Artist on a Mission “The Little Man”

 

Years ago one of our boys tied a toy rubber man on the back of our van. It traveled on camping trips to Zion National Park, adventures in the Uintah Mountains and a van-packed trip to the eastern United States. Then the boys got worried that after joining us for so many adventures, the little man might accidentally fall off and get lost on the road. So he was brought in to the van and tied to the rear view mirror. So instead of the fancy dice or some other distracting item hanging from the rear view mirror, we had the little man.

When the first boy left for his mission, the little man was tucked into his suitcase and traveled down to the MTC and out into the mission field. The little man traveled to Canada, Brazil, France, and California. He also traveled to the Philippines. The night before my son left to come home from the Philippines, he was frantically searching through his suitcase to find the little man. His companion thought he had lost his mind.  “I’ve got to find the little man.”

“What little man?”

”My little rubber man.” Son number three came home from the Philippines with no little man until he unpacked his suitcase and in a special zippered compartment was the “little man.” We all cheered.

The family traveled to California so that boy number five could see boy number four before boy number five left on his mission. Boy number four had permission from his mission president to eat lunch with his family. Boy number four was so excited to see his family. “Oh my family is coming.” We only had an hour to eat with him.

The family-packed van had no idea how to find boy number four in the crazy roads and freeways around Rancho Cucamonga. It was a time before GPS but we had cell phones. We called boy number four on the phone. He didn’t know how to get around on the freeways around Rancho Cucamonga either but he could hear the heated discussion in the van on which way to go and which road to take and turn here or don’t turn here. Boy number four thought “Oooooh MY FAMILY IS C O M I N G.” Van found boy and there was much hugging and boy number four passed the little man to boy number five.

So the night before our mission, the boys asked, “Where is the Little Man?” So we found and packed three of them. The son who lost him in the Philippines said to make sure we put it in a locked box.

You may want to know what we are doing on our mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One thing is observing some Utahns in Hawaii Snorkeling. We thought it was a nice technique.

Here is my scripture for this week: “And if men come into me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble, and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” Ether 12:27. Driving on unfamiliar roads in Honolulu can make you feel like a weak thing.