Stories: A well-deserved "I told you so!"
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| At the tail end of my mission I served with Elder Stephen Bos in Beaver, PA. It was late fall, with the trees all turned yellow and orange, and a big bite of cold air in our face on a daily basis. One Sunday after Church, we were walking in our suits and overcoats to a dinner appointment at a member's home when it started to rain on us. Desperate for a short cut, I convinced Elder Bos to turn off the road, go down through a deep forest gully, and up a big hill on the other side that would put us quite close to the member's home. Elder Bos didn't want to do it, but I was a grizzled veteran and he wasn't - so I won that argument (or so I thought). We went down through the trees into the deep gully, and jumped across a small stream that we found at the bottom. We then struggled up the big forest hill, ablaze with autumn color. Everything was cold and slick, and we both slipped and fell back a couple of times as we struggled to the top. Elder Bos complained and rightly "told ya so'd" all the way up. But it was too late to turn back, so we kept going and were relieved to make it to the top.... at least for a split second. When the trees cleared and the land leveled, we found ourselves stepping into the huge, open backyard of a very nice home. About 50 yards ahead of us was the big back porch, and sitting attentively on that porch were two full-grown Doberman Pinchers! Without a second of hesitation, we both yelled out, turned and dove for the trees and down that big, slick hill. The dogs came right after us, barking like crazy. I truly thought we were going to die! We ran, slipped, tripped, and fell all the way down that hill, leapt across the stream, and started scrambling up the much-steeper other side. I then heard an out-of-breath Elder Bos yell at me to stop. I turned back and saw one of the most beautiful sights I ever beheld on my mission - those Dobermans stopped in their tracks at the stream. They continued to bark at us like mad devils, but they stayed put, obviously well-trained by their owner to not come across the stream to the other side. We'd escaped with our lives! Emerging from the woods, at basically the same spot that we had entered, we were a sorry lot. Wet, with mud everywhere, torn clothes, and I even vaguely remember a bit of blood. ...And it was still raining. ...And we had no choice but to keep walking. The long way, all the way to the dinner appointment. Pretty much in dazed, angry silence. :) |
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