I listened recently to a talk given by Elder Larry Y. Wilson. He told the story of Ensign Frank Blair during the Korean War.
During the Korean War, Ensign Frank Blair served on a troop transport ship stationed in Japan. The ship wasn’t large enough to have a formal chaplain, so the captain asked Brother Blair to be the ship’s informal chaplain, having observed that the young man was a person of faith and principle, highly respected by the whole crew.
Ensign Blair wrote: “Our ship was caught in a huge typhoon. The waves were about 45 feet high. I was on watch … during which time one of our three engines stopped working and a crack in the centerline of the ship was reported. We had two remaining engines, one of which was only functioning at half power. We were in serious trouble.”
Ensign Blair finished his watch and was getting into bed when the captain knocked on his door. He asked, “Would you please pray for this ship?” Of course, Ensign Blair agreed to do so.
At that point, Ensign Blair could have simply prayed, “Heavenly Father, please bless our ship and keep us safe,” and then gone to bed. Instead, he prayed to know if there was something he could do to help ensure the safety of the ship. In response to Brother Blair’s prayer, the Holy Ghost prompted him to go to the bridge, speak with the captain, and learn more. He found that the captain was trying to determine how fast to run the ship’s remaining engines. Ensign Blair returned to his cabin to pray again.
He prayed, “What can I do to help address the problem with the engines?”
In response, the Holy Ghost whispered that he needed to walk around the ship and observe to gather more information. He again returned to the captain and asked for permission to walk around the deck. Then, with a lifeline tied around his waist, he went out into the storm.
Standing on the stern, he observed the giant propellers as they came out of the water when the ship crested a wave. Only one was working fully, and it was spinning very fast. After these observations, Ensign Blair once again prayed. The clear answer he received was that the remaining good engine was under too much strain and needed to be slowed down. So he returned to the captain and made that recommendation. The captain was surprised, telling him that the ship’s engineer had just suggested the opposite—that they increase the speed of the good engine in order to outrun the storm. Nevertheless, the captain chose to follow Ensign Blair’s suggestion and slowed the engine down. By dawn the ship was safely in calm waters.
Only two hours later, the good engine stopped working altogether. With half power in the remaining engine, the ship was able to limp into port.
The captain said to Ensign Blair, “If we had not slowed that engine when we did, we would have lost it in the middle of the storm.”
Without that engine, there would have been no way to steer. The ship would have overturned and been sunk. The captain thanked the young LDS officer and said he believed that following Ensign Blair’s spiritual impressions had saved the ship and its crew.
Ensign Blair did not just ask the Lord to solve his problem. He asked what he could do to be part of the solution. Likewise we might ask, “Lord, what do I need to do to be part of the solution?” Instead of just listing our problems in prayer and asking the Lord to solve them, we ought to be seeking more proactive ways of receiving the Lord’s help and committing to act according to the Spirit’s guidance.
You can read or listen to the entire talk here:
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/take-the-holy-spirit-as-your-guide?lang=eng
I can’t stop thinking about this story, and how I can be better about praying to be a part of the solution, rather than just turning things over to God to take care of. I do that a lot. I will work on being better at this.
In the last 6 weeks or so, I’ve visited with about 170 missionaries who were away from home this Christmas. I asked them to write down for me 2 of their family’s favorite Christmas traditions. Actually, with most of them, I had them describe a typical Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the home where they grew up.
Our dear Prophet, President Monson went Home last night. His life was filled with kindness to others. We will miss him.
Aaron was so helpful as we worked on Transfer Planning and had a couple missionaries returning home.
Claire and Heidi:
Dinner out on this evening at Zesta Cucina.
Then home to the Mega Bed to watch the movie Concussion with Will Smith.
Dinner this evening was at Miner’s–Yakima’s famous burger place.
Claire is finishing the Book of Mormon before the end of the year.
Saturday I took the kids shopping!
Graham learned how we make Christmas Sticky Buns:
Aaron is our puzzle Meister, up late every night working on this Nativity puzzle:
Sunday morning: Adam loves making buttermilk or Kodiak pancakes for breakfast.
Aaron finally got his hair cut!
New Year’s Eve Day:
Aaron stayed up late last night finishing the puzzle:
Farewells are Hard. This has been our last Christmas in Yakima. 
We started our leisure morning with this beautiful full rainbow gracing our Yakima skies. There was lots of visiting and catching up to do with the kids. It’s SO NICE to have them here. We all helped with the meal, which was simple and delicious.
Pres Lewis made his famous candied yams and the stuffing. Claire and Graham made the potatoes and gravy. Aaron oversaw the turkey in the crockpot: 2 drumsticks and 2 thighs. I made fresh cranberry relish and steamed some beans. Rolls and fresh pressed apple juice topped things off. We ate at about 4:30.
A little relaxing after the meal. 
