I was in my early twenties, newly married and recently graduated from college. We were on our way to Denver, Colorado where I would be interviewed for a job with the missionary organization, Campus Ambassadors. We were traveling from San Jose, California in a Volkswagen bug.

Going through Nevada, (which deceives you into thinking it’s going to be a pretty state for the five minutes you are in the Sierras) I turned to my wife and said, “Aren’t you glad we don’t live in the desert?”

Next, we drove through Utah. I turned to my wife and said, “Aren’t you glad we aren’t in a ministry where we do nothing but try to convert Mormons all day long? That would drive me nuts!”

Well, the good news is, I got the job. But they placed me in Tempe, Arizona to work at Arizona State University. We stopped off in Arizona on our way home. Not only was this the desert, it was the hottest desert I had ever experienced. Seriously, I never knew such heat even existed. Oh, one more thing: Tempe is next to Mesa, where at that time, the second largest Mormon temple in the country stood, embraced by the second largest Mormon population, second only to Salt Lake City.

Driving home to San Jose, where we would raise support before moving to Arizona, I made sure we returned along the coast (Highway 1). I rolled down the car window, just to make sure God could hear me clearly, and I said to my wife, “Aren’t you glad we don’t live by the ocean?”

It worked. Two years later they placed us in Santa Barbara.

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