Moment: An Immediate Answer

Contributed By By Sonja Carlson, Church News staff writer

“There’s no question in my mind there’s guardian angels. Prayers are answered, and sometimes it takes a long time for prayers to [be] answered, but in emergency situations, they can be immediate.” —Douglas Day, River Ridge 8th Ward

Douglas Day, 86, had an experience earlier this year that he will never forget.

Brother Day was riding his Missouri Fox Trotter “Lady Anne” from Bluffdale, Utah, to Lehi, Utah, on February 15.

Having grown up around horses on a farm, along with working for the wildlife division for 30 years, Brother Day is an experienced rider.

“He had ridden along the canal banks and through the pastures from Bluffdale, Utah, to the Thanksgiving Point area some five miles or so when his horse slipped going up the slope of the railroad crossing,” said Sidnee Day Spencer, Brother Day’s cousin and member of the Little Cottonwood 8th Ward in the Murray Little Cottonwood Stake in an email with the Church News. “The horse landed on Doug, pinning him on the FrontRunner commuter’s busy train track.”

Brother Day was trapped underneath his horse and struggling to get loose, knowing that the train came frequently, he said. A voice came to him, telling him “to stop what you’re doing and call 911 now.”

Listening, he got his cell phone—which was even turned on—out of his shirt pocket and called 911.

“The dispatcher immediately answered the 911 call,” Sister Spencer said. “She said that she would try to get the train stopped and would call him back. Only several minutes passed before the 911 dispatcher called with the news that the train had been stopped! Such a warm and comforting feeling encompassed him as he recognized the source of the prompting to call 911 and now the assurance that he would return home to his wife.”

Brother Day said he knew everything was going to be all right. “I can’t hardly think or talk about it. It was such a blessing, and a peaceful, calm feeling came over me,” he said.

Paramedics and policemen came, helped get his horse off of him, and checked him for injuries.

“I looked over my shoulder, and the train was about 100 yards down the tracks, stopped,” Brother Day said.

The paramedics wanted him to go to the hospital even though everything seemed to be OK, but he didn’t want to leave Lady Anne behind and wanted to make sure she got back to the pasture, he said. He signed a release, they helped him get back up on his horse, and he rode her all the way back.

“There’s no question in my mind there’s guardian angels,” Brother Day said. “Prayers are answered, and sometimes it takes a long time for prayers to [be] answered, but in emergency situations, they can be immediate.”

Brother Day lives in South Jordan, Utah, and is a member of the River Ridge 8th Ward in the River Ridge Stake.