September 9, 2015

My mother loves to organize family get-togethers, and in August 2014 she rented a large cabin in Island Park, Idaho for the whole extended family.

On the way to the cabin, we stopped at a gas station in the town of St. Anthony, north of Rexburg. As I filled the van with gas, I looked south back over the valley. A voice simply said, “You’ll live here soon.”

I was genuinely surprised to receive that message. We were firmly entrenched in Springville. I was still the cemetery sexton at that time, and Tammy had just taken a secretarial position at Springville High. I knew she wouldn’t respond very well to this new information, so I kept it to myself. Besides, what did “soon” mean? There was no need for Tammy to worry about it if we weren’t supposed to move for a couple of years.

We spent a few fun days at Island Park riding in the boat, playing on a wave runner, and just enjoying a much-needed break from everyday life. The scenery was beautiful, and everything was so calm and laid-back. The thought of living in Idaho started to really appeal to me.

After our vacation, I went to the Provo Temple to get a confirmation about the prompting. The Spirit assured me it was true, but I was still left in the dark concerning the timing.

It was soon after the New Year that I received the promptings to publish books by Hector Sosa and Scott Mitchell, and I knew I would have to be in Springville to complete those books. However, I also had promptings I would be in Idaho when I finished my latest novel, “Days of Fury.” I’d also been told by the Spirit to start this blog once we were settled in Idaho. So there were a lot of conflicting scenarios being presented to me. I didn’t see how it would all fit together.

In early February I had another vision. I was walking down a path, and I came to a fork in the path. As I looked down the right fork, I saw in the distance a glorious city with a temple in the center of it. A voice said, “Moving to Rexburg will be a tremendous blessing to your children and your grandchildren.”

I glanced down the left fork and sensed it represented us not moving away. That path was filled with many lost opportunities. After this vision, I reread my children’s patriarchal blessings, and each one verified what I had seen. I was still waiting for the right time to even mention it to my family, though.

A couple of weeks later, as we were eating dinner the following words slipped out of my mouth, “When we move to Rexburg . . .”

I didn’t finish the sentence when I saw the look on Tammy’s face. She loudly said, “What?”

Things got a little tense after that, but I explained the feelings I’d been having and how I wasn’t sure how all of the projects would fit together. I said, “Maybe it won’t happen for a year or two. Forget I said anything.”

Tammy wasn’t thrilled, and I completely understood her feelings. Moving to Idaho would be a major undertaking that would uproot us from our families. So I tried not to bring it up again. Then after a few weeks she also felt impressed by the Spirit that it was what we should do. She started looking at real estate websites. One house in particular jumped out at us, and there was a second home that seemed like it might work, so we decided to drive up to Rexburg in late March. We had learned from past experience that if we were supposed to move, things would fall into place almost magically. If we weren’t supposed to move yet, nothing would work out.

I called up the realtor of the first home, and she agreed to meet us there the following Saturday. I mentioned the second home, and she arranged for us to look at it as well.

We went to the first house, and it wasn’t what had been advertised. We were very disappointed, but we decided to look at the second house. It was a lot like our home in Springville, except it also had four acres of pasture and a pond. The home needed new carpet and fresh paint, but as I walked through the pasture and discussed the house with my son Garth, we both really felt this was the place for us. Garth said, “I feel I could really thrive here.” Tammy and the other children agreed, and from that point on, everything came together quickly. We closed on the house in early June.

I still had those other projects to complete, though. We sent Scott’s book to press in April and Hector’s book in late May. Once we moved, I began working on my novel. It was a year overdue, but I started going to the David O. McKay Library on the BYU-Idaho campus each morning and working on it for a few hours at a time. The final chapters seemed to be dictated to me by the Spirit, and I typed as fast as I could. It was a unique experience to be writing about the BYU-Idaho Center and be able to see it out the library window as I did so.

There were many indications that this is where the Lord wanted us. The move has opened up many opportunities for me in the publishing world. We had been warned it might be hard for the other family members to immediately find good jobs, but Tammy was quickly hired as an assistant librarian at Madison Middle School, and Emma is working as a reading technician at Central Elementary in Sugar City while attending BYU-Idaho.

Leaving our ward in Springville has been an emotional struggle. Tammy and I served in nearly every possible calling during our 18 years there. I served as a counselor in the bishopric for six years, and it was a true highlight of my life.

Our new ward members have treated us kindly, though, and the kids have been well accepted. Tammy is already serving as the first counselor in the Young Women, and I’m the new High Priests Group secretary.

We actually live a few miles north of Rexburg in rural Fremont County. There are less than 14,000 people in the whole county. We can see the Grand Tetons from our yard, and this past weekend we traveled to watch the Bar J Wranglers perform at their ranch in Wyoming. We also recently went to Bear World, so we’re gaining some new experiences and enjoying life.

This is not an indication anyone else needs to move. It just happens to be what our family needed to do at this time. We’re excited about what the future might bring!

In my next post, I’ll share the miraculous experience my Grandpa and Grandma Chesnut had in the Manti Temple that shows how our ancestors in the Spirit World are very mindful of us.