Sister Anderson and I
went to the Kansas City Temple last week and transported the two Elders that
serve with us in the Mound City branch. We arrived at the temple and got seated
for the session. There were not too many patrons in that particular session. The person sitting behind me stood out, he was
fairly young and had a tall slender well built frame. When I saw him, my
immediate reaction was, I bet he would make a pretty good athlete. He and his
wife who was sitting across the aisle made an attractive couple and were just
people that were hard not to notice. This couple along with Sister Anderson and
I and others stood in the prayer circle and completed the session. After the
session Sister Anderson strikes up a conversation with the wife of this couple
and mentions that she reminds her of one of our daughters. Sister Anderson
tells her of our Daughter Tara’s website and gives her a card about the
website. As I am writing names on the prayer roll, I see the husband of this
young couple talk to the elders, He asks them where they are serving, and
introduces himself as Jeremy Guthrie. For those not familiar with the name, he
is a pitcher for the Kansas City Royals and pitched in two of the World Series
games this past fall. So he is a fairly well known member of the church in the
Kansas City area.
I was of course curious
to see how valuable that arm was, so when we got back to Mound City, I looked
it up. It turns out that last year it was worth around $11 million dollars.
The following is from Wikipedia:
On July 20, 2012, Guthrie was traded to the
Royals for left-handed starter Jonathan Sanchez. He proved to be the Royals best pitcher in the second half
of the season, posting a record of 5-3 with a 3.16 ERA in 14 starts.[8] On
November 20, Guthrie inked a 3-year, $25 million deal with the Royals through
2015. Guthrie will earn $5 million in 2013, $11 million in 2014, and $9 million
in the contract's final year.[8]
I am also impressed that
this young man gave up two years of a very lucrative baseball career to serve a
mission for the Church. His presence in the temple would suggest he is working
to keep his commitments and is renewing his covenants with the Lord and raising
that valuable arm to the square. So many people in today’s world, who achieve
fame and fortune, have a very difficult time maintaining good moral lifestyles
and staying focused on those things that truly matter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Guthrie
