had to say a prayerin my mind.
So I just had to say a prayerin my mind asking for the
Savior's help, for HeavenlyFather to help me in the name of
Jesus Christ.
And after that it left butgained a testimony that Satan's
real and he didn't really likewhat we were doing, I guess.
(19:40):
And an interesting experienceand an interesting experience my
stepmother, shirley Anderson.
After she had joined the church, she had this experience where
she had actually been possessedby evil spirits and her stake
president.
She went to him and asked forhelp and he cast out the evil
(20:02):
spirits.
But what they were doing atnight?
They were stretching her body,preventing her from sleeping and
she was just getting worn downand it was terrible.
And anyway, he cast them outand when they left she saw a
tall man and a short man and theshort man turned around and
(20:23):
sneered at her short man and theshort man turned around and
sneered at her.
But anyway, I knew from herexperience that people do
experience that.
So anyway, back to my mission.
When I was walking down thestreet this one day with my
companion, elder Kelsey, we werein the older part of St Joseph,
(20:44):
missouri, where they built allthese houses like in the 1930s
and they all were wood framehomes with a single car garage,
wooden garage.
And I looked at this one garageand I saw, you know, maybe a
dozen pigeons up on the roof ofthat garage.
(21:04):
While I was looking at them, Iheard this voice in my head say
hold out your hand and snap yourfinger and a pigeon's going to
fly down and land on your head.
And I thought, why would Ithink that?
And then I thought, well, whatif it's the Holy Ghost?
And then I thought, well, whatif it's the Holy Ghost?
(21:27):
And I thought, well, the HolyGhost wouldn't want me to do
something like that.
And then I thought, well, if Idid do this, what would my
companion think if the pigeondidn't fly down?
So I'm having all thesethoughts going in my brain, and
so then I heard it again and asI looked at this pigeon, this
(21:50):
feeling of confidence came overme and I knew it was going to
happen.
And I heard the voice a thirdtime hold out your arm and snap
your finger, the pigeon will flydown and land on your head.
So I did, and I, you know, Ithought, well, if, if it doesn't
happen, I won't have to tell mycompanion what I'm doing?
But but I had this feeling ofconfidence and it happened and
(22:16):
it flew down on my head andanyway, this little boy was
following us around.
You know the a lot of timesthey thought we were like fbi or
something with our suits andall that, but anyway, we didn't
really have anything happen as aresult of that.
But for me it was a way for meto recognize how the Spirit
(22:42):
speaks to me in my life.
And so down the road, when Iheard that voice different times
you know, with my work or mymission or whatever my family
the times I've listened to it,it's been a blessing in my life.
And so that happened and we'dbeen teaching quite a few people
(23:04):
.
And so that happened and we'dbeen teaching quite a few people
.
One person we were teaching wasa girl named Sherry Gregg, and
their family was Catholic andher mother had joined the church
.
My first companion had baptizedher mother and so she wanted us
to teach her daughter, sherry.
That was going to college atthat time.
(23:28):
She is really a special personthat had a lot going for them.
We challenged her to read theBook of Mormon.
She says well, I'll read 50pages a day, but if I don't get
an answer, then I want you toleave me alone".
And we thought no one's, shedoesn't know what she's
(23:49):
committing to you know.
But we thought if she's willingto read, that's awesome.
We left her.
After that discussion, about aweek and a half or two weeks
later, I get this phone call inthe middle of the morning, at
one o'clock in the morning, andshe said Elder Anderson, this is
(24:10):
Sherry.
She says yes, how are you doing?
Is everything okay?
And she said I want to getbaptized.
And I said well, what happened?
And she said well, you know ittakes a long time to read 50
pages a day.
She'd been reading up till oneo'clock in the morning.
(24:31):
While she was reading, she wassaying this prayer where she
said Heavenly Father, I don'texpect you to tell me this is
true because I already know it'strue just from reading it.
Expect you to tell me this istrue because I already know it's
true just from reading it" shewas actually trying to read it
on one hand to point out whatwas wrong with it to her mother
(24:54):
after joining the church.
But she gained a testimony andwhen she said that prayer, she
heard an angelic choir singingand she ran into her mother's
bedroom and said Mother, can youhear the beautiful music?
(25:14):
She was the only one that couldhear it.
Her mother didn't hear it, butshe joined the church.
Then her best friend in school,pat Castleton, joined the
church.
Her niece, her grandmotherjoined the church.
A couple other people, herniece, her grandmother joined
the church and a couple otherpeople just as a result of her
testimony had a big impact andinfluence on those people.
Other members of her familyjoined the church later on.
(25:36):
Just to show one thing howpowerful stories can be when we
were teaching her grandmothershe didn't care about Joseph
Smith.
She said she knew that BrighamYoung was a prophet because he
took all the saints across theplains, and that was her
(26:00):
testimony, because she hadlearned that growing up in
school or somewhere.
It just shows how powerfulstories can be on people.
I mentioned I had a lot ofcompanions.
Well, I'll share one otherstory.
I trained five new missionariesafter I left St Joseph and went
(26:24):
to Farmington, missouri, andone of my companions, elder
Aldous and I his name was AlanAldous and I, his name was Alan
Aldiss We'd been teaching thisdivorced woman with a teenage
son and her name was Pat Hartand anyway, it was sacrament
meeting at Farmington Ward andthe sacrament song was playing
(26:49):
and that voice, you know, likewhen the pigeon experience I had
it, came to me and said go overto Pat Hart's house, so we get
up.
My companions thinking well,why don't we wait till the
sacrament's over, you know.
But I thought, well, just do it.
(27:10):
And so we left and she lived inanother town.
We went over there andchallenged her to get baptized.
That's what the Spirit said todo.
And she committed.
And the next week I went overto do a baptismal interview and
she had moved away and no oneknew where she went.
(27:33):
Just to end that story after Iwas married and we had a couple
children, saturday night onenight I got this phone call and
it was Pat Hart on the phone.
She said is this Elder Anderson?
And I said yes and well, wetalked for a little bit.
But then she says well, do youremember when you came over and
(27:56):
challenged me to get baptized?
And I said yes.
And she says well, after youleft, she said I just got really
scared and I just felt Icouldn't do it.
And she said I left town.
She said she had met a newperson and they got married and
(28:18):
a new set of missionaries came.
They'd been taking thediscussions and she just wanted
me to know that she was gettingbaptized the next day.
Wow, that was a special thing.
Wow, that was a special thing.
And anyway, one of mycompanions came from an inactive
family but he had a scoutleader, you know, when he was 16
(28:43):
or 17,.
That had a big influence in hislife and got him going to
church.
When he came to Missouri it waspretty challenging for him
because he hadn't had the samebackground as a lot of
missionaries, you know fromactive homes.
But he'd get kind of depressedsometimes.
And this one morning we got upand I had gotten ready in my
(29:05):
suit and tie and he was still inhis Levi's and he says well,
Elder, are you ready to go outand do the work?
And he didn't look up.
He was pretty despondent.
He's tying the shoe.
He says well, when I get thisshoe tied, I'm going to be out
that door and you're never goingto see me again.
He said I was on the track teamin high school, so don't try
(29:27):
and keep up with me.
He took off and I'm runningafter him in my suit, you know,
and he's saying a few choicewords, you know.
And finally he gets winded andI said let's just call the
mission president and then youcan do whatever you want, you
(29:47):
know.
And he agreed and turned out.
The mission president talkedhim into staying and his advisor
, as a young man, had become amission president in California.
So he got to finish his missionin California under that person
and finished an honorablemission.
Elder Lee's had a poem thathelped him and that's one reason
(30:09):
I mentioned him.
It was called the Road is Rough.
So I wanted to share that it's.
The road is rough, I said, dearLord, with stones that hurt me.
So Ah yes, dear child, Iunderstand, I walked it long ago
.
But there is a cool green path.
I said, let me walk there for atime.
(30:29):
No, child, he gently answeredme.
The green path doesn't climb,but I wish that there were
friends with me who could makemy way their own.
Ah yes, said he.
Gethsemane was hard to facealone, and so I took the stony
path, contend at last to knowthat where my Savior'd gone
(30:53):
before I did not need to know.
And strangely then I found newfriends.
My burden grew less sore.
As I remembered long ago hewalked that way before.
That's a poem he shared with methat helped him get through his
mission.
That's something that helped meunderstand the power of poems.
(31:15):
Sometimes that got meinterested in writing poems.
So, my mission president I hada new mission president because
they were going to split ourmission.
The last nine months of mymission I had the opportunity to
serve in the office as hisassistant.
(31:36):
His name was Norman Olson.
He had such a huge influence onmy life that I think back on
that decision I made at theseminary that helped prepare me
for my mission and I think if Ihadn't did that I probably
wouldn't have had thatopportunity.
But anyway, outside of myfather and my grandfather, he
(32:02):
probably had the greatest impacton my life.
He was a multimillionaire andhe had me be a chauffeur driving
his Mercedes around the mission.
But his wife always said shefelt safe when I was driving.
Maybe that's why I became atruck driver.
I've been in the transportationindustry for 40 years.
(32:25):
But anyway, he chose a couplecounselors.
He chose a counselor namedMenlo Smith that was president
of Sunmark Corporation.
It's a multimillion-dollarcorporation and he had ancestors
(32:48):
that were descendants of HiramSmith, but some of them had gone
inactive.
He actually grew up outside ofthe church.
He ended up becoming aJehovah's Witness.
He joined the church later inlife but after he served as a
counselor he got called as amission president to the
Philippines.
(33:08):
The poverty there was so badthat he thought what can I do?
And after he got back hestarted a nonprofit organization
to help create loans, like$5,000 or $10,000 loans to help
people with their education orstart a business, and he asked
(33:28):
my mission president, normanOlson, to be on the board of
directors with them and they didabout 10,000 loans and 95% of
them were all paid off and theyhelped people all around the
world.
And one day one of the apostlesasked if he could come to their
board meeting.
I can't remember if it wasElder Holland or who it was, but
(33:53):
they asked if they could takeover their nonprofit
organization.
And that's where the PerpetualEducation Fund came from and it
just shows how a small thing canturn into a big thing.
You know my other mission,president Graham Doxey from the
Missouri Independence Mission.
(34:16):
After he got home, presidentKimball called him one day and
said Can you come see me?
And he went to see him andPresident Kimball said Well,
I've got a little job for you.
I want you to be a watchmanover Missouri and tell me
whatever needs to be done inMissouri to prepare for the
second coming.
That's basically it.
(34:38):
So he went home, startedreading everything he could
about the end times with theSavior in Missouri and anything
that had to do with it.
You know, he read in Daniel 7where 10,000 times 10,000 saints
would stand before Father Adam.
He thought, well, adam-on-diamin the church only owns a couple
(35:01):
hundred acres.
So anyway, he ended up buying1,100 acres for the church in
different places in Missouri, indifferent places in Missouri.
And then when I was there, I'mjust going to show you and when
I was there, adam-on-the-almondwas just overgrowth of trees and
woods.
You know mostly some farms.
(35:23):
These were the thorn trees thatwere around there.
Scott Brandley (35:28):
Really, yeah that's what they look like.
That looks gnarly.
Alisha Coakley (35:32):
That does look gnarly.
I mean I haven't been there butI've seen pictures and it looks
beautiful and just lush andgreen and rolling hills and all
that stuff.
David Anderson (35:40):
So yeah, he got loggers from the northwest.
They started these workmissions, they started
beautifying it, you know, tocreate an outdoor temple for
when that all takes place andanyway it just shows from small
things.
You know the prophet doesn'thave the Savior come maybe all
(36:03):
the time and just tell him whatto do, but it's just through the
Spirit and the Holy Ghost andpeople that are called to serve
in the church.
And you know just like yourprogram is affecting thousands
of people, I'm sure from youguys creating this and thank you
for doing that because it'sbeen a blessing in my life as a
(36:24):
truck driver listening to it.
Maybe I'll just share a littleabout after I got home.
I got married after I got homefrom my mission.
I dated maybe 10 different girlsbefore I met my wife at a
Cottonwood Mall dancer in theholiday area back then and it
(36:56):
was really fun and she was thecutest girl on the dance floor
and I danced with her and Iwanted to just dance with her
all night and she'd come fromthe Hunter area but she'd come
with a carload of girls and saidtheir car was full so she said
I could take her home and I tookher home, came home about
midnight my dad was eating anonion sandwich and I said, well,
(37:17):
I think I've met the girl Iwant to marry.
Maybe six months later we gotmarried.
She had a full-ride scholarshipup at the?
U.
She was really smart and wemoved into this apartment in
Salt Lake, right across thestreet from State Street, from
the church office building.
There's a little park there now, but there used to be a house
(37:42):
and we were in that house and sowe had a lot of general
authorities in our ward andstake.
So you know, at stakeconference, president Kimball
would come and elder mcconkeywas in our stake.
They asked him to come speak,do a little fireside in the
relief society room.
(38:02):
So I was really excited becausehe is one of my, my heroes yeah
I sat on the front row with mywife and he shared an experience
at that fireside.
I was like 10 feet away fromhim.
His father-in-law was JosephFielding Smith and they were
eating dinner.
One time at Joseph FieldingSmith's home, before he was the
(38:24):
prophet.
Joseph Fielding Smith wassaying well, if I ever live to
become the prophet, I think I'dwant to call this man and this
man to the Quorum of the Twelve.
And so Elder McConkie did endup becoming the prophet and
after they had two vacancies inthe Quorum of the Twelve and
they didn't call those two men,he said he's just making the
(38:48):
point that the Lord calls thepeople that are supposed to be
in those positions.
And he said that he could go toany stake in the church and
find 12 men or women that werejust as worthy to be a member of
the Quorum of the Twelve as theones that are in there now.
But then he went on to say thatwhen he was called to be an
(39:12):
apostle and they were settinghim apart, that he heard this
voice from the spirit world sayOscar's son just got called to
the Quorum of the Twelve andtears were coming down his face
because it meant so much to himbecause his father had passed
away and he knew his father knewthat he had been called to the
Quorum of the Twelve.
That was kind of special tohear that story, so I thought
(39:36):
I'd share it because it wasmeaningful to me.
My father-in-law, melvin Fish hehad been a seminary teacher in
Kanab back when my wife wasmaybe seven or eight years old
he told me a story about howthey were having student teacher
(39:57):
conference and one of theparents of the girls that was in
a seminary class came in andthey were talking and the mother
shared an experience about herdaughter that he was teaching.
The mother said that when thedaughter was like two or three
years old she was one of thesechildren that could talk early
at a young age.
They had a picture of the MantiTemple in their house and the
(40:22):
daughter was looking at thepicture and she pointed at the
picture and said to her motherwhat is that building?
And the mother said well,that's the building your father
and I got married in.
And the daughter looked at it.
She says well, it looks likethe building that you got
married in, but it didn't havethe steps going down the back
(40:46):
like it does in this picture.
And then the mother thought,and she said well, when she got
and her husband got married,they hadn't put the steps in yet
, and so the daughter couldn'thave known that, you know.
And so, anyway, I thought thatwas interesting to support, that
(41:10):
we lived with our father inheaven before we came to earth
and that that maybe there'speople in this, in the temples,
when we're performing ordinances, you know that are even
children that haven't even beenborn yet right so then I got a
job after we were married at acompany called Quality Linen.
(41:34):
I was a textile salesman and itwas kind of a dead-end job.
I had a carpet cleaningbusiness that I started and I
was only making $18,000 a yearwith both jobs.
And so I went to church andPresident Kimball had put out
this video, where in the videothey played it in a priesthood
(41:56):
meeting if you doubled your fastoffering, the Lord would double
your income.
And so I thought, well, we onlypay $10 a month.
That's not too hard if the Lordwould do that.
So we doubled our fast offeringand not too long after that my
(42:19):
sister had a baby blessing.
We went to and mybrother-in-law's brother worked
at UPS and I was asking himabout the possibility of getting
on there and he says well,actually I think they're
interviewing at job servicetomorrow.
And he told me the name of thisguy he thought was going to be
interviewing.
(42:39):
So I went to work.
The next day While I wasworking I heard that voice again
go over to job service.
So I went over there eventhough I wasn't supposed to, at
the company truck, and I talkedto the lady and she said well,
there's a card file, is yourname on a card file?
(43:00):
And I said no, and she said,well, there's 3,000 people on a
card file and they only chose300 out of the 3,000 to
interview.
And I says, well, I was toldthat so-and-so would be
interviewing and if I came overthat I could get an interview.
And since I knew that name, shelet me get an interview.
(43:21):
And they hired me for Christmashelp and out of the 300, only
30 people were hired and afterChristmas was over they laid
everyone off except me and onlytwo other people got recalled
(43:43):
back to work after Christmas outof the 29.
And exactly a year after wedoubled our fast offering.
My W-2 slip anyway was $36,000.
And I was able to quit mycarpet cleaning job.
It's a testimony that theHeavenly Father helps.
(44:05):
And my wife gave up herfull-ride scholarship to the?
U because we started having afamily and that was hard to her
and that was a sacrifice.
I don't really think Iappreciated how, how big of a
sacrifice that was, but I loveher so much for what she's done
(44:30):
for our family and um anyway,one other story I just wanted to
share about my wife'sgrandfather was he lived really
close to us in Salt Lake wherewe lived, and so we'd go visit
him and he had been anencyclopedia salesman and he
(44:53):
told me on one occasion he wasup in Idaho selling to the
different farmers, and this onefarmer that bought a set of
encyclopedias invited him tostay overnight and eat dinner
with him, and during the dinnerhe told an experience that his
son had had in Vietnam, wherehis son had been.
(45:16):
This Idaho farmer who never hada sick day in his life and was
really strong.
And his son was in Vietnam andhe got ambushed.
He'd got separated from hisgroup and wounded and he was
about six hours away from anyhelp.
And he just had this thought inhis head if I had my father's
(45:36):
strength, I know I could make itback.
And he said that prayer.
And so right at that moment hisfather in Idaho was driving
down the road on a hot summerday in his pickup truck and he
became so weak that he had tostop, pull the truck over to the
(45:56):
side of the road, just slideoff the seat onto the road and
roll underneath the truck in theshade.
And he laid there for six hours.
After six hours his strengthcame back, he got in the truck
went home and he was fine.
Truck went home and he was fine.
(46:19):
And then a few weeks later theyget this letter from their son
who's been in the hospital inVietnam recovering, telling how
he had said this prayer and theLord gave him the strength to
get back to get help.
That was kind of a special story.
That was kind of a specialstory I thought so when I was a
package car driver at UPS.
This one time it was winter andit was icy and it was a nut and
(46:50):
bolt place with boxes.
I had stacked up on a dollyreally high, and I slipped on
the ice and the dolly came downon my knee and it was my last
stop of the day.
Barely able to drive back is aclutch thing, and I just drove
back with one leg, you know,using the clutch and the gas and
the brake, but I got back andif I didn't put any weight on
(47:12):
that knee I was okay.
But I was in the bishopric atthat time and they had a
bishopric training and I thought, well, I could go to the
training and sit there andlisten, you know.
So I went to that.
They went until 1130.
I got home about midnight Iwent and milked the goats and
(47:34):
came in and I said this prayerbefore I jumped in bed and I
said, heavenly Father, I'velived the word of wisdom all my
life and it's promised in mypatriarchal blessing that if I
lived the word of wisdom, that Icould run and not be weary and
walk and not faint.
And this is my only source ofproviding for my family and I
(47:57):
need your help.
I needed my physical strengthand Sherry's grandfather used to
always say that your onlysecurity relies on your own
ability to produce.
And my body was the way Iproduced for my family.
But I laid down in bed in thespirit, came down through the
(48:20):
top of my head, went through mybody to my knee that was injured
and healed my knee and I wentto work the next day and I was
fine.
Wow, that was a special thing,yeah.
And then I became a semi-driverand anyway I became a vacation
(48:43):
driver, because that's kind ofhow you start out back in those
days.
And I had this problem whereI'd get in the semi and these
people I was covering theirroute for had a playboy calendar
up in the front windshield, youknow, and it was pretty common
(49:06):
and kept putting little stickynotes over it, but that wasn't
very effective, and so I went tomy bishop and said yeah, I need
help, I've got this problem.
His name was Chris Vadine.
He says just put the garbage inthe garbage can, where it
(49:27):
belongs.
That that was his advice.
So these truckers some of themare pretty rough guys, you know,
and I just believed that youshould follow your bishop's
advice, and so I just startedripping off the calendars,
throwing them in the garbagebefore I'd start the day.
Scott Brandley (49:50):
And.
David Anderson (49:50):
I started hearing grumblings and someone
would talk to me about it andI'd say, well, I can't handle
having that in the tractor allday, so if you want to go on a
vacation, just take it out, so Idon't have to deal with it.
This one day I got in thetractor on Monday morning and
there were three magazines inthere.
(50:12):
I went to throw them in thegarbage and the spirit said
don't throw them in the garbage,or something bad's going to
happen.
So I thought, well, what shouldI do?
And so I stuck them inside myshirt and I thought I'll just go
put them in this guy's locker.
So I stuck it in my shirt, wentto the locker room and this
(50:35):
locker it was locked, had a keylock and then I thought, oh,
this is great.
Here I'm, you know, kind ofmaking this stand, and if people
see me in the locker room withall these magazines, that's
going to go over really good.
And so, anyway, I said thislittle prayer and the Spirit
(50:55):
said get a coat hanger.
And I got a coat hanger andstuck it in the lock of the
locker and it turned and Iopened it and threw the
magazines in there and shut itand locked it and I would have
never thought to do that, butthat's what happened.
And I go to work the next dayand I go up in the dispatch
(51:15):
office where all the people arehanging out and this one person
we'll call him Frank says hey,dave, what did you do with
Frank's magazines?
And really loud so everyonecould hear.
And I says well, that's forFrank to worry about.
And if you've got a problemwith that, maybe you should talk
to Frank, since they're his andhe's trying to make a big scene
(51:38):
saying well, I don't think it'sright that you should take
people's personal property.
And you know, after I wasreally embarrassed, I went and
talked to him, told him what Idid one-on-one, and I didn't
know that this person that wastrying to make the scene had
been taking the missiondiscussions.
(51:59):
He got really sick one day andhe asked me to give him a
blessing.
He ended up getting baptized.
After that incident I never hadany more trouble with people
doing that really.
So that was a blessing, becauseI really believe I know, scott,
(52:20):
you've been a bishop and maybeyou've given advice to people,
but I had a stake president thatwas.
A friend told me an experiencethat one time this woman came in
and asked him for advice aboutthis person she was dating, who
had had a vasectomy, whether sheshould marry him or not.
(52:41):
He was going to tell her, youknow, that she should be
prayerful and go to the Lord.
But while they were in theinterview, three spirits came
into the room and stood in thecorner of the office.
Were in the interview, threespirits came into the room and
stood in the corner of theoffice and it was made known to
him that that was her childrenthat hadn't yet been born and he
(53:04):
counseled her not to marry thatguy because of that experience.
But that's pretty rare.
But I think counsel from ourchurch leaders, you know we
should take it seriously and ifwe follow it it can bless our
lives.
Well, this other time I wasgoing down the road with one of
(53:26):
my friends.
We were talking on the CB.
I was driving a set of triplesback from Du Bois, idaho, and
when I got to Tremont and area Igot hit by a 82 mile an hour
microburst wind gust and theback the trailers just bowed
(53:46):
like an umbrella and then theback trailer went over and I
could see the.
The middle trailer was ready togo and I just had this thought
come to my mind I wonder if I'mgoing to die.
And um, when I had that thought,the spirit came into the cab of
the tractor, so powerful thatall, all fear left.
(54:10):
It wasn't even scary and when Iwoke up some guy was pounding
on the windshield saying are youokay, are you okay?
And he pulled off thewindshield and I'd had a metal
radio box about that wide, wentby me in a bag of chains.
There's just a small area wherethey could get by without
(54:33):
hitting you.
But it gave me a.
You know, I went to work thenext day.
The truck was totaled.
I didn't have a scratch areawhere they could get by without
hitting you.
I went to work the next day.
The truck was totaled.
I didn't have a scratch on me.
The promise we're given in thetemple with our garments, that
it will be a shield and aprotection to us against the
power of the destroyer until wefinished our work upon the earth
(54:54):
, that I felt that that promiseis real because the Lord
protected me through that.
And so the last experience Iwas thinking I'd share a few
years ago my mother had thisstake president that had cast
the evil spirits out of her thatI told you about.
(55:16):
That had written anautobiography of his life, and
when my mother died I'd gottenthat book, and so it was really
a special book.
I've got it right here.
It's called the Story of ElmerBear.
Just unbelievable hisexperiences in life.
(55:39):
He was a sheep guy in Colorado.
I loaned him this book becauseit had so many incredible
stories in it, and then he wentto Hawaii and he died in the
ocean and at the funeral Ithought, oh, that book's really
important to me.
I don't know if I dare ask hiswife if I could get this book
(56:04):
back.
You know it took her a coupleweeks to get his body back from
Hawaii, so in the meantime shehad taken all his stuff to the
DI, you know, all the books andeverything, and so it was gone
and that really meant a lot tome.
The book did, and so I startedlooking online.
(56:26):
I didn't have extra money rightat that time, but I was looking
online and you could find themfor $300, sometimes $80.
And four or five months afterhis death I just had this
feeling I should order itbecause I wanted to have it, you
know, even if it wasn't theoriginal book.
(56:47):
And so I ordered one that wasused, from New Jersey that was
$80.
And it came back and it was theexact same book.
It had the picture with mymother in it and the autograph
to my mother what so that justlittle things like that wow you
(57:13):
know our miracles that happen inour lives, that are special,
and that's kind of what I wantedto share for for now.
Alisha Coakley (57:23):
But oh, my goodness, wow that it.
It's amazing because it remindsme of that, uh, the conference
talk that came out recently, um,I can't remember his last
session or the one before thatwhere they talked about, um,
pillars of light versus rays oflight.
David Anderson (57:42):
Oh yeah.
Alisha Coakley (57:43):
Where you just I know I love that one so much
Cause I feel like that's alwaysbeen my life too is like I
usually don't get these big,grand, huge things.
But it's like all these littletiny things and that just your
whole, all of your stories justlike reminded me of that, like
how some of us just get likethese little tiny rays and, um,
(58:03):
it's just, it's just, it madeyou, just made me smile the
whole time.
David Anderson (58:08):
I was just smiling, I loved it well, and
anyway, I like stories too, soyeah.
So I think they'refaith-promoting.
And sometimes the Savior youknow he has stories in his
teachings a lot and I thinkthat's because it's something
people can relate to.
Alisha Coakley (58:26):
Yeah.
Scott Brandley (58:29):
Yeah Well, a lot of times in life we just don't
take the time to really thinkabout all of the little miracles
that happen throughout our life.
David Anderson (58:40):
You know, yes.
Scott Brandley (58:42):
And when you do take time out to really think
about that or ponder all thetimes that there's been a
miracle, or that somebody hascome into your life right when
you needed it somebody has comeinto your life right when you
needed it, or you know, whensomething crazy happens, like
you know, you get that book backin the mail or any one of the
(59:02):
dozens of of experiences youshared, you really start to
appreciate God.
You know God in your life.
One of our guests called themGod winks.
David Anderson (59:14):
Yes.
Scott Brandley (59:14):
You know and you know's, but it's, but you got
it.
You've got to take time out toreally look at your life and and
see them, or else you just missthem.
You'll just miss it.
Alisha Coakley (59:28):
You know, because a lot of times, yes,
there's time between them orthey're just small things, but
when you really look back andyou see that god's there yes,
yeah, I totally agree yeah, Ithink it's amazing too because,
like you have all of these,these stories of, like, your
(59:49):
ancestors, your family members,you know, friend, like you have
so many of them, and it justsort of reified, or like that's
not a word, at least she just Ijust made a random word just
reiterated to me that it's soimportant for us to share these
things.
Right, like generations to comearen't going to know about our
(01:00:11):
tiny miracles unless we get outthere and we share our stories
in some way, whether it's, youknow, just through telling you
know our children and ourgrandchildren and our friends
about it, or writing it down,putting it on social media,
doing a blog post, writing abook you know I coming on a
podcast and I think you probablyknow better than I do because
(01:00:33):
I'm not.
I'm not very good at my likegoing online and doing family
history and all that kind ofstuff but isn't there even
places for you to be able toshare stories about your
ancestors and yourself in the….
David Anderson (01:00:47):
Memories page.
Alisha Coakley (01:00:49):
Yeah, the memories page.
David Anderson (01:00:50):
Yes, yes.
Alisha Coakley (01:00:52):
So I always like that.
I wish more people would putstories in cause.
I'm a story reader and astoryteller, um, but I, I like,
I just I don't have that with myfamily.
You know, like I, we, we don'thave a lot of stories coming
from my family, so it was reallyneat to be able to hear yours,
especially with all of yourconnections that your ancestors
have to, like the early leadersof the church and all of those
(01:01:16):
integral things that came aboutbecause of them.
David Anderson (01:01:19):
It's you got a cool family line yes, yeah, I'm
very blessed, but thank you oh,wow, man.
Alisha Coakley (01:01:29):
Yeah, well, david, we're, we're probably
gonna have to come.
Have you come back on and sharesome more stories with us in
the future.
Maybe do a part two, somethinglike that.
David Anderson (01:01:41):
I'd love to have someone in the temple that I
didn't have time to share, butI'd really love to if I get a
chance.
Alisha Coakley (01:01:49):
That would be really cool.
Scott Brandley (01:01:51):
Yeah Well, do you have any last thoughts you'd
like to share before we wrapthings up today?
David Anderson (01:02:14):
happened to come upon Ben-Hur in different times
in his life and there's a scenewhere he'd lost everything and
been a slave and regained hisfreedom and was going back to
Jerusalem.
And he says to Ben-Hur yourlife is a miracle, it's a
miracle that you're here.
And Ben-Hur responded by sayingwell, I don't believe in
miracles.
And then he said, well, yourwhole life is a miracle.
(01:02:38):
But at that point in timeBen-Hur didn't realize it was
the Savior that gave him waterwhen he was close to all these
things to happen, so that hecould get his family back and
get the revenge out of his heart.
(01:03:01):
Anyway, I think in our livesthat's true, that we just have
to recognize the miracles in ourlives that are taking place and
we may not even be aware ofthem.
And I have a testimony that weall have the ability to share
light with others and help them.
(01:03:23):
And we do this by aligning ourlives with the Savior's
teachings.
And you know, if we keep ourfocus on the Savior and try to
always remember Him, then Hislight and Spirit will flow into
us and will sustain us and we'llexperience miracles in our life
(01:03:44):
.
And the Savior, he's the sourceof light and he's in and
through all things.
His light powers the sun.
It's His light that gives lifeto every living thing.
When we renew our covenants eachweek, or read the scriptures,
(01:04:04):
or fast or pray or attend thetemple, we receive light and we
become light.
And the Savior is the source oflight and he's the answer to
removing the darkness from ourlives.
And if we exercise faith in Hisatonement, we can overcome the
(01:04:26):
evils and darkness in the worldand bring light to others.
And I bear that witness in thename of Jesus Christ.
Amen, amen.
I bear that witness in the nameof.
Alisha Coakley (01:04:34):
Jesus Christ Amen Amen.
Scott Brandley (01:04:37):
Wow.
Alisha Coakley (01:04:37):
Well, thank you so much, David, for coming on
here.
We appreciate you.
David Anderson (01:04:42):
Well, thank you so much.
I'm thankful I could have thisopportunity.
Scott Brandley (01:04:46):
Yeah, thanks, man.
It's been inspirational and Ithink you're going to inspire a
lot of people through your story, so thanks for being on.
Alisha Coakley (01:04:57):
Yeah, absolutely Well thanks, scott and Alisha.
All right, well, guys, that'sall we have for you today.
So thank you to all of ourlisteners for tuning in.
Remember, if you guys have astory that you'd like to share,
we want to hear from you.
Just go ahead and you can headover to LatterdayLights.
com and fill out the contactform at the bottom of the page,
(01:05:20):
or you can just email usdirectly at latterdaylights at
gmail.
com.
We respond either way, um, butdefinitely do not forget,
listeners, to do your fivesecond missionary work, to share
today's light brought to you byDavid, and just comment below
Let us know which one of yourstories you know, which one of
David's stories was yourfavorite.
(01:05:41):
What did you love?
Do you have questions on any ofthem?
You know, just let him know howappreciative you are for his
willingness to come on heretoday.
Scott Brandley (01:05:51):
Yeah Well, thanks again everyone.
Thanks again, david, and wewill talk to you guys next week
with another episode fromLatter-day Lights.
Until then, take care, bye-bye,bye guys.
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