April 28, 2010

Do you have a story about a big surprise?

I have to leave my childhood for this one since the biggest surprise of my life just took place a few weeks ago. Provo Craft was sold to Bank of America and we were told that we would receive a reward or bonus for our years of service to Provo Craft. Since I had been there longer than 5 years I received $15.000.00 dollars. It was taxable and we were told that if we wanted to change our deductible amount we would need to do it before that night. Well I didn’t find out for two days what my amount would be since I didn’t know about the 5 year part at that time so after taxes I netted $9,151.00. (A second big surprise but it was still a wonderful blessing.) It was followed that Friday by another surprise as I was asked to attend a party that was being hosted by the four original owners of Provo Craft and asked to take photographs for it. I was told they had money budgeted to pay for it but after what they had done earlier (they were the ones that gave the bonuses not Provo Craft) I told them I would do it for them at no charge that they had done enough all ready. Well that night as we arrived they were no where to be found then I discovered that they were in another room meeting with each person individually and handing out checks to everyone who had touched their lives due to Provo Craft association. There were employees that had been gone for PC for several years. It was a great reunion. I would tell the amount of the check but was asked to keep it a secret but they were true to their word in that “it would be worth our time” to attend the party. They touched our lives several times over and that night was a very special evening as we got to visit with many of our friends who had been a part of our Provo Craft experience.

April 27, 2010

The question for today was answered yesterday. It was what did I do with what I stoe and did I get caught. So I will just put in another story today.

This story has to do with Tithing Settlement and one very special one in my adulthood.

Some of you may have been present when it happened.

Tithing Settlement $4,000 due

It was this time of year in 1983 (Christmas Time) when we had only been in this home for about 6 months when it came time for Tithing Settlement. As I was preparing my records so that I could go to Tithing Settlement I was thinking for some reason about the things that Mom and Dad had always taught us about paying tithing. Mom always felt that we should learn to round up instead of just paying an exact tenth since that would help cover things that we might have forgotten to pay tithing on during the year such as gifts and other things. As I was thinking about the gifts part my mind suddenly remembered the parcel of land that had been deeded to us that year so that we could build our house. I was suddenly sick since I had always had tried to pay a full tithe. I remembered talking with a convert to the church in Texas while I was on my mission who was then a Seventy in the ward. He told me how that principle of the gospel had been hard for him to accept but once he did he had been blessed so many times for following it that he wanted us as missionaries to use him as an example when teaching investigators about how true the principle really was for him and would be for them. It has always interested me how some things seem to stick in your memory and that one had even though I had always believed in tithing and never had a problem with it in my life. Then as I struggled with this new problem the thought of that good Brother in the mission field came back to me with great strength and power. I knew I would need to pay that tithing but also new that it would be $4,000.00 and I didn’t have anywhere near that amount that I could pay that day. I really didn’t know what I would do but decided to tell the Bishop and see what he would suggest to me. So we went to tithing settlement and as the children finished declaring that they had paid a full tithe and Marie then did so as well then I told the Bishop that I could not declare it since we had forgotten to pay tithing on the land. He then asked it’s worth and I told him $40,000.00. He then suggested that I start next year and pay $400.00 per year for ten years until I had it paid. He stated that he felt the Lord would feel OK about that. So for ten years I faithfully paid an extra $40.00 per month for ten months of the year until the 10 years had passed. The interesting part of this story is that at the end of that 10 years Signetics shut down and my ability to pay the extra ended with the loss of that income and the lower earnings that I ended up making for the next ten years. At the end of that period I ended up going to work for Provo Craft and for the first time since Signetics shut down once again had a steady income.