Notes from Neil (Elder LeBaron)

On preparation day, I was loading an antique for the apartment into our enclosed cargo trailer.  A man who was also a customer helped me to lift the piece into the trailer.  I said, “Thanks, you saved me.”  He said, “No, Jesus saved us.”  I love how freely and openly fellow Texans embrace religion and talking about Christ.

 On Sunday, the College Stations stake presidency called me to serve as a counselor in the Heritage (YSA) branch.  In the stake, there are four wards in College Station, home of Texas A&M, and one ward in Huntsville.  There are also branches in the prison system (covering 10 units) and in outlying communities: Madisonville, Crockett, Brenham, Caldwell, Hearn, and Navasota plus YSA branches at both colleges and a Spanish ward – fifteen units in all.   The President of the branch is James Olson, a history professor at Sam Houston State University, who is also a prolific writer.  He has researched and written on diverse subjects: cancer, the Vietnam War, John Wayne, and dozens of other subjects.  Pres. Olson was in the Fifth Quorum of the Seventy and also served as a Regional Representative.

During our branch conference on Sunday, President Olson was speaking.  One of his grandsons had been playing at their home with some Star Wars figures.  The young boy accidentally misplaced a couple of them and, some time later, found them again.  He ran to his grandfather exclaiming, “They came back!”  The grandson’s observation was that they had wandered off by themselves and then, when they ‘came to [themselves,’ they returned home.  We were reminded by President Olson that we sometimes feel that God has “wandered away” from us in our lives.  In reality, through our own neglect, we often create the gulf ourselves until we can rediscover the Savior in our lives again and mistakenly believe that “He came back.”