Hank Smith: 00:03 Hello everyone. Welcome to FollowHIM. Favorites. This is where John and I are sharing stories that go with each week’s Come, Follow Me lesson. John we are in section 20 of the Doctrine and Covenants. You know this section, tell us what it is. 

John Bytheway: Yeah. Section 20 is really long. It’s kind of the constitution of the church. This is how it’s organized. This is what you do. 

Hank Smith: Like the first handbook of instruction. Like this is how we’re going to run things. Well there’s this part of the new handbook here where it says that we should visit the house of each member and exhort them to pray vocally in secret and attend all their family duties. So this becomes the home teaching program. Eventually, and as we know it now, the ministering program in the church. This wins the award absolutely for making an appointment before you go to teach at someone’s house.

  00:58 This is an article written by Paul Rowley who tells the story of Darrell Zaddick Bud. He says that Brother Bud is known for his cheerful spirit and good sense of humor and colorful writing style. Paul Rowley says that when he heard this story, he had to write an article about it. It’s too good not to pass along. Alright, so here’s how it goes John. Bud and the Elders quorum president in his LDS Ward were home teaching two lapsed members. So inactive members. When they came upon a home containing a member more lapsed than they could have imagined. They were welcomed into the woman’s apartment, which she shared with her boyfriend. As we were preparing to say the closing prayer at the conclusion of our visit, we heard someone pounding on the door and yelling, it’s the police open the door. I thought, that’s a funny joke. Then there was more pounding. Bud wrote before the boyfriend could open the door, it flew open and 10 armed men wearing Kevlar vests bearing the word police swarmed in ordering everyone to the floor, Bud wrote, I thought to myself, this is going to make a great story.

  02:16 This is going to be on a podcast one day, as Bud lay face down on the carpet, the Elders Quorum President stood up from where he was sitting on the couch thinking he could explain why he and Bud were there. The kind officers who were spouting language the two LDS home teachers were not used to hearing, did not seem to like this action. And one very large officer stepped toward Bud’s companion, who then found himself looking directly into the muzzle of a gun with a bright light shining in his eyes. The officer placed his finger over the trigger and shouted, I said get on the ground. The portly Elders Quorum President quickly complied, but to Bud’s chagrin, there wasn’t enough room between the couch and the coffee table. So he landed on Bud.

  03:07 I never thought I would need to support the president like that Bud continued. I assure you, I really felt the weight of my calling while they were on the floor. The cops who were part of the narcotics task force continued to shout orders and threats. The humor of the whole situation hit me full force and I started laughing. Wrote, but they were handcuffed and searched for weapons, not including their scriptures. The elders quorum president finally blurted in one breath that they were the home teachers from the ward, causing the officers to look at one another in puzzlement. They asked for church ID and were quickly shown temple recommends. Bud writes this, I knew my temple recommend could get me in the house of the Lord, but I never dreamed it could get me out of going to the big house. Alas, they couldn’t save the couple they had gone to enlighten. 

  04:07 The lost sheep we were hoping to bring back to the fold sadly ended up going to a different pen. Alright, John, back to section 20, that we are to, what was it? Visit. Visit the house of members and exert them to pray vocally and in secret and attend to all family duties. So to everyone out there, what’s the lesson? Make an appointment, make an appointment before you go over. We hope you’ll join us on our full podcast. It’s called FollowHIM. You can get it wherever you get your podcast. We’re with Dr. Casey Griffiths this week who is a Doctrine & Covenants expert and he does a great job walking us through this section and then come back next week, we’ll do another Follow him Favorite.