The Wife of My Youth
This past Wednesday was my wife and my 39th
anniversary. We were married on July 9th, 1975 in the Washington
D.C. Temple. We are the result of an arranged marriage. When I first met Sue I
had six months left in my service as an LDS Missionary in the Alaska-British
Columbia Mission. My companion and I were teaching two young children in the Rapin’s home and
Susan was sister Rapin’s daughter. One day she made the comment that she wanted
to go to Washington D.C to the temple there. I told her that my parents and I
were planning on going there when I got home from my mission and if she wanted
to go with us she was welcome. Not long after that I was transferred to
Northern British Columbia and finished my mission there. Just before leaving
the mission to go home, I received a letter from Susan (she had asked the mission president
if she could write me and he said she could) asking if my family was still
planning on going to the temple in Washington D.C. I wrote back (again with
permission from the mission president) to tell her yes we were and she was welcome
to come with us.
I left the mission field on
Friday June 20, 1975 and flew back to Indiana. Early that next week Susan flew
into Indianapolis and then my Mom, my Dad and Susan and I left for the 15 hour
drive to Washington D.C. We spent a couple of days there at the temple and the
temple workers kept calling us Brother & Sister Potter and we kept telling
them we were not married. After those few days we went back home to Indiana and
a couple of days later Susan and I went for a walk and ended up in a park where
we were sitting on some swings talking. I asked Susan if she would like to go
back to the Washington D.C. Temple and do what everyone there were saying. She
asked if I was proposing and I said yes. She told me to get down on my knees
and do it right, so I did. We then went home and told everyone were wanted to
go back to Washington D.C and get married. They were in shock.
The next day on July 9, 1975,
only 19 days after I left the mission field we were married in the Washington
D.C. Temple. That was 39 years ago. But that is not all of the story. After we
were married I found out Susan’s side of the story. Many of you probably don’t
know who Paul Harvey is, but those as old as I am know who he is. He used to
tell a short story about someone and at the end he would say: “and now you know
the rest of the story”. Well here is the rest of the story.
Hal & Sue July 1975 |
After I was transferred from
Duncan where Susan lived to Prince Rupert, B.C. Susan was trying to decide if
she should go to Europe with her mother or go to the Washington D.C. Temple.
While she was working as a nurse in Vancouver, B.C. she became close friends
with the stake Patriarch and his wife. He was like a father to her since her
father had died when she was 14. She went to him and asked if he would give her
a father’s blessing. She explained the situation and she wanted to know what
the Lord would have her do. Patriarch Dawe said he would love to give her a
blessing, but before doing that he wanted to give her some advice. He told her
she should not go to Washington D.C. because it looked as if she was chasing a
missionary and good Canadian girls would never to that. But as he laid his
hands on her head and gave her a blessing the Lord said she was to go to
Washington D.C., get married in the temple and become a mother in Zion.
Patriarch Dawe told her to ignore the advice he had given her and do what the
Lord said. So she decided to go to Washington D.C.
After we were married we drove
across Canada to meet her family in Saskatchewan and then more family in
British Columbia. When we got to Vancouver, B.C. we stopped at the mission home
and visited with the Mission President and his wife. It was now just over a
month since I had left the mission field and here I was back with my wife.
Susan was talking with the mission president’s wife and was saying she was not
feeling well. Sister Preece said she was probably just pregnant and Susan said
no way. Yes, way she was. So within a month she had gone to Washington D.C., gotten married in the temple and become a mother in Zion, just like the
patriarch said would happen.
That is how the Lord managed to bring us together and 39
years, four children and nine grandchildren later we are still married and
loving every day we have together. We are growing to love each other more and
more as time goes on. It has not been easy and there have been many bumps,
bruises and difficult time for us. Marriage is not easy but when we knelt
across the alter in the temple and joined hands we made covenants with each
other and the Lord that bound us together not just during this life but after
death. Marriage takes work, patience, and forgiveness and both husband and wife
need to be 100% committed to get through the trials that come, and they will
come.
Elder David A. Bednar speaking on the divine nature of
marriage said:
In “The
Family: A Proclamation to the World,” the First Presidency and Council of the
Twelve Apostles proclaim “that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained
of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal
destiny of His children.” This keynote sentence of the proclamation
teaches us much about the doctrinal significance of marriage and emphasizes the
primacy of marriage and family in the Father’s plan. Righteous marriage is a
commandment and an essential step in the process of creating a loving family
relationship that can be perpetuated beyond the grave. (“Marriage Is Essential
to His Eternal Plan”, Elder David A. Bednar, Ensign, June 2006)
After explaining the purpose of marriage and the roles of
the husband and wife in his talk, Elder Bednar then speaks on how marriage and
family are being attacked today:
The Father’s plan is
designed to provide direction for His children, to help them become happy, and
to bring them safely home to Him. Lucifer’s attacks on the plan are intended to
make the sons and daughters of God confused and unhappy and to halt their
eternal progression. The overarching intent of the father of lies is that all
of us would become “miserable like unto himself” (2 Ne. 2:27), and he works to warp the elements of the
Father’s plan he hates the most. Satan does not have a body, he cannot marry,
and he will not have a family. And he persistently strives to confuse the
divinely appointed purposes of gender, marriage, and family. Throughout the
world, we see growing evidence of the effectiveness of Satan’s efforts.
Hal & Sue 2009 |
My journey through this life has been an experience of the
greatest joy and sorrow that every parent has but I am grateful that my wife
has been by my side the entire way. The best way I can describe my feelings is
through the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith as he described his wife Emma:
“With what unspeakable
delight, and what transports of joy swelled my bosom, when I took by the hand,
on that night, my beloved Emma—she that was my wife, even the wife of my youth,
and the choice of my heart. . . . Again she is here, even in the seventh
trouble—undaunted, firm, and unwavering—unchangeable, affectionate Emma!”3(History of the Church, 5:107.)
To my wife I express my love and devotion. I hope that the
next 39 years will see us more in love and still best friends. Happy
Anniversary to my wife who is still the wife of my youth.
Your thoughts
and questions are always welcome.
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