I have been reading my missionary journal. While the first
part was written on my mission the rest of the journal contains entries by my
wife and me. I will scan this portion of the journal in this year and make it
available to those who request it.
One of the insights that I gained while reading it was that
things don’t go the way we plan for a reason.
When we, and it was mostly I, decided to go to Lander to
practice we went up to find a place to live and to find an office where I could
set up my practice.
We found a house. It was a place where we could raise our
family. This is the home we lived in for years. I found a house for my office
for sale right across the street from the hospital. The layout was perfect and
the only problem was that it was not zoned for medical. It was zoned
residential. I put in a request to change the zoning to medical and was turned
down. One of the members of the zoning board was Dr. Wilmoth. He voted against
it. I had to look for another place to set up my office.
Dr. Quinton Harris was doing his residency in internal
medicine at the time at the old county hospital and in a conversation with him
he said to get a space close to the post office. He had been in private
practice in Rexburg, Idaho before he returned for specialty training. He was
the doctor who took care of my mother and later was the chairman of the church
medical services committee and was responsible for us serving our
missions.
Since I could not have my office across from the hospital, I
arranged to rent space in the same building next to the State Farm office of
Joe Scott across the street from the post office on Lincoln Street.
I had no idea that I would be drafted into the Navy after
being in practice for less than a year. I had tried to enlist after my
internship and was turned down.
I had house payments to make and also car payments in
addition to the $10,000 loan that I had borrowed from the bank to make the down
payment on the house and get the medical equipment to open my practice. The
Lord knew what was going to happen in my life and knew that I would be strapped
financially if I had to make mortgage payments on an empty office while I was
serving for two years in the Navy. The banker was kind and told me that I
would not have to make any payments while I was gone and they would not charge
me any interest.
We can’t always know what lies in the future. The Lord knows
and will open the way if we will put our trust in him. This was the case for
me. I did eventually get a different house across the street from the hospital,
which I remodeled to work for an office, and then built the building later on
my father’s lot.
“Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not on thy
own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and he will lead you a
right.”
I now know why I didn’t get the house across the street from
the hospital at that time. I am only sorry that it took me so long to realize
what a blessing that was.
Love,
Grandpa
