Testimony Bingo, or: More Thoughts on the Straight and Narrow

To paraphrase the immortal Forrest Gump, life is like a Millstream Ward testimony meeting: You never know what you're gonna get.


I thoroughly enjoy fast and testimony Sundays at my ward, because there are certainly no dull moments to be had. For example, there was the time that a speaker came up to the pulpit and declared, to the horror of many people in the congregation, that - I kid you not - "90 percent of all sacrament meeting talks are worthless."

But I digress.

Recently, a friend introduced me to the concept of "testimony bingo." The idea behind testimony bingo is that you predict, prior to the meeting beginning, who's going to bear their testimonies, using a makeshift-bingo card (i.e. the back of the program) to keep track. Essentially, if you take into account the many people who seem to bear their testimonies each month, you might easily come out with a winning card.

At this past Sunday's monthly testimony meeting, I set out to give testimony bingo a try. But something funny happened: Many people who hadn't borne their testimonies in a long time found the courage - and it does take courage - to walk up to the pulpit and speak what was in their hearts. Further, I actually found myself paying attention and listening to them. And, as a result, I found myself enjoying the meeting very much.

The idea that was reemphasized to me through this experience was that you basically get out of the gospel whatever you put into it.

This brings me back to my post from a few weeks ago about enduring to the end and trying to stay on the straight and narrow path. I asked the questions: Is it enough to pray and read the scriptures every day and attend Sunday meetings? Or do we have to be even stronger than that?

Many of you posted comments on the matter or otherwise opined on the subject, and I am grateful to you for your thoughts and ideas. "All of the above" factor in, I think.

In addition, the answer I've come up with is: Yes. We do need to be even stronger than that. We can go through the motions of praying and reading our scriptures daily and attending meetings, and if our hearts and minds are not in the right place, it profits us very little. We need to strive to become converted on a daily basis. The little decisions do matter just as much, if not more, than the big decisions.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Staying on the Straight and Narrow

Earlier this week, I had a rather saddening experience. I was surfing through Facebook - as so many of us are wont to do - when I came across something that had been posted on the site by a good friend and former mission companion of mine. It was not so much what he said but the language he used to say it that caught my attention. Suffice to say that he used some rather colorful, non-missionary language - to say the least - in his post.

Later that same day, I came across something else that this former companion of mine had written. This time, his comments told of the beer he had just consumed and his picks for his "five best beers."

It did not take me long to discover that he has gone totally inactive in the Church.

I was shocked and disappointed. How could someone who I worked side by side with so dilligently for all of those months have come to this? I wondered. How could a person who had given his life to serve the Church totally given up on it?


Since this little incident, I have done quite a bit of pondering about the "straight and narrow path" that is discussed in the scriptures and the reasons why so many people wander off of it. Some of the questions that I have tried to answer include:

What kinds of things am I doing to make sure that this doesn't happen to me? Just how converted am I to the gospel? Is it enough to pray and read the scriptures every day and attend Sunday meetings? Or do we have to be even stronger than that?

Your comments and thoughts on this issue, if you would like to share any, would be much appreciated.

In the meantime, I am including my former companion in my prayers, and I will write his name on the temple roll later this week when I visit. I have faith that he will remember the good person he was and still is - though he seems to have forgotten it for now - and return to the Church someday.