Sometimes You CAN Take It With You (4 Little Known Times Angels Delivered Bread, a Newspaper or Water)
But sometimes items made here have crossed into the cloudy
paradise. The golden plates came and went a few times. The Urim & Thummim, the over-sized Nephite breast plate and the sword of Laban have also been taken up. The Liahona has come and gone a time or two.
But those examples are easy. These next items are lesser
known – and they may even give hope that once you're on the other side, you may
be able to come down for a donut every now and again. I'm not saying any of these items made it ultimately to heaven, but they do seem to have left this mortal coil for a time. And if loaves of bread can
cross the heavenly threshold, donuts probably can too – right?
In this first bread case, the bread traveled from Payson,
Utah to Germany. I submit that it was not by steamer. FYI – I listed this on 3 Nephite blog a few months back:
1) Bread In Payson, Utah
“At the time of the first settlement of Payson, Utah, a
man . . . was sent on a mission to Germany, while the wife was left in Payson
to manage their rather isolated farm land. One winter morning . . . a tall
elderly gentleman knocked at her door. Not a little surprised at seeing a
stranger in this sparsely populated region, she invited him in. He told her he
had traveled far and was very hungry. Food was never plentiful in that
household, and the fact that it was midwinter caused a greater scarcity than
ever. However, the good woman, wrapping part of a loaf of bread in an old bit
of peculiarly patterned cloth, offered it to the stranger. The old man thanked
her and went his way. The woman followed him to the door and found he had
disappeared without leaving a single track in the snow. This incident took
place one day before Christmas, and that fact, together with the strangeness of
the whole proceeding, caused the young woman to remember the date.
“Several years later, the day after her husband's return,
she was helping him to unpack his belongings when she found, carefully folded
in a corner of his trunk, the same odd piece of cloth in which she had wrapped
the stranger's bread. Her husband related to her this story:
"It was on the day before Christmas. . . . The money
which was to pay my expenses was many days overdue, and I was alone and
penniless in a strange city. I had not eaten for two days. . . Upon looking
up I perceived a tall, elderly gentleman walking toward me. I turned aside to
allow him to pass, but he took me by the arm, and removing a package from his
pocket, wrapped in this piece of cloth, placed it in my hand. He then said, `Go
to the post office. Even now your money awaits you there.' Without another word
he turned and disappeared around a nearby corner. . . . I opened the package
and found it contained a half loaf of fresh bread. Later I went to the post
office and found the money, just as he had said."” (http://ogdenkraut.com/?page_id=209)
Bread
shows up twice on this list, which really gives me hope for those white-clad donut
runs. Bakeries may just be on the approved list. Fingers crossed…
This
one is very, very similar to the above account. There is no 3 Nephite in this story
though - it’s Moroni! This one and the water one at #4, FYI, have appeared on a list here before.
2) Bread Near Far West,
Missouri
“While traveling to Far West, Brother Phelps became lost and
needed to stay the night out on the prairie. He became hungry and his horse
needed water. In the dark, he came upon a loaf of bread, wrapped in a white
linen cloth which was held together by six pins. A man then appeared to Brother
Phelps and guided him and the horse to water. The man then provided Brother
Phelps with directions that would lead him back to Far West. Once in Far West,
the prophet Joseph Smith asked Brother Phelps if anything peculiar happened to
him on his way. After Brother Phelps related his experience to Joseph and John
P. Green, Brother Green explained that an old man had approached his home the
day before and told Sister Green that he had a friend who could use a loaf of
bread. Brother and Sister Green gladly wrapped the loaf of bread and gave it to
the man. Brother Phelps returned the white linen cloth and six pins to Brother
Green. Joseph then smiled and said, “And you didn’t know that that was Moroni!””
(http://www.livingheritagetours.com/moroni-appeared-to-17-different-people)
Now
it is entirely possible that Moroni picked up that bread at the Green’s house,
put it in a backpack and walked it over to the middle of nowhere. If that’s the
case, then this bread certainly didn’t brush by the pearly gates. But that’s not how Moroni is known to travel
since he first appeared to Joseph Smith. Usually he delivers his message and
then disappears. When he disappears, where does he go?
Now
for a less delicious & coupon-riddled item – a newspaper:
3) Newspaper in England
“Shortly after the Logan Utah Temple was dedicated on May 17, 1884,
Bishop Henry Ballard of the Logan Second Ward was busy interviewing members and
writing recommends when his young daughter, Ellen, delivered a newspaper to
him. The paper was the Newbury Weekly News, which was published in his
birthplace of Newbury, Berkshire, England. The paper’s date—May 15,
1884—indicated that it had been printed only three days earlier. At the time, a
typical trip across the ocean, and then the plains, took weeks!
“Bishop Ballard’s young daughter explained that she had been playing on
the sidewalk when two strangers handed her the paper and gave strict
instructions that she deliver it to no one except her father. Upon inspection,
Bishop Ballard found the newspaper to contain a story with the names of 60
people and their accompanying dates of birth and death. The next day, Bishop
Ballard sought an explanation from Temple President Marriner W. Merrill. After
listening to the bishop’s story, President Merrill said, “Brother Ballard,
someone on the other side is anxious for their work to be done and they knew
that you would do it if this paper got into your hands.”” (http://www.ldsliving.com/Elder-Ballard-Temple-Miracle/s/80005)
Well that one
definitely wasn’t by steamer. This next one is much more somber. It’s also the
only one on this list that doesn’t involve a mysterious person delivering
the item. It’s Elizabeth Smart. She was kidnapped in June of 2002. She was
held for a long time. One night, months into her captivity, she was thirsty – really, really thirsty. She was laying in a tent, her tormentors were asleep, and she was beyond parched. She
couldn’t just go get drink. Mitchell and Barzee wouldn’t allow it. Then this:
4) Cup of Water in Utah
“After going several days without water, she awoke in the
middle of the night for no reason. Both captors were asleep and when she looked
around she found a yellow cup filled to the brim with clean, cold water. There
was no way her captors would have shared if they had found water, the nearest
source of water was a grueling hike down and then back up, and by the time they
got it back was never super cold and tasted like the plastic jugs used to haul
it up. "Where did the water come from? I have no explanation other than
the water came from God. I know we didn't have a drop of water in the
camp.....Why did God do it? How did it happen? What was God trying to say?
Would I have died without the water? Certainly not. As thirsty as I felt, and
as terrible as it was, I was not teetering on the edge of a life or death
situation. And I was not alone. Mitchell and Barzee needed water too. Mitchell
wasn't going to stay up on the mountain and let us all die of thirst.
Eventually he would have had to go down to the stream. So why did God send me
the water? Because He loved me. And He wanted me to know. He wanted me to know
that He was still near. He wanted me to know that He controlled the Earth and
all the heavens, that all things were in His hands. And if He could move
mountains, then he could do this thing for me. To Him it was a small thing, a
terribly easy thing to doubt for me it was as powerful as if He had parted the
sea. This experience reminded me once again that God had not deserted me. He
was aware of my suffering and loneliness. And that assurance gave me hope. It
helped me to keep my faith and gave me the strength that I needed to go
on."” (http://whatimreadingmdw.blogspot.com/2013/12/my-story-elizabeth-smart-with-chris.html)
This
is kind of like the Far West bread. Did the cup get carried up the road one step at
a time? How was it still brim-full if the water source was such a hike away. Did a heavenly angel unzip the tent, crinkle across the canvas floor, place the cup, crawl back out of the tent and then re-zip it? Elisabeth Smart certainly doesn’t seem to think so.
What’s
the point of all this? Are they just interesting stories? Maybe. Do they show
that some items can cross the great divide? Maybe!
But
when I go my wife has strict instructions to bury me with my mint condition,
never opened 1984 Battle Armor Skeletor. Just in case.
Because I speculate that some cool is eternal.
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