You got him to shut up for that long?

You got him to shut up for that long?

I was sitting in Elders quorum with Elder Bishara so he could translate for the deaf men while his companion went with Elder Shiday to translate for the deaf women in Relief society. We were on those crappy metal chairs, the kind motivate you to get to Sacrament meeting early, the kind that you slip off if you move too quickly.

The Bishop aggressively sat down next to me but thanks to the slip factor of the chairs he slid so his shoulder was touching mine. I was a little concerned. He said that a member from Burleson was requesting a blessing for her non-member friend in the hospital. 

Let me tell y'all that Elder Shiday and I are hospital pros now we've been there so much for Elder Shidays frail body and also for other people's blessings that people have kind of just come to accept us as regulars like in the hood. 

So we jumped at the chance to go back to the hospital. 

We got in the hospital elevator with 2 other people who were going to the same floor we were, they asked what we were doing and I explained we were giving a blessing to someone and the guy told us he knew who we represented because he currently lived in Salt Lake City and we later found out he worked at Snowbird. He originally thought it was his dad who had requested the blessing but when he found out we were going to someone else he asked if we would also give his dad a blessing. We gave the first blessing without incident and then we went to go see this guy and his dad. 

We walked into the room and we saw a frail bearded man with his son and two other women one who was in the elevator with us and I assume was the bearded guy's daughter, and another woman whom I assume was his wife. We later found out the guy's name was Roy.

Things were looking pretty grim, Roy was slightly out of it, he kept telling his wife to pull the plug  his son was mocking him but because apparently some other guys from another church tried giving him a blessing but he wouldn't have it. The daughter however actively tried to calm her father down so we could administer the blessing. Roy kept talking to us asking questions like what country Elder Shiday was from and what city I was from. Then he asked if we were "integrated" but Elder Shiday didnt know what that meant so bullet slightly dodged. 

The daughter grabbed us and begged us to give him the blessing so Elder Shiday pulled out his oil and Roy asked, "Is that your magic charm? Are you going to do your African magic?"

The son tried to film the blessing but we told him "nope, not today" and when Elder Shiday anointed Roy said, "don't get that in my eyes."

During the actual ordinance and blessing though everyone was dead silent. And at the end Roy still wasn't speaking. He just grabbed our hands and said, "Thank you, really thank you." Everyone else was speechless, "You got him to shut up for that long?" The son said flabbergasted. Apparently Roy has never been quiet. They sincerely thanked us and we went on our way. 

It was super cool to see how even those who don't quite understand what we do can feel the power of the priesthood. 

Love y'all,

--Elder Murdoch 

1: our Ward mission leader