Persistence

Ok, the guys at church have this arrangement where they take turns mowing the lawns of the widows in the ward. Steven recently was assigned to cut the grass of a particular elderly sister. He had already cut down a dead tree in her back yard that still needed to be cut up so he was grateful for the opportunity to get back over there.

Well, men and women don't always think the same way. Steven wanted to take the big riding lawnmower over there. It's a good 25 minute drive from our house. The problem is that the new van doesn't have a trailer hitch, and we didn't have an empty trailer to tow the mower on anyway. We have a trailer that we have loaded down with heavy trash that needed to be hauled off to the dump...plus it had a flat tire. MY big idea was to invest in a decent self propelled lawn mower that Steven could toss in the back of his personal work van along with the weed wacker and take Corben off to mow the lawn......especially since he would likely be doing this a few more times over the summer. In my mind it would be easier that way. Apparently, I am wrong.......

So Steven, in his determination, decides to move the trailer hitch from the old van to the new one and then to borrow a trailer which he would have to pick up, come home, load the mower, drive out to cut the grass, come home, unload the mower, and return the trailer......much easier, RIGHT?

Saturday morning he got started bright and early moving the trailer hitch and running the wiring for the trailer lights. On Saturday afternoon he asks a friend from church if he can borrow the nice covered trailer he owns to tow the mower. Steven finds out that the trailer is located on the property of another friend about 45 minutes from our house out past the church. No problem, we will just pick it up on Sunday after church. Then on Sunday we find out that the trailer is loaded full of stuff.....on to plan B.

Plan B consists of getting up bright and early on Monday and taking the trailer we have to the dump to empty it. So late Sunday night Steven sets out to get the trailer ready so he can leave early on Monday. He airs up the flat tire on the trailer to see if it will hold over night. Then he has to get the lock off the trailer hitch, but he can't find the key anywhere. Inside I'm chuckling because the powers-that-be must not want that poor woman's grass to get mowed.....but Steven is undaunted. He comes in and asks me if I know where the key is, and of course I don't. I figured it was probably on my old set of car keys, but I hadn't seen that set in about 5 months....about as long as the old van had been broken down. I suggest that he check the console in the old van, but he told me he was pretty sure it was empty. Sensing his desperation, I called the kids together for bedtime prayers. Corben was going to say the prayer, and I asked him to pray for his dad to find the keys( before Steven decided to sit outside all night with a hacksaw and a blow torch). After the prayer the kids went off to bed and Steven came back in. He found the keys.....in the console.

Everything else unfolded as you would expect. He unloaded the trailer at the dump, and Monday night we loaded up the mower and went as a family to take care of the lawn. Everyone had a good time, and that yard looked great by the time we were done with it. Of course it is nice to have that trailer hitch on the new van....we needed to do that anyway. And it's nice to have that trash dumped so we can use the trailer we have. I still say my way would have been easier!

I think Heavenly Father laughed as he watched Steven climb one obstacle after another. I know I did. I love that man and his persistence. A lesser man never would have cut the grass. =)