When my Grandmother turned eighty in June 2006, all her family, including our children and all my siblings attended her birthday party.
When my daughter Hannah and I talked to my brother, he told us that he was going to Hollywood later that week to oversee the filming of a movie he was co-producing.
Hannah was thirteen and rather star-struck at that time, and the chance to go to Hollywood and see a movie being shot was overwhelmingly tempting to her. When my brother said that he would be driving there, and he didn't have a hotel to stay in, so he would just be 'crashing on some friend's couch,' you can imagine my thoughts. I told Hannah that she could go, but only if I went with her. As Hannah was something of a “Mommy's girl” then, she happily accepted the plan.
My brother said he could fit us both in his car, but I decided to look into other options. I found a really great deal on a round-trip flight to Southern California, and Hannah and I booked two tickets immediately. When I told my brother that we wouldn't be driving with him, he asked about the flight, and when I answered his questions, he said he would fly with us. Other family members heard about the trip, and they were interested, so my aunt and cousin drove from Arizona to meet us, while another family member joined us on the plane flight.
My brother warned us that life on the set would not always be interesting – there would be a lot of time with nothing happening between scenes. That proved to true, but we didn't really mind that. We enjoyed the pleasant California weather and the novelty of the things going on around us. We saw a scene shot in a grocery store one day, and one at a storage facility a few days later. We had plenty of time to see the sights: Rodeo Drive, Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood, and a strip mall where we bought some frozen yogurt.
On Saturday afternoon, some of us went to a grocery store to pick up a few snacks and drink, and Hannah and I bought some simple food we could prepare and eat on Sunday: fruit and yogurt, spaghetti and sauce, and a loaf of french bread.
The next morning, two members of our traveling group went to see a professional baseball game. The other two decided to head to the beach. Hannah spent some quiet time writing in her journal, and I read some Church magazines I had brought with me. We enjoyed our fruit and yogurt, and decided to go out for a walk. We found an area where large business buildings surrounded a large, beautifully landscaped area with flowers and waterfalls. There was no one else there, and we enjoyed the peaceful serenity. Hannah and I sat down on a bench, and I told her this story:
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When I began working at a market research company in October 1989, I had been looking forward to working there for weeks. I immediately liked the people I worked with and was excited about the work. There was one thing that I wondered about, though. When they hired me, they told me I would be doing quite a bit of traveling for my job. That was fine with me. But I when they said that my trips would usually be on weekends, and that I could expect to be out of town two Sundays a month.
This was a great concern for me. I wanted to keep the Sabbath holy. I wanted to be active in my ward and hold a calling. I was serving as the Primary Music leader at the time, and I didn’t see how I could do that if I was away from church half the time. I had felt really good about taking the job, and I believed the Lord had led me to this position. I decided that I would work hard, and do the best job I could, while doing my best to keep Sunday a holy day.
I was assigned to a project right away. I, along with two other analysts and one of the vice-presidents, would fly to California to conduct market research at a car clinic. We would leave Wednesday afternoon, spend Thursday setting up our research, and conduct interviews at the clinic on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I was disappointed about working all day Sunday, but I decided that I would make the effort to remember that it was the Lord’s day and make it a special day in some way. I would keep it as well as I could.
A few days before we were to leave for California, one of the managers asked to talk to me. He said that they had decided that I should stay in Memphis an extra day for some additional training before leaving for California. The rest of the team would leave on Wednesday and set up on Thursday, and I would join them Thursday night. I was a little disappointed about it, but I agreed.
When I got to California, I took a cab to the hotel, where I met the others. I learned that they had worked for about an hour that morning setting up, then spent the rest of the day shopping, sight-seeing, and beach-walking. They raved about the wonderful day they had spent. They told me they were sorry I had missed it, but they hoped we would have more time off to enjoy the area.
We worked very hard the next two days, spending long hours in interviews and team meetings. When I woke Sunday morning, I was not looking forward to working all day. I was determined to have as spiritual a day as possible, though, so I began the day with prayer and scripture study.
I left my room and met the other members of my team at the center where we had been working. There we learned that because of our hard work during the past two days, and because we had been fortunate enough to talk to the right people, we had unexpectedly met our research quota the day before. We had somehow completed three days’ work in two days. It was up to the project manager to decide what to do. We could work anyway, gathering extra information, or we could take the day off. She decided we would take the day off.
Everyone was happy. I felt that a miracle had occurred. The team manager said, “Okay, let’s go back to our rooms and change, then meet in the lobby in ten minutes. We can go back to the beach, and to that neat shop we found, and out to lunch.” She turned to me. “I’m glad you’ll get to spend some time sight-seeing, since you missed the fun the first day we were here.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. I honestly did want to see the area and enjoy the beautiful day out on the beach. I also felt it was important for me to build a relationship with the people I would be working with. The other two analysts on the team were young women about my age, and I wanted to get to know them. The vice-president who was with us was a middle-aged woman whom I felt I could learn a lot from. I didn’t want to seem unfriendly on my first trip out.
Still, I felt that this Sunday off was a gift from the Lord, and I knew he had not given it to me for shopping and sunbathing. I told my co-workers that I would rather spend the day quietly in my room. They were confused about my attitude and pressured me a little, but I stood firm, and they left without me.
I had brought my scriptures and a current copy of the Ensign. I spent the day reading and praying. I discovered a radio station that was broadcasting the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and I enjoyed listening to that. It was a peaceful day.
At the end of the day I met my co-workers for dinner. They seemed a little disappointed about their day – it had not been as much fun as they expected. They were tired and a little grumpy, while I felt rejuvenated.
We flew back to Memphis the next morning .On Tuesday I went in to the office to work, The team-leader for the project came to me with news that was surprising to both of us: I had been selected to write the report on the project for the client. This was very unusual – normally an experienced senior analyst or manager would write the report, and this was my first project. But I learned that the vice-president had been impressed with me in California, and they thought I could do it.
I worked for that company for five years, first full-time, then part-time after Sam was born. I developed skills that have helped me at home, work, and church. I was able to help support our family working mostly from home with my small children. And I was able to talk to several of my co-workers about the gospel. The job was a great blessing for me in many ways.
During the time that I worked there, I believe I worked two or three Sundays. Other employees worked frequently on Sunday, but somehow, my Sunday projects would be canceled, or I would end up with different travel arrangements than the other people on my team. I believe that the Lord tested my willingness to really do my best to keep His day holy on my first project, and he poured out a blessing on me because of it.
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Hannah and I walked back to the hotel and began to make our dinner. We were almost done cooking the spaghetti when the rest of the group came in. None of them seemed happy. The beach was cold and windy, and the sand got in their eyes. The baseball game had been called early because of the weather. We offered to share our dinner, but no one was interested. They all went their rooms and closed the doors. Hannah and I ate, cleaned the small hotel kitchen, and sat on the couch for a while, talking before we went to bed. We had had a good day, and we slept well.
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I don't believe the similarity of these stories – the one about our trip to Hollywood and the one I told Hannah as we sat on the bench – is coincidental. God's work is perfect, and sometimes we have to learn the same lesson twice. Or we learn it once and need to be tested on what we learned. I'm grateful for those learning experiences, and I know that Hannah and I both strengthened our testimony of keeping the Sabbath a holy day.
“. . . call the Sabbath a delight. . .” (Isaiah 58:13)
