How to Save a Life

Jake TurnerFollow

Date Collected

12-2-2018

Place item was collected

Logan, Utah

Informant

Gable Munn

Point of Discovery/Informant Bio

My informant for this piece is Gable Munn. He’s a freshman at Utah State University studying biotechnology. He served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Georgia. Besides his 2 year mission period he has lived in Utah his entire life. Before we started our interview he expressed how important family was to him. Gable is a resident’s assistant in the dorm I live in, and that is how we met. He told me stories about his grandpa, family, and his mission.

Context

This story took place in Columbus, Georgia where Gable served his mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He had felt love before from his family, but had never before felt genuine love for somebody he had just met. This mission was a good experience for Gable that helped him mature into the person he is today. This was his most impactful story from his mission, and is one that is closest to his heart.

Text

Right before I went home, it was like two months before I went home, and I was in a car share area, so half the time we biked, the other half we had a car. And I had two companions, and we were biking around this day, and I had just come into the area, and they had already been there, so they knew everything, but they were brand new, so they didn’t know much. I was trying to lead, but I also didn’t know much about where we were, so one day I was like alright, where should we go? And they were like ok, let’s go see this family again, it’s like the fifth time we had tried this family, and they never answer the door. So, I’m like, ok, whatever, don’t know what else to do, so why not. So, we pull up to this house, knock on the door, and nobody answers. We turn around and we see this guy sitting out on the grass in this chair, and he’s at a table drinking some lemonade, and we’re like let’s go talk to him, we’ve got time, and nothing better to do, so why not? And he’s a Catholic man, he’s just kind of sitting out there, kinda relaxing, he’s an older white gentleman with white hair, a long white beard, he looks super boss, and we just talk to him; and as we talk to him he shares he’s been struggling with suicide, and he hasn’t told his wife or anything like that. He tells us this story of one time he was doing laundry, and he just got so frustrated and mad that he just threw his phone in the washer; didn’t tell his wife, just said it was broken, and got a new one. We shared the message of the gospel, Christ’s atonement, read with him in The Book of Mormon, and set up an appointment to come back two days later to visit with him. He told us before we left that your visit is the only thing that’s going to keep me alive these next two days. And we left, and we were like oh my gosh, we just saved a man’s life. We visited him a couple times. He had us over for Christmas, and asked us to participate in some family Christmas traditions. He eventually went into the mental hospital for a little bit. It was really cool because it was the first time I felt genuine love for somebody I had just met.

Texture

Right before I went home, it was like two months before I went home, and I was in a car share area, so half the time we biked, the other half we had a car. And I had two companions, and we were biking around this day, and I had just come into the area, and they had already been there, so they knew everything, but they were brand new, so they didn’t know much. I was trying to lead, but I also didn’t know much about where we were, so one day I was like alright, where should we go? And they were like ok, let’s go see this family again, it’s like the fifth time we had tried this family, and they never answer the door. So, I’m like, ok, whatever, don’t know what else to do, so why not. So, we pull up to this house, knock on the door, and nobody answers. We turn around and we see this guy sitting out on the grass in this chair, and he’s at a table drinking some lemonade, and we’re like let’s go talk to him, we’ve got time, and nothing better to do, so why not? And he’s a Catholic man, he’s just kind of sitting out there, kinda relaxing, he’s an older white gentleman with white hair, a long white beard, he looks super boss, and we just talk to him; and as we talk to him he shares he’s been struggling with suicide, and he hasn’t told his wife or anything like that. He tells us this story of one time he was doing laundry, and he just got so frustrated and mad that he just threw his phone in the washer; didn’t tell his wife, just said it was broken, and got a new one. We shared the message of the gospel, Christ’s atonement, read with him in The Book of Mormon, and set up an appointment to come back two days later to visit with him. He told us before we left that your visit is the only thing that’s going to keep me alive these next two days. And we left, and we were like oh my gosh, we just saved a man’s life. We visited him a couple times. He had us over for Christmas, and asked us to participate in some family Christmas traditions. He eventually went into the mental hospital for a little bit. It was really cool because it was the first time I felt genuine love for somebody I had just met.

Course

Intro to Folklore

Instructor

Prof. Lynne McNeill

Semester and year

Fall 2018

Theme

G7: Human Traits

EAD Number

3.14.0.93

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Additional Files

How to Save a Life.docx (7 kB)

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