Answer the phone! — 1987
During the summer of 1987, we took the youth of our ward to Vernal for a youth conference. The youth stayed in the homes of church members, and we adult leaders stayed in a hotel. I was assigned to share a room with our wonderful bishop. I initially considered this an honor, but soon discovered why the other brethren had broad smiles on their faces when they heard of the hotel room assignments: Our bishop is a world-class snorer. Within minutes of going to bed, he was snoring at decibel levels rarely achieved by mere mortals. I laid awake for 2 to 3 hours, pondering my dilemma as the snoring continued relentlessly. I finally decided upon a plan: with every snore I would rattle the telephone receiver in its holder. This would rouse the Bishop just enough to disrupt the snoring for about 5 to 10 minutes, and then I would rattle the receiver again. This allowed me to catnap in 10-minute intervals during the night. The two nights I slept in the bishop’s room were some of the longest I’ve ever spent. The bishop complained of not sleeping restfully on the trip because of fitful dreams and disturbing noises during the nights. It wasn’t until several weeks later that I confessed my actions to the bishop, and we had a good laugh over it. On many subsequent occasions, the bishop would jokingly tell others of the miserable nights he spent in Vernal because of his roommate who had the nervous habit of rattling a phone receiver all night long in his sleep.
I have to add parenthetically that it truly was a privilege to share a room with this great bishop on that trip, due to the fact that I got to know him better and sensed his great love for the youth and for the members of the ward. He is a great man, and I will cherish his friendship for a lifetime.
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