For a couple of years now I have been the go-to guy when the missionaries need a ward member who can help teach and fellowship their investigators. It started when they asked Matt who they could call on to help teach a lady who would become a member of the Baker City Second Ward. Matt told them to ask his dad.

I got very close to Elders Fenn, Windsor, Keddington, and Judd. They were all wonderful, hard-working missionaries. A couple of others were hard to get to know, and one, I think, maybe disapproved of me. He was the junior companion, so I got used anyway.

Now we have two elders that I don't know. They keep calling for help, but I've never been able to sit in on a lesson with them. Last week I waited in front of a lady's house for 15 minutes, and finally left when the elders didn't show up. They don't realize that I live a half hour out of town. I had left the house early so that I could take care of the other things that I needed to do while in town. They called after I left home to let me know that the appointment had been canceled, but of course, I didn't get the message.

Today I was supposed to meet them at a certain address at 3:00. They were to visit a lady that needed to be invited to church. I took Marjorie. The four of us parked our two vehicles in front of an extremely unkempt-looking house and yard, and knocked on the door. A pack of dogs hit the inside of the door barking like crazy. It was raining, but I really, really didn't want to go inside that house. It didn't sound like anyone was at home. I hoped that was so. But presently the door opened a crack, and a big lady squeezed herself through the crack while kicking at dogs to keep them inside. She apologized for not inviting us in, "But you wouldn't want to come in," she said. "It's bedlam in there."

I silently agreed, and silently thanked her.

"How many dogs do you have?" an elder asked."I have three!" she announced.

I inwardly said, "Good grief."

"My kids have two more. And I'm currently baby sitting two others. There's one more in the back yard. One of them is half Australian shepherd, and half German shepherd. It used to be an outside dog, but I've got it tamed down to be an inside dog now."

The elders were under the porch roof, but Marjorie and I were standing out in the rain because there was no room for us on the cluttered porch. The elders tried to give a message and to talk about the Book of Mormon which they'd previously given her, but after every half sentence that they uttered, she had to yell at the dogs to tell them to be quiet. It was all in vain.

I finally invited her to church. "You can bring your kids, too," one elder said.

"You don't want my kids there. They're pretty wild."

"Oh, yes, we do," I said. "We're very good at taming kids."

"Well, my kids are feral. You'd have a hard time of it."

Back in the car I commented that I didn't think the lady would prove to be a golden contact.

Marjorie breathed with emphasis, "I'm so glad that we're who we are! I feel sorry for children like that. They have no chance at all."

And she's right.

We went then to see our elderly friend's neighbor who fell on the ice three days ago and broke her elbow. She's a really nice lady who lives alone. We invited her to join us for Thanksgiving dinner. She declined, because her daughter, son-in-law, and their two children were coming from California. "They're welcome, too," we said.

"No, their 8-year-old son has autism pretty bad, and he doesn't mix. He doesn't even talk. They have a hard situation to deal with, but they're making headway."

Back in the car, we were again grateful that we are who we are. We have been blessed beyond measure by being committed and involved members of the Church. We don't even have any autistic children. Why? Neither of us can remember having ever known an autistic child when we were growing up, and now they're everywhere. The environment must have something to do with autism.

We are incredibly blessed to have the family that we have. I pray for their well being every day, and am continually thanking the Lord for them. I'm sure that contributes to making them who and what they are.