Go Back the Way You Came (as written by Lorin Goates)

By February (1936), realizing we needed more income for our two families, and knowing Warren could take care of the chickens alone, I decided to go to Los Angeles to seek employment. Orvin and Mette (Mette is Lucile's sister) told us I could stay with them while I looked for work. A Mr. Mert Norton, a friend of Lucile's parents, told them I could go with him in his truck to Los Angeles. He operated a small fleet of trucks. All went well until we got to Mesquite, Nevada. His truck broke down so I took the bus the rest of the way, leaving me with not too much money.  For the next ten days I walked the streets along with fifty to seventy-five other men, applying for work at the industrial plants in the Vernon district (more familiar now as the Watts area) of Los Angeles.  There were a few openings in the automotive industry, but only to those with special training. After a week of this I became a little discouraged and almost dreaded returning in the evenings to Orvin's and Mette's home--because Mette seemed to feel worse than I that I hadn't found employment.

One morning, after ten days seeking work and not finding any, I stopped by the roadside and took  inventory of my past life. I remember when just a young boy earning one hundred and twenty dollars one summer and how proud I was when I went down to the tithing office and paid twelve dollars. At that time there was one tithing office for all of Lehi. With this terrible depression I had stopped paying my tithing. I knew this was wrong and I wasn't happy with myself. I decided to go to the right source for help. I stood there with bowed head and pled with the Lord if He would help me find work I would from this time on pay a full tithe. After praying I was impressed to turn around and retrace my steps and to my delight the first place I asked for work I was employed. I worked one month for John Manville Company, then getting employment with the Bethlehem Steel Company at a higher rate, $0.67-1/2 per hour. I was grateful after telling Lucile my commitment to the Lord about tithing that she not only agreed with me, but encouraged me to see that we did it.

Asbestos snow in the Wizard of Oz

Fake asbestos snow

Additional notes from Wayne - For those not aware, the John Manville factory where father was employed manufactured fireproof asbestos products - like the asbestos snow that was used in the above Wizard of Oz movie.  Father said that even though it was the middle of summer in Los Angeles, when he would walk out of the plant it looked like it was snowing.  At that time they didn't know about the curse of asbestosis and Mesothelioma.

It is instructive to realize that what was viewed as a wonderful blessing was not without consequences which would affect and compromise Lorin's health, but just as Romans 8:28 suggests, even the adverse effects of asbestos would result in Lorin and Lucile recounting the following faith promoting story.

Following Wayne and Kristie's marriage in June 1973, Lorin and Lucile submitted their papers to serve a full-time church mission. It turned out that Lorin's twin brother and his wife Georgida had also submitted papers for a mission and received their call to the Hawaiian Islands where Lorin and Warren had served 50 year before.  When their mission call came to serve in Arizona, father was a bit flummoxed.  It was not like him to complain, particularly regarding church calls, but he really wondered why Warren got the privilege to return and serve in heavenly Hawaii while he was being sent to arid Arizona.  As it turned out, Lorin's TB test result for his mission physical was positive, but not from tuberculosis - rather from asbestosis which he had contracted while working at John Manville and around so many asbestos related projects during his 40 years working in sugar beet factories.  Regardless of any disappointment in not being called to lovely Hawaii, Lorin and Lucille reported for their mission and served faithfully in Arizona. 

Serving in Arizona, however, turned out to be an incredible blessing.  The dry climate and excellent medical care for those with respiratory problems who retire in Arizona was just what the doctor ordered for Lorin.  He came home from his mission feeling better and healthier than he had been in years.  Not only that, but Lorin and Lucile were instrumental in seeing 60 people change their lives and join the church; while Warren and Georgida spent most of their time serving in a visitor's center and had less opportunity to actually teach and see individuals accept the gospel.  It was just another manifestation of Ether 12:6 from their point of view.