The magic of the black name tag

We would like to share the experience we had today as we continue our drive across the country. We left Chicago this morning, after spending Sunday night at Sister Sutherland's brother's home near there (a great visit!). Our goal was to drive to Kirtland, Ohio today to see the Church history sites there. It would be a "short" day--just 400 miles of driving ;) Kirtland is just 1 mile off of Interstate 90, so our route to New Brunswick, Canada passes right by it.

About 40 miles short of Kirtland, and just a few miles before we got to Cleveland, our car engine stopped running while we were driving down the Ohio Turnpike at 65 mph. We coasted to a stop in the breakdown lane, turned the car off and back on and the engine started right up. About 10 miles further down the turnpike the engine stopped again. This time we were 1/2 mile from a turnpike "service area", which is a gas station and convenience stores right along the side of the highway. It was a slight downhill grade to the serice area, and we were able to coast to it in the breakdown lane.

I went into the convenience store mall area to see if I could find a phone book and locate the closest Toyota car dealer. I was dressed in P-day clothes, which we are allowed to wear for driving to our mission, but I still had on my missionary name tag. As I was looking around for a phone booth, a young lady who worked in one of the stores left the store and came over to me and asked if I was a missionary. I answered "yes, and asked if she was LDS, which she was. We chatted for a moment, and then I told her I was looking for a phone book to find a Toyota dealer because we were having car trouble. She quickly told me that there was a Toyota dealer just a couple of miles away, and that her Dad worked there, and gave us the directions to get there.

We know Heavenly Father is watching out for us on our trip! It was providence that our car would break down in just the right place to get service, and that there was a Latter-day Saint in just the right place at the right time to get us the help we needed. Our instructions from the Church for senior couples driving across the country said that we could wear casual clothes and did not need to wear our name tags on the days we were driving. Sister Sutherland and I chose to dress casually, but continue to wear our name tags, in hopes it would open up opportunities to talk to people during our trip. We had not anticipated that it would be the name tag that would bring us assistance when we needed it!

To wrap up the saga, our car started up again, and we were able to drive it to the dealer. We arrived just a short time before the service center closed for the day. The mechanic could not find anything wrong with our car, and the car's computer gave no indication that anything had happened. The mechanic theorized that perhaps some of the car's electronics had overheated. Some of the electronics are in the back of the car, and we have the back stuffed totally full with our belongings. He suggested rearranging things to leave more open area in the back of the car. In the morning he is going to check with the Toyota factory representive to see if they have any idea what might have caused the problem we experienced. In the meantime, we drove the rest of the 40 miles to Kirtland without incident. We plan to see the Kirtland temple and other Church history sites in the area in the morning. The mechanic will call us to let us know what he learned, and we will make plans for the rest of trip based on that.

Oh, and the magic of the black name tag continues on. When we checked into a hotel in Mentor, Ohio, which is very near Kirtland, the desk clerk saw the name tag, and said missionaries get a 20% discount from their normal best rate.