The Lord directs our path in everything. Today we're chatting with Layton and taking a deep dive into his unique memories of Jesus Christ’s influence in his life. From his early years to his missionary experiences in California, Layton shares how his deep-rooted faith and understanding of the Plan of Salvation has shaped his life.
Please reach out to me if you are interested in sharing your story! I would LOVE to hear from you. :)
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Facebook: More than Coincidence: Remembering Jesus Christ in Your Story Instagram: mtc.rememberingjesuschrist
The Lord directs our path in everything. Today we're chatting with Layton and taking a deep dive into his unique memories of Jesus Christ’s influence in his life. From his early years to his missionary experiences in California, Layton shares how his deep-rooted faith and understanding of the Plan of Salvation has shaped his life.
Please reach out to me if you are interested in sharing your story! I would LOVE to hear from you. :)
Follow us on Social Media:
Facebook: More than Coincidence: Remembering Jesus Christ in Your Story Instagram: mtc.rememberingjesuschrist
Hello everyone and welcome to. More Than Coincidence, remembering Jesus Christ in your Story. As the author and finisher of our faith, our Savior writes personal experiences into each of our lives which can later strengthen, empower and bring us peace upon reflection. This podcast is dedicated to sharing these anchoring memories from everyone's unique stories in order to collectively remember and testify of the reality of Jesus Christ and His presence in our lives. I'm your host, lily, and I'm very excited to share these experiences together. Okay, so today on our podcast, we have Layton. Thanks for joining us today.
Layton:
You're welcome. That's L-A-Y-T-O-N. That's not Kayseville, that's Layton.
Lily:
That's Layton Awesome. So, layton, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Layton:
Okay, I guess to start off with, you have to know that I'm a high-plane strifter. Then you have to know what the high planes are Once you get almost into Texas. The elevation is very low before that and then it jumps up several feet. So it might go up from two or three or four hundred feet above, or a thousand feet above sea level to four thousand, almost five thousand feet of sea level, and as we look that's like Denver, which is the mile high city five thousand two hundred eighty feet at Denver, so that's why they call it the high planes. My part of the high planes was the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandle. I was born in a little town, boy City, oklahoma, way out in the Panhandle of Oklahoma, and then when I was eleven, we moved to Texas, amarillo, which is still in the high planes, and I graduated from high school there. I went on my mission to the California mission from there and then I went into the Army and then I started looking for her wife and went for Denver, and that's my introduction.
Lily:
Awesome, thank you. Okay, all right. Well, high planes strifter. So you give us your little story about what memories do you have or themes that you've seen in your life that will remind you of Jesus Christ?
Layton:
I can't remember a time when I didn't have these feelings. My father wasn't a member of the church and the missionaries would come and give the discussions to him and they came so many times and gave the discussion so many times he would stay one step ahead of them all the way through the discussions. I drove them crazy. But when they introduced the plan of salvation, and I'm like twelve baby and I said man, where have I heard that before? And I knew right then that that was the Lord's plan. And so I went through high school, was active in the church all that time I went on my mission and my family have always had premonitions, or discernments, shall I say. And so I went in for my mission interview with the branch president and he said where do you want to go? And I said, well, I'll go anywhere. But it was a cold Texas-Northern-Brit lizard driving home and I thought, gee, I hope they sent me to California because I'd hate to go a cold winter on the North Sea. And I got my mission papers and sure enough, it was called the California Mission, which at that time was everything from the San Fernando Valley all the way to the Mexican border. Everything north of that to Oregon was the Northern Kalmish, and so I got my call and so I got out the maps. I was looking at it I said, oh, long Beach, that'd be an interesting place to be. And my first mission was North Long Beach, compton and Paramount, and I'd been there about six months. I was unusual. I would stay long periods in one area Most missionaries three or four months and bam, they've got you gone. Each ward would practically send for my membership records. But then I was thinking one day, ok, I really need to go someplace. Maybe it'll be neat to go to Phoenix, arizona. So I was in Phoenix, arizona and then I went back to Garden Grove, california, and then I went to La Habra, california, and back to Phoenix and back to California, and then ended up in Gilbert, arizona, where they now have a temple there in Gilbert.
Layton:
And then after my mission I knew the draft was going to get me because it was right in Vietnam and in fact I beat my physical for the army into the mission home by two days. Really, really. A general authority at that time and that was his only responsibility to deal with draft problems. And so he came and he spent a whole hour and a half talking about draft problems. And then he said is there anything that hasn't been covered? And I said, yeah, I'm supposed to report for an induction physical Thursday. And he said, well, we'll set you apart on Wednesday. And so they sent me apart.
Layton:
There were 14 elders who were set apart by that time and at that time a general authority did all the setting apart and the authority was S Dilworth Young, who was really a character, an old-time old school apostate, but anyway, he gave us all nice blessings. I mean, he blessed me with ease of memorizing the discussions, discernment of the hearts of men, health and safety on my mission. The last guy to get set apart was going to Wales, and this is no lie. He laid his hands on his head, called him by name and says I bless you that you'll be able to eat the food without harm to your body. Amen, that was it. So I really felt that I was sent to that mission. That was the mission I was supposed to go to. I meant people that I was supposed to go to and teach Only baptized one person by attracting, and all of the rest were from referrals. And when I left, it was typical or average for a missionary to have 125 baptisms. When he went home I only had 50. But here's the catch on that I always felt that I hadn't fulfilled a really successful mission.
Layton:
And then my brother went out and was called to Brazil and when he was wrestling in college he tore the cartilage in his knee. So they fixed him up, they sent him out on mission. He came in from tracking one day, put his knee up, or foot up on his knee to fix a blister, and it wouldn't go down. And so they they took him to a doctor, finally got it to go down, but they flew him home for a repair. And then it was time for him to go back and they have to decide where they're going to send him, and they usually send sick missionaries to California.
Layton:
But Each mission keeps what they call a blue sheet which is a record of your mission, and it stays there in the mission field. And so when they send another family member there to be sure that there was no problem, was they Go back and read the blue sheet? And so when my branch president called up the mission president, he said let me see, he went and read it. He came back and he says well, if elder Patterson Randy, his after missionary that elder Patterson Layton was. We'd be thrilled to have him. So I was looking at it from the man's, from the numbers perspective.
Layton:
But the Lord was what, looking at it in a different way, and I would go into areas where the work at stymied and I would be there for six months to help rejuvenate that area and then if there was a problem elder, they would send them to me. So I was doing more than just baptizing. But I didn't think about that. Yeah, the Lord did so. Anyway, I finished my mission as soon as I got back home. I Enlisted because I wanted to get, I didn't want to carry a gun and so because of my scores I could on the app that test. I could be anything, anything I wanted in the army. So I took administration and basically was trained to be a clerk typist and I had a lot of close companions and one of them was elder Bloomfield. And just before I went to basic I said to my mom it's gonna be funny when I get to Basic training. And there's Bluefield.
Layton:
Ah, that's just crazy. So I was there three weeks that's the first time they let you go to church. And as I was walking into church I heard somebody say hey, older Tex and that's what they used to call me on the mission. And I turned around and there's bluefield. And so we went all the way through basic and AIT at Fort Wajika together and he taught me into going into flight school to be a helicopter pilot, and Our lives had pretty much paralleled.
Layton:
So I applied, and to get into flight school you had to be interviewed by a field grade officer and a major or above. So I went in and Interviewed with Lieutenant Colonel. He listened to me talk for a while and he said well, patterson, you're a Mormon, aren't you? I said yeah, didn't think the horns were showing, but I'm LDS. And he talked to me some more and finally he said I've decided that I'm not going to let you go to flight school. I can tell you're the kind that is so dedicated to doing what you have to do. I'm afraid you'll try to get that last man out of a hot LZ and you'll sacrifice yourself and the aircraft to do it. So I'm not going to send you the really broken heart, you know. So just so happened. My home teaching companion was a major in the Army, there for Wachuka and the flight surgeon. So I said, go in and talk to the guy and talk to him.
Lily:
Please put in a good word for me.
Layton:
So about three weeks later I was at my office working and I heard not an audible voice but the impression OK, I'm going to let you go to flight school, but I'm going to teach you lessons you'll remember for the rest of your life. About half hour later the phone rang and this Lieutenant Colonel said it's against every decision I've ever made, but I'm going to let you go. The people there will know if you should be there or not. And so off I went. And there's another long old story I won't get into. But basically I was trying to do what I wanted to do, not what the Lord wanted me to do, and so I washed out of flight school and my buddy Norm washed out also. He was about two weeks ahead of me, and so we're hot bait for Vietnam. We know what's coming, and he had got engaged to a girl there named Becky, a member of the church, and so we both got sent to Vietnam. He was sent over as a radio telephone operator and I knew before I left either he or I or both of us weren't coming back. And so I had been in country about three or four months and I was in admin. So I was working in a flight operations office in Vietnam in July. And so as I was leaving the office to go to lunch one day, I had the coldest feeling in the world come over me and I thought, gee, what if Norm doesn't come back? That'll break Becky's heart. And about three weeks later I got a message from Becky's mom. I don't know how to tell you this, but about three weeks ago in the Aishaw Valley, norman was killed. I felt him go. He said goodbye. So these feelings that I have, I know they don't come from me. They got to be coming from a higher power.
Layton:
So anyway, I went on and I finished out my tour in Vietnam and everybody else were getting orders three, four, five weeks ahead of time saying where they were going to go and how they would be assigned. And my orders weren't coming and they weren't coming and I was worried about it. So one afternoon, as I walked away from work, the impression came over me I'm sitting in the Union of Germany to be a Merrant's president. I mean, here I am a 19-year-old kid, right? Well, at that time I was 20, almost 23. So I got my orders about a week and a half later and I said Germany. And about a month and a half later I was the President of the Service of the Pratch. So anyway, I went all the way through Vietnam safe as a bug in a rug.
Layton:
The only time that I was really closely under fire was when the enemies shot rockets at our base camp, like you see on TV when they're shooting out of the truck. That's what they were shooting at us, and so I really feel that all the way through I've been protected. I mean, the Lord makes the assignment to the enemy. They think they do, but for so many people LDS people I've seen it never fail. It gets to be so obvious.
Layton:
And so I went through the Army, got out, went back to Texas. There was only one eligible girl, there was LDS, and so prospects for getting married which I desperately wanted to do, of course were Scribb, and so I heard that they had five stakes in Denver. So off you went to Denver, so off I went to Denver, and so I heard that they had five stakes in Denver. Sharon, my wife, joined the church, like she was talking to you about earlier, in the Middle East of Colorado, and she came to Denver to do her student teaching, and she didn't usually go out much at night in Denver alone, single but, she decided to go to an institute one night.
Layton:
And I went to an institute and somebody made a crack about a handicapped person, a mentally handicapped, and boy, she just jumped right in their liver because she was studying to be a special ed teacher. And I looked back and I thought well, she's neat, I think I'll marry her.
Lily:
And when you think that you know what's going to happen.
Layton:
And so we courted. That was in April. We saw each other every day after that until it was time to get married. And the closest well, we could go to Salt Lake Temple. But I had been on a mission to Mesa and I had people I knew down there, so we decided to go down to Mesa and get married in the temple. Now, sharon's folks are not Latter-day Saints and so when they heard that they couldn't go at the temple for the ceremony, we just won't come at all. And that was hard. But we said, well, we're going to go ahead and do it anyway. So about two days before it was time for us to go down, our mom called us. We just can't be away. So they came and they spent their time while we were in the temple in the visitor's center getting to know them.
Lily:
And did all the tours.
Layton:
Get all the tours, get all that information. And one other funny thing that happened is I had a car in Germany and I sold it. And this guy hadn't paid me the last payment on it, and here we were, broke. We could hardly. I mean, her parents paid for the plane tickets down there. But, just before, about a week before we went down, he sent me $100 for the last payment and that's what we got married on, and when we got back to Denver we didn't even have money to get out of the parking garage.
Layton:
So we started our marriage literally out of Nicola and at 6th St St.
Lily:
Oh, my goodness.
Layton:
And so everything that has come to us, including our wonderful grandchildren, great-grandchildren, that's all come from the Lord Right. And so when I think of these things, when I think back on my life, I know that it's all come from the Savior, it's all been directed by the Savior. Now I got my patriarchal blessing, and it's very short I mean the rest of my family two pages, three pages. Mine is about a page and well, of course, it's what I need, and so the Lord knows you personally, and so patriarchal blessings are very important. I know you've got yours and I hope you read it often. In fact, the General Authority's last conference made a big deal about patriarchal blessings. They did.
Lily:
I think there was at least two talks specifically about patriarchal blessings that's right.
Layton:
And so have you ever seen the patriarchal blessing the Lord gave to the church? No, you haven't, I haven't, I haven't. And if you will let me, I'll end up by just reading this Sure, go ahead. Okay now. This patriarchal blessing was given to a non-member of the church in 1787.
Lily:
Okay.
Layton:
But I feel that the hymns we sing in church are inspired, and so I'm going to read this so this is a hymn that you're about to read.
Lily:
This is a hymn.
Layton:
This is one of my favorite hymns. First of all, my favorite scripture is 2 Nephi 25-23. For we labor diligently to write and to persuade our children, and also our brother, to be reconciled to God, or to believe in Christ and be reconciled to God, For we know that it is by grace that we are saved. After all we can do, yeah, okay, then keep in mind now, when folks in church sing this, we only sing the first three verses. Nobody ever thinks about what they're singing. But I want you to think as I read this, think it is the Lord speaking directly to the church and to you how firm a foundation you, saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word. What more can he say than to you, he has said, who, unto the Savior for refuge, have led In every condition, in sickness, in health, in poverty's veil or abounding in wealth, at home or abroad, on the lands of the sea, as thy days may demand, so thy sucker shall be. Fear not, I am with thee, or be not dismayed, for I am like God and will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee healthy and cause thee to stand, upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand when, through the deep waters. I call thee to go.
Layton:
The rivers of sorrow shall not the earth flow, for I will be with thee, thy troubled student, bless and sanctify thee to thy deepest distress. When, through fiery trials, thy pathway shall lie, my grace, all sufficient, shall be thus applied. The flame shall not hurt thee. I only design the dross to consume, the gold, to refine E'en down to old age. All my people shall prove my sovereign, eternal and changeable love. Then, when gray hairs there temple shall adorn like lambs in my bosom, shall they still be borne. That's all that on. Jesus hath leaned for repose. I will not, I cannot desert to its foes that soul. The wall hell should in never to shake. I'll never, no, never, no, never forsake. That's the Lord blessing to the church and to us individually, and that's my story.
Lily:
That's so powerful. That's one of my favorite hymns too. How from a foundation? So you feel like that song kind of encompasses your life.
Layton:
It encompasses everything, everything. The Lord is with you in everything. When you're flying a helicopter, an eyepiece says, and you try to land the helicopter and you come screaming in too fast, your skin set the ground and you slide 50 yards, sparks flowing out of the skin and he said. And he turns to you and says I think you brought it in a little hot. And then when you're trying so hard but you know what the story is and the last day you're in flight school, before you go out to the flight line, your guardian angel says to you if you fly today, I will not be responsible for your death. You know it's time to start listening to the Lord and that's my testimony.
Lily:
Thank you so much for sharing this. I honestly, I felt this fear really strong tonight. So thanks again for joining us late in and I hope you have a good evening. Thanks again for tuning into More Than Coincidence, remembering Jesus Christ in your Story. Please follow us on social media or share us with a friend. If you have an experience you'd like to share, feel free to reach out to morethancoincidencerememberhim at gmailcom. I can't wait to hear all of the amazing memories you all have of our Savior. See you next time, you, you.
