Friday morning you show up three hours from your home in the New Mexican city to visit your brother and his family.  You realize you don’t know the address of his new home and don’t have directions.  You also realize that  you forgot to bring your phone with you.

You borrow a phone at a gas station.  No one answers.

You drive around.  You try another gas station.  No one answers.  You try another number.  No one answers.  You try your wife’s number; maybe she can look up more numbers for you (she stayed home on a project).  No one answers.  You try your number; maybe she’ll hear it ring.  No one answers.  You are biting y0ur lip with manly grim patience when your daughter walks in from the car.  “Dad!” she says.  “Us kids were just starting to say a prayer to find our way when your phone started ringing.”  You had brought it after all and it had slipped out of your bag.

On Sunday the speaker makes an off-hand remark that gives you an idea for your family.  Someone answering a question in Sunday School added another piece to the idea.  And in Priesthood, a missionary talking about some of his practices added the final element.

You reflect on another statement someone made in Sunday School.  “Jared,” the man said, “asked his brother to pray for him.  And God was OK with that.”

The Saints are wonderful one by one.  Taken together, they are a formidable joy.